Chapter 5: Sea-Salt Ice Cream
Larxene took a long, satisfied drag on her cigarette, blowing the smoke upward. She looked to her right, Axel laying on his side watching her contentedly. She rolled over, grinding the cigarette butt into an ashtray on her bedside table before rolling back over to face him.
"So," Axel began, "Feel better, now?" Larxene traced fingers along his forearm up his shoulder, touching the burn scars along the way.
"You know it," she smiled, leaning in to kiss his lips. "I don't even remember what I was mad about in the first place." Axel let the kiss happen, rubbing her bare shoulder in the process. He drew back to take in her covered up by the sheets.
"You were drunk, screaming at Xion?" he reminded her of the events last night. Larxene sighed as the memories fully came back to her.
"Oh yeah," she said in half-thought. "Sucks to be her."
"You don't even care, do you?" Axel asked. Larxene sat up in bed, pulling the sheets from his naked body. She walked around the bed to a pair of panties and slipped into them.
"She pissed me off," Larxene said. "Why I have to share my room with her is beyond me. She's such a wimp and no fun."
Axel sat up in the bed to watch her put on a shirt over her bare breasts and slip into a pair of skinny jeans.
"Do you even try to talk with her at all?" Axel asked. "I peeked at her file in Xemnas's office. Kid's gone through a lot."
"Like you said," Larxene turned to face him, "I don't really care."
Roxas rose early, discarding his clothing from yesterday for a fresh shirt and underwear and pair of socks. He put on his pants and fastened the belt just as there was a knock on the door. He answered it to Luxord standing outside.
"Morning, lad," he smiled. "Thought you'd appreciate a wake-up call for breakfast."
"Thanks, Luxord," Roxas answered, leaving the door open while he went to a chair to put on his shoes. "But I figured I'd wake myself up. Is Xion OK?" Luxord stood in the doorway, leaning against it watching Roxas. "She's doing fine, actually," he said. Roxas looked up at Luxord puzzled at what he meant.
"I think she likes you, mate," Luxord said plainly. "She insisted to see you at breakfast."
"That's unexpected," Roxas said tapping the toes of his shoes for comfort. "All I did was give her some cake."
"It's the little things that make the biggest impact on one's life," Luxord said in turn.
"You get that off a fortune cookie?" Roxas joked. The older man laughed heartily. Roxas closed the door behind as he left his apartment, walking down the hall with Luxord following.
Roxas was met with the wafting scent of waffles and bacon as he entered the dining room. Xigbar raised a mug of coffee to Roxas entering.
"Well, look who's awake this morning," he said gladly.
"Good morning!" Marluxia greeted Roxas and Luxord as he brought another large plate of waffles out onto the table.
"Morning, everyone," Luxord returned greeting to all gathered. Demyx turned in his seat to face the two entering and across from him, Xion looked up. Her face went a little pink but she smiled just the same.
"Morning," she greeted warmly, pulling the chair beside her out. Roxas rounded the table and sat down beside her. His plate was already piled with waffles and a bowl of fruit salad on the side. It was overwhelming at first, but Roxas remembered his hunger and topped the waffles with syrup and cut into them. To his surprise, they were soft and warm and-oh gods-they were delicious! So much so, Roxas went through all four in the stack and drowned it all with a glass of milk.
"So those were good, huh?" Marluxia asked, admiring Roxas's voracity. The boy nodded, wiping what milk dribbled from his mouth.
"Very good, Marluxia," he said.
"Oh, I didn't make them," Marluxia shrugged and gestured to the girl sitting beside Roxas, "Xion did. She insisted to make them for you." Roxas looked at Xion a moment and felt his cheeks flush.
"I just wanted to thank you," Xion said quietly, barely audible to the rest of the room.
"Aw, someone's smitten," Xigbar teased. A ripple of laughter passed over the dining room and quickly dissipated.
"Well thank you," Roxas said, ignoring the others. "They were delicious."
"Morning, everyone," Axel announced his presence in the room turning everyone to face him. Roxas figured the attention on Xion was overwhelming and heard her breathe a sigh.
