fic: blister in the sun
Title: Blister in the Sun
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: RokuAxelRoku
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama
Rating: T
Summary: Fact: The duke actually wanted Viola to be a guy. Be the Orsino to my Cesario?
Notes: This chapter was a little long in coming because I was having trouble deciding how I wanted to break up scenes, if at all. Another issue came at the end of the chapter when I had to think about how a guy like Roxas - comfortable in both his masculinity and his homosexuality - would go about handling a girl flirting with his love interest.
Four: Day After Day
“I heard Romeo came to your window last night, Axel.”
“I told you to leave the kid alone, Larxene.”
She leaned back in her chair, blocking my view of the historical documentary we were supposed to be watching. “I know, I know,” she hissed. “But seriously, spill.”
I raised an eyebrow. Rarely did Larxene indulge in the feminine activity of sharing gossip. I told her as much and was rewarded with a scowl. “Remind me to kick you in the shins when I can get out of my seat,” she said. Then, “How did he know where you live, anyway?”
I shrugged. “Thought you told him?”
“I would have, if he’d asked,” she said with a smirk that was Cheshire-like in the dim classroom.
A moment later the lights came back on and we hastily gathered all our stuff, rushing out. Between third and fourth period was when we had the least time to get to class, since my Honors English and Larxene’s French class were on the other side of campus. She kicked me halfway out the door and called over her shoulder, “I still want details, Rote!”
Larxene was pretty close to a best friend, unless you counted Zexion. I usually didn’t because I could never get him to say more than a few words or anything that made sense when he decided to be verbose. Still, I wasn’t sure I’d be telling her about the initials in the cement. It seemed to feel like I’d be betraying Roxas, in a strictly platonic way.
As usual, I slid into my seat about ten seconds before the bell rang, opening up my textbook to the new Shakespeare we’d be reading, Twelfth Night.
Roxas, sitting to my left, was already deep into it, so much so that he barely glanced at me all through class, even when I read Orsino’s part. It was a little disconcerting, actually. I just don’t know how to figure him out.
When the bell rang, he reached over and slipped a piece of paper between Acts I and II, and when I finished reading it he was already gone, probably to find his friends at their usual lunch table.
Fact: The duke actually wanted Viola to be a guy. Be the Orsino to my Cesario?
I actually had to grin at the originality. I was still grinning when I got my lunch and propped myself up against the snapdragon flowerbed. Zexion noticed and raised an eyebrow, poking Demyx, who snatched the paper and opened it between them on Zexion’s copy of The Man Who Was Thursday.
Demyx gave me an amused look. “Thought you said you didn’t swing that way, Axel.”
I shrugged. “I don’t. But don’t blame me for liking him just a little, at least because he’s making this interesting.”
“I’ll say,” Larxene remarked, appearing suddenly and plucking the paper from Zexion’s lap. She gave a short lightning strike of laughter when she read it and then crumpled it, tossing it in my general direction. I resisted the urge to pick it up and smooth it out, choosing to discretely toe it into my open backpack.
Larxene hopped up beside me and leaned around to watch Roxas. “I think things are going to get a little more interesting,” she practically purred, jutting her pointed chin down the hall.
Inwardly, I groaned. A girl I knew from two of my classes was approaching in a confident stride, a small gaggle of friends bringing up the rear, hiding their delicate laughter behind their manicures. Last week, when Larxene had been absent, the girl volunteered herself to be my lab partner and flirted shamelessly the entire period. I thought I’d been doing a good job of avoiding her.
“I wonder what Roxas’ll do when he sees some girl moving in on his territory,” Larxene said cheekily.
“Can it, Larxene,” I muttered, without much feeling.
Truthfully, a very small part of my curiosity peaked at the suggestion. What would Roxas do? On a larger scale, I was preparing myself for whatever might be coming. Girls who were interested in me were unusually blunt, and not in the way Roxas had been.
The girl’s friends sort of slowed up as she approached me, trying to seem as though they aren’t eavesdropping. One of them, a petite brunette with windswept hair, threw a scowl toward Sora, holding hands with Kairi on one end, Riku sitting on the table in front of him, a hand lightly at his temple.
“I was thinking that I could be your lab partner again today,” the girl offered.
“Larxene isn’t absent today,” I said, hoping the brushoff would be clear.
“Oh, she won’t mind switching, will she?” the girl simpered. “And after, you can give me a ride home. My parents will be working late, and we can... study... for our test. If we have time.”
Behind her, Larxene was smirking. Catching my eye, she looked over at Roxas’s table, letting me follow her eyes. Roxas was staring with a calm, open expression. He held my gaze for a full moment and then went back to his friend’s conversation.
“I’d rather keep Larxene as my partner, actually. She actually helps with the work,” I replied smoothly, relieved when she seemed offended enough to walk away.
“I’m not the one you need to worry about!” Larxene called after her. “Right, Roxas?” she asked across the hallway as the girl stomped off.
Roxas shrugged.
Larxene jumped down from the flowerbed and walked over, talking loud enough for me to hear. “I’m surprised you didn’t do something about her.”
“Her?” Roxas scoffed. “You think I’d be a girl about it?” He smirked, leaned over and looked down the hall. “Just wait.”
A split second later a piercing shriek echoed down the hall. Larxene, Demyx, Sora, Kairi and I bolted into the open, gaping as the girl ran back toward and past us to the girl’s locker rooms, drenched in vanilla pudding.
Roxas held out a twenty munny note. His shorter, dark haired friend took it without batting an eyelash.