Accidental Infatuation

Accidental Infatuation
____________________________

Chapter Two

I Don't Own these characters, or make money from them, I just like to use them in my stories.
____________________________

The atmosphere after that was much less tense, and more like what you’d find at your cafeteria table in high school. We were served a large plate of spaghetti and meatballs, which was decent. After Demyx’s little tumble, we all laughed at the teens expense for a few minutes before Axel helped him back into his chair. The conversation was great, and for a while, I was able to forget why we were all here in the first place.

“So then, Riku was all like, “Sorry, my cane slipped, my bad!” ” Demyx had us all laughing again, although it wasn’t quiet as extreme as last time, entertaining us that all seemed to involved the misfortunes of a certain silver haired blind boy. “I swear, the vein must have been bulging out at least three inches! Right out of his forehead too! It was so gross! Dr. Xemnas quit like three hours later, he was that pissed.”

“He wasn’t the only one who was pissed.” Grumbled Riku. “I got a two hour lecture from Seph that night. And he is the only person who knows every trick that I know for ignoring people. So I had to listen to the whole fucking lecture.” The silver haired teen then reached in front of him, feeling around until he hit the basket in the centre of the table. “Hey! Who took the last piece of garlic bread? I called it!”

Axel stopped mid-bite, and the girls and I attempted to hold in our laughter, but Demyx failed miserably, leading Riku to glare sightlessly at the redhead.

“I moom-mo.” Axel sounded so funny, speaking through the half chewed bread.

“I will have my revenge someday!” promised Riku, shaking his fist slowly in Axel’s direction, which sent all of us into another round of laughter.

“So, Sora. Tell us…” Kairi started.

“…a little about yourself.” Naminé finished. Man, they do that way more often then Roxas and I do, and it borders a little bit on creepy. Now I can see why everyone else finds it so annoying.

“Well, let me see here. I’m sixteen and a junior at Destiny Island Rural High. I have an older brother, an older sister and Roxas. Um, what else?” I paused and looked at the ceiling, unsure of what else to add. “I plan on going to Twilight University for business after I graduate.”

“What island do you live on?” the twins ask in unison, smiles on their faces.

I look over at their smiles, and return it, although not nearly as strong as theirs. “Serenity Island.” I tell them, naming the second smallest island on the chain.

“We live on…” Naminé was the one to start their speech this time.

“Fate Island.” Concluded Kairi. This caused Riku to groan.

“Sora, do you and your twin do that creepy talking at the same time thing?” the silver haired teen, pointing in the direction of the twins.

I grin, and then nod, before remembering that he wouldn’t be able to see me. “It drives my mom absolutely nuts. But my sister thinks that it is the most adorable thing in the world.”

“I’d like to meet your twin sometime.” Demyx smiled. “He was the blond one that was with you for the tour, wasn’t he?”

My eyes went wide at the blond’s words; I hadn’t seen anyone while we had been shown around the facility earlier. I could only nod, in hopes to hide my surprise.

“Demy, were you spying on the nurses again? You’re such a perv!” Axel looked at him with mock horror, as if he was afraid of him. Demyx took the high road by sticking his tongue out at the redhead, before turning back to me.

“Anyways, I’m 18, wait no, I’m 19. I forgot that my birthday was last week.” He laughed, and Axel threw a paper napkin at him for no reason. “I am a peer counsellor here, and I’ve known Riku for…let’s seem, um…how long have we known each other, Ri?”

“For way too long.” Riku muttered.

“Oh, boo on you, Riku.” Demyx pouted, crossing his arms and proceeded to sulk in his chair, while the rest of us ignored him.

“Anyway, leaving the child to his games,” Riku said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m 17, and my goal in life is to take over the universe. You need to know nothing else, or I might have to kill you.” Riku’s grin proved his joking nature, and it caused me to laugh. I don’t think that I have laughed this much in a long time, and I must say, it felt good.

