Disclaimer: I don’t own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

A/N: Another AU fan fic! I really wanted to make this into a one shot but things were just adding on in my head…then it got longer. So chances are this entire fan fiction isn’t going to be that long in terms of chapters…but we’ll see what happens. The idea was created from my frustrations in art…I’m not that great, but I plan on going into it.

For those of you reading Love Your Servant, don’t worry, I haven’t stopped working on it…I remember what happened the last time I started a new fic…

Anyway, not much to say about this right now (Except I did it Sule!) so please enjoy the first chapter and leave a comment or review.

Word Count: 5305

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Daydreaming

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Sketching, painting, colouring…he was good at anything related to art. It was a gift given to him when he was born, or at least that’s what many people believed. Everything Axel painted, sketched, charcoaled—anything…he was just excellent in all areas. Whenever someone complimented him on his work he merely grunted a thank you and then inched away on his seat or even got up to leave. It just wasn’t his thing, being praised for his artistic skills. That pushed people away though. They just believed he thought he was way better than them, like they were out of his league.

Truthfully he was just tired of hearing the same compliments over and over again. “Oh, that’s just gorgeous! It really captures the moment.” Or “I wish I could draw like you.” Those comments were meaningless to him…So meaningless he was only able to mumble a thank you and that was it. Where were the descriptions? What did they love about his piece? The fact that it reflected a scenic image with luscious colours and brush strokes? The vibrant colours and dabs used on that peacock? Nothing.

It was a prestigious art school and teachers never criticized him on his work even though he could find all his errors. Axel just wanted to know what his teachers thought, but they favoured him so much they wouldn’t even point out any mistakes, yet he could see it in their eyes. Once those orbs traveled on his paintings they would twitch just slightly if there was a mistake. Axel noticed it but never said anything.

Even though he seemed extremely skilful in the subject of art, there was one thing he felt he was never good at. Photography…It was a fun and exciting thing to do; grabbing a camera, capturing a “perfect” moment so one could cherish it for the rest of his or her life. But Axel would shake his head shamefully at every picture he took. People would still awe at his prowess and mutter to one another about his ability to capture the “perfect picture”. Girls would always approach him and plead for him to take a picture of them. It always seemed like he was going to refuse it, but he always did it. Perhaps it was for practice, but then again he might have wanted people to get off his back. No one really knew.

There were always rumours flooding the school.

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“There’s a photography competition this month, Axel. Are you going to try out for it?” His best friend sat beside him at lunch and shoved a sub into his mouth. Of course Demyx always swallowed before he spoke, otherwise he would be spitting out bits of wet crumbs.

He drew up a flyer from his bag and slapped it onto the table in front of Axel.

The redhead simply gazed at it for a few minutes, reading the contents carefully as he sipped his Coke. Then he shrugged, “I’m not sure, Dem…” Photography was apparently his worst subject in art. Then again there was that saying: “You are your worst critic.” Or something along those lines…

“Oh, stop being so modest, Ax! Everyone loves your work. If you do this I’m sure everyone will back away from the competition!” Those words barely encouraged Axel to join the contest. Demyx just wasn’t very convincing.

“I’m not being modest,” Axel said firmly as he twirled the empty can on the table with his fingers, “Photography is really one of my worst subjects. I’ve never taken a perfect picture before, but all these other people have. Kinda stupid don’t you think?” An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he rolled his eyes at the flyer.

Demyx simply scoffed at Axel’s stubborn behaviour. “You only think your worst subject is photography, but come on, have you ever compared your work with others? It’s a gift from God I tell you…” Even Demyx was envious even though he specialized in sculpting. While everyone specialized in specific areas of art, Axel specialized in…well…everything.

Axel shrugged carelessly as he slumped lower into his chair. “Maybe it was a stupid idea coming to this art school… I could use more of an opinion from my teachers. I mean, it wouldbe great if they could help me find my problem in photography.”

Because often, his teachers would say “That’s wonderful Axel! Please leave it on my desk.” The redhead was never satisfied with their comments.

And with that, Axel received a light slap on the arm from Demyx. “You know why teachers never tell you your problem? It’s because you don’t have a problem…” His eyes traveled down towards the flyer once more and he practically pierced it with a strong, concentrated stare. “Screw it, I’m signing you up for this competition, whether you like it or not.”

