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Author of 16 Stories |
Disclaimer: That’s it. I’m challenging Squeenix and Disney to a Battle Royale, winner takes Sora. You just watch…I will win him one day.
Author’s Notes: /Waves/ What’s this? You’re hearing from Dual twice in the same week/Grins/ Well, this little fic is actually quite overdue. A few months ago, a wonderful person created a beautiful music video for Advanced Theory, and when I asked if she’d like a gift fic in return, she requested an AkuRoku. So here I am! Inspiration for this fic comes from an event that occurred about a week ago. I’d woken up with a horrible neck cramp, for no reason whatsoever. I was complaining to my best friend over the phone about how I wish I had a reason, and all of a sudden the idea for this fic hit me like an anvil. And anyway, with the amount of torture I put Axel through in Surgeon General’s Warning, I wanted to give him a bit of a break. So there ya go.
Dedication: To Delightful Sin. I really didn’t know what to say when you made me that video; I was completely awestruck that you felt AT deserved it, and that you’d actually spent enough time to create something beautiful for one of the fics closest to my heart. Thank you so much.
Hurt Me
Intro to the Art of War was a small, 13-person seminar taught by one Professor Saïx, resident psycho. Three years ago, when Saïx had appealed to Headmaster Cid about adding the course to the curriculum, Cid had stared at him for minute, burst into tears, and - sobbing all the while - added the class to the university’s list of courses. It had caused quite a stir, especially as the course synopsis revealed practically nothing, the class met five days a week, and the required texts included everything from Marvel comic books to video game strategy guides.
Needless to say, Art of War filled up within five minutes of registration. Sora had been first on the waiting list, and the only reason he’d managed to garner a spot in the class to begin with was because Rikku had dropped the course after Professor Saïx nailed her between the eyeballs with Merlin’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 36th edition. Chewing gum, after all, was expressly forbidden, and it would do one well to remember that.
Sora felt bad for Rikku, obviously, but hey - the strange class with its strange professor and even stranger group of students had become his favorite. Eccentricities aside, Saïx knew what he was talking about. The course was a study in everything from psychology to literature to art history, and you really couldn’t top a class where a superior knowledge of Disney movies and video games pretty much ensured you an A.
The fact that the group of students who’d managed to sneak and coerce themselves into Art of War had quickly become his best friends, of course, was an added plus.
On one seemingly ordinary Monday in the middle of March, Sora strolled into class and plopped himself onto the large, circular table beside Kairi. The small redhead grinned at him, leaning over conspiratorially.
“Tidus told me earlier that Professor Xemnas was in a really good mood today,” she whispered, her pretty lips forming a bright smile. “It’s gonna be an easy period.”
Sora winced and laughed. “That’s just sick, Kairi,” he chuckled. “Just because Xemnas was in a good mood doesn’t mean that Saïx got laid. His mother could have called, or he might have won the lottery, or-”
A blond boy entered the room at that moment, a slightly shorter slate-haired one following in his footsteps. The blond flopped onto his seat with a groan, dropping his head onto his folded arms. “You could hear them going at it all night!” he cried, thumping his head against the table. “It’s off-putting enough to have to live in an apartment where the next door neighbors are your professors,” he moaned. “But when they keep you awake for hours and hours with their thumps and screams and groans and ‘Oh, Xemmy, give it to me harder’s…’”
Kairi burst into wild giggles and Sora flinched, leaning back in his chair. “Thank you, Demyx,” he groaned. “I really, really needed that visual.”
The blond raised his head, scowling irritably. “If I have to suffer,” he hissed, “We all have to suffer. Me and Zexy were right in the middle of-”
“Demyx!”
“-And then all of a sudden Saïx starts squealing like a girl! It’s revenge! I know it is! They’re out to get us!” Demyx groaned, lifting his legs and placing them in the lap of the slate-haired man sitting beside him. “You agree with me, don’t you, Zexy?”
Zexion lifted an eyebrow and patted the blond’s knees absentmindedly. “I must admit,” he muttered. “It is a bit of a coincidence that those two start up every time we have a moment to spare.”
