Aaaaaaand here's chapter 14! Yes, I know, it's earlier than normal, but I don't feel like staying up till midnight to post this chapter, so...
Well, I have a few announcements to make in this author's note... you can read it if you want, but you don't have to. You might want to, of course, as what I have to say is very, very important. Kinda.
Alright, first of all, as you may know, what I have posted on this site is not everything I have written in this story. Want to know a secret? I HAVE 100,000 WORDS BABY! Just in this story, too. Plus, I'm at such a good part in the story :) I can't wait to get it up here XD
Second: I NEED A BETA FOR THIS STORY! Many people have told me they will, but when I ask them to help me, they either don't respond, or have too much crap to do. But if you're good at writing/editing, and you like this story, please, let me know, because I need someone to beta this who isn't a close friend of mine...
Third: All of you out there are writers, right? Or, most of you? Well, I have a site that I started with a friend of mine called The Onigiri Novelists. It's just a community for writers to get help, make friends, get rid of writer's block, etc, so if you want to join, the link is on my profile page :) Please join!
And finally, I need to know something. First, the next chapter of this story is over 20 pages long. I was wondering, do you want me to split it two chapters, or is one chapter sufficient for you guys? Oh! Nearly forgot. On Monday, I'm going to be posting a one shot for Valentine's day :) It's going to be about Riku and Ellie, so if you guys like that pairing, then you should read it :P It doesn't take place in Elephant though, and it is going to be rated M, so...
Anyway, enough about my rambling and onto the epicness that is Roxas getting drunk :P As always, please review (though I know you won't) and check out my poll! Thanks!
~Sunechirei
Full chapter title: Life's a bowl of punch; go ahead and spike it
"Axel, please tell me you aren't planning to do something to Roxas tonight," Ellie nearly begged, leaning against the wall, facing her friend. Her narrowed golden eyes were complimented by the silver, floor length silk dress that hugged her body, and light brown bangs that were slightly messy, but at the same time neat. The rest of her hair fell in tiny pieces onto her shoulders, though the bulk was pulled back into a tight bun. She seemed to be glaring at Axel, but there was a hint of amusement about her.
Axel let out a laugh, grinning as he turned to face his best friend. "What ever do you mean by this, dear Ellie," he cooed, pushing back his own fiery red hair, cut shorter just for this occasion.
All Ellie could do was roll her eyes at Axel. "Please, your little obsession with him hasn't gone unnoticed by anyone in the company," Axel raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms, and Ellie sighed. "I mean, no one other than Roxas has missed out on the fact you're totally in love with him. This party is the perfect time to do something to that poor boy," Ellie told him, pushing herself away from the wall. "Now, tell me you don't have anything planned."
A large hand came down to rest on Ellie's head, as Axel messed up her hair a bit. She swatted his hand away, only to see that his other arm was reaching into the dark coat that he wore. Slowly, he pulled out a small, glass bottle, a smirk on his face, and his eyes dark and mischievous.
"Of course I have something planned, dear Ellie. I always have something planned."
"Oh god, that's alcohol, isn't it," Ellie groaned, nearly slapping herself on the forehead.
"Hell yeah baby," Axel replied, shaking the bottle so the liquid swished around inside. "Nothing but pure vodka in this baby."
"Don't expect me to come to your funeral."
"Wasn't planning on it."
With another laugh, Axel pocketed his alcohol and waved goodbye to Ellie, who just rolled her eyes. As quickly as he could, Axel headed into the heart of the crowd that had congregated in the middle of the dance floor, searching desperately for the only other person he could stand being around, though at the same time, the only person Axel couldn't be near for long, without fear of doing something he would regret.
Roxas.
The one person Axel wanted to see everyday. The one guy that could make Axel smile, no matter what was said during their conversations; the one person in that work who actually treated Axel the way they felt about him, not just what they thought he wanted to be treated like. For seven months, Axel had been around this guy, and the crush that had started out small, turned into something much bigger, something Axel couldn't always control. It seemed like longer, maybe a year, but no. Only half a year since Roxas had joined the company.
And during that time, Roxas had done nothing but drive Axel insane at how incredibly stupid he was. For seven months; seven months, Axel had made it completely obvious he was interested in Roxas. Seven months! But did the teen ever seem to notice?
"What am I going to do about you, Roxie…," Axel muttered as his eyes landed on his co-worker. Nearly skipping, Axel took off towards him, extremely excited for what he was planning. As he neared, he noticed that Roxas was standing there alone, just staring out into space, though Axel had to admit the boy looked rather dashing in a suit. Normally, Roxas just wore regular clothing to work, well; he did after the first couple of weeks. But Axel assumed his mother had forced him into the fancy outfit, as this was a party she was hosting. Her son had to look good in front of the crowd.
