[thread] i can turn a gray sky blue

[arsoning]

Who: Roxas [lineupthepieces] & Axel [arsoning].
What: Axel annoying Roxas. Axel picking on Roxas. Axel being a jerk. Ah, 'a tour' sounds about right.
When: After this.
Where: The castle and elsewhere, yeah?
Rating: PG; mostly because Axel never had a mum when he was younger to wash his mouth out with soap.

Comments

[lineupthepieces]

Sometimes it felt like someone had it out for him. Roxas became suspicious when the first Axel didn't remember him, and that feeling only intensified when he had disappeared and a second had arrived. Now he was pretty much certain that someone, somewhere, wanted him to go insane. They were getting there.

Shrugging off the urge to just scream at the world at hand, Roxas took a few moments to gather himself. This had to be weird for Axel, too--but a part of him insisted that this was worse for him because no one should have to lose a friend so many times. It made moving on more difficult than it already was. The wound wasn't getting a chance to heal.

It didn't take him long to reach the first floor. He took his time on the last flight of stairs, wondering how he should act. Like yourself, his mind piped in, but that was pretty vague. He spotted Axel right away. Red hair was hard to miss. Roxas wondered when he had gotten there, but it was too late to wonder if he seemed like a jerk for making him wait because he was already raising an arm in greeting as he approached him.

"Hey," he said once he was in hearing. And then he was at a loss and looking anywhere but at Axel. "Uh..."

Even after all this time he still felt a little pang of guilt.

[arsoning]

Axel's first reaction when he heard Roxas's voice was to ignore it, maybe act like an ass for a little while; but then his thought process decided to catch up to him, immediate reminder that Roxas hadn't only experienced the same thing Axel had a few months before, but he'd had to do it three times now. Normally, Axel wouldn't really take it into consideration. Wouldn't let it hinder his ongoing attempt to annoy his best friend as much as possible.

Unfortunately for him, he'd been handed the answer to one of his major downfalls upon arriving. A heart.

Which had basically stopped him from doing anything of the asshole sort. Damn.

"Yo." Eloquent. Very extensive vocabulary there, Axel. Yep. Almost as good as Roxas's, even.

Shoving the pastry into his mouth as a quick fix for his lack of verbal communication, he took a few steps to meet Roxas part way before handing the other pastry to him. He figured as long as he continued to eat something, he wouldn't come out and act like a jerk to Roxas. Because really, after what felt like months of not seeing him, the best he could do was 'yo'? What was that all about?

Brushing it off, he looked the blond up and down once before turning and walking away from him, heading towards the front doors of the castle. "You coming?"

[lineupthepieces]

The pastry surprised him, but he quickly saw it as an excuse for whatever silences between them there may be. It was a distraction from this whole crazy situation. Roxas nodded his thanks and was going to say something that probably had some importance behind it, but by the time his eyes looked up from the pastry he was looking at Axel's back.

He exhaled around the piece of pastry in his mouth. Well, some things never changed.

Taking a few quick steps to catch up to Axel, Roxas gave him a look out of the corner of his eyes. "You sure you want to lead the way?"

Not that it was very difficult to find the city from the castle: the past year and the however many people going back and forth to the city had made a clear path. Roxas was a little amused by it. A day and Axel already acted like he had never left. That did something to relax his apprehension about meeting with Axel again.

"You got used to this fast," he decided to say for conversation's sake. He wanted to say that it got better the longer you stayed, but Roxas' dislike--no, hate--for the castle and some of its residents seemed to only intensify over time.

[arsoning]

Rolling his shoulders in a shrug, Axel simply went with it, walking to the front doors and out, down the steps to the path. "Hey, why not?" He case a side-long glance at the other Nobody. "I figure if I start to get lost, you'll know where we are, right?" He turned his head, gaze straight ahead again for a moment before looking up to the sky. He much preferred being outdoors rather than in, given all the time in Castle Oblivion and The World That Never Was. Both of which kept him fairly confined inside a set of walls that he loved to hate.

Betraying the Organization was probably one of the best moves he had ever made.

Axel took another bite of the pastry, considering for a minute. "I'm adaptable. Doesn't take me long to get used to living in a castle, think I've done it enough times that it's mostly just a change of scenery these days."

Realization hit a bit too late that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. One more step and he was tripping, first over a rock, then foot catching on the edge of his Organization coat, making it rather hard to catch his balance and stay upright; he did manage it, though, merely stumbling a few times before regaining his footing. "Damn it." That was a real display of grace, that was for sure.

He decided it was better to ignore he'd just done that. Yeah.

"Besides, what good would it do to stay mad about it the whole time? You're here, Naminé is, too. Plus one of my favourite people lives right next door. Can't go wrong, can you."

