Persistence Pays Off... Eventually - Non-JRock, Kingdom Hearts II, Axel/Roxas
Title: Persistence Pays Off… Eventually
Author: Kagome
Warnings: AU, sexual content, lots and lots of snark, language, some fluff.
Rating: Hard R
Characters/Pairings: Axel/Roxas, side pairings of Riku/Sora and Kairi/ Naminé
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.
Summary: Roxas is going to make Axel like him whether Axel is fond of the idea or not.
Comments: This is totally late and is totally for roterhimmel. She requested fic in which Roxas is chasing after Axel, instead of the other way around. This was born. So we have teenage!Roxas mooning over collegeboi!Axel, who happens to work at the movie theater which Roxas and his friends frequent (of course, Axel is a new face~). This fic is mostly humorous. You will find no angst. roterhimmel, I’m sorry it took forever, but enjoy, bb!
Persistence Pays Off… Eventually
On a small island such as theirs, there isn’t much to do on the weekends, and so they begin a ritual of getting together every Saturday night, going to the mainland, and buying movie tickets. It doesn’t matter what the movie is-whether it’s scary or funny or sickeningly sappy or ridiculously depressing. It’s a movie, and it’s something for them to do for a couple of hours.
It’s better than staring at the ceiling or watching paint dry, anyway.
It’s Saturday and, as usual, the four of them are standing outside the theater, waiting for tickets. Tonight, they’re going to be watching a slasher film that got crappy reviews, but oh well.
Roxas notices right away that something isn’t quite right-something is different. It dawns on him after a moment that the person handing out tickets isn’t Hayner (whom he is used to seeing) at all. This guy is new, and he’s tall-red hair and the most beautiful green eyes that Roxas has ever seen. They remind him of emeralds.
“He’s new,” he remarks after a moment (he’s distracted, honestly).
“And you’re staring,” Riku relies dryly, which causes Kairi to giggle.
Roxas blushes. He hadn’t known he’d been openly staring.
“Cut him some slack, Riku,” Sora says, his gaze following Roxas’. “At least the guy’s a hottie.”
Riku is at once sullen, glaring and puffing his chest out like a petulant child.
Sora hurries to remedy the situation, smiling brightly and leaning in close, linking his fingers with Riku’s. “But nobody’s as hot as you, baby.”
This seems to make Riku feel a lot better.
“Maybe you should talk to him a little,” Kairi suggests. “You know, introduce yourself and stuff, since you’re staring at him like that.”
It takes Roxas about a half-second to get up the nerve and decide, “Maybe I will.”
Sora and Riku sigh heavily, and Sora places a hand on Roxas’ shoulder. “No stupid shit, okay? You have to be subtle. Smooth.”
Roxas blinks, incredulous. “I’m always smooth.”
He pointedly ignores the ‘we’re doomed’ look that Riku gives Kairi and Sora, and when it’s their turn to purchase tickets, he approaches the ticket booth with a sweet, wide (goofy) smile and blurts: “Hi. I’m Roxas, and I think you’re really cute. What’s your name, cutie?”
Behind him, Sora facepalms.
The gorgeous redhead in question looks at him like he’s nothing special - an escaped psycho from the local asylum, perhaps - and points wordlessly to his nametag (of course, Roxas should’ve known that he could simply look at the guys nametag-all of the employees here wear them), still looking disinterested.
Roxas peers at the letters on the nametag, repeats ‘Axel’ over and over again in his mind before spelling it aloud: “A-X-E-L. Axel.”
“That’s right,” the redhead drawls, shifting his weight and leaning a little to the left. “Got it memorized? You’ve been staring at it long enough.”
Roxas, mesmerized by the shine of those emerald eyes, smiles goofily again. “I sure do,” he says happily, feeling victorious already. “I’m like an elephant! I never forget.”
Axel is clearly not amused. “They never say anything about the brainwashed elephants, do they?”
Roxas gives him a puzzled look. “Brainwa-huh?”
And then Sora and Kairi are grabbing him and hauling him away towards the theater entrance, leaving Riku behind to take care of the tickets.
“Hey!” Roxas says in protest, struggling a little, but their hold his firm.
“Sorry,” Sora apologizes, though he doesn’t really sound apologetic at all. “We had to intervene before you made an even idiot out of yourself.”
“But I was being smooth,” Roxas says, still half-heartedly struggling. Did those dummies not know smooth, even in its presence?
“Of course you were,” Kairi all but croons, as though she is addressing a five-year-old who is on the verge of a temper-tantrum.
Roxas sighs, inwardly vowing that next week, he’ll do better. Next week, he’ll get Axel to like him.
~*~
Next Saturday, Roxas approaches the ticket booth with a wide smile, and Axel only offers him a blank look for his efforts. He uses the money they’ve pooled together to purchase the tickets this time, without incident.
Well… without much of an incident, anyway.
“You know,” Axel begins after handing Roxas the tickets, “I’m pretty sure your girlfriend doesn’t appreciate you giving me googly-eyes.”
“I am not giving you googly-eyes,” Roxas replies haughtily (while giving Axel googly-eyes). “And she isn’t my girlfriend.”
Axel gives Kairi a once-over and then asks, “Why not? She’s a good catch-pretty hair, nice eyes, great body.” He winks, and Roxas can practically feel the heat radiating off of Kairi. He doesn’t have to look at her to know she is blushing.
“I like redheads with green eyes,” Roxas chirps, and Axel frowns, clearly displeased with Roxas’ answer.
“Enjoy your movie,” he says through tightly-clenched teeth. Most people - smart, normal people - would take the hint and move on-would take it to mean that further conversation was not at all desired.
Roxas takes it to mean, ‘stay and chat with me a while’.
In the end, Sora and Kairi drag him away from the ticket booth again, Sora grumbling something about ‘unsmooth idiots’ and Kairi spluttering the word ‘girlfriend’ over and over very indignantly. Riku is behind them and he’s grumbling too.
“Next week,” Roxas says to no-one in particular, another wide grin plastered on his face.
This is obviously going to take some work, but Roxas is stubborn and he doesn’t give up. He is capable of being very patient sometimes.
He knows that, in the end, it’ll all be worth it.
~*~
“So you like movies,” Roxas asks on the following Saturday, and Axel gives him another one of those blank looks of his.
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the brightest question to ask.
“You know,” Axel says, “you’d be a lot better off if you just asked that cute girl you’re always with to be your girlfriend, seriously. Or if you asked that Naminé chick-she comes here a lot.”
“Why is that?” Roxas asks, at the same moment Sora says, “Kairi might be interested in asking her out!” (This earns him a none-too-gentle elbow in the ribs).
“Because,” Axel replies, eyes narrowed, “I don’t like you.”
Again, any normal, smart person would have taken the hint (that wasn’t even really a hint this time-Axel was making it very obvious), but Roxas apparently isn’t smart or normal, because Axel’s comment doesn’t faze him at all. He only smiles and assuredly replies, “But you will.”
Axel says nothing-he merely glares, and he doesn’t look happy in the slightest.
This time, it is Riku who drags Roxas away from the ticket booth. Sora and Kairi follow-Sora is trying to convince Kairi to ask Naminé out, and Kairi is trying to convince Sora to shut the hell up.
“You really are a colossal idiot sometimes, Rox,” Riku mutters under his breath. “That guy… he was glaring daggers at you. If looks could kill, you’d be dead right now.”
Roxas doesn’t listen to him because, hey, what does he know, anyway?
~*~
Next Saturday, the excuses start.
“I don’t like you,” Axel tells him again. “You aren’t my type.”
Roxas, perfectly oblivious to the others waiting for tickets in line behind them, demands, “Why not?”
“You aren’t my type,” Axel repeats, as if Roxas is hard of hearing (or stupid, or both).
“Why not?” Roxas asks again, because he wants an answer to his question and he knows that Axel is only evading-nothing more.
“You’re too young for one thing,” Axel replies coolly, emerald eyes serious.
Roxas, in a very childish manner, stomps one foot and says, very loudly, “I am not too young!”
Axel doesn’t look convinced. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” Roxas announces proudly (and no, he doesn’t hold his fingers up to show his age-I’m this many!).
“Exactly.” Axel waves at Roxas then, like he’s a bothersome fly instead of a human being, and Roxas leaves the ticket booth of his own free will this time, feeling triumphant instead of defeated.
“I’m getting somewhere,” he tells his friends, and all of them look about as convinced as Axel had.
“No you’re not,” Kairi and Riku say in unison.
“Yes I am,” Roxas insists. “He’s making excuses now. That’s progress.”
Sora rolls his eyes. “No. That’s his way of letting you down without looking like a total bastard in the process. He’s not interested.”
Roxas doesn’t listen-Sora’s words go in one ear and out the other.
He’s come to the conclusion that Sora doesn’t know anything, either.
~*~
Next Saturday, Riku insists that he hold onto their money and purchase the tickets, and Sora and Kairi agree.
“You spend too much time trying to talk to Axel,” Kairi explains.
“Yeah,” Sora says. “And the people in line behind us get mad. Last week, I thought they were going to form an angry mob or something.”
“If they would’ve, I would have let them have you,” Riku says sullenly. “Would’ve put you out of your misery, at least.”
“I’m not miserable,” Roxas protests as they approach the ticket booth, and Axel dryly says: “You’re not in denial, either.”
Roxas starts to reply but Kairi covers his mouth before he can. “You can argue with him after the movie,” she hisses, and then she drags him inside all demanding-like.
“If you weren’t a girl,” Roxas tells her once they’re inside, “I swear I’d hit you… or something.”
Kairi rolls her eyes, clearly not intimidated. “Of course you would.”
“Yeah, I would,” he replies lamely before falling silent, just in time for Sora and Riku to walk into the theater, hand-in-hand. He feels a sudden surge of jealousy as he realizes that he’d really like to have that, too. With Axel. He doesn’t say it, though.
The movie that they wind up watching is one of those tear-jerkers. It makes Kairi teary-eyed (as Roxas figures it’s supposed to), and Sora and Riku glance at the screen every now and again (in-between make-out sessions) and roll their eyes.
Roxas feels like crying, though not because the movie is particularly sad or moving. He wants to cry because this is two hours of his life that he’s never going to get back. He is literally almost bored to tears.
Frowning, he turns to Kairi, who clutches at his shirt sleeve and looks at him with her wide, tear-filled, pretty blue eyes. He panics a little, thinking that she might actually cry, but thankfully, she doesn’t.
“It’s so beautiful,” she says, voice small. Her slender fingers move from Roxas’ shirt, and Roxas feels a little less trapped.
“Uhh… yeah,” he agrees absentmindedly, even though he thinks the movie is stupid. He gently nudges at her legs. “Let me by. I need to pee.”
She makes an ‘I-didn’t-need-to-know-that’ face at him but moves her legs out of the way without a word. Roxas slides past her, and then heads for the nearby door, exiting the room. He bypasses the restrooms altogether, and heads outside to the ticket booth.
Axel isn’t there, but he isn’t far away. He is standing in the designated smoking area, a cigarette held in his fingers. He sees Roxas and makes a sour face, looking down at his not-even-half-finished cigarette. He bravely holds his ground.
“Those are bad for you, you know,” Roxas gravely informs as he approaches, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
Axel takes a long drag and then exhales. “Yeah, well, so is repeated exposure to stupidity, but you won’t leave me the hell alone.”
Roxas pretends to not have heard. “How have you been lately?” he asks, like he’s talking to an old friend he hasn’t seen in months or years.