A tall, platinum-haired boy sauntered inside, immediately walking over to Sora and standing behind the smaller boy, placing his hands on slim shoulders and massaging. “Saïx got laid again?” he asked by way of greeting, rolling the skin of Sora’s neck between his fingers. The brunet moaned slightly and closed his eyes, a happy smile forming across his lips.
“Thanks, Riku,” he sighed. “You’re really…mmm, a bit to the left…a good friend.”
The boy massaging his shoulders frowned irritably down at his brunet best friend, but didn’t pause in his movements. Another blond walked in, a trail of six students in tow. The blond took one look at the green-eyed senior working the kinks out of Sora’s shoulders and scowled.
“Stop flirting with my cousin, dipshit,” Roxas shouted, chucking his bottled water straight at Riku’s forehead. The larger upperclassman ducked, a hand shooting above his head to grab the bottle as it went flying over.
“Would you stop doing that!” Riku growled, tossing the bottle back to its owner. “Shit. And stop laughing, Larxene, or I’ll shave off those antennae of yours and throw 'em off the roof.”
The pretty blonde cackled amusedly and sat gracefully down in her seat, throwing a hand behind Marluxia's chair. “Don’t be such an idiot, Riku,” she smirked. “Just because Sora’s not giving it up doesn’t mean you have to take it out on the rest of us.”
Sora laughed, waving a hand in dismissal. “Stop joking, guys,” he giggled. “Honestly. As if Riku love's me.” He grinned, turning in his seat and raising his arms to wrap them around the neck of the boy in question. “That sort of thing only happens in BL mangas and crappy porn flicks, huh, Riku?”
Riku flushed in something that might have been embarrassment but was probably indignation, and opened his mouth to speak. At that moment, however, Axel walked in.
The class took one minute to stare at him, then erupted into yells.
“Oh my God!” Sora and Selphie cried simultaneously.
“Axel!” Demyx and Tidus gasped.
Yuffie, Marluxia, and Larxene shot glances at each other, snorting into their hands.
“Dude,” Hayner whispered in awe. “What the fuck happened to you?!”
“Well, gee, guys,” Axel muttered, slinging his book bag off his shoulder and onto the floor, squeezing into the seat beside Roxas. “Nice to know I’ve got classmates who care about my self esteem.”
Zexion raised an eyebrow, glancing the redhead over. “You look like a Picasso painting. You don’t deserve self-esteem.”
Kairi rolled her eyes and stood, walking over to Axel and poking at his face. The almost painfully-thin boy yelped and scooted his chair back, but Kairi followed. “What happened to your face?” she mumbled curiously, as if struggling to decipher a complex mathematical equation. “Your eye? Your cheek? Your poor, poor nose?! Was it always tilted at that angle?”
Axel groaned and batted her questing fingers away, crossing is arms crossly. “I bumped into a bookshelf,” he grumbled. “A thesaurus fell off and landed on my face.”
Riku snorted. “Bullshit,” he laughed, leaning across the table to peer closely at the embarrassed redhead. “You’d have to have run into the thing for a book to actually fall off, and even you’re not that stupid.”
Axel smirked, opening his mouth to respond with something that would no doubt have been witty and biting and perfectly Axel, but at that moment Saïx walked in, took one look at the bruised Axel, and began lecturing the class on proper fighting technique as seen in the Kingdom Hearts series.
For the first time since the conception of Intro to the Art of War, however, Saïx’s students were not wholly focused on him. Instead, all eyes were staring at the injured boy doodling fight scenes on his note-book.
When class ended, each student rushed after the redhead already walking with Roxas to their next class. This time, however, it was Roxas who spun around, wagging his finger in the faces of the eleven students chasing after them.
“Listen, guys,” he sighed, leaning forward at the waist. “I’m glad that you’re all worried about Axel, I really am. And I know he’s happy about it, too. But really, it was just a book. He knocked into the bookshelf and a book nailed him in the eye. You’re all acting like Chaos Vinnie just ushered in the apocalypse. Please,” he murmured, adjusting his backpack strap over his shoulder and turning to walk after his best friend. “Just calm down.”
And they did. Roxas was a lot of things, but he was nothing if not protective over those he cared about, Sora and Axel in particular. They would trust him.
