(no subject)
Who: Axel and Roxas
What: Axel wants Roxas into his new costume. Things... don't stay on topic.
When: Saturday (lol late post)
Where: Roxas' room
Rating: ... A little above PG-13?
Warnings: Involuntary stripping is involved. Blue is Roxas, black is Axel.
The day was normal, if not starting a bit late for Roxas. He'd woken up the same time he always did, and gone to find some breakfast in the dorm room. He'd settled on a granola bar to satisfy him for the time being, but it didn't really do much for his hunger. It didn't really matter, though. He never ate a lot for breakfast-- he ate what he wanted, when it was convenient. It was a wonder he wasn't as anorexic-looking as Axel was.
Speaking of whom, it had been an hour and a half since he'd eaten and the redhead hadn't dropped by his room with a quick rap at the door today. It almost... worried him. Almost. But at the same time, it made him suspicious. Was he planning something diabolical? Again? He'd already done some interesting things since re-arriving, but Halloween was coming up and he'd been hinting at an idea he'd had for the blond for a long time. He could only wonder what it was he was planning, and hope it wouldn't put him to an early grave of embarrassment or something to that effect like they usually did. The hallway singing was... ugh. Never again.
And considering Axel enjoyed sea salt ice cream as much as Roxas did, it's a miracle the Flurry of Dancing Flames was so thin, too. However, Roxas will not go hungry today. There was a paper bag tucked under one arm, and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder when he approached the door to Roxas' room. He could have teleported inside, but felt that something as special as -this- deserved a more... memorable entrance.
Memorable the way the hallway harassment had been.
The door was kicked open, the paper bag tossed onto an empty space on the desk, and Roxas? Roxas may get a few moments to look before he's caught up and pushed right back into the wall -- and even then, only for enough time for a gloved hand to fist in the front of the boy's jacket and shirt before a short, but disorienting trip to shove his back against the door. Both, to close said door, and to give Roxas reason not to make too much noise. After all, people might -hear- things and think something -awful- was happening.
Can't have that. "Miss me, Roxas?"
Axel burst into the room. Roxas blinked at him.
Axel threw the bag down. Roxas blinked at it.
Axel grabbed him and threw him against the wall. Roxas couldn't get his eyes to close if he wanted to.
And then he hit the door, and it shut harshly behind him. He felt himself slip a bit, but Axel was keeping him up. He couldn't take his eyes off of him, his mind screaming for him to punch him, shove him, do something to get him off. "What-- What are you doing?!" He demanded, though his tone was hushed a bit. The last thing he needed was for more people to think there were couples doing nasty things all over the dorm rooms.
... Not that he was a couple with anyone. Or would be. ... That was always awkward to think about.
In the paper bag was a bottle of juice and a sandwich wrapped in wax paper from the cafeteria. That was for Roxas later. Right now, Roxas is held aloft, his back against the door, prevented from kicking Axel where it might -really- hurt by how he's nested one angular hip against the boy. He wasn't struggling YET -- minor surprise, that, though Axel assumed Roxas was still reeling from the shock -- but it was just a matter of time!
Not one to pass up an opportunity, he took hold of the zipper at the front of Roxas' shirt and dragged it down.
"What's it look like," purred the assassin lowly, altogether too close to the Key of Destiny's ear, head tilted -just- so he could still observe his expression. What next? Would he go pale with fury, shake with outrage, stammer in shock or - as he'd done a few times now - blush? Clink! goes the zipper tag when released; one gloved hand spread one side open, then yanked the coat and shirt together off his shoulders and only halfway off his arms. The reason? They make a good, if temporary, binding to keep him from throwing any punches.
Roxas froze up completely, mind going twenty-thousand directions. "Wh-w-wha--t?!" His voice was wavering, not steady or strong. His face up to his ears went red, reacting to the heat of his breath on the sensitive skin. He made a slight noise when the clink of the zipper caught his attention, brought him back to his senses (for the most part) and he started to squirm.
"A-Axel! What're you-- Stop it!" He growled, face still red but angered now. Though if one looked close enough, it wasn't actually anger, but heavy embarrassment.
"I swear to god, if you don't stop it right now, I'm gonna kill you!" He threatened, trying to get the redhead off of him. He couldn't handle the ideas coming to mind or the way his body was trying to react. He used his better judgement and his unusual mental strength to force everything back. He didn't throw any punches, but instead tried to shove him off.
It's true that Axel does throw off noticeably more heat than the average man (good god, if he ever got a FEVER, what would happen then?!), surely that can't be the total reason for the crimson shade playing dominant in Roxas' complexion. Don't burst a vessel there, Roxas, because the Flurry of Dancing Flames is just getting started. 'Stop it!' is not heeded, not yet; instead, the boy gets a quiet, throaty chuckle. The boy shoves, and he shoves back, leaning heavily as he palms one of his legs.
And tugs it up, if only to be able to reach back and tug off one of his sneakers. "I said--" Lots of things. "Miss me?" Thump. One shoe hits the floor. He yanks the other leg up along the other hip, leaning closer still with his smile veritably scythelike.
Thump-thump, there goes shoe number two.
Roxas tensed, choking on a noise that was trying to get out. No, no, not that. No, he couldn't let him kno--think he was enjoying this. He wasn't. this was wrong, it was bad, it was uncomfortable. The blond gave up his upper half and attempted to throw down his own shirt and jacket, his wrists writhing to get free of the fabric. He couldn't get them far enough with the clothing pinned. At that point, he couldn't do much of anything.
"... I-if I say yes are you gonna stop? Or is no the ticket out of--nn--! Stop it!" His bargaining was interrupted, but even he himself didn't know who that order was directed at: Axel for grabbing his leg, or himself for making that noise?
While all that moving was feeling pretty interesting, once Axel identified what Roxas was trying to do, he quickly sacrificed the use of one hand to reach behind the boy. The jacket was seized and then twisted, to trap his wrists just a little longer. It wasn't that Roxas wouldn't be able to free himself eventually, it was more a test to see if he'd bother to put out the effort necessary to do so. Was this merely a token effort? Axel would be a little keen to learn.
Except that he's learning something else, too, evidenced by a fascinating little noise. His smile vanishes for a moment. He stares. "..."
Then it reappears, he leans in now close enough to find foreheads -almost- touch. "'...Nn'? 'Nn'? " O-HO! "...Roxas, you--" Idea! And that idea would find him leaving Roxas' jacket alone in favor of grasping the boy's hair in one gloved fist, chuckling lowly while he inhales through his nose. That the tip of it brushes the side of his neck surely is accidental. "Are just full of surprises." Turning his head to bring his whisper straight to the space beneath Roxas' ear, he grins wickedly.
"Care to try that again? I don't think I heard you."
One spot after another, Axel hit them all. The feeling was nothing short of blissful to Roxas, never having been exposed personally to this sort of thing. Oh gods, was it hard not to make any more noises. He'd been caught, and Axel was now trying to get further and further under; under his skin, and under his clothes. The thought of that made Roxas shiver. Unfortunately, that also let loose another noise when the heated breath hit below his ear.
The noise hit his own ears and registered in his mind, and he suddenly thrashed a bit, yanking his arms free and grabbing Axel's shoulders. "Axel, stop! Now!" He demanded forcefully, his voice back and fully authorative again.
The joke's over. Axel's smile again vanishes, like a light switched off abruptly. The mischief in his eyes also disappears, and without taking their somber stare off the boy, he reaches back for the messenger bag, flips open the top--
And brings out a headband with fake cat ears attached. Part of a costume, apparently.
"Actually, I came here to get you to wear this." That's all this was. He had it all planned out. He would barge in, start removing things -- much like this -- and he expected Roxas to fight him, to protest. He expected all of that so he could present to him a choice: Wear this for the Halloween Party, or he keeps going. Axel was certain, absolutely certain, that Roxas would rather wear the costume. But then he just had to--
Sometimes it was so DIFFICULT to behave.
He pulls back sharply and drops Roxas the short distance to the floor, on his own feet. The bag is unshouldered in a curt gesture, thrown back to the bed, and Axel moves to push Roxas out of the way of the door. "I better give you some time to ..." A sidelong and humorless glance at Roxas, "Get it together."
Roxas lands easily, eyes glued to that band. Axel moves to push him, but he doesn't let him. Instead, he puts a hand on the doorknob and breaks his gaze on the costume to look up at his best friend, a sudden bit of determination in his eyes. He moves himself over the knob so that it touches behind him, blocking the manual exit.
"... Let me get this straight, Axel." He said, holding up one finger. He didn't look happy, but not necessarily angry either. "You came in here... with the intention of giving me a Halloween costume when I already told you I wasn't going in one... And you ended up pinning me against the door and stripping me." It seemed as though he was getting his emotions in line the last couple of days. His voice and stance was clear and strong, and the blush was disappearing fast from his cheeks now.