"Mornin'," Larxene grumbled behind him with a yawn. She pulled on her cigarette and dumped herself into an empty seat. "So what's for breakfast?" Marluxia picked a large platter of Xion's waffles off the table and shuttled it over to the end where Larxene sat.
"Waffles, bacon and a fresh fruit salad," Marluxia recited the short menu, "But if you want, I can see if we have some sausages we can cook up for-"
"I've had my share of sausage, thanks, 'Lux'," Larxene interrupted, eyeing Axel during her statement. "Waffles sound good." She piled her plate and dumped syrup onto it. Roxas had never seen a woman eat with such an untidy manner; loudly smacking her lips and speaking with her mouth full in compliment. He peered at Xion out the corner of his eye at Xion, whose ears went pink at the praise.
"So," Roxas hesitated to shift attention on himself for fear of Larxene, "What's everyone up to today?"
"I could use some help in the garden," Marluxia spoke up, "I need some weeding done before I plant anything else."
"Weeded last week," Lexaeus said with a mouthful of bacon.
"Yeah, I think it's a good idea to get Roxas out helping," Demyx spoke up.
"Don't think just because we have a new tenant that you can dump your chores onto him," Xemnas advised sternly after a sip of coffee, "Demyx, you can help weeding. Xigbar, you, Lexaeus and Axel can clean the kitchen."
"I can do that," Axel said.
"Any word from Saïx?" Xaldin asked.
"Saïx will be done at the end of the week," Xemnas answered. "His new project was approved and the construction will begin after he returns."
"What project?" Roxas asked curiously.
"Not for you to worry about," Xemnas replied. "For now, eat your fill." This request Roxas gladly followed, and filled up on fruit salad. He sat back in his seat, letting out a satisfied burp, sheepishly excusing himself. Lexaeus answered with a louder belch, to which everyone else laughed at.
Xigbar, Lexaeus and Axel quickly went to work cleaning the dining room of the plates and packed away what little food was left over. Marluxia directed Roxas to follow him and Demyx out of the house's entrance and around left past the tree Roxas first met Xaldin. The backside of the House was a lush garden with blooming flowers on one side and vegetables on the other. A row of cornstalks overshadowed a patch of tomatoes, and beanstalks visibly crept into the area for squash. It seemed daunting for Roxas to take it all in, but Marluxia reassured him with a nod that work still had to be done. Marluxia and Demyx both showed Roxas the weeds growing over a corner of the garden, and directed him in dealing with them.
"This is it," Marluxia said.
"So, how does one go about doing this?" Roxas asked, never really experiencing weeding before.
"It's easy stuff, it's just boring usually," Demyx assured him. "Just follow my lead."
Roxas followed Demyx's directions, got down on his knees, grabbed handfuls and ripped the weeds, roots and all, out of the ground. He gave them a hefty shake to loose the dirt from it and deposited the handful onto a nearby tarp. For little more than an hour Roxas, Demyx and Marluxia worked clearing out the weeds, and fashioned poles for the beanstalks to grow on.
"You do good work, Roxas, I'm impressed," Marluxia said admiring his work. Roxas was hot, sweaty, and covered in dirt.
"Just be lucky it's just dirt and not manure," Demyx said with some loathing to the memory he recalled, "Man, that was not a pleasant week for me." Roxas smeared dirt across his forehead in an attempt to wipe sweat from stinging his eyes. He glanced about the garden, seeing the bare dirt where countless weeds were once before. Marluxia held out a bottle of water, Roxas accepting graciously with a dirt-caked hand. He emptied the bottle thirstily and sighed gladly for the hydration.
"You did well, Roxas, thank you," Marluxia smiled. "Go on, I'm sure someone else has some work for you in the house." Roxas blinked and looked back at Demyx sipping his bottle of water.
"What about Demyx?" he asked.
"Hey, don't mind me," Demyx said. "You go on before Marluxia gets you to help us planting." Roxas nodded and excused himself wiping what dirt he could from his knees and left the garden.
Roxas welcomed the warm shower washing the dirt from his face and hands. He shuddered again as the water traced its way down his back. Memories linked to every scar raced back to the front of Roxas's mind like a burst balloon.
