Roxas sneered as blood slid down into his eye. He squinted and scrubbed it off with his fist, smearing the red substance across his face. He glared up at the aggressive blond teen standing above him smirking. He wanted to punch that smirk right off of his mouth right about now.
All this started because Seifer had called Roxas a f*****t. Granted, he may be one, but he hadn’t figured that out quite yet. He didn’t want the rumor to even start before he was sure of it himself. He had ignored the name-calling at first, just brushing Seifer off like he generally did. His threats were a joke to Roxas, the shorter blond knowing that, despite his stature, he was pretty evenly-matched with the taller boy. He may not dress or act as tough, but Roxas could hold his own in a fight. Seifer just took a dirty shot, and he also had his lackeys helping out to triple-team Roxas, thus why he was on the ground bleeding.
Seifer had started by getting irritated by Roxas ignoring him and shoving him forward, causing him to stumble over himself on the sidewalk beside the school. Roxas had taken a deep breath, rolled his eyes, and turned on him. His blue eyes pierced right through Seifer sharply.
You see, Roxas was the opposite of Seifer when it came to intimidation. He didn't show the other guy up with physical violence. He didn't feel the need to show off his strength and brutality. Instead, he did it with his eyes and his words.
"Who in their right mind gave you the gall to put your hands on me?" he had asked calmly, just like right before a storm which his darkening eyes were currently representing. He was getting irritated by this guy's immature behaviour. Really, why did people think they had to put others down to make themselves feel like they've accomplished something in their sad little lives? he could remember thinking.
Then that smirk happened. The one Roxas currently wanted to smack clear off of his face and into oblivion. Roxas didn't hate many people, but this guy... This guy just didn't know when to quit.
"You're right," the guy retorted, finishing off lamely, "I might catch your gay." If Roxas could have rolled his eyes any harder, oh, they would have rolled right down the cement.
"One, I'm not gay, though it wouldn't really be fight-worthy if I were. And since you seem to be so stuck on the notion, maybe you're trying to deflect any attention from your faggotry onto me so no one will notice just how much you stare at any hot piece of male a** that walks your way," Roxas retorted with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair.
That comment had gotten to where he was now, picking himself up off of the cement with scraped-up hands and a bleeding forehead and aching jaw. Seifer had thrown an unexpected punch while Rai, his beefy henchman, tripped Roxas from behind. He had spun sideways from the force on one side of his face and effectively slammed the other side into the concrete. He stretched out his jaw and popped his neck as he continued, "And, two, if you're going to make a 'cooties' joke, be sure you're talking about an actual illness that is likely to spread by contact than someone simply liking to do their romancing with someone of the same sex," he finished off, inspecting his clothes for damage.
Peering at Seifer form the corner of his eye, he dodged the next fist coming towards his face and ducked around him, almost-expertly kicking his knees out from under him and shoving him down onto the ground. "I guess you like playing rough, Seifer. I'll have to file that away in my 'f*****t' brain for later use," he told him with a smirk, being sure to send him a wink as he walked away. "By the way," he called back, turning around and walking backwards as he spoke. "The view of you on your hands and knees from behind... Mm, you'll sure make some guy a happy man."
He couldn't hold back the laugh as he heard Seifer stuttering out another response to him that he didn't even care to listen to. He just walked on towards the bus waiting for him to get on to go home. It wasn't a public fight, though he kind of wished it would have been because he was on a roll with dissing Seifer. The guy never learned. It always ended with Roxas winning, no matter what happened.
The short blond plopped down in his normal bus seat, scooting over to the window in case anyone decided they wanted to sit with him today. Like that would ever happen. He tapped his fingertips on his knee as he hummed and rubbed the drying blood off of his face. He'd have to bandage his forehead up before his dad got home. Luckily, he could arrange his bangs to somewhat hide it.
------
Off into the distance, it would seem that the group had an unnoticed audience. It wasn't large by any standards, just two other teens from the same school. Observing from afar always proved to bring the best intelligence, not that everyone considered people watching gathering intelligence. Only the eccentric and the knowledged people did. The two that sat watching from the hood of a car just so happened to consider themselves as such.
"Three against one, the odds are a little stacked against the kid, aren't they?" The short, slate haired male spoke up after watching the also small blonde take a hit. He was a quieter sort normally, but he felt for the kid. It wasn't easy to sit back and watch another go through a similar evil to which you have lived through. Alas the smaller observer was a believer in fate, and the fact that everything happened for a reason. For whatever reason, the blonde kid needed to go through this.