"... Maybe it's you who needs to get it together." Said the freshly-molested blond teenager standing shirtless inches from him and blocking the only exit that didn't make him feel massively tired.
Okay, Axel was already feeling a little frustrated. As those vividly green eyes observed Roxas - keen as a hawk, unmoving - he started to feel ... a bit hurt. At least at first. That quickly ignited - what DOESN'T, around Axel? - into anger.
He'd been working very. very hard, Roxas. Not to let the barbs of Roxas' responses leave lasting bruises on his pride. Funny enough, doing -that- had been easier when he didn't have a heart. But it was getting increasingly difficult to ignore. Perhaps because he was more open to being hurt, perhaps it was because of the circumstances under which Axel had left. -- It was, after all, the realization that Roxas didn't appreciate him that resulted in his brief departure from Moksa. Axel didn't want to leave, but that's just how it happened.
That had stung a little.
"For one thing, Roxas," he points out, holding up one finger of his own, "You're only half-stripped." This is IMPORTANT! "For another, you have no -idea- how difficult it is to-- Dammit, Roxas, you're MY friend!"
The words only pull up suspicion in Roxas' mind, and he changes his posture, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about?" He dared, oddly finding the reasoning in his head to be that he wanted to know as much about how Axel was with a heart as he could. He'd gotten glimpses and hints in the past, nothing he could make the full picture out of.
Sadly, he was also becoming more aware of the fact that if he asked Axel directly what his thoughts were, he would dodge the subject and answer with a half-lie or a cover-up story. This led to the discovery that his best friend needed to be angered if Roxas was going to get any of the information he wanted. It seemed like this was the only way he would ever slip up, and that meant that Roxas gimself had to learn how to keep his temper controlled. If he blew up as well, he'd admit things he didn't want to, that he wasn't prepared to...
Axel's well on his way to just what Roxas wanted; anger is already running hot, and has loosened Axel's tongue better than any amount of alcohol could. His fingers twitch, then clench into fists, "Are you listening? Open your ears!" He turns promptly away with a sweep of his fanning coat, stalking to the window, where he slams both hands down on the windowsill, head bowed.
"You know why I left? What I learned, Roxas?" He gave his head a shake, and peered over his shoulder at the boy. Axel's smile grew bitter. "I didn't matter enough to you. I would've gladly gone to oblivion if it was for you. And I - didn't - fucking - matter! Got that memorized?"
Something began to smell scorched. When he turned his back on the window, the sill bore a brown-black mark where his fingers had clutched it. "You're my friend! You're -my- friend! I don't like sharing! I don't WANT to share! What do I have to do to MATTER, huh?" Fists shook at his sides, then fell open, shoulders slumping.
"...Man, I just wanted you to miss me."
Roxas was stunned. His breathing stopped, his expression broke, his eyes went wide. He stilled as if dead, heart suddenly under the impression that the world was imploding and that it should follow suit. It took him a long time to respond, and he was shocked on levels he didn't know existed, both at this turn of events and his own reaction.
The blond took one step forward, then another. His feet carried him, his eyebrows getting closer together which each moment his feet touched a new piece of ground standing between them. When he was a few feet away still, he stopped, and couldn't move forward any more. "... Axel..." He didn't know what to say to him, or how he could even begin to respond.
He looked away, finally. "I'm... sorry. I don't know what else I can even say to you." His voice was quiet, but not yet breaking with emotion. He wasn't stammering or stuttering, but he was hesitant. It was another moment before he spoke again.
"When you left, I hid. I left Sora in our room and went... away. A lot of different places, really, but I never walked. I always used portals so no one could find me. And when Sora left, I went to Riku..." His voice trailed off, coming back when he knew what to say. He crossed his arms and kept his eyes averted. "... I did miss you. Every time Yuuko gave me information, I'd be upset for a week. It always told me the worst case scenario... and that the only one that was good was that you ended up back here." He finally tried to look at him, getting it right after a few tries. This was awkward for him to think, let alone say. It was tearing at him, but it was crushing him and obliterating his heart to know that he was the reason Axel had left.
"I wanted you to come back... I'm sorry, Axel."
When Roxas looked away, when he said he didn't know what to say, Axel began to straighten, looking ... solemn, a little resigned. As if he'd expected as much, and that with it confirmed, he would soon be on his way. Roxas changed his mind, when he continued; all the Flurry of Dancing Flames could do was listen, and stare.
For as expressive as Axel usually is, that he remains so still says much of how his attention has been fully snared.
"..." Sorry? He brought a hand up to the side of his head, scratched it awkwardly, his gaze directed to the floor. The corner of his mouth quirked in a lopsided smirk. Uncertain, hesitant. "...Really, huh? Y-yeah, me too." Sorry, that is. "I haven't been easy to deal with." What with... making his life difficult, and teasing him -constantly-... oh right, that was kind of NORMAL for him.
Abruptly uncomfortable, he shot a quick gesture to the door, "Uh." A beat of silence. "Sorry about the--uh. Yanno. ...Want your shirt back?"
Roxas closed his eyes for a minute, inwardly smiling at how awkward Axel had gotten. He was fidgeting a bit himself, but he knew someone had to be the one to bring things back to a normal standpoint between them. He opened his eyes and looked at him, giving him a bit of a deadpan stare.
"I wanted it back a while ago. Like, when you took it off. Do I get it back now?" He asked, moving and sitting on his own bed. He leaned back on his hands, watching him and waiting for his reaction.
Don't sit like that, don't you dare!
Ugh. Why, oh WHY--was it so VERY difficult to behave? People, with their rules and regulations, their whole 'right and wrong' nonsense... they were all masochists! No wonder they were always so CONFUSED! Axel, without sighing (though he wanted to) in resignation, puts on a smile, scooping from the floor the jacket and shirt, and -- instead of handing it over, simply tosses it at Roxas' face. "Sure, now you're motivated."
He slunk back towards the door, grinning wickedly, "But just remember--" Axel opened it, slipped outside, with a parting, "--I wasn't the one whimpering~!"
Roxas froze up, blinking at him, his eyes going wide. His face exploded with red again, but instead of the recent stammering submissiveness, he threw down his shirt and chased after the door, look of murderous intent on his face. "Axel--!" He grabbed the doorknob and swung it open.
It was slowly hitting him that this little scene getting into the halls was resembling that of Dark and Rufus' incident the few days earlier. Except... this was a lot worse. They couldn't see what was going on with the recorded post, but if anyone saw this, they'd see Axel making fun of Roxas whimpering, and the blond red-faced and half-stripped.
Yeah, this wasn't going exactly how he wanted anymore. Not that it ever did with Axel.
Even if he's no longer a Nobody, even if he no longer has much to fear of a Keyblade other than some bruises, seeing a murderous look from Roxas never did cease to chill Axel's blood a few significant degrees. Before, however, Roxas can get a chance to step out directly into the hallway, he turns around, placing a gloved palm on Roxas' chest and -shoving- him back into the room. The Flurry of Dancing Flames follows him in again, leveling a finger in front of his nose, warningly.
He looks about to say something, but shakes his head. "You--" Really, really don't want him staying in here, not right now. Axel's willpower only serves him so far!
"--You! " Ugh, he loses. The door slaps shut when his heel kicks back against it, catching the Key of Destiny's face in his hands. In that same moment, he's a little surprised -- sometimes he is, when he acts faster than he thinks, and considering he is both as volatile as the flames he controls and a skilled manipulator, that's really saying something -- to find he's claiming his mouth with his own. It really wouldn't surprise him if he found the edge of a Keyblade on either side of his neck in a few moments once it really sank in.
But then, he doesn't know Roxas lacks Keyblades to threaten with.
It happened too fast for the blond to even register.
There was the blur of flame, that short flash of poison, and as if hit by a train, everything in his mind went blank. There was nothing, at first. Nothing was going on, nothing was being felt. But soon, the slow beat of his heart came to being, soon followed by heat. Then it was the realization that his lips were touching something, but he didn't know exactly what. No, wait. He knew. Axel's lips were warm, sending sparks of shock through his body every split-second. The heartbeat sped up, reaching a racing rate in no time flat. Finally, there were words in his mind, but when he heard them he made them stop. They scared him.
Suddenly, everything came rushing back in a heavy flow, and finally, Roxas was moving, reacting. He pulled himself back, tripping over himself in the surprise and slight panic, and he ended up on his back end, looking up at Axel in astonishment. There's almost no blush this time, just the wide blue eyes that hax no idea how to react to the sudden bursts of feelings in his chest that were leading him in too many different directions.
At least that wasn't a Keyblade!
