Disclaimer: I don't own kingdom hearts, or the characters. I do however own a microwave, but it leaks radiation cause its old. Maybe that's why I'm so crazy?
Thanks so much for all the amazing reviews guys! Hopefully I replied to everyone. I'm so glad to know there are still readers after so long...it brings tears to my eyes!! Well, not really. But it does make me super happy and giggly. Bah, enough with me. Storytime! This is part 1.
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Chapter 11
Unbridled
Affections
Part One
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Monday morning. Crisp, clean, fresh. The morning after a rainstorm always feels like a new beginning.
At least, until the bell rang.
The scene? Science class. The teacher? Absent. The students? In complete, and utter chaos.
"YOU HAVE A TWIN?!"
This was the main focus of today's first period class. Just as luck would have it, Reno was in his darling brother's science homeroom, and was in the process of being swooned over. While the boys were lounging in their usual collection of desks, Axel was trying to divert his glory-hound brother away from the fangirls that swarmed him since entering the building.
"You know, he used to go to school with you all a couple years ago. Why are you all so astounded by him now?" Axel tried to pull Reno away from the collective grasp of the affectionate hoarde. It was hopeless, he realized. Futile. Alas, there must be casualties on the road of life. "Well, good luck, bro." Axel let go and left him to the vultures.
Reno seemed to have no qualms about the whole thing. On the contrary, he was delighted to be loved and adored by the class who had shunned him all those years ago. "Ladies, ladies. Please," he posed, and they all stepped back, glassy eyed. A new target meant a new challenge. "There is more than enough of me to go around." He winked, and a blonde girl fainted. Oh, someone please help these girls. They need to get off the island more.
Axel settled in with his comrades. He smiled complacently, but it faded once he looked over at Roxas. "What's wrong, cutiepie?"
Roxas threw him a strange look. "Where were you yesterday? I tried calling...but, er..." he trailed off. The group turned to look at him. What was going on? Curious. But really, who out of them did not enjoy a good piece of gossip?
"Huh? I was at home all day with Reno. The phone never rang...well, it did once, but he said it was a fumigator..." Axel frowned. You could almost hear the gears turning in his head.
"And you believed him?" Riku laughed. An angry glare was shot his way. To everyone else, it was becoming obvious what happened. "Really, Axel. This is slow, even for you."
Roxas sighed. He shouldn't make fun of Axel... "I called and your brother asked me what I was wearing then hung up on me, basically. He wouldn't even let me talk to you. It was really mean of him and I tried calling again but it was busy so--"
"Roxas," Sora pointed out, "Axel isn't listening..." they directed their attention to where Axel was now mid-air in a ferocious leap towards his brother.
"YOU...PERVERT!" erupted from the pouncing redhead, followed by a symphony of sound effects - metal desks clashing together, bodies hitting the ground, girls screaming with a mixture of fear and delight. Nothing like some attractive twins wrestling to start off the week on a high note.
"I'm not the pervert," Reno shouted, amid the flury of fists coming at his face, "You are! You stand outside his room and listen to him get dressed!" Ouch, low blow. The struggle knocked over another desk. Applause came from some of the boys, squeals of delight from some of the girls at this dirty secret now revealed.
A fistful of red hair went flying. From who, they never knew. "One time! And you've only been here three days--" Punch, kick, "--and already you're trying to steal him!"
The scuffle continued for another few moments. There was to be no victor, it was clear. They were so evenly matched - but whether it was because of genetics or skill was a mystery. For each punch Axel threw, Reno kicked. For each scratch Reno left on Axel, he got bitten in return. It was a merciless fight. And over what...? This is stupid. I'm ending this. "AXEL." A stern voice interrupted the match. The students, having chosen sides already, froze along with the fighters. The mediator was Roxas. "Come here."
Axel dropped his brother's leg and Reno let go of his brother's ear. Axel scampered over to Roxas like a puppy, looking as if he was about to be scolded. No, he would only enjoy that too much. He could only try to be as serious as possible. "Axel," Roxas grabbed him by the collar, "Don't fight with your brother. Got it?"
Dead silence filled the room. Roxas, laying down the law? Unheard of! It was hard to tell whether they should laugh or not. One person chose to laugh. "Yeah. Don't pick on your dear old brother, Axe-murderer. Listen to your little boyfriend," Reno picked himself up off the ground and dusted off his shirt. He seemed relatively unscathed. "Just don't be suprised when he decided he likes me better. Because, well, we all know it'll happen." A challenge? It seemed so.
Axel was speechless. Roxas defending his brother? Reno planning to steal Roxas? This couldn't be happening...but it was, as he saw it. Why else would Roxas pull him from the fight? Axel felt betrayed. He backed away from Roxas a bit, shoulders hunched. Was he right? He looked at Roxas, eyes begging him to prove him wrong. C'mon...