The redhead sat up straight from his seat and slammed his hand on the table, earning attention from other students near by. “Forget it, Dem. I’m not interested.”

A sly smirk spread across Demyx’s lips. “You never know until you try, right Ax?”

The redhead knew exactly what he was talking about. Maybe he could take his perfect picture during this competition and he’ll be satisfied with himself for once. “Fine…” he muttered as he folded his arms over his chest. “But if I win, you’re buying me lunch,” he added with a huff. If he was going to be forced to join he definitely wanted compensation.

“Fine,” Demyx simply said with a pleased smile, “Then you will have two prizes. One would be your satisfaction for your photograph and the other would be lunch.”

“Make that three,” Axel said smugly as he pointed a finger at the first place prize. “Two hundred dollars buddy.”

“Why do you even need me to buy you lunch…?” Demyx asked with a chuckle as he snatched the piece of paper and scrunched it into a ball.

There was a simple answer to that question.

“Because you’re dragging me into this stupid competition, idiot…”

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Art class started soon after their lunch period. Axel’s teacher was always like a squawking bird, pestering everyone, never shutting up.

“One month…one month…” those two words bounced in Axel’s head like bullets ricocheting off metallic walls. He tapped the end of a pencil against the bottom of his lip and his thoughts continued mesh in his head. He hadn’t the slightest clue of what he wanted to take a picture of. “Think Axel, think!”

“Axel…AXEL!” someone screamed at him from across the room.

“What the hell do you want from me?!” the redhead snarled as he slammed the table with a fist, frustrated that his thoughts were interrupted. Everyone turned their heads to him in a state of shock since he just yelled at his art teacher.

She was without doubt displeased with her student. The young woman’s eyebrows furrowed deeply and she tapped her foot on the ground, impatiently waiting for an apology. “I would appreciate it if you would pay attention to my lesson, Axel, even if you are the best in the class.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“You don’t have to say it like that…” the redhead mumbled instantly, body sinking lower into his seat. He hated being called the best when he didn’t even feel like it. That word was almost worthless to him. It didn’t matter who said it…

“Roxas, I would appreciate it if you could nudge him next time.” It seemed like she was looking behind Axel when she said that. All the students just shifted their gazes slightly to the said student.

Axel quickly turned his neck to find a blond haired boy behind him. He was leaning on his elbow, cheek resting against his fist and he gave the redhead a dazed stare, like he wasn’t even awake.

She repeated his name once more. Roxas blinked once and then his eyes widened a little. “Huh? Uh…yeah, sure.” The reply was so weak that students were giggling at the daydreaming boy.

Through irritation, the woman began yelling once again, complaining about how little her students cared about the class. “Young man, stop dozing off and pay attention in class! No one appreciates good teaching these days!” Then there was some indistinguishable mumbling which caused some students to snicker quietly at her. Roxas rested his head on the desk to hide his humiliation.

The art teacher coughed into her fist and straightened her posture. “Now, I would like you all to partner up with someone and sketch them. Last time, several of you did poorly to my surprise…” she said dully while she handed out a blank sheet of paper to everyone. “If you wish to get into an art college, the least you could do is learn how to draw a person. Make them look realistic, draw shadows, add small features, even acne if you must.”

Several faces cringed and the students let out a “Eww…” as she said that.

“You each have forty minutes. I suggest you begin immediately and use your time wisely.” The art teacher returned to her desk and pulled up a magazine while everyone began speaking loudly to one another. Some just called across the room to their partner.

“Axel would you like to be my partner?” a skimpy blond haired girl asked while approaching him. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and she smiled sweetly, but the redhead wasn’t interested.

“Sorry, Rikku. I was hoping to partner up with Roxas,” he quickly said without thinking. It was the first name that came to his mind. Really, Axel just wanted to escape from the girl who was wearing revealing clothing and chewed gum while talking to him. Seriously, how was he going to do a full sketch of someone whose mouth couldn’t even stay still?

Roxas’ eyes widened at the call of his name, “Uh…sure!” he quickly answered, seeing how he didn’t have anyone else…He was only half awake as well.

The young girl clicked her tongue disappointedly and strolled off to look for someone else. However, she did manage to shoot a glare at Axel before she disappeared from his sight.