But that, for the moment, seemed to have extinguished Roxas' anger. Axel, who had never been above really getting under people's skin to accomplish something, which included stealing and breaking hearts, had no such intentions for Roxas. This didn't mean he had to neglect his talent at pretending to be unaffected, that his own heart wasn't hammering just as fast; Number VIII stared at Roxas for a moment, and his gaze wandered to the bag he had left on the bed. He reached for it, and then he reached for Number XIII.
All without smiling. Oh no -- he looked quite serious. And intent. "You, " he said lowly, flicking out of the bag something somewhat like a belt with a tail attached, shaking it loose, "Are going to the party." That much has already been established, thanks to Sora. He put his arms around Roxas, if only to begin applying that belt, cinching it snugly - but not tightly - about his waist. Green eyes nearly flash with the old mischief. "Because if I stay here," he warns, dropping a headband -- upon which perches two cat-like ears -- onto Roxas' head. Then a gloved hand grasped Roxas by the junction between jawline and throat; one thumb rested just near Roxas' ear, the other fingers along his jaw on the other side.
"It's gonna get way too hot for you."
Oh my.
The teen looked around himself frantically as Axel put the belt around him, looking confused and slightly disturbed. What. Was. That. And what was it that he was putting on his head?! This could not be what he was thinking it was. No, that was simply impossible. Was he really...?!
The boy reached his hand up to put it over the top of Axel's. His eyes connected with the redhead's, and his look became skeptical and serious. "Axel. What are you putting on me?"
"Your costume," he said, lifting his other hand to flick a finger at the tip of one cat ear playfully. Then he reached somewhere just out of Roxas' field of vision, and something... jingled? He has a pretty firm idea of how sensitive Roxas seems to be about the region near his -real- ears, which may be all the reason behind why he's so careful about putting a BELL COLLAR on him, of all things. Fortunately, the torment seems to be coming to a close. And why...?
Because the last thing he retrieves is Roxas' shirt and coat, which he fully intends on getting Roxas into, even if the boy is more interested in protesting. "Everyone's going to be wearing one. You'll stick out less if you are, too," Axel explained slyly. "And I got this for you. Don't go breaking my heart, " he chuckled.
Roxas had no objections to stealing away his shirt and jacket at that point in time. He frantically got them both on, the cat ears getting lop-sided and his collar jingling away. He struggled into the clothing as fast as possible, and when he was done, he was taking off the costume with a face of distress.
When he'd gotten it all off, he held the components in his hands and stared at them before he looked up at Axel and his expression turned a bit annoyed. "What if I don't wanna wear this?" He protested.
"Then I'll be back," leered Axel, "I can be very persuasive, Roxas." He straightened up, turned away, and strode towards the boy's desk. "And I know your weak point now, got it memorized? " A crinkle of paper suggested he was opening that brown bag he brought in earlier, and now withdrew both the bottle of juice and sandwich. And unwrapped the sandwich.
"You look good in it!" exclaimed Axel, returning to Roxas to stoop to the ground. He offers the boy his sandwich, "...No hard feelings? Since we've, you know, had this little heart-to-heart, and all. Heh heh."
Roxas made a face, scowling at him as he walked over to the desk. But then, the teen noticed the food. Suddenly, he seemed to brighten a bit, his stomach grumbling. When he realized this happened, he tried to scowl again, snatching the sandwich out of his hand and putting it in his mouth to hold it. He stood up and went over to his bed, taking hold of the sandwich again and biting into it. He sat down, reaching for the nearest pillow and chucking it harshly and quickly at his friend's head.
The blush from the earlier moment was starting to set in now. Just a little. There was no verbal response to Axel's question. This was going to be haunting him for a long time now.
No answer, which for Roxas, is a lot like giving one anyway. Non-vocally. The pillow paffs right into Axel's face, and he knocks it aside with a vague noise of annoyance. "Kch." Still, Roxas wasn't yelling at him, or telling him to get lost, so he pulled out the chair at the desk, dropped himself into it, and kicked up his feet onto the desk itself.
Roxas was quiet while he ate his sandwich, getting halfway through it before he reached his hand out toward him. "... Juice," He said in a slightly annoyed tone. He was going to piss Axel off again if the redhead was going to embarrass him with a costume like that-- and after kissing him, nonetheless! Oh, was he going to pay for this one.
His arms folded behind his head, Axel leaned back -- tilting the chair with it, until he could peer out of the corner of his eyes at Roxas. There is just enough of an angle there for Roxas to see the sickle of the man's smile cut across his face. 'What's the magic word?' was something he tried once, a long time ago, when they both lacked hearts and the decor tended towards monochrome. It never got him anywhere, so he had learned to be at least a little stylish about submitting.
The chair righted with a clatter, he reached for the bottle, flipped it once in his hand, caught it, and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder, where Roxas could either catch it himself, or it'd land on his bed. "Thought you'd be hungry," remarked the assassin. "...You're still blushing," is added, less as an afterthought, more out of feeling just plain smug.
Axel was right not to use that statement. The response would have been the same as their Organization days. Roxas would have looked at him and just said 'now'. He reached out to grab the juice before it hit the bed, opening it up and almost immediately downing half the bottle. While he was doing so, Axel decided to add that little note in about his blushing.
Roxas choked.
He sputtered and pulled the bottle away from his mouth, coughing and hacking while his cheeks got a little more red. Roxas could swear the redhead was trying to get him to kill himself that time.
He didn't really think that one through, did he? Abbreviated brows lifted in brief worry -- shit, he never really intended for Roxas to practically drown himself, though that would be a pretty hilarious explanation to the school's nurse. ...Did this even have one?
"Don't die," he said, once he was fairly sure Roxas was recovering. "I'll be a bit upset if I lost you now." Arms again folded behind his back, and he rocked the chair on its back two legs idly. A bit upset. Like how lava's just a little toasty. "Oh hey--"
A change of subject -- sorta. "I heard you and Sora got along real well while I was gone."
That little statement normally would have made him turn a bit red, roll his eyes, tell him he was creepy. But now, the words seemed to touch him differently, and his chest felt warm. He made it a point not to blush this time, taking a deep breath to make sure his cheeks didn't tense.
Roxas' attention was snatched up again at the subject of Sora, and he looked at him, blinking. Once, twice, three times. Sora... hadn't told him about their talk, had he?! He didn't let himself look freaked out. He just raised one eyebrow and tilted his head a bit. "What do you mean?"
It would be tricky to see Axel's expression now, as he had tilted his head a little away, looking nonchalantly towards the ceiling with his head cradled by his arms. "Oh," had the sound of a smile in there -- one might be correct to assume he was wearing another of his secretive smiles. "You know how he is. He'd drop everything to help get a cat down out of a tree, or talk things out with a total stranger just because they seemed down. "
"Guess you've got a bit of that in you too," suggests Axel, alluding to how Roxas had helped with a certain distressed young girl recently.
Roxas didn't quite know how to respond. He knew there was a chance that Sora had told him about their talk, but if he had he wouldn't have flipped out on him earlier about how little he felt appreciated. Hell, had he known that the blond had cried over his absence more than once, who knows what he would have done. But all this about Roxas being kind seemed to connect a few dots in his head. Maybe that was where the redhead's jealousy had started to set in...
And here, he realized that it was his own jealousy that had begun to surface that night as well. Finally, the feeling had a name... and what an ugly one it had to be. The incident with Naminé hadn't exactly helped, either...
"... That makes you jealous, doesn't it?"
"It suuure does," drawled Axel, in a rare moment of naked honesty. "Funny, isn't it?" chuckled the former-Nobody.
He shouldn't be. It's Sora! The other side of Roxas. And yet... Well, it was perhaps in Axel's nature to be (violently) protective of what he decided was his. He was a jealous friend and, while fairly laid back about certain things, when it came to Roxas... He had something of a weak point. Axel was someone who thought of himself first, always, -except- in certain cases. That 'certain case' just so happened to look a lot like Roxas, and occasionally like Sora.
"I really, " he laughed, "Don't like sharing."
'Naked honesty' was not something that was normally associated with Axel. This was the reasoning behind Roxas' sudden silence. He was almost wondering whether he was lying, but he knew he wasn't. Even if he was normally acting, for some reason the blond just knew when he was telling the honest truth. But still, knowing he was so jealous was odd for him. Before, it wouldn't have bothered him so much, but now that he knew... so much more, it was difficult to look at things the same way.
He was at fault.
It was his fault for being inconsiderate to Axel and for not appreciating him that he left and got so jealous all the time. It was his fault that he'd gotten sick. It was his fault he'd died in the first place.
"... Well.. I can't just stop being nice to people. I try to be that way. I can't really afford to have enemies here..." He said, voice trailing off.
Sometimes, it just isn't appropriate to be playing games. This would be one of those rare moments in which Axel has decided messing around would make things worse in a ... not-fun sort of way. And give Axel a little credit! Any self-sacrifice performed by the Flurry of Dancing Flames would be a choice he made for himself. The responsibility would -- and should -- lie with him alone. Of course, with a heart... complicated things like that aren't always so cut and dried.