Axel’s emerald eyes narrow. “What’s it to you?” he asks, taking another drag of his cigarette. “Not like we know each other.”
“I want to,” Roxas replies, and his voice sounds a little small. “Get to know you, that is.”
Axel heaves a weary sigh. “I have to hand it to you, kid. You are the most persistent person I have ever met in my life.”
“Do you find persistence to be an attractive quality?” Roxas asks hopefully.
Axel scoffs. “Not in this case. In this case, I find it to be very annoying.” He waves towards the theater doors. “Shouldn’t you be in there?”
Roxas shakes his head. “Movie is stupid. I wanted to stay out here for a little while.”
Axel makes a face, as though sharing the same breathing space with Roxas is a little too much to ask for. In the end, though, he shrugs and says, “Your waste of money, and your waste of time.”
Roxas smiles, happy that Axel has not told him to leave. “I don’t see it as a waste of anything.”
Axel sighs again, not looking at Roxas as he replies, “You know, if you’re into guys, you should find someone that would be your type. Go stalk Demyx.”
Roxas knows who Demyx is: The boy at the concession stand with dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. He is boyishly handsome and has a sweet smile, but he doesn’t make butterflies flutter in Roxas’ stomach the way Axel does.
“Not interested,” he says decisively. “I don’t think he’s my type.”
Axel frowns at him, obviously not happy with Roxas’ answer. “He’d be good for you. Gentle.”
“And you’re saying you can’t be gentle?” Roxas asks, the unbidden thought of Axel shoving him against the wall sending a thrill of almost-fear and definite lust through him.
“I’m saying you and me wouldn’t work.” Axel says it like he wants it to be the end of the argument, but Roxas refuses to go down that easily.
“I’ll be waiting for you to change your mind,” Roxas replies in a sing-song voice, all smiles and confidence.
Axel tilts his head to one side and then shrugs again. “Suit yourself,” he says, “but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. You’d die.” He then takes another long drag from his cigarette, tosses it on the sidewalk and scrapes it across the concrete with the toe of his boot before blowing his smoke right in Roxas’ face. Without another word, he turns on his heel and goes back into the air-conditioned booth, leaving Roxas standing there and staring after him, holding his breath.
Later, Sora asks him if he has stomach problems, because he noticed his absence from the movie earlier. “Something give you the shits?” are his exact words, and then he gets a whiff of Roxas and wrinkles his nose. “Since when do you smoke?”
“He doesn’t,” Kairi informs. “Axel does.”
Roxas gapes at her, surprised.
“I’m not an idiot,” she tells him as she looks into the little hand-held mirror that she brought with her, touching up her eyeliner. “I notice things.”
“He’s going to get a restraining order on you,” Riku tells him. “And when he does, and you violate it, don’t expect us to bail your crazy ass out of jail.”
Roxas gives him the finger.
~*~
“You just can’t take the hint, can you?” Axel asks next Saturday as he takes a drag from his cigarette and gives Roxas a version of what Roxas assumes to be the evil eye.
Roxas has snuck out (well, not really ‘snuck’, as his friends knew where he was heading anyway-Riku was even kind enough to whisper ‘restraining order’ as Roxas made his way down the aisle) yet again, because he can’t seem to keep himself away from Axel despite Axel’s attempts to make him do just that: stay away from him.
But Axel is like some twisted addiction-seeing him brightens Roxas’ day, no matter how unfriendly his comments are.
Roxas shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m not a very good listener, and I’m stubborn.”
“So am I,” Axel retorts, giving Roxas a blank look. “I bet you’ll crack before I do.”
“I bet I won’t,” Roxas replies, and he is absolutely sure of himself: Axel will give in eventually, he knows. No way he can resist his charm forever.
Axel snorts and mutters something about denial.
“Besides,” Roxas adds, almost as an afterthought, “you seem to be tolerating me now.”
Axel glares - one of those ‘clean up on aisle seven - glares, and Roxas almost takes a step back. Idly, he wonders if the whole ‘if looks could kill’ saying is more than just a saying. Should he be running for cover?
“It’s not that,” Axel answers with false sweetness, an equally-fake smile plastered on his face. “It’s just that killing you might get me sent to jail. You see, I’d be murdering you at my place of employment, and I have no clue where I’d hide your body.” He pauses, and then thoughtfully sais, “I suppose I could drown you in the toilet or push you down the stairs, but I’m pretty sure your friends would incriminate me. I can’t handle a criminal record.”
Roxas blinks, and then blinks again. “You’re threatening murder now?”
Cigarette dangling between his lips, Axel answers, “Only half-heartedly, although I suppose maybe the second-hand smoke will kill you in due time. Too bad it’ll take repeated exposures over a long period of time, and I’m not up to the challenge.” He eyes Roxas critically. “What are you doing out here now, anyway?”
Roxas almost tells him the real reason, but he figures ‘I just wanted to be near you’ will get nothing more than a laugh, and so he casts about for an idea while he lets himself become mesmerized again by those depthless emerald eyes.
His gaze travels to Axel’s hair and he blurts: “Is your hair really that red, or did you dye it?”
Axel takes his cigarette from between his lips and raises an eyebrow. “I suppose you’re wanting to know if the ‘carpet matches the drapes’, as they say it?”
Roxas instantly blushes tomato red. “No!” he splutters hurriedly. “You’re putting words in my mouth-it isn’t fair! My mind didn’t go there!”
Until Axel pushed it there, of course.
“You’re thinking it now though,” Axel replies, and he seems almost smug.
“It’s your fault,” Roxas grumbles, his face growing redder and hotter by the moment.
“Well,” Axel says as he puts out his cigarette, using the side of the building this time instead of the sidewalk, “I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that answer either. Not like it’s your business anyway, and it’s not like I’ll ever tell - or show - you.” As he walks away, he says something about Roxas being a pervert.
And Roxas can’t seem to stop blushing.
When he tries to explain it to his friends later (he should have known better than to bother trying), he only gets odd looks and a few hyena laughs at his expense.
“Wow,” Sora says between chuckles, “this makes your would-be record even worse: Now you’re a perverted stalker!”
“I’m not a stalker!” Roxas protests, and quieter, “Or a pervert!”
But they’re too busy laughing to listen.
~*~
Another Saturday, another movie, and this one is actually pretty interesting, but Roxas would rather spend time with Axel than watch the movie, so he excuses himself he doesn’t bother to lie this time because it isn’t like they don’t already know where he’s going) and heads to the same spot he went to the previous Saturday and the one before that (he thinks he can call this a routine now). As expected, Axel is smoking, and Roxas moves to stand beside him so that he’s not in the direct path of the smoke.
“Hey,” he says, and receives a brief nod in return, which is better than what he’d gotten last week.
They’re quiet for a moment - Roxas can’t think of much to say after the carpet and drapes comment last week - and then Axel speaks: “You know what really annoys me about you? Aside from everything, I mean? We’re talking specifics here.”
Roxas hesitantly takes the bait. “What?” Because aside from his persistence and not-stalking and non-googly eyes and non-childish behavior (of course he isn’t in denial!), Roxas can’t think of a single thing, really.
“The fact that you’re so goddamn passive about all of this,” Axel replies, and he actually does sound rather annoyed. Well… more annoyed than he usually sounds in Roxas’ presence, anyway.
He’s never able to truly think clearly around Axel, so perhaps it should be of no surprise to him that Axel’s words have confused him. “I don’t understand,” he admits. “Passive?”
“I mean, you come over here--” Axel makes gestures with his hands while he holds the cigarette between his lips “-to me, and you make all of these lame comments-sorry kid, but smooth isn’t your middle name. It’s not even on the same planet you’re on. Anyway, you say all of this crap and you don’t listen when I want you to leave, and you make googly-eyes at me--”
“I do not!” Roxas interrupts, frowning (and, yet again, making googly-eyes).
Axel rolls his eyes. “And you sit there like a fucking bump on a log, drowning in your unsmoothness, and sucking in secondhand smoke, and you expect me to be impressed.”
Sometimes, the truth hurts. Sometimes, the truth turns seventeen-year-old boys into three-year-old brats.
“Well what do you suggest then, Mr. Smooth?” Roxas asks as he places his hands on his hips and glares at the object of his desire. Belatedly, he realizes that he must look either like Axel’s mother or like one of those men on ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’, and he puffs his chest out and crosses his arms over his chest instead.
Now, he possibly looks like a more-ridiculous-and-less-threatening version of a blowfish.
“Take some fucking initiative,” Axel replies, throwing both hands in the air as if he’s suddenly disgusted with the whole world. “Have some balls, kid! You’re never going to get anything you want by babbling your head off and making googly-eyes and grabby hands.”
Roxas has about a half-second to think about this before his body is acting without his mind’s permission, and he is suddenly snatching the cigarette out of Axel’s fingers and stubbing it out. Between one eye-blink and the next, he’s crushed his lips against Axel’s and he’s kissing him-really kissing him, and it’s shockingly good… amazing, even.
Even more amazing is the fact that Axel lets him. He even parts his lips a little for Roxas’ questing tongue, and maybe he does it out of pure boredom, but Roxas doesn’t care: the bottom line is that Axel is kissing him back.
Roxas has no time to be nervous, no opportunity to back down (because he won’t give himself one), and so he explores Axel’s mouth, remembering each taste because he doesn’t know when or if he’ll be given this opportunity again.
He can taste tobacco and mint and something that seems faintly fruity (strawberries, he thinks), but mostly, there’s a taste that he doesn’t know how to describe, and his muddle brain simply identifies it as Axel. He leaves it at that.
When he eventually pulls back, he’s breathing deeply and his head is spinning and he feels both terrified and actually pretty damn proud of himself.
“How was that for initiative?” he demands.
“I dunno,” Axel replies, and he smiles - really smiles - for the very first time since they met, and it’s beautiful and it makes Roxas’ breath hitch and makes his heart skip a beat.
“Why don’t we try again?” Axel asks as he drags Roxas closer by the collar of his shirt, and then they’re kissing again, except only this time, it’s Axel’s tongue in his mouth, Axel’s hands on his waist, and Roxas’ poor little lovestruck self feels like he might spontaneously combust.
When they break apart this time, both of them are breathing hard.
“Well?” Roxas asks when he feels like it is safe to talk again.
Axel shrugs a little, a small smirk playing on his lips. “It was all right. What do you think?”
‘All right?’ Roxas almost splutters, but doesn’t. He almost returns the words, but he doesn’t do that, either. He’s been taught to give credit where credit is due, and so he says, “That was… pretty amazing,” and he means it.
And there’s that beautiful smile again, and there are no regrets.
He wanders back to his seat between Sora and Kairi in a daze, and after the movie is over and everyone begins to leave, he remains where he is.
Kairi waves a hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention, and Sora lightly shakes him, informing that it’s time to go.
He is quite aware that he is staring off into space with a wide goofy grin plastered on his face.
“Well,” Riku says, “at least when you go to jail, you can plead insanity. You look crazy enough right now.”
But Roxas is on cloud nine, and he doesn’t hear a word of it.
~*~
Roxas has all sorts of butterflies in his stomach on the following Saturday when he goes to the usual spot to see Axel (he saw him at the ticket booth earlier but he didn’t speak with him). Axel is in the smoking area, but he is not smoking.
“Come on,” he says as he grabs Roxas by the wrist and takes him to the parking lot out back. Roxas stares at him in confusion, and he becomes even more confused when they come to a halt in front of a dark blue Mustang.
“Uhm?” is all Roxas manages to ask before Axel unlocks the doors and gently nudges him into the backseat.
