Learning to Deal: Ch.1: Part 2

[kain_du_ciel]

I'm bizarre.

But here's Learning to Deal, Chapter One, Part Two.

Learning to Deal

Chapter One, Part Two: A X E L

It was a weird thing to wake up to in the morning. It seemed like the usual routine--my watch beeped at my ear, where my hand had fallen next to my head on the pillow, and I turned it off, then stared at the wall for a few seconds. Wake up, wake up! Typical...

But then I realized--my roommate, that cute little blond kid who looked like he really needed a hug, was probably still sleeping. Did he even know his schedule? Did he have classes today? I didn't even know... but I was in the mood to be nice, and decided I'd make sure he woke and found the bathroom. Thankfully, they had private bathrooms; and although the hot water sometimes ran out, at least we didn't have to share with others.

I looked at his bed and found it empty, and declared that maybe he did find the bathroom. I hadn't exactly explained what any of the doors led to. The one to the bathroom was typically kept shut, since the toilet had a tendency to run and the sound annoyed me. But it was still silent. Oh well. I shuffled over to the closet to find something to look pretty in, and pulled the door open to scream.

Why the hell was the newbie sleeping with my socks?!

Oh, those weren't my socks... but still! "Roxie?" I called softly. "Oh, Roxie?"

He didn't answer. His head was tilted to the side, resting against one of my luggage cases, right arm draped on the floor, left hugging a rolled up pair of socks. Really... wait a minute, those were mine! I prodded him with my toe, and he merely shifted, tilting his head up. That was cute... he drooled.

"Hey, Roxie... guess who's gotta wake up now!" He didn't seem to hear me again, even as I moved down to call closer into his ear. I leaned forward and smirked.

Fresh meat.

"Roxie...sweetheart... gotta get up for me now," I whispered into his ear, my lips brushing against his lobe in a slight kiss.

He actually bolted awake at that, but unfortunately, my idea hadn't been too brilliant. His head smacked right into mine, and we sat there for a few seconds, bruises forming on our temples as we tried to figure out what happened. A complete daze.

"Ow..."

I shifted to sit up again from the pile of shoes I fell in, and he was holding onto his head and swearing up a storm, even as his cell phone began to scream from his pocket. Yes, scream... seriously. High-pitched, obnoxiously loud. Like a woman in a horror flick.

"What kinda ringtone is that?" I muttered.

He ignored me when he answered it. "What do you want?"

The person on the other end was loud and very cheerful, and I could hear him from where I sat next to Roxas. "Just making sure you're okay! You didn't call or anything, and I got kinda worried. Guess who visited me this morning!"

Roxas didn't even seem interested. "Who?" he asked dully.

"Mommy!" the boy replied. "And she brought ice cream!"

My roommate's eyes widened. Really, I didn't see what the big deal was about ice cream, but he seemed really excited. Well, he just seemed mildly interested, and from his looks of apathy and indifference earlier, this looked like excitement to me.

It came out in his voice too, when he replied quickly. "Really? And you saved some, right? Right, Sora?"

Sora... wasn't that a girl's name?

"Of course, Rox! What kinda brother would I be if I ate all your ice cream?"

...that was just odd. I got up by that point and just began rummaging through the clothes. Once I picked out sufficient attire, I headed to the bathroom, and, with a loud yawn, slammed the door shut. I then took the nicest, hottest shower I could, and boy, did it sure wake me up! In many more ways than--ahem, anyways...

By the time I left my room, my new roommate stood in front of the door, still in last night's pajamas, on his toes as he stared out of the peephole. He seemed rather anxious about something, and, staring at him, I could only wonder why. "Hey, Roxie?"

No response.

"Roxie... what're you waiting for?"

He still wasn't responding. So I went over and tapped his shoulder--and he swung out and stared like I was a potential rapist. I shifted back quickly.

"Back! Back, kujo!" I called to him.

He stared, then sighed. "Please... don't touch me," he replied shortly.

So I was going to definitely not touch him. Again. He was crazy... damn it.

Damn it all to hell. And back. I'm always stuck with the weirdo's in my room.