I'm in a safe place, I can't be hurt here, I'm safe from harm, he can't hurt me here, he repeated his mantra, eyes tightly shut fighting back the violence and the sound of his crying. Roxas washed his hair hastily; the sting of shampoo in his eyes distracted him long enough from his memories. He washed his eye thoroughly and shut off the shower, toweled off, went to his room and dressed.
The rest of the day all to himself. It was a thought Roxas hadn't had in a long time. Now it was a dilemma for him to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. He decided the best bet would be to see if there was anything on TV worth watching.
To his fortune, Roxas found the large wide-screen panel unoccupied and picked up the massive remote from a seat. He took a moment to view the seemingly thousand of buttons, figuring out the power, the volume, the channels and an assortment of other features. He took the unwieldy remote into both hands, pressing the power button in the top right corner. Immediately, the screen flickered to life and greeted Roxas with an image of a rather violent horror movie right in the middle of the killer hideously dismembering a hapless teen with a Keyblade. Roxas flinched at the gruesome sight and switched the channel mid-scream. The next channel was brighter and more cheery; with tiny horses singing and conveying messages of friendship. Roxas watched with curiosity for a few minutes, entranced by the rather fluid animation.
"Missed this episode," a voice spoke up from behind Roxas. He turned in his seat to find Lexaeus sitting behind him. Lexaeus regarded him with an enthusiastic grin and returned his attention to the screen. He burst into a fit of giggles as the pink pony did something extraordinarily silly, which caught Roxas off guard and he chuckled right along with him.
"You ever watch?" Lexaeus asked.
Roxas shook his head. "No, never," he answered. "But I can see why people would."
"Watch more Saturday," Lexaeus said. "Will you join?"
"Sure," Roxas shrugged.
The episode ended and the next hour was spent channel surfing. The two spent a while watching music videos, one band singing A capella with a very heavy metal feel to their music. The next video was a rock group Roxas never heard of, but liked how they sounded. The next few channels had reruns of old sitcoms (which both Roxas and Lexaeus agreed were overrated), medical dramas (Roxas and Lexaeus couldn't stand the doctor being a real jerk to his co-workers), to a science-fiction series about people trapped on a deserted island (which Roxas immediately switched because its premise was pretentious). They finally settled on watching a super hero show.
"Not bad series," Lexaeus spoke of it, "Not best, either."
"There's more than one of these heroes?" Roxas asked.
"Plenty more series," Lexaeus answered. "Last series better." Roxas sat and watched the episode to its climax, where the hero rose into the air and delivered a special effects-laden kick into the monster costume. There were flashy fireballs from the result and concluded rather dramatically.
"Good episode," Lexaeus concluded afterward.
"I might have to watch the rest of this at some point," Roxas agreed.
"Are you nerds watching that Rider Mask show?"
Roxas and Lexaeus looked up at Xigbar watching them from a seat off to the side.
"There's nothing else on," Roxas shrugged. Xigbar scoffed as he stood and plucked the remote from Roxas's lap.
"As if," he said. He input a number into the remote and the channel changed to a program just starting, which was a documentary on a famous battle.
"Not this again," Lexaeus groaned.
"Yes, this again," Xigbar retorted, "I missed the second half because Xaldin wanted to watch his soap opera." The documentary itself was actually very educational, for Roxas. He wasn't aware of half the things talked about, and found it rather interesting. He studied Xigbar as he watched, seeing his face recall old memories or return to old times he had since buried. Roxas exhaled, and put a hand on Xigbar's shoulder. He turned away from the TV and looked at the boy; his cheek was wet with tears and silently thanked Roxas, patting his hand in gratitude.
"Do something else?" Lexaeus asked.
"I don't see why not," Roxas shrugged, "You have anything in mind?"
Lexaeus showed Roxas the kitchen, explaining how things were put away in the refrigerator.
"Use anything here," Lexaeus said, "but be responsible."
"Like clean stuff after using it?" Roxas asked to clarify.