He shrugged. "Sure, just like I can't go killing people. Not that I got a reason to. It's like bein' on permanent vacation, not having the Superior always handing down orders," Axel chuckled unpleasantly. "Not having to watch my back -- or yours. It's kinda nice. I could get used to this."
Can't afford to have enemies. "Why not?" He blinked, then said again: "Thirteen, why not?" Axel shot him a glance, "You're strong. What happened? You never shied away from anyone, is this something that changed because you got a heart beating away in that ribcage of yours?"
Roxas shook his head. "It's not my heart. I can take anyone I need to. But that's the thing; I don't want to need to..." He paused. "... Don't call me Thirteen," He said. He was realizing a bit too late that he'd kept Axel in the dark on this for so long, and that he was slipping up a bit. He'd done his best to keep anyone from knowing what his price for his heart had been...
He couldn't do that now.
Roxas felt like he owed it to Axel to tell him what had happened. He had kept it from him before, and that had added to the under appreciation. But he did appreciate him...
"C'mon, Roxas, you are Thirteen!" He smiled brilliantly, opened his arms towards the ceiling, "Thirteen's the best number!" He dropped his arms, then. "But if you don't want me to, uh..." The man scratches the side of his head, "No problem, whatever you want, Roxas."
Something still seemed a bit off.
Ahh, that's it. He still hadn't explained that part about Sora. Axel righted the chair, then turned around in it, sitting with his elbows across the back of the seat. His chin rested on crossed arms, and he stared at Roxas for a long, silent moment. His stare was never particularly comfortable -- it was always too still, too intense, and it was just plain eerie that a man so prone to explosive action could also will himself to be very, very still.
"Sora seemed to know something you couldn't tell me."
"He does," Roxas answered honestly. He waited for that to set in, figuring it was best that he was already annoyed with him before he found out that Roxas had been keeping a secret from him since he had first arrived.
There was a slow intake of breath, eyes closed, and then he looked at Axel with the least amount of emotion he possibly could. This was hard for him to admit; he was still afraid of what could happen as a result of his weakness... Should threats arise, his handicap would put him and Axel both at a heavy disadvantage.
But, he couldn't keep it from him forever.
"... A heart's a very, very valuable thing... What do you think it cost me?"
Axel remains right where he is, folded arms a cradle for his head, sitting the wrong way in a chair that has already suffered a little abuse with his casual leaning. His gaze drops to the floor, thoughtfully, travels somewhere off to the side, and then back up to Roxas. "You didn't wind up trading half your life away, and are like... gonna die in a year or something, right?" He points at Roxas without unfolding his arms much, a bit nervously. "Right? "
Roxas is right. The knowledge would put them both in danger, but no more than there might be normally; Axel would fight to the bitter end for Roxas, no matter what. The fact that he can't defend himself with two Keyblades any longer would just mean the chance of that circumstance coming up has just greatly increased.
Still, he needed to know.
Roxas smiled a bit, shaking his head. "No... I'm not gonna die in a year or something. That wouldn't have been worth it," He said, the smile turning a little bit bittersweet. He looked away, taking in a deep breath. He'd known it all along; if he was going to die, Axel was going to make damn sure everyone in a ten-mile radius was gonna do the same. But that wasn't the point. He was starting to realize, now, that he felt weak without his Keyblades. He didn't think he'd be able to do his part in a battle to help Axel if he was needed. He didn't think he could deal with that.
Roxas looked back at him, trying not to look defeated, but it isn't really working. "... I paid my Keyblades."
Axel relaxed at that news -- no, the first one -- visibly relieved that, no, he wasn't going to keel over and randomly die on him within the foreseeable future. Besides, that never seemed up to Yuuko's speed. She didn't strike him as the killing sort. And he'd know, huh? However, as Roxas continued, he ... straightened up.
For the record, Roxas was mostly right. If he died, Axel -would- try to make sure everyone in a 10 mile radius knew about it. He might not kill all of them, but he certainly would share some of his pain with the rest of the class. Now, back to our regularly scheduled reaction to this news Roxas just gave Axel. He took a breath.
Everyone on this floor probably could hear the single word ringing LOUDLY down the hall.
"WHAT?!"
Aaaand here, Roxas was very quiet. He'd expected at least as much, if not some sort of violence followed by the realization that his target couldn't fight back. This was a difficult moment for him, too. His face lost the smile, and the look of defeat, going to look of regret that he'd told him at all.
"... I didn't tell you because it's gonna make you even more protective of me, and you are way too unpredictable when it comes to dangerous situations in the first place. And if you get jealous enough to freak out like you did earlier, and you don't like sharing that much... Me getting hurt because I can't fight back? What would you do?"
"I'd murder them," he said viciously -- and brought himself up short suddenly. Thought about what he just said, and scratched his head. Oh, he sees what you did there, Roxas. ".....Yeah, guess I see your point." Giving his head a quick shake, he steps over the chair -- it had fallen when he screamed 'what?!', largely due to him standing up too suddenly -- and over to Roxas. "If something happened and I didn't KNOW..."
He lowers his voice. "Anyway. I don't like thinking about it. We'll just have to... teach you how to fight with something else."
Roxas blinked a few times, thinking to himself about that automatic reaction. He was suddenly lost in his mind, completely ignoring that last statement. If something had happened and Axel hadn't known... he was right. It would have been even worse than if he had known prior. That was the inevitable truth. In giving up his Keyblades, he'd given up more than he had expected to.
But another thought began to creep up on him, and Roxas' mouth opened a few seconds after Axel had stopped talking; just enough time for him to realize he wasn't paying attention. He himself wasn't expecting what he said.
"... What exactly am I to you?"
Had this been an easier subject, Roxas might not have been permitted the singularly rare treat of seeing Axel at a total loss for words. He frowns, turning his gaze away thoughtfully. Then his arms fold. Then he drapes a hand over his mouth and turns halfway away. And before either know it, he's tapping his forehead with a few gloved fingers, cupping his elbow in the other hand, eyes squeezed shut in a posture of deep thought. "Hang on."
Axel stalked to the desk, and leaned his hip against it. His frown deepened.
It's some time before he breaks his silence, and does so by approaching Roxas. And only to place a gloved palm over Roxas' heart, and keep it there, unless the boy brushes him off. His eyes are closed, and after a few moments he ticks one finger of the other hand side to side. If Roxas pays close attention, he's ticking off the beats of the heart under his palm. "Yeah..."
"I have a Heart. But I don't remember who I was before the Organization. A guy like me has no childhood, I'm a blank slate, baby." The ticking finger stops, his hand opens to spread fingers out, then curls them into a fist as he shakes his head. "Fire's gotta have fuel, or it just doesn't burn. Heart's gotta have something to beat for. If not for yourself, then for someone else. And I don't got much here yet," He concluded, thumping his own chest once. "Got it memorized?"
Roxas eyed him, looking down at the hand over his chest, and he noticed the time of his heart being kept with his friend's finger. What a curious thing it was, he thought as he looked at the finger, how a year ago they wouldn't even be able to see each other. And here they were, the beating of their hearts strong in their chests... and Axel was revealing to him the deepest part of that heart.
The part that was and forever would be attached to Roxas.
The blond's cheeks darkened just a little, but he didn't react to the words much more. His hand raised, and hooked itself on the wrist of the redhead. Blue eyes looked up with a strange and unidentified emotion swirling in them, and at that point Roxas wasn't even fully aware of what he was doing.
It's nothing short of the truth. With this heart, this Nobody became somebody, but one with no other personality or basis than that which was built as a Nobody -- and one can't really sustain themselves on a stack of lies and play-acting. He's pretty sure every last one of those Nobodies who received their own hearts from Yuuko probably had to find out for themselves what they lived for. Maybe he'd ask Demyx sometime -- speaking of, he still needed to haul the musician over to the Zantetsuken sometime for some overdue drinking.
But right now, that was the furthest thought from Axel's mind. He was ... starting to feel a little like he said too much, maybe he got a little too carried away again. He couldn't place what lay behind Roxas' stare, couldn't tell if he'd just mortally offended the boy or what. Abbreviated eyebrows lifted momentarily, and he smiled -- maybe a little resignedly -- as he dropped his other hand atop Roxas' head.
He ruffled the boy's hair softly, and began to withdraw, when he realized Roxas still held onto his wrist. "H-hey, don't mind it any. We're best friends, right?"
Roxas looked down at the wrist in his hand, staring at it for a moment before he seemed to come back. Something in him seemed resolved, and he looked up at Axel and gave him a smile that he hadn't been able to truly bring out for months now. It had taken him this long to realize that it was this person in front of him that was responsible for a large portion of his smiles and his laughter.
