[fanfiction] sunsets.; part 2
Fandom/Pairings: Kingdom Hearts; Axel/Roxas with other stuff too
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and mild themes.
Pre-Notes: This is the second half of a story. You should probably read the first half before you read this. :]
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Or Les Misérables. Or Listerine. Or anything, really.
Summary: Roxas' best 2.5 seconds every day were at sunset.
----sunsets.
part two; a clusterfuck of stupid
“You seem different somehow.”
Roxas looked up at Sora, who was rummaging through the refrigerator for something. He rolled his eyes before replying.
“I'm not any different than I was a week ago, Sora.”
Sora stood back up, now holding a persimmon in his hand, and turned to face Roxas. He shut the fridge with a solid hit from his hip, Roxas shook his head at the act. And Riku wondered why Sora had bruises all over the place.
“You are too different. You have a boyfriend now.”
Sora walked over to the sink and rinsed off the persimmon before cutting it into four neat quadrants. He put one in his mouth as Roxas shook his head and went back to typing up his essay.
“Having a boyfriend doesn't make me different, you weirdo.”
Finishing off the piece of persimmon he had been eating, Sora chewed it thoroughly before he responded.
“Yes, it does. You seem happier and you haven't yelled at Riku as much. And you've been looking less like a zombie in the mornings. Or maybe more, I haven't decided yet.”
With that profound comment, Sora popped another persimmon piece back in his mouth. Roxas erased what he had jut written and wrote something else. Their apartment kitchen was so not the best place to write essays. Especially with Sora there. He looked up at Sora, who was happily eating the astringent fruit. Roxas didn't care for it, but Sora loved it.
There was a knock at the door, which Sora went to go answer after popping his last piece of persimmon in his mouth. A thin, slightly scrawny, blond girl in a white sun dress was standing at the door, Sora let her in.
“Roxas, Naminé is here! Are you guys going to an art show or something?”
“Yes, we are and no, you're not invited. Hi, Naminé.”
“Hi, Roxas. Are you ready to go?”
Roxas shut his laptop and set it down on the table before grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He extended a hand to Naminé and she took it gratefully. They walked out, but Roxas stopped just before he shut the door behind him and glared at Sora.
“You two have sex anywhere but on your bed and you're fucking dead when I come home.”
“Wouldn't dream of it, Roxas-baby.”
And with that, Roxas shut the door and a slow smirk spread across Sora's face. The phone flew out of its cradle and Sora caught it expertly. Seven numbers, six words and fifteen minutes later, Riku was in Sora's bedroom and pounding him into the mattress.
Sora had the distinct feeling that Roxas was not going to be happy that he had laundry duty this week. Really, it was just payback for all the times Sora had to do laundry after Demyx had been over.
----
“What the hell is that? It looks like a monkey ingested paint, barfed and then some guy thought it was awesome so they put it up!”
Roxas had to hold his tiny paper cup of watered punch up to his face so that he wouldn't burst out laughing. He saw Naminé hit Axel out of the corner of his eye and he smiled.
“No, it kinda looks Jackson Pollock thought that giving a monkey paint so that he'd throw it up was a good idea. Has Xemnas been feeding Saix paint again?”
Roxas cringed visibly at the harsh voice. He was afraid to turn around because he knew that voice. It was a voice he had come to know intimately and it belonged to the only girl he was actually afraid of: Larxene. Roxas turned a little and saw a glimpse of gravity defying antennae and bleach blond hair. He sipped his watered down punch and tried to drown out Naminé's calm voice and Larxene's loud one. Sometimes he really wondered why Naminé had to pick Larxene. It wasn't that he minded that she was lesbian-that would be stupid because he was gay-it was that Naminé couldn't pick someone nice and safe like Kairi or that pretty girl who was the muse of comic poetry. Sayla, was it? No, he was pretty sure it was Selphie. And he was pretty sure she was lesbian too.
“Jealous of artsy-fartsy and her girlfriend?”
Roxas scowled. At both the artsy-fartsy remark and the insinuation that he was jealous. He heard a chuckle as he felt the hot air on his neck and the thin, bony hands on his hips. A pair of thumbs hooked into his waistband and Roxas shivered.
“You're supposed to be looking at art, dumbass.”
Another low chuckle, “I am. This piece of eye candy is definitely a work of art.”
Roxas took a sip of his not-quite-punch (really, what did they do to this stuff?) and raised an eyebrow. The piece they were standing in front of was a chalked, pastel drawing of him. Naminé's work, he supposed. She never told him what pieces were going into these art shows, but there was usually at least one of him. Naminé said he made for a very aesthetically pleasing portrait or something. Roxas turned to look at Axel.
“D'ya like spaghetti?”
It was a simple question and Roxas had zero idea why he asked it. Axel hummed a little and considered the question for a few moments before he answered.
“Only if it comes with a side of you. Why?”
Roxas shrugged, “I'm hungry. There's a diner about a block from here that serves kick-ass spaghetti.”
“Bella Notte, right? Sure, we can go, but won't Naminé be angry?”
Roxas shook his head, “I mostly come to these to keep her company until Larxene gets here.”
There was an extended silence. Roxas looked at Axel and blinked slowly.
“You okay, Axel?”
“Larxene? As in the god of chaos? As in Demyx's mother?”
Another silence. They both turned to look at Larxene, who was playfully tugging on Naminé's hair. They looked at each other before blinking and bursting out into laughter.
“I think lunch sounds like an excellent idea,” Axel said suddenly, “shall we?”
Roxas grinned, “I knew there was a reason why Larxene never liked me. Lead the way!”
They said goodbye to Naminé, who simply smiled and told Roxas to wear a condom. He sputtered a little and Axel laughed before the two of them walked down the street to the diner. When they were seated, Axel grinned.
“What was that about?”
Roxas rolled his eyes, “Inside joke. My friend got me a couple boxes of condoms, some birth control and a pamphlet on pregnancy for my 18th birthday.”
Axel nodded and his grin got wider. Roxas pretended to be very interested in what was on the menu. It was obviously a farce though, because the menu consisted of spaghetti, gelato and tiramisu. It also had six or seven kinds of speciality coffee on it, which Roxas wouldn't drink because he didn't drink coffee.
“Do you still have some of those condoms?”
“Demyx can answer that one. I couldn't walk straight for three days.”
“Why did the two of you break up, anyways?”
Roxas shrugged, “I love Demyx, but he's a little too much like my brother. And as much as I love sex, the picnic table was a bit much.”
Roxas smiled as the waiter came over to take their orders.
“What would you like today?”
“A full order of spaghetti and a strawberry Italian soda, please,” Roxas said smoothly.
Axel looked at the menu for a second, “A full order of spaghetti and a lime soda.”
The waitress nodded and left to place the order. She came back shortly with their drinks and Roxas thanked her. Axel swirled the straw in his drink around.
“So. No sex on picnic tables, no coffee and no seafood . . . Anything else I should know about?”
Roxas grinned, “I don't like bottoming.”
Axel nodded, as if taking this into consideration. The waitress returned with their spaghetti and Roxas simply looked at it for a second. He sighed before picking up his fork and twirling some spaghetti aimlessly. He didn't pick the fork up to eat.
“And I hate Lady and the Tramp.”
Axel blinked, that was certainly odd, “Why?”
Roxas shrug, “I've never been able to do the spaghetti thing and I always wanted to. Demyx sat through a whole afternoon of trying once. Then we gave up and had sex.”
There was a slight look of hurt on Axel's face at the mention of Demyx and sex together in the same sentence. He picked up a fork and twirled some spaghetti around before looking up at Roxas. He held up the fork and smiled softly.
“Wanna try one more time?”
Roxas raised an eyebrow, but picked up a noodle. Axel did the same after clearing off his fork. Somehow, probably with a little magic on Axel's part, a single noodle hung between them. Roxas seemed a little surprised as Axel inched along the noodle until his lips met Roxas'. It was a quick kiss, but it made Roxas blush. He took a sip of his drink to hide his embarrassment.
“I think I maybe kinda love you.”
----
Sora knew. Sora had probably known from the very first time he had called Axel to give him Roxas-catching tips. Roxas couldn't hide anything from his twin. Ever. Sora also knew that over the course of four months, Roxas and Axel went out on a handful more dates and they had to be the most patient people ever. Nothing past cheesy love songs and clandestine kisses was exchanged. For horny, young boys they certainly had the patience of saints.
Riku kisses all of Sora's worries away though. And, unlike his previous boyfriends, Riku remembered things like Sora's birthday, his favourite food, what kinds of flowers he liked . . . All the little things that made Sora feel loved and love Riku all the more.
But back to Roxas. Demyx was worried about him too, although for a slightly different reason. Demyx was worried because Axel only had a year on Earth and six months of it had already gone by. He had figured the Axel-Roxas thing would be a quick fling. One, maybe two months. A couple rounds of mind-blowing sex and they never spoke to each other again. At the rate this was going though, the whole situation was going to turn out messy. Very, very messy.
Then again, it was already a clusterfuck of bad mojo. Callista still didn't like that Roxas was dating the sun god. Zexion dating Demyx she had no problem with, but the sun god? Oh, that was a big no-go. It just could not be done. Gods did not mix with muses. Roxas really wanted to strangle her sometimes.
----
“So,” Axel said suddenly, “are all the muses gay?”
Roxas shook his head and responded without looking up, “Cloud, the astronomy muse, is pretty damn asexual. It's traditional for muses to be either big flaming homos or asexual though. Mostly because they used to be only girls and girls making out is just somehow inspiring to guys or something.”
“More like the Greeks were into homo eroticism.”
Sora set a plate of cookies on the table. They were located at the kitchen area in Roxas and Sora's apartment. Roxas was working on something, probably an essay for one of his classes. Axel was picking at the plate of cookies Sora had just put on the table. They were peanut butter and almond.
“How do the new muses become muses then? I know you guys eventually retire after a couple hundred years . . . But who replaces you if you're all homos?”
Sora put another plate of cookies down. These were lemon orange sugar cookies.
“They get the demigods who aren't gay to make babies and choose us out of the lot, duh.”
Roxas snatched a cookie, “We only officially became muses when we turned 18.”
“Which wasn't too long ago. Weren't you at the ceremony, Axel?”
While Axel made faces at the new plate of cookies-he wasn't one for sweets and especially not what Sora deemed “things I'm testing”-Roxas kept typing and snatching cookies without looking. He seemed to like the lemon orange ones the best.
“I don't think I was there, I might've skipped it to party with some demigods or something. Is that why you guys seem to only date in the circle of gods?”
Sora shook his head, “That's just because it's easier that way. Roxas in particular has trouble keeping his powers under wraps and it's kinda difficult to explain magic stuff away.”
“Like you should talk! Do you remember the time when you were dating Green Tea and you made the cup explode because he badmouthed Demyx?”
Axel blinked as Sora pouted and started arguing with Roxas over the details of the incident.
“Green . . . Tea?”
Roxas shrugged, “Guy drank more green tea than we do when we have to go visit our relatives in Japan. Like hell if I remember his name!”
“It was Shigure.”
“Oh, right. And then you found out that his family was a bunch of freaks!”
“I still kinda wonder why I didn't know about them and that they turned into animals. You'd think that'd be part of Identification class.”
“I still wonder why he didn't turn into a dog when you hugged him.”
“Idiot! It was only members of the opposite gender!”