Roxas gaped at him for a moment, still looking a little dazed. “So—”

“Axel will you please be my partner?” another girl squealed as she approached Axel with her sketchbook clutched in her hands. Her face was red from a blush but her smile revealed her sheer excitement.

“I’ve already chosen Roxas as my partner, sorry.” This time he gave her an apologetic smile. The girl pouted sadly, nodded, and walked away a little heart broken.

“You’re quite popular…” Roxas noted from behind with an amused smirk. His hair was unique in its own sense. It was spiky and a little messy, but somehow neat at the same time. At least he looked like a normal kid with a school uniform on.

“It’s not like I want to be…” Axel muttered truthfully as he picked up his sketchbook and pencil. Using his sketchbook as a solid surface he drew up the sheet of paper his teacher gave him and placed it on top. “So am I drawing first?”

The blond just shrugged carelessly. “Sure, why not?”

Axel breathed in and out once and concentrated his gaze on Roxas’ features for just a few seconds. The blond stared at him curiously. “What is he doing?” he couldn’t help but wonder that since Axel was giving him such a hard, serious gaze. Suddenly he heard swift pencil strokes and found himself watching the redhead’s hand movements in awe. Axel only lifted his head about three to five times for a few seconds. He then turned back down to his paper to record what he saw. There was no way he needed forty minutes; the redhead was practically done in five. Roxas only wished he could directly see how his partner was doing it because now he was wide awake.

“Done,” Axel said as he turned the page over to Roxas. The blond gaped at the image in shock. It was so lightly sketched, but it was so accurate and the shading was brilliant. “I’ve never seen myself drawn so well before…” But he found himself frowning as his eyes traveled down the page, “What’s with my mouth?”

“You were staring at me like that for the whole time.” Well, Roxas did gape at him like a fish, but it was all due to Axel’s impressive ability to sketch things in a short period of time. “Don’t worry about the lightness of it. I’m going to fill in the details later. I just needed to sketch it out first.”

“Could you redo it? I don’t want to look idiotic in this portrait.” Roxas chuckled nervously while his eyes remained focused on the page.

Axel just shrugged and smiled at the boy. “No problem—and you don’t have to look right at me. I like drawing people who look natural.”

“Um…” the boy hummed in confusion. What exactly was he supposed to do?

The redhead figured he might as well direct Roxas. It would get the job done faster anyways. “Just think about something you really like.” Basically he told the blond to go into his little daydreaming state.

“S-sure.” Roxas looked away and immediately thought about him and his friends hanging out in dessert shops eating ice cream and just enjoying themselves. The simple thought just made him smile. High school was the only time he and his friends could be together. Once they graduated they would each go their separate ways in pursuit of their dreams. “Riku will want to go into architecture…Sora likes oil painting…Olette enjoys computer graphics, and Naminé wants to go into animation…what do I want to—”

“Much better.” Axel’s voice brought Roxas back to reality, putting an end to his daydream. He bolted up and stared at the image before him. It was so much better than the last one and he looked so natural; looking away, lost in his thoughts.

The blond was practically at a loss for words. “How did you…”

“Well, since you didn’t really move, it was a lot easier on me. You are a good subject—very cooperative,” Axel whistled, earning a blush from the blond. “I guess it’s your turn to draw me.” Axel seemed cheerful with Roxas’ surprised reaction. No one had ever asked him how he did something. They just said his work looked amazing.

A pathetic chuckle left Roxas’ mouth. “Uh…it might not be as—”

“C’mon, I’m interested!” Axel laughed as he gave Roxas a nice, encouraging pat on the shoulder, urging him to draw. “You have extra time since I’m already done, so don’t worry.”

“Cocky, aren’t we?” Roxas gave him a sarcastic stare as he drew up his sketchpad and 2B pencil.

“Nah, I’m just saying, take your time.” Axel relaxed and posed casually for Roxas.

To his surprise it only took the blond fifteen minutes to draw him and it was great! His strokes were smooth, but looked a little messy because many of them were meshed together. There were some unnecessary lines, but those could easily be erased. Even so, the detail was quite remarkable. It wasn’t nearly as good as Axel’s though but Roxas didn’t mind.