"... Yeah... We are."
What: Axel wants Roxas into his new costume. Things... don't stay on topic.
When: Saturday (lol late post)
Where: Roxas' room
Rating: ... A little above PG-13?
Warnings: Involuntary stripping is involved. Blue is Roxas, black is Axel.
The day was normal, if not starting a bit late for Roxas. He'd woken up the same time he always did, and gone to find some breakfast in the dorm room. He'd settled on a granola bar to satisfy him for the time being, but it didn't really do much for his hunger. It didn't really matter, though. He never ate a lot for breakfast-- he ate what he wanted, when it was convenient. It was a wonder he wasn't as anorexic-looking as Axel was.
Speaking of whom, it had been an hour and a half since he'd eaten and the redhead hadn't dropped by his room with a quick rap at the door today. It almost... worried him. Almost. But at the same time, it made him suspicious. Was he planning something diabolical? Again? He'd already done some interesting things since re-arriving, but Halloween was coming up and he'd been hinting at an idea he'd had for the blond for a long time. He could only wonder what it was he was planning, and hope it wouldn't put him to an early grave of embarrassment or something to that effect like they usually did. The hallway singing was... ugh. Never again.
And considering Axel enjoyed sea salt ice cream as much as Roxas did, it's a miracle the Flurry of Dancing Flames was so thin, too. However, Roxas will not go hungry today. There was a paper bag tucked under one arm, and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder when he approached the door to Roxas' room. He could have teleported inside, but felt that something as special as -this- deserved a more... memorable entrance.
Memorable the way the hallway harassment had been.
The door was kicked open, the paper bag tossed onto an empty space on the desk, and Roxas? Roxas may get a few moments to look before he's caught up and pushed right back into the wall -- and even then, only for enough time for a gloved hand to fist in the front of the boy's jacket and shirt before a short, but disorienting trip to shove his back against the door. Both, to close said door, and to give Roxas reason not to make too much noise. After all, people might -hear- things and think something -awful- was happening.
Can't have that. "Miss me, Roxas?"
Axel burst into the room. Roxas blinked at him.
Axel threw the bag down. Roxas blinked at it.
Axel grabbed him and threw him against the wall. Roxas couldn't get his eyes to close if he wanted to.
And then he hit the door, and it shut harshly behind him. He felt himself slip a bit, but Axel was keeping him up. He couldn't take his eyes off of him, his mind screaming for him to punch him, shove him, do something to get him off. "What-- What are you doing?!" He demanded, though his tone was hushed a bit. The last thing he needed was for more people to think there were couples doing nasty things all over the dorm rooms.
... Not that he was a couple with anyone. Or would be. ... That was always awkward to think about.
In the paper bag was a bottle of juice and a sandwich wrapped in wax paper from the cafeteria. That was for Roxas later. Right now, Roxas is held aloft, his back against the door, prevented from kicking Axel where it might -really- hurt by how he's nested one angular hip against the boy. He wasn't struggling YET -- minor surprise, that, though Axel assumed Roxas was still reeling from the shock -- but it was just a matter of time!
Not one to pass up an opportunity, he took hold of the zipper at the front of Roxas' shirt and dragged it down.
"What's it look like," purred the assassin lowly, altogether too close to the Key of Destiny's ear, head tilted -just- so he could still observe his expression. What next? Would he go pale with fury, shake with outrage, stammer in shock or - as he'd done a few times now - blush? Clink! goes the zipper tag when released; one gloved hand spread one side open, then yanked the coat and shirt together off his shoulders and only halfway off his arms. The reason? They make a good, if temporary, binding to keep him from throwing any punches.
Roxas froze up completely, mind going twenty-thousand directions. "Wh-w-wha--t?!" His voice was wavering, not steady or strong. His face up to his ears went red, reacting to the heat of his breath on the sensitive skin. He made a slight noise when the clink of the zipper caught his attention, brought him back to his senses (for the most part) and he started to squirm.
"A-Axel! What're you-- Stop it!" He growled, face still red but angered now. Though if one looked close enough, it wasn't actually anger, but heavy embarrassment.
"I swear to god, if you don't stop it right now, I'm gonna kill you!" He threatened, trying to get the redhead off of him. He couldn't handle the ideas coming to mind or the way his body was trying to react. He used his better judgement and his unusual mental strength to force everything back. He didn't throw any punches, but instead tried to shove him off.
It's true that Axel does throw off noticeably more heat than the average man (good god, if he ever got a FEVER, what would happen then?!), surely that can't be the total reason for the crimson shade playing dominant in Roxas' complexion. Don't burst a vessel there, Roxas, because the Flurry of Dancing Flames is just getting started. 'Stop it!' is not heeded, not yet; instead, the boy gets a quiet, throaty chuckle. The boy shoves, and he shoves back, leaning heavily as he palms one of his legs.
And tugs it up, if only to be able to reach back and tug off one of his sneakers. "I said--" Lots of things. "Miss me?" Thump. One shoe hits the floor. He yanks the other leg up along the other hip, leaning closer still with his smile veritably scythelike.
Thump-thump, there goes shoe number two.
Roxas tensed, choking on a noise that was trying to get out. No, no, not that. No, he couldn't let him kno--think he was enjoying this. He wasn't. this was wrong, it was bad, it was uncomfortable. The blond gave up his upper half and attempted to throw down his own shirt and jacket, his wrists writhing to get free of the fabric. He couldn't get them far enough with the clothing pinned. At that point, he couldn't do much of anything.
"... I-if I say yes are you gonna stop? Or is no the ticket out of--nn--! Stop it!" His bargaining was interrupted, but even he himself didn't know who that order was directed at: Axel for grabbing his leg, or himself for making that noise?
While all that moving was feeling pretty interesting, once Axel identified what Roxas was trying to do, he quickly sacrificed the use of one hand to reach behind the boy. The jacket was seized and then twisted, to trap his wrists just a little longer. It wasn't that Roxas wouldn't be able to free himself eventually, it was more a test to see if he'd bother to put out the effort necessary to do so. Was this merely a token effort? Axel would be a little keen to learn.
Except that he's learning something else, too, evidenced by a fascinating little noise. His smile vanishes for a moment. He stares. "..."
Then it reappears, he leans in now close enough to find foreheads -almost- touch. "'...Nn'? 'Nn'? " O-HO! "...Roxas, you--" Idea! And that idea would find him leaving Roxas' jacket alone in favor of grasping the boy's hair in one gloved fist, chuckling lowly while he inhales through his nose. That the tip of it brushes the side of his neck surely is accidental. "Are just full of surprises." Turning his head to bring his whisper straight to the space beneath Roxas' ear, he grins wickedly.
"Care to try that again? I don't think I heard you."
One spot after another, Axel hit them all. The feeling was nothing short of blissful to Roxas, never having been exposed personally to this sort of thing. Oh gods, was it hard not to make any more noises. He'd been caught, and Axel was now trying to get further and further under; under his skin, and under his clothes. The thought of that made Roxas shiver. Unfortunately, that also let loose another noise when the heated breath hit below his ear.
The noise hit his own ears and registered in his mind, and he suddenly thrashed a bit, yanking his arms free and grabbing Axel's shoulders. "Axel, stop! Now!" He demanded forcefully, his voice back and fully authorative again.
The joke's over. Axel's smile again vanishes, like a light switched off abruptly. The mischief in his eyes also disappears, and without taking their somber stare off the boy, he reaches back for the messenger bag, flips open the top--
And brings out a headband with fake cat ears attached. Part of a costume, apparently.
"Actually, I came here to get you to wear this." That's all this was. He had it all planned out. He would barge in, start removing things -- much like this -- and he expected Roxas to fight him, to protest. He expected all of that so he could present to him a choice: Wear this for the Halloween Party, or he keeps going. Axel was certain, absolutely certain, that Roxas would rather wear the costume. But then he just had to--
Sometimes it was so DIFFICULT to behave.
He pulls back sharply and drops Roxas the short distance to the floor, on his own feet. The bag is unshouldered in a curt gesture, thrown back to the bed, and Axel moves to push Roxas out of the way of the door. "I better give you some time to ..." A sidelong and humorless glance at Roxas, "Get it together."
Roxas lands easily, eyes glued to that band. Axel moves to push him, but he doesn't let him. Instead, he puts a hand on the doorknob and breaks his gaze on the costume to look up at his best friend, a sudden bit of determination in his eyes. He moves himself over the knob so that it touches behind him, blocking the manual exit.
"... Let me get this straight, Axel." He said, holding up one finger. He didn't look happy, but not necessarily angry either. "You came in here... with the intention of giving me a Halloween costume when I already told you I wasn't going in one... And you ended up pinning me against the door and stripping me." It seemed as though he was getting his emotions in line the last couple of days. His voice and stance was clear and strong, and the blush was disappearing fast from his cheeks now.