There was more blank staring from Axel and more bickering between the twins. It felt really weird to sit between two brothers who knew everything about each other. Especially when the conversation turned to past boyfriends. He sighed and Roxas gave him an apologetic smile.
“Sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I slept with Hypnos once.”
Axel groaned, “How is that supposed to make me feel better?!”
“It was,” Roxas said matter-of-factly, “the worst sex I've ever had. I fell asleep. Weirdest shit ever.”
Before Roxas had a chance to say anything else, Axel leaned over and kissed him.
“Mine. Okay?”
As he pulled away, Roxas pulled him back and they were well on their way to a hot, steamy make-out session until Sora slammed another plate of cookies (mint chocolate shortbread this time) on the table and coughed loudly. Roxas rolled his eyes and spoke two words.
“Listerine Breath.”
Sora gasped and threw the oven mitt he had been wearing at Roxas. He slammed his palms on the table and huffed.
“That was an accident. How was I supposed to know you were sleeping in that tree?!”
A slow blink from Axel. As the two twins argued, Axel tried to put a timeline together in his head. And then he realised that Sora had way too many fucking boyfriends to even count so he was better off just not trying. As far as Axel knew though, Roxas had only slept with Demyx and (apparently, Axel wasn't sure if there was actual sex involved or not) Hypnos. Probably, and Axel was only guessing at this, he'd slept with Riku too at some point. There had to be a reason for the deep and intense hatred between them. Actually, deep and intense hatred on Roxas' part. Utter fear on Riku's part.
It couldn't all be accounted for by Roxas hating Herbal Essence commercials with an undying passion. He had to have first-hand knowledge of how those quicksilver lips worked. Or some shit like that. Maybe Riku gave really bad head? Whatever. Roxas was kissing him again, he didn't need to think any more. But then again, maybe he did because Sora was coughing again. Oops?
“This is going to end like that time you threw Demyx against the wall and fucked him. In the middle of dinner. Do you know how scarring that was?!”
Axel chuckled and Roxas groaned before banging his head against the keyboard.
“You fucked Demyx against a wall? In front of your brother?”
Roxas banged his head against the keyboard and groaned, “Maybe.”
“What do you mean maybe?! You just threw him against a wall and before I knew what was happening I had to hide under the table cover my ears, and pray to Zeus that it would all end soon! God, do you know how much Demyx screams?!”
As Sora started to rant about how much Roxas scarred him and Roxas started to yell back about four years of stained sheets, failed tests and sleepless nights, Axel shook his head. They were both completely and utterly batshit insane. Who up and fucked their boyfriend in the middle of dinner? Secretly, Axel kinda wished Roxas would do that though. Colour him kinky, but the aggression of wall sex was hot. Actually, all aggression was hot.
Never mind that Axel was eight or nine inches taller than Roxas. He had heard that Zexion did it to Demyx once, so it was entirely possible.
And Axel was rudely snapped out of his sexy little daydream by a frustrated noise and a hand clamping around his wrist and pulling him in for a rough kiss. As he made out with Roxas, there was another frustrated noise and Axel swore he felt a cookie bounce off his head but he totally didn't think about it for more than half a second because there was a hands snaking between them and-
“ARRRRRRRRRRRGH, ROXAS I HATE YOUR GUTS!”
There was a distinctive smirk-y quality to the kiss as Sora stormed out of the apartment and screamed things (with a unhealthy dose of profanity, Axel hadn't known that Sora like the word clusterfuck so much) at the top of his lungs. It was a wonder no one came to check out what had happened. Then again, Sora and Roxas had been living here for a few years already and they were probably all used to it. This probably happened all he time.
Roxas pulled away for air-his cheeks were the tiniest bit flushed-and walked over to the front door, which he locked. He spun around and looked at Axel, who was just the slightest bit dazed right now.
“Peace. And. Quiet. I'm going to finish my essay now.”
Axel slumped forward on the table and groaned. An essay was more important than him? An essay?! Oh, how could Roxas be so-holy fuck what was that.
“But first, I think I should probably study for my anatomy final.”
----
“I. Hate. My. Fucking. Brother.”
Zexion raised an eyebrow at Sora's sentence. Each word was punctuated with a bang! against the table and Demyx looked more than a little worried. Zexion sighed and got out a can of ravioli.
Demyx placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, “Wanna talk about it?”
Sora didn't seem to notice, “Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit.”
At the new series of bang! punctuated words, Zexion rethought the can of ravioli and found the package of sweet, red bean paste they kept in the pantry for dire occasions. Sora was muttering things that were punctuated with more head trauma now. Zexion thought for a second and got the can of ravioli back out too. Demyx looked up and nodded in approval.
“Hey, Sora, eat some bean paste. It'll make you feel better.”
Sora grabbed the block of sweet paste and wolfed it down. An entire 8 ounce block of sickeningly sweet red bean paste gone in, like, a minute. Maybe. And then he finished the entire can of ravioli off with aggressive stabs and much hand motion. After that, though, Sora was finally calmed down and was no longer inflicting large amounts of head trauma upon himself. That was a good sign, so Demyx tried one more time to get the boy to talk.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Sora growled and glared at Demyx, “Scarring for life. Sex. Dinner.”
Demyx laughed nervously, “You're not still mad about that, are you?”
Zexion raised an eyebrow. Demyx gave him a look that said I'll explain later. Sora sunk his head onto the table and sighed.
“Middle of dinner,” he hissed, “middle of fucking dinner.”
“Look, it's not like I could stop him and say 'hey, this probably isn't such a good idea' in the middle of the ravishing. I was kinda preoccupied and, like, Roxas is like a panther when he pounces.”
A vague and unintelligble hand motion, “Sanity go pouf!”
“What brought this up, anyway? That was, like, four years ago!”
“Pouf! Bye-bye sanity, nice to know you-yes?”
Sora went on talking to himself and Demyx shook his head. He stood up and motioned for Zexion to follow him. They walked into the hallway between their room and Axel's. Demyx leaned against the wall and looked at Sora. He sighed.
“Did I ever tell you that Roxas fucked me against a wall during dinner once?”
Zexion raised an eyebrow, “No. It doesn't come up often in normal conversation.”
“Well he did. And it kinda scarred Sora, but he got better and I don't know what - oh fuck.”
Zexion looked at Demyx, “I'm not going to fuck you during dinner.”
“No,” Demyx said frantically, “no. Not that! Fucking Axel, he's going to fuck everything up!”
A calm, calculated response, “Exactly how is he going to fuck things up this time?”
Demyx didn't answer. He whipped out his cellphone and hit number 8. There's some silence before someone picks up and Demyx starts hissing and yelling.
“The fuck are you thinking, screwing around with Roxas?! I don't care if you love him, you're going to break him . . . Fucking muse of tragedy. Of all the fucking muses to pick? You picked the worst. Excellent choice, you know . . . This is going to cause a clusterfuck of trouble and I get to clean it up when you're gone. Gee, you're an excellent friend . . . That's a fucking lie! You know they'll never let you-oh fuck no. You're not taking him up there, they'll eat him wh-no, I don't want to fuck Roxas. I want you to realise that breaking- yes breaking it-what are you, seven? This is not a-yes, I'm aware that you're older. That has-let me fucking finish! Yes, I agree that your love for Roxas is pure. But you don't get it. Roxas isn't like them. He's glass, you have to treat him like it!”
There was a low growl that probably would've been sexy if Demyx hadn't looked like he was going to kill something. Zexion stepped forward, quietly tangled their fingers together and pressed a soft kiss into the crook of Demyx's neck. He felt Demyx relax just a little, but he was still nearly crushing the phone.
Zexion wrapped his free arm around Demyx's waist and pulled him a little closer. Demyx loosened his grip on the phone as Zexion whispered sweet nothings into his ear before gently taking the phone and slipping it into Demyx's back pocket.
“I love you. Remember.”
----
Axel slumped against the wall and smiled bittersweetly. Roxas was in the kitchen area with his headphones on and was typing away at whatever he was working on. He sighed. Demyx was, essentially, right. In six months, he was leaving and very likely never coming back. But . . . As much as part of him wanted to listen to reason, all of him just wanted to buy flowers for Roxas and hold him close. He never was good at listening to reason. And hey, if he got good head out it he wasn't complaining.
Still. Could he really do that to Roxas? He loved the kid, sweetest thing ever. Wait-no, not the sweetest thing but certainly the cutest. And the most fuckable-whoa, stopping that train of thought right there. But yeah. He loved Roxas and when you loved a person, you did what was best for them . . . Right? But what if the best thing hurts them more than the not-so-best thing?
Then what do you do? Axel sighed again. Stay with Roxas or ditch him so he'd be happier later? Not big decision there. He was gonna stay with Roxas because he loved him. Moments of now versus happiness (and even that wasn't for sure) later. Eventually, he'd have to leave but if he could have just a handful moments and memories, however small . . . Well, that was enough for him. Besides, he had a feeling that Roxas wouldn't forget him even if he did leave and then he might try to sleep with Hypnos again and for some reason, Axel just couldn't bear that thought.
He wanted to be the one making Roxas scream. Or the other way around. Probably the other way around. Axel pushed off the wall and walked over to Roxas, wrapping his arms around Roxas' neck. Roxas slipped his headphones off and craned his neck to look at Axel.
“Something wrong, Axel?”
Axel just nuzzled Roxas' neck and didn't say anything. Roxas shifted entirely to look at Axel.
“Let me rephrase that. What's wrong, Axel?”
A pause, “Would you be mad if I left?”
“Yes . . . Why?”
A longer pause, “Because I'm leaving in six months.”
“What kind of leaving?”
An even longer pause, “The I might never be back kind.”
Roxas pulled Axel as close as the position they were in allowed him to. He whispered into Axel's ear.
“I fucking hate you. Let's make the best of the time we do have though.”
And Axel just couldn't say anything as those slender fingers danced around his waist. He could faintly hear some song about time playing on Roxas' headphones and made a mental note to chide the boy about the volume. All thoughts were quickly forgotten as the hands slowly slid his shirt up.
----
A noise of disbelief, “Is your entire family this crazy?”
Sora rolled his eyes, “Duh. You met a lot of them on that trip to Japan, you know that.”
Riku just shook his head and sighed. He was being forced to look over old scrapbooks with Sora while they waited for Roxas to call and tell them it was safe to enter the apartment again. Something about sex and fights and mental scarring. Demyx had dropped Sora off and told Riku to keep him entertained or something. He kept thinking that there were so many better things they could be doing, but Cloud was in the apartment and he had nearly skinned Riku alive the last time Riku'd had sex while he was still in the vicinity. Riku liked his skin, thank you very much.
So Riku was stuck looking at completely cracktastic scrapbooks that he was pretty sure only showcased exactly how completely weird Sora's family was. Only crazy people had scrapbook pages devoted to their children's first boyfriend. Then again, only crazy people scrapbook. And Sora's mother was most definitely crazy because only crazy mothers tell their sons not to stay up too late reading porn and disregard the fact that there is porn being read.
And holy crap, was that Sora in drag?! Wow. It was. Crazy family, for sure. Riku looked closer at the page and blinked. That boy in the photo looked familiar . . . He blinked again.
“Roxas had brown hair when he was little?”
Sora gave him a dude, you're retarded look.
“Do you seriously not remember anything about when we were little, Riku? You were only like my mom's third son. Do we need to get your head checked?”
Riku shook his head, “Roxas so did not have brown hair.”
“Yeah,” Sora said flatly, “he did. We are twins and we did look identical at one point.”
“What the hell happened?!”