The other stared on listening to the faint words and the fight continue. He didn't even seem to hear the words that his friend said next to him. The slate haired male, Zexion, turned to look at the features of his friend. He was tall, maybe a foot or so over him, and he had a slender figure. He had strong arms and broad shoulders; yet most defining feature of all the his friend's characteristics was the bright fire truck red hair that spiked down his back and shoulders. It was a mane of passionate color that almost no one could ignore.
It was interesting, because there really wasn't anything exciting about Zexion's appearance. He had practically gray hair, and he was shorter than most of the girls in school. He didn't have a shining personality, he just liked to read a lot. However despite all this, Axel enjoyed his company above anyone else's in the school. They were two unlikely friends and yet they they stuck together. They had been best friends since freshman year two years ago. Axel saved his life and Zexion saved Axel.
"Well, I think the odds are always stacked against people, sometimes people just get lucky." The tall redhead replied with a small, quirky smirk. With his comment, he pushed himself up off of the car. "Catch." He added onto the end of his statement as he tossed the other his keys. With the smirk still on his face, he started over towards the bus.
"Hey, wait, Axel where are you going?!" The small male questioned quickly as he startled up off the hood and barely caught the keys that w back at him. Two years and Zexion still had no idea why Axel did things. The redhead just got it up in his head that he was going to do something and then he just did it. For Zexion, it gave him conflicting emotions. It made Zexion admire Axel's courage, but at the same time, it made Zexion think Axel was impulsive and stupid.
"Don't worry about me! Just don't crash my car driving home! I'll be at your house for dinner, I promise," Axel called back as he gave the other two thumbs up as he ran to catch the bus. After watching the fight, Axel knew he had to meet this blonde kid. He had a feeling about this kid, and over the years, Axel had learned to trust is instincts. The redhead then turned and ran full-out for the bus. He made it just in time to catch the bus, before he slyly slipped into the seat with the kid.
"You better stay out of trouble, and you better not be late! You know how mother gets!" The dark haired male yelled back in response before his shoulders slumped. He sighed as he looked down at the keys. "At least this time, I can actually drive a car." Zexion calmly resolved to as he walked around the 1967 black impala muscle car. He climbed into the cab and started it up before he glanced up at the bus pulling out.
"You got a little blood on your face," Axel stated a soft smirk still residing on his lips. "The other guy must look pretty sorry, if you look this bad." Axel continued after a second as he leaned onto the back of the seat in front of him and turned towards Roxas so he could see his face better. The kid looked tough despite the air of innocence.
-------
Roxas was startled slightly when someone plopped down beside him. Who the hell..? He looked up at the person with a mix of surprise and curiosity. He squinted his eyes as the guy spoke. He recognized him. He was that junior that he always saw hanging around that quiet guy. Roxas always saw him roaming around the science hall being friendly with the teachers.
It took the blond a second to respond because he was still shocked anyone wanted to sit by him. He opened his mouth to speak before a thought crossed his mind. This guy didn't even ride his bus.
"I...don't fight bloody. There's no point is beating the pulp out of someone just because they throw accusations around. I like to think myself above that," he told him, eyes still staring at him, searching for the reason he was there. Why had this guy approached an underclassman, jumped on his bus even, to come and talk to him?
Though, he had to admit, he didn't mind the view. The guy was gorgeous, now that he got a proper look at him. Roxas was all about eyes and hair, just looking at himself you could tell that. This guy was apparently Roxas's type, the blond realized at that moment. He may be gayer than he had originally thought. Or maybe he just didn't care about the sexuality labels. He liked to look at this new redhead, and he wouldn't mind seeing him more or hearing his voice. In everyday conversation, secret whispers, breathy in his ear or against his neck.
Great. Now he was having sexual fantasies about the guy he met not even a minute ago.
He blinked and snapped himself out of it. "I did get a few witty insults and clever comments thrown in there to turn his argument on him, though," he added, a small smirk on his lips as he adjusted himself to easily make himself comfortable and engage the redhead more in conversation. "I may have the bruises to show for it, but with my argument and the scrapes he now has on his knees from getting his knees kicked out from under him, he's gonna be a little sensitive to any comment mentioning anything gay because of the psychological trauma," he explained, training his warm eyes on the tall guy.
Roxas may be quiet and seem reserved, but he was actually an excellent conversationalist. He had no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger, especially when said stranger made it so easy to talk.