"Well, well, well, look who we have here!"
The flinch that ran through Roxas was completely noticeable, and the blond turned around, a nasty glare etched onto his face.
"What, do you want," he hissed, eyes narrowing.
Ooh, he's irritable. This will be interesting.
"Nothing much. I was just passing by and happened to see you," Axel lied, leaning against the wall next to Roxas. "You looked lonely so I figured I'd come say hi." Roxas rolled his eyes and looked towards the stairs, most likely planning an epic escape. There's no way Axel was going to let him do that, not when he had such a devious idea. Placing his arm around Roxas' shoulder, he leaned down to whisper, "I thought you would like the company, especially since it's mine."
A sharp pain in the side was Roxas response, but when Axel looked up, he could see the teens face was bright red. Roxas was so into Axel; he just didn't seem to know it yet.
"I don't need any company," he snapped, trying to hide his embarrassment, "I only came to this because I have nothing better to do, but if you're going to be all weird with your boundary issues again, I'm just going to leave."
Boundary issues. That had always been Roxas' rational for why Axel was flirting with him.
"I'm sorry, Roxie-" a low hiss escaped the teens lips when Axel used his nickname, but this just made Axel want to tease the boy even more, "-I know these parties are really boring. You should just ditch, even though Tifa would be very disappointed."
"Don't talk about my mother to me. You don't know her at all!"
"Ooh, touchy." Axel grinned again. "Looks like something strange has been going on in the Strife household."
"Shut the hell up."
Axel knew there was something going on with Roxas' parents, he could see it in the way Cloud had been acting recently, but the way Roxas responded to Axel's statement was an obvious sign he was right about his guess. However, instead of feeling the need to make fun of Roxas in a rather flirty way, Axel decided to show his nice side.
"You know," he started, leaning against the wall, "it's okay if you want to talk about it. I won't do anything to you." Roxas looked down, and at first, Axel thought he was going to give in, and when the boy started shaking, Axel knew he had won. However, it soon became apparent that Roxas was laughing. The blond looked up at Axel, his blue eyes bright with amusement, and his lips curled into a smirk.
Axel was amazed at how hot Roxas looked when he had that expression on his face, but the red-head managed to keep his emotions under control.
Letting out a slight laugh, Roxas shook his head. "You? Not do anything? That's the best thing I've heard all night." He laughed again.
"I'm serious," Axel said in a whiny voice, feeling slightly hurt by what his crush was saying. "I won't do anything to make fun of you. I know what it's like to be with parents who fight all the time...," he trailed off, looking down at his feet as flashes of his past appeared in his conscience. Memories of his father, his mother in the hospital, walking the streets on Christmas Eve, being discovered by Ellie when he was near death.
"Hey, you okay?"
Roxas was looking over at Axel with a very worried expression, which caused Axel to desperately want to pull the young man into a hug and say "I'm fine," and "you don't need to worry about me," but Axel had a feeling he would get another painful jab in the stomach if he did so...
Sighing, Axel pushed away from the wall. "There's nothing wrong with me." He started to walk away, but stopped after a few steps and turned around again. "I'm going to go hang out with Ellie now, if you want me to leave you alone. See ya later." Once more, Axel started to walk away, but was stopped when a hand grabbed the back of his jacket. Turning, Axel was extremely surprised to see a pink faced Roxas holding onto the back of Axel's fancy coat, looking at his feet. Surprised; but also happy. "Can I help you?"
The blond let go of the jacket. "Well, no, not really, but you just looked so… well, sad. It kind of reminded me of that time we played that question game, and I asked you if you had a girlfriend-" Axel rolled his eyes at that, clearly remembering the stupid question he had been asked. Of all the things Roxas could have asked, and he chose the one that obviously had nothing to do with Axel. How stupid could a person get? Axel had been so pissed at that, he refused to talk to Roxas the rest of the way to Hallow Bastion. That was also partly because Axel didn't want to scream "bloody murder" at the poor idiot, but part of him wishes he had.
After all, how could he not tell that Axel was completely gay?
"Well… that was a different story," Axel began slowly, turning completely to face Roxas, "I just didn't know what to say to you after that, I wasn't sad."
"Oh."
Silence fell over the two men for a second, before Axel realized something. "Wait, did you think I had a bad breakup with a girl?" Roxas shot a cheeky grin at his co-worker as he nodded, obviously embarrassed by his assumption, and Axel felt the need to just randomly kiss the boy so Roxas finally figured out Axel was gay, but he had a feeling that would end badly, so he kept his feelings to himself. "Look, Roxie, I have never had a girlfriend before. Kay?"
