Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Out of My Element ❯ In My Arms ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: In My Arms

 

Axel gave a heavy sigh. It wasn't something he wanted to admit, but he'd fallen and he'd fallen hard. The night before, Demyx had insisted on helping him cook dinner and setting the table. For a teenager, he'd been more than helpful, almost exasperatingly so. However, the dinner itself had been nice, calm and filled with pleasant conversations, mostly stories from Axel about Luxord. When the peaceful dinner had been done and eaten, they'd settled for watching a movie; they'd had a few hours until it was late enough to go to sleep but both had been too tired to do much else. It had been a romantic comedy, which is pretty sad considering it was two men watching the program… But, that's when it hit him; while watching the movie Axel finally noticed how much he enjoyed Demyx's company, that he didn't really care what he was doing it just seemed a bit better when the teenager was around. He wasn't going as far to say he loved the boy, dear god no. All he was admitting was that when he left, he'd be torn… Halfway through the show, the high schooler had drifted to sleep, incidentally falling over and settling down on Axel's lap. Currently, here he remained, making quiet noises as he dreamed with Axel lightly stroking his hair.

Behind him came the quiet click of the front door and he glanced over his right shoulder to gaze at his brother. Reno grinned bashfully, shrinking back a little, “Evenin' yo.” He greeted giving a wave, almost cringing. Axel knew the behavior, but why Reno was worried was beyond him. Reno closed the door hastily, “I heard this mornin' and I tried ta get back home, yo, but Rufus told me ta just stay. I really wanted to be here, ya know? I mean, it musta been hard-“

“Reno.” Axel hissed quietly, shushing his older brother, “Quiet, he's sleeping.”

Approaching the couch, Reno peered down at his lap and smiled, “Aw, sleepin' like a baby… Did he cry a lot? You cried a lot.” Reno spoke quietly; he too reached down and petted the teenager's hair.

“About what?”

“His mom, I really tried ta come home, yo. Promise. It's just Rufus said it'd be better if I just left him alone… He does know him better than I do, so I thought I'd just get in my day's work and do as he said.” He explained, “I tried callin' ta ask how he was but no one answered. Where were you?”

“We went out shopping today. Said he needed some clothes while he stayed, so we were out nearly all day…” Axel paused. His mind was toying with the words his brother had just spoken, trying to piece together some sort of answer to what Reno was talking about. However, unable to think so late in the day, he opted to just ask, “About his mother… What happened?”

“Dunno. All Rufus said was that they pulled the plug on her this mornin'. Said that he called him up early and asked about what they should do with her `cause she wasn't gettin' any better. My guess was she was in an accident or something; fell into a coma, yo. Pretty nasty stuff… poor little guy. He'll be all right though, you cried for about a week but everything turned out okay. Look at ya, got a job, goin' ta college- I'd say we just about got it made, we got all the family we need, just you and me, yo.”

“And Rude.” Added Axel as a gut reaction. He wasn't really sure what else to say. Even if it wasn't directly related to him, the news was still shocking enough to put him in a stupor. The boy sleeping on his lap, the same that had been smiling just about all day had lost his mother that very morning. That call Axel had overheard earlier, it had been more serious than he'd led himself to believe. All day he'd arrogantly refused to see the truth of what he'd seen crumble before him.

“Aw, said ya'd take a likin' to him, yo.” Beamed Reno proudly in response to Axel's comment on Rude. Then a heavy silence fell over them. Reno broke the silence, “So… Shoppin' huh? Surprised he'd go, with his mom dyin' this mornin' and all. Guess it had ta be done though… I'm sure he didn't have anything to wear for the funeral, Rufus wouldn't have had anythin' ta fit him. Hope you got somethin' nice too, yo. Gotta be respectful to the dead and all, even if we didn't know her… Sure she was a nice girl anyhow ta have raised such a nice kid.”

Axel frowned, his gaze set on Demyx's sleeping face, “I didn't know…” His voice betrayed him, barely audible and hoarse. Demyx wasn't fine; he'd just buried the pain under all the excitement of the day.

“Huh?”

“I didn't know…”

Head in hand, Axel leaned heavily on the countertop. He'd not gotten a good night's rest; he'd barely slept at all with his mind plagued with unsettling thoughts. When morning came around, having carried Demyx up to bed, Axel crept out of the house to avoid having to speak with him. If he'd been caught, he wasn't sure if he'd have been able to look the teenager in the eyes. With the new information, Axel wasn't really sure how to talk to him or even act around him. He didn't want to make things worse, so he just wanted to get out before anything else happened.

Currently he was at work, an hour and a half early. No one was there, the place was still locked up from the day before and it was awfully lonely there. Still, if someone was there, he probably wouldn't have spoken to them anyway; it just would be nice if there was someone around to just be there.