"So, hi. My name's Roxas. Thanks for allowing me to indulge you on the extent of my unabashed cleverness and wit, stranger," he said, a flirtatious lilt in his voice as he held his hand out to shake. "Now, why would a big bad junior like yourself hop on a school bus he doesn't belong in to talk to a lowly sophomore?" He asked out of genuine curiosity, leaning in towards the redhead unconsciously to dive deeper into the conversation.
------
"Hmmm, I picked you as a fighter, myself, " Axel answered back as he began to scan over the other's appearance. He was short, but not as bad as Zexion, and he definitely didn't know what a hairbrush was. He was like a puzzle to the redhead. He wasn't stupid, Axel could tell, but there was this pride about the kid that interested him.
The bright emerald eyes came back to the others'. He could see the sky blue eyes wandering over his body, but he didn't think much of it. Afterall, it was only logically that on a first meeting, you would want to size the other person up. Axel had to stop himself from asking what the blonde's first impression of him was, though. He liked to know what his outer image was like. He wanted to know if he looked like a man worthy of being remembered or seeing twice. But he stopped himself, because most people were often thrown off by it. With only one good friend to speak of, Axel didn't want to do anything to hurt his chances.
"Oh well, I guess you are a fighter, you just don't like getting dirty. You do give off the feisty attitude." Axel said playful at his comment about making the other emotional hurt. In all honesty, it sounded like something a girl would do since women didn't normally have the brutal physical strength of a guy. It wasn't a bad fighting tactic, just a dirty tactic. Fighting like that was the equivalent of sending spies into an enemy country rather than battle it out. Axel would have to be careful of the blonde.
"Axel, it is a pleasure to meet you." Axel replied back as he shook the other's hand firmly. Axel was clever and sometimes even conniving, but other times... He could be more dense than a brick wall. Today was sadly one of the thick days, and he couldn't tell how coy and flirtatious Roxas was being with him.
"Hmmm, why get on the bus that goes to my house? I mean really it is the mystery of the century, do you have a friendly talking dog and a mystery van? Because if you don't I don't know how we are going to solve this without them," Axel taunted back to the golden haired blonde as he too leaned closer to the blonde. His acid green eyes stared down into the blue ones opposite his. The look on his face so easy just stated the words, "Wouldn't you like to know my secrets?"
------
"Hey, now, I'll fight when I need to. I just think automatically resorting to that is thoughtless and brutal," he explained with a small smile. "I can easily hold my own, just not when people take cheap shots and have their cronies backing them up, taking more cheap shots. Exhibit A," he said, motioning to his face before turning both palms around to show him the scrapes there. "But that's okay, because he's just a d**k that needs to learn his place. And he'll find his place some way or another. And I'd bet money that he'll find it under some guy he meet by the way he was trying to shove all the gay off on me," he told him, resting his head at a the window beside him.
"Feisty is right, though an understatement most of the time," he said with a laugh, giving him a quick wink as he shook his hand. This guy... He liked that they both seemed to be comfortable speaking aloud anything they thought. At least, Roxas felt that way.
Roxas felt sparks fly as Axel leaned forward towards him. His eyes scanned over his face and locked onto his eyes as he answered, "Well, how come I haven't seen you ride it before if it goes to your house?" He inquired, speaking a little slower and enumerating every syllable.
He gave him a small smirk and leaned back again to rest on the window, eyes gazing over Axel again. The guy was wearing black jeans, a sweater and a jacket. In spring. It was hot. He reached over and tugged on the sleeve of the hoodie slightly. "Now how in the hell are you wearing all that right now? I'm close to sweating with a tee shirt and shorts on," he said, releasing the sleeve and crossing his arms, head tilted as he smiled cheekily at him.
------
"Don't you think it is a little mean to think so maliciously of the kid, he is just confused and doesn't know how to handle those feelings inside him. You can't tell me that you haven't been frustrated enough to take something internal out on someone around you, even if you didn't do it on purpose." Axel questioned as he listened to the blonde's blind hate. This kid still had a lot of growing to do if he really thought it was okay for one person to be mean just because someone was mean to him. It was quite literally the cycle of what causes bullies.
Axel just seemed to laugh off the comment about feisty being an understatement. Anger management had always been a weakness of Axel's, but over the last couple of years, he had been able to keep it in check by learning more about why things happen. And Zexion, of course. That guy could stop a volcano from erupting, he was so calm and collected.
