A/N:Hey guys! I'm sure you guys want to murder me right now, and I am so sorry. I've been super busy and my life has been a little crazy, both good and bad. But you guys probably don't want to hear about my life XD I was also in a bit of a block at the beginning of this chapter, so I was writing a bit everyday, whether it was a sentence or a word a day. Eventually, I got back in my groove and I finished the chapter today. It may not seem like it, since I've been MIA, but this is my favorite arc. I already have the next two chapters outlined, I just have to write them. And if any of you are reading my other KH fanfic Cinderoxas, know that I'm working on it, and I would like for the next chap to be up by...next week let's say? To tell the truth, this one will probably update again before that one does, because like I said, I really like this arch.
If you'd like a recap of what's been happening in the story and don't feel like going back, here you go: The whole deal with ex-girlfriend Xion was settled, Cloud and a few of the others graduated, and Roxas is moving in with him to keep his sanity from living at home with his family that has found out about his having of the boyfriend.
One more thing, sorry for holding you guys up. Now, I know this seems like a pretty stupid idea to do right now, but I have a new story written. Kunoichi21 has seen a bit of it, and I was wondering if I should put it up? I know I have other stories that need my attention, so putting up a new one isn't the smartest idea, but I really love this story, and I don't want to wait until I'm done with either TLE or Cinderoxas, which will be a long while (especially with the way I update). So I'd love to hear your idea on the subject, or any advice. Thanks so much, for sticking with me and this story and everything, and enjoy this chapter!
Roxas POV
"It's hooot!" I sigh from my spot on the couch.
"Maybe if you go in the house, you'll feel cooler," Cloud suggests.
It was true. The dark blue sofa was currently parked on the front lawn, me atop its cushion-y softness. "I'm so comfy here though..."
"Well, we have to move the couch inside anyway love, so you might as well go in," Axel says, dropping a box next to me. Cloud yells at him not to drop our shit. "By the way, are you planning on helping?"
"Of course I am. I'm waiting until I cool off, then I will start working again," I respond.
"Well, I need to move the couch, so…"
"I'm sure you and Leon can move the couch with me sitting on it. I'm not very heavy."
Leon comes over and grabs one end of the sofa. "I'm actually curious if we can move this with him laying on it," he laughs. "Ready Axel?"
"Yup," he grunts, picking up his end. Suddenly rising up into the air puts me into a fit of giggles. "Having fun up there?" he huffs while trying to keep his balance and walk.
"Oh yeah," I say smiling.
"Tell me when the step is Axel," Leon says. He's walking backward with the other end, so he can't see the front steps. Somehow they maneuver inside without dropping the couch, and in consequence, me, and it definitely is much cooler in here than it was out on the lawn.
"Wow, you guys are strong," I comment.
"So are you Roxy," Axel points out, poking my nose.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't see me lifting a couch. That's way too much physical labor." I roll over on the couch so my stomach is up.
"Hey," Cloud greets. He sees me lounging about and Axel and Leon sitting on either armrest of the couch. "Looks like now's a good time to take a break. You guys want anything from the store?"
"Ice-pops! Ice-pops!" I cheer happily. Axel asks for a code red.
"I'll go with you, Cloud. I could use a drive," Leon says, getting up from his end. Cloud grabs his keys from the kitchen isle that is packed with boxes marked "kitchen" and pauses near the couch to flick my forehead. My attempts to swat his hand away only added fuel to the unknown fire because he went into full-on tackle mode. After we wrestled (him going super easy on me. I mean, come on. Who could hurt this face, even play-fighting?), they finally left and I flopped back down into the cushions.
"What now?" Axel asks.
"Well. We could keep working. But we're probably going to take another break once they get back. So might as well get something done while we wait."
With that, I actually got up and started unpacking boxes around the 1-story house. In about an hour's time, we were able to unpack the whole kitchen and my bedroom. "Where did they go, Hong Kong? They should be back," I say.
"Maybe they got caught up in traffic. Or they're just taking their time. This house is a bit far from town," Axel responds.
I well and know that, but that doesn't mean I want my sea-salt flavored ice pop any less. "Whatever. They'll get here when they get here." I get up from laying down again and go to open a window just to see that they're all open. "Ugh, it's so hot!"
