oh, the ridiculous things we do

[oathskept]

Characters: OU!Roxas and OU!Axel
Setting: First the cathedral, then just .. uh .. shopping. Then back to the apartments.
Time: After Roxas arrives, here.
Summary: Axel's going to find Roxas. Only they've made something of a contest and will end up in totally ridiculous costumes. Roxas will be Santa. Axel will be Rudolph. And yes, he will walk on

Comments

[firebranded]

Axel figured that if it had been anyone but Roxas - his Roxas, back again, somehow, by some twist of fate - he would've laughed in their face. He may have been more agreeable to people and their nonsense lately, but he had to draw the line somewhere. He choose to put his foot down when it came to idiotic costumes and anything stupid in public. If it ever got back to his twin that he had done this...

Axel had to shudder at the thought.

Still. It has hard for him to lose the slight - very slight - spring in his step as he walked out of the swirling portal of black and indigo and into the somewhat chilly confines of the church. Huh. Good thing he'd brought an extra jacket.

The spiky blond hair was unmistakable and Axel couldn't help but grin as he walked up, waving a nonchalant hand.

"Hey, long time no see," he greeted, nevermind that they'd just been talking a few minutes ago. He tossed the jacket at the younger Nobody. "Figured you'd need it. It might be a little big for you but I'm sure you'll manage."

In hindsight, he realized that showing up in 'normal' clothes - dark slacks, hiking boots, a heavy ski jacket because damnit it was cold - might be a little odd, but what could he do? Kairi still had his coat.

[oathskept]

Roxas easily caught the jacket one handed and quickly tugged it on, waving vaguely in return as he struggled into the thing. It was only once he had the jacket zipped up and the chance to rub his hands up and down his arms that he attempted to return the other Nobody's smile. He'd meant it when he said he was cold, anyway.

But he found he didn't really know what to say. "Hey," he returned, voice quiet. The smile he'd tried slipped off his face, however, as he found himself staring at his old friend. There were so many things just plain eerie about this. Memories of the last time he'd seen Axel - really seen him - beat at the back of his mind. And the idea that he'd been here once and couldn't remember- he'd never again wanted to find out he'd forgotten something, something important--

With a grimace he tore his gaze away from the floor (when had it fallen there?) and raised it to meet Axel's again. Forcing himself to take a steadying breath, he simply nodded. "It is a little .. large." He held up a sleeve which was long enough to hide his fingers entirely. "But it'll work." His little pause for thought hadn't taken more than a few seconds, but a frown still lingered at the corners of his lips.

Though it dissolved quickly enough when he looked a little closer at what Axel was wearing. His eyebrows shot up. "Since when did you start caring about fashion, by the way?" Without waiting for an answer he headed back out into the cold, satisfied when he didn't freeze right away, and started walking. He knew Axel would follow.

[firebranded]

It wasn't like Axel to miss picking up the important little cues that people tended to drop now and then. He'd gotten better at it lately, what with all the people that found it necessary to talk with him like he was a normal person. It was a pleasant change, he had to admit, and with quite a lot of benefits.

Roxas was obviously uncomfortable, and Axel couldn't blame him. Memories...he'd seen firsthand how important they were, how their presence or absence could make or break a person. At least nothing big had happened? Roxas' previous stay had been thankfully uneventful compared to Axel's time so far. Something to be thankful for, right?

"I've always been fashionable," he said in a smug tone, trailing after Roxas and catching up after a moment to walk beside him. He frowned at as snow started to crunch under his boots; they'd be soaked by the time they got back to the apartments. Yet another reason why winter sucked. "And it's cold, if you haven't noticed."

He draped an arm over Roxas' shoulder, steering them towards a section of town he knew was pretty dense with shops, both the big commercial kind of the historic, festively decorated ones. The streets where pretty thick with holiday shoppers, considering how close it was to the big day, and it took some dodging to avoid getting run over by citizens that couldn't see them, but by now Axel was a pro at it. He'd keep a close watch on Roxas until he was a pro, too.

Was he being a little protective? Maybe. If Kairi knew she'd probably smile in that annoyingly pleased and knowing way of hers; just thinking about it almost made him roll his eyes.

[oathskept]

"Yeah, because our uniforms in the Organization were always so stylish," he deadpanned, glancing back at Axel with a faint smirk. "And I did notice, but there isn't much I can do about it now."

He narrowed his eyes at the arm that draped itself over his shoulders, but in a departure from his normal responses, he didn't smack or shrug it away. Not that he leaned into it or anything, oh no - he just let it stay. It was probably the only real indication Axel would get as to just how much Roxas appreciated his presence.

His attention was largely elsewhere anyway. He found himself stopping at one point to wave in the face of a random passerby, only to get no response whatsoever. "They can't see us, can they." It wasn't a question. He simply allowed Axel to help steer him while he got used to the odd sensation.

"So if they can't see us, then how are we going to get things?" He raised a brow at the taller Nobody in question, though a large part of him could already guess.

