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3am Challenge Day 3
Prompt: #170 - Unintended Humor (600 words)
Song: Vitamin String Quartet - Check Yes Juliet
Characters: Axel, Roxas, Xion, nameless shopkeeper
Time in the Organization was measured in strange ways. After all, when you technically didn't exist the days and weeks tended to skew together with unchanging skies and endless heart-shaped moons. Before you knew it, ten years had passed and you were stuck taking care of the newest batch of Nobodies to enter the circle.
Luckily – or maybe not – the two diminutive zombies had been there long enough to start gaining personalities of their own; unquenchable curiosity and all.
Axel groaned, running a hand over his face as he stared at the spot where the three of them were supposed to meet. "Great," he muttered, glancing around the empty rooftop. "Friggen' great. Third time this month."
It wouldn't have been so bad that Roxas kept running off if he was just by himself. The kid was pretty good about staying out of sight and not talking to strangers, and his skill with the Keyblade wasn't too shabby either. In all honesty, when it was just Roxas skipping off to do his own thing, he usually just went and found himself a place to perch and observe, holding onto little details to ask Axel about later on the clock tower.
No, the thing that was starting to rub Axel's nerves raw was that now Roxas had decided he was trained enough to start showing Xion around, too. Sense of time be damned, even Axel was aware enough of its passage to know that the tiny twins were nowhere near experienced enough to go cavorting around Twilight Town on their own. Especially since it was right about sunset and they'd stood their redheaded protector up yet again.
With a sigh of long suffering and a few muffled curses Axel trudged off down the tower stairs, resigned to scouring the town if needed. He was too annoyed to call up a corridor, figuring the walk might help him clear his head a little. He didn't need to be grumpy around the kids.
He spotted them easily as he came around the bottom of the stupidly-long hill. There they stood, holding hands in front of the accessory shop like a pair of salt and pepper shakers in their matching coats – a cheery-looking shopkeeper leaning over her counter and smiling just a little too brightly. Not wanting to deal with her, Axel approached quietly and kept to the wall where he'd be harder to notice.
"You two look so cute together," he heard the shopkeeper coo.
Axel snorted.
The lady sighed dreamily. "I remember my first boyfriend used to hold my hand like that, too, like he never wanted to let go."
Axel felt his face contort in horror. "Boyfriend?!" he repeated silently. He was going be forced to explain what that meant later on, he just knew.
His fears were confirmed when Xion, epitome of innocence, echoed the word back curiously. Before Axel could listen for the shopkeeper's response, though, Roxas' voice cut through the quiet with a happy cry of, "Oh! Hi, Axel!"
He made a mental note to chastise them both later. Stepping out from his hiding spot, Axel raised a hand in awkward greeting. "Hey."
The lady smiled. "Hello! A friend of yours?"
Xion nodded enthusiastically, reaching out to capture one of Axel's hands in her free one and tug him closer. "Yep! He's my other boyfriend!"
Silence.
The shopkeeper gaped, a slight choking noise escaping her wide-open mouth. "O-other boyfriend?"
Axel slapped a hand against his burning face. "O-kay!" he blurted, voice high and oddly pinched. "Time to go now, kids! That word doesn't mean what you think it does!"