Daylight mooN
Chapter Four: Changed
Roxas opened his eyes with a groan at the sound of porcelain hitting the kitchen floor and shattering, followed by running footsteps and a slamming door.
He heard faint, hushed voices coming from the hallway leading to the bedroom. Roxas tilted his head up to the open window, shivering when the cold hit his face and stood up shakily to close it.
The pane slipped closed with a click, and Roxas sighed as he made his way to the living room, plopping down onto the couch. He turned his body until his face was buried into the cushions and closed his eyes.
"Roxas?"
The voice made him jump; he turned over enough to see Tidus slipping out from the hallway. He watched as a brunette came up behind him and gasp, covering her mouth with her small hands.
Tidus was instantly in motion, taking her back to the bedroom.
"Tidus, what's-"
"Shh, just stay here-"
"No, what's around his-"
"I'll take care of it – just, stay here."
When Tidus shut the bedroom door quietly and immerged from the hallway again, he sighed.
"Selphie? Really?"
"Um…we-we, uh…"
"You're sleeping with her again?"
"Never mind that, Roxas, how the hell did you get here?" He took a seat on the couch next to Roxas's feet as the boy sat up.
"Oh you know; picked up a cab."
Tidus stayed quiet, his eyes glancing at Roxas's face before darting away to something else in the room. He became uneasy.
"…What are you looking at?"
"What's on your…?"
"What?" Roxas ran two fingers down his cheek absently as Tidus stood up and went into the bathroom, coming back with a mirror.
"Here, look."
Roxas took the mirror and aimed it steadily at his face and froze.
"Please, Roxas, tell me that's kool-aid."
His lips, cheeks, chin and neck were stained with blood. He slid his tongue over his lips and still tasted blood.
He threw the mirror onto the floor, hoping it hadn't shattered and raced past Tidus to the bathroom and to the sink, drenching his face in desperation to erase the taste and stains. He grabbed the nearest washcloth and scrubbed until the stains vanished.
"What happened last night, Roxas…?"
Roxas cupped his hand under the running water and sipped it before spitting it out and breathing raggedly. His hands clutched the rim of the sink to hold himself up. "I…I don't remember."
"Nothing?"
Roxas stared at the shining marble of the sink. "N-nothing…"
Tidus rested against the doorframe of the bathroom, arms crossed and eyes downcast. "She found you this morning on my kitchen floor; and the window was left open all night."
"I don't remember how I got here…" Roxas shook his head.
His fingers darted for his neck, eyes targeting the point in the mirror; the punctures had scarred over. Tidus' eyes widened, hands reaching up disbelievingly to touch the spot where the holes had been for months.
"T-the holes are gone!" Roxas grinned at the reflection, still running a damp cloth over the dried blood.
"…Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I feel better than I have in months, Tidus."
Tidus stared. Roxas felt eyes on him and immediately became uneasy. He put the reddening washcloth on the side of the sink and made eye contact with his brother.
"It was kool-aid, Tidus…"
The older man sighed, leaving the doorframe of the bathroom and heading into the living room; Roxas followed.
"How did you get out of the hospital?"
"I don't remember, Tidus, I wish I did…" Roxas plopped down on the couch and held his head, elbows resting on his knees.
"Why have you gotten so skinny?"
Roxas glanced up, "Everything they gave me wouldn't stay down!"
"Nothing?"
"Not a damn thing!" He stood, lifting his shirt and revealing his skinny frame, "I threw it up right after I ate it, I should've died a long time ago!"
Tidus' eyes widened, "What?"
"They wouldn't let you come into my room, because I don't think they wanted you to see me like that. They didn't want you to know about the fucking needles they were constantly sticking me with, or the fucking – the fucking white machine they tested me with, and all the other shit, Tidus! I had to go; I was going to die there!"
Tidus blinked.
Roxas scratched his head. "I-I remember, the-the girl, with the cup, of…whatever it was, I drank it, and-and… I don't know, I got this headache, and… The doctor, and the nurses, the…the doors, and…" Roxas trailed off, his eyes tracing in the carpet.
Roxas stiffened suddenly. "…I think I killed someone last night, Tidus…"
They both jumped suddenly at the sound of the phone ringing. Roxas slumped back into the couch with a groan as Tidus reached for the phone on the end table.
"Hello?" Tidus began twisting his finger in the wires. There was a pause, and Tidus froze.
"He did what?"
Roxas glanced up at Tidus, shaking his head and mouthing for him to hang up.
"Howmuch…!" He put his hand over the receiver, "You broke down three doors and destroyed their ventilation system!"
Roxas raised an eyebrow. "…I did?"
He put his ear back to the babbling phone, "Uh, y-yeah, okay… I-is he here? Uhh… N-no, he isn't here… Not at his apartment? Really?" Tidus glared.
Roxas lifted his shirt again and revealed his sunken ribs.
"Um. Yeah, okay. I'll keep an eye out for him… We will talk about finances when we catch up with him… I understand that the police are involved, yes. Okay, bye." He slammed the phone onto the receiver.