The redhead whistled at the finished product, impressed by his partner’s ability to sketch people. “Not bad, Shorty, I like it.” And he meant those words. People in the past drew him awkwardly. His nose would be a lot higher than normal and his hair…well his hair was the hardest part to draw, but Roxas was an impressive artist. “To think I never even knew he existed…but this kid sat right behind me…”

Roxas pouted and pulled his sheet away before Axel could take it from his hands. “It’s not Shorty. The name’s Roxas. Roxas Suzuki.”

“All right, Roxas. The name’s Axel Shimizu. Commit it to memory.” There was this smug grin on the redhead’s lips and he pointed a finger at his head.

The blond snorted as he passed his sketch over to Axel, “Yeah, I was right…cocky…”

Those were the last words he said to the redhead before his teacher slammed the table for everyone’s attention and collected their work. She seemed to PMS all the time which drove some students crazy, but what made them feel better was that they knew she would eventually become bald from all the yelling…

Axel was mystified by the blond. He never noticed Roxas sitting behind him even though they were both in the same art class for one month. Maybe it was because the boy was always daydreaming and not participating with many activities unless he was forced to. Axel would never know, but he had to admit he was intrigued.

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Roxas boarded the bus the next day to find his friend’s sitting in the back. He quickly made his way over before the red street light decided to change. Everyone greeted him with an interesting or awkward smile which made him frown suspiciously. Something was up…

“So, I heard many girls were jealous of you, Roxas,” Olette began with a sly grin. The others snickered beside her.

“And why is that?” There were no seats available so Roxas hung onto one of the bars nearby. His friends were acting strangely around him and he was determined to figure out why.

“How can you not know why?” Riku cocked an eyebrow at the seemingly stupid blond. His arms were crossed and his school bag sat limply on his lap.

“If you don’t stop jerking me around, each and every one of you will have a bruise somewhere on your body,” Roxas threatened coldly as he clutched the bar. Sure, they enjoyed spending time together in dessert shops, but sometimes Roxas’ friends were out of line…who talks about their friends behind their back like that?

“Like you really don’t know!” Even Kairi was teasing him now and she was the nicer one. Her eyes were practically teary from giggling and Roxas glared daggers in disgust.

The annoyed blond released the metal pole. “I’m going to walk away now—” The bus made a heavy stop and rocked everyone who was standing. Roxas fell backwards after losing balance and the person behind him was ready to support his back but managed to trip forward a little as well. By accident, he missed Roxas’ lower back and caught him in the worst spot possible. The boy just about flipped out.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you pervert?!” he shouted in a loud, shrill voice as he quickly jumped away from his supposed harasser.

“Hey, it was an accident! I tripped as well and I only meant to help you!” To Roxas’ surprise, Axel was standing there looking down on him, clearly offended. Everyone was now watching the scene, even the bus driver’s ears perked up as he continued driving.

“You again…” Roxas blurted out upsettingly.

“What do you mean, me again?!” the redhead scowled. Honestly, Roxas should be more grateful for his assistance.

“I can’t believe you were just about to—”

“I’m sorry for trying to catch you then!” Axel stomped away from Roxas furiously. What the blond didn’t realize was that the bus was right in front of his school and Axel was already making his way inside. Quickly, Roxas hopped off the bus along with everyone else and made his way towards the building. He tried his best to ignore the laughter and giggles near by. Everyone on the bus saw what happened to his dismay and rumours were bound to spread like crazy.

And word got out.

The whole morning seemed like hell. Girls were giggling and approaching Roxas during a lab in chemistry. How the hell was he going to concentrate with acidic material if they kept pestering him with pointless questions about the incident on the bus? He never felt so humiliated in his life. No one had ever grabbed him like that before, even if it was to save him.

English was no walk in the park either. “I swear, no one is going to let me concentrate on my reading…” boys kept giving him awkward faces and they whispered behind him. Now they were questioning him about his sexuality…great…

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“You knew he was behind me, didn’t you?!” Roxas hissed venomously as he grabbed Sora by the collar. The blond was even angrier than he was on the bus. All his frustration just all piled up…

“No, we were too busy teasing you to notice!” Sora stated in his defence, sticking up both his hands, pleading innocent. What surprised him was that Roxas believed him right away. Sora was soon released and Roxas huffed as he slumped into a chair, burying his face into his hands.