"Well if you must know, I let my best friend borrow my car so he could go out and explore the world, open his eyes to the wonders of Earth. Who knows when he will be back, I mean I may have to ride the bus everyday for the whole school year." Axel lied smoothly as he continued to toy with the blonde. It wouldn't be any fun if he revealed all of his secrets right away.
"Oh, that is simple. I'm not human, I am alien, so I have to wear this to keep my cover from being blown. Crafty isn't it?" He asked playful as he showed his jacket to the other. Axel smirked as he glanced passed the blonde and at his house coming up. "I would love to tell you all about it, but this is my stop, at you know, my house." Axel stated cheerful as he stood up right as the bus was slowing down. After standing up, he reached over and ruffled the blonde's spikes to a state somehow more mess than it was before.
"Catch you around, blondie," he called back as he exited the bus. As he left, he was sporting a grin the size of a dinner plate. This kid was going to be a whole lot of fun, Axel could tell these things. The happiness was fleeting though as he looked upon his house. He really didn't like coming home. The redhead, resolved to the fact that he had to, walked up to his front door and slipped through the entryway.
--------
All Roxas could do was watch the smirking redhead exit the bus. He was...astounding. Exhilarating. He wanted to talk to him more. He wanted to touch more than his clothes. God, I caught the gay baaad, he thought to himself ironically, grinning as he watched the redhead even as the bus drove away. Now he knew where the guy lived. His day was so much brighter now.
His stop was only a few streets down, and he hurried inside when he got there to hop in the shower. The whole time thinking about that redhead and everything he said. He had a point... maybe Seifer was just letting off his inner turmoil onto him. And at least Roxas could handle it, right? Maybe he needed to try and talk to him next time? Instead of retaliating? The blond sighed. Shower thoughts were always the deepest.
He got out and cleaned himself up. By the time his dad got home, he was sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal, lost in his thoughts. "Hey, Dad," he greeted idly as he glanced up at the adult version of himself. He and his dad lived by themselves in their house, and they had a fairly healthy relationship. He wanted to hide the scrapes because he didn't want to be lectured and he didn't want to look weak in front of his dad. His dad was so tough, he knew there was no way he could live up to him, but he could try.
------
The much older blonde walked into the kitchen and looked down at his son. "Hey, Roxas, how was school today?" He asked as he set his briefcase down on the table. "Oh, and before you leave out the fight that you got that wound on your head from, I suggest you just not lie, you were never good at." He stated in a calm and collected manner. He wasn't mad, he just wanted to understand why Roxas was fighting so much at school. Cloud wasn't the perfect dad, and after Roxas's mom left, Cloud knew Roxas took it hard. He was only seven when his mother took off to find herself. Cloud always tried to do the best he could to save him from the pain of feeling like his mom didn't love him. Ironically though, it was Roxas's mother leaving that made them so close. After she left, all they had was each other, and Cloud thanked his lucky stars every day that Roxas didn't hate him for driving his mother away.
Their talk lasted through dinner, but ultimately, nothing really went anywhere. Then, it was a quiet night after that.
The next morning, Axel stirred on the floor of his bedroom around 4a.m. He must have passed out... As he pushed his way up off of the floor, he had a feeling that he hadn't been out for just a few hours. In the dark, he fumbled around crawling until locating his phone under his bed. As he winced at the light from the glowing phone, he cursed at the time it told him. It was 4:23 in the morning, and he knew Zexion was probably worried out of his mind. The redhead slowly moved over to his bed and sat down on the floor leaning back on it.
As his emerald eyes adjusted to the light from his phone, he navigated his way through it until he came to Zexion. With a few more clicks, he was typing out a text message to him. "Sorry, I flaked on dinner, I'll be over in a few minutes, okay? I'll explain then." After sending the message, the redhead pulled himself up off of the floor and stumbled to his closet.
In the dark, he pulled out about two days worth of clothes and shoved them into an old bookbag. He couldn't see what exactly he was grabbing, but his wardrobe didn't really vary all that much. He moved to his nightstand next and pulled out all of his keepsakes and his wallet. After adding the to the contents of the bookbag, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Setting the bag on his bed, he pulled out his phone and read Zexion's reply. "You worried the hell out of me, you jerk. You better get your butt over here in one piece."
With a slight smile at his friend, Axel finished packing and started out of his window. He had learned that sneaking out by going the front door was always a bad plan. With his school backpack and his backpack filled with clothes, the redhead started his trek down the street. It was a quarter til five as he walked down the sidewalk. It meant that he would probably make it to Zexion's about ten minutes after five. If he was quickly about it, he could probably catch a shower and a nap before school. At this point, he wasn't sure which one he wanted more.