Every student in the class - minus Roxas - simultaneously leapt to their feet, swarming the poor redhead waddling inside and screaming questions and vulgarities into the curious air. Axel barely had a moment to swat them all away tetchily before Saïx strolled in, took one look at Axel’s gimpy leg, and burst out laughing.
The period passed tensely, Saïx poking fun at the injured redhead as often as chance allowed, the other students boring holes into Axel’s forehead as if trying to telekinetically figure out what the hell had happened. When class ended, each student hurried over to Axel, worriedly demanding explanations.
The tall redhead sighed, grabbing onto a spike and tugging in vexation. “If you must know,” he moaned with the long-suffering air of one who’s being much put upon, “I tripped over a trashcan, fell over Roxas’s skateboard, and knocked myself into the wall.” He rolled his eyes. “Blondie was there; he can tell you.”
All heads turned towards Roxas. The small blond was glaring at the ground, his eyebrows drawn downwards in a scowl. There was a pause, and then Roxas nodded.
Sora glowered at both Axel and Roxas, folding his arms angrily over his chest. “I don’t believe you,” he growled. “You were never this clumsy before, Axel. Now, all of a sudden, every Monday you’re coming to class looking like me and Riku do after a Struggle match.”
Axel shrugged, raising an eyebrow. “Well, Sora,” he sighed, grabbing Roxas’s arm and dragging him away. “I'm sorry if I'm making you worry, but I can't make you believe us. And the truth's the truth, so really, it doesn’t matter either way.” He smirked, waving a goodbye. “Got it memorized?”
And without another word, the two best friends disappeared into the throng of students, leaving an abashed group of students to stare after them in shock.
“No,” Roxas sighed, closing his eyes. “I will not tell you what’s going on with Axel.”
Sora whined, his shoulders drooping. “Roxas!” he cried. “He’s our friend, and he’s getting hurt! We want to know why!”
Roxas groaned, sitting on the edge of his bed and falling back onto it. “It’s Axel’s business,” he muttered. “If he wants to tell you, then we…then he’ll tell you. Just give him a bit of time, he’ll open up sooner or later. If he doesn’t want you all to know yet, then you should respect his wishes.”
Sora groaned, rolling his head back on his neck. “I know,” he sighed. “I know. But Axel’s our friend, and this is the second week in a row that he’s come to class hurt. I don’t know what to do, Roxas, but I want to stop it from happening again.”
Roxas winced, dropping his gaze to the floor and scuffing his black sneakers on the carpet. “I don’t think it’s gonna be stopping any time soon,” he muttered, running a hand through his blond spikes. Sora’s head whipped up.
“What?!” he shouted, grabbing onto Roxas’s shoulders. “What d’you mean it’s not gonna stop?!”
Roxas groaned, extricating himself from his cousin’s hands. “Look,” he grumbled, shrugging. “If you have enough time to be worrying about Axel, then you should be spending more time with your own little suitor.”
Sora’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Suitor?” he asked curiously, cocking his head to the side. “What are you talking about?”
The blond rolled his eyes, rising to his feet and digging his hands into his pockets. “Y’know, Sora,” he sighed in a fond sort of exasperation. “You know I love you, but you’re far too dense for your own good.” And, waving a hand over his shoulder and completely ignoring Sora’s squawks of indignation, Roxas turned on his heels and walked out of the room.
Sora spent the entire week pondering this, his mind jumping from Axel’s plight to wondering exactly whom Roxas was referring to when he mentioned a suitor. This lasted until the following Tuesday, when Axel, Sora, Riku, Tidus, Hayner, and Roxas walked into the university’s largest gym, the group of five laughing as they sauntered into the boys’ locker room.
And then Axel took off his shirt, and Sora, Riku, and Tidus simultaneously gasped.
“What the hell happened to your chest?!” Riku nearly screamed. “You have bruises and scabs all over it!”
Sora winced, leaning to stare at Axel’s all-but-mutilated torso. “That happened to me once,” he muttered in awe. “I touched a moogle’s pompom. Couldn’t sit down for weeks.”
The redhead rolled his eyes, shrugging into a wife beater. “You guys worry too much,” he sighed. “I was just roughhousing a bit with a friend of mine. No worries.”