Last semester of my Freshman year, it had been Lexaeus, that quiet man with the manga collection that took up most of the floor space. Last year, it had been that pink-haired guy with the flower fetish--I don't mind the scent of roses so much, but I'd prefer burning a flower--and that odd mix-up with the blond girl who was accidentally placed in the wrong dorms. And now... it was this boy waiting for... um...

"Roxie? What are you doing?" I asked him quickly.

He blinked at me over his shoulder, then slowly turned away. "My brother should be getting here shortly," he replied. "He's bringing me something."

I inched closer to him, trying to look through the peep hole, though I only received a face full of mussed blond hair. "What's he bringing you?"

Roxas grinned at me, and I was sure it was something good. Just didn't know what. But it had to be if it got Roxas so excited, and that was pretty cool. I had gone away to fix my hair, and came back to find Roxas pulling the door apart, a messy-haired brunet standing in front of him in a black shirt and pale blue pajama pants with little keys on them. The newcomer held a small bag, and handed it to Roxas, who was still grinning like a maniac.

"Great!"

"Yep! Momma dropped them off... gave a few to my roommate," the brunet spoke.

That was when I noticed a lot of similarities. They were the same height. The boy's blue eyes were bright and bold and round as Roxas's were, and he shared the same facial features. At the same time, both reached into a bag, ripped off the wrapping of one item, and stuck a blue popsicle into their mouths. "Wow..." I whispered. "What are you two, twins or something?"

They turned to look at me at the same time, too. The brunet was first to pull his popsicle from his lips, Roxas not far behind. "Yep!" he responded.

"Fraternal," Roxas added, then sighed, looking at the floor. "Not very identical at all."

The brunet grinned slightly. "Roxas, you're so moody," he told him, and resumed eating his popsicle. Roxas ignored the remark, glancing at me warily.

As if I was supposed to take some sort of hint. Or something. I stared.

The boy stared for a few seconds, then smiled and looked up. "I'm Sora!" he introduced. He had a cheerful disposition, reeked of joy and smiles. Infectiously. It was actually rather adorable.

"Hey. Axel, his roommate." I pointed to Roxie, who's look intensified.

I think it was saying 'go away, right now' but I don't know. I can't always read his looks. I only got the message when he stretched out a hand and shoved me into the room. His brother tried to scold him, and soon, I heard the kid whining. Jeez... Roxie's real mean sometimes.

Sighing, I dropped in my chair and turned on my computer.

Roxie came back inside once, grabbed his bag, and headed off to class. Or at least I was guessing class, I dunno what it is with him. And I decided I wouldn't ask, since I figured he might try to eat me, or something. I just went online and read random stories, since there was nothing to truly do. Of course, there was breakfast, but I was trying to 'watch my figure', as Larxene had put it once--I'm just not a fan of food in the mornings.

I'm not really a fan of boredom in the mornings, either. I had gone to sleep early last night, so I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep once more if I tried. Around twenty minutes later, I gave up and started a game of four-deck solitaire, and lost in the fourteen minutes. Card games were never my specialty...

Speaking of card games...

Luxord, my friend from some other part of the school, with a skill for gambling--however ironic that is--sent an instant message. He was always rather quirky, and he worked at a gambling casino underground. I told him that one of these days, he'd be caught by the cops, and he called me a dork for actually caring.

xXRichestGamblerXx: Yo, guess what

I replied calmly, yawning as I typed lazily with one hand.

PyroPowerVIII: Won more cash?
xXRichestGamblerXx: 20 G.

Laughing out loud, I spun around in my chair once. I knew Luxord was a good gambler, but to win twenty thousand munny was a lot.

PyroPowerVIII: That's a lot... sure you weren't just dreaming?
xXRichestGamblerXx: yep, got it all in cash, and I plan on burning every cent.
PyroPowerVIII: Lucky you. Can I borrow a couple hundred of that?

Luxord said 'LOL', then left to go spend it. Thankfully, as I was closing out his box, I found myself having company again. Roxas had walked back in to entertain me. His timid approach of peering into the dorm in the hopes of finding it empty failed him when I smiled. Once he caught my look, he narrowed his eyes, then proceeded to ignore me as he moved to the desk. He was looking for something. He leaned over my shoulder, bent over the desk, looked at books and papers. He was careful not to touch them.