Roxas let out a laugh.
"What?" Cocking his head to one side, Axel tried to figure out why Roxas was laughing. Was it a relieved laugh? A mocking laugh? Or a laugh that showed just how sorry Roxas felt for his red-headed co-worker?
"You've seriously never had a girlfriend? I thought chicks liked smart boys who're five years younger than them." Roxas covered his mouth, continuing to laugh as he said this, and Axel felt the dire need to slap Roxas over the head. Obviously this guy knew nothing about life, which would actually make sense.
"No, Roxie, I've never had a girlfriend, and most chicks don't like guys who are younger than them. It makes them seem old."
Roxas stopped laughing immediately. "Nami's older than I am…," he muttered, looking away, and Axel almost burst into fits of hysterical laughter. Almost. This was a good thing for Axel, as Naminé always got on his nerves about her being the first one to date Roxas. The two of them had been arguing about it ever since Naminé had forced Roxas to ask her out back in September. Well, not forced, but something close to it.
That cunning, conniving, bitchy little girl acts like she owned Roxas now, and hates me because I'm the one who gets to work with him all the time. Oh how I wish she would just-
Axel's vicious thoughts about the female were interrupted by Roxas calling out "hello" to try and get Axel's attention. Blinking, Axel looked down at him, not realizing he had just been spacing out.
"Dude, what's wrong with you tonight?" Roxas' voice was a little higher than normal. "I mean, first you come over here and try to act all understanding, then you get this look on your face like you just remembered the saddest day of your life, and as soon as I mention my girlfriend-" Axel had to control a hiss that was rising in his throat when Roxas said that Naminé was his girlfriend, "-you looks as though you're about to kill someone. Are you… bi-polar?"
"Excuse me?"
"Are you- wait, no, never mind." Roxas looked down at his feet, like he was embarrassed about something, but Axel was just marveling in this new crazy idea. He was neither bi, nor polar, and definitely not both at the same time.
"This kinda reminds me of the second time we met. Don't you agree?"
"Um… what are you talking about?"
Axel froze for a second, thinking about the second time he had met Roxas. It was in the elevator, right? On Roxas' first day of work.
Suddenly, Axel remembered that the first time he had met Roxas, the guy had been three years old, so obviously he wouldn't know about it. Laughing nervously, Axel patted Roxas on the head to try and distract the boy. "Sorry, sorry. I meant the first time we met. You know, in the elevator, when you asked me my name and I was started joking around with you and refused to answer the question you asked me so you said 'never mind…'"
"Oh. Right. Sorry." The two stopped talking, both looking in different directions, as an awkward silence fell over then. Out of the corner of his eye, Axel spotted Ellie again, chatting with her adoptive father, Ansem. She caught his eye and smirked, communicating a laughing mockery towards Axel with just one look. Obviously she knew Axel's plan wasn't working.
Desperate to prove her wrong, Axel decided to reform his plan.
"So, Roxie… still feeling a bit down about your parents?"
Roxas looked up at Axel, his blue eyes wide with confusion, and a blank expression on his face, like he was a zombie. "Um… a little bit. Why?"
"Well, you see, I was thinking that maybe you and I could, you know, duck out for a little bit, get away from the crowd, just chat, get some things off your chest, you know?" There was something about the low lights of the party, and the music playing in the background that made Axel think of this moment as something you would see in a movie. Roxas' eyes widened a bit, but quickly went back to normal as he glanced to the other side of the room, no doubt looking for his parents.
It was a desperate time for Axel as he watched Roxas ponder the offer that had been put out there, and he kept glancing back at Ellie who was laughing at something an old man Axel didn't know said. He assumed she actually wasn't cracking up at what this man had said, but more at the fact Axel was failing miserably.
Telepathically, Axel tried to tell her to shut up, but he has never had ESP powers so it didn't work very well.
"Um... actually that sounds kinda nice. If you don't mind." The nervous laugh that followed that sentence did absolutely nothing to push down the happiness that Axel was feeling at that moment.
"Seriously?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure. Why not."
"Alrighty then. I'm going to go get something to drink. You want something?" Axel asked, but continued before the blond could answer, "Good. I'll be right back." Practically skipping, Axel headed over to the refreshments table where Ellie was now standing. "Guess what?" The singsongy voice was annoying, even to Axel's ears, and he could tell it bugged Ellie as her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms.
Raising and eyebrow, she asked, "What?" before going back to the table to pick out some food.
Axel smirked, grabbing two cups and filling them with punch before reaching into his coat again and pulling out the bottle. Tipping it into one of the cups, his smirk turned into an actually smile as Ellie laughed, and once he was done, he turned around to face her.
"We're going to have a drunken Roxas on our hands."