The three boys glared at him warily, but fell silent, reluctantly accepting the explanation. Until Axel took off his pants.
“Oh my Gawd!”
Axel raised an eyebrow and looked down at his knees. “Oh,” he muttered. “That.”
“That?” Tidus yelled. “That?! You can’t even see your knees anymore! What happened to them?”
The redhead closed his eyes. “I fell on the carpet,” he groaned. “It’s just rug burn.”
Sora snorted, poking the bruised and scabbed skin experimentally. “No rug can do that!” he cried. “It’s impossible!”
The tall, spiky-haired senior shrugged, peering at his blond best friend for help. “Tell them, Roxas,” he said simply.
Roxas sighed, his shoulders slumping. “All of you just shut up and finish changing,” he muttered tersely. “If Axel says it was the rug, then it was the rug. So be quiet and leave him alone.”
Hayner opened his mouth to bite something back scathingly, but Axel merely groaned, grabbed Roxas’s arm, and disappeared out of the locker room and onto the basketball court. The three boys dropped the subject, but they spent the entirety of their game of 3-on-3 staring at Axel’s disfigured knees.
That night, Sora called the Art of War class - minus Roxas and Axel - for a meeting on the Shinra Dorm’s rooftop. Riku, Sora, Tidus, and Hayner spent five minutes relating the events of they gym to the others, complete with a detailed description of how Axel had looked more like a human crash test dummy than an actual person.
When they were done, the group fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts, slurping their respective bars of sea salt ice-cream noisily.
“Maybe his parents are abusing him,” Zexion finally said, sucking in the entirety of the popsicle into his mouth. Beside him, Demyx squeaked, going faintly cross-eyed.
Kairi shook her head wildly, crossing her arms. “No,” she cried, her eyes wide in her pretty face. “Tseng and Elena would never abuse Axel! They’re, like, the coolest parents ever!”
All heads turned to stare at her, and she flushed slightly. “Okay,” she mumbled in acquiescence. “So they’re both freaks, and Elena’s been using Axel and Reno for target practice since they were old enough to toddle. But they’ve never actually hit them.”
Riku shrugged, leaning his elbows onto his knees. “You couldn’t exactly give either of them the Parents of the Year award,” he muttered contemplatively. “What if they finally lost it? All those years in the Turks might have gotten to them.”
Hayner leaned back on the bench, resting his head against the wall. “But why would Roxas cover up for them?” he whispered, face distressed. “I mean, I can understand Roxas wanting to respect Axel’s wishes. But Roxas would never let anyone hurt him, and he’d never keep hushed about it if they did.”
The group looked at each other. Hayner was right, but no amount of reassurance could quell the nervousness building up in each of them. Someone was hurting Axel, and no matter how they confronted both redhead and blond, neither would speak up about the subject.
And then came Monday, when Axel came in with a broken right arm, Roxas carrying his books. The room erupted.
“Axel!”
“What the fuck!”
“What the hell happened?”
Axel closed his eyes and allowed Roxas to lead him to his seat, plopping down on the chair.
“Dammit, would you fucking tellus what’s going on”
The redhead’s eyes flashed, and he shouted once in irritation, crashing his left hand onto the table. “Would you all just shut up?” he cried angrily. “I’m flattered that you care enough about me to do this, but if me and Roxas say it’s nothing, then it’s nothing.”
Larxene and Yuffie both opened their mouths to respond irately, but the group around them placed their hands over their mouths and dragged them to their seats.
Sora all but fell onto his chair, Riku immediately walking behind him and taking the brunet’s neck within his large hands, kneading the flesh comfortingly. The faces of every student in the classroom were drawn and grave. Selphie was staring down at her lap worriedly, Kairi was fighting tears, and even Larxene’s usual smirk of amusement had disappeared to be replaced by a deep scowl. The class passed like this, quiet and solemn, and both Roxas and Axel disappeared quickly when it was over, Saïx muttering something about stupid kids and following shortly thereafter, leaving eleven students seated at their chairs, each lost in thoughts.
“Hey,” Sora finally whispered, gazing down at his folded hands. “Are you all free today at six?”