Roxas sighed. Boys are so stupid. I blame testosterone. He stood up and gave Axel a look which he hoped conveyed a 'don't-worry' idea, but from the way his friends' eyes glazed over, it seemed not. Oh well. His facial expressions were not as good as he hoped. Not to fear. He had another plan.
He walked over to Reno, who was standing cockily, though a tad dishevelled, in the front of the classroom. Well, at least there's an audience for this, thought Roxas. He wanted to make sure his point was proven. He faced Reno, and gave him a soft look. How the hell does Sora do this...uhh... He looked up through his eyelashes and tried to look cute. However cute was not exactly in his repetoire, and instead he looked a little upset. Either way, Reno leaned down towards him. Three...two...one... PUNCH.
The sickening crunch of cartilegde was followed by dead silence. A collective gasp from the crowd, then "FUCKING KID!" A stream of blood rushed down Reno's face. How nice, Roxas smiled, It matches his hair.
As anticipated, Reno was too stunned to retaliate for a moment, but once it passed he was blazing with revenge. He tried to swing at Roxas, but the blonde was too damn fast. He ducked and nailed Reno in the stomach. I feel terrible for doing this. I'm sure he's a nice guy underneath it all. But he's a jerk and he was really rude to me. So...somehow this feels justified. It was thin reasoning, but enough to make him smile when Reno crashed back into the front board. Besides; I blame testosterone.
Like a raging rhinosaurus, Reno collected himself, seeing red. However the red was the blood which was still gushing from his face; if he had any sense at all he would head to the nurse's office. Which he did, with the help of a chubby brunette standing by the door. She looked delighted at the attention. The door shut behind them, and they were left with the wreckage.
"...Wow." was all anyone could say. Who knew Roxas was such a tank? The blonde turned back to his friends and sat on a desk. They waited for him to say something. Axel stood cautiously away, delighted at Roxas' choosing him over his brother, but also fearing the strength he saw from him. This was a startling new development. So all those times Axel would glomp onto Roxas, and he would struggle, he could have actually gotten away if he wanted to? So...he didn't want to? Again, his brain was running a thought-processing marathon. So...he likes me?
"Fuck," Roxas finally said something, breaking the tense silence. "I'm covered in nose blood." He frowned, grossed out. The room instantly swung back into motion, a couple girls running over with hankerchiefs, the rest of them making mental notes to start carrying hankies. Within a few moments Roxas was all clean again, and he was happy. Questions, however, were still unanswered.
"Roxas," Zexion asked, speaking up for the first time, "Why did you do that?" It was pretty much the only question on everyone's minds. Sure, Reno was being a jerk, but for Roxas to lash out like that?
Roxas scoffed. "Simple. I'm not his boyfriend," he gestured to Axel, "And it was very rude of him to presume I was."
Dumbfounded expressions spread like wildfire. "That's it?" Sora stared. He contemplated it for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah, that sounds pretty typical of you. Nice work, dude." He patted him on the back, followed by the rest of the gang, leave Axel. He was still chugging along on the thought train.
Their congratulations were cut short, however, when an unexpected character burst into their classroom - the teacher.
He surveyed the classroom, taking in the disturbances. "Who..." he focused in on the puddle of blood on the floor, "...does that belong to?" Nobody said a word. "I see," he said, pacing to the front of the room around the desks still skewed around. "Listen up, class. Ladies, it's called a tampon. Get one. Because that," he pointed to the puddle, "is disgusting. You." He pointed to a lanky boy near the window. "Go fetch a janitor. The rest of you, fix up these desks. And get back to reading from your textbooks. I might decide to give you all a test one of these days." And with that, he left once again.
Roxas felt responsible for the mess, so he hopped up and helped some of the other students put the desks back in order. He was lining up one row by the door when a classmate came over to speak with him in confidence. He was a sturdy looking boy, and seemed somewhat familiar... I think he plays sports with Tidus.
"Hey man, do you know where Ti is? We have practice after school and really need him to be there..." he looked over to where the group usually sat, and indeed, the prominent athelete was missing.
"Yeah..." Roxas scratched his head, "I brought him home yesterday. He got in a...uh, accident. He wasn't hurt or anything, just really tired. I'm sure if you call him around the end of the day you'll get ahold of him." He wasn't about to explain what Tidus had told him to this guy. Mostly because he had no idea what happened. Ti had just muttered something about being kidnapped and then fell asleep. Roxas had to go find a wagon and an umbrella and load the boy into it to take him home. It had been a lot of work just to get him off his couch. But Tidus was soaking wet and Roxas did not want his beloved couch to get mouldy.
