*A big author's note to anyone reading this/ old readers/ new readers/ whoever. I stumbled upon this story (a whopping 4 years later, holy sh) and I kicked myself in the butt for not finishing it. Alas, not finishing it and promising that I would. For whatever it is worth, I am so sorry. I left you guys hanging (literally) and I'm garbage. Real garbage. I vow to promise this story for you guys. This story was meant to be a fun summer project, and now I'm treating it as if it were going to the Queen of England. I will finish this story for you guys (if you're still out there!?). I'll stop blabbering now. Enjoy!
Disclaimer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rain still plummeted outside of the window, falling in buckets on the roof. It was only the early hours of the morning.
Two lovers were sprawled over the couch with a thin blanket tangled in their legs. The ending credits of "Love, Actually" appeared on the television; although, the movie was almost completely ignored.
Sora was aimlessly tracing a line of freckles on the blonde's arm. "Hey, this freckle sort of looks like a paopu fruit," He chuckled.
"Sora…" Roxas looked up to meet Sora's eyes, which were fixated on the bag of potato chips on the coffee table. "Mm?" Sora's brown eyes were exuberated as he reached for a chip and popped it into his mouth.
The blonde opened his mouth, then quickly cleared it to avoid the question. "Erm- how are you feeling?"
He thought about it, "Good, I think I ate too much," He said while stuffing another mouthful of potato chips.
Roxas didn't meet his excitement, instead, looked at him with a mixture of seriousness and sympathy. It only took one word. "Ven…"
Roxas watched Sora's playfulness leave his features, his eyes dropping to the ground. "Oh..." He mumbled, "I almost forgot,"
Roxas chided, "Sora, I'm so sorry. I didn't know about my brother and-" He cut off, and quickly said, "Uh, the other spikey bastard."
He didn't respond, therefore Roxas continued, "I mean, I've known Ven my whole life and- God- he just wouldn't do that. I can't believe him. That bastard. That son of a b-"
He stopped when Sora stared at him with cold eyes. "Roxas," he began, "You don't have room to say that. We cheated, too," He said slowly, almost as though to make Roxas understand.
The blonde sighed. "Yeah. Alright. That sucks too. You know what sucks a whole lot more, Sora?" He grabbed his chin to look him in the eyes. "You didn't sleep with me,"
"But I had a drea-"
"A dream doesn't mean anything. Sora," Roxas sat up, anger hardening his features, "You know what else, Ven refused to sleep with you. You had a relationship with him, and you were nothing but loving and supportive. He probably didn't sleep with you because he was sleeping with Vanitas!"
Roxas regretted yelling as soon as he saw the hurt in Sora's eyes. Both boys looked down to their hands.
Sora then whispered, "Is that why?"
Roxas was no longer shouting, but still guarded. He hissed, "Probably."
"Oh," Sora trailed off, before scoffing, "Well, Roxas, fine. That still doesn't excuse me for cheating on him, too. I ruined the relationship too. I cheated on him with you, your brother! I mean how much more complicated can this be?!" Sora shot up from his seat, Roxas deliberately mimicking his actions.
Sora shook his head, putting his head into his hand, "How do you decide which poison is worse?"
Roxas was silent. From behind, he rested his head on Sora's shoulder and wrapped his arm around Sora's torso. His voice was low, almost as if he were talking to himself, "Ventus never deserved you."
-x-x-x-x-
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
It was 7:49 in the morning when Roxas's phone rang on the coffee table. The blonde groaned, rolling over Sora in efforts to reach his phone. His hand touched a crackled bag of potato chips, the remote control, and finally his phone. He flipped it open whilst rolling back to his spot on the couch.
"Hello?" His voice was low and groggy. He tried to clear his throat.
Sora's eyes were closed, though he listened. Roxas was silent for a moment before replied in a surprisingly sharp voice, "Hey, no listen, he crashed at my house, he's fine," Sora peeked through his lashes.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it." He trailed off. "No, no don't come over. I don't think he's ready to see you, Ven… Honestly, neither am I, "
Sora's eyes snapped opened.
"Give him more time, alright, bro?" Roxas then hung up abruptly. He gripped the phone in his hand, heaving a breath out of his lungs.
Sora waited a moment, staring at the television that was turned off.