The group of students surrounding him nodded, and the small brunet continued. “Okay,” he murmured quietly. “Let’s meet up on the rooftop of the Shinra dorm. We need to talk about this. Figure out a way to help him.”
Each student nodded and left to their respective classes, dorms, or jobs.
“You know,” Kairi muttered, peering at the ground. “They’re gonna get awfully mad at us for this.”
Sora closed his eyes, shrugging. “It doesn’t matter,” he whispered fervently, voice trembling. “Does it? We need…we have to do this.”
The group slowly walked up the many flights of stairs to the rooftop, each lost in their own thoughts. They were fifty steps away from the door leading to the open rooftop when the sound of groans and cries began seeping through the closed entrance.
The first voice was too muffled to be distinctly recognizable. The second was Axel’s. And it sounded like he was in pain.
They slid to a halt.
“Oh my God,” Yuffie suddenly whispered, clutching her hands to her mouth. “It wasn’t his parents. Axel’s been getting beat up right here. Under our own noses.”
Marluxia’s eyes narrowed angrily. “Fucking Axel,” he murmured, voice quivering in rage. “The dick’s got too much pride to tell us what was going on, and Roxas probably wanted to help him save face. Fucking idiots.”
They all sprung into simultaneous motion, the sound of their sneakers and boots slapping loudly on the steps.
Sora reached the door first, outstretching an arm to swing it violently open. Kairi’s small hand closed over his wrist.
“Do it quietly,” she hissed. “If we startle them, they might freak and do something stupid, like push Axel off the roof, and I do not wanna pick the bloody pieces of our friend off the pavement!”
Sora gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and slowly pushed the door open. The group of eleven crowded behind him, each peering at the scene atop the roof.
Their mouths dropped open.
Because there was Roxas, naked as the day he was born, settling over a half-clothed Axel, gasping as he took Axel’s flushed erection inside of himself inch by inch. The blond finally seated himself fully on the panting redhead, his mouth an open wound in his face, gasping for breath.
“Okay,” Roxas whispered, eyes clenched tightly together. His entire body was quivering. “I can move now.”
Axel made no response, but his hands reached upwards desperately to take hold of Roxas’s slim hips and lift him upwards. The blue-eyed boy bit his lip, planted his hands upon the redhead’s chest, and began moving, a steady rhythm of gasps and groans that echoed across the wind.
“Oh…” Sora whispered. He wobbled on his legs slightly, and Riku unconsciously steadied him, their shocked gazes never leaving the two boys moving against each other on the rooftop.
“Ev…everyone’s getting s-suspicious.”
It was Roxas who’d spoken, still levering himself up and down. “We…we should probably…s-stop.”
Axel laughed, the strain apparent in his voice. “You want me to stop?” he muttered, a shaky grin spreading his lips wide. His grip on Roxas’s waist tightened, and he slammed the younger boy down onto himself. Roxas keened wildly, head falling impossibly back on his slim neck. Axel managed a smirk. “So?”
Roxas’s hands moved to the larger man’s shoulders, blunt nails leaving bloody trails on the pale skin. “No!” he cried, biting his lips until they turned as red as rose petals. “No…don’t stop. You…can’t stop.”
Another laugh from the redhead lying on the floor, this one more strained than the last. “That’s…what I thought,” he muttered, hands falling to grip the blond’s hips.
Twenty feet away, Sora squeaked. Both Riku and Demyx placed their hands over his mouth.
“I…cannot believe…” Demyx whispered. “This is…imposs-”
Roxas groaned again, a long, drawn-out sound that bounced obscenely off the concrete floor. “’m sorry,” he cried. “It’s just that…you always…get hurt…that book falling off the bookshelf we were...leaning against...nailing you in the eye…”
“Shut up,” Axel muttered. His voice was as taut as the lines formed by his muscles as they tightened and relaxed in time with Roxas’s movements.
“And…and then you…oh right there, Axel, right there… you tripped over the table and the…and the skateboard…my fault, I should have cleaned the place up before I jumped you…”
Axel made no answer. Even from twenty feet away, the sweaty sheen on his skin was more than visible, glistening as the bright spring sun bounced its rays off the pair twined around each other.