If Roxas noticed just how protective Axel was being, he made no sign of it. But the extent to which he let Axel guide him around, even help him - it was the only allowance Roxas could let himself make to the fact that .. he was glad Axel was there. As "glad" as a Nobody could be, anyway. He would, of course, never admit it. Not out loud, at least.

[firebranded]

"It's how you wear it that makes the coat," Axel pointed out with a smirk. "I'll give you a few pointers sometime."

It was kind of funny talking about the Organization, though. Roxas of all people would know just how dead the rest of them were. He'd been there, after all. Seen it first hand. Axel briefly considered asking him - he'd have loved to see how one or two or all of his 'comrades' got their just desserts - but it only took a few seconds for him to dismiss that idea. It was over and done with. Sure, the Organization had been the defining aspect of pretty much his entire life, but Axel wasn't the type to keep looking back.

Besides. Things were more to his liking here, anyway.

"You get used to it. If they hit you it's hilarious hitting them back," he explained as he finally spotted a promising-looking location, making a beeline for it. "And let's see. No one can see us, we don't have any money...just how would you get something you needed?"

It was criminal, really. The shop was such a cute one, too. Some traditional-looking building with the fancy front window with kids pressed up against it and everything. Axel should have felt bad, but well...you know how it is.

[oathskept]

"No thanks," Roxas muttered with a roll of his eyes. "I can't see any reason to wear that thing again anyway."

Not that he wanted to linger on the topic of the Organization for more than five seconds if he absolutely had to. So he let the topic drop as they approached the shop in Axel's sights. Roxas had to raise a brow at the idyllic scene, turning a flat look on Axel as the other's plans became clear.

"You know, this is wrong in a lot of ways." But with a shrug he gently batted some of the now very confused looking kids out of the way and simply pushed his way through the front door, quickly taking what he needed from amongst the puzzled holiday shoppers. It was something of a general store: there were some festive clothes and a few shelves of toys, plus other gifts and various kinds of holiday-related foods in the back. It was the clothing Roxas focused on, taking whatever was least offensive to his eyes and one more thing in particular, before shoving his way back out of the shop.

Without a word he he held up the one particular thing - a traditional Santa-esque jacket. The look in his eyes said you better go find that Rudolph suit right about now. Only the barely there curl at the corner of his lips - something most people would miss - tipped off the fact that he might have been just the least bit amused by the bet they'd made.

[firebranded]

Leave it to Roxas to go straight for the kill. Axel didn't miss that look on his face. Someone was going to get a hell of a laugh out of this. Not that he was about to let himself be outdone. One of them was going to come out of this slightly less humiliated than the other and the red-haired Nobody was determined that that person was going to be him.

Was he a little competitive? Maybe. Competition was a very old, well-practiced Christmas tradition! He knew all about it. He hadn't spent the season stationed in Christmas Town "observing" for nothing. The gingerbread hadn't been half bad, though.

"I'm going I'm going," Axel said at Roxas' insistent look, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, though he didn't see fit to wipe the smug grin off his face. "You find some place to change into that while I'm gone."

It wasn't too hard to find a more costume-orientated shop, even if he had to go kind of far to find it. Hey, that was what portals were for, right? Sure as hell beat walking everywhere. He was back in front of the little shop a few moments later, a bulky bundle of brown fabric in his arms.

He'd put it on soon enough. Really. He just wanted to see Roxas hold up his end of the bargain first.

[oathskept]

A mute nod was Roxas's only reply as Axel walked off with those parting words. Remembering no one could see him, Roxas simply slipped back into the store - where it was a little warmer - and changed there. It was odd, standing among so many people who couldn't notice what he was doing. Especially knowing what they would have done if they could see.

He managed to locate some pants to go with his outfit, and even a beard back on one of the toy shelves. But he waited to put that on, instead shrugging the jacket Axel had given him on over the Santa outfit and stuffing his other clothing in a bag he'd snatched off one of the walls.

So when he met Axel outside once again, he more or less looked the part - and none too happy about it. "Satisfied?" He gestured at himself, and held up the beard like a threat. "Now you go get changed."

[firebranded]

Axel was having a hard time keeping his smirk off his face. Normally he wouldn't have bothered resisting it, but he wouldn't put it past Roxas to hit him, or perform some other act of equally violent violence. Boy was worse than Kairi. So he just nodded and snuck off to find his own semi-private place to change. He'd considered changing right there, but it was cold.

A few moments later Axel made his way out of the back to Roxas, not quite as ready to smirk as he'd been when he'd left. Okay. Okay. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Axel hadn't felt this ridiculous in...hell, he wasn't supposed to be feeling anything in the first place. But he was wearing a goddamn reindeer suit. His face was basically where the neck was, and the stupid snout kept falling over his eyes, and the fabric smelled like it had moths in it.

Sometimes, Axel figured it might be a better idea to keep his mouth shut. If he had, he wouldn't have been reduced to this. However, a bet was a bet. He wasn't about to back down, even if he wanted to set himself on fire.

"How do I look?" He said with a perfectly charming smile, doing a little spin.

After all, when in doubt, fake it.