Any other day, there would be no way Axel would have been able to pull of what he managed to do that night at the Christmas party, and that was to get Roxas drunk. Mainly because there were hundreds of people there, but also because it seems Roxas wanted to escape from reality for a bit.
"So, what are we going to talk about?" Axel leaned against the back of the couch, sparkling green eyes watching Roxas' every move.
"Hell if I know," Roxas muttered, taking a sip of the drink Axel had brought him. "This was your idea."
"Indeed it was. Doesn't mean I know what to do."
"Hm…"
The two sat in silence, staring at the room around them. Cushy couches lined the walls where bookshelves weren't, all with small pillows and a blanket thrown on them, and a simple table stood in the middle of the room, lined with photos of Roxas and his parents when he was younger, up to what Axel assumed was middle school. The windows were clad with burgundy curtains that matched the color of the couches perfectly, blocking out all of the moonlight that would normally be shining in the room. The only light was a small lamp in the corner of the room, which illuminated the most interesting thing Axel had ever seen in this house; a grand piano.
"Do you play?" Roxas cocked his head to one side, causing Axel to point to the piano behind him. "Do you play," he asked again. Sitting up, Roxas turned around to stare at the black instrument, before he let out a sigh.
"Kinda, not really. I know a few things about it, but I'm not very good. It's my mom who plays."
"Oh? Is she good?"
Silence answered Axel's question, but he associated that with the fact that Roxas was now holding his head, his eyes shut tightly. As the excitement built up in Axel, he leaned across the couch, hoping that Roxas wouldn't figure out what happened.
"Whoa, you look really sick. You okay?" Axel's voice was full of fake concern, trying very hard to mask the amusement and sadistic tone that begged to come out instead.
Shaking his head, Roxas looked up. "Um… yeah, I think so. Just a headache. And yeah, my mom is really good. She's won awards and what not." He took another sip from the cup spiked with alcohol, before standing up. "You know, now that I think about it, this drink tastes really weird. You didn't do something to it, did you?" The only time Axel didn't want Roxas to be smart and actually notice something, the blond did. It was just like Axel's luck.
"What? Of course not! Silly Roxie. Why would I do something to your drink? I could get in so much trouble for it. You're probably just imagining things because you want me to have done something."
"No I don't!" Roxas protested, his voice becoming whiny, then after a second's consideration added, "Or do I…?" Axel wanted to laugh at how much of a lightweight Roxas was. If he was already tipsy from a single drink... Of course, it didn't help that the boy had probably never had alcohol in his life before, and he was tiny, even if he denied it. Plus, he wasn't aware that Axel had spiked his drink.
Man, this is going to be so much fun when Roxas finally finishes. Axel thought to himself, I think I put enough alcohol in there...
"That doesn't matter though!" Roxas cried out suddenly, finishing his drink in one swing. "I'm too tired to talk about anything!" He slumped against his seat, closing his eyes with a sigh. "You're evil, you know that?"
Dang he was affected quickly! Axel snickered, which luckily went unnoticed by Roxas. "I'm evil? Why am I evil?" It was an honest question. It was still possible that Roxas had no idea Axel was trying to get Roxas to do admit something interesting by spiking his drink and watching the show with a front row seat.
"You did something to me! You know that, right?"
Oh shit! Did he figure it out? "I did? What did I do?"
"I don't know," Roxas's voice was becoming slurred and he let out a maniacal laugh. "All I know, is that when I'm around you, I feel all... weird, you know?"
"You feel weird?" Axel was completely into the conversation now, leaning forward with great interest. "How so?"
Roxas looked up at Axel, a smile on his face, and he stood up, stumbling over to Axel. "Hm... well," Roxas whispered, placing his hands on the armrests of the chair Axel was perched in, and leaned forward. Axel's eyes widened. "it's like I want to-" he leaned forward a little bit more, like he was going to, "-kill you or something!" The teen laughed, falling back onto his couch like he was some kind of maniac, and Axel let out a disappointed sigh. Roxas had been so close, and yet...
His thoughts trailed to giving up on Roxas. After all, you can't make someone be gay.
"Well, I already knew th-" A light snoring interrupted Axel in mid speech, and he looked down at a now sleeping Roxas. "-at..." A smile tugged at the corners of Axel's mouth, and his eyes went soft as he watched the sleeping boy. "Man, you really know how to get to a guy, don't you," Axel whispered, leaning against his arm. Roxas looked so... vulnerable and adorable as he slept, causing all thoughts of just giving up on him to fly out of Axel's mind. This guy was worth the trouble.
"Good night, Roxas."
Dun dun dun! Next chapter is really, really weird. Why, you ask? Ever hear of "The Princess Bride?"