“And I plan on being a collaborator in that endeavour, seeing as I am obviously the most mature, not to mention the most handsome. It would be a shame to not include me on the master plan of world domination. Got it memorized?” Axel grinned at me, and the scary part is where I knew that everyone else was joking, I honestly couldn’t tell if he was or not.

“And Riku has promised us that we would get to rule over Destiny Islands if we help.” Kairi laughed with a giggle.

“So you’d better practice your curtsey.” Naminé added.

We continued on for a while like that before the kitchen staff came to the table and removed all of the dirty dishes from the table top. After the dishes were all cleared, Demyx suggested that we move to a common room before lights out.
“I hate Wednesdays.” groaned Axel as he stood up, handing Demyx a pair of crutches. That was when I noticed that Demyx was wearing a back brace. How did I not notice that when he fell off of his chair? Oh, well.

“Why only Wednesdays?” I asked as Riku moved behind me once again, and with only the lightest feather touch to show him where he was, he got in position to push me along once again. But I had to admit, that light touch was enough to send a shiver through my body. With a nod from Demyx, the group of us started on our way.

“Because I’m allergic to garlic, and every Wednesday we are so lucky as to have spaghetti and garlic bread. So I get this nasty ass gas for like the next day or so.” The redhead had a grin on his face as the small group all groaned. I think Axel enjoyed this fact.

“Just don’t try and light your farts on fire this week please Axel? I had a hell of a time trying to explain that one to Dad.” Demyx groaned, but his eyes sparkled with laughter.

“Yeah. Don’t scar the new kid for life until the second week. Sora is still pure of Axel farts.” Riku joined in the laughter, and in a matter of moments, all six of use were laughing so hard that Demyx had to stop in fear of falling over, while Axel was leaning against the wall for support. I think that I am really going to like these people.

“Riku.” A growled voice came from a door next to were standing, and it caused us all, except Riku to look towards the doorway from where the commanding voice was coming from. There stood a tall man, with the same piercing green eyes as Riku, and long silver hair flowed down his back, reaching all the way down to the backs of his knees. I could tell right away that this was the older brother that Riku was talking about earlier. Man, this guy is a little intimidating, and I am supposed to work with him? I see the sneer on his face, and change my opinion. He’s not a little intimidating, he’s a lot intimidating.

“What is it, Seph?” Riku sighed, before I felt a hand move from the handle of my wheelchair to my shoulder and give it a small squeeze. It was almost as if Riku could sense my uneasiness. Then again, he had probably dealt with a lot of people meeting his brother for the first time.

“You guys need to keep it down. Some of us are doing more important things at the moment.” The growl never left his voice, and I can instantly understand why Riku thought that his brother must have been a general in his past life. The dude exuded an aura that commanded compliance. And he is going to be one of my therapists? That’s it. I’m officially dead meat.

“It’s 8 at night. What the hell could you be doing right now, Sephiroth?” This only earned a glare from the long haired man. “Let’s face it. You’re just doing this because you are afraid that I might have something that may possibly resemble normalcy in my life.” Riku’s growl was almost identical to his brothers, and the sightless glare was directed only towards said brother. And Sephiroth didn’t make a move to back down. Instead, once corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. And that is when it hit me. This guy scares the living shit out of me.

“Normalcy, Riku?” the older brother had the smirk plastered on his lips, before Riku whipped out the white cane that he had attached to his belt, and with a simple flick of the wrist, the cane extended and touched the wall right beside Sephiroth’s head.

“Leave me and my friends alone, or I will report you.” Riku snarled, and before I know it, I feel myself being pushed down the hall. I am a little confused, and when I look behind me, I see Axel pushing me quickly down the hall. The girls are nowhere to be seen, and Demyx was already halfway down the hall.

“Come on, Short stuff. This doesn’t concern us.” Axel whispered to me, before picking up speed and it wasn’t very long before we turned into the room I had first met Riku in.

“Umm…”I began, seeing Demyx collapse into a chair next to the TV, which was currently turned off.