Sora gave him another dude, you're retarded look.
“He bleaches it. You didn't know that?”
Riku looked shocked. Sora shook his head and flipped a couple more pages, looking for something specific. He pointed to a slightly faded photo of a very disgruntled little Roxas being hugged by a ecstatic little Sora who was making a peace sign. Roxas very definitely had light brown hair, just like Sora. Riku blinked again.
“Your hair was lighter.”
Sora just nodded before flipping a few more pages and pointing again. This time, it was a photo of two teenage boys. Riku squinted and groaned.
“You did not keep that photo. I though I said I wanted it burned.”
“Thank Roxas,” Sora giggled, “he gave it to my mother.”
Riku sighed, “Of course it was him. He set me up, I swear.”
----
Axel woke up and looked at the alarm clock. It was 4 in the afternoon and he was kinda glad that it was a Saturday and that meant Roxas didn't have any classes because he probably would've been dead for letting him oversleep if it hadn't been. Roxas was sleeping though, neatly curled up and looking a lot more innocent than he actually was. Axel should know.
He supposed he should probably wake Roxas up. So he shook Roxas slightly and finally learned why Roxas didn't respond well to waking up. Roxas flailed and fell off the bed before pulling himself up and glaring at Axel. Roxas held out his hand and Axel tossed Roxas' pants over. They hit his head, and he peeled them off before digging through the pockets and producing his cellphone.
Five minutes of rolled eyes and patient apology later, Roxas shut his phone, crawled back into bed and hugged Axel.
“Promise me you'll come back.”
“You know I can't promise that, Roxas-baby.”
“Please. I don't think I can handle eternity with Riku and Sora. They'll give me diabetes.”
A soft chuckle, “I love you, you know that Roxas-baby?”
“I love you too, Axel.”
And when there was the turn of the key in a lock soon after, Roxas swore rather colourfully and scrambled to put his pants back on-Axel did too. And they were clothed when Sora stomped into the room, ranting and raving in Latin. Axel was pretty sure there was a healthy smattering of Japanese there too. Maybe some other languages, but he didn't need to know what Sora was saying to tell that he was very upset and very mad.
He heard Riku's smooth voice trying to calm Sora down before he saw them enter the room. When Riku and Sora did enter the room, Riku hugged Sora from behind and whispered something to him. Axel didn't quite catch it. Sora calmed down, but just a little, and settled for a glare that would freeze over hell. It certainly froze Axel’s brain over, which was close enough. Honestly, he hadn’t known that Sora had it in him to glare like that. The boy was so saccharine sweet that it hurt sometimes. But there he was, giving his brother’s boyfriend an amazingly effective and scary glare. Axel made a small metal note to try and not piss off Sora again.
“Sora,” Roxas said flatly, “please refrain from glaring at my boyfriend so that I may refrain from tormenting your boyfriend in good conscience. As much as I may enjoy it.”
So Sora pouted instead. Which everyone was incredibly aware Sora could do, so they all ignored him. That way, they wouldn’t be affected by the pout. Roxas was immune, but he still didn’t like seeing his brother pout because it still had an emotional effect on him.
Life was back to normal. Or so it seemed.
----
From there, Roxas and Axel's relationship basically exploded into something a lot less G and a lot more NC-17. It was a desperate show of how much they needed (wanted?) each other to be sane (stable?) in their crazy little world. It was a spiral. An extremely deadly, fast, downward spiral that threatened to end in a fatal crash.
No one stopped them. Really, what could they do? Sora and Demyx figured that the unhappiness between them wouldn't be worth the slim hope that staying together offered. Riku and Zexion trusted their respective boyfriends in matters involving Roxas. Although, even they admitted that Roxas (like tragedy) was entirely unpredictable in some cases. Case in point? The current royally fucked up situation.
It should be said that during this period of time, Roxas and Axel did do normal-couple, non-sex, date-type things too. Naminé had a couple of art shows during which Larxene was always present and always scared the shit out of them because she was simply . . . Well, a crazy bitch. But Naminé really liked her and so Roxas and Axel still went to the art shows and endured verbal abuse. Mostly centred around the fact that she hated their guts and she sincerely wished they would die in a ditch somewhere. Regardless of the small detail that they were immortal. Larxene would find a way. Larxene always found a way.
They also ate spaghetti, which was now their (un)official couple-food. They ate it about once a week, give or take. Sometimes they fed each other. Sometimes, they shared. Sometimes, Riku and Sora tagged along. Sometimes, Zexion and Demyx. Mostly, though, they stayed together and fell deeper in love. Or something equally sappy.
Sora and Riku often stayed at Demyx and Zexion's place to give Roxas and Axel some space. And to have sex, but that was just a small, added bonus. No, really. So what if Sora could be an amazingly bipolar person sometimes? At least he still cared for his brother. Some of the time. Okay, it was mostly for sex.
The real kicker though was that Callista, finally once and for all, accepted that she simply would not be able to break apart the dynamic duo that was Roxas and Axel. So she sighed and started tugging gently on a few strings to see if she couldn't make Roxas happy for eternity. She actually liked him best out of all the muses, even though she gave him he most crap. And she really wanted to see him happy. Which was why she had tried to break them up in the first place.
Roxas, in true Roxas form, still worked at the bar in the kiddie park from Wednesday to Sunday officially. In reality, he could almost always be found working at the bar if he couldn't to be found anywhere else. Xehanort yelled at him from time to time and usually threatened to fire him at least once a month. No one actually believed Xehanort, because everyone who frequented the bar liked Roxas best. He had always talked to customers and sometimes he even had a smile for the weary. He liked to smile more (smile at all, Sora said wryly), now that Axel was around.
But it was still troublesome, the whole situation. No one had a clear solution, one that would give everyone a perfect (to whatever extent possible) storybook ending. There was no solution. So, in a way, they all played it by ear.
And what was once a pleasant sonata ended in a terribly discordant, off-key finale. Roxas went to bed with Axel beside him and in the morning, he was gone. Well, not just like that but he left pretty quickly. Roxas could still feel the kiss on his lips for weeks. There were absolutely no tears on Roxas' part, which was almost surprising, and he refused to eat. He didn't sleep. And, for an entire week, he wouldn't really talk to anyone either. Everyone was really worried and not in a “I'm only doing this because I'm somewhat annoyed by your emo” way. Which was odd in and of itself.
And somewhere, in the midst of all the oppressive emo Roxas radiated, Callista told him that (if you really try hard) you could see the sun god in the sunset. That was the beginning of the pathetic little existence Roxas lived now. Roxas lived every day for a measly 2.5 seconds at sunset.
Wake up. Wash up. Dress up. Fill up. Drive up. Sit up. Learn, if applicable. Then, school work. House work. No work. Real work. Sunset Hill like usual.
Sleep, become coherent, repeat.
----
The teachers were vaguely bothered by all of this, but Roxas made up for that week of work he missed and was generally a very model student. You couldn't fault him for being a model student, even if he was having home problems. Roxas did the perilous dance of depressed and quite unhappy and everyone tried to make him forget. Forget. What did that even mean? Forget the best friend he'd made in a long while? Forget the happiest he'd been in a long while? Forget all the memories that lingered everywhere? Forget the best fucking year he'd ever had? Roxas laughed at the word forget. The muse of tragedy was always the most volatile of all. Always.
----
Unbeknownst to everyone, Callista and Axel were doing their best to negotiate a deal with Zeus. It was a long and arduous process that was inherently frustrating because Zeus was a big jackass. Callista tended not only to fly off the handle, but toss the whole damn pan across the room when she was having a fit. It took them a few (four, FOUR FUCKING YEARS, was not a few), but Zeus suddenly realised that the tragic little beauty Roxas was flat-out neglecting his duties, Axel was, Callista was and the world was less inspired for it. Stupid mortals and their need for inspiration to thrive. He had to give in. Just had to-for the safety of the world's imagination. Although, for a few brief moments, he contemplated just sacking all these disobedient and disruptive muses for new ones.
But this was all on the down-low. On the outside, everyone acted as if they had moved on. Forgotten. Roxas excluded, of course. Sometimes, they mentioned him in passing. Roxas always got that far-off look in his eyes when that happened. As if he were astro-projecting to a land of memory, a land where no one could reach him.
And, on Sunset Hill, Roxas sometimes stared at the sky until it was dark and the stars came out. Then Xehanort usually came out to yell at him for staying out and chasing the customers away by looking like a bum, so could he at least work another shift? Roxas always snapped out of his trance then.
“Yeah, sure.”
It was a distant answer. If someone has asked Roxas to kill a puppy for dinner he would've said the same thing he said to Xehanort.
“Yeah, sure.”
Farther. Farther. Father. Gone.
----
“I'm worried. About Roxas.”
Sora was staring at Riku, wide-eyed and questioning. Riku sighed, even he was-oh god, was he really even thinking him? Yes. He was thinking about Roxas. He was worried about Roxas. Roxas needed to be worried about, he was off in a permanent dreamland. Couldn't worry about himself, right?
Softly, “Everyone is, Sora. Everyone is.”
And it was true. It really was. Everyone was worried about Roxas because the team (and they were a team, even if they sometimes didn't act like it) just really couldn't function if one of their members was more depressing that necessary. He had to be a little depressing-and he normally was a little depressing-but now it was becoming just a little overkill. Not eating or sleeping or even talking for long periods of time and wandering around in a daze was . . . Well, it was getting kinda annoying to tell the truth.
Sora was looking out the window now, staring actually. Riku knew better than to ask questions when Sora was staring off. Because Sora did it a lot and it usually meant that he had an idea. It wasn’t always a good idea, need he be reminded that one drunken night was started with a stare out the window and everyone refused to talk about it now? But sometimes it was a good idea. Sometimes. Very rarely.
An epiphany, “I have to talk to Callista.”
Sora stood up abruptly and ran out the apartment. Riku was used to this too. Sora’s ideas were almost always followed by running and leaving the person he had been talking to (or in the general vicinity with) in the dust. Riku was used to a lot of things Sora did. They tended to happen often.
----
Sora flew into Callista's apartment and waved his hands around wildly for a few moments before she noticed him and blinked. Once. Twice.
“Yes, Sora?”
“Callista! Callistaaaaa, you have to do something! You just have to!”
“Do something about what? Slow down.”
Sora took a very exaggerated breath to satisfy Callista and attempted, with limited success, to slow down. And use nouns before pronouns. Being the muse of rhetoric had its downside . . . Namely, the expectation that everyone would simply know what you were talking about.
“Roxas. Axel. Romeo and Juliet. You have to do something, you just have to! I don't want my big brother to die because he's too much of an idiot to do the research and find out if Axel is really dead or not!”
Callista smiled slowly and motioned for Sora to come forward. He did, and she sat him down on her lap like the small child he tended to be. He blinked, and she smiled a little more. It was quite mischievous this time, not the comforting one she had earlier.
“What makes you think I haven't already done something, hm? When have you ever known me to do nothing when it comes to this team? We're a family, and I'm the mother.”
Sora shrugged, “You didn't do anything when everyone thought Roxas was a girl.”
“That,” she said pointedly, “was good, clean fun. This is serious.”
Sora looked at her. She wasn't smiling any more. Callista looked almost . . . Sad. Like this was all so very out-of-control now and it needed to be stopped. Sora sighed, he hoped she could do something. Or that whatever she had already done actually worked.
“Can you keep a secret, Polly?”
A shrug, “Depends on what kind of secret, Cally.”