“This doesn’t mean that I like you or anything, got it?” Axel says haughtily as he climbs into the backseat beside Roxas.
Roxas nods mutely, even though he secretly doesn’t quite believe the redhead.
Axel fiddles around with his cell phone for a few seconds, pressing a couple of buttons, and then he closes it, turning to half-smirk at Roxas. “Ten minutes, Roxy. Better make them count.”
“Ten minutes?” Roxas asks dumbly. “For what?”
Axel places his fingers under Roxas’ chin and makes him lift his head so that they are looking at one another. There is a knowing look in his eyes as he leans down, pressing his lips to Roxas’, and suddenly, Roxas understands.
Before he can fully come to grips with what’s happening, however, he’s kissing Axel like there’s no tomorrow-like Axel is air and sun and sky and Roxas wants all of it, everything that Axel has to give.
He’s in Axel’s lap, his hands in Axel’s hair, Axel’s mouth on his neck and Axel’s hands under his shirt (and he can feel Axel’s cock against his own, hard and straining, and it doesn’t scare him-he thinks there’s too many clothes in the way) when Axel’s cell phone starts ringing.
“Ten minutes are up,” Axel breathes against Roxas’ neck, and he licks that spot, sending a fresh wave of lust straight through him, making him positively ache.
“No,” he says in protest, wriggling purposefully against Axel, making the redhead groan. “No. I want--”
“Not getting fired,” Axel replies, and then he moves, unceremoniously dumping Roxas and onto the seat before sliding out of the car. He’s busy scribbling something onto a piece of paper when Roxas finally manages to gather his wits and stumble out of the car.
He has to clear his voice twice before he can ask, “What’s that?”
“My number,” Axel replies, handing the slip of paper to him. “Tell your friends that you won’t be going to the movies with them next week.”
Roxas’ head is still reeling from the events in Axel’s car, and he mumbles, “What? Why?”
“Because I am taking next Saturday off and you’re going to be in my apartment with me.”
“Oh,” Roxas says, for lack of a better thing to say. And then, “Oh.” He’s grinning like an idiot again, he knows.
Axel frowns, grabbing him by the wrist again and dragging him back towards the theater. “Stop smiling like an idiot. Get back to your movie.”
Roxas staggers back into the theater and back into his seat, surprised that he manages to make it there without tripping over his own feet. Thankfully, his friends don’t ask him any questions.
Until the movie is over, that is.
“You don’t smell like smoke today,” Kairi says as they step outside.
“Did you finally take the hint and leave the poor guy alone?” Riku asks.
“If he left Axel alone today, then… damn, he must have really had to take a dump.”
Leave it to Sora to always be the sensitive one.
“No,” Axel says as he approaches them, winking at Roxas. “I didn’t smoke-found more interesting ways to pass the time.”
“What?” Sora asks incredulously.
“And don’t look for him next week,” Axel adds. “He’ll be at my place with me. I’m taking the night off.”
Now they’re all gaping at Roxas dumbfoundedly, and Roxas has to admit that it feels pretty damn good.
~*~
Next Saturday, he shows up at Axel’s place as planned (dutifully following the directions that Axel relayed to him over the phone), and Axel waves him in, plays the part of the gracious host, and asks if he wants something to eat or something to drink. Roxas shakes his head, and then starts looking around the apartment.
Sora sends him a text message, and he barely glances at it. It says something to the effect of, Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, which is pretty much useless, because Sora would do just about anything, if what Riku says is true (and Roxas is pretty sure it is).
And then Kairi sends him a text, which reads, I asked Naminé to come with us, and she said yes. He smiles for her.
Predictably, Riku sense him a message right after that. Don’t try to be a romantic chicken-shit.
“They’re really hounding you, aren’t they?” Axel asks, and Roxas jumps a little guiltily, which Axel apparently finds to be amusing, because he smiles. “Don’t worry about them, okay? And if you want, you can tell them that I’m not going to kill you and hide your dead body in the freezer. Scout’s honor.” He does a little salute then, and Roxas returns his smile.
“I’m not going to tell them anything,” Roxas replies, and then he turns his cell phone off and places it on the nearby coffee table. “… Show me around?”
He learns quickly that Axel is a bit of a neat-freak. Everything is organized-books are in alphabetical order, and so are his CDs and DVDs. Everything seems to have its own place, and it’s actually surprising because Roxas didn’t figure Axel to be the neat-freak type.
“You’re surprisingly neat,” Roxas tells him, and Axel glares.
“Forgive me, Your Highness, for not inviting you into a pigsty. I’ll try to remind myself to leave everything scattered everywhere and I’ll even track some mud in for you next time,” Axel replies.
All Roxas hears is ‘next time’ and it makes his heart soar.
“Next time,” Roxas echoes, and smiles.
Axel, looking mildly panicked, begins backpedaling. “Reading too much into it, kid. Don’t’ start acting like a sappy girl on me.” And then he places his hand on Roxas’ shoulder and steers him back into the living room, explaining that he believes it would be highly appropriate if they watched a movie together.
Axel chooses an action movie-a genre that Roxas usually likes, but he gets bored with the movie in the middle. Or maybe he just gets horribly distracted by Axel’s proximity. Either way, he’s not really wanting to continue pretending to watch the movie anymore.
“Axel,” he tentatively begins, and Axel turns to look at him questioningly, “Can we… uh… pick up where we left off in the back of your car?”
Axel grins, and it is smug. “I was wondering when you’d crack.”
He leans forward, closing the distance between them and pressing his lips to Roxas’, and Roxas loses all concept of time and place-all he knows is that Axel’s lips are warm and his tongue is warmer, and his kisses are hungry and deep and thorough, and even though it’s actually happening, Roxas still can’t quite process it-he doesn’t know how he managed to get into this wonderful position.
Oh Axel’s couch, in Axel’s lap, Roxas learns that it feels pretty good when Axel’s fingers brush against his nipples. He learns that it feels even better when those same fingers roll his nipples between them.
And by the time Axel’s hand has slid down his pants and those clever fingers have curled around his cock, Roxas is whimpering and clutching at the redhead and kissing every single patch of bare skin that he can reach, and his hips are moving without his permission, grinding against Axel’s hand.
“Hey Roxy,” Axel whispers, voice low and eyes heavy-lidded, “time for the bedroom? You haven’t seen it yet.”
But Roxas doesn’t want to move. “Can’t we stay here?” He doesn’t quite trust his legs to carry him anywhere at the moment, anyway.
“Well, the lube is in the bedroom and I’m sure we’ll be needing that,” Axel replies reasonably.
“Oh.” Now Roxas feels stupid.
Axel half-carries him to the bedroom because his legs really don’t want to work, after all, and that’s when Roxas becomes nothing more than a trembling bundle of nervous anticipation.
“You aren’t afraid of this, are you?” Axel asks, his eyes narrowed, and he’s undressing, and Roxas can’t take his eyes off of him.
Roxas shakes his head mutely, wishing he could stop trembling.
Axel (half-naked), sighs and steps close to him, cupping his cheek with one hand. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he says, and then adds, “idiot” to the end of his sentence, as if he’s trying to make his words sound less nice.
It doesn’t keep Roxas from feeling warm all over, though. Axel obviously does care.
“I know that,” he replies timidly. “It’s just that… uhm. I’ve never… not like this.”
Axel frowns slightly. “It’s just sex, Roxy. Not rocket science. I’ll show you.”
And he proceeds to do just that.
In Axel’s bedroom-in his bed and underneath his hands and mouth and with Axel inside of him, Roxas learns a few more things, those being that Axel really is a natural redhead (the carpet matches the drapes, yes), and…
And Axel really can be gentle when he wants to be.
(Axel threatens to kill him and hide his body in the freezer if he ever breathes a word to anyone about this gentle side of him, but Roxas admittedly has some difficulty believing this after what has just taken place between them).
~*~
They’re back at the movies next Saturday-Axel is doing his job and Roxas is out with his friends (who’ve been picking on him all afternoon). Naminé is with them, too-it seems that she and Kairi have become a ‘thing’, which Roxas thinks is wonderful. Firstly, because Kairi is happy. Secondly, because he’s tired of people mistaking her for his girlfriend.
Axel grins slyly at him while they’re purchasing tickets and asks, “Enjoying yourself, Roxy? I know you will be later.”
Roxas blushes madly, but at the same time, he’s quite pleased with Axel’s complete turn-around. His teasing is lighter these days, friendlier. He’s still a sarcastic pain in the ass at times, but Roxas wouldn’t change it - wouldn’t change him - for anything.
Kairi and Naminé giggle, and Riku and Sora laugh so hard that Roxas is certain that if they were drinking anything, it’d be spewing out of their noses right now.
The movie - which Roxas did not pick - is one of those sappy love stories that makes teenage boys want to puke (except only Roxas kinda likes some parts, a little). Riku and Sora are busy laughing and pointing and commenting on how cheesy some of the dialogue is, but from the corner of his eye, Roxas can see that they’re holding hands.
Naminé and Kairi are eating it all up, gazing at the screen with adoring looks on their faces.
Typical girls, Roxas thinks, and then his cell phone vibrates in his pocket and he reaches for it, flipping it open and smirking down at the message on the screen: Not sneaking out to see me today? Waiting for you in the bathroom. It’s empty sans me.
“Going to see Axel,” he tells the others, and as he stands, he hears Riku and Sora whisper, “Oooooh,” quite loudly. Of course, it would figure that they’d tease him even now, when Axel is no longer trying to make him go away and leave him alone.
He rolls his eyes at their teasing and heads for the men’s bathroom, where Axel is waiting for him, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.
“So,” Roxas begins as he comes to a stop in front of Axel, “why the change of scenery?”
Axel gives him one of those ‘are you stupid or something?’ looks and then tugs Roxas closer, pressing his lips against Roxas’ neck. “More privacy in here, genius. Figure we’d have a little fun. Do I always have to point the obvious out to you?”
Roxas tries to glare, but it’s a little difficult to do when Axel is so close, and touching him. “But… ah, what if someone walks in? What if someone hears, and--?”
Axel steers him into the nearest stall and closes the door behind them, and then leans in close again, whispering his next words against Roxas’ lips. “That’s why you’re going to have to be quiet. Think you can do that for me?”
Roxas swallows audibly and squirms against Axel, reaching up to touch his face. “Do you think you can be quiet?” he challenges, and he intends for the question to come out sounding low and seductive, but it comes out sounding more like a pathetic squeak than anything else. So unsexy.
Axel gives him another one of those half-disbelieving looks and says, “You know, you’re so cute when you’re trying too hard to be sexy. Of course I can be quiet. I’m not the one getting fucked.”
Roxas blinks, and then says in an even smaller voice, “What makes you think that I wouldn’t? That I couldn’t? You know-fuck you?”
Axel laughs, and if his smile wasn’t so damn beautiful, Roxas might feel insulted right now. “No offense meant, Roxy, but I can’t quite imagine you being the dominant one. You’re just… too cutesy.”
Roxas glowers, and then pushes Axel back against the opposite wall. “You realize that I don’t back down from a challenge, right? That sounded like a challenge to me.” He is happy that he doesn’t sound like a mouse this time. His voice doesn’t wobble as badly, either.
Axel looks down at Roxas’ hands, which are pressed against his chest, and then looks back up, one eyebrow raised. Otherwise, he looks totally unaffected. “I realize that you’re the type that nags and bitches until you get your way, yes. I just don’t find nagging to be a turn-on. Sorry.” He sounds completely unapologetic, though. The cake is a lie.