Roxas gasped for breath, his entire body strung as tightly as a harpsichord. “And then the carpet…and your poor knees…”
A tense laugh from the redhead. “At least…” he began, heaving in deep breaths between each word… “I figured out…why you like bottoming so much. We should try that again…sometime.”
Roxas suddenly went completely silent, freezing in his movements, before the longest, deepest moan any of them had ever heard erupted from his throat. “A-axel!” he cried desperately, bursting into motion. “Please! I’m…I’m so close!”
Sora stepped back slowly and closed the door behind him. The group of eleven stood there, each completely silent.
“Well,” Demyx said suddenly, running a shaking hand through his hair. “I…I think we’ve seen quite enough. They, uh…seem to have the matter under control. No more…ah…mystery, huh?
Zexion released a growl and grabbed Demyx’s hand, dragging him away from the group. The group could hear the blond’s surprised yells echo down the staircase.
“Where are we going?”
“The apartment.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we haven’t tried that out yet, and it looks like fun. I wanna see you moving above me.”
The remaining students stood in an awkward silence, before they simultaneously began fumbling for excuses and ran down the steps, half of the group giggling and the other half releasing distressed sobs and 'My eyes! They've blinded me's!
Finally, only Sora and Riku were left at the apex of the stairs leading to the roof, each staring down at the floor as they slowly began walking down the steps, their faces a deep, almost fluorescent red.
“You know,” Riku finally muttered. “I always thought that sort of thing would hurt. But it didn’t sound so bad.”
“Riku, shut up,” Sora groaned. The tall senior flushed, but continued almost doggedly onwards.
“They sorta sounded like they were enjoying it, you know?” he mumbled, still glaring holes into the floor. On the other side of the door, the gasps and moans were escalating in volume, still audible no matter how far away they walked. “Sorta seems like something ya’d wanna try at least once in your life, huh?”
Sora’s eyebrows jumped in his face, and he turned to stare up at his platinum-haired best friend. Riku’s bright green eyes had left the floor and were staring at him, an almost frighteningly. “R-riku?” Sora gasped, biting his lip.
Riku took a step towards his best friend. He closed his eyes as if debating internally, and then nodded to himself. “Sora,” he whispered, taking another step and reaching out to cradle the small brunet’s chin in his hand. “I love you.”
At least, that’s what Riku would have liked to have said. However, at that moment, a loud scream sounded across the rooftop, drowning out whatever words had escaped Riku‘s tongue. The scream was followed by a long moan, and then a huge, echoing THUMP.
There was a minute of hush, before Roxas’s worried voice resonated across the rooftop and through the closed door, drawing the attention of the two paused on the steps.
“Axel? A-axel? Are…are you okay?”
Silence for a moment. Then-
“Oh my God, he has a concussion! How the fuck did you knock your head against the pavement hard enough to give yourself a concussion, you fucking idiot?! How the hell are we gonna explain THIS?!”
Axel managed to moan something about ‘those fucking moogles don’t know when to quit.’
On the steps, Sora froze, then groaned. “A concussion?!” he muttered. “How on earth does Axel get injured more during sex than we do during actual fights?”
There was a mutter from behind him, and Sora turned around to stare at Riku curiously. “What’d ya say?”
The tall senior flushed, but raised an eyebrow in challenge. “I said,” he muttered, voice raising just slightly. “That if we were them, I wouldn’t let you get hurt when we made love.”
Sora stared at him for a moment, eyes wide. And then a grin pulled his lips up wide.
“Oh!” he laughed happily, his eyes squinting in happiness. “Well, then, as long as you promise, I guess we can try it out someday. I always sorta liked you, too, you know.”
And smirking, Sora bounded back up the steps and swung the door to the rooftop open.
Roxas’s head shot up and he yelped, reaching for his discarded clothes. The fact that both shirt and boxers were dangling half-way over the ledge of the building didn’t help. On the ground, Axel swiveled his head towards the sound, his eyes a bit unfocused.
Sora grinned.
“Well, well, well,” he laughed, raising an eyebrow haughtily and taking no small amount of comfort from Riku's hand on his shoulder. He smirked.
“We know what you’ve been doing.”
Owari.
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