"Two-hundred thousand pounds in damages to the hospital andyou killed a doctor? Roxas, what the FUCK did you do last night!"
"I don't remember, Tidus, I swear!"
"We're going to be so far in debt, we'll be deported! How the fuck do you keep pulling me into these things!"
"Tidus, seriously, they were killing me there! I didn't have a choice, I don't know what happened - I just knew I had to get out of there. You can't send me back, I'm your brother!"
"That doesn't mean shitwhen you put me through this!" Tidus grabbed the younger blond by the collar of his hospital clothes, and yanked harshly to make the boy stand.
The bedroom door slammed suddenly and Selphie appeared out from the hallway in a pencil skirt and an angora sweater. She put her hands on her hips angrily and when she spoke, her accent was thick in her voice. "You boys mind telling me what the fuck is going on!"
(-+-)
Tidus had to leave for work. Selphie didn't believe their story, but still stayed to keep Roxas company, even if he did insist that he couldn't eat the soup or drink any soda; cooked food sounded absolutely disgusting to Roxas's ears.
"So, what canyou eat, Roxie?" She asked from the kitchen as she stirred salt into the pot of soup.
"Uh…I'm fine right now, Selphie, thanks…"
The shower he took had been a nightmare because not only was Roxas exhausted, but he had a splitting headache and his body was still frail from the night before. He groaned, turning onto his side, trying to concentrate on the TV Selphie had turned on for a lack of a better thing to do until Tidus came home and they could sort this out.
The lights were flashing annoyingly, and it was difficult for Roxas to even make out the figures on the screen - the most comforting thing was the background noise it provided. He growled when a particularly colorful commercial came on and turned his attention to the white popcorn ceiling.
It didn't surprise him when Selphie's face peered down on him from the arm of the couch.
"Whatcha lookin' at?"
Roxas sighed. Not annoyedly. Selphie wasn't particularly bothersome.
"The ceiling."
"Is there something interesting up there?"
…But she was slowly making her way to becoming a minor irritation. She looked up and glanced around the ceiling. Roxas noticed her skirt edge nearly draping over his eyes.
"Oh, see the pig?" Selphie chimed in excitedly as she pointed at it.
"Uh-huh." Roxas had no idea what she was talking about.
Roxas mentally groaned, trying not to sneak glances between her legs and decided to sit up. Roxas tried not to think about how many times she cheated on poor Tidus and tried not to think about how she kept snaking her way back into his house and seducing him over and over again, and how he stilltook her back every time.
He tried not to think about how he was sexually starving and how good she probably was in the sack – he suddenly felt weak.
She was still staring at the ceiling. "Selphie, you wanna sit down, or somethin'?"
Her eyes met his and for an instant Roxas could picture her writhing under him. He tore his eyes away just before she plopped down next to him and rested her legs on his lap. She giggled before wiggling her socked feet. "How are you with…foot massages?"
"Not good." He didn't take his eyes off of the television, despite how much it burned to look at it for more than three seconds without blinking.
Her legs disappeared suddenly and Roxas looked in her direction, their noses almost making contact. "Roxas?"
Roxas distanced them by a few inches before responding. "Y-yeah?"
"Why were you on the kitchen floor this morning and covered in blood?" Her hand rested on his arm. He resisted his need to jump.
Roxas tried not to glare. "I-I don't really remember, it was…a blur."
"You killed your doctor?"
"Yes."
"Because he was torturing you?"
"…Yeah." Roxas glanced at the floor.
"Oh, you poor thing!" Her arms wrapped around him and Roxas suddenly felt like he could never be clean again.
Roxas cringed at the contact. He cringed when she cooed and coddled him and when she straddled one of his outstretched legs. He flinched when her filthy hand ran soothingly through his hair and whispered into his ear. He felt like he was trapped.
"Whatever you need, anything." She said before leaning down and resting her head on his shoulder. She had one arm draped on his waist and the other held her up by his shoulder.
Roxas had to remind himself that this was Selphie, his brother's horrible, supposed to be ex-girlfriend who cheated on him dozens of times, but still managed to seduce him with a batting eyelash and an angelic giggle.
But he still couldn't resist how badly he needed a body next to his – even if it was for all the wrong reasons and in the end would only ending up causing chaos.
They sat like that for a while. Roxas tried to escape and go to the bathroom – even though he didn't need to – but she had fallen into some deep sort of sleep. Roxas pushed her off of him, and her light snoring kept on without a hitch as her body bounced on the couch cushion.
He squinted at the television and tried to play with the brightness settings for a while before Selphie woke up suddenly and had to go to the 'store' to give a nice man a blowjob, and left Roxas alone.
By the time Tidus got home, Roxas was dead asleep with his heed buried in the cushions, getting the best sleep he'd had in ages.
A/N: SHOW ME YOUR TEETH…AND REVIEW.
And a very special thank you to Organization 13 Members 0 AND ilovecats86 for beta-ing this chapter.