"... Maybe it's you who needs to get it together." Said the freshly-molested blond teenager standing shirtless inches from him and blocking the only exit that didn't make him feel massively tired.
Okay, Axel was already feeling a little frustrated. As those vividly green eyes observed Roxas - keen as a hawk, unmoving - he started to feel ... a bit hurt. At least at first. That quickly ignited - what DOESN'T, around Axel? - into anger.
He'd been working very. very hard, Roxas. Not to let the barbs of Roxas' responses leave lasting bruises on his pride. Funny enough, doing -that- had been easier when he didn't have a heart. But it was getting increasingly difficult to ignore. Perhaps because he was more open to being hurt, perhaps it was because of the circumstances under which Axel had left. -- It was, after all, the realization that Roxas didn't appreciate him that resulted in his brief departure from Moksa. Axel didn't want to leave, but that's just how it happened.
That had stung a little.
"For one thing, Roxas," he points out, holding up one finger of his own, "You're only half-stripped." This is IMPORTANT! "For another, you have no -idea- how difficult it is to-- Dammit, Roxas, you're MY friend!"
The words only pull up suspicion in Roxas' mind, and he changes his posture, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about?" He dared, oddly finding the reasoning in his head to be that he wanted to know as much about how Axel was with a heart as he could. He'd gotten glimpses and hints in the past, nothing he could make the full picture out of.
Sadly, he was also becoming more aware of the fact that if he asked Axel directly what his thoughts were, he would dodge the subject and answer with a half-lie or a cover-up story. This led to the discovery that his best friend needed to be angered if Roxas was going to get any of the information he wanted. It seemed like this was the only way he would ever slip up, and that meant that Roxas gimself had to learn how to keep his temper controlled. If he blew up as well, he'd admit things he didn't want to, that he wasn't prepared to...
Axel's well on his way to just what Roxas wanted; anger is already running hot, and has loosened Axel's tongue better than any amount of alcohol could. His fingers twitch, then clench into fists, "Are you listening? Open your ears!" He turns promptly away with a sweep of his fanning coat, stalking to the window, where he slams both hands down on the windowsill, head bowed.
"You know why I left? What I learned, Roxas?" He gave his head a shake, and peered over his shoulder at the boy. Axel's smile grew bitter. "I didn't matter enough to you. I would've gladly gone to oblivion if it was for you. And I - didn't - fucking - matter! Got that memorized?"
Something began to smell scorched. When he turned his back on the window, the sill bore a brown-black mark where his fingers had clutched it. "You're my friend! You're -my- friend! I don't like sharing! I don't WANT to share! What do I have to do to MATTER, huh?" Fists shook at his sides, then fell open, shoulders slumping.
"...Man, I just wanted you to miss me."
Roxas was stunned. His breathing stopped, his expression broke, his eyes went wide. He stilled as if dead, heart suddenly under the impression that the world was imploding and that it should follow suit. It took him a long time to respond, and he was shocked on levels he didn't know existed, both at this turn of events and his own reaction.
The blond took one step forward, then another. His feet carried him, his eyebrows getting closer together which each moment his feet touched a new piece of ground standing between them. When he was a few feet away still, he stopped, and couldn't move forward any more. "... Axel..." He didn't know what to say to him, or how he could even begin to respond.
He looked away, finally. "I'm... sorry. I don't know what else I can even say to you." His voice was quiet, but not yet breaking with emotion. He wasn't stammering or stuttering, but he was hesitant. It was another moment before he spoke again.
"When you left, I hid. I left Sora in our room and went... away. A lot of different places, really, but I never walked. I always used portals so no one could find me. And when Sora left, I went to Riku..." His voice trailed off, coming back when he knew what to say. He crossed his arms and kept his eyes averted. "... I did miss you. Every time Yuuko gave me information, I'd be upset for a week. It always told me the worst case scenario... and that the only one that was good was that you ended up back here." He finally tried to look at him, getting it right after a few tries. This was awkward for him to think, let alone say. It was tearing at him, but it was crushing him and obliterating his heart to know that he was the reason Axel had left.
"I wanted you to come back... I'm sorry, Axel."
When Roxas looked away, when he said he didn't know what to say, Axel began to straighten, looking ... solemn, a little resigned. As if he'd expected as much, and that with it confirmed, he would soon be on his way. Roxas changed his mind, when he continued; all the Flurry of Dancing Flames could do was listen, and stare.
For as expressive as Axel usually is, that he remains so still says much of how his attention has been fully snared.
"..." Sorry? He brought a hand up to the side of his head, scratched it awkwardly, his gaze directed to the floor. The corner of his mouth quirked in a lopsided smirk. Uncertain, hesitant. "...Really, huh? Y-yeah, me too." Sorry, that is. "I haven't been easy to deal with." What with... making his life difficult, and teasing him -constantly-... oh right, that was kind of NORMAL for him.
Abruptly uncomfortable, he shot a quick gesture to the door, "Uh." A beat of silence. "Sorry about the--uh. Yanno. ...Want your shirt back?"
Roxas closed his eyes for a minute, inwardly smiling at how awkward Axel had gotten. He was fidgeting a bit himself, but he knew someone had to be the one to bring things back to a normal standpoint between them. He opened his eyes and looked at him, giving him a bit of a deadpan stare.
"I wanted it back a while ago. Like, when you took it off. Do I get it back now?" He asked, moving and sitting on his own bed. He leaned back on his hands, watching him and waiting for his reaction.
Don't sit like that, don't you dare!
Ugh. Why, oh WHY--was it so VERY difficult to behave? People, with their rules and regulations, their whole 'right and wrong' nonsense... they were all masochists! No wonder they were always so CONFUSED! Axel, without sighing (though he wanted to) in resignation, puts on a smile, scooping from the floor the jacket and shirt, and -- instead of handing it over, simply tosses it at Roxas' face. "Sure, now you're motivated."
He slunk back towards the door, grinning wickedly, "But just remember--" Axel opened it, slipped outside, with a parting, "--I wasn't the one whimpering~!"
Roxas froze up, blinking at him, his eyes going wide. His face exploded with red again, but instead of the recent stammering submissiveness, he threw down his shirt and chased after the door, look of murderous intent on his face. "Axel--!" He grabbed the doorknob and swung it open.
It was slowly hitting him that this little scene getting into the halls was resembling that of Dark and Rufus' incident the few days earlier. Except... this was a lot worse. They couldn't see what was going on with the recorded post, but if anyone saw this, they'd see Axel making fun of Roxas whimpering, and the blond red-faced and half-stripped.
Yeah, this wasn't going exactly how he wanted anymore. Not that it ever did with Axel.
Even if he's no longer a Nobody, even if he no longer has much to fear of a Keyblade other than some bruises, seeing a murderous look from Roxas never did cease to chill Axel's blood a few significant degrees. Before, however, Roxas can get a chance to step out directly into the hallway, he turns around, placing a gloved palm on Roxas' chest and -shoving- him back into the room. The Flurry of Dancing Flames follows him in again, leveling a finger in front of his nose, warningly.
He looks about to say something, but shakes his head. "You--" Really, really don't want him staying in here, not right now. Axel's willpower only serves him so far!
"--You! " Ugh, he loses. The door slaps shut when his heel kicks back against it, catching the Key of Destiny's face in his hands. In that same moment, he's a little surprised -- sometimes he is, when he acts faster than he thinks, and considering he is both as volatile as the flames he controls and a skilled manipulator, that's really saying something -- to find he's claiming his mouth with his own. It really wouldn't surprise him if he found the edge of a Keyblade on either side of his neck in a few moments once it really sank in.
But then, he doesn't know Roxas lacks Keyblades to threaten with.
It happened too fast for the blond to even register.
There was the blur of flame, that short flash of poison, and as if hit by a train, everything in his mind went blank. There was nothing, at first. Nothing was going on, nothing was being felt. But soon, the slow beat of his heart came to being, soon followed by heat. Then it was the realization that his lips were touching something, but he didn't know exactly what. No, wait. He knew. Axel's lips were warm, sending sparks of shock through his body every split-second. The heartbeat sped up, reaching a racing rate in no time flat. Finally, there were words in his mind, but when he heard them he made them stop. They scared him.
Suddenly, everything came rushing back in a heavy flow, and finally, Roxas was moving, reacting. He pulled himself back, tripping over himself in the surprise and slight panic, and he ended up on his back end, looking up at Axel in astonishment. There's almost no blush this time, just the wide blue eyes that hax no idea how to react to the sudden bursts of feelings in his chest that were leading him in too many different directions.
At least that wasn't a Keyblade!