Axel comes over to make to hug me, but then stops after realizing that will not help matters. "Why don't we go to your room? When we were in there before, it was considerably cooler than the rest of the house." I nod and follow him towards the back of the house. Cloud and Leon took the front master bedroom (naturally) and I went into the second room, which is posing as "Leon's room" in case Auntie visits (which we all know she will). Once we get inside I flop onto my already made bed. I made sure that my room was done while I still had Axel at my disposal.
"Really? Are you just going to keep laying down all day?" Axel taunts.
"Shut up and let me rest. I don't enjoy long periods of physical labor," I mumble into my pillow.
"God forbid you get sweaty over a hard day's work," he says sarcastically, which I do not appreciate.
"Yes. The only reason why I should be sweating is after a kickass performance." I turn over on my back to get air.
"Speaking of, what's going to happen to TLE, now that school is out?"
"Me and the guys were thinking of doing some gigs around town. Nothing to crazy. Of course, I'll still be playing over the summer. I don't want to get rusty." I needed to buy some new strings for my baby. It's been through a long semester.
Axel finally comes over and sits down on the bed next to me. "I'm gonna miss those Thursday nights. Watching you up on that stage. Immersing yourself in your music…looking totally gorgeous…"
"I'm sorry, are we talking about your love for my music, or how horny you get when you see me play?" I say with a smirk as I roll over on top of him.
"Mm, can it be both?" he smiles. Lifting his head up, our lips meet in a fiery passion. Literally, it was still hot as hell.
Before I even realize it, he's flipped me over so he's leering over me like prey. Going on the attack, he starts his way at my lips, but then moves down to suckle at my neck. My breath hitches and I hold it, so I don't sound like a horny little girl.
"Let it out baby. I wanna hear you," Axel coos. He's using that voice again, and he's doing it on purpose for sure because he knows I can't resist the voice.
"Axeeeel…" I finally sigh out. He moves back to my mouth where our tongues intertwine once again. Before I even realize what he's doing, the button to my capri pants are already undone. "Axel, we shouldn't…Cloud and Leon could be back any minute."
"It will be alright. I closed the door," Axel whispers, my shirt disappearing in the process.
"That's not the point here…"
His tongue travels down my chest to my nipple. "Mm, Roxy."
"Axel, we should stop," I say, even though my hands are already moving to take his shirt off. Axel sits up temporarily to take his shirt off, by roughly pulling on the back over his head and tossing it on my new floor.
It was a good thing we closed the door, because Leon and Cloud would have gotten an eyeful looking for us.
…
"Sorry again I couldn't hang out with you today love," Axel says on the other end.
I shift my phone to the left side, seeing as how my right side had gotten disgustingly sweaty from holding it there for the past 15 minutes. "Stop apologizing already Axel. I not needy enough to see you every day of my life."
"But wouldn't it be sweet if you did?"
"No, it would be creepy. At least to me anyway. How's your tutoring going?"
"Pretty good," he answers. "She's progressively getting better. When I first started, she didn't even want to learn. But it's all good now."
"Did she have a realization that you're 'a pretty cool guy'?" I joke.
"More like I asked her mother if we could do 'outside research' and ended up buying ice-cream and feeding the ducks in the pond. You know. Typical scientific research."
"Right," I laugh into the receiver. "Anyway, you better make sure you don't pass your 'good times' off as flirting. She might get the wrong idea."
"Roxy, she's like, 13. Ignoring the fact that I'm not single, and even if I was, I'm not a pedophile, it's not going to ever head in that direction," he tries to explain, but I stand by my point.
"She's a prepubescent teeny-bopper who hasn't yet learned that someone being nice doesn't equal future marriage."
"I think you're exaggerating, hun."
"Whatever." I might feel a little lonely without Axel with me today. "I'm about to enter the mall. I'll talk to you later?"
"For sure. I love you Roxas." And like that I feel better.
"Love you too Axel. Bye." I hang up and return my phone to my pocket. It's cool inside the mall, which is a definite better change from outside. Seriously, there must be a heat wave passing through this summer. My excitement for the AC is diminished when I notice how crowded it is. Great. Sweaty bodies pushing each other to get to the next sale. I only found this acceptable at concerts. At least everyone there have the same feelings and thoughts.