[lineupthepieces]

"True enough," Roxas said, imagining the possible havoc that could ensue if Axel somehow got lost. He was going to make sure that didn't happen of course--Sora would somehow put the blame of any property damage on Roxas and that would affirm his other's belief that Roxas tended to cause trouble.

Axel spoke the truth, but Roxas shook his head. "This place is pretty different from what you've seen before. It's been calm recently, but I'm s--" Before Roxas could finish, Axel stumbled. Roxas choked a little on the pastry he had taken a bite of, torn between the urge to ask if Axel was all right or just laugh. Instead, he simply cleared his threat behind his hand--but it sure did sound like he was chuckling in between coughs.

Once the moment had passed, he smiled a little smugly.

"I'm sure he's mad he just missed that right there."

[arsoning]

The laughing didn't go unnoticed; but Axel didn't seem to acknowledge it, either. No. He'd wait. Get his revenge later when Roxas wasn't quite expecting it. Well, at least if he could manage to wait that long. Patience definitely wasn't a concept Axel had bothered to master.

"Good thing it's different; otherwise I'd get bored and then what?" He stopped himself there, if he'd continued, he had planned on mentioning disappearing again. He doubted that Roxas would find that even remotely funny, and he really was trying to not act like a total jerk to him. Axel figured he owed Roxas now, definitely, at least a little bit. Not many people would put up with your friend leaving and coming back multiple times and forgetting each time.

Especially considering what Axel had read in his journal the past few hours. He'd definitely be pissed if he were Roxas; he was actually surprised how calm he was actually being. Probably why he let the laughter slip past. It was good, really, having Roxas laughing. It made the air less thick between them.

"Think so, do you?"

Although he couldn't quite continue to ignore the rather self-satisfied expression on Roxas's face. So Axel did the only thing he could think of: he threw the remainder of his pastry at Roxas.

[lineupthepieces]

Roxas didn't say anything--life in Paradisa could be boring. He had spent a lot of his time staring at the walls of his room or wandering around aimlessly in the city. But that was fine with him. He had gone through enough excitement that he was content with the quiet. However, it was hard to imagine Axel sharing that sentiment.

Something hitting him right between the eyes, falling, and hitting his jacket before finally reaching the ground reminded him that he was babysitting showing Axel to the city.

"Hey!" Roxas began to rub crumbs off of his face--but not before flinging the rest of his pastry back at Axel. Though really, it harmed him more than the other Nobody. It had tasted pretty good.

He tried to look annoyed, but it was only half-hearted. Despite whatever had happened between them before or what might happen later, right now he was just glad to have Axel around again.

[arsoning]

And Roxas was completely right; Axel didn't do well with a whole lot of calm and quiet. He ended up feeling a rather intense desire to stir things up, bother people, and otherwise be a shit disturber to his maximum potential. It wasn't exactly something new.

Breaking off into a fit of snickers and laughter when the pastry hit right on target, Axel wasn't paying enough attention to stop the retaliation. The pastry knocked him in the side of the head, dropping down and sitting on his shoulder. Glancing down at it from the corner of his eye, Axel arched an eyebrow. Reaching with his opposite hand to grab it and throw it at the blond again, the plan was immediately stopped when it fell to the ground. Not as planned.

To be honest, Axel had been a little hesitant to see Roxas again. He didn't want to get the kid's hopes up or anything just to disappear again. There was only so much of that a person could take; he could testify to that. He knew after Roxas left the Organization, he started to slip a little. Then forgetting in Twilight Town knocked him down another notch or two; the fact he had been sent to destroy him made that a little worse. And of course, he couldn't forget when Roxas decided to go and play hero by merging with Sora. He knew all about the hardships of friends forgetting and disappearing.

Oh well. Not like it was something to really focus on; it could happen again, couldn't it.

Axel only realized he had begun walking again when he stopped rather suddenly, his stomach lurching a little. He frowned, eyebrows knit together. He wasn't quite used to the whole 'full-on emotions' thing quite yet, and the pang of regret he was feeling for leaving Roxas and others behind so many times was hard to swallow.

[lineupthepieces]

An easy, honest smile was on Roxas' face for a brief moment. It was the smile that anyone could use to draw the connection between him and Sora. It was nice to act like friends for once. Ever since he left the Organization the chance had never really been present, not with this Axel, anyway. And it was nice to start things on the right foot.

He really hoped that they stayed on the right foot, too.

Roxas followed Axel automatically and it took a moment for him to realize the redhead had stopped walking. Smile fading into a look of concern, he turned back to face Axel. He almost expected a piece of dirtied pastry to smack him in the forehead.