“You know…Axel really was trying to catch you. Girls are even more jealous of you today than they were yesterday.” Sora laughed as he took a seat next to his best friend. With a quick recovery, the brunet began teasing him again.

It was their lunch period and he knew Roxas was still attracting a lot of attention. So much that he was receiving both snickers and glares from several classmates in his first two classes. They didn’t even know he existed until now.

“Why would they be jealous of me?” Roxas pounded the table with a firm fist and grimaced. He was already embarrassed and guys would not stop laughing at him for being grabbed in the ass by another guy. It wasn’t that big of a deal was it?

“Because he sketched you yesterday, silly.” Olette waved her hand at him like he was stupid. Almost every student in the school was envious of Axel because he was both skilled and handsome. A lot of guys would never admit it but they admired him from afar as well.

Roxas was perplexed. “That’s it?” Sora quickly covered the idiot blond’s mouth with a hand. No one must ever hear him say that out loud.

“Don’t be stupid, Roxas,” Sora hissed quietly, “Girls will jump you if you say it like that. Axel is well respected and admired in this school. You were pretty lucky to be chosen by someone as talented as he is. Even I’m envious. You got to see his skills up close!”

“So what was he like?” Olette questioned as she set her food tray down.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Roxas admitted as he picked up his bottle of iced tea. Suddenly he calmed down at the mere thought of Axel’s prominent skills. “I mean he drew like—his strokes were so smooth and the way he concentrates on his subjects…I was wowed by his technique. Even though he drew lightly, it was really clean! It only took him five minutes to do what he called a rough sketch of me, but it was way better than my fifteen minute one.”

“Mesmerized are we?” Sora nudged his friend surreptitiously in spur of the moment.

Roxas was definitely captivated. “Yes, actually…his skills are beyond amazing.”

“Did you hear that, Ax?” Demyx turned to his busied friend with an amused smile. They sat at a table nearby and pretended not to listen to other conversations. The redhead was too preoccupied with his camera to even care. “Ax?”

“What?” Axel didn’t even bother looking up. He was switching his zoom lens while Demyx growled at him impatiently.

“Roxas complimented you with more than just, “He’s so amazing!”. Aren’t you interested?” he asked with eagerness dripping from his voice.

Still keeping his eyes down, the redhead shrugged nonchalantly. “Why should I care? If we didn’t make it to school, I’m sure he would have knocked my pretty little block off.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t pretend you aren’t interested. I know you’re always looking for more specific compliments anyway. He said your strokes were clean and smooth and that you concentrate a lot on your subjects—doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Axel finally glanced up, hand still on the zoom lends. “I guess so…” He would never admit it to Demyx but he was secretly happy, flattered even. The compliment was so simple yet it actually meant something to him.

“What are you doing?” Demyx finally decided to question his friend after forty-five minutes into the lunch period. It was fairly obvious that Axel was readjusting the functions on his thousand dollar camera.

“I decided to carry a camera around with me. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find a nice scene or something and get a good picture of it.”

A smirk spread across Demyx’s lips. “So you’re finally serious about this contest?”

Axel wasn’t sure how to answer. At first he didn’t approve of this contest but then again he wanted to see how far he could go. Perhaps he could finally take his perfect picture. “I guess you could say that…”

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Art class began half an hour later. Everyone seated themselves while their teacher scribbled instructions on the chalkboard. Today, she was going to have everyone do a water colour painting outside. “Now this may seem like a simple task but it is harder than it looks. It may be spring time, but I want to see some vibrant colours in your work and not just green, brown, and blue.” She gave specific students cold glares because she knew they were going to disobey her instruction.

“Hey,” Roxas whispered to the body in front of him. Axel only twitched, giving the blond his attention without having to turn around. “Look, I’m sorry about this morning. I overreacted when you were trying to help me…” he said in a very guilty voice. The redhead simply nodded his head, indicating his forgiveness.

“What are you whispering about back there?” their teacher suddenly boomed. She marched over to Roxas and tapped her ruler on his desk. “Would you like to share it with the class?” To his dismay everyone turned to him with a hopeful smile on, beaming with interest. They wanted him to blurt out what happened this morning, but he refused to speak of it. He opened his mouth to make up an excuse but Axel raised his hand.