“The kind about your big brother, of course. Is there any other kind?”
“Of course I can keep that kind.”
Sora smiled faintly at her. Even though they were using elementary school nicknames that were almost a joke between them now . . . This was serious. But they didn't have to be completely serious, so long as they knew it was serious. All work and no play a very bad muse makes.
“Good,” Callista said softly, “then I can tell you about what I've been working on for these past four years.”
----
Roxas sat down on Sunset Hill to watch the sunset. Like usual. The spot practically said “do not sit! Roxas' spot,” anyway. It wasn't like people didn't notice when a person sat on the same hill in the same spot for four years, even if they didn't pay much attention. You didn't have to pay much attention to notice that sort of thing. He sighed.
----
“You can't be serious. Oh my god, you can't be serious.”
Callista gave Sora a look which he didn't even notice because he was jumping around and spinning like a giddy schoolgirl who had just received a new puppy. And maybe a pony or a the latest Barbie doll that everyone was clamouring for. He was really excited, if the jumping and rather incoherent noises were any indication whatsoever. Callista just sighed and tried to calm him down a little so he wouldn't break anything, which she was sure he would do if she let him continue in this vein.
And she sighed when it didn't work, she could just call Riku and make him pick up his boyfriend. He could deal with the hyper ball of energy that Sora had become. She really hoped Roxas was calmer when he heard the news.
----
Roxas kinda just sat. The sunset had passed already, no big deal. Really. It was just one of those days. He stared out into the darkening scene before him and murmured slightly to himself. Dream-speak, incoherent musing. This kinda sucked. It felt like an ending.
----
“Yes. Come pick him up. He's jumping around and generally being a rather huge pain in the ass . . . What do you mean what did I say? You'll know soon enough if you come pick him up. Just come and get him . . . Yes, he really is here . . . What?! Just come already! You know where I live, liar. Use your damn powers if you don't! . . . Yes. Yes, I will wait . . . Okay, see you in a few minutes.”
Callista hung up and rubbed her temples. God. Maybe she shouldn't have told him.
----
This really did feel like an ending. Like he'd never ever be able to see Axel in the sunset again. Which was silly, because Axel was the sun god and all, but he just couldn't shake the feeling. Well. He'd just sit out here until Xehanort came to yell or whatever. He didn't feel like facing people yet.
Axel, Axel. Wherefore are thou Axel?
----
“He looks like you just gave him coffee. No, make that a Diamond Dust. Or three.”
“Well, I didn't.”
Callista held her arms akimbo and stared at Riku. He was simply standing in the doorway and looking at Sora, who had calmed down a little and was now only spinning and dancing instead of jumping.
“Give him about an hour. He'll crash a little-do you have any orange juice?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“It usually causes him to crash faster.”
“I'll check, but I don't ever eat breakfast so probably not. Can't you go pick some up at the store?”
“I don't really feel like it. I like making you suffer.”
----
Roxas felt miserable, sitting on Sunset Hill, because he saw his one true love for exactly 2.5 seconds in a day. Couldn't touch him or talk him, just saw him. Trust the Sun God to leave the Muse of Tragedy after two days of mind-blowing sex. Bitch.
There hadn't even been bitter goodbyes or sickeningly sweet fare-thee-well's. It was more of a simple “fuck you, Axel” and “I love you too, Bunny Von Hophop” before they had gone to bed. Nothing cliché because Roxas couldn't handle it.
There was, however, a really long and heated goodnight kiss which almost lead to another round of mind-blowing sex but Axel really had to be going and he had already overstayed his welcome. But at least he made sure Roxas fell asleep. It was the last peaceful night of sleep he would have for a while, that was the very least Axel could do.
That goodbye kiss was not one of the 5 most passionate kisses, simply because Roxas bit Axel's lower lip. Gently, of course. It wasn't a sign of dominance, though Roxas would say so later, but a tiny reminder. And then, Roxas woke up without Axel in the space next to him. It was still warm. Roxas sighed and closed his eyes before calling out softly.
“Come back to me, Axel . . .”
----
“Well, he's calm now.”
Riku smirked at Callista. She had found an orange in her refrigerator and squeezed it into juice. Sora had crashed after he drank it. But his adrenaline or whatever had worn off too so he had simply yawned and was now curled up asleep on the couch. Callista tapped her foot impatiently. When was Riku going to take him away?
Her question was answered as Riku picked up Sora quiet easily and shifted him a little to redistribute the weight. Callista sighed, ruffling Sora's hair lightly and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead before Riku walked over to the door. She waved.
“I'll see you guys later.”
“See you later, Callista.”
And with that, Riku walked out and Callista sighed in relief. She shut the door, pushing the deadbolt and various locks back into place before slumping against the wall for a couple of seconds. She got up slowly and walked back over to the couch and collapsed. Such a tiring job, this was. Some days, she hated being a muse.
----
Every sunset for four years, Roxas repeated that same simple phrase, “Come back to me, Axel,” after the best 2.5 seconds of his day. Not because he was a hopeless romantic or anything, but because he felt like he could kill Riku just for the sappiness he spewed when he was with Sora. Roxas fucking hated Riku, but he almost forgot about the jerkface when he was with Axel.
“Come back to me, Axel.”
----
Riku set Sora down on his bed and looked at the clock. Roxas probably wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. At least, if what he thought was going to happen happened. He pushed back a errant strand of hair and kissed Sora's forehead.
“Sleep well, Pollyanna.”
He laid down next to Sora and closed his eyes. Best to get some sleep before Roxas came back. If fate was right, he'd bring home Axel and Riku knew how that went. He was a light sleeper afterall.
----
Roxas said that stupid phrase over and over because everyone was so damn happy. Demyx had Zexion, Sora had Riku, Naminé had Larxene . . . Everybody had a somebody except him. But then again, Roxas was the physical manifestation of tragedy. His version of a happy ending was this piece of shit he dared to call a life. A mere 2.5 seconds of sheer joy in a day and the rest of it was really kinda crappy. Fucking Axel. Roxas stood up and yelled.
“Come back to me, Axel!”
“What, you thought I'd leave you forever?”
Roxas spun around to face what appeared to be a knight in shining, gold armour. He blinked a couple times before busting out into a completely uncharacteristic fit of giggles. The knight made a face. Or what was probably a face, it was hard to tell with the helmet still on.
“Is that how you should treat the love of your life who has spent the past four years slaving over securing a life with you on Earth, Bunny Von Hophop?”
Roxas snorted, “Only when they look as ridiculous as you!”
Axel removed the helmet he was wearing and shook his hair out. It was as fiery as the sun itself. Maybe that was just the lighting. Roxas didn't really care, because it was Axel. This wasn't a dream, right? Axel tucked the helmet under his arm like a formula one racer and Roxas laughed a little more. It couldn't be a dream, Axel would have changed into a monster or something by now. Roxas had only been having nightmares recently. Axel wrapped the arm that wasn't holding the helmet around Roxas and pulled him closer. Their noses touched.
A soft whisper, “Did you miss me?”
An equally soft reply, “Only as much as you missed me.”
A small , secret smile from both of them and then finally, finally their lips met in an explosion of purple prose which might give the home audience diabetes. So we'll skip it because this author can't afford the lawsuits that might cause. Let's just say that everyone in this story lived happily ever after. Except, maybe, for Zeus because he lost the Sun God to a rather effeminate Muse who worked at a bar for 10$ an hour. But he got a replacement so it wasn't a total loss.
Well. Except the replacement was foul-mouthed and somewhat prone to causing eclipses due to his frequent loss of temper. Horses didn't like being rushed.
And the portion of the world covered in fog late at night increased. The cigarette the new sun god smoked, it seemed, was made from the same stuff used to make fog up in Olympus. Who knew? Destiny was weird like that. Life was weird like that.
----
And even though that sounds like the end of the story, it really isn't. Because, after all, muses, gods and demigods are immortal folk. Their stories stretch on forever. Stories in general tend to do that. This is all the stuff that happened after.
Life on Earth wasn't as hard as the humans made it out to be, Axel found out. In fact, he was quite content with living amongst humans as a former god. No, demoted god. Gods never really stopped being gods, they just had less and less power. Less and less responsibility. It wasn't like Axel couldn't still unlock doors with his mind and make a little magic happen. And Roxas was grateful for that, if nothing else. Their life was good. Well, besides the occasional fight and major injury.
Axel, at Roxas' suggestion, became a race car driver to make up for Roxas' minimum wage. Something about it not quite being a chariot, but it would have to do. Roxas didn't think that Axel actually missed the chariot though. He always said that the horses bit and they didn't like people very much. But it didn't really matter, because Axel was an excellent race car driver and he was on Earth to stay. The pair leached off of Sora and Riku, the super-successful writer and Herbal Essence model, whenever money was a little tight. Which was more often than people would think because race car drivers only make so much and repairing cars costs money. Well, money was tight until Roxas mentioned that he he had been working in journalism on the side and had finally hit it big, that is. When questioned further, it turned out he had double majored and not told anyone. As a sort of . . . Back-up plan. Roxas was practical like that.
Demyx, on the other hand, became a famous, famous musician under a mysterious stage persona which must have been significantly different from his regular self because he continued to work at the record store. And people only very occasionally asked if he really was the mysterious stage persona. Even then, he just laughed at them and told them that no, of course not! Why would he be working at a record store, after all? If he had so much money, he didn't need the cash from selling records to teenagers that loitered too long and had sticky fingers.
But, truth be told, he really just liked selling records. And the shop didn't want to lose their oldest cashier (though he preferred expert) so he stayed. Even though he always found it really weird to sell his CD to people. Because it was a little weird.
It was really weird to sell his CD to Zexion though. Zexion, being the most sensible out of the muses and quite honestly the smartest, became a historian in Greek and Roman studies. His thoughtful and deep writings on those cultures shed new light on the area and he was widely proclaimed a true genius. Or a nutjob, it all depended on who you talked to. Not everyone was ready to accept the fact that muses could be just regular, ordinary people who happened to have certain amplified traits. Or that most demigods basically held 24/7 parties on Earth. Or that muses and the like could be your next door neighbour, your teacher, the girl you had a crush on.
That was just the sad truth of it. Poor mortals, their imaginations only stretched so far.
Naminé, like everyone always knew she would, became quite the famous artist. She was widely known for her unique ability to combine colour and sound into what she called “memory song.” It was often explained by her as a memory which could be permanently burned into your brain through the sound and picture. Needless to say, these were very compelling.
Larxene supported Naminé throughout all of her efforts. She was also the primary reason why no one dared to say anything bad about Naminé, even though not everyone liked her work. After the first ten or twenty people that badmouthed the pretty blond disappeared, people caught on. Larxene, instead of getting a real job, collected alimony from that dude she got knocked up from until he died. Then she resigned herself to being Naminé's manager. Which she already was, but now she had the title all officially.
Basically, it was happy and perfect and the kind of storybook “ending” that Roxas found rather boring for the most part because everyone was immortal and the story never ended. There wasn't any variety. And he was the muse of tragedy, hello! He liked a little spice in his life. So one day, out of the blue, Axel up and told Roxas that they were going to go on a journey to anywhere in the world he wanted because he was getting tired of driving race cars. Roxas just laughed and he chose Olympus.
That's another story for another day, though.
----
Postit-Notes: I may hate this fic, but it was such an integral part of my life for about a year and it's like a baby. It even has a soundtrack! Anyway, I hope you liked it. I like it-mostly.