Roxas spoke up, "He wants to see you,"
Sora's stomach turned inside of him. It was almost like all those butterflies inside of his belly turned into decaying moths.
"I…" Sora spoke, and hesitated, "I don't know what I would say,"
It was silent again. Sora counted to ten in his mind.
Roxas propped up on one elbow. "Don't worry about it. You need to get your mind out of this," Sora turned over to face him, raising a brow. Roxas continued, "You need food and fresh air. Take a shower and I'll take you to breakfast. It's the weekend, we're not wasting it inside,"
Sora couldn't resist running over his mind with the word "we". Sora grinned like an idiot in response.
The two got up from the cozy cushions of the couch and rubbed the sleepiness from their eyes. Sora began cleaning up the crumbs and junk food from the coffee table whilst Roxas fetched Sora a clean towel. Sora mentally neglected his telephone that was propped on the counter in the kitchen.
Roxas returned with a towel on his shoulder, noted that he was wearing a white baseball tee with black sleeves and light khaki jeans. He handed the towel to Sora. "Bathrooms down the hall,"
Sora pointed a thumb towards the living room, "You sure you don't need help cleaning up?"
Roxas rolled his eyes, "Take a shower, you're stinkin' up the place,"
The brunette lips twitched into a smile and began making his way to the bathroom, only before his left leg hinged back kicked Roxas in the butt. "Gee, thanks Roxas!"
Roxas playfully tried to swipe back, though Sora made a dash for the bathroom and closed the door with a slam. He laughed, his heart racing in his chest while he caught his breath. He noticed Roxas left clean clothes on the bathroom counter.
He took his time getting ready for the day. The hot water soothed his knotted shoulders and it felt good on his skin. He took his hand and tried to weave his fingers through his wet, matted spikes. He took time washing his body, memorizing the Old Spice scent of Roxas's soap that made Sora's stomach do somersaults.
He turned off the water and dried off, wrapping a towel around his waist. He wiped off the foggy residue from the mirror and saw himself. The strange, giddy looking doofus was smiling back at him. His cheeks looked colored and his skin was flushed, and he couldn't get that idiot smile from his mouth.
Despite all that has happened to Sora the past few days, he really felt good.
He changed into a white t-shirt and faded seafoam khaki shorts. He toweled off his hair and gargled with mouthwash at the sink, before wiping his mouth with behind his hand. He opened the door and made his way towards Roxas in the living room. The house was clean and the opened windows gave a cool, fresh gust through the house. All that was missing was Roxas.
Sora called out his name, walking into the kitchen. A green sticky note on top of Sora's phone read,
"Went to take out trash and return the movie. Be back soon. -R"
Sora smiled and ran his finger over Roxas's perfectly legible handwriting. He peeled away the sticky note from his phone. He paused, contemplating the harsh reality outside Roxas's comforting apartment. He sighed, turning the stupid cellphone on. It took a moment to start up, making Sora tap his finger on the counter. What seemed like an eternity, it read In bold black letters, 4 missed calls, 2 text messages. He quickly checked and 3 calls were from Kairi with three lengthy voicemails asking why he was in hiding.
The other call was from Ventus.
He steadied himself before taking a deep breath and dilated Kairi's number. It rang for a while before he got the machine. He left a simple message, "Hey Kai, sorry I missed your calls. I know you're probably confused but I'll explain everything to you later. I'm alright, I promise." He hung up. Sora checked his text messages and saw one from Riku. It read, "Hey, heard what happened. Kairi asked but I didn't tell her. Here if you need me. Let's grab some grub this weekend," Sora replied to Riku's message quickly before checking the other.
It was from Ven.
It simply read, "I'm sorry,"
Sora stared at the screen, his heart dropping. He felt his smile melt from his face. He slowly hit reply and his thumbs danced over the keyboard.
Just then, the front door opened and Roxas came in. Sora jumped, and flipped his phone shut. "H-hey, Roxas," He stammered and put his phone in his pocket.
Roxas smiled, though looked somewhat pained. His brows furrowed and his face looked flustered. The morning rain stuck lightly to his fringe, effortlessly shifting his flustered appearance into a model shooting for a winter catalogue.
"You alright?" The brunette asked, watching as Roxas unclenched his fists.