Roxas rolls his eyes. “You think I can’t do something, and I’m just going to prove you wrong. Again. That’s all.”
Axel’s eyes narrow a miniscule amount. “What do you mean, again?”
Roxas smiles then-he can’t help himself. “You said you’d never like me, but you do.”
“I--”
Roxas can tell he’s going to try to argue, so he stops him before he can really begin, dragging him down and kissing him, tongue forcing its way into his mouth, greedily exploring.
Axel relents eventually, arms moving to slide around Roxas and tug him even closer.
When their lips part, Axel doesn’t try to continue to argue.
“And,” Roxas continues, as though Axel hadn’t tried to argue to begin with, “I don’t think you’re upset that I proved you wrong about that.” He kisses Axel again, though softly this time, and briefly. “I want you to turn around for me, Axel. I want to make you feel good.”
Axel looks highly doubtful, but he shrugs and turns around anyway (slowly, as if it’s a chore), heaving a heavy sigh. “I’ll humor you, kid, just because I’m bored. But if someone walks in… my job could be on the line, you know--”
“That’s why you’re going to have to be quiet,” Roxas interrupts, all smooth and sleek and cat-like this time. More sure of himself. He slides his hands under Axel’s shirt, and Axel surprisingly arches into his touch. Again, he asks, “Think you can do that for me?”
“I think you may be giving yourself too much credit,” Axel replies, and he sounds unimpressed. Still. Roxas will have to remedy this.
“I remember how to do it,” Roxas says pointedly, and now he’s the one trying to argue. “I was kinda there when you did it to me, you know.”
“No kidding?” Axel asks, all spitfire and sarcasm. “I can’t remember.”
Roxas knows better than to let the words sting-knows that this is just how the redhead is, and he knows the truth, anyway.
“I’ll have to remind you one day,” Roxas replies nonchalantly before leaning in close, kissing the back of Axel’s neck. “I’m not gonna… you know, do it to you for the first time. Not here. Not… you know. Just my fingers.” Oh, how eloquent he can be.
But he has this belief. First times - and whether or not Axel has been bottom before (Roxas doesn’t particularly want to know), his first time bottoming to Roxas hasn’t happened yet - shouldn’t take place in the bathroom of a movie theater, but in a bedroom, on a nice, comfortable bed.
Okay, so maybe all of those sappy love stories have gotten to Roxas a little. So what if he’s a tiny bit sentimental?
Axel sighs again, and Roxas can tell it is a sigh of impatience. “Such a girl. Oh well. Are you gonna continue, Rox, or are you going to go prattling on about how ‘first times’ should be all sweet and perfect and should happen in a bed?”
Roxas can tell, though, that Axel sounds less exasperated than he would like to. “You put up such a front all most all the time,” he says, and his lips are gentle against Axel’s neck. “I know you don’t mean it.”
Roxas moves his hands (which are still under Axel’s shirt) further up, running his fingers over Axel’s nipples, smiling when the redhead shudders against him. “You like it when I touch you like this, too.”
Axel doesn’t agree, but he doesn’t disagree, either. “Roxy….”
“It’s all right,” Roxas breathes, and he slides his hands down to Axel’s hips, and further still until he can brush his fingers against the bulge in Axel’s jeans. Obviously, he isn’t disliking what’s going on at this moment.
“Lube’s in the right front pocket, Rox,” Axel tells him. “Was gonna use it on you today, but if you’re so set o n having your way, I’d prefer it if you’d use it.”
It seems practical enough, and so Roxas takes the small tube from the indicated pocket before unbuttoning and unzipping Axel’s jeans. “Push those down some. Give me a little room.”
Axel shoves his jeans midway down his thighs, and then presses his palms flat against the wall. “Good enough for you, Your Majesty?”
Roxas doesn’t answer-at least, not verbally. He opens the tube and squeezes a generous amount of lubricant onto two of his fingers, trying to ignore the fact that he’s trembling almost violently again now. Stupid nerves.
He’s still trembling with nervousness when he presses one slick finger to Axel’s opening, hesitating when he hears Axel inhale sharply.
“It’s cold is all,” Axel explains after a moment, and then, a little more firmly: “Stop being so goddamn nervous. You said you remember how to do it, so stop worrying, okay?”
Roxas doesn’t stop worrying-can’t stop worrying because what if he does something wrong? However, he does take a deep breath and he does remember how Axel did this to him, before. He remembers that Axel took his time and so he takes his time, too, circling that lone finger around Axel’s entrance before pushing it halfway inside, pausing to let Axel adjust and to ask if he’s okay.
Axel’s answer is: “Of course I’m alright. We don’t have all day, you know.”
Which is the downside. Roxas could touch Axel like this all day.
Roxas keeps pressing in until his finger is in Axel as deep as it can go, and then he moves that one finger back and forth, in and out, until he hears Axel say, “More”, and then, cock throbbing, he adds a second finger. He curls those fingers inside of Axel and thrusts them in and out, trying to mimic Axel’s movements (oh yes, Roxas remembers how it’s done).
And then he twists his wrist and finds that spot, and he knows it, because Axel groans and presses back against him.
“There,” Axel says, and he sounds rather needy.
Roxas thinks it’s pretty damn sexy to hear Axel talk like that to him, and suddenly, he can’t wait until they’re alone - really alone - at Axel’s place so that he can… explore this further.
Obviously, he’s doing something right.
Somewhere amidst Axel’s groans and whimpers and his own heavy breathing and the near-frantic pounding of his heart, Roxas becomes aware of another sound: something slick, moving fast, and that’s when he realizing that Axel is stroking himself, and his knees nearly give out on him right then and there.
He reaches around with his free hand, links his fingers with Axel’s, and he helps. It’s another excuse to touch him-to touch more of him, to urge him to completion, because Roxas wants him to come undone.
And when he does, it’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s perfect, and Axel clenches around his fingers and hisses out, “Yeah, Roxy, yeah, that’s it,” while he throbs in their - in his and Roxas’ - hands, and cum splatters on the wall but that’s okay. It can be cleaned up in a minute.
Roxas is shaking all over like he’s just had an orgasm too, though he hasn’t, and he’s kinda afraid that he’ll make an idiot out of himself and wind up falling on his ass because he doesn’t know how much longer his legs will hold him upright.
Much to his surprise, Axel turns, looking all serious-like, and drops to his knees right in front of him. Roxas thinks this must be all backwards, but before he can say so, Axel’s fingers are fumbling with the button and zipper of his jeans, and then his mouth is on Roxas’ cock and Roxas is struggling to contain his moans of pleasure.
He comes much sooner than intended, and is embarrassed about it, but Axel doesn’t seem to mind. He merely swallows and stands, grinning, and pulls Roxas into his arms and kisses him deeply (and Roxas can taste himself, and it’s incredibly erotic).
“So maybe I was wrong,” Axel says when they break apart. “Mind if I take another sick day and kidnap you again next Saturday?”
Roxas shakes his head dumbly, dazed. And distantly, he wonders how Axel learned to suck dick so well, though the jealous flame in him that flares at the thought of Axel doing that with someone aside from him lets him know that asking wouldn’t be such a wise idea.
If he knew the answer, though, he’d surely give the guy and handshake and a fruit basket.
And then he’d punch him in the face.
“You stayed with Axel longer than usual today,” Sora says later when they’re outside, debating where they should go eat. Sora makes it sound innocent enough, but he’s smirking.
“Must’ve had something important to say,” Riku comments, and he’s all cool and casual, but there’s a hint of a smirk on his face, as well.
“We didn’t have time for talking,” Axel says as he approaches (and Roxas wonders when and why the other has started eavesdropping), “what with his fingers in my ass and all.”
Riku and Sora stare at Roxas, disbelief scribbled all over their faces. “Roxas?” they ask in unison, and Roxas nearly beams.
“Yeah, I thought he didn’t have it in him, either,” Axel replies and Roxas tries to glare but mostly fails.
“Roxas!” Kairi sounds disapproving-more like his mother than his friend. “You shouldn’t--”
“Oh, please,” Axel says as he rolls his eyes, reaching over to pat Kairi on the shoulder. “Like you weren’t trying to get your hand under your girlfriend’s skirt when you thought no-one else was looking.”
At this, both Kairi and Naminé blush, and neither of them says anything. They don’t have to.
And Roxas chokes on his laughter.
~*~
Axel comes to get Roxas next Saturday. It’s Roxas’ mother who opens the door, and then finds Roxas in his room, a slightly bewildered look on her face. She tells him, “Some nice red-haired gentleman is here to see you. Says he’s a friend of yours.”
Axel? Nice?
“I am capable of it sometimes,” Axel informs him as they head for the ferry. They’re going back to the mainland-to Axel’s apartment.
Roxas thinks that this is the only stop they’ll be making, but Axel surprises him. After they reach the mainland, Axel takes Roxas out to eat. Roxas guesses that it’s just Axel’s smart-ass way of trying to prove that he can be nice sometimes.
It is nice. Roxas has to admit it, and he can’t really complain.
And later, in the privacy of Axel’s bedroom, Roxas takes Axel for the first (and hopefully not the last) time, and he is gentle and slow and sweet, up until Axel demands that he “hurry the fuck up already”, and then all of that falls to the wayside in favor of a faster, near-animalistic rhythm.
Axel doesn’t complain after that.
When they’re still trying to catch their breath, Axel declares that it’s time for round two, and that it’s his turn to top.
Roxas, out of breath and trembling, shows his agreement by tugging the redhead into a fierce kiss.
Much later, when their breathing and their heart rates are under control, and Roxas’ head is resting on Axel’s chest and Axel’s fingers are combing slowly through his hair, Axel says, “Call me crazy--”
“Crazy,” Roxas interjects obediently, chuckling, and Axel pinches his side in retaliation. Roxas knows Axel could make it hurt if he wanted to, but he doesn’t try. He never does.
“As I was saying,” Axel continues,” call me crazy, but I think I might actually be falling for you, kid.”
Roxas can’t speak for a moment-the sweet ache in his heart makes him forget his words, and the sudden lump of emotion in his throat makes it nearly impossible for him to speak, anyway.
When he recovers, he grins like a complete lunatic and replies, “Persistence pays off eventually. I knew you’d come around.””
Axel shrugs. “For all you know, I might’ve wanted to kill you for being such an annoyance.” He pauses. “For all you know, I might actually be a serial killer just waiting for the right time to strike. I could still cut you into pieces and hide you in the freezer.”
“But you won’t,” Roxas replies without a hint of doubt in his voice.
“Only because doing all of that would be a lot of trouble.” Axel sounds completely casual, but his hold on Roxas tightens. “You know, criminal record and all.”
“Of course,” Roxas agrees amiably. “But you know, you could have just told them you did it in self-defense. I am a crazy stalker.”
Axel chuckles. “Yeah, but I think I’ll let you stick around just for the hell of it.”
“How sweet of you,” Roxas comments, discreetly rolling his eyes. “It’s so difficult to resist that charm of yours.”
“I know,” Axel replies. “You were doomed from the beginning.”
“Maybe I was.” Roxas smiles. “I went through hell to get you to like me, though. And call me crazy--”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy,” Axel interjects in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, and Roxas covers his mouth with his hand to get him to shut up.
“As I was saying,” he continues, “I think it was worth it.”
And it was.
It is.
~END~
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This took a whole lot longer to finish than anticipated, but this was so much fun to write that it’s not even funny. XD I’ve never written something in which Roxas is the one chasing after Axel, and I’ve never written AU KH fic before, either. roterhimmel, you took my virginity. :P
Author: Kagome
Warnings: AU, sexual content, lots and lots of snark, language, some fluff.