* Callista says “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.” while Sora says “You know, Riku, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and mild themes.
Pre-Notes: This is the second half of a story. You should probably read the first half before you read this. :]
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Or Les Misérables. Or Listerine. Or anything, really.
Summary: Roxas' best 2.5 seconds every day were at sunset.
----sunsets.
part two; a clusterfuck of stupid
“You seem different somehow.”
Roxas looked up at Sora, who was rummaging through the refrigerator for something. He rolled his eyes before replying.
“I'm not any different than I was a week ago, Sora.”
Sora stood back up, now holding a persimmon in his hand, and turned to face Roxas. He shut the fridge with a solid hit from his hip, Roxas shook his head at the act. And Riku wondered why Sora had bruises all over the place.
“You are too different. You have a boyfriend now.”
Sora walked over to the sink and rinsed off the persimmon before cutting it into four neat quadrants. He put one in his mouth as Roxas shook his head and went back to typing up his essay.
“Having a boyfriend doesn't make me different, you weirdo.”
Finishing off the piece of persimmon he had been eating, Sora chewed it thoroughly before he responded.
“Yes, it does. You seem happier and you haven't yelled at Riku as much. And you've been looking less like a zombie in the mornings. Or maybe more, I haven't decided yet.”
With that profound comment, Sora popped another persimmon piece back in his mouth. Roxas erased what he had jut written and wrote something else. Their apartment kitchen was so not the best place to write essays. Especially with Sora there. He looked up at Sora, who was happily eating the astringent fruit. Roxas didn't care for it, but Sora loved it.
There was a knock at the door, which Sora went to go answer after popping his last piece of persimmon in his mouth. A thin, slightly scrawny, blond girl in a white sun dress was standing at the door, Sora let her in.
“Roxas, Naminé is here! Are you guys going to an art show or something?”
“Yes, we are and no, you're not invited. Hi, Naminé.”
“Hi, Roxas. Are you ready to go?”
Roxas shut his laptop and set it down on the table before grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He extended a hand to Naminé and she took it gratefully. They walked out, but Roxas stopped just before he shut the door behind him and glared at Sora.
“You two have sex anywhere but on your bed and you're fucking dead when I come home.”
“Wouldn't dream of it, Roxas-baby.”
And with that, Roxas shut the door and a slow smirk spread across Sora's face. The phone flew out of its cradle and Sora caught it expertly. Seven numbers, six words and fifteen minutes later, Riku was in Sora's bedroom and pounding him into the mattress.
Sora had the distinct feeling that Roxas was not going to be happy that he had laundry duty this week. Really, it was just payback for all the times Sora had to do laundry after Demyx had been over.
----
“What the hell is that? It looks like a monkey ingested paint, barfed and then some guy thought it was awesome so they put it up!”
Roxas had to hold his tiny paper cup of watered punch up to his face so that he wouldn't burst out laughing. He saw Naminé hit Axel out of the corner of his eye and he smiled.
“No, it kinda looks Jackson Pollock thought that giving a monkey paint so that he'd throw it up was a good idea. Has Xemnas been feeding Saix paint again?”
Roxas cringed visibly at the harsh voice. He was afraid to turn around because he knew that voice. It was a voice he had come to know intimately and it belonged to the only girl he was actually afraid of: Larxene. Roxas turned a little and saw a glimpse of gravity defying antennae and bleach blond hair. He sipped his watered down punch and tried to drown out Naminé's calm voice and Larxene's loud one. Sometimes he really wondered why Naminé had to pick Larxene. It wasn't that he minded that she was lesbian-that would be stupid because he was gay-it was that Naminé couldn't pick someone nice and safe like Kairi or that pretty girl who was the muse of comic poetry. Sayla, was it? No, he was pretty sure it was Selphie. And he was pretty sure she was lesbian too.
“Jealous of artsy-fartsy and her girlfriend?”
Roxas scowled. At both the artsy-fartsy remark and the insinuation that he was jealous. He heard a chuckle as he felt the hot air on his neck and the thin, bony hands on his hips. A pair of thumbs hooked into his waistband and Roxas shivered.
“You're supposed to be looking at art, dumbass.”
Another low chuckle, “I am. This piece of eye candy is definitely a work of art.”
Roxas took a sip of his not-quite-punch (really, what did they do to this stuff?) and raised an eyebrow. The piece they were standing in front of was a chalked, pastel drawing of him. Naminé's work, he supposed. She never told him what pieces were going into these art shows, but there was usually at least one of him. Naminé said he made for a very aesthetically pleasing portrait or something. Roxas turned to look at Axel.
“D'ya like spaghetti?”
It was a simple question and Roxas had zero idea why he asked it. Axel hummed a little and considered the question for a few moments before he answered.
“Only if it comes with a side of you. Why?”
Roxas shrugged, “I'm hungry. There's a diner about a block from here that serves kick-ass spaghetti.”
“Bella Notte, right? Sure, we can go, but won't Naminé be angry?”
Roxas shook his head, “I mostly come to these to keep her company until Larxene gets here.”
There was an extended silence. Roxas looked at Axel and blinked slowly.
“You okay, Axel?”
“Larxene? As in the god of chaos? As in Demyx's mother?”
Another silence. They both turned to look at Larxene, who was playfully tugging on Naminé's hair. They looked at each other before blinking and bursting out into laughter.
“I think lunch sounds like an excellent idea,” Axel said suddenly, “shall we?”
Roxas grinned, “I knew there was a reason why Larxene never liked me. Lead the way!”
They said goodbye to Naminé, who simply smiled and told Roxas to wear a condom. He sputtered a little and Axel laughed before the two of them walked down the street to the diner. When they were seated, Axel grinned.
“What was that about?”
Roxas rolled his eyes, “Inside joke. My friend got me a couple boxes of condoms, some birth control and a pamphlet on pregnancy for my 18th birthday.”
Axel nodded and his grin got wider. Roxas pretended to be very interested in what was on the menu. It was obviously a farce though, because the menu consisted of spaghetti, gelato and tiramisu. It also had six or seven kinds of speciality coffee on it, which Roxas wouldn't drink because he didn't drink coffee.
“Do you still have some of those condoms?”
“Demyx can answer that one. I couldn't walk straight for three days.”
“Why did the two of you break up, anyways?”
Roxas shrugged, “I love Demyx, but he's a little too much like my brother. And as much as I love sex, the picnic table was a bit much.”
Roxas smiled as the waiter came over to take their orders.
“What would you like today?”
“A full order of spaghetti and a strawberry Italian soda, please,” Roxas said smoothly.
Axel looked at the menu for a second, “A full order of spaghetti and a lime soda.”
The waitress nodded and left to place the order. She came back shortly with their drinks and Roxas thanked her. Axel swirled the straw in his drink around.
“So. No sex on picnic tables, no coffee and no seafood . . . Anything else I should know about?”
Roxas grinned, “I don't like bottoming.”
Axel nodded, as if taking this into consideration. The waitress returned with their spaghetti and Roxas simply looked at it for a second. He sighed before picking up his fork and twirling some spaghetti aimlessly. He didn't pick the fork up to eat.
“And I hate Lady and the Tramp.”
Axel blinked, that was certainly odd, “Why?”
Roxas shrug, “I've never been able to do the spaghetti thing and I always wanted to. Demyx sat through a whole afternoon of trying once. Then we gave up and had sex.”
There was a slight look of hurt on Axel's face at the mention of Demyx and sex together in the same sentence. He picked up a fork and twirled some spaghetti around before looking up at Roxas. He held up the fork and smiled softly.
“Wanna try one more time?”
Roxas raised an eyebrow, but picked up a noodle. Axel did the same after clearing off his fork. Somehow, probably with a little magic on Axel's part, a single noodle hung between them. Roxas seemed a little surprised as Axel inched along the noodle until his lips met Roxas'. It was a quick kiss, but it made Roxas blush. He took a sip of his drink to hide his embarrassment.
“I think I maybe kinda love you.”
----
Sora knew. Sora had probably known from the very first time he had called Axel to give him Roxas-catching tips. Roxas couldn't hide anything from his twin. Ever. Sora also knew that over the course of four months, Roxas and Axel went out on a handful more dates and they had to be the most patient people ever. Nothing past cheesy love songs and clandestine kisses was exchanged. For horny, young boys they certainly had the patience of saints.
Riku kisses all of Sora's worries away though. And, unlike his previous boyfriends, Riku remembered things like Sora's birthday, his favourite food, what kinds of flowers he liked . . . All the little things that made Sora feel loved and love Riku all the more.
But back to Roxas. Demyx was worried about him too, although for a slightly different reason. Demyx was worried because Axel only had a year on Earth and six months of it had already gone by. He had figured the Axel-Roxas thing would be a quick fling. One, maybe two months. A couple rounds of mind-blowing sex and they never spoke to each other again. At the rate this was going though, the whole situation was going to turn out messy. Very, very messy.
Then again, it was already a clusterfuck of bad mojo. Callista still didn't like that Roxas was dating the sun god. Zexion dating Demyx she had no problem with, but the sun god? Oh, that was a big no-go. It just could not be done. Gods did not mix with muses. Roxas really wanted to strangle her sometimes.
----
“So,” Axel said suddenly, “are all the muses gay?”
Roxas shook his head and responded without looking up, “Cloud, the astronomy muse, is pretty damn asexual. It's traditional for muses to be either big flaming homos or asexual though. Mostly because they used to be only girls and girls making out is just somehow inspiring to guys or something.”
“More like the Greeks were into homo eroticism.”
Sora set a plate of cookies on the table. They were located at the kitchen area in Roxas and Sora's apartment. Roxas was working on something, probably an essay for one of his classes. Axel was picking at the plate of cookies Sora had just put on the table. They were peanut butter and almond.
“How do the new muses become muses then? I know you guys eventually retire after a couple hundred years . . . But who replaces you if you're all homos?”
Sora put another plate of cookies down. These were lemon orange sugar cookies.
“They get the demigods who aren't gay to make babies and choose us out of the lot, duh.”
Roxas snatched a cookie, “We only officially became muses when we turned 18.”
“Which wasn't too long ago. Weren't you at the ceremony, Axel?”
While Axel made faces at the new plate of cookies-he wasn't one for sweets and especially not what Sora deemed “things I'm testing”-Roxas kept typing and snatching cookies without looking. He seemed to like the lemon orange ones the best.
“I don't think I was there, I might've skipped it to party with some demigods or something. Is that why you guys seem to only date in the circle of gods?”
Sora shook his head, “That's just because it's easier that way. Roxas in particular has trouble keeping his powers under wraps and it's kinda difficult to explain magic stuff away.”
“Like you should talk! Do you remember the time when you were dating Green Tea and you made the cup explode because he badmouthed Demyx?”
Axel blinked as Sora pouted and started arguing with Roxas over the details of the incident.
“Green . . . Tea?”
Roxas shrugged, “Guy drank more green tea than we do when we have to go visit our relatives in Japan. Like hell if I remember his name!”
“It was Shigure.”
“Oh, right. And then you found out that his family was a bunch of freaks!”
“I still kinda wonder why I didn't know about them and that they turned into animals. You'd think that'd be part of Identification class.”
“I still wonder why he didn't turn into a dog when you hugged him.”
“Idiot! It was only members of the opposite gender!”
There was more blank staring from Axel and more bickering between the twins. It felt really weird to sit between two brothers who knew everything about each other. Especially when the conversation turned to past boyfriends. He sighed and Roxas gave him an apologetic smile.
“Sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I slept with Hypnos once.”
Axel groaned, “How is that supposed to make me feel better?!”
“It was,” Roxas said matter-of-factly, “the worst sex I've ever had. I fell asleep. Weirdest shit ever.”
Before Roxas had a chance to say anything else, Axel leaned over and kissed him.
“Mine. Okay?”
As he pulled away, Roxas pulled him back and they were well on their way to a hot, steamy make-out session until Sora slammed another plate of cookies (mint chocolate shortbread this time) on the table and coughed loudly. Roxas rolled his eyes and spoke two words.
“Listerine Breath.”
Sora gasped and threw the oven mitt he had been wearing at Roxas. He slammed his palms on the table and huffed.
“That was an accident. How was I supposed to know you were sleeping in that tree?!”
A slow blink from Axel. As the two twins argued, Axel tried to put a timeline together in his head. And then he realised that Sora had way too many fucking boyfriends to even count so he was better off just not trying. As far as Axel knew though, Roxas had only slept with Demyx and (apparently, Axel wasn't sure if there was actual sex involved or not) Hypnos. Probably, and Axel was only guessing at this, he'd slept with Riku too at some point. There had to be a reason for the deep and intense hatred between them. Actually, deep and intense hatred on Roxas' part. Utter fear on Riku's part.
It couldn't all be accounted for by Roxas hating Herbal Essence commercials with an undying passion. He had to have first-hand knowledge of how those quicksilver lips worked. Or some shit like that. Maybe Riku gave really bad head? Whatever. Roxas was kissing him again, he didn't need to think any more. But then again, maybe he did because Sora was coughing again. Oops?
“This is going to end like that time you threw Demyx against the wall and fucked him. In the middle of dinner. Do you know how scarring that was?!”
Axel chuckled and Roxas groaned before banging his head against the keyboard.
“You fucked Demyx against a wall? In front of your brother?”
Roxas banged his head against the keyboard and groaned, “Maybe.”
“What do you mean maybe?! You just threw him against a wall and before I knew what was happening I had to hide under the table cover my ears, and pray to Zeus that it would all end soon! God, do you know how much Demyx screams?!”
As Sora started to rant about how much Roxas scarred him and Roxas started to yell back about four years of stained sheets, failed tests and sleepless nights, Axel shook his head. They were both completely and utterly batshit insane. Who up and fucked their boyfriend in the middle of dinner? Secretly, Axel kinda wished Roxas would do that though. Colour him kinky, but the aggression of wall sex was hot. Actually, all aggression was hot.
Never mind that Axel was eight or nine inches taller than Roxas. He had heard that Zexion did it to Demyx once, so it was entirely possible.
And Axel was rudely snapped out of his sexy little daydream by a frustrated noise and a hand clamping around his wrist and pulling him in for a rough kiss. As he made out with Roxas, there was another frustrated noise and Axel swore he felt a cookie bounce off his head but he totally didn't think about it for more than half a second because there was a hands snaking between them and-
“ARRRRRRRRRRRGH, ROXAS I HATE YOUR GUTS!”
There was a distinctive smirk-y quality to the kiss as Sora stormed out of the apartment and screamed things (with a unhealthy dose of profanity, Axel hadn't known that Sora like the word clusterfuck so much) at the top of his lungs. It was a wonder no one came to check out what had happened. Then again, Sora and Roxas had been living here for a few years already and they were probably all used to it. This probably happened all he time.
Roxas pulled away for air-his cheeks were the tiniest bit flushed-and walked over to the front door, which he locked. He spun around and looked at Axel, who was just the slightest bit dazed right now.
“Peace. And. Quiet. I'm going to finish my essay now.”
Axel slumped forward on the table and groaned. An essay was more important than him? An essay?! Oh, how could Roxas be so-holy fuck what was that.
“But first, I think I should probably study for my anatomy final.”
----
“I. Hate. My. Fucking. Brother.”
Zexion raised an eyebrow at Sora's sentence. Each word was punctuated with a bang! against the table and Demyx looked more than a little worried. Zexion sighed and got out a can of ravioli.
Demyx placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, “Wanna talk about it?”
Sora didn't seem to notice, “Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit.”
At the new series of bang! punctuated words, Zexion rethought the can of ravioli and found the package of sweet, red bean paste they kept in the pantry for dire occasions. Sora was muttering things that were punctuated with more head trauma now. Zexion thought for a second and got the can of ravioli back out too. Demyx looked up and nodded in approval.
“Hey, Sora, eat some bean paste. It'll make you feel better.”
Sora grabbed the block of sweet paste and wolfed it down. An entire 8 ounce block of sickeningly sweet red bean paste gone in, like, a minute. Maybe. And then he finished the entire can of ravioli off with aggressive stabs and much hand motion. After that, though, Sora was finally calmed down and was no longer inflicting large amounts of head trauma upon himself. That was a good sign, so Demyx tried one more time to get the boy to talk.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Sora growled and glared at Demyx, “Scarring for life. Sex. Dinner.”
Demyx laughed nervously, “You're not still mad about that, are you?”
Zexion raised an eyebrow. Demyx gave him a look that said I'll explain later. Sora sunk his head onto the table and sighed.
“Middle of dinner,” he hissed, “middle of fucking dinner.”
“Look, it's not like I could stop him and say 'hey, this probably isn't such a good idea' in the middle of the ravishing. I was kinda preoccupied and, like, Roxas is like a panther when he pounces.”
A vague and unintelligble hand motion, “Sanity go pouf!”
“What brought this up, anyway? That was, like, four years ago!”
“Pouf! Bye-bye sanity, nice to know you-yes?”
Sora went on talking to himself and Demyx shook his head. He stood up and motioned for Zexion to follow him. They walked into the hallway between their room and Axel's. Demyx leaned against the wall and looked at Sora. He sighed.
“Did I ever tell you that Roxas fucked me against a wall during dinner once?”
Zexion raised an eyebrow, “No. It doesn't come up often in normal conversation.”
“Well he did. And it kinda scarred Sora, but he got better and I don't know what - oh fuck.”
Zexion looked at Demyx, “I'm not going to fuck you during dinner.”
“No,” Demyx said frantically, “no. Not that! Fucking Axel, he's going to fuck everything up!”
A calm, calculated response, “Exactly how is he going to fuck things up this time?”
Demyx didn't answer. He whipped out his cellphone and hit number 8. There's some silence before someone picks up and Demyx starts hissing and yelling.
“The fuck are you thinking, screwing around with Roxas?! I don't care if you love him, you're going to break him . . . Fucking muse of tragedy. Of all the fucking muses to pick? You picked the worst. Excellent choice, you know . . . This is going to cause a clusterfuck of trouble and I get to clean it up when you're gone. Gee, you're an excellent friend . . . That's a fucking lie! You know they'll never let you-oh fuck no. You're not taking him up there, they'll eat him wh-no, I don't want to fuck Roxas. I want you to realise that breaking- yes breaking it-what are you, seven? This is not a-yes, I'm aware that you're older. That has-let me fucking finish! Yes, I agree that your love for Roxas is pure. But you don't get it. Roxas isn't like them. He's glass, you have to treat him like it!”
There was a low growl that probably would've been sexy if Demyx hadn't looked like he was going to kill something. Zexion stepped forward, quietly tangled their fingers together and pressed a soft kiss into the crook of Demyx's neck. He felt Demyx relax just a little, but he was still nearly crushing the phone.
Zexion wrapped his free arm around Demyx's waist and pulled him a little closer. Demyx loosened his grip on the phone as Zexion whispered sweet nothings into his ear before gently taking the phone and slipping it into Demyx's back pocket.
“I love you. Remember.”
----
Axel slumped against the wall and smiled bittersweetly. Roxas was in the kitchen area with his headphones on and was typing away at whatever he was working on. He sighed. Demyx was, essentially, right. In six months, he was leaving and very likely never coming back. But . . . As much as part of him wanted to listen to reason, all of him just wanted to buy flowers for Roxas and hold him close. He never was good at listening to reason. And hey, if he got good head out it he wasn't complaining.
Still. Could he really do that to Roxas? He loved the kid, sweetest thing ever. Wait-no, not the sweetest thing but certainly the cutest. And the most fuckable-whoa, stopping that train of thought right there. But yeah. He loved Roxas and when you loved a person, you did what was best for them . . . Right? But what if the best thing hurts them more than the not-so-best thing?
Then what do you do? Axel sighed again. Stay with Roxas or ditch him so he'd be happier later? Not big decision there. He was gonna stay with Roxas because he loved him. Moments of now versus happiness (and even that wasn't for sure) later. Eventually, he'd have to leave but if he could have just a handful moments and memories, however small . . . Well, that was enough for him. Besides, he had a feeling that Roxas wouldn't forget him even if he did leave and then he might try to sleep with Hypnos again and for some reason, Axel just couldn't bear that thought.
He wanted to be the one making Roxas scream. Or the other way around. Probably the other way around. Axel pushed off the wall and walked over to Roxas, wrapping his arms around Roxas' neck. Roxas slipped his headphones off and craned his neck to look at Axel.
“Something wrong, Axel?”
Axel just nuzzled Roxas' neck and didn't say anything. Roxas shifted entirely to look at Axel.
“Let me rephrase that. What's wrong, Axel?”
A pause, “Would you be mad if I left?”
“Yes . . . Why?”
A longer pause, “Because I'm leaving in six months.”
“What kind of leaving?”
An even longer pause, “The I might never be back kind.”
Roxas pulled Axel as close as the position they were in allowed him to. He whispered into Axel's ear.
“I fucking hate you. Let's make the best of the time we do have though.”
And Axel just couldn't say anything as those slender fingers danced around his waist. He could faintly hear some song about time playing on Roxas' headphones and made a mental note to chide the boy about the volume. All thoughts were quickly forgotten as the hands slowly slid his shirt up.
----
A noise of disbelief, “Is your entire family this crazy?”
Sora rolled his eyes, “Duh. You met a lot of them on that trip to Japan, you know that.”
Riku just shook his head and sighed. He was being forced to look over old scrapbooks with Sora while they waited for Roxas to call and tell them it was safe to enter the apartment again. Something about sex and fights and mental scarring. Demyx had dropped Sora off and told Riku to keep him entertained or something. He kept thinking that there were so many better things they could be doing, but Cloud was in the apartment and he had nearly skinned Riku alive the last time Riku'd had sex while he was still in the vicinity. Riku liked his skin, thank you very much.
So Riku was stuck looking at completely cracktastic scrapbooks that he was pretty sure only showcased exactly how completely weird Sora's family was. Only crazy people had scrapbook pages devoted to their children's first boyfriend. Then again, only crazy people scrapbook. And Sora's mother was most definitely crazy because only crazy mothers tell their sons not to stay up too late reading porn and disregard the fact that there is porn being read.
And holy crap, was that Sora in drag?! Wow. It was. Crazy family, for sure. Riku looked closer at the page and blinked. That boy in the photo looked familiar . . . He blinked again.
“Roxas had brown hair when he was little?”
Sora gave him a dude, you're retarded look.
“Do you seriously not remember anything about when we were little, Riku? You were only like my mom's third son. Do we need to get your head checked?”
Riku shook his head, “Roxas so did not have brown hair.”
“Yeah,” Sora said flatly, “he did. We are twins and we did look identical at one point.”
“What the hell happened?!”
Sora gave him another dude, you're retarded look.