But that, for the moment, seemed to have extinguished Roxas' anger. Axel, who had never been above really getting under people's skin to accomplish something, which included stealing and breaking hearts, had no such intentions for Roxas. This didn't mean he had to neglect his talent at pretending to be unaffected, that his own heart wasn't hammering just as fast; Number VIII stared at Roxas for a moment, and his gaze wandered to the bag he had left on the bed. He reached for it, and then he reached for Number XIII.
All without smiling. Oh no -- he looked quite serious. And intent. "You, " he said lowly, flicking out of the bag something somewhat like a belt with a tail attached, shaking it loose, "Are going to the party." That much has already been established, thanks to Sora. He put his arms around Roxas, if only to begin applying that belt, cinching it snugly - but not tightly - about his waist. Green eyes nearly flash with the old mischief. "Because if I stay here," he warns, dropping a headband -- upon which perches two cat-like ears -- onto Roxas' head. Then a gloved hand grasped Roxas by the junction between jawline and throat; one thumb rested just near Roxas' ear, the other fingers along his jaw on the other side.
"It's gonna get way too hot for you."
Oh my.
The teen looked around himself frantically as Axel put the belt around him, looking confused and slightly disturbed. What. Was. That. And what was it that he was putting on his head?! This could not be what he was thinking it was. No, that was simply impossible. Was he really...?!
The boy reached his hand up to put it over the top of Axel's. His eyes connected with the redhead's, and his look became skeptical and serious. "Axel. What are you putting on me?"
"Your costume," he said, lifting his other hand to flick a finger at the tip of one cat ear playfully. Then he reached somewhere just out of Roxas' field of vision, and something... jingled? He has a pretty firm idea of how sensitive Roxas seems to be about the region near his -real- ears, which may be all the reason behind why he's so careful about putting a BELL COLLAR on him, of all things. Fortunately, the torment seems to be coming to a close. And why...?
Because the last thing he retrieves is Roxas' shirt and coat, which he fully intends on getting Roxas into, even if the boy is more interested in protesting. "Everyone's going to be wearing one. You'll stick out less if you are, too," Axel explained slyly. "And I got this for you. Don't go breaking my heart, " he chuckled.
Roxas had no objections to stealing away his shirt and jacket at that point in time. He frantically got them both on, the cat ears getting lop-sided and his collar jingling away. He struggled into the clothing as fast as possible, and when he was done, he was taking off the costume with a face of distress.
When he'd gotten it all off, he held the components in his hands and stared at them before he looked up at Axel and his expression turned a bit annoyed. "What if I don't wanna wear this?" He protested.
"Then I'll be back," leered Axel, "I can be very persuasive, Roxas." He straightened up, turned away, and strode towards the boy's desk. "And I know your weak point now, got it memorized? " A crinkle of paper suggested he was opening that brown bag he brought in earlier, and now withdrew both the bottle of juice and sandwich. And unwrapped the sandwich.
"You look good in it!" exclaimed Axel, returning to Roxas to stoop to the ground. He offers the boy his sandwich, "...No hard feelings? Since we've, you know, had this little heart-to-heart, and all. Heh heh."
Roxas made a face, scowling at him as he walked over to the desk. But then, the teen noticed the food. Suddenly, he seemed to brighten a bit, his stomach grumbling. When he realized this happened, he tried to scowl again, snatching the sandwich out of his hand and putting it in his mouth to hold it. He stood up and went over to his bed, taking hold of the sandwich again and biting into it. He sat down, reaching for the nearest pillow and chucking it harshly and quickly at his friend's head.
The blush from the earlier moment was starting to set in now. Just a little. There was no verbal response to Axel's question. This was going to be haunting him for a long time now.
No answer, which for Roxas, is a lot like giving one anyway. Non-vocally. The pillow paffs right into Axel's face, and he knocks it aside with a vague noise of annoyance. "Kch." Still, Roxas wasn't yelling at him, or telling him to get lost, so he pulled out the chair at the desk, dropped himself into it, and kicked up his feet onto the desk itself.
Roxas was quiet while he ate his sandwich, getting halfway through it before he reached his hand out toward him. "... Juice," He said in a slightly annoyed tone. He was going to piss Axel off again if the redhead was going to embarrass him with a costume like that-- and after kissing him, nonetheless! Oh, was he going to pay for this one.
His arms folded behind his head, Axel leaned back -- tilting the chair with it, until he could peer out of the corner of his eyes at Roxas. There is just enough of an angle there for Roxas to see the sickle of the man's smile cut across his face. 'What's the magic word?' was something he tried once, a long time ago, when they both lacked hearts and the decor tended towards monochrome. It never got him anywhere, so he had learned to be at least a little stylish about submitting.
The chair righted with a clatter, he reached for the bottle, flipped it once in his hand, caught it, and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder, where Roxas could either catch it himself, or it'd land on his bed. "Thought you'd be hungry," remarked the assassin. "...You're still blushing," is added, less as an afterthought, more out of feeling just plain smug.
Axel was right not to use that statement. The response would have been the same as their Organization days. Roxas would have looked at him and just said 'now'. He reached out to grab the juice before it hit the bed, opening it up and almost immediately downing half the bottle. While he was doing so, Axel decided to add that little note in about his blushing.
Roxas choked.
He sputtered and pulled the bottle away from his mouth, coughing and hacking while his cheeks got a little more red. Roxas could swear the redhead was trying to get him to kill himself that time.
He didn't really think that one through, did he? Abbreviated brows lifted in brief worry -- shit, he never really intended for Roxas to practically drown himself, though that would be a pretty hilarious explanation to the school's nurse. ...Did this even have one?
"Don't die," he said, once he was fairly sure Roxas was recovering. "I'll be a bit upset if I lost you now." Arms again folded behind his back, and he rocked the chair on its back two legs idly. A bit upset. Like how lava's just a little toasty. "Oh hey--"
A change of subject -- sorta. "I heard you and Sora got along real well while I was gone."
That little statement normally would have made him turn a bit red, roll his eyes, tell him he was creepy. But now, the words seemed to touch him differently, and his chest felt warm. He made it a point not to blush this time, taking a deep breath to make sure his cheeks didn't tense.
Roxas' attention was snatched up again at the subject of Sora, and he looked at him, blinking. Once, twice, three times. Sora... hadn't told him about their talk, had he?! He didn't let himself look freaked out. He just raised one eyebrow and tilted his head a bit. "What do you mean?"
It would be tricky to see Axel's expression now, as he had tilted his head a little away, looking nonchalantly towards the ceiling with his head cradled by his arms. "Oh," had the sound of a smile in there -- one might be correct to assume he was wearing another of his secretive smiles. "You know how he is. He'd drop everything to help get a cat down out of a tree, or talk things out with a total stranger just because they seemed down. "
"Guess you've got a bit of that in you too," suggests Axel, alluding to how Roxas had helped with a certain distressed young girl recently.
Roxas didn't quite know how to respond. He knew there was a chance that Sora had told him about their talk, but if he had he wouldn't have flipped out on him earlier about how little he felt appreciated. Hell, had he known that the blond had cried over his absence more than once, who knows what he would have done. But all this about Roxas being kind seemed to connect a few dots in his head. Maybe that was where the redhead's jealousy had started to set in...
And here, he realized that it was his own jealousy that had begun to surface that night as well. Finally, the feeling had a name... and what an ugly one it had to be. The incident with Naminé hadn't exactly helped, either...
"... That makes you jealous, doesn't it?"
"It suuure does," drawled Axel, in a rare moment of naked honesty. "Funny, isn't it?" chuckled the former-Nobody.
He shouldn't be. It's Sora! The other side of Roxas. And yet... Well, it was perhaps in Axel's nature to be (violently) protective of what he decided was his. He was a jealous friend and, while fairly laid back about certain things, when it came to Roxas... He had something of a weak point. Axel was someone who thought of himself first, always, -except- in certain cases. That 'certain case' just so happened to look a lot like Roxas, and occasionally like Sora.
"I really, " he laughed, "Don't like sharing."
'Naked honesty' was not something that was normally associated with Axel. This was the reasoning behind Roxas' sudden silence. He was almost wondering whether he was lying, but he knew he wasn't. Even if he was normally acting, for some reason the blond just knew when he was telling the honest truth. But still, knowing he was so jealous was odd for him. Before, it wouldn't have bothered him so much, but now that he knew... so much more, it was difficult to look at things the same way.
He was at fault.
It was his fault for being inconsiderate to Axel and for not appreciating him that he left and got so jealous all the time. It was his fault that he'd gotten sick. It was his fault he'd died in the first place.
"... Well.. I can't just stop being nice to people. I try to be that way. I can't really afford to have enemies here..." He said, voice trailing off.
Sometimes, it just isn't appropriate to be playing games. This would be one of those rare moments in which Axel has decided messing around would make things worse in a ... not-fun sort of way. And give Axel a little credit! Any self-sacrifice performed by the Flurry of Dancing Flames would be a choice he made for himself. The responsibility would -- and should -- lie with him alone. Of course, with a heart... complicated things like that aren't always so cut and dried.