Rating: Hard R
Characters/Pairings: Axel/Roxas, side pairings of Riku/Sora and Kairi/ Naminé
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.
Summary: Roxas is going to make Axel like him whether Axel is fond of the idea or not.
Comments: This is totally late and is totally for roterhimmel. She requested fic in which Roxas is chasing after Axel, instead of the other way around. This was born. So we have teenage!Roxas mooning over collegeboi!Axel, who happens to work at the movie theater which Roxas and his friends frequent (of course, Axel is a new face~). This fic is mostly humorous. You will find no angst. roterhimmel, I’m sorry it took forever, but enjoy, bb!
Persistence Pays Off… Eventually
On a small island such as theirs, there isn’t much to do on the weekends, and so they begin a ritual of getting together every Saturday night, going to the mainland, and buying movie tickets. It doesn’t matter what the movie is-whether it’s scary or funny or sickeningly sappy or ridiculously depressing. It’s a movie, and it’s something for them to do for a couple of hours.
It’s better than staring at the ceiling or watching paint dry, anyway.
It’s Saturday and, as usual, the four of them are standing outside the theater, waiting for tickets. Tonight, they’re going to be watching a slasher film that got crappy reviews, but oh well.
Roxas notices right away that something isn’t quite right-something is different. It dawns on him after a moment that the person handing out tickets isn’t Hayner (whom he is used to seeing) at all. This guy is new, and he’s tall-red hair and the most beautiful green eyes that Roxas has ever seen. They remind him of emeralds.
“He’s new,” he remarks after a moment (he’s distracted, honestly).
“And you’re staring,” Riku relies dryly, which causes Kairi to giggle.
Roxas blushes. He hadn’t known he’d been openly staring.
“Cut him some slack, Riku,” Sora says, his gaze following Roxas’. “At least the guy’s a hottie.”
Riku is at once sullen, glaring and puffing his chest out like a petulant child.
Sora hurries to remedy the situation, smiling brightly and leaning in close, linking his fingers with Riku’s. “But nobody’s as hot as you, baby.”
This seems to make Riku feel a lot better.
“Maybe you should talk to him a little,” Kairi suggests. “You know, introduce yourself and stuff, since you’re staring at him like that.”
It takes Roxas about a half-second to get up the nerve and decide, “Maybe I will.”
Sora and Riku sigh heavily, and Sora places a hand on Roxas’ shoulder. “No stupid shit, okay? You have to be subtle. Smooth.”
Roxas blinks, incredulous. “I’m always smooth.”
He pointedly ignores the ‘we’re doomed’ look that Riku gives Kairi and Sora, and when it’s their turn to purchase tickets, he approaches the ticket booth with a sweet, wide (goofy) smile and blurts: “Hi. I’m Roxas, and I think you’re really cute. What’s your name, cutie?”
Behind him, Sora facepalms.
The gorgeous redhead in question looks at him like he’s nothing special - an escaped psycho from the local asylum, perhaps - and points wordlessly to his nametag (of course, Roxas should’ve known that he could simply look at the guys nametag-all of the employees here wear them), still looking disinterested.
Roxas peers at the letters on the nametag, repeats ‘Axel’ over and over again in his mind before spelling it aloud: “A-X-E-L. Axel.”
“That’s right,” the redhead drawls, shifting his weight and leaning a little to the left. “Got it memorized? You’ve been staring at it long enough.”
Roxas, mesmerized by the shine of those emerald eyes, smiles goofily again. “I sure do,” he says happily, feeling victorious already. “I’m like an elephant! I never forget.”
Axel is clearly not amused. “They never say anything about the brainwashed elephants, do they?”
Roxas gives him a puzzled look. “Brainwa-huh?”
And then Sora and Kairi are grabbing him and hauling him away towards the theater entrance, leaving Riku behind to take care of the tickets.
“Hey!” Roxas says in protest, struggling a little, but their hold his firm.
“Sorry,” Sora apologizes, though he doesn’t really sound apologetic at all. “We had to intervene before you made an even idiot out of yourself.”
“But I was being smooth,” Roxas says, still half-heartedly struggling. Did those dummies not know smooth, even in its presence?
“Of course you were,” Kairi all but croons, as though she is addressing a five-year-old who is on the verge of a temper-tantrum.
Roxas sighs, inwardly vowing that next week, he’ll do better. Next week, he’ll get Axel to like him.
~*~
Next Saturday, Roxas approaches the ticket booth with a wide smile, and Axel only offers him a blank look for his efforts. He uses the money they’ve pooled together to purchase the tickets this time, without incident.
Well… without much of an incident, anyway.
“You know,” Axel begins after handing Roxas the tickets, “I’m pretty sure your girlfriend doesn’t appreciate you giving me googly-eyes.”
“I am not giving you googly-eyes,” Roxas replies haughtily (while giving Axel googly-eyes). “And she isn’t my girlfriend.”
Axel gives Kairi a once-over and then asks, “Why not? She’s a good catch-pretty hair, nice eyes, great body.” He winks, and Roxas can practically feel the heat radiating off of Kairi. He doesn’t have to look at her to know she is blushing.
“I like redheads with green eyes,” Roxas chirps, and Axel frowns, clearly displeased with Roxas’ answer.
“Enjoy your movie,” he says through tightly-clenched teeth. Most people - smart, normal people - would take the hint and move on-would take it to mean that further conversation was not at all desired.
Roxas takes it to mean, ‘stay and chat with me a while’.
In the end, Sora and Kairi drag him away from the ticket booth again, Sora grumbling something about ‘unsmooth idiots’ and Kairi spluttering the word ‘girlfriend’ over and over very indignantly. Riku is behind them and he’s grumbling too.
“Next week,” Roxas says to no-one in particular, another wide grin plastered on his face.
This is obviously going to take some work, but Roxas is stubborn and he doesn’t give up. He is capable of being very patient sometimes.
He knows that, in the end, it’ll all be worth it.
~*~
“So you like movies,” Roxas asks on the following Saturday, and Axel gives him another one of those blank looks of his.
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the brightest question to ask.
“You know,” Axel says, “you’d be a lot better off if you just asked that cute girl you’re always with to be your girlfriend, seriously. Or if you asked that Naminé chick-she comes here a lot.”
“Why is that?” Roxas asks, at the same moment Sora says, “Kairi might be interested in asking her out!” (This earns him a none-too-gentle elbow in the ribs).
“Because,” Axel replies, eyes narrowed, “I don’t like you.”
Again, any normal, smart person would have taken the hint (that wasn’t even really a hint this time-Axel was making it very obvious), but Roxas apparently isn’t smart or normal, because Axel’s comment doesn’t faze him at all. He only smiles and assuredly replies, “But you will.”
Axel says nothing-he merely glares, and he doesn’t look happy in the slightest.
This time, it is Riku who drags Roxas away from the ticket booth. Sora and Kairi follow-Sora is trying to convince Kairi to ask Naminé out, and Kairi is trying to convince Sora to shut the hell up.
“You really are a colossal idiot sometimes, Rox,” Riku mutters under his breath. “That guy… he was glaring daggers at you. If looks could kill, you’d be dead right now.”
Roxas doesn’t listen to him because, hey, what does he know, anyway?
~*~
Next Saturday, the excuses start.
“I don’t like you,” Axel tells him again. “You aren’t my type.”
Roxas, perfectly oblivious to the others waiting for tickets in line behind them, demands, “Why not?”
“You aren’t my type,” Axel repeats, as if Roxas is hard of hearing (or stupid, or both).
“Why not?” Roxas asks again, because he wants an answer to his question and he knows that Axel is only evading-nothing more.
“You’re too young for one thing,” Axel replies coolly, emerald eyes serious.
Roxas, in a very childish manner, stomps one foot and says, very loudly, “I am not too young!”
Axel doesn’t look convinced. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” Roxas announces proudly (and no, he doesn’t hold his fingers up to show his age-I’m this many!).
“Exactly.” Axel waves at Roxas then, like he’s a bothersome fly instead of a human being, and Roxas leaves the ticket booth of his own free will this time, feeling triumphant instead of defeated.
“I’m getting somewhere,” he tells his friends, and all of them look about as convinced as Axel had.
“No you’re not,” Kairi and Riku say in unison.
“Yes I am,” Roxas insists. “He’s making excuses now. That’s progress.”
Sora rolls his eyes. “No. That’s his way of letting you down without looking like a total bastard in the process. He’s not interested.”
Roxas doesn’t listen-Sora’s words go in one ear and out the other.
He’s come to the conclusion that Sora doesn’t know anything, either.
~*~
Next Saturday, Riku insists that he hold onto their money and purchase the tickets, and Sora and Kairi agree.
“You spend too much time trying to talk to Axel,” Kairi explains.
“Yeah,” Sora says. “And the people in line behind us get mad. Last week, I thought they were going to form an angry mob or something.”
“If they would’ve, I would have let them have you,” Riku says sullenly. “Would’ve put you out of your misery, at least.”
“I’m not miserable,” Roxas protests as they approach the ticket booth, and Axel dryly says: “You’re not in denial, either.”
Roxas starts to reply but Kairi covers his mouth before he can. “You can argue with him after the movie,” she hisses, and then she drags him inside all demanding-like.
“If you weren’t a girl,” Roxas tells her once they’re inside, “I swear I’d hit you… or something.”
Kairi rolls her eyes, clearly not intimidated. “Of course you would.”
“Yeah, I would,” he replies lamely before falling silent, just in time for Sora and Riku to walk into the theater, hand-in-hand. He feels a sudden surge of jealousy as he realizes that he’d really like to have that, too. With Axel. He doesn’t say it, though.
The movie that they wind up watching is one of those tear-jerkers. It makes Kairi teary-eyed (as Roxas figures it’s supposed to), and Sora and Riku glance at the screen every now and again (in-between make-out sessions) and roll their eyes.
Roxas feels like crying, though not because the movie is particularly sad or moving. He wants to cry because this is two hours of his life that he’s never going to get back. He is literally almost bored to tears.
Frowning, he turns to Kairi, who clutches at his shirt sleeve and looks at him with her wide, tear-filled, pretty blue eyes. He panics a little, thinking that she might actually cry, but thankfully, she doesn’t.
“It’s so beautiful,” she says, voice small. Her slender fingers move from Roxas’ shirt, and Roxas feels a little less trapped.
“Uhh… yeah,” he agrees absentmindedly, even though he thinks the movie is stupid. He gently nudges at her legs. “Let me by. I need to pee.”
She makes an ‘I-didn’t-need-to-know-that’ face at him but moves her legs out of the way without a word. Roxas slides past her, and then heads for the nearby door, exiting the room. He bypasses the restrooms altogether, and heads outside to the ticket booth.
Axel isn’t there, but he isn’t far away. He is standing in the designated smoking area, a cigarette held in his fingers. He sees Roxas and makes a sour face, looking down at his not-even-half-finished cigarette. He bravely holds his ground.
“Those are bad for you, you know,” Roxas gravely informs as he approaches, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
Axel takes a long drag and then exhales. “Yeah, well, so is repeated exposure to stupidity, but you won’t leave me the hell alone.”
Roxas pretends to not have heard. “How have you been lately?” he asks, like he’s talking to an old friend he hasn’t seen in months or years.
Axel’s emerald eyes narrow. “What’s it to you?” he asks, taking another drag of his cigarette. “Not like we know each other.”