"An accident?" the boy looked worried. "But you're sure he wasn't hurt? We can't win the game friday without him." Genuine concern? No, he just didn't want to lose his game. Typical.
Roxas sighed. "Yeah, he's fine. Go over now and check on him if you want. Just don't expect him to be talkative." He left the boy to contemplate and went back to his desk. Sora and Zexion were engaged in a deep discussion of how eating pasta from a mircrowave changes the flavour and Axel and Riku seemed to be plotting something. Again.
"Roxaaaaas," Axel whined, "Today's Monday. Since Tidus isn't here to make out with Selphie, do I still have to get tattoos?"
"What are you talking about?" Roxas looked confused, sitting beside him.
Riku frowned. "The day on the island. He and Ti made a bet that if Tidus made out with Selphie, Axel would get his face tattooed. And he conveniently forgot about it till I reminded him," he added, smiling maliciously. Oh, how glorious it was to not be the one on the receiving end of a stupid bet.
"Yeah, and since Tidus isn't here I don't know what I should do..." the redhead leaned on his desk pensively.
"Just get them anyways? Then he'll have to make up for it even more," Roxas suggested, shrugging. I really don't care. This is a stupid problem. Why would you make a bet like this? "He'll have to make out with her, like, twice."
Axel lit up. "Good idea!" However, unbeknownst to him, Tidus would never, ever get near Selphie again. "Roxy, will you come with me after school? I don't wanna do this by myself," He threw him a sad, puppy-dog eyed look.
Roxas shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm busy today."
"Doing what?" Axel's interest piqued. Roxas, having plans and not informing him? Impossible. He kept a very close tab on the going ons of Roxas' life.
"None of your business!" Roxas snapped, a little more forcefully than he expected. Axel withdrew, pouting.
"I was just wondering..." he sulked, trying to look like his feelings were as hurt as possible. A perfectly underhanded maneuver.
Roxas sighed. Normally he would tell Axel, but this...could not be shared with the public. "I'm just going to spend the afternoon with my sister. In exchange for her forgiveness for being out all of friday night," he added, with just enough blame in his voice to make Axel feel guilty. It worked.
"Oh," Axel frowned. He didn't like Larxene in particular. He thought she was bizzare and evil. A fair judgement, from how she had treated the boys when they were kids. Playing house? Oh, no. That was far too tame for Larxene. She liked to play deserted island. Wherein she would take all the boys, put them in a boat, and drive it over to one of the tiny islands, only big enough for a palm tree and a lot of frustration. They would be dumped out and she would drive around the island laughing for a good hour or so. Evil? Yes, most definately. "Well, okay. I can be brave on my own."
Good, Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. There must be no witnesses to this afternoon. "Okay. Good boy," he added. Extra emphasis to make sure he stays away? Sure, why not. He have the redhead a kind of half-hug, with one arm because he was sitting beside him. This cheered Axel up considerably. "So what is everyone else doing this afternoon?"
Sora looked up. "I'm going over to Zex's house. We're going to experiment!" he proclaimed, seeming quite happy.
"You mean try to make more things explode in the microwave. Don't phrase it that way, idiot," Zexion smacked him in the head. He saw the look he got from Riku. And he did not like it, no, not one bit. "I blew up some pasta yesterday and wrecked the microwave. We have to buy a new one anyways now, so we're gonna trash the old one before it gets thrown out."
"Sounds like a blast," Riku said finally. He almost went into super-protective-Riku mode. Good thing he had amazing self-control. Yup, amazing. Really.
"What about you, Riku?" Sora asked, picking up his backpack. The class would be ending soon.
Riku sighed. "I'm...probably just going to spend the day with my sister and her friends. They're having a bonfire on the beach tonight so I'm assuming i'll be carrying the branches around. Curse these amazing muscles of mine!" he posed, flipping his hair to the side, "I'm just too magnificent. Everybody wants my help." He glanced over at Sora with one eye. His pose faded when he found his favorite brunette was back to his discussion of microwaves. Pay attention to me, damnit! Riku frowned, but gathered up his backpack as the bell rang. Whatever. I'll just talk to him later.
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Awe, poor Riku. He's not the center of attention today XD Don't worry. The next chapter will be better for him. Because I love him and don't want him left out. And what of poor Tidus?! Does no one care about him? What exactly does Larxene have planned for Roxas after school? Will Axel go through with the tattoos? Will Zexion and Sora survive tampering with a microwave? And will Riku finally get some action?
Find out next time, in Chemical Kisses: Unbridled Affections, Part Two!
-Damien (I could be a tv announcer.)