All this started because Seifer had called Roxas a f*****t. Granted, he may be one, but he hadn’t figured that out quite yet. He didn’t want the rumor to even start before he was sure of it himself. He had ignored the name-calling at first, just brushing Seifer off like he generally did. His threats were a joke to Roxas, the shorter blond knowing that, despite his stature, he was pretty evenly-matched with the taller boy. He may not dress or act as tough, but Roxas could hold his own in a fight. Seifer just took a dirty shot, and he also had his lackeys helping out to triple-team Roxas, thus why he was on the ground bleeding.
Seifer had started by getting irritated by Roxas ignoring him and shoving him forward, causing him to stumble over himself on the sidewalk beside the school. Roxas had taken a deep breath, rolled his eyes, and turned on him. His blue eyes pierced right through Seifer sharply.
You see, Roxas was the opposite of Seifer when it came to intimidation. He didn't show the other guy up with physical violence. He didn't feel the need to show off his strength and brutality. Instead, he did it with his eyes and his words.
"Who in their right mind gave you the gall to put your hands on me?" he had asked calmly, just like right before a storm which his darkening eyes were currently representing. He was getting irritated by this guy's immature behaviour. Really, why did people think they had to put others down to make themselves feel like they've accomplished something in their sad little lives? he could remember thinking.
Then that smirk happened. The one Roxas currently wanted to smack clear off of his face and into oblivion. Roxas didn't hate many people, but this guy... This guy just didn't know when to quit.
"You're right," the guy retorted, finishing off lamely, "I might catch your gay." If Roxas could have rolled his eyes any harder, oh, they would have rolled right down the cement.
"One, I'm not gay, though it wouldn't really be fight-worthy if I were. And since you seem to be so stuck on the notion, maybe you're trying to deflect any attention from your faggotry onto me so no one will notice just how much you stare at any hot piece of male a** that walks your way," Roxas retorted with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair.
That comment had gotten to where he was now, picking himself up off of the cement with scraped-up hands and a bleeding forehead and aching jaw. Seifer had thrown an unexpected punch while Rai, his beefy henchman, tripped Roxas from behind. He had spun sideways from the force on one side of his face and effectively slammed the other side into the concrete. He stretched out his jaw and popped his neck as he continued, "And, two, if you're going to make a 'cooties' joke, be sure you're talking about an actual illness that is likely to spread by contact than someone simply liking to do their romancing with someone of the same sex," he finished off, inspecting his clothes for damage.
Peering at Seifer form the corner of his eye, he dodged the next fist coming towards his face and ducked around him, almost-expertly kicking his knees out from under him and shoving him down onto the ground. "I guess you like playing rough, Seifer. I'll have to file that away in my 'f*****t' brain for later use," he told him with a smirk, being sure to send him a wink as he walked away. "By the way," he called back, turning around and walking backwards as he spoke. "The view of you on your hands and knees from behind... Mm, you'll sure make some guy a happy man."
He couldn't hold back the laugh as he heard Seifer stuttering out another response to him that he didn't even care to listen to. He just walked on towards the bus waiting for him to get on to go home. It wasn't a public fight, though he kind of wished it would have been because he was on a roll with dissing Seifer. The guy never learned. It always ended with Roxas winning, no matter what happened.
The short blond plopped down in his normal bus seat, scooting over to the window in case anyone decided they wanted to sit with him today. Like that would ever happen. He tapped his fingertips on his knee as he hummed and rubbed the drying blood off of his face. He'd have to bandage his forehead up before his dad got home. Luckily, he could arrange his bangs to somewhat hide it.
------
Off into the distance, it would seem that the group had an unnoticed audience. It wasn't large by any standards, just two other teens from the same school. Observing from afar always proved to bring the best intelligence, not that everyone considered people watching gathering intelligence. Only the eccentric and the knowledged people did. The two that sat watching from the hood of a car just so happened to consider themselves as such.
"Three against one, the odds are a little stacked against the kid, aren't they?" The short, slate haired male spoke up after watching the also small blonde take a hit. He was a quieter sort normally, but he felt for the kid. It wasn't easy to sit back and watch another go through a similar evil to which you have lived through. Alas the smaller observer was a believer in fate, and the fact that everything happened for a reason. For whatever reason, the blonde kid needed to go through this.