"Axel?" He asked, taking a hesitant step forward when he wasn't hit with something. That expression on Axel's face was alarming. Roxas was too used to smirks, grins, and smug smiles. "Something wrong?"

[arsoning]

Yeah, it was definitely good to see Roxas smiling like that. Although he had gotten well-versed in the ways of pulling the kid out of a funk, Axel still preferred not having to, he enjoyed the company of a happy-Roxas much more.

Having zoned out momentarily, off in his own little world, Axel didn't hear Roxas at first. He was more concerned with pushing the feeling away entirely; it wasn't good, in his opinion. He preferred how he was able to do it before, running on the memory of how feelings go and ignoring it if he was so inclined. Actually having them with no hindrance from the lack of a heart? Less than desirable. He knew that with being in the Organization, they were all out to get a heart. But Axel was mostly just there to keep himself entertained; not like he had a whole lot else to do.

The second time Roxas spoke, though, he snapped out of it almost immediately. Giving his head a light shake, a smirk replaced his rather sullen expression. "What could possibly be wrong, Roxas?" He sighed, feigning sadness. "Unless you count your complete lack of enthusiasm in regards to my arrival, then I suppose I have a reason to be rather woe-induced."

Subject change; check.

[lineupthepieces]

The subject change worked like a charm. Before Roxas could fully register that it was on purpose, he was fumbling for words.

"It's not--it's not like I was going to go bounding towards you. For all I know, you could've been some trick," because he always suspected anything here could be a trick. "I'm glad you're here. It's better than the alternative."

Being here was better than being dead. Roxas shook his head. He hated feeling like he was repeating himself. There were only so many ways he could word I'm happy you're not dead and I'm sorry for everything you went through because of me without actually saying that.

He sighed, shoulders heaving a little with the breath leaving his lungs. "Look... I'm sorry." He didn't want to screw this up by getting upset at nothing. "For everything."

[arsoning]

Axel rolled his eyes. "Roxas. Hey, Roxas." He ran a hand through his hair absently, the other on his hip. Well; there went that idea. He hadn't really intended to upset him or anything, just avoid the subject of 'oh hey, I can feel things!' because he wasn't exactly the type to get into that. Axel had never been the 'let's share our feelings!' type of person; he didn't intend to become one in the future, either.

But he'd be damned if he didn't feel bad (again) for making Roxas feel guilty.

Hesitant, he took a step closer to the blond before stopping. Briefly. Then he took a couple more so that he was in rather close proximity. Sighing, Axel gave Roxas a light nudge with his elbow, tilting his head. "Hey, don't be apologizing to me, alright? You've got nothing to be sorry for." Which was the truth. Roxas didn't make Axel do any of what he did. They were choices he had made, decisions of his own volition. It wasn't something that Roxas could have stopped if he had still been around at the time.

"And it was just a joke. I didn't expect you to be all... sunshine and smiles when I came back. I read the journals, you know. I know what happened." He stopped for a moment. Axel didn't want it to get uncomfortable by saying something stupid, but he figured he had already been successful with that. "I'm sorry, alright? I wasn't trying to make you upset. And I don't keep disappearing on purpose. It's not like I want to leave yo-" he coughed, then continued, "everyone behind."

[lineupthepieces]

When did things get so difficult? Or maybe the question was when had everything not been so difficult? The Organization, Twilight Town, his whole existence seemed to be full of moments like this: of helplessness.

The nudge startled Roxas out of his thoughts. He gave Axel a clearly skeptical look--he felt he did need to apologize. Roxas in general was a very sorry individual. It just felt like he should be apologizing to someone, and Axel was at the top of the list.

"Ugh." Roxas couldn't hold back the groan of disgust. The damn journals. A record of nearly every fight or argument he had with the previous incarnations of Axel. It was embarrassing. But he recognized that Axel was being honest here, and nodded slowly. He got it. "How about we just call it even?"

[arsoning]

Said skeptical look was returned with a grin; leave it to Axel to brush off a perfectly serious moment. At least he could be depended on for something other than completely unwanted comments at the most inopportune times. Kept him interesting; or so he thought.

Debating on arguing the fact, he immediately gave up on the thought. It would just waste time fighting about it, really. "Yeah, yeah." Waving his hand in a rather dismissive manor, he turned on his heel and began walking away from the other Nobody, heading down the trail towards the city. There was no point standing there and lingering on it, right? It would just lead to more awkward moments that Axel really could do without for, well, the rest of his life.

He gave a single glance back -- it was becoming a habit, wasn't it? Walking away -- at Roxas. "Man, you're slow. Whatever happened to this tour you were supposed to give?" He turned around, walking backwards so he could keep his eye on the blond. "Unless I'm supposed to go at it alone, in which case~"