I smiled at him cheerfully. "Hey, Roxie!"

He completely brushed me off. Cold shoulder style, where he glanced away after trying his hardest not to catch my eye. And I know he heard me; we were only a foot or two away. So I continued my questions.

"Wha'cha lookin' for?"

He was still ignoring me. I wondered if maybe he did this to his family, and how they might've reacted to this sort of thing. His brother seemed like he'd probably shake him into giving a response. But of course, I wasn't as cheerful as that spiky-haired brunet, and settled for a simple poke to the side. And he jumped quickly, glaring darkly at me as I stared at him. Like freakin' lazers...

"What's with the lazer-eyes, Roxie?" I asked. "Just wondering why you're back... forgot something?"

"Like I'd tell you."

Well... I got his attitude, that was for certain. He glared for a few seconds, then glanced back, moved aside a folder, and picked up a Calculus textbook. I felt bad for the kid, that was one hard class--I took three days of it, then studied and passed a skip-this-class test--but he'd have to take it for the entire year, I was guessing. Maybe that was why he was so mad?

He was still glaring, and quickly turned to leave.

"Aww, Roxie, don't be like that..." I spun around lazily in my chair, rocking from side to side. "You're stuck here with me for a whole year, so we might as well be friends... don't you think?"

He blinked at me.

What a reaction. Nothing... I smiled slightly and slowly sat up. "You're... like a rock..."

He responded with sarcasm. "Yippie."

That was actually a bit amusing. With a sarcastic look of my own, I placed a hand over my chest. "Oh, your sarcasm makes me feel very loved," I told him, then spun completely around in my chair.

He rolled his eyes at me when I looked at him again. "Don't you have a class, or something?" he inquired.

That made me grin. "Not today, nope!" It was great having Mondays off; while all the freshmen were scrambling off for their first day of education, I could sleep in, relax, and enjoy their misery. Of course, that wasn't my goal--I'd help them out if I could. Make sure Vexen didn't trick them into 'helping' him. Note to self: find Vexen's room and warn those around him. Or did he graduate? I don't know...

Roxas was still staring at me, and I blinked and spun around again. "I have a class tomorrow, but today, I'm all free. Wanna hang out later?"

He blinked again. "Uh..." He actually looked like he was considering it. How cute, he seemed to have some emotion in him somewhere. Deep down inside...

His watch's alarm sounded, and he gasped, turning off the device around his wrist. "Shit, class...." Spinning around, he hurried towards the door. "Bye."

"Have fun!"

I waved as Roxas ran off, and spun around in my seat again. Another few hours to waste... how boring. I gave up on the internet once the fictional stories started with the same plot: boy meets girl, boy drugs girl, girl turns into whore--didn't they have any respect for females? I hopped off and went to watch television, and settled for a court show when someone arrived at my door.

"Oh, Roxie, come to apologize and hang out with me?" I asked. Very stupidly. Roxas was in a class, getting an education like he paid for. Either way, I had waltzed my cheerful self over to the door and pulled it open, and my grin widened.

My water-loving childhood friend, Demyx, stood in front of me, his dishwater blond looks jelled in his peculiar style as always. Something like a mohawk, kinda like a mullet, but out, flowing... I'm not really sure how he does it, but it looks pretty cool. He grinned his cheerful grin, green eyes shining at me as he waved.

"What the hell, man?" he asked as I let him in.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Honestly confused, I stared, and that was very sad.

That was when he tapped the side of his head and smirked. "Do I look like a short, blond black-and-white obsessed kid to you?"

Oh. Roxas. I didn't even know he met Roxas... but it was probably this morning when Roxas and his twin sat outside and shared a popsicle. The description fit. I just called him Roxie, by accident, and Roxas had been wearing black and white pajamas. Maybe he had seen him yesterday, too... Roxas had been wearing the same... lack of colors.