The blonde cleared his throat, and scratched his chin, "Huh- oh yeah. Just got caught up taking out the trash," He smiled, a bit warmer this time. Before Sora pressed him with more questions, he said, "Pancakes?"
-x-x-x-
The couple made their way out of the house, catching the first rays of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds. The rain stopped sometime mid-morning, and left the Island with crisp, refreshing air. The sidewalk still smelled of wet concrete.
The two made small talk while walking parallel to the beach, alongside the peer. Any local Islander knows that the best pancakes in town (or the world) single-handedly belong to Sephiroth's Flappy-jacks. Rumor has it that the owner, Sephiroth, used to work as an elite bounty hunter before shedding his career to go forth for his true calling to that of the breakfast foods. If you tasted the pancakes, you wouldn't doubt his sudden career choice. They really are good pancakes.
They made their way in the cafe and waited a while before being seated outside on the patio. The sun was completely out of the clouds and warm rays soaked the Island; back to the way it usually is.
On a Saturday morning, the place was pretty packed. Locals spent weekends in a cloud of leisureness- though not laziness. The islanders were known to dedicate any free time for enjoying good company, along with good food. Destiny Island even won a title for most residents who are "beach-bums".
Whilst ordering a short-stack of pancakes, Roxas ordered a cup of joe, and Sora decided upon orange juice. "I can't wait for my flappy-jacks." Sora sighed, his mouth salivating. Roxas took a sip of his coffee, a hidden smile. "Hey S-"
"SORA!" A distant female voice bellowed from behind them. The two quickly looked to see Kairi in the distance, running over to them.
"Kairi?" Sora stood up. He waited until she stopped at the waist-high patio fence. She bent down and clutched her knees to catch her breath. "Hey, what's up?" Sora hovered, slightly concerned.
She finally said, "I was just about to call you again, I got your voicemail. I was with Namine-" Her head snapped up at the opposite end of the pier. "Oh, she's walking up this way. Anyway, I saw you over here and I wanted to make sure you're alright. I haven't heard from you in days! What happened?"
Sora blinked, "Er, uhm," He put his hand behind his head. "You see…" He was trailing off. Kairi then noticed Roxas sitting at the opposite end of Sora.
"Oh!" She said, "I'm so sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She let out a cheerful smile, and greeted, "Ven, it's nice to see you again!"
Roxas blinked, "Oh, yeah, actually-"
"Hey, why did you run off like that?" Namine, as if on cue, walked up to the table to greet the trio.
Kairi apologized, "I'm sorry, I saw Sora and sort of wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to run off like that," She simply smiled. The waitress dropped of the two plates of pancakes somewhere in between the reunion.
Reacting quickly, Sora then chided, "Uh, well, Ven and I were just talking. About something I've been meaning to tell him," He looked at the twin, exchanging glances, his tone obvious and exaggerated. Roxas's mouth was gaped, and he got a kick from Sora underneath the table. He then quickly composed himself, "O-oh, uh, yeah." He cleared his throat to exaggerate that of Ventus, "What was it you were going to tell me...Sora-kun..?" His lips twitched into a small smile.
The two girls gushed internally over the adorable nature of the twin. Kairi then threw an arm around Namine, "We'll get going now, you two enjoy your breakfast. See you guys later!" Kairi and Namine waved goodbye, Roxas waved one hand and said in a sing-song voice, "Bye-bye!"
The couple waited for the girls to be out of side, before Sora fell into a fit of laughter. He covered his mouth, trying to compose himself and apologized. "Sorry, I just didn't want to tell her what happened. She would have flipped,"
Roxas nodded in agreement and sipped his coffee.
Sora was cutting his fork into his pancake and fell into another laugh fit, "Bye-bye?" He said in between chuckles. Roxas glared at him, all traces of Ven's adorable structure wiped away clean. Sora's laughter died down, "No, you really were convincing. It was good." He tried to stuff another pancake bite into his mouth to hide his smile.
Roxas's mouth twitched into a smile, "Shut up, and eat your flappy-jacks,"
*Note: Making minor edits on the earlier chapters. Just mistakes that I picked up on.
I hope you enjoyed this one! I enjoyed writing it, and I can't wait to dive back in and finish it for you guys. Reviews/ comments (how are all of you doing?!) or any errors I didn't see! Love you all. xx