“I want to,” Roxas replies, and his voice sounds a little small. “Get to know you, that is.”
Axel heaves a weary sigh. “I have to hand it to you, kid. You are the most persistent person I have ever met in my life.”
“Do you find persistence to be an attractive quality?” Roxas asks hopefully.
Axel scoffs. “Not in this case. In this case, I find it to be very annoying.” He waves towards the theater doors. “Shouldn’t you be in there?”
Roxas shakes his head. “Movie is stupid. I wanted to stay out here for a little while.”
Axel makes a face, as though sharing the same breathing space with Roxas is a little too much to ask for. In the end, though, he shrugs and says, “Your waste of money, and your waste of time.”
Roxas smiles, happy that Axel has not told him to leave. “I don’t see it as a waste of anything.”
Axel sighs again, not looking at Roxas as he replies, “You know, if you’re into guys, you should find someone that would be your type. Go stalk Demyx.”
Roxas knows who Demyx is: The boy at the concession stand with dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. He is boyishly handsome and has a sweet smile, but he doesn’t make butterflies flutter in Roxas’ stomach the way Axel does.
“Not interested,” he says decisively. “I don’t think he’s my type.”
Axel frowns at him, obviously not happy with Roxas’ answer. “He’d be good for you. Gentle.”
“And you’re saying you can’t be gentle?” Roxas asks, the unbidden thought of Axel shoving him against the wall sending a thrill of almost-fear and definite lust through him.
“I’m saying you and me wouldn’t work.” Axel says it like he wants it to be the end of the argument, but Roxas refuses to go down that easily.
“I’ll be waiting for you to change your mind,” Roxas replies in a sing-song voice, all smiles and confidence.
Axel tilts his head to one side and then shrugs again. “Suit yourself,” he says, “but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. You’d die.” He then takes another long drag from his cigarette, tosses it on the sidewalk and scrapes it across the concrete with the toe of his boot before blowing his smoke right in Roxas’ face. Without another word, he turns on his heel and goes back into the air-conditioned booth, leaving Roxas standing there and staring after him, holding his breath.
Later, Sora asks him if he has stomach problems, because he noticed his absence from the movie earlier. “Something give you the shits?” are his exact words, and then he gets a whiff of Roxas and wrinkles his nose. “Since when do you smoke?”
“He doesn’t,” Kairi informs. “Axel does.”
Roxas gapes at her, surprised.
“I’m not an idiot,” she tells him as she looks into the little hand-held mirror that she brought with her, touching up her eyeliner. “I notice things.”
“He’s going to get a restraining order on you,” Riku tells him. “And when he does, and you violate it, don’t expect us to bail your crazy ass out of jail.”
Roxas gives him the finger.
~*~
“You just can’t take the hint, can you?” Axel asks next Saturday as he takes a drag from his cigarette and gives Roxas a version of what Roxas assumes to be the evil eye.
Roxas has snuck out (well, not really ‘snuck’, as his friends knew where he was heading anyway-Riku was even kind enough to whisper ‘restraining order’ as Roxas made his way down the aisle) yet again, because he can’t seem to keep himself away from Axel despite Axel’s attempts to make him do just that: stay away from him.
But Axel is like some twisted addiction-seeing him brightens Roxas’ day, no matter how unfriendly his comments are.
Roxas shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m not a very good listener, and I’m stubborn.”
“So am I,” Axel retorts, giving Roxas a blank look. “I bet you’ll crack before I do.”
“I bet I won’t,” Roxas replies, and he is absolutely sure of himself: Axel will give in eventually, he knows. No way he can resist his charm forever.
Axel snorts and mutters something about denial.
“Besides,” Roxas adds, almost as an afterthought, “you seem to be tolerating me now.”
Axel glares - one of those ‘clean up on aisle seven - glares, and Roxas almost takes a step back. Idly, he wonders if the whole ‘if looks could kill’ saying is more than just a saying. Should he be running for cover?
“It’s not that,” Axel answers with false sweetness, an equally-fake smile plastered on his face. “It’s just that killing you might get me sent to jail. You see, I’d be murdering you at my place of employment, and I have no clue where I’d hide your body.” He pauses, and then thoughtfully sais, “I suppose I could drown you in the toilet or push you down the stairs, but I’m pretty sure your friends would incriminate me. I can’t handle a criminal record.”
Roxas blinks, and then blinks again. “You’re threatening murder now?”
Cigarette dangling between his lips, Axel answers, “Only half-heartedly, although I suppose maybe the second-hand smoke will kill you in due time. Too bad it’ll take repeated exposures over a long period of time, and I’m not up to the challenge.” He eyes Roxas critically. “What are you doing out here now, anyway?”
Roxas almost tells him the real reason, but he figures ‘I just wanted to be near you’ will get nothing more than a laugh, and so he casts about for an idea while he lets himself become mesmerized again by those depthless emerald eyes.
His gaze travels to Axel’s hair and he blurts: “Is your hair really that red, or did you dye it?”
Axel takes his cigarette from between his lips and raises an eyebrow. “I suppose you’re wanting to know if the ‘carpet matches the drapes’, as they say it?”
Roxas instantly blushes tomato red. “No!” he splutters hurriedly. “You’re putting words in my mouth-it isn’t fair! My mind didn’t go there!”
Until Axel pushed it there, of course.
“You’re thinking it now though,” Axel replies, and he seems almost smug.
“It’s your fault,” Roxas grumbles, his face growing redder and hotter by the moment.
“Well,” Axel says as he puts out his cigarette, using the side of the building this time instead of the sidewalk, “I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that answer either. Not like it’s your business anyway, and it’s not like I’ll ever tell - or show - you.” As he walks away, he says something about Roxas being a pervert.
And Roxas can’t seem to stop blushing.
When he tries to explain it to his friends later (he should have known better than to bother trying), he only gets odd looks and a few hyena laughs at his expense.
“Wow,” Sora says between chuckles, “this makes your would-be record even worse: Now you’re a perverted stalker!”
“I’m not a stalker!” Roxas protests, and quieter, “Or a pervert!”
But they’re too busy laughing to listen.
~*~
Another Saturday, another movie, and this one is actually pretty interesting, but Roxas would rather spend time with Axel than watch the movie, so he excuses himself he doesn’t bother to lie this time because it isn’t like they don’t already know where he’s going) and heads to the same spot he went to the previous Saturday and the one before that (he thinks he can call this a routine now). As expected, Axel is smoking, and Roxas moves to stand beside him so that he’s not in the direct path of the smoke.
“Hey,” he says, and receives a brief nod in return, which is better than what he’d gotten last week.
They’re quiet for a moment - Roxas can’t think of much to say after the carpet and drapes comment last week - and then Axel speaks: “You know what really annoys me about you? Aside from everything, I mean? We’re talking specifics here.”
Roxas hesitantly takes the bait. “What?” Because aside from his persistence and not-stalking and non-googly eyes and non-childish behavior (of course he isn’t in denial!), Roxas can’t think of a single thing, really.
“The fact that you’re so goddamn passive about all of this,” Axel replies, and he actually does sound rather annoyed. Well… more annoyed than he usually sounds in Roxas’ presence, anyway.
He’s never able to truly think clearly around Axel, so perhaps it should be of no surprise to him that Axel’s words have confused him. “I don’t understand,” he admits. “Passive?”
“I mean, you come over here--” Axel makes gestures with his hands while he holds the cigarette between his lips “-to me, and you make all of these lame comments-sorry kid, but smooth isn’t your middle name. It’s not even on the same planet you’re on. Anyway, you say all of this crap and you don’t listen when I want you to leave, and you make googly-eyes at me--”
“I do not!” Roxas interrupts, frowning (and, yet again, making googly-eyes).
Axel rolls his eyes. “And you sit there like a fucking bump on a log, drowning in your unsmoothness, and sucking in secondhand smoke, and you expect me to be impressed.”
Sometimes, the truth hurts. Sometimes, the truth turns seventeen-year-old boys into three-year-old brats.
“Well what do you suggest then, Mr. Smooth?” Roxas asks as he places his hands on his hips and glares at the object of his desire. Belatedly, he realizes that he must look either like Axel’s mother or like one of those men on ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’, and he puffs his chest out and crosses his arms over his chest instead.
Now, he possibly looks like a more-ridiculous-and-less-threatening version of a blowfish.
“Take some fucking initiative,” Axel replies, throwing both hands in the air as if he’s suddenly disgusted with the whole world. “Have some balls, kid! You’re never going to get anything you want by babbling your head off and making googly-eyes and grabby hands.”
Roxas has about a half-second to think about this before his body is acting without his mind’s permission, and he is suddenly snatching the cigarette out of Axel’s fingers and stubbing it out. Between one eye-blink and the next, he’s crushed his lips against Axel’s and he’s kissing him-really kissing him, and it’s shockingly good… amazing, even.
Even more amazing is the fact that Axel lets him. He even parts his lips a little for Roxas’ questing tongue, and maybe he does it out of pure boredom, but Roxas doesn’t care: the bottom line is that Axel is kissing him back.
Roxas has no time to be nervous, no opportunity to back down (because he won’t give himself one), and so he explores Axel’s mouth, remembering each taste because he doesn’t know when or if he’ll be given this opportunity again.
He can taste tobacco and mint and something that seems faintly fruity (strawberries, he thinks), but mostly, there’s a taste that he doesn’t know how to describe, and his muddle brain simply identifies it as Axel. He leaves it at that.
When he eventually pulls back, he’s breathing deeply and his head is spinning and he feels both terrified and actually pretty damn proud of himself.
“How was that for initiative?” he demands.
“I dunno,” Axel replies, and he smiles - really smiles - for the very first time since they met, and it’s beautiful and it makes Roxas’ breath hitch and makes his heart skip a beat.
“Why don’t we try again?” Axel asks as he drags Roxas closer by the collar of his shirt, and then they’re kissing again, except only this time, it’s Axel’s tongue in his mouth, Axel’s hands on his waist, and Roxas’ poor little lovestruck self feels like he might spontaneously combust.
When they break apart this time, both of them are breathing hard.
“Well?” Roxas asks when he feels like it is safe to talk again.
Axel shrugs a little, a small smirk playing on his lips. “It was all right. What do you think?”
‘All right?’ Roxas almost splutters, but doesn’t. He almost returns the words, but he doesn’t do that, either. He’s been taught to give credit where credit is due, and so he says, “That was… pretty amazing,” and he means it.
And there’s that beautiful smile again, and there are no regrets.
He wanders back to his seat between Sora and Kairi in a daze, and after the movie is over and everyone begins to leave, he remains where he is.
Kairi waves a hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention, and Sora lightly shakes him, informing that it’s time to go.
He is quite aware that he is staring off into space with a wide goofy grin plastered on his face.
“Well,” Riku says, “at least when you go to jail, you can plead insanity. You look crazy enough right now.”
But Roxas is on cloud nine, and he doesn’t hear a word of it.
~*~
Roxas has all sorts of butterflies in his stomach on the following Saturday when he goes to the usual spot to see Axel (he saw him at the ticket booth earlier but he didn’t speak with him). Axel is in the smoking area, but he is not smoking.
“Come on,” he says as he grabs Roxas by the wrist and takes him to the parking lot out back. Roxas stares at him in confusion, and he becomes even more confused when they come to a halt in front of a dark blue Mustang.
“Uhm?” is all Roxas manages to ask before Axel unlocks the doors and gently nudges him into the backseat.
