Old friends, new world

[pullsheavendown]

Who: Roxas and Axel
When: Mid-afternoon, October 8
Where: Axel and Demyx's apartment
Summary: Bros hanging a hang and chatting a chat.

Comments

[got_it_memorizd]

Axel glanced up from where he was seated on the couch, a stack of papers in one hand and a pencil tucked behind his ear. He'd been studying a report on the blackout that he'd snagged from Saïx's desk--of course he would have it back before it was missed. Or just slide it under something else if it had already been missed. Gosh, Saïx, clean your desk

[pullsheavendown]

Roxas crossed the room and frowned briefly at the paperwork. He didn't need to know specifically what it was to disapprove of the fact that Axel could work with the Organization again, truce or no truce, after all that had happened, after they'd both turned traitor...but he couldn't deny that it was a good idea to know what they were doing.

Still, he placed the disposable tray firmly on top of the papers. They weren't needed right now.

"Yeah, the chocolate ones," he said. "They're really good." Not as good as a really quality blend, he thought, but Roxas accepted that not all his friends shared the appreciation for coffee that Mr. Godot had instilled in him.

He handed Axel one drink and took the other for himself. It had taken just long enough to get here for them to cool down to less-than-burning hot. "It might," he said. "Guess it's fall now. Summer's over." He took a sip. "Not that we got vacation."

[got_it_memorizd]

He didn't miss the way the coffee went down right on top of that paperwork. Touchy~ He didn't expect Roxas to really appreciate what he was trying to do. The kid might be wise beyond his years, but he's still a kid, and even if he'd had access to Sora's memories or something, he didn't have those experiences to draw from. It wasn't all that long ago, relatively speaking, that Roxas hadn't even really known what having a friend meant, so he didn't really expect him to fully appreciate playing Devil's Advocate in the hopes of keeping those friends safe. Even if he never would have admitted that was the reason behind it.

Accepting the coffee, he just held it a moment and enjoyed the smell--coffee just always smelled so good, it was hard not to savor it--before trying a sip.

"Oh-- hey, this is pretty good," he said. "Kinda like hot chocolate for grownups." Or not so grownups. He snorted a laugh then. "I dunno, this beats where I was before, so I'm not really complaining." He leaned back against the couch and put his feet up on

[pullsheavendown]

The half-smile on his face faded. He knew something of what their futures held, had known for a while. That didn't mean he had to like it. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Sorry I wasn't there to help you out. Won't be, I guess."

After a moment, he shook his head. No sense in getting maudlin about an inevitability that wasn't so inevitable as long as they were here, where they had lives and freedom and a lot of things they'd never had with the Organization.

"How's everything going here?" he asked. "With Demyx, I mean. He tried to crash with me when he first got kicked out, but there wasn't any room. And I don't think he really planned on chipping in with the rent even if there had been."

[got_it_memorizd]

Axel just waved a hand.

"Really, I'm the one who should apologize," he admitted, avoiding Roxas' eye for a moment. "I'm the one who mostly got both of us into the whole stupid mess. But that's neither here nor there right now, so..." He waved his hand again. He didn't want to talk about this--he had Roxas back, he had Xion back, and in the long run that was more important than determining where the blame for everything had fallen.

And then he laughed.

"Actually, he's pretty organized on that front," he said, gesturing toward the kitchen. "He's got a jar where he puts tips from his shows, and a calendar with due dates marked." A half-shrug. "He doesn't wanna get evicted any more'n I do." He took another sip of his coffee and rested the cup against his lower lip a moment. "Though admittedly I'm glad it's his name on the lease--I get the feeling if he could get away with slacking on it he would."

[pullsheavendown]

"No, you're not." He shook his head, then paused for a moment to consider. "Well, some. But Xemnas is responsible for a lot more of the mess than you are."

And yet without that 'mess,' Xion never would have existed. Roxas never would have known her and Axel. It would be nice to think there was ever a point in their lives when things had been anything less than complicated, but wishing something doesn't make it true.

"I'm impressed," he said after a minute. "I guess he really can work if he has to. Or maybe if he likes what he does...Jinx thinks he's a really good player, I know. I've never heard him except on missions and a little around the castle, and that's not really the same."

[got_it_memorizd]

Far be it from Axel to disagree if someone wanted to free him from blame. He supposed Roxas was right enough, though: everything was ultimately Xemnas' fault. Everything. He'd been the catalyst that had sent the whole snowball down the hill. But in the end, Axel supposed trading his heart for a few really good friends was a better bargain than he'd expected

[pullsheavendown]

Axel had no idea just how much everything was Xemnas' fault. But now wasn't the time to talk about Master Xehanort and the havoc he'd wreaked-where they came from and in Siren's Port.