The other stared on listening to the faint words and the fight continue. He didn't even seem to hear the words that his friend said next to him. The slate haired male, Zexion, turned to look at the features of his friend. He was tall, maybe a foot or so over him, and he had a slender figure. He had strong arms and broad shoulders; yet most defining feature of all the his friend's characteristics was the bright fire truck red hair that spiked down his back and shoulders. It was a mane of passionate color that almost no one could ignore.
It was interesting, because there really wasn't anything exciting about Zexion's appearance. He had practically gray hair, and he was shorter than most of the girls in school. He didn't have a shining personality, he just liked to read a lot. However despite all this, Axel enjoyed his company above anyone else's in the school. They were two unlikely friends and yet they they stuck together. They had been best friends since freshman year two years ago. Axel saved his life and Zexion saved Axel.
"Well, I think the odds are always stacked against people, sometimes people just get lucky." The tall redhead replied with a small, quirky smirk. With his comment, he pushed himself up off of the car. "Catch." He added onto the end of his statement as he tossed the other his keys. With the smirk still on his face, he started over towards the bus.
"Hey, wait, Axel where are you going?!" The small male questioned quickly as he startled up off the hood and barely caught the keys that w back at him. Two years and Zexion still had no idea why Axel did things. The redhead just got it up in his head that he was going to do something and then he just did it. For Zexion, it gave him conflicting emotions. It made Zexion admire Axel's courage, but at the same time, it made Zexion think Axel was impulsive and stupid.
"Don't worry about me! Just don't crash my car driving home! I'll be at your house for dinner, I promise," Axel called back as he gave the other two thumbs up as he ran to catch the bus. After watching the fight, Axel knew he had to meet this blonde kid. He had a feeling about this kid, and over the years, Axel had learned to trust is instincts. The redhead then turned and ran full-out for the bus. He made it just in time to catch the bus, before he slyly slipped into the seat with the kid.
"You better stay out of trouble, and you better not be late! You know how mother gets!" The dark haired male yelled back in response before his shoulders slumped. He sighed as he looked down at the keys. "At least this time, I can actually drive a car." Zexion calmly resolved to as he walked around the 1967 black impala muscle car. He climbed into the cab and started it up before he glanced up at the bus pulling out.
"You got a little blood on your face," Axel stated a soft smirk still residing on his lips. "The other guy must look pretty sorry, if you look this bad." Axel continued after a second as he leaned onto the back of the seat in front of him and turned towards Roxas so he could see his face better. The kid looked tough despite the air of innocence.
-------
Roxas was startled slightly when someone plopped down beside him. Who the hell..? He looked up at the person with a mix of surprise and curiosity. He squinted his eyes as the guy spoke. He recognized him. He was that junior that he always saw hanging around that quiet guy. Roxas always saw him roaming around the science hall being friendly with the teachers.
It took the blond a second to respond because he was still shocked anyone wanted to sit by him. He opened his mouth to speak before a thought crossed his mind. This guy didn't even ride his bus.
"I...don't fight bloody. There's no point is beating the pulp out of someone just because they throw accusations around. I like to think myself above that," he told him, eyes still staring at him, searching for the reason he was there. Why had this guy approached an underclassman, jumped on his bus even, to come and talk to him?
Though, he had to admit, he didn't mind the view. The guy was gorgeous, now that he got a proper look at him. Roxas was all about eyes and hair, just looking at himself you could tell that. This guy was apparently Roxas's type, the blond realized at that moment. He may be gayer than he had originally thought. Or maybe he just didn't care about the sexuality labels. He liked to look at this new redhead, and he wouldn't mind seeing him more or hearing his voice. In everyday conversation, secret whispers, breathy in his ear or against his neck.
Great. Now he was having sexual fantasies about the guy he met not even a minute ago.
He blinked and snapped himself out of it. "I did get a few witty insults and clever comments thrown in there to turn his argument on him, though," he added, a small smirk on his lips as he adjusted himself to easily make himself comfortable and engage the redhead more in conversation. "I may have the bruises to show for it, but with my argument and the scrapes he now has on his knees from getting his knees kicked out from under him, he's gonna be a little sensitive to any comment mentioning anything gay because of the psychological trauma," he explained, training his warm eyes on the tall guy.
Roxas may be quiet and seem reserved, but he was actually an excellent conversationalist. He had no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger, especially when said stranger made it so easy to talk.