“This doesn’t mean that I like you or anything, got it?” Axel says haughtily as he climbs into the backseat beside Roxas.
Roxas nods mutely, even though he secretly doesn’t quite believe the redhead.
Axel fiddles around with his cell phone for a few seconds, pressing a couple of buttons, and then he closes it, turning to half-smirk at Roxas. “Ten minutes, Roxy. Better make them count.”
“Ten minutes?” Roxas asks dumbly. “For what?”
Axel places his fingers under Roxas’ chin and makes him lift his head so that they are looking at one another. There is a knowing look in his eyes as he leans down, pressing his lips to Roxas’, and suddenly, Roxas understands.
Before he can fully come to grips with what’s happening, however, he’s kissing Axel like there’s no tomorrow-like Axel is air and sun and sky and Roxas wants all of it, everything that Axel has to give.
He’s in Axel’s lap, his hands in Axel’s hair, Axel’s mouth on his neck and Axel’s hands under his shirt (and he can feel Axel’s cock against his own, hard and straining, and it doesn’t scare him-he thinks there’s too many clothes in the way) when Axel’s cell phone starts ringing.
“Ten minutes are up,” Axel breathes against Roxas’ neck, and he licks that spot, sending a fresh wave of lust straight through him, making him positively ache.
“No,” he says in protest, wriggling purposefully against Axel, making the redhead groan. “No. I want--”
“Not getting fired,” Axel replies, and then he moves, unceremoniously dumping Roxas and onto the seat before sliding out of the car. He’s busy scribbling something onto a piece of paper when Roxas finally manages to gather his wits and stumble out of the car.
He has to clear his voice twice before he can ask, “What’s that?”
“My number,” Axel replies, handing the slip of paper to him. “Tell your friends that you won’t be going to the movies with them next week.”
Roxas’ head is still reeling from the events in Axel’s car, and he mumbles, “What? Why?”
“Because I am taking next Saturday off and you’re going to be in my apartment with me.”
“Oh,” Roxas says, for lack of a better thing to say. And then, “Oh.” He’s grinning like an idiot again, he knows.
Axel frowns, grabbing him by the wrist again and dragging him back towards the theater. “Stop smiling like an idiot. Get back to your movie.”
Roxas staggers back into the theater and back into his seat, surprised that he manages to make it there without tripping over his own feet. Thankfully, his friends don’t ask him any questions.
Until the movie is over, that is.
“You don’t smell like smoke today,” Kairi says as they step outside.
“Did you finally take the hint and leave the poor guy alone?” Riku asks.
“If he left Axel alone today, then… damn, he must have really had to take a dump.”
Leave it to Sora to always be the sensitive one.
“No,” Axel says as he approaches them, winking at Roxas. “I didn’t smoke-found more interesting ways to pass the time.”
“What?” Sora asks incredulously.
“And don’t look for him next week,” Axel adds. “He’ll be at my place with me. I’m taking the night off.”
Now they’re all gaping at Roxas dumbfoundedly, and Roxas has to admit that it feels pretty damn good.
~*~
Next Saturday, he shows up at Axel’s place as planned (dutifully following the directions that Axel relayed to him over the phone), and Axel waves him in, plays the part of the gracious host, and asks if he wants something to eat or something to drink. Roxas shakes his head, and then starts looking around the apartment.
Sora sends him a text message, and he barely glances at it. It says something to the effect of, Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, which is pretty much useless, because Sora would do just about anything, if what Riku says is true (and Roxas is pretty sure it is).
And then Kairi sends him a text, which reads, I asked Naminé to come with us, and she said yes. He smiles for her.
Predictably, Riku sense him a message right after that. Don’t try to be a romantic chicken-shit.
“They’re really hounding you, aren’t they?” Axel asks, and Roxas jumps a little guiltily, which Axel apparently finds to be amusing, because he smiles. “Don’t worry about them, okay? And if you want, you can tell them that I’m not going to kill you and hide your dead body in the freezer. Scout’s honor.” He does a little salute then, and Roxas returns his smile.
“I’m not going to tell them anything,” Roxas replies, and then he turns his cell phone off and places it on the nearby coffee table. “… Show me around?”
He learns quickly that Axel is a bit of a neat-freak. Everything is organized-books are in alphabetical order, and so are his CDs and DVDs. Everything seems to have its own place, and it’s actually surprising because Roxas didn’t figure Axel to be the neat-freak type.
“You’re surprisingly neat,” Roxas tells him, and Axel glares.
“Forgive me, Your Highness, for not inviting you into a pigsty. I’ll try to remind myself to leave everything scattered everywhere and I’ll even track some mud in for you next time,” Axel replies.
All Roxas hears is ‘next time’ and it makes his heart soar.
“Next time,” Roxas echoes, and smiles.
Axel, looking mildly panicked, begins backpedaling. “Reading too much into it, kid. Don’t’ start acting like a sappy girl on me.” And then he places his hand on Roxas’ shoulder and steers him back into the living room, explaining that he believes it would be highly appropriate if they watched a movie together.
Axel chooses an action movie-a genre that Roxas usually likes, but he gets bored with the movie in the middle. Or maybe he just gets horribly distracted by Axel’s proximity. Either way, he’s not really wanting to continue pretending to watch the movie anymore.
“Axel,” he tentatively begins, and Axel turns to look at him questioningly, “Can we… uh… pick up where we left off in the back of your car?”
Axel grins, and it is smug. “I was wondering when you’d crack.”
He leans forward, closing the distance between them and pressing his lips to Roxas’, and Roxas loses all concept of time and place-all he knows is that Axel’s lips are warm and his tongue is warmer, and his kisses are hungry and deep and thorough, and even though it’s actually happening, Roxas still can’t quite process it-he doesn’t know how he managed to get into this wonderful position.
Oh Axel’s couch, in Axel’s lap, Roxas learns that it feels pretty good when Axel’s fingers brush against his nipples. He learns that it feels even better when those same fingers roll his nipples between them.
And by the time Axel’s hand has slid down his pants and those clever fingers have curled around his cock, Roxas is whimpering and clutching at the redhead and kissing every single patch of bare skin that he can reach, and his hips are moving without his permission, grinding against Axel’s hand.
“Hey Roxy,” Axel whispers, voice low and eyes heavy-lidded, “time for the bedroom? You haven’t seen it yet.”
But Roxas doesn’t want to move. “Can’t we stay here?” He doesn’t quite trust his legs to carry him anywhere at the moment, anyway.
“Well, the lube is in the bedroom and I’m sure we’ll be needing that,” Axel replies reasonably.
“Oh.” Now Roxas feels stupid.
Axel half-carries him to the bedroom because his legs really don’t want to work, after all, and that’s when Roxas becomes nothing more than a trembling bundle of nervous anticipation.
“You aren’t afraid of this, are you?” Axel asks, his eyes narrowed, and he’s undressing, and Roxas can’t take his eyes off of him.
Roxas shakes his head mutely, wishing he could stop trembling.
Axel (half-naked), sighs and steps close to him, cupping his cheek with one hand. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he says, and then adds, “idiot” to the end of his sentence, as if he’s trying to make his words sound less nice.
It doesn’t keep Roxas from feeling warm all over, though. Axel obviously does care.
“I know that,” he replies timidly. “It’s just that… uhm. I’ve never… not like this.”
Axel frowns slightly. “It’s just sex, Roxy. Not rocket science. I’ll show you.”
And he proceeds to do just that.
In Axel’s bedroom-in his bed and underneath his hands and mouth and with Axel inside of him, Roxas learns a few more things, those being that Axel really is a natural redhead (the carpet matches the drapes, yes), and…
And Axel really can be gentle when he wants to be.
(Axel threatens to kill him and hide his body in the freezer if he ever breathes a word to anyone about this gentle side of him, but Roxas admittedly has some difficulty believing this after what has just taken place between them).
~*~
They’re back at the movies next Saturday-Axel is doing his job and Roxas is out with his friends (who’ve been picking on him all afternoon). Naminé is with them, too-it seems that she and Kairi have become a ‘thing’, which Roxas thinks is wonderful. Firstly, because Kairi is happy. Secondly, because he’s tired of people mistaking her for his girlfriend.
Axel grins slyly at him while they’re purchasing tickets and asks, “Enjoying yourself, Roxy? I know you will be later.”
Roxas blushes madly, but at the same time, he’s quite pleased with Axel’s complete turn-around. His teasing is lighter these days, friendlier. He’s still a sarcastic pain in the ass at times, but Roxas wouldn’t change it - wouldn’t change him - for anything.
Kairi and Naminé giggle, and Riku and Sora laugh so hard that Roxas is certain that if they were drinking anything, it’d be spewing out of their noses right now.
The movie - which Roxas did not pick - is one of those sappy love stories that makes teenage boys want to puke (except only Roxas kinda likes some parts, a little). Riku and Sora are busy laughing and pointing and commenting on how cheesy some of the dialogue is, but from the corner of his eye, Roxas can see that they’re holding hands.
Naminé and Kairi are eating it all up, gazing at the screen with adoring looks on their faces.
Typical girls, Roxas thinks, and then his cell phone vibrates in his pocket and he reaches for it, flipping it open and smirking down at the message on the screen: Not sneaking out to see me today? Waiting for you in the bathroom. It’s empty sans me.
“Going to see Axel,” he tells the others, and as he stands, he hears Riku and Sora whisper, “Oooooh,” quite loudly. Of course, it would figure that they’d tease him even now, when Axel is no longer trying to make him go away and leave him alone.
He rolls his eyes at their teasing and heads for the men’s bathroom, where Axel is waiting for him, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.
“So,” Roxas begins as he comes to a stop in front of Axel, “why the change of scenery?”
Axel gives him one of those ‘are you stupid or something?’ looks and then tugs Roxas closer, pressing his lips against Roxas’ neck. “More privacy in here, genius. Figure we’d have a little fun. Do I always have to point the obvious out to you?”
Roxas tries to glare, but it’s a little difficult to do when Axel is so close, and touching him. “But… ah, what if someone walks in? What if someone hears, and--?”
Axel steers him into the nearest stall and closes the door behind them, and then leans in close again, whispering his next words against Roxas’ lips. “That’s why you’re going to have to be quiet. Think you can do that for me?”
Roxas swallows audibly and squirms against Axel, reaching up to touch his face. “Do you think you can be quiet?” he challenges, and he intends for the question to come out sounding low and seductive, but it comes out sounding more like a pathetic squeak than anything else. So unsexy.
Axel gives him another one of those half-disbelieving looks and says, “You know, you’re so cute when you’re trying too hard to be sexy. Of course I can be quiet. I’m not the one getting fucked.”
Roxas blinks, and then says in an even smaller voice, “What makes you think that I wouldn’t? That I couldn’t? You know-fuck you?”
Axel laughs, and if his smile wasn’t so damn beautiful, Roxas might feel insulted right now. “No offense meant, Roxy, but I can’t quite imagine you being the dominant one. You’re just… too cutesy.”
Roxas glowers, and then pushes Axel back against the opposite wall. “You realize that I don’t back down from a challenge, right? That sounded like a challenge to me.” He is happy that he doesn’t sound like a mouse this time. His voice doesn’t wobble as badly, either.
Axel looks down at Roxas’ hands, which are pressed against his chest, and then looks back up, one eyebrow raised. Otherwise, he looks totally unaffected. “I realize that you’re the type that nags and bitches until you get your way, yes. I just don’t find nagging to be a turn-on. Sorry.” He sounds completely unapologetic, though. The cake is a lie.
