With Honor - Chapter 4
Roxas shrank back in his chair. He felt extremely awkward. He knew that the age difference between him and Axel wasn’t much, but it felt like more. Axel was just so much more… mature than him in a lot of ways. He often didn’t act it, but he could be quite serious at times. Now being one of those times.
Axel had taken him to a small pizza restaurant, not far from the coffee shop where they had been. It was about a block away, and a frequent haunt of the redhead’s. It was almost seven thirty by the time they got there, and both were quite hungry. They were later than the usual dinner rush, so the place was almost empty. Soon after they had seated themselves, Axel still surrounded by his throne of shopping bags, a waitress came to take their order.
“So, what’ll it be?” She asked excitedly. Roxas noticed that she had eyes only for Axel. Even when she took his order, her eyes were trained on the redhead. Roxas smirked to himself, taking an unnecessarily long time to decide what he wanted to eat. He looked at Axel, a small smile playing across his lips, and took the older man’s hands in his, intertwining their fingers. “Hey, baby, what do you think I should get?” His smile grew wider when he saw the waitress blink rapidly, and quickly look away from the pair.
Axel saw what Roxas was doing, and decided to play along with it. “Hmm, I dunno Roxy, what’re you in the mood for?” Roxas ran the tip of his tongue back and forth across his teeth. “Hmm, something… spicy, I’d say.” He drew out the word, purposefully trying to sound as seductive as he was able. He half felt like an idiot, but he was having too much fun to stop just yet. And Axel looked like he was having a good time, too. He leaned closer to the blonde, resting his elbows on the table. Roxas could feel the other’s breath on his face. “Hmm… how ‘bout you just get what you always get?” He smiled casually, tilting his head to one side.
Roxas realized that Axel was trying to leave his choices open, so that he didn’t accidentally order something for Roxas that he wouldn’t like. He did not, however, realize that said compassionate redhead was quickly leaning closer towards him, until their lips met for a chaste second.
To anyone else it would have looked exactly like a short kiss between boyfriends, but Roxas was quite taken aback. He pulled back instantly, dropping the other’s hands on the table. So quick was the motion that they thudded against the table before Axel had time to react. He looked apologetically at the blonde.
Roxas looked back to the waitress, still waiting patiently for him to order. “A slice of pepperoni and a sprite, please.” She nodded and went off hurriedly. Roxas didn’t blame her. He was already beginning to feel guilty about what he had done, and he could tell from the look on his face that Axel was too. He could also figure that they were both regretting two different things.
Axel didn’t know what it was about the blonde that got to him so much. He had been on plenty of dates with men, and women, much more attractive than the teenager sitting before him, but never had he felt so ashamed of making a wrong move. It wasn’t like he had never been with someone younger than him, but the look on the younger boy’s face made him feel like some kind of lecherous pervert, or something.
He looked down at his shoes, not daring to lift his eyes towards the blonde, for fear of the fury that he was sure resided there. When a sharp fingernail suddenly hit him square in the center of his forehead, he almost screamed. Jerking back in his chair and almost toppling over in the process, he turned to stare at the teen. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and his blue eyes were a-sparkle with unspoken comments. “You dirty old pervert.” He said.
Axel’s heart stopped. He honestly didn’t know why he cared so much that Roxas thought of him that way, but he swore that he felt something inside of him break at that moment. It slowly dawned on him that the blonde was laughing. He was… laughing…. He was laughing! “Man, Axel. You should see the look on your face right now. Absolutely priceless!” Green eyes widened.
Roxas couldn’t say what made him do it, but just seeing the redhead look so… defeated made him feel like he should do something about it if he could. Anyway, it wasn’t like the kiss had been completely unwanted, just extremely unexpected, that’s all. So he decided that he could laugh it off, as long as he made it clear that there were going to boundaries. He wasn’t about to acknowledge that he and the redhead were in a relationship or anything, he didn’t exactly know what they were, but he didn’t mind it. He honestly didn’t mind the older man’s possessiveness, or his stupid, witty comments, or even the way he just exuded smooth bastardly-ness.
Axel’s heart began pumping again. Furiously. Color rose to his cheeks, and his fists clenched. How dare the kid scare him so badly! “Hey, you think that’s funny kid?” Roxas could tell that Axel still meant it in a playful way, though he tried to sound threatening. He nodded, adding fuel to the fire. “Actually, I do.” He smirked smugly. Oh, how Axel wished that he could wipe that grin off the boy’s face. Instead, he kicked his ankle under the table.
Roxas rolled his eyes dramatically. “Oh, real mature, Axel.” The redhead put on a look of mock-hurt. Lifting a hand to his chest, he said: “Oh, how you wound me, Roxas. You make me feel old, and filthy for being here with one as youthful as yourself. Why, the way you put it, you make me realize that you are a mere boy, in comparison to my many years.” Roxas scoffed, returning the kick. Axel stuck his tongue out at him.
“Sinking down to my level, eh?” He said mockingly. Just then, the embarrassed waitress appeared with their food. Cheese pizza and diet coke for Axel, pepperoni and sprite for Roxas. “Here’s your food, guys. Enjoy.” She muttered, leaving just as quickly as she had before. Axel noticed the check was also on the tray, probably to avoid having to come back again. Roxas stared after her, whispering an unheard apology. Axel’s smile faded. He saw that the boy honestly felt bad about toying with the waitress’s feelings.
He lifted the straw from his drink and lifted one end to his lips, the other was still covered in the wrapping, and blew into it. The bit of paper shot forward, hitting Roxas squarely in the jaw. He turned and gave the redhead a skeptical look. Like he could hardly believe that he had just done that. Axel just smiled innocently, taking a large bite out of his pizza.
Roxas sighed. There were some mistakes you just make in life, and he figured that there was nothing he could do about it. The two ate their pizza mostly in silence, but it was a comfortable one, not awkward.
When Roxas had finished eating, Axel noticed that he still had a spot of sauce just above his upper lip. He groaned inwardly. It was like a scene from a cheesy movie! The boy was just begging to be kissed, and then Axel would make some cheap comment about helping him wipe his face. He was really, seriously considering giving in and leaning forward to do it, but managed to restrain himself. He didn’t want to recreate the awkwardness of their last kiss, not when everything was going so well.
Instead, he took one of his unused napkins and gently wiped the sauce from Roxas’ face. Axel smiled gently at him. “You had some dirt on your face.” He said smoothly, rivaling the best actors in tackiness. Roxas smiled widely back at him. He was just leaving money on the table to pay the bill, making sure to leave an extra-large tip for the poor waitress. He figured it was the absolute least he could do to make things up to her.
Roxas noticed this, and gave the redhead a look of understanding, and of thanks. Just as they were leaving the restaurant, he leaned up and placed a soft kiss to Axel’s lips.