"So, hi. My name's Roxas. Thanks for allowing me to indulge you on the extent of my unabashed cleverness and wit, stranger," he said, a flirtatious lilt in his voice as he held his hand out to shake. "Now, why would a big bad junior like yourself hop on a school bus he doesn't belong in to talk to a lowly sophomore?" He asked out of genuine curiosity, leaning in towards the redhead unconsciously to dive deeper into the conversation.
------
"Hmmm, I picked you as a fighter, myself, " Axel answered back as he began to scan over the other's appearance. He was short, but not as bad as Zexion, and he definitely didn't know what a hairbrush was. He was like a puzzle to the redhead. He wasn't stupid, Axel could tell, but there was this pride about the kid that interested him.
The bright emerald eyes came back to the others'. He could see the sky blue eyes wandering over his body, but he didn't think much of it. Afterall, it was only logically that on a first meeting, you would want to size the other person up. Axel had to stop himself from asking what the blonde's first impression of him was, though. He liked to know what his outer image was like. He wanted to know if he looked like a man worthy of being remembered or seeing twice. But he stopped himself, because most people were often thrown off by it. With only one good friend to speak of, Axel didn't want to do anything to hurt his chances.
"Oh well, I guess you are a fighter, you just don't like getting dirty. You do give off the feisty attitude." Axel said playful at his comment about making the other emotional hurt. In all honesty, it sounded like something a girl would do since women didn't normally have the brutal physical strength of a guy. It wasn't a bad fighting tactic, just a dirty tactic. Fighting like that was the equivalent of sending spies into an enemy country rather than battle it out. Axel would have to be careful of the blonde.
"Axel, it is a pleasure to meet you." Axel replied back as he shook the other's hand firmly. Axel was clever and sometimes even conniving, but other times... He could be more dense than a brick wall. Today was sadly one of the thick days, and he couldn't tell how coy and flirtatious Roxas was being with him.
"Hmmm, why get on the bus that goes to my house? I mean really it is the mystery of the century, do you have a friendly talking dog and a mystery van? Because if you don't I don't know how we are going to solve this without them," Axel taunted back to the golden haired blonde as he too leaned closer to the blonde. His acid green eyes stared down into the blue ones opposite his. The look on his face so easy just stated the words, "Wouldn't you like to know my secrets?"
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"Hey, now, I'll fight when I need to. I just think automatically resorting to that is thoughtless and brutal," he explained with a small smile. "I can easily hold my own, just not when people take cheap shots and have their cronies backing them up, taking more cheap shots. Exhibit A," he said, motioning to his face before turning both palms around to show him the scrapes there. "But that's okay, because he's just a d**k that needs to learn his place. And he'll find his place some way or another. And I'd bet money that he'll find it under some guy he meet by the way he was trying to shove all the gay off on me," he told him, resting his head at a the window beside him.
"Feisty is right, though an understatement most of the time," he said with a laugh, giving him a quick wink as he shook his hand. This guy... He liked that they both seemed to be comfortable speaking aloud anything they thought. At least, Roxas felt that way.
Roxas felt sparks fly as Axel leaned forward towards him. His eyes scanned over his face and locked onto his eyes as he answered, "Well, how come I haven't seen you ride it before if it goes to your house?" He inquired, speaking a little slower and enumerating every syllable.
He gave him a small smirk and leaned back again to rest on the window, eyes gazing over Axel again. The guy was wearing black jeans, a sweater and a jacket. In spring. It was hot. He reached over and tugged on the sleeve of the hoodie slightly. "Now how in the hell are you wearing all that right now? I'm close to sweating with a tee shirt and shorts on," he said, releasing the sleeve and crossing his arms, head tilted as he smiled cheekily at him.
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"Don't you think it is a little mean to think so maliciously of the kid, he is just confused and doesn't know how to handle those feelings inside him. You can't tell me that you haven't been frustrated enough to take something internal out on someone around you, even if you didn't do it on purpose." Axel questioned as he listened to the blonde's blind hate. This kid still had a lot of growing to do if he really thought it was okay for one person to be mean just because someone was mean to him. It was quite literally the cycle of what causes bullies.
Axel just seemed to laugh off the comment about feisty being an understatement. Anger management had always been a weakness of Axel's, but over the last couple of years, he had been able to keep it in check by learning more about why things happen. And Zexion, of course. That guy could stop a volcano from erupting, he was so calm and collected.
"Well if you must know, I let my best friend borrow my car so he could go out and explore the world, open his eyes to the wonders of Earth. Who knows when he will be back, I mean I may have to ride the bus everyday for the whole school year." Axel lied smoothly as he continued to toy with the blonde. It wouldn't be any fun if he revealed all of his secrets right away.