"Jinx owns the club where Demyx plays," Roxas explained. "She's my friend." He made a note to call her later, see how she was doing. He was the opposite of an expert on having babies, but she'd seemed really, really tired lately. Maybe a home delivery of coffee would perk her up.

He was entirely distracted from her by Axel's next comment. His friend so rarely spoke of his life as Lea, and knowing personally how sensitive the topic of one's heart and the loss of it could be, he'd never pressed for more. "Really?" he asked. "I didn't know that. Were you any good?"

[got_it_memorizd]

Jealousy was an emotion, a feeling, and so of course that familiar old tug and twinge behind his sternum, that peculiar twist and pull in his gut, it wasn't jealousy, and yet it seemed to crop up every time Roxas mentioned his friends. He remembered now, thanks to Naminé, how Roxas had told him he'd been having ice cream with Xion while he'd been away at Castle Oblivion. It had happened then, too. Logically Axel knew that just because Roxas had other friends didn't mean that their friendship was diminished in the slightest, but still that strange squirmy uncomfortable sensation seemed to dance around beneath his skin whenever the subject was raised

[pullsheavendown]

Axel's ma. His mother. Axel had parents. It was really strange to think about, though it shouldn't have been. Roxas knew that the other Nobodies he was acquainted with weren't like him and Namine; they had past lives, memories of who they'd been. He'd always thought of them as being much closer to their original selves.

Yet he'd never given much thought to where those original selves came from. He wondered what Axel's mother had been like. Would she have liked Roxas, too? But there was no way she'd ever have had a chance to know him. Not with how they'd become who they were now.

"That's kind of cool," he said, his smile light but genuine. Maybe you can sit in for Demyx one night." He chuckled. That wasn't likely. "I wouldn't mind learning to play something. Not guitar, though. Or sitar."

/bangs on the 4th wall

[got_it_memorizd]

"Pffft, right, if I wanted to get pelted with overripe vegetables." Axel snorted and shook his head. "If I'm gonna get on stage it'll be for my pyrotechnics, not my musical prowess, trust me. I'm not even sure I remember the chords anymore."

Axel tapped his coffee against his chin.

"Well, I don't think I can help you there, hype," he said, and then held up one hand, long fingers splayed. "I can reach an octave and a half on a piano, but I can hardly manage Chopsticks." He grinned at Roxas then. "I always figured you were more a karaoke kind'a guy than anything else, personally."

:B

[pullsheavendown]

"They might want you for those, then." He chuckled. "Give them a show, right? As long as you can keep from setting anything important on fire."

He grimaced when Axel brought up karaoke, though. Singing. Ugh. "I'm not a singer," he said, wrinkling his nose as if he smelled something bad. "Ven can do that. I wouldn't mind learning piano, though. If I had a piano."

[got_it_memorizd]

He gave Roxas' shoulder a shove. "Hey, come on, I never set anything too important on fire," he snorted. Then he rubbed his chin. "Well, no, that's not true--but the time Saïx's hair got scorched was totally not my fault. I mean, he needed a trim anyway, so no harm no foul, right?"

And then he laughed.

"Well, something tells me getting a piano in an apartment wouldn't be easy," he said. "Maybe it's better to set your sights on something more portable. You know I hear the accordion is making a comeback."

[pullsheavendown]

"Not yet, anyway." He grinned at his friend, mood somewhat eased by the mental image of Saix's hair on fire. "Just be careful."

He slouched back in his seat, taking a long sip of his mocha. "I don't know if I'd buy one," he said. "I just think it would be cool to play. That's all."

[got_it_memorizd]

"Fair enough," he said, shaking his head. He supposed it was always possible he might set something important on fire. "I suppose should my services as a pyromancer be required I promise to try not to set anything important on fire; that good enough?"

Leaning forward and setting his coffee down on the table--heh! Coffee table, indeed!--he looked thoughtful a moment and then put a hand on his chin.

"Well, if you manage to learn, maybe you and me and Demyx can be a three-man band," he said, and then snorted a laugh. "And we could just call ourselves 'Nobody', so when people ask who's playing they'd be very confused by the answer."

[pullsheavendown]

"It'll have to be," Roxas said, then snorted out a laugh at the idea of the three of them onstage. "Oh, yeah, right. Come on, that's a bad band name and a worse pun."

Although it'd earn points for honesty, he supposed. "I don't need a lot of people watching me anyway," he added. "I'm fine just trying new stuff. Being normal. Not something we've had much chance to do before, right?"