How could Demyx have acted so happy the other day? Why would he have done that to himself? He should have gone to the hospital at least. Even if she wasn't conscious, her son should have been there to see her off. Then again, he had looked pretty devastated when he was on the phone and he had said that he `couldn't bear to see her like that'.

What was he thinking? Axel didn't know anything about the situation, save the fact she was on life support. Surely Demyx had cared for her and he just didn't want it to be any harder than it already was. Axel didn't even know how long she'd been out, or her exact condition. With so little to go off of, he couldn't criticize Demyx's actions. His own mother died when he was too young to remember, so he really couldn't be one to judge.

R~i~i~i~ing

Axel's heart leapt into his throat. Snatching his cell phone out of his pocket he checked the call ID. Instantly relief swept over him. It was Roxas, not Demyx. Flipping open the phone he answered.

“Where are you, Axel?! I called your house and your brother told me you'd already left.” Roxas yelled through the phone making Axel recoil a little, holding the phone away to protect his hearing.

“I decided to run off for a bit… I'm at work.” Sighed Axel leaning heavily against the cold metal top, “Come around back and I'll let you in.”

“I'll be there before you know it.”

Within ten minutes, there came a rap at the back door and Axel obediently went to it. Once it was opened, Roxas stepped inside and doubled over. He was panting hard, sweat running down his forehead. His clothes were thrown on it seemed because they were in slight disarray.

“Bike?”

“Nah, skateboard.” Panted Roxas before straightening up and taking a deep breath. Running a hand back through his hair, he tried to compose himself, “All right, spill it. I want to know everything.”

“Right, to the roof then.” Axel stated, snatching up a cooler from the freezer before they took the stairwell to the roof of the forlorn little restaurant. Taking a seat at the front of the building, they let their legs dangle over the edge and waited as the sun rose up past the distant hills. Side by side, with sea salt popsicles in hand from the cooler, Axel told Roxas about the day before, much like a sinner at a confessional.

“That's why I left so early this morning. I don't know if I can look at him straight anymore.” Taking a bite of his popsicle, Axel slouched over gazing solemnly over the city streets, “I feel pretty lost Rox. I want to comfort him, but he didn't even tell me that anything was wrong… How can I help if I don't know what's going on?”

“You really want to do this right, don't you?” Roxas leaned over, tipping his head to the side to keep some eye contact with his friend.

“Yeah…” Turning his head, Axel brought a knee up and put his chin back in his hand, his elbow resting on his leg, “I guess its times like this you realize you really don't know where you're going huh? When you've got no one with the right advice.”

“I wouldn't say that. I mean, I may not have the right advice from experience but I'm at least a level head to console in.” Roxas voiced, shifting to look back at the city, “I'm also a teenager so I also have an idea of what it's like from his point of view. We're not exactly alike but since we're the same age basically, I know why he's doing the things he's doing… You ever watch Tarzan?”

Quirking a brow, Axel glanced over at Roxas, “Yeah?”

“Well in the first song there's a line that I think kind of describes what's going on. It says `Raise your head up, lift high the load. Take strength from those that need you. Build higher walls, build stronger beams, a new life is waiting but danger's no stranger here'.” Roxas looked at Axel hopefully, expecting Axel would understand what he was trying to get at.

Looking back at the ground, Axel furrowed his brow, thinking, “So… What you're saying is… He's trying to protect what he's made in my family by covering up that he's hurt?”

“Well yeah. I mean, he's kind of like part of your family now. So he wants to be strong for you guys and he wants you to act the same as you did to him before; no one wants to be a burden on their family. That's why you're talking to me about this and not your brother. You could have easily talked to him about it last night or even this morning, but you didn't so instead, here I am. That's what friends are for, to provide support where you don't want to trouble your family.”

Axel made a pouting face, “Why the hell are you so much smarter than I am?”

“I'm not smarter, you're just hot-tempered. You don't think straight when it comes to your emotions… You are in college.” Roxas added to make a point that Axel was indeed smarter than he was.

“Only my second year…” Muttered Axel.

“Aw, being modest?” Both Roxas and Axel jumped, Axel almost tumbling off the side of the building at the voice of a newcomer. His head whipping around, Axel glared playfully at Luxord, “How's the party? Why wasn't I invited?” Laughed the blonde snatching a popsicle from the cooler before taking a seat next to the redhead.

As soon as he was settled Axel threw his arm around his neck, and pulled him down to give him a rough rub on the head, “Because you, my ludicrous companion, are in love with a man twice your age! What kind of advice comes from someone like that huh?”

“How long have you been listening in on us?” Roxas questioned leaning forward to peer around Axel at the now struggling college-goer.