I still grinned. "Aww, that's not very nice... but no you don,t Demyx. You look like a rocker punk." Moving completely out of the way, I let Demyx in completely, and waved an arm lazily. "Welcome... what's up?"

He shrugged. "Nuffin, just wanted to chat. Why, can I not talk to my best friend?"

"If you couldn't, I wouldn't've let you in!"

He laughed and hopped on my bed, and I dropped onto my computer chair again. Life was always rather simple with Demyx, and sometimes I envied him for it. He was a sweetheart with many friends and on good terms with all of his old girlfriends, and his enemies only hated him because he was sometimes forgetful and sometimes clumsy. I just thought it was all cute. But Demyx and I were old friends now, since pre-school and our old neighborhood where we lived next door to each other.

We basically lived next door now. He shared a larger dorm downstairs with some quiet bookworm I didn't know existed until the last day of my biology class and the bookworm preferred sleeping in the hallway closet rather than the bedroom. I don't really blame the kid--the closets are really spacious here. That had me telling Demyx about my roommate's incident with sleeping on the floor, and when comparing him to Demyx's roommate, I was figuring that maybe he wasn't all that crazy.

Conversation soon turned to Demyx and his roommate. Demyx usually comes over with one complaint from the kid, and sometimes to steal food, and I had a feeling it would be a good one.

As a joke, I asked, "Has he thrown anything at you yet?"

My answer: "Yes..."

That made me laugh. Loudly. Demyx was bothered and leaned forward, glaring as intently as he could with his soft green eyes. "Shut up, or I'll... I'll throw dictionaries at you!" he threatened.

I had to bite back a snick and look over in disbelief. "He threw dictionaries? Jeez, what'd you do to piss him off?" I asked him.

This was one of the best problems I had heard. Once, it had been the banana peel in the sink--his last roommate was really odd, I never really understood this--and once it had been some guy who took up a lot of space but was like a conversation with a manga-reading rock. He had interesting things to complain about. The dictionary one took the cake...

Demyx shook his head and leaned back. "I don't know... that's the whole point, I don't know!"

He seemed distressed, and I found myself sighing, moving from my chair to sit next to him on the mattress. I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Aww... might've just been your presence," I said. "Too much Demyx is a very bad thing."

That helped... so little.

So very little.

Demyx was glowering. "Is not!"

"Sure it is!" I was just amusing myself at this point by playing around with him. "You drive people crazy, Demyx."

"Do not!" he shouted at me.

Carefully, I raised an eyebrow. "Then why would your roommate want to throw a dictionary at you?"

He shrugged and looked away. "I don't know..." Immediately, he looked up, wagging a finger at me. "And don't say it's because I drive people crazy!"

I smirked at that and tapped his nose. "You caught that quick, didn't you?" He was catching onto my sneaky little ploys. I continued to play around for a little. He glared, and I could only shrug for a moment. "Well, I dunno, Demyx... maybe he just doesn't like you." How hard that may be to believe, it was possible. Demyx was a sweet, fun-loving individual, and just about everyone who knew him liked being his friend. They even tolerated when he whined and complained like a sissy.

Right now, he was complaining. "B-but... everybody likes me! I'm loveable!" he cried out.

I could only shrug and lean back in my seat. "But if your roommate's trying to nail you in the head with a dictionary..." I blinked and looked up. "Maybe it's the hair..."

"What's--my hair?! What's wrong with my hair!?" Demyx asked quickly, his eyes wide.

I shrugged again. "I dunno..." I was just making up stuff by this point, to be honest. I didn't know what his roommate had against him--I think it was the fact that he left books in the middle of the floor--so I just came up with random things. "Maybe he just doesn't like it?"

Demyx pouted. He took insults about his hair very personally. That had been a style based slightly off of a rockstar he enjoyed listening to, and slightly to make himself an individual. Insulting it bothered him. "You're no fun! I'm leaving!"

"Demyx... aww, I was just kidding!" He ignored me and stomped off towards his dorms, and I sighed. "Fine... leave me, I don't care," I muttered, spinning in my chair again. I'd get over it. But now I was bored!

Gah, damn it. Stupid me, angering my company...