“He bleaches it. You didn't know that?”
Riku looked shocked. Sora shook his head and flipped a couple more pages, looking for something specific. He pointed to a slightly faded photo of a very disgruntled little Roxas being hugged by a ecstatic little Sora who was making a peace sign. Roxas very definitely had light brown hair, just like Sora. Riku blinked again.
“Your hair was lighter.”
Sora just nodded before flipping a few more pages and pointing again. This time, it was a photo of two teenage boys. Riku squinted and groaned.
“You did not keep that photo. I though I said I wanted it burned.”
“Thank Roxas,” Sora giggled, “he gave it to my mother.”
Riku sighed, “Of course it was him. He set me up, I swear.”
----
Axel woke up and looked at the alarm clock. It was 4 in the afternoon and he was kinda glad that it was a Saturday and that meant Roxas didn't have any classes because he probably would've been dead for letting him oversleep if it hadn't been. Roxas was sleeping though, neatly curled up and looking a lot more innocent than he actually was. Axel should know.
He supposed he should probably wake Roxas up. So he shook Roxas slightly and finally learned why Roxas didn't respond well to waking up. Roxas flailed and fell off the bed before pulling himself up and glaring at Axel. Roxas held out his hand and Axel tossed Roxas' pants over. They hit his head, and he peeled them off before digging through the pockets and producing his cellphone.
Five minutes of rolled eyes and patient apology later, Roxas shut his phone, crawled back into bed and hugged Axel.
“Promise me you'll come back.”
“You know I can't promise that, Roxas-baby.”
“Please. I don't think I can handle eternity with Riku and Sora. They'll give me diabetes.”
A soft chuckle, “I love you, you know that Roxas-baby?”
“I love you too, Axel.”
And when there was the turn of the key in a lock soon after, Roxas swore rather colourfully and scrambled to put his pants back on-Axel did too. And they were clothed when Sora stomped into the room, ranting and raving in Latin. Axel was pretty sure there was a healthy smattering of Japanese there too. Maybe some other languages, but he didn't need to know what Sora was saying to tell that he was very upset and very mad.
He heard Riku's smooth voice trying to calm Sora down before he saw them enter the room. When Riku and Sora did enter the room, Riku hugged Sora from behind and whispered something to him. Axel didn't quite catch it. Sora calmed down, but just a little, and settled for a glare that would freeze over hell. It certainly froze Axel’s brain over, which was close enough. Honestly, he hadn’t known that Sora had it in him to glare like that. The boy was so saccharine sweet that it hurt sometimes. But there he was, giving his brother’s boyfriend an amazingly effective and scary glare. Axel made a small metal note to try and not piss off Sora again.
“Sora,” Roxas said flatly, “please refrain from glaring at my boyfriend so that I may refrain from tormenting your boyfriend in good conscience. As much as I may enjoy it.”
So Sora pouted instead. Which everyone was incredibly aware Sora could do, so they all ignored him. That way, they wouldn’t be affected by the pout. Roxas was immune, but he still didn’t like seeing his brother pout because it still had an emotional effect on him.
Life was back to normal. Or so it seemed.
----
From there, Roxas and Axel's relationship basically exploded into something a lot less G and a lot more NC-17. It was a desperate show of how much they needed (wanted?) each other to be sane (stable?) in their crazy little world. It was a spiral. An extremely deadly, fast, downward spiral that threatened to end in a fatal crash.
No one stopped them. Really, what could they do? Sora and Demyx figured that the unhappiness between them wouldn't be worth the slim hope that staying together offered. Riku and Zexion trusted their respective boyfriends in matters involving Roxas. Although, even they admitted that Roxas (like tragedy) was entirely unpredictable in some cases. Case in point? The current royally fucked up situation.
It should be said that during this period of time, Roxas and Axel did do normal-couple, non-sex, date-type things too. Naminé had a couple of art shows during which Larxene was always present and always scared the shit out of them because she was simply . . . Well, a crazy bitch. But Naminé really liked her and so Roxas and Axel still went to the art shows and endured verbal abuse. Mostly centred around the fact that she hated their guts and she sincerely wished they would die in a ditch somewhere. Regardless of the small detail that they were immortal. Larxene would find a way. Larxene always found a way.
They also ate spaghetti, which was now their (un)official couple-food. They ate it about once a week, give or take. Sometimes they fed each other. Sometimes, they shared. Sometimes, Riku and Sora tagged along. Sometimes, Zexion and Demyx. Mostly, though, they stayed together and fell deeper in love. Or something equally sappy.
Sora and Riku often stayed at Demyx and Zexion's place to give Roxas and Axel some space. And to have sex, but that was just a small, added bonus. No, really. So what if Sora could be an amazingly bipolar person sometimes? At least he still cared for his brother. Some of the time. Okay, it was mostly for sex.
The real kicker though was that Callista, finally once and for all, accepted that she simply would not be able to break apart the dynamic duo that was Roxas and Axel. So she sighed and started tugging gently on a few strings to see if she couldn't make Roxas happy for eternity. She actually liked him best out of all the muses, even though she gave him he most crap. And she really wanted to see him happy. Which was why she had tried to break them up in the first place.
Roxas, in true Roxas form, still worked at the bar in the kiddie park from Wednesday to Sunday officially. In reality, he could almost always be found working at the bar if he couldn't to be found anywhere else. Xehanort yelled at him from time to time and usually threatened to fire him at least once a month. No one actually believed Xehanort, because everyone who frequented the bar liked Roxas best. He had always talked to customers and sometimes he even had a smile for the weary. He liked to smile more (smile at all, Sora said wryly), now that Axel was around.
But it was still troublesome, the whole situation. No one had a clear solution, one that would give everyone a perfect (to whatever extent possible) storybook ending. There was no solution. So, in a way, they all played it by ear.
And what was once a pleasant sonata ended in a terribly discordant, off-key finale. Roxas went to bed with Axel beside him and in the morning, he was gone. Well, not just like that but he left pretty quickly. Roxas could still feel the kiss on his lips for weeks. There were absolutely no tears on Roxas' part, which was almost surprising, and he refused to eat. He didn't sleep. And, for an entire week, he wouldn't really talk to anyone either. Everyone was really worried and not in a “I'm only doing this because I'm somewhat annoyed by your emo” way. Which was odd in and of itself.
And somewhere, in the midst of all the oppressive emo Roxas radiated, Callista told him that (if you really try hard) you could see the sun god in the sunset. That was the beginning of the pathetic little existence Roxas lived now. Roxas lived every day for a measly 2.5 seconds at sunset.
Wake up. Wash up. Dress up. Fill up. Drive up. Sit up. Learn, if applicable. Then, school work. House work. No work. Real work. Sunset Hill like usual.
Sleep, become coherent, repeat.
----
The teachers were vaguely bothered by all of this, but Roxas made up for that week of work he missed and was generally a very model student. You couldn't fault him for being a model student, even if he was having home problems. Roxas did the perilous dance of depressed and quite unhappy and everyone tried to make him forget. Forget. What did that even mean? Forget the best friend he'd made in a long while? Forget the happiest he'd been in a long while? Forget all the memories that lingered everywhere? Forget the best fucking year he'd ever had? Roxas laughed at the word forget. The muse of tragedy was always the most volatile of all. Always.
----
Unbeknownst to everyone, Callista and Axel were doing their best to negotiate a deal with Zeus. It was a long and arduous process that was inherently frustrating because Zeus was a big jackass. Callista tended not only to fly off the handle, but toss the whole damn pan across the room when she was having a fit. It took them a few (four, FOUR FUCKING YEARS, was not a few), but Zeus suddenly realised that the tragic little beauty Roxas was flat-out neglecting his duties, Axel was, Callista was and the world was less inspired for it. Stupid mortals and their need for inspiration to thrive. He had to give in. Just had to-for the safety of the world's imagination. Although, for a few brief moments, he contemplated just sacking all these disobedient and disruptive muses for new ones.
But this was all on the down-low. On the outside, everyone acted as if they had moved on. Forgotten. Roxas excluded, of course. Sometimes, they mentioned him in passing. Roxas always got that far-off look in his eyes when that happened. As if he were astro-projecting to a land of memory, a land where no one could reach him.
And, on Sunset Hill, Roxas sometimes stared at the sky until it was dark and the stars came out. Then Xehanort usually came out to yell at him for staying out and chasing the customers away by looking like a bum, so could he at least work another shift? Roxas always snapped out of his trance then.
“Yeah, sure.”
It was a distant answer. If someone has asked Roxas to kill a puppy for dinner he would've said the same thing he said to Xehanort.
“Yeah, sure.”
Farther. Farther. Father. Gone.
----
“I'm worried. About Roxas.”
Sora was staring at Riku, wide-eyed and questioning. Riku sighed, even he was-oh god, was he really even thinking him? Yes. He was thinking about Roxas. He was worried about Roxas. Roxas needed to be worried about, he was off in a permanent dreamland. Couldn't worry about himself, right?
Softly, “Everyone is, Sora. Everyone is.”
And it was true. It really was. Everyone was worried about Roxas because the team (and they were a team, even if they sometimes didn't act like it) just really couldn't function if one of their members was more depressing that necessary. He had to be a little depressing-and he normally was a little depressing-but now it was becoming just a little overkill. Not eating or sleeping or even talking for long periods of time and wandering around in a daze was . . . Well, it was getting kinda annoying to tell the truth.
Sora was looking out the window now, staring actually. Riku knew better than to ask questions when Sora was staring off. Because Sora did it a lot and it usually meant that he had an idea. It wasn’t always a good idea, need he be reminded that one drunken night was started with a stare out the window and everyone refused to talk about it now? But sometimes it was a good idea. Sometimes. Very rarely.
An epiphany, “I have to talk to Callista.”
Sora stood up abruptly and ran out the apartment. Riku was used to this too. Sora’s ideas were almost always followed by running and leaving the person he had been talking to (or in the general vicinity with) in the dust. Riku was used to a lot of things Sora did. They tended to happen often.
----
Sora flew into Callista's apartment and waved his hands around wildly for a few moments before she noticed him and blinked. Once. Twice.
“Yes, Sora?”
“Callista! Callistaaaaa, you have to do something! You just have to!”
“Do something about what? Slow down.”
Sora took a very exaggerated breath to satisfy Callista and attempted, with limited success, to slow down. And use nouns before pronouns. Being the muse of rhetoric had its downside . . . Namely, the expectation that everyone would simply know what you were talking about.
“Roxas. Axel. Romeo and Juliet. You have to do something, you just have to! I don't want my big brother to die because he's too much of an idiot to do the research and find out if Axel is really dead or not!”
Callista smiled slowly and motioned for Sora to come forward. He did, and she sat him down on her lap like the small child he tended to be. He blinked, and she smiled a little more. It was quite mischievous this time, not the comforting one she had earlier.
“What makes you think I haven't already done something, hm? When have you ever known me to do nothing when it comes to this team? We're a family, and I'm the mother.”
Sora shrugged, “You didn't do anything when everyone thought Roxas was a girl.”
“That,” she said pointedly, “was good, clean fun. This is serious.”
Sora looked at her. She wasn't smiling any more. Callista looked almost . . . Sad. Like this was all so very out-of-control now and it needed to be stopped. Sora sighed, he hoped she could do something. Or that whatever she had already done actually worked.
“Can you keep a secret, Polly?”
A shrug, “Depends on what kind of secret, Cally.”
“The kind about your big brother, of course. Is there any other kind?”