“I was daydreaming again, sorry. Roxas was just trying to keep me awake like you requested him to do last day, remember?”

“Ah, yes…my apologies, Roxas. Axel, don’t make me ask you to stay awake in class again or I will have to ask you to leave,” she said in a callous voice. Eventually she made her way back to the front of the class and pointed at the board once again. “I want you all to do your best for this next month. Do not forget about our annual art show. Everyone should have at least three pieces on display, some may have more.” Again she eyed specific students, but this time she targeted those with talent. “You have one hour. Grab whatever materials you need and make sure you stay on school grounds.”

Everyone began shuffling towards the door with paintbrushes, pallets, and containers of water in their hands. Immediately the rushed outside, wanting to escape from their school…what student wouldn’t want to escape? It was simply gorgeous outside. They would rather relax and sleep…not paint.

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Axel leaned against his favourite willow tree, which sat above a hill. He breathed in and out slowly to relax and clear his thoughts. The plastic cup filled with water sat next to him and his sheet of paper rested on top of his wooden surface which sat on his lap. Thinking of what to paint, he twirled the brush in between his fingers.

“I didn’t think you were so into this.” Axel turned his head to find Roxas standing beside the tree he was leaning against. The boy seemed to have a content smile on his face. “Thanks for helping me again today.” He wasn’t the least bit angry anymore.

“It’s nothing, really.” Axel turned away and gaped at his page.

Still Roxas held his smile and he gestured his chin towards the tree. “Do you mind if I join you then?”

No one ever approached Axel when he sat on that specific hill. As relaxing as it was up there, he did feel lonely sometimes. One time he overheard others saying he didn’t like company; that he could only do well if people left him alone, but what did they know?

The redhead nodded gratefully and welcomed his new friend. “Company would be nice for once.”

There was silence for a few seconds while Roxas turned his body to lean against the tree. “You look a little sad…do you want to talk about anything?” He seated himself comfortably and drew up his paintbrush. Within seconds he dyed his entire page a light, faded blue.

Axel was already on the second stage his painting. He had already created his background and began working on the grass and trees nearby. “What makes you say that?” he questioned quietly.

“I see you alone a lot…I figured you might want to talk to someone. But if you don’t want to, I won’t force it out of you.” The blond turned his head in Axel’s direction while his background dried up.

“It’s weird being alone in class all the time. People will only approach me to look at my artwork. They compliment it once and that’s it.” He paused for a moment to let out a sigh. His brush even stopped moving on the page; it simply hovered above his damp sheet. “How can my classmates admire me if all they can say is “That’s amazing Axel, I wish I could draw like you!” I just don’t feel like I’m getting a lot of…constructive feedback even though I need it.” Axel swirled his brush in the tainted water and then dipped it in the red paint.

“Maybe…maybe people need your help,” Roxas began softly. He turned away and started on his painting again. “People admire you, but maybe they’re too nervous to approach you and ask for your opinion. They can’t offer you criticism because they aren’t as skilled as you are. It would be too embarrassing.”

Those words took Axel by surprise. He had always been curious as to why admirers only said so much about his artwork. Did that mean teachers were embarrassed as well?

Roxas was a lot wiser than he led on…

“No one’s ever told me that before…” Axel said thoughtfully, amazed at the boy’s words. At least now he understood why people never bothered pointing out his mistakes. They were afraid of being made fun of…

Maybe it was about time he asked for help instead of waiting for it.

“What do you think of this?” Axel pointed at his piece with the opposite end of his brush. Roxas turned his body and shifted much closer towards Axel, so close their arms were nearly touching. His eyes wandered the page carefully as he moved his head. In order to study the detail, Roxas had to get a closer look. When he stopped moving, he was almost leaning on Axel’s shoulder.

“Try adding some more purple down here. It will bring out the trees and make them look more vibrant.”

Axel gave him an appreciative nod and dipped his brush into the blob of purple paint. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Roxas looked up at him slowly, captivated by his gentle smile. He didn’t realize it, but his cheeks were somewhat red. Who knew someone’s smile could be so enchanting…? “You know…you’re a lot nicer than I thought you’d be.”

Axel paused on his page and grinned at the blond. “Likewise, Shorty,” he responded with a chuckle.