“Seph is the only family besides me and my dad that Riku has. And lets just say that Seph and Riku, well to say that they don’t get along would be putting it very, very mildly. And it has gotten violent on more than one occasion. But on that serious note…” and with a blink of an eye, Demyx’s mood switched from serious to all sunny again. “Tell us more about yourself. Like, do you have any hobbies, girlfriends, phobias? Anything like that?” Axel laughed, and I’m not sure if it was because of Demyx’s question or his mood swing.

“Well, no girlfriends, and the only phobia that I think that I have is of jellyfish. Not very good when you live on an island surrounded by the ocean.” I laugh, only now noticing that Kairi and Naminé have not come to the common room with us. Meh, they were getting annoying.

“Jellyfish? That’s a new one.” Axel continued to laugh.

I just shrug with a smile. “Better than the phobia that Roxas has.”

“Oh, now you have to share.” Demyx looked like he was about to start bouncing in his chair.

“He’s going to kill me.” I mutter with a laugh. “But he is like deathly afraid of birds.” I laugh, and for the first time, I am kind of glad that Roxas wasn’t there with us. Because when he finds out that I told them that he is afraid of birds…

“Man, you two must be some freaky twins.” Axel was roaring now, and Demyx giggled from his chair. I joined in and we sat there for a few minutes before we got settled again.

“It must be cool having a brother. Especially a twin.” Demyx grinned in a wistful way.

“Are you an only child?” I questioned him.

Demyx nodded. “It’s been just me and Dad for as long as I can remember. Now, you see, Dad has always loved working the lab, and since all this happened, he threw himself into trying to find a solution to my back issues, so I saw less of him. That’s about the time that Sephiroth started to work here, and his parents died. That’s when I met Riku. From there on in, that’s about my life story.” I felt a little sorry for Demyx, but when I looked over at him, he had a smile on his face, so my pity quickly left.

Axel snorted. “Believe me, Demy. You don’t want a brother. You know what Reno is like. I wouldn’t wish him on my worse enemy.”

“Reno is just a little bit eccentric.” Demyx explained to me, and I nodded.

“Well, I have every end of the spectrum. Cloud is the oldest, and he is the second coldest, moodiest, most sullen bastard you’ll ever meet. Aerith is so sweet and caring and motherly that it’s almost sickening. And Roxy is kind of quiet, but is excitable.” I laugh, thinking fondly of my brothers and sister. “But Cloud has nothing on Aer’s husband. I mean, they have been together for like six years and I can probably count the number of full sentences I have heard from him on one hand.”

“Geez, Sora. You weren’t lying.” Demyx laughed. We continued to talk about those types of things for a few minutes before a noise came from behind me, causing both Demyx and Axel to look up.

“I’m in the chair by the TV, Axel and Sora are across the room, and your window seat is open. Nothing is in the way.” Demyx said casually, letting me know that it was Riku behind me.

“Thanks, Dem.” The silver haired teen said, then came into my view, walking with his hand stretched out in front of him. “Bastard took my cane again.”

“That’s the ninth one this month.” Axel laughed.

Riku just rolled his eyes. “I know. Then he proceeded to tell me that he wants to schedule me for another training session a week. I already have three. I don’t need anymore.” He groaned, slowly making his way towards the bay window seat that he had been sitting in earlier.

“Training?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

“I fence. Seph was a national champion, and he thinks that it’s good for me because it helps keep my reflexes sharp, and makes me rely on the sounds around me.” Riku explained, a slight smile on his face, betraying his true thoughts on the matter.

“You’ll probably be forced to watch them and he’ll tell you “This is what you will strive to be able to do.”” Demyx said, doing an excellent impression of Sephiroth, causing us all to laugh.

“That will be a while.” I laughed. “Doctors tell me that it will be at least four months before I am able to stand again.” And just like that, I can feel the happy mood evaporate from me, and depression hit me like a freight train.