He shrugged. "Sure, just like I can't go killing people. Not that I got a reason to. It's like bein' on permanent vacation, not having the Superior always handing down orders," Axel chuckled unpleasantly. "Not having to watch my back -- or yours. It's kinda nice. I could get used to this."
Can't afford to have enemies. "Why not?" He blinked, then said again: "Thirteen, why not?" Axel shot him a glance, "You're strong. What happened? You never shied away from anyone, is this something that changed because you got a heart beating away in that ribcage of yours?"
Roxas shook his head. "It's not my heart. I can take anyone I need to. But that's the thing; I don't want to need to..." He paused. "... Don't call me Thirteen," He said. He was realizing a bit too late that he'd kept Axel in the dark on this for so long, and that he was slipping up a bit. He'd done his best to keep anyone from knowing what his price for his heart had been...
He couldn't do that now.
Roxas felt like he owed it to Axel to tell him what had happened. He had kept it from him before, and that had added to the under appreciation. But he did appreciate him...
"C'mon, Roxas, you are Thirteen!" He smiled brilliantly, opened his arms towards the ceiling, "Thirteen's the best number!" He dropped his arms, then. "But if you don't want me to, uh..." The man scratches the side of his head, "No problem, whatever you want, Roxas."
Something still seemed a bit off.
Ahh, that's it. He still hadn't explained that part about Sora. Axel righted the chair, then turned around in it, sitting with his elbows across the back of the seat. His chin rested on crossed arms, and he stared at Roxas for a long, silent moment. His stare was never particularly comfortable -- it was always too still, too intense, and it was just plain eerie that a man so prone to explosive action could also will himself to be very, very still.
"Sora seemed to know something you couldn't tell me."
"He does," Roxas answered honestly. He waited for that to set in, figuring it was best that he was already annoyed with him before he found out that Roxas had been keeping a secret from him since he had first arrived.
There was a slow intake of breath, eyes closed, and then he looked at Axel with the least amount of emotion he possibly could. This was hard for him to admit; he was still afraid of what could happen as a result of his weakness... Should threats arise, his handicap would put him and Axel both at a heavy disadvantage.
But, he couldn't keep it from him forever.
"... A heart's a very, very valuable thing... What do you think it cost me?"
Axel remains right where he is, folded arms a cradle for his head, sitting the wrong way in a chair that has already suffered a little abuse with his casual leaning. His gaze drops to the floor, thoughtfully, travels somewhere off to the side, and then back up to Roxas. "You didn't wind up trading half your life away, and are like... gonna die in a year or something, right?" He points at Roxas without unfolding his arms much, a bit nervously. "Right? "
Roxas is right. The knowledge would put them both in danger, but no more than there might be normally; Axel would fight to the bitter end for Roxas, no matter what. The fact that he can't defend himself with two Keyblades any longer would just mean the chance of that circumstance coming up has just greatly increased.
Still, he needed to know.
Roxas smiled a bit, shaking his head. "No... I'm not gonna die in a year or something. That wouldn't have been worth it," He said, the smile turning a little bit bittersweet. He looked away, taking in a deep breath. He'd known it all along; if he was going to die, Axel was going to make damn sure everyone in a ten-mile radius was gonna do the same. But that wasn't the point. He was starting to realize, now, that he felt weak without his Keyblades. He didn't think he'd be able to do his part in a battle to help Axel if he was needed. He didn't think he could deal with that.
Roxas looked back at him, trying not to look defeated, but it isn't really working. "... I paid my Keyblades."
Axel relaxed at that news -- no, the first one -- visibly relieved that, no, he wasn't going to keel over and randomly die on him within the foreseeable future. Besides, that never seemed up to Yuuko's speed. She didn't strike him as the killing sort. And he'd know, huh? However, as Roxas continued, he ... straightened up.
For the record, Roxas was mostly right. If he died, Axel -would- try to make sure everyone in a 10 mile radius knew about it. He might not kill all of them, but he certainly would share some of his pain with the rest of the class. Now, back to our regularly scheduled reaction to this news Roxas just gave Axel. He took a breath.
Everyone on this floor probably could hear the single word ringing LOUDLY down the hall.
"WHAT?!"
Aaaand here, Roxas was very quiet. He'd expected at least as much, if not some sort of violence followed by the realization that his target couldn't fight back. This was a difficult moment for him, too. His face lost the smile, and the look of defeat, going to look of regret that he'd told him at all.
"... I didn't tell you because it's gonna make you even more protective of me, and you are way too unpredictable when it comes to dangerous situations in the first place. And if you get jealous enough to freak out like you did earlier, and you don't like sharing that much... Me getting hurt because I can't fight back? What would you do?"
"I'd murder them," he said viciously -- and brought himself up short suddenly. Thought about what he just said, and scratched his head. Oh, he sees what you did there, Roxas. ".....Yeah, guess I see your point." Giving his head a quick shake, he steps over the chair -- it had fallen when he screamed 'what?!', largely due to him standing up too suddenly -- and over to Roxas. "If something happened and I didn't KNOW..."
He lowers his voice. "Anyway. I don't like thinking about it. We'll just have to... teach you how to fight with something else."
Roxas blinked a few times, thinking to himself about that automatic reaction. He was suddenly lost in his mind, completely ignoring that last statement. If something had happened and Axel hadn't known... he was right. It would have been even worse than if he had known prior. That was the inevitable truth. In giving up his Keyblades, he'd given up more than he had expected to.
But another thought began to creep up on him, and Roxas' mouth opened a few seconds after Axel had stopped talking; just enough time for him to realize he wasn't paying attention. He himself wasn't expecting what he said.
"... What exactly am I to you?"
Had this been an easier subject, Roxas might not have been permitted the singularly rare treat of seeing Axel at a total loss for words. He frowns, turning his gaze away thoughtfully. Then his arms fold. Then he drapes a hand over his mouth and turns halfway away. And before either know it, he's tapping his forehead with a few gloved fingers, cupping his elbow in the other hand, eyes squeezed shut in a posture of deep thought. "Hang on."
Axel stalked to the desk, and leaned his hip against it. His frown deepened.
It's some time before he breaks his silence, and does so by approaching Roxas. And only to place a gloved palm over Roxas' heart, and keep it there, unless the boy brushes him off. His eyes are closed, and after a few moments he ticks one finger of the other hand side to side. If Roxas pays close attention, he's ticking off the beats of the heart under his palm. "Yeah..."
"I have a Heart. But I don't remember who I was before the Organization. A guy like me has no childhood, I'm a blank slate, baby." The ticking finger stops, his hand opens to spread fingers out, then curls them into a fist as he shakes his head. "Fire's gotta have fuel, or it just doesn't burn. Heart's gotta have something to beat for. If not for yourself, then for someone else. And I don't got much here yet," He concluded, thumping his own chest once. "Got it memorized?"
Roxas eyed him, looking down at the hand over his chest, and he noticed the time of his heart being kept with his friend's finger. What a curious thing it was, he thought as he looked at the finger, how a year ago they wouldn't even be able to see each other. And here they were, the beating of their hearts strong in their chests... and Axel was revealing to him the deepest part of that heart.
The part that was and forever would be attached to Roxas.
The blond's cheeks darkened just a little, but he didn't react to the words much more. His hand raised, and hooked itself on the wrist of the redhead. Blue eyes looked up with a strange and unidentified emotion swirling in them, and at that point Roxas wasn't even fully aware of what he was doing.
It's nothing short of the truth. With this heart, this Nobody became somebody, but one with no other personality or basis than that which was built as a Nobody -- and one can't really sustain themselves on a stack of lies and play-acting. He's pretty sure every last one of those Nobodies who received their own hearts from Yuuko probably had to find out for themselves what they lived for. Maybe he'd ask Demyx sometime -- speaking of, he still needed to haul the musician over to the Zantetsuken sometime for some overdue drinking.
But right now, that was the furthest thought from Axel's mind. He was ... starting to feel a little like he said too much, maybe he got a little too carried away again. He couldn't place what lay behind Roxas' stare, couldn't tell if he'd just mortally offended the boy or what. Abbreviated eyebrows lifted momentarily, and he smiled -- maybe a little resignedly -- as he dropped his other hand atop Roxas' head.
He ruffled the boy's hair softly, and began to withdraw, when he realized Roxas still held onto his wrist. "H-hey, don't mind it any. We're best friends, right?"
Roxas looked down at the wrist in his hand, staring at it for a moment before he seemed to come back. Something in him seemed resolved, and he looked up at Axel and gave him a smile that he hadn't been able to truly bring out for months now. It had taken him this long to realize that it was this person in front of him that was responsible for a large portion of his smiles and his laughter.
"... Yeah... We are."