"Oh, that is simple. I'm not human, I am alien, so I have to wear this to keep my cover from being blown. Crafty isn't it?" He asked playful as he showed his jacket to the other. Axel smirked as he glanced passed the blonde and at his house coming up. "I would love to tell you all about it, but this is my stop, at you know, my house." Axel stated cheerful as he stood up right as the bus was slowing down. After standing up, he reached over and ruffled the blonde's spikes to a state somehow more mess than it was before.
"Catch you around, blondie," he called back as he exited the bus. As he left, he was sporting a grin the size of a dinner plate. This kid was going to be a whole lot of fun, Axel could tell these things. The happiness was fleeting though as he looked upon his house. He really didn't like coming home. The redhead, resolved to the fact that he had to, walked up to his front door and slipped through the entryway.
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All Roxas could do was watch the smirking redhead exit the bus. He was...astounding. Exhilarating. He wanted to talk to him more. He wanted to touch more than his clothes. God, I caught the gay baaad, he thought to himself ironically, grinning as he watched the redhead even as the bus drove away. Now he knew where the guy lived. His day was so much brighter now.
His stop was only a few streets down, and he hurried inside when he got there to hop in the shower. The whole time thinking about that redhead and everything he said. He had a point... maybe Seifer was just letting off his inner turmoil onto him. And at least Roxas could handle it, right? Maybe he needed to try and talk to him next time? Instead of retaliating? The blond sighed. Shower thoughts were always the deepest.
He got out and cleaned himself up. By the time his dad got home, he was sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal, lost in his thoughts. "Hey, Dad," he greeted idly as he glanced up at the adult version of himself. He and his dad lived by themselves in their house, and they had a fairly healthy relationship. He wanted to hide the scrapes because he didn't want to be lectured and he didn't want to look weak in front of his dad. His dad was so tough, he knew there was no way he could live up to him, but he could try.
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The much older blonde walked into the kitchen and looked down at his son. "Hey, Roxas, how was school today?" He asked as he set his briefcase down on the table. "Oh, and before you leave out the fight that you got that wound on your head from, I suggest you just not lie, you were never good at." He stated in a calm and collected manner. He wasn't mad, he just wanted to understand why Roxas was fighting so much at school. Cloud wasn't the perfect dad, and after Roxas's mom left, Cloud knew Roxas took it hard. He was only seven when his mother took off to find herself. Cloud always tried to do the best he could to save him from the pain of feeling like his mom didn't love him. Ironically though, it was Roxas's mother leaving that made them so close. After she left, all they had was each other, and Cloud thanked his lucky stars every day that Roxas didn't hate him for driving his mother away.
Their talk lasted through dinner, but ultimately, nothing really went anywhere. Then, it was a quiet night after that.
The next morning, Axel stirred on the floor of his bedroom around 4a.m. He must have passed out... As he pushed his way up off of the floor, he had a feeling that he hadn't been out for just a few hours. In the dark, he fumbled around crawling until locating his phone under his bed. As he winced at the light from the glowing phone, he cursed at the time it told him. It was 4:23 in the morning, and he knew Zexion was probably worried out of his mind. The redhead slowly moved over to his bed and sat down on the floor leaning back on it.
As his emerald eyes adjusted to the light from his phone, he navigated his way through it until he came to Zexion. With a few more clicks, he was typing out a text message to him. "Sorry, I flaked on dinner, I'll be over in a few minutes, okay? I'll explain then." After sending the message, the redhead pulled himself up off of the floor and stumbled to his closet.
In the dark, he pulled out about two days worth of clothes and shoved them into an old bookbag. He couldn't see what exactly he was grabbing, but his wardrobe didn't really vary all that much. He moved to his nightstand next and pulled out all of his keepsakes and his wallet. After adding the to the contents of the bookbag, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Setting the bag on his bed, he pulled out his phone and read Zexion's reply. "You worried the hell out of me, you jerk. You better get your butt over here in one piece."
With a slight smile at his friend, Axel finished packing and started out of his window. He had learned that sneaking out by going the front door was always a bad plan. With his school backpack and his backpack filled with clothes, the redhead started his trek down the street. It was a quarter til five as he walked down the sidewalk. It meant that he would probably make it to Zexion's about ten minutes after five. If he was quickly about it, he could probably catch a shower and a nap before school. At this point, he wasn't sure which one he wanted more.