“Of course I can keep that kind.”
Sora smiled faintly at her. Even though they were using elementary school nicknames that were almost a joke between them now . . . This was serious. But they didn't have to be completely serious, so long as they knew it was serious. All work and no play a very bad muse makes.
“Good,” Callista said softly, “then I can tell you about what I've been working on for these past four years.”
----
Roxas sat down on Sunset Hill to watch the sunset. Like usual. The spot practically said “do not sit! Roxas' spot,” anyway. It wasn't like people didn't notice when a person sat on the same hill in the same spot for four years, even if they didn't pay much attention. You didn't have to pay much attention to notice that sort of thing. He sighed.
----
“You can't be serious. Oh my god, you can't be serious.”
Callista gave Sora a look which he didn't even notice because he was jumping around and spinning like a giddy schoolgirl who had just received a new puppy. And maybe a pony or a the latest Barbie doll that everyone was clamouring for. He was really excited, if the jumping and rather incoherent noises were any indication whatsoever. Callista just sighed and tried to calm him down a little so he wouldn't break anything, which she was sure he would do if she let him continue in this vein.
And she sighed when it didn't work, she could just call Riku and make him pick up his boyfriend. He could deal with the hyper ball of energy that Sora had become. She really hoped Roxas was calmer when he heard the news.
----
Roxas kinda just sat. The sunset had passed already, no big deal. Really. It was just one of those days. He stared out into the darkening scene before him and murmured slightly to himself. Dream-speak, incoherent musing. This kinda sucked. It felt like an ending.
----
“Yes. Come pick him up. He's jumping around and generally being a rather huge pain in the ass . . . What do you mean what did I say? You'll know soon enough if you come pick him up. Just come and get him . . . Yes, he really is here . . . What?! Just come already! You know where I live, liar. Use your damn powers if you don't! . . . Yes. Yes, I will wait . . . Okay, see you in a few minutes.”
Callista hung up and rubbed her temples. God. Maybe she shouldn't have told him.
----
This really did feel like an ending. Like he'd never ever be able to see Axel in the sunset again. Which was silly, because Axel was the sun god and all, but he just couldn't shake the feeling. Well. He'd just sit out here until Xehanort came to yell or whatever. He didn't feel like facing people yet.
Axel, Axel. Wherefore are thou Axel?
----
“He looks like you just gave him coffee. No, make that a Diamond Dust. Or three.”
“Well, I didn't.”
Callista held her arms akimbo and stared at Riku. He was simply standing in the doorway and looking at Sora, who had calmed down a little and was now only spinning and dancing instead of jumping.
“Give him about an hour. He'll crash a little-do you have any orange juice?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“It usually causes him to crash faster.”
“I'll check, but I don't ever eat breakfast so probably not. Can't you go pick some up at the store?”
“I don't really feel like it. I like making you suffer.”
----
Roxas felt miserable, sitting on Sunset Hill, because he saw his one true love for exactly 2.5 seconds in a day. Couldn't touch him or talk him, just saw him. Trust the Sun God to leave the Muse of Tragedy after two days of mind-blowing sex. Bitch.
There hadn't even been bitter goodbyes or sickeningly sweet fare-thee-well's. It was more of a simple “fuck you, Axel” and “I love you too, Bunny Von Hophop” before they had gone to bed. Nothing cliché because Roxas couldn't handle it.
There was, however, a really long and heated goodnight kiss which almost lead to another round of mind-blowing sex but Axel really had to be going and he had already overstayed his welcome. But at least he made sure Roxas fell asleep. It was the last peaceful night of sleep he would have for a while, that was the very least Axel could do.
That goodbye kiss was not one of the 5 most passionate kisses, simply because Roxas bit Axel's lower lip. Gently, of course. It wasn't a sign of dominance, though Roxas would say so later, but a tiny reminder. And then, Roxas woke up without Axel in the space next to him. It was still warm. Roxas sighed and closed his eyes before calling out softly.
“Come back to me, Axel . . .”
----
“Well, he's calm now.”
Riku smirked at Callista. She had found an orange in her refrigerator and squeezed it into juice. Sora had crashed after he drank it. But his adrenaline or whatever had worn off too so he had simply yawned and was now curled up asleep on the couch. Callista tapped her foot impatiently. When was Riku going to take him away?
Her question was answered as Riku picked up Sora quiet easily and shifted him a little to redistribute the weight. Callista sighed, ruffling Sora's hair lightly and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead before Riku walked over to the door. She waved.
“I'll see you guys later.”
“See you later, Callista.”
And with that, Riku walked out and Callista sighed in relief. She shut the door, pushing the deadbolt and various locks back into place before slumping against the wall for a couple of seconds. She got up slowly and walked back over to the couch and collapsed. Such a tiring job, this was. Some days, she hated being a muse.
----
Every sunset for four years, Roxas repeated that same simple phrase, “Come back to me, Axel,” after the best 2.5 seconds of his day. Not because he was a hopeless romantic or anything, but because he felt like he could kill Riku just for the sappiness he spewed when he was with Sora. Roxas fucking hated Riku, but he almost forgot about the jerkface when he was with Axel.
“Come back to me, Axel.”
----
Riku set Sora down on his bed and looked at the clock. Roxas probably wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. At least, if what he thought was going to happen happened. He pushed back a errant strand of hair and kissed Sora's forehead.
“Sleep well, Pollyanna.”
He laid down next to Sora and closed his eyes. Best to get some sleep before Roxas came back. If fate was right, he'd bring home Axel and Riku knew how that went. He was a light sleeper afterall.
----
Roxas said that stupid phrase over and over because everyone was so damn happy. Demyx had Zexion, Sora had Riku, Naminé had Larxene . . . Everybody had a somebody except him. But then again, Roxas was the physical manifestation of tragedy. His version of a happy ending was this piece of shit he dared to call a life. A mere 2.5 seconds of sheer joy in a day and the rest of it was really kinda crappy. Fucking Axel. Roxas stood up and yelled.
“Come back to me, Axel!”
“What, you thought I'd leave you forever?”
Roxas spun around to face what appeared to be a knight in shining, gold armour. He blinked a couple times before busting out into a completely uncharacteristic fit of giggles. The knight made a face. Or what was probably a face, it was hard to tell with the helmet still on.
“Is that how you should treat the love of your life who has spent the past four years slaving over securing a life with you on Earth, Bunny Von Hophop?”
Roxas snorted, “Only when they look as ridiculous as you!”
Axel removed the helmet he was wearing and shook his hair out. It was as fiery as the sun itself. Maybe that was just the lighting. Roxas didn't really care, because it was Axel. This wasn't a dream, right? Axel tucked the helmet under his arm like a formula one racer and Roxas laughed a little more. It couldn't be a dream, Axel would have changed into a monster or something by now. Roxas had only been having nightmares recently. Axel wrapped the arm that wasn't holding the helmet around Roxas and pulled him closer. Their noses touched.
A soft whisper, “Did you miss me?”
An equally soft reply, “Only as much as you missed me.”
A small , secret smile from both of them and then finally, finally their lips met in an explosion of purple prose which might give the home audience diabetes. So we'll skip it because this author can't afford the lawsuits that might cause. Let's just say that everyone in this story lived happily ever after. Except, maybe, for Zeus because he lost the Sun God to a rather effeminate Muse who worked at a bar for 10$ an hour. But he got a replacement so it wasn't a total loss.
Well. Except the replacement was foul-mouthed and somewhat prone to causing eclipses due to his frequent loss of temper. Horses didn't like being rushed.
And the portion of the world covered in fog late at night increased. The cigarette the new sun god smoked, it seemed, was made from the same stuff used to make fog up in Olympus. Who knew? Destiny was weird like that. Life was weird like that.
----
And even though that sounds like the end of the story, it really isn't. Because, after all, muses, gods and demigods are immortal folk. Their stories stretch on forever. Stories in general tend to do that. This is all the stuff that happened after.
Life on Earth wasn't as hard as the humans made it out to be, Axel found out. In fact, he was quite content with living amongst humans as a former god. No, demoted god. Gods never really stopped being gods, they just had less and less power. Less and less responsibility. It wasn't like Axel couldn't still unlock doors with his mind and make a little magic happen. And Roxas was grateful for that, if nothing else. Their life was good. Well, besides the occasional fight and major injury.
Axel, at Roxas' suggestion, became a race car driver to make up for Roxas' minimum wage. Something about it not quite being a chariot, but it would have to do. Roxas didn't think that Axel actually missed the chariot though. He always said that the horses bit and they didn't like people very much. But it didn't really matter, because Axel was an excellent race car driver and he was on Earth to stay. The pair leached off of Sora and Riku, the super-successful writer and Herbal Essence model, whenever money was a little tight. Which was more often than people would think because race car drivers only make so much and repairing cars costs money. Well, money was tight until Roxas mentioned that he he had been working in journalism on the side and had finally hit it big, that is. When questioned further, it turned out he had double majored and not told anyone. As a sort of . . . Back-up plan. Roxas was practical like that.
Demyx, on the other hand, became a famous, famous musician under a mysterious stage persona which must have been significantly different from his regular self because he continued to work at the record store. And people only very occasionally asked if he really was the mysterious stage persona. Even then, he just laughed at them and told them that no, of course not! Why would he be working at a record store, after all? If he had so much money, he didn't need the cash from selling records to teenagers that loitered too long and had sticky fingers.
But, truth be told, he really just liked selling records. And the shop didn't want to lose their oldest cashier (though he preferred expert) so he stayed. Even though he always found it really weird to sell his CD to people. Because it was a little weird.
It was really weird to sell his CD to Zexion though. Zexion, being the most sensible out of the muses and quite honestly the smartest, became a historian in Greek and Roman studies. His thoughtful and deep writings on those cultures shed new light on the area and he was widely proclaimed a true genius. Or a nutjob, it all depended on who you talked to. Not everyone was ready to accept the fact that muses could be just regular, ordinary people who happened to have certain amplified traits. Or that most demigods basically held 24/7 parties on Earth. Or that muses and the like could be your next door neighbour, your teacher, the girl you had a crush on.
That was just the sad truth of it. Poor mortals, their imaginations only stretched so far.
Naminé, like everyone always knew she would, became quite the famous artist. She was widely known for her unique ability to combine colour and sound into what she called “memory song.” It was often explained by her as a memory which could be permanently burned into your brain through the sound and picture. Needless to say, these were very compelling.
Larxene supported Naminé throughout all of her efforts. She was also the primary reason why no one dared to say anything bad about Naminé, even though not everyone liked her work. After the first ten or twenty people that badmouthed the pretty blond disappeared, people caught on. Larxene, instead of getting a real job, collected alimony from that dude she got knocked up from until he died. Then she resigned herself to being Naminé's manager. Which she already was, but now she had the title all officially.
Basically, it was happy and perfect and the kind of storybook “ending” that Roxas found rather boring for the most part because everyone was immortal and the story never ended. There wasn't any variety. And he was the muse of tragedy, hello! He liked a little spice in his life. So one day, out of the blue, Axel up and told Roxas that they were going to go on a journey to anywhere in the world he wanted because he was getting tired of driving race cars. Roxas just laughed and he chose Olympus.
That's another story for another day, though.
----
Postit-Notes: I may hate this fic, but it was such an integral part of my life for about a year and it's like a baby. It even has a soundtrack! Anyway, I hope you liked it. I like it-mostly.
* Callista says “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.” while Sora says “You know, Riku, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”