"Exactly like that," Lexaeus nodded. Roxas went through the plastic containers. They were stacked in order of oldest food on the top. Some of these stacks were topped with matching colored lids, while others had different colors. Surely there was a system to it, but at this point, Roxas didn't care enough to ask about it. Lexaeus had scooped an armful of containers up and dropped them unceremoniously onto a counter. The two went over their selections of leftovers; a loaf made from salmon (which Lexaeus voiced as being the best ever and begged Marluxia to make again); a serving of nachos; a pasta dish with sauce, ground meat and sliced olives; and even a few slices of pizza from a few days before topped with pepperoni and mushrooms. Roxas decided he could make do with the pasta dish, while Lexaeus devoured the last of the salmon loaf from the container with his bare hands.
Lexaeus looked up at Roxas watching him and swallowed his mouthful. "What? It's good."
"I'll take your word for it," Roxas stirred his pasta around and emptied the container hungrily. He and Lexaeus washed their dishes out and let them dry in the dish rack set in the other sink.
"Gonna go nap," Lexaeus decided aloud. "Wake for dinner." Without another word, he stalked off out of the kitchen.
Roxas sat watching over the rest of the town from his perch. He broke off a piece of the sea-salt ice cream bar in his hand with his lips and swished it around in his mouth before swallowing the sweet saltiness. His senses alerted him to movement from behind he craned his neck around for a better view.
"Hey Roxas," Axel greeted him friendly before taking a seat.
"Hey," Roxas grunted and bit off another piece. Axel sat back admiring the noon skies.
"Day 2," Roxas broke the silence between them. Axel looked over at the blonde boy to clarify, "Second day of being here and it feels like I'm still new."
"You are still new," Axel replied, taking a bite of his ice cream.
"I'm saying," Roxas paused to find his words. He knows he's been in the House for two days, and revelation of everything being so new to him filled him with an anxiety that stopped him from speaking. His hand quivered at the thought of where he was; an anxiety to start new all over again screwed up his face. Thoughts of his old life rushed back to him, his scars itched and memories of his cries echoed again in his mind. The muscle memory of his back tightening against the sharp cracks that split the air and kept him from sleeping at night returned to him. Axel's hand clapped his shoulder and pulled Roxas from the thoughts he was drowning himself in.
"It gets better," Axel reassured with a smile, "It takes time to readjust, but you'll fit right in with us." Without even realizing it, Roxas's eyes streamed tears down his face.
"Thanks, Axel," he fought to hide the break in his voice, only making it more obvious. He wiped a forearm to smear the tears from his eyes, "So, what did you and Larxene do last night?" Axel choked on his sea-salt ice cream a moment, and stuffed his mouth with it. He shuddered, on the verge of choking.
"Brain freeze!" he exclaimed, the ice cream ejected from his mouth to hit the ground with a splat down below. Roxas couldn't help but laugh, nearly losing grip of his own ice cream in the fit. Axel flicked his ear in irritation.
"'S'not funny," he grumbled.
"Looked it from here," Roxas returned. A small voice behind him spoke up just a little, and he turned to meet Xion's eyes. Axel looked up as well, seeing her half-hidden by the clock tower's threshold to the stairwell. Her face was flushed red and she turned to descend the steps.
"Hey, Xion," Roxas spoke up, "come join us." She froze mid-step, and turned to lock eyes with him. She glanced a moment over at Axel then back.
"Don't worry," Axel offered a comforting reassurance, "I don't bite." Xion wordlessly stepped forward and seated herself on Roxas's other side. Axel bought another round of ice cream, Roxas handing one off to her. There they sat and ate in awkward silence watching the sunset.
Author's Commentary: This chapter felt like filler, but at the same time, I think it helped add more to the universe I'm creating for the story's sake. I want to show what everyday life in this house of misfits is like on a regular day, and whether or not I gave a hint of a proper display of that, I'm letting the reader judge that. Lexaeus speaking in three words was a concept I changed in early planning, he was originally only going to speak with two words, but that seemed harder to do. Writing three-word dialogue for a character who's a simpleton is a challenge in trying to convey what they want, and it's a challenge I like to have constantly. I know that's not how he is in the game, but he seemed to be the perfect choice for me to try this kind of challenge with. I feel like the ending was rushed and tacked on, but I feel like it managed to add a little more to Roxas and Xion's budding relationship.