“Don’t worry, Sora. Doctor’s told me that I’d never be able to walk again. That was almost four years ago. I admit that I can’t walk without some form of assistance, but it’s more than they ever thought I’d be able to do.” Demyx had become very serious all of a sudden, and I could automatically see why he would do so well as a counsellor.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Demyx, what happened?” I ask, now a little curious as to why my all my new friends were here as well.

“I don’t mind.” Demyx smiled, before shifting in his chair to get a little more comfortable. “It was my first year at high school, I had just started to volunteer here and I was never happier. Until some of the seniors discovered that I was gay, and they decided that they needed a new punching bag. After a few weeks of enduring their shit, I somehow pissed them off even more. One day they decided to put an end to it, and when I tried to run away, they shot me in the back. The first shot went right through my shoulder, but the second one lodged itself in my spine. If they removed the bullet; I would end up being completely paralyzed from about mid-chest down. That’s why my dad is always researching. He is trying to find a way to remove the bullet without paralyzing me.”

I look over at the blond, with a little bit of sympathy in my eyes, but seeing the smile on his face, I come to realize that he has accepted what happened and seems to be slowly but surely moving on with his life.

A thought ran through my head, hitting me like a tonne of bricks. How long is it going to take for me to accept what happened to me with such casualty?

I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders, then hand on my head, ruffling my hair. “Listen kid, don’t get depressed. As the motto here is, no sad faces. Shit happens, you can’t help it. But you can move on. It’ll hurt, yeah, but you can’t change what has already happened.” Axel said softly, and I realize that it’s going to take some time.

“Thanks, Axel.” I replied, quietly.

“So, did you want to talk about it a little, Sora? It might help if you let others know. We can’t judge you, remember?” Demyx added, giving me a comforting smile. I consider it for a moment, before I nodded, feeling this is as good of a time as any.

I take a deep breath, before starting a condensed version, not feeling completely comfortable with telling them absolutely everything at the moment. “One night, Roxas and I were on our way home from…well, it doesn’t matter where from, and we were hit. The driver was three times over the legal limit, and he hit my side of the car, meaning I got the worst of it. But Roxas was still hurt pretty bad as well. He was in a coma for three days, and he ended up having a concussion, a bruised lung, shattered his collar bone and a broken leg in three places. I ended up pinned between the two wrecks, and it broke my back, as well as internal injuries galore. But in all honesty, I don’t remember any of it. That’s all what the doctors have told me and my mom. I just remember waking up in the hospital, wondering why I couldn’t move.” I summarized.

“Did the driver die?” Riku asked, the question surprising me some how. But then again, whenever people are told the story, they usually say something along the lines of “You poor dear”, or “I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.” And truthfully, it made me feel better not getting sympathy from Riku, Axel and Demyx. But frankly, they don’t have that sympathy to give. They have all had their own reasons for being here, and they don’t need to fling around pity in a place like this.

“No. He got off with only minor injuries. But, he was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. I guess that this wasn’t even close to his first offence.” I replied, recalling the information that my mom told me one day.

“That’s the better punishment if you ask me.” Riku said in a serious tone, and both Axel and Demyx nodded in agreement.

“Why do you say that?” Now, I must say they have my curiosity peaked.

“Think about it logically, kid. The dude goes out driving drunk off his ass, and hits two perfectly innocent kids. If the bastard had died, he’d never know who much he’s hurt your life or you in general. However, if the jackass lives, he gets to sit inside of the same fucking four walls for the better part of the rest of his life, thinking about it, having the scenes play over and over in his head, knowing that he’ll always have that sitting on his conscious. How he almost killed two teenagers because he couldn’t hold his fucking booze.” Axel answered my question in an almost philosophical way, completely different then he had been all night.

“Axel’s broken, Riku.” Demyx whined, throwing a cushion across the room, missing Axel completely, and hitting me square in the chest.

“Hey, leave me out of this!” I laughed, all seriousness gone from the conversation, just like that, before I throw the pillow back, right on target.