Roxas rolls his eyes. “You think I can’t do something, and I’m just going to prove you wrong. Again. That’s all.”
Axel’s eyes narrow a miniscule amount. “What do you mean, again?”
Roxas smiles then-he can’t help himself. “You said you’d never like me, but you do.”
“I--”
Roxas can tell he’s going to try to argue, so he stops him before he can really begin, dragging him down and kissing him, tongue forcing its way into his mouth, greedily exploring.
Axel relents eventually, arms moving to slide around Roxas and tug him even closer.
When their lips part, Axel doesn’t try to continue to argue.
“And,” Roxas continues, as though Axel hadn’t tried to argue to begin with, “I don’t think you’re upset that I proved you wrong about that.” He kisses Axel again, though softly this time, and briefly. “I want you to turn around for me, Axel. I want to make you feel good.”
Axel looks highly doubtful, but he shrugs and turns around anyway (slowly, as if it’s a chore), heaving a heavy sigh. “I’ll humor you, kid, just because I’m bored. But if someone walks in… my job could be on the line, you know--”
“That’s why you’re going to have to be quiet,” Roxas interrupts, all smooth and sleek and cat-like this time. More sure of himself. He slides his hands under Axel’s shirt, and Axel surprisingly arches into his touch. Again, he asks, “Think you can do that for me?”
“I think you may be giving yourself too much credit,” Axel replies, and he sounds unimpressed. Still. Roxas will have to remedy this.
“I remember how to do it,” Roxas says pointedly, and now he’s the one trying to argue. “I was kinda there when you did it to me, you know.”
“No kidding?” Axel asks, all spitfire and sarcasm. “I can’t remember.”
Roxas knows better than to let the words sting-knows that this is just how the redhead is, and he knows the truth, anyway.
“I’ll have to remind you one day,” Roxas replies nonchalantly before leaning in close, kissing the back of Axel’s neck. “I’m not gonna… you know, do it to you for the first time. Not here. Not… you know. Just my fingers.” Oh, how eloquent he can be.
But he has this belief. First times - and whether or not Axel has been bottom before (Roxas doesn’t particularly want to know), his first time bottoming to Roxas hasn’t happened yet - shouldn’t take place in the bathroom of a movie theater, but in a bedroom, on a nice, comfortable bed.
Okay, so maybe all of those sappy love stories have gotten to Roxas a little. So what if he’s a tiny bit sentimental?
Axel sighs again, and Roxas can tell it is a sigh of impatience. “Such a girl. Oh well. Are you gonna continue, Rox, or are you going to go prattling on about how ‘first times’ should be all sweet and perfect and should happen in a bed?”
Roxas can tell, though, that Axel sounds less exasperated than he would like to. “You put up such a front all most all the time,” he says, and his lips are gentle against Axel’s neck. “I know you don’t mean it.”
Roxas moves his hands (which are still under Axel’s shirt) further up, running his fingers over Axel’s nipples, smiling when the redhead shudders against him. “You like it when I touch you like this, too.”
Axel doesn’t agree, but he doesn’t disagree, either. “Roxy….”
“It’s all right,” Roxas breathes, and he slides his hands down to Axel’s hips, and further still until he can brush his fingers against the bulge in Axel’s jeans. Obviously, he isn’t disliking what’s going on at this moment.
“Lube’s in the right front pocket, Rox,” Axel tells him. “Was gonna use it on you today, but if you’re so set o n having your way, I’d prefer it if you’d use it.”
It seems practical enough, and so Roxas takes the small tube from the indicated pocket before unbuttoning and unzipping Axel’s jeans. “Push those down some. Give me a little room.”
Axel shoves his jeans midway down his thighs, and then presses his palms flat against the wall. “Good enough for you, Your Majesty?”
Roxas doesn’t answer-at least, not verbally. He opens the tube and squeezes a generous amount of lubricant onto two of his fingers, trying to ignore the fact that he’s trembling almost violently again now. Stupid nerves.
He’s still trembling with nervousness when he presses one slick finger to Axel’s opening, hesitating when he hears Axel inhale sharply.
“It’s cold is all,” Axel explains after a moment, and then, a little more firmly: “Stop being so goddamn nervous. You said you remember how to do it, so stop worrying, okay?”
Roxas doesn’t stop worrying-can’t stop worrying because what if he does something wrong? However, he does take a deep breath and he does remember how Axel did this to him, before. He remembers that Axel took his time and so he takes his time, too, circling that lone finger around Axel’s entrance before pushing it halfway inside, pausing to let Axel adjust and to ask if he’s okay.
Axel’s answer is: “Of course I’m alright. We don’t have all day, you know.”
Which is the downside. Roxas could touch Axel like this all day.
Roxas keeps pressing in until his finger is in Axel as deep as it can go, and then he moves that one finger back and forth, in and out, until he hears Axel say, “More”, and then, cock throbbing, he adds a second finger. He curls those fingers inside of Axel and thrusts them in and out, trying to mimic Axel’s movements (oh yes, Roxas remembers how it’s done).
And then he twists his wrist and finds that spot, and he knows it, because Axel groans and presses back against him.
“There,” Axel says, and he sounds rather needy.
Roxas thinks it’s pretty damn sexy to hear Axel talk like that to him, and suddenly, he can’t wait until they’re alone - really alone - at Axel’s place so that he can… explore this further.
Obviously, he’s doing something right.
Somewhere amidst Axel’s groans and whimpers and his own heavy breathing and the near-frantic pounding of his heart, Roxas becomes aware of another sound: something slick, moving fast, and that’s when he realizing that Axel is stroking himself, and his knees nearly give out on him right then and there.
He reaches around with his free hand, links his fingers with Axel’s, and he helps. It’s another excuse to touch him-to touch more of him, to urge him to completion, because Roxas wants him to come undone.
And when he does, it’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s perfect, and Axel clenches around his fingers and hisses out, “Yeah, Roxy, yeah, that’s it,” while he throbs in their - in his and Roxas’ - hands, and cum splatters on the wall but that’s okay. It can be cleaned up in a minute.
Roxas is shaking all over like he’s just had an orgasm too, though he hasn’t, and he’s kinda afraid that he’ll make an idiot out of himself and wind up falling on his ass because he doesn’t know how much longer his legs will hold him upright.
Much to his surprise, Axel turns, looking all serious-like, and drops to his knees right in front of him. Roxas thinks this must be all backwards, but before he can say so, Axel’s fingers are fumbling with the button and zipper of his jeans, and then his mouth is on Roxas’ cock and Roxas is struggling to contain his moans of pleasure.
He comes much sooner than intended, and is embarrassed about it, but Axel doesn’t seem to mind. He merely swallows and stands, grinning, and pulls Roxas into his arms and kisses him deeply (and Roxas can taste himself, and it’s incredibly erotic).
“So maybe I was wrong,” Axel says when they break apart. “Mind if I take another sick day and kidnap you again next Saturday?”
Roxas shakes his head dumbly, dazed. And distantly, he wonders how Axel learned to suck dick so well, though the jealous flame in him that flares at the thought of Axel doing that with someone aside from him lets him know that asking wouldn’t be such a wise idea.
If he knew the answer, though, he’d surely give the guy and handshake and a fruit basket.
And then he’d punch him in the face.
“You stayed with Axel longer than usual today,” Sora says later when they’re outside, debating where they should go eat. Sora makes it sound innocent enough, but he’s smirking.
“Must’ve had something important to say,” Riku comments, and he’s all cool and casual, but there’s a hint of a smirk on his face, as well.
“We didn’t have time for talking,” Axel says as he approaches (and Roxas wonders when and why the other has started eavesdropping), “what with his fingers in my ass and all.”
Riku and Sora stare at Roxas, disbelief scribbled all over their faces. “Roxas?” they ask in unison, and Roxas nearly beams.
“Yeah, I thought he didn’t have it in him, either,” Axel replies and Roxas tries to glare but mostly fails.
“Roxas!” Kairi sounds disapproving-more like his mother than his friend. “You shouldn’t--”
“Oh, please,” Axel says as he rolls his eyes, reaching over to pat Kairi on the shoulder. “Like you weren’t trying to get your hand under your girlfriend’s skirt when you thought no-one else was looking.”
At this, both Kairi and Naminé blush, and neither of them says anything. They don’t have to.
And Roxas chokes on his laughter.
~*~
Axel comes to get Roxas next Saturday. It’s Roxas’ mother who opens the door, and then finds Roxas in his room, a slightly bewildered look on her face. She tells him, “Some nice red-haired gentleman is here to see you. Says he’s a friend of yours.”
Axel? Nice?
“I am capable of it sometimes,” Axel informs him as they head for the ferry. They’re going back to the mainland-to Axel’s apartment.
Roxas thinks that this is the only stop they’ll be making, but Axel surprises him. After they reach the mainland, Axel takes Roxas out to eat. Roxas guesses that it’s just Axel’s smart-ass way of trying to prove that he can be nice sometimes.
It is nice. Roxas has to admit it, and he can’t really complain.
And later, in the privacy of Axel’s bedroom, Roxas takes Axel for the first (and hopefully not the last) time, and he is gentle and slow and sweet, up until Axel demands that he “hurry the fuck up already”, and then all of that falls to the wayside in favor of a faster, near-animalistic rhythm.
Axel doesn’t complain after that.
When they’re still trying to catch their breath, Axel declares that it’s time for round two, and that it’s his turn to top.
Roxas, out of breath and trembling, shows his agreement by tugging the redhead into a fierce kiss.
Much later, when their breathing and their heart rates are under control, and Roxas’ head is resting on Axel’s chest and Axel’s fingers are combing slowly through his hair, Axel says, “Call me crazy--”
“Crazy,” Roxas interjects obediently, chuckling, and Axel pinches his side in retaliation. Roxas knows Axel could make it hurt if he wanted to, but he doesn’t try. He never does.
“As I was saying,” Axel continues,” call me crazy, but I think I might actually be falling for you, kid.”
Roxas can’t speak for a moment-the sweet ache in his heart makes him forget his words, and the sudden lump of emotion in his throat makes it nearly impossible for him to speak, anyway.
When he recovers, he grins like a complete lunatic and replies, “Persistence pays off eventually. I knew you’d come around.””
Axel shrugs. “For all you know, I might’ve wanted to kill you for being such an annoyance.” He pauses. “For all you know, I might actually be a serial killer just waiting for the right time to strike. I could still cut you into pieces and hide you in the freezer.”
“But you won’t,” Roxas replies without a hint of doubt in his voice.
“Only because doing all of that would be a lot of trouble.” Axel sounds completely casual, but his hold on Roxas tightens. “You know, criminal record and all.”
“Of course,” Roxas agrees amiably. “But you know, you could have just told them you did it in self-defense. I am a crazy stalker.”
Axel chuckles. “Yeah, but I think I’ll let you stick around just for the hell of it.”
“How sweet of you,” Roxas comments, discreetly rolling his eyes. “It’s so difficult to resist that charm of yours.”
“I know,” Axel replies. “You were doomed from the beginning.”
“Maybe I was.” Roxas smiles. “I went through hell to get you to like me, though. And call me crazy--”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy,” Axel interjects in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, and Roxas covers his mouth with his hand to get him to shut up.
“As I was saying,” he continues, “I think it was worth it.”
And it was.
It is.
~END~
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This took a whole lot longer to finish than anticipated, but this was so much fun to write that it’s not even funny. XD I’ve never written something in which Roxas is the one chasing after Axel, and I’ve never written AU KH fic before, either. roterhimmel, you took my virginity. :P