Deciding on the best place to go, I head over to the atrium and make my way upstairs after. Avoiding bumping into anyone, I eventually reach Pearson Tunes.
"Hello?" I say into the empty walls of the store. The front lights weren't even on, but the door was open.
"Hm, that voice sounds familiar. Is that Roxas?" The voice is coming from down a back aisle.
"Yeah. Mr. Pearson? Are you closed today?" I ask, heading to where he is. Once I get there, I see him crouched down holding a pack of CD's and a small empty box.
"Yes. I'm afraid I'm going to be for the rest of the summer," he states, causing my heart to stop.
"Wait, what? Why? What's happened?" I ask quickly. He chuckles at my frantic state, and gets up from the ground.
"Oh it's nothing serious Roxas. I'm just taking a little vacation is all," he explains.
Oh, well that's good. I thought the store was in danger. But that doesn't change the fact that my favorite joint is going to be inaccessible for the remainder of my summer break. "Where are you headed?" I ask to be polite instead of freaking out on him.
"Oh, to my daughter's house down south. I haven't seen her or my grandkids in quite some time, and she and her husband invited me down. But I don't' have anyone to open the store while I'm gone, so I was just going to close it down. I feel bad for my employee, he really liked working here. Now he's going to have to find another job for the summer."
I didn't know Mr. Pearson hired someone. I guess I haven't been here in a while, ever since school let out. "I'm glad you're finally getting a break, but if I were to be completely honest, this really sucks."
He laughs and I smile. He was the nicest old guy I knew.
"Yes, I know how much you love my shop Roxas. But it's too much to leave on my employee who's not familiar with how I run the store…" Mr. Pearson says before trailing off. I stare at him, waiting for him to continue. "Wait, I just had a brilliant idea! Roxas, are you busy this summer with a job or something else?"
Was he going where I think he's going with this? "Nothing. Actually, I need to get a job this summer, since I moved in with my cousin and I want to help with food and rent. I also want to buy a new amp and bridge screws for my old guitar."
"Then I've got a proposition for you," he says smiling widely.
…
Okay. So it's my first day going in by myself. Mr. Pearson left for sunshine and beaches with his family yesterday after a few days of showing me the few things I didn't know. Now I'm in charge. I'm totally ready for this. I'm not freaking out.
I am totally freaking out.
When I told Axel about how Mr. Pearson offered me the temp-owner job, he was super excited for me. Hell, I was excited when he offered it to me in the first place. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. The most I've done during a job is work a register or retail. I've never actually been in charge before. I haven't even met the employee that Mr. Pearson was talking about yet! He told me his name, but that was all…
It's early, and the mall is mostly empty. Clutching the store keys in my pocket, I quickly make my way to Pearson Tunes before I lose my nerve.
"Okay Rox. You got this," I whisper to myself. Pulling the keys out, I look for the one that opens the front door. Being in the familiar setting must ease my nerves because I immediately start to feel better. I go around and cut on all the lights, set up the media players and turn on the store radio, which is playing current hits. Going to have to figure out how to change that, maybe hook up my iPod.
An hour passes and business is going better than expected. I had to inform a few of the regulars about the temporary change in ownership which they all seemed fine with. The one thing that does have me concerned is the fact that my co-worker hasn't decided to show up yet!
After a few minutes my mind wanders off as I sing along to the radio (I finally figured out how to change the station). I have it on an oldie station in commemoration of Mr. Pearson. Cause your kisses lift me higher, like a sweet song of a choir, and you light my morning sky with burning love. I continue listening to The King until I see a blur of red racing toward the store. Axel? I thought he was working today, what I he doing here? But once they enter the store, I see that I was mistaken.
"Sorry I'm late sir. I had-"
We both stop and stare at each other. This guy…looks really similar to Axel. Like, he's got the red hair, the green eyes, the tattoos. Though obviously different, but somehow…I don't know, I have this feeling that-
"And just who the hell are you?" he says with a grimace.
Um. "Roxas Stryker. Your new boss for the summer. And you must be…" my new rude tardy employee.
"Reno Fischer. And there aint no way I'm takin' orders from some 10 year old."
This feeling that it's going to be a long fucking summer.
Welcome, my friends. Welcome. TO THE RENO ARC!