“By the way, Demyx’s aim is so bad, he couldn’t hit the wall behind you if had a laser sight and the ball was on a taught string.” Riku laughed, and for the life of me, I can’t tell how he knew that Demyx was throwing things at me.

“Trust us, we tried that last weekend.” Axel chuckled, reverting to his normal self.

“It can get really boring around here sometimes. We have a reputation of, oh…” Demyx grinned, looking at both Axel and Riku in turn.

“Spicing things up a little.” Riku finished.

I laugh out loud before the other three join in with me. We sit there laughing for a few minutes, before Axel abruptly stopped and developed a pained look on his face.

“Uhh…” I stop my laughter, and both Demyx and Riku stop as well.

“Riku! He’s going to blow!” Demyx cried, holding the pillow in front of his face.

“Sora, cover your nose!” Riku exclaimed, before taking his own advice. I barely get my hand up to my face before Axel lets rip the loudest one I think that I have ever heard. Man, they weren’t kidding when they said that he gets nasty ass gas. That’s brutal. And even through my pinched nose, I can smell the god awful smell.

“Axel, that’s awful!” Demyx’s muffled voice comes from behind the orange cushion.

“Man, I wish that I couldn’t smell rather than not being able to see. What a cruel cruel world this is!” Riku flails his one free arm in a dramatic fashion as if to fan the stench away from him. I just happened to be so lucky as to be sitting right next to the redhead. I can almost see the green stink wafting my way.

“That has got to be the worse smell that I have ever smelt.” I groan, as Axel gets a relieved look on his face.

“Aww, I have been holding that one in for a while.” He has a huge grin on his face, and I get the sinking feeling that he isn’t lying about that.

There is nothing like good old flatulence to bring people together.

We sit around like that for another little while, just talking about normal things, and enduring another three Axel gas bombs and just getting to know one another, when someone knocks on the wall just outside the common room that we were all gathered in.

“Alright, boys.” A female in a nurse’s uniform said to us, with a smile on her face. “It’s time for you all to head off to your own rooms. Lights out will be in 20 minutes. Sora, an orderly will be around to help you out in about ten minutes.” And with that, she turns and walks back down the hall the way she came.

“Are they all that perky, or is it just some that are that creepy?” Axel asked us with a laugh, before we all bid each other a good night. I make my way back to my room, and look around the small box.

Nope. It hasn’t changed since I left it last. Still too…white.

I begin my before bed routine, and it is now when I start to miss Roxas the most. It’s just so weird that I have to do all this without him at my side. Deciding not to dwell on it too much in fear of giving myself a migraine, or worse, nightmares, I follow my routine in a mechanical manner. Everything came to me with no thought needed, the steps having been pounded into me at the hospital for me to become at least a little self sufficient.

A knock on the door alerts me to the arrival of the orderly, and after a call to tell him to come in, a large man enters, scaring me a little, but without a word, he lifts me onto the bed, and with only a nod, he leaves me in the room alone.

I get myself lying down in the strange bed, and stare up at the ceiling, the light making the washed-out colouring even worse. Not wanting to see that annoying colour anymore, I turn off the light and am immediately engulfed in the strange darkness. All I can think about at the moment is that it is going to me a really long night.

____________________________

I wasn’t expecting this to be ready so soon, but I hope everyone likes it!

Thanks to all the support that everyone has shown me for this story so far! I’m glad it’s going over as well as it has! So now you know a little about what happened to most of the characters, but can anyone guess why Axel’s there? Bet you can’t, lol.

For those of you who emailed me and asked why I was in physical rehab, it was because I broke my hip, and damaged tendons. But I am all better now, thanks for your concern!

No promises when the next chapter will be out, I’m still trying to get the next chapter of Key out, as well as do a one shot request that has been asked of me. For the person who messaged me about that story, sorry it has taken so long, but I have just sent it off to my beta, so it shouldn’t be too long before it’s ready. Once again, thanks to everyone for reading this, and please review, they help me get more inspired! Lots of cookies for those who do!