“Ack, cut it out, uncle! UNCLE!!!” Yelped the eldest before prying himself free and falling flat on his back, “Ah! Whew. Well let's just say, I've been around long enough to know that Axel's got the hots for a high school student. Axel's got the hots.” Giggled the foreigner giddily as he pulled himself up, “Let me tell ya. Younger lads, least teenagers anyways, need to know that you can comfort them, but they don't want you to show it. You've got to let them come on their own; they hate it when you're too open. Got to be subtle, got it?”

“What? You don't know what you're talking about. That's stupid.” Roxas objected, “It doesn't even make sense.”

“Hey, you're too young to understand, Roxy. I've got enough experience for the three of us put together; you don't even have enough to sustain yourself.” Luxord explained, rolling his eyes a little at Roxas. “Here's how you pull it off. First, make sure that if ever he needs you, he can get a hold of you. Cell number, work number, everything you can think of. Then when he calls up, always have something to offer. Tell him you've got some free time and you could take him out somewhere, doesn't matter where just some place where you can hang out. Never ask him if he needs to talk about something and never, I repeat NEVER, ask if something's wrong. If you're going to initiate the conversation, open up with something that's similar to the problem you suspect he's having. If he wants to talk, he'll spill his guts, if he doesn't wait it out.”

“Yeah, if that's not suspicious.” Roxas shook his head, scoffing at Luxord's pointers.

“Says the virgin with no love life.” Mocked Luxord, sticking out his tongue he made a face. When Axel elbowed him, he huffed and pretended he hadn't done anything, “All right then, what was you're advice again? Oh yeah, you had a song clip you shared. I'm sure it was very helpful.”

“What's sad is that you both actually have relatively the same view…” Axel murmured.

“What?! No way!” Came the rejection in unison, “Hey! Stop copying me!” The two growled at the same time, glowering at each other.

“Think about it. You both suggest that I don't talk to him about it directly because he doesn't want to seem weak, so really it is the same.” Stated Axel leaning back on his hand. He smiled happily, “I'm glad I have two such great friends. Oh! How's the thing with the professor going.”

“Not so well.” Muttered Luxord sheepishly, “I get so nervous when I think to ask him out… Ah, I'm a failure.” Wilting Luxord kicked the empty air before him, sucking dejectedly on the sea salt popsicle.

“Hahaha! What's the matter Dr. Love? Don't have the experience to snag your man?” Teased Roxas, grinning devilishly.

“Aw, that's mean, Rox. Luxord's really bummed about this.” Axel scolded lightly. Then he sat up again and patted Luxord on the back, “Don't worry, you'll get him. I know you will.”

“Really?”

“Of course. You're absolutely charming.” He assured.

“Yeah… You are pretty persistent too.” Added Roxas.

“Either one of you want to keep me company tonight?” Suggested Luxord hopefully.

“No.” Both Roxas and Axel rejected, shaking their heads.

Axel explained further, “I've got to be at home with Demyx.”

“Yeah, and I have… A book report.” Roxas paused glancing around, “Due tomorrow, and school to sleep for.”

“Aw.” Pouting Luxord dropped back and stared up at the sky, “Seriously, good luck with Demyx though. He's pretty cute, if I didn't have my eyes set on our teacher, I'd totally have a go at him… But alas! My heart's been taken hostage by our military mentor, our terribly handsome and strong military mentor.”

“Uh huh…” Axel laughed nervously, “That's pretty creepy still. Keep that kind of shit to yourself from now on, all right?”

“You get to talk about your boy fantasy! I want to talk about mine!” Whined Luxord rolling onto his side. “It's really only fa-“

R~i~i~i~ing

The three fell silent, staring at Axel's waist where his phone hummed its little tune. Axel looked to Roxas, then to Luxord, then back at his phone. It continued to ring.

“You going to answer that?” Asked Luxord.

“Maybe.” There was a long pause. Then suddenly Luxord lurched forward and snatched the device off Axel and checked the call ID.

“Shit! We're late! On top of the building we work in and we're late!!” Exclaimed the blonde, scrambling to his feet and rushing down the stairwell. Axel sat for a moment then looked at his watch. Time sure did go by fast when you were talking about something important. His hour and a half of free time had ended about fifteen minutes ago.

“Time flies.” He hummed.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better. I haven't eaten. I'll have the number three combo, make it special and I'll give you a generous tip to buy something nice for Demyx.” Roxas grinned, getting to his feet.

“You will, huh? Then I guess I'll make it extra special.” Agreed Axel also getting to his feet.

 

 

I need to make some sort of outline for chapters before I write them… This one… I seriously believe this was just so I could play with all three of the friends at the same time. I love this trio, they're fantastic. I will get back on track eventually; at least I got something important done.

I'm pretty glad I got a little more of Reno in there. He was feeling left out. Depending on what happens next chapter, he'll make another appearance, and hopefully Rude will come in with him.