Christmas Eggnog

So I can't help but realize that this story is somehow transforming into more than I had originally planned.

But I adore it nonetheless. Though I'd love to hear your feedback on it.

The reviews I got were wonderful, and fueled me to get it done. (I was gonna upload it yesterday, but something came up).

Anyway, as I said. Feedback would be greatly appreciated since it started off as a oneshot...And somehow turned into this story with another chapter coming up.

As of now. I have no idea how many chapters there will be. My guess as of right now would be...2 more chapters.

But that all depends.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________


Roxas had never before been so glad that he was on Christmas vacation.

When he arrived home, his mother gave him the expected lashing for staying out all night, though Roxas had a suspicion that she wasn’t as mad as she should have been considering the facts. He wasn’t going to complain since she just said for him to be sure to call next time. Resisting the urge to snort at the statement, Roxas headed upstairs. Like he would be doing that anytime soon. That was definitely a one time thing that wouldn’t happen again. He just hoped that perhaps Axel wouldn’t remember what they had done.

Well, even if he did remember, Roxas planned on avoiding him, just to be safe. They had over a week left of vacation, so it really worked perfectly in Roxas’s favor. All Roxas wanted to do was keep his quiet life without any problems. Forgetting it ever happened was Roxas’s best bet, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

Sitting down on his bed, Roxas decided he had better call Olette before she yelled at him too, though once he told her what happened, she’d probably do it anyway.

Roxas’s assumptions were right. The first thing Olette did upon answering the phone was to demand that Roxas tell her every detail about what happened. Once Axel’s name came up in the same sentence as bedroom, Olette demanded that he meet her at the café. He explained that he desperately needed a shower, so she agreed to give him forty-five minutes.

Roxas promptly got up and jumped in the shower, washing away all evidence of the night before. His body had a few marks here and there, but nothing that really worried the blonde, so he left them alone. He dressed in semi-normal attire. He pulled on simple jeans and an actual shirt rather than a giant sweater. Although he threw on his hat and glasses, Roxas felt a lot more comfortable in these clothes. After popping two pain pills, he said goodbye to his mother and headed to the café.

Olette was there, and bless her soul, she was there alone at their usual table. Roxas didn’t really want to discuss such private matters with the others. He knew they’d be fine with it, but he felt more comfortable talking with Olette.

As soon as he sat down, he had an intense gaze on him. He smiled nervously and ordered something to drink. After the waitress left, Roxas remained silent, choosing instead to look around the café.

“Well?” Olette prodded softly, making Roxas smile knowing that she must be dying with curiosity on the inside. He sighed and then began to tell her what he remembered. From the many drinks he consumed to after she left, the dance with Axel and ending up waking in the same bed with him. Olette listened attentively, stirring her straw in her smoothie as she nodded at all the proper intervals.

When Roxas was finally finished, he waited for her input, which she took her time giving.

“So…What do you plan to do?” she asked after a moment.

“Well. Even if he does remember, I plan on just avoiding him altogether, so there really isn’t a huge problem there. We have a week or so left in our vacation, so it’s not like I’ll even have to see him anyway. Honestly, a pretty good ending to a one-night stand.” Roxas shrugged his shoulders as he took his drink from the waitress that came up to their table. Olette waited for her to leave to continue.

“As long as you’re not horribly affected by it, I suppose it’s fine.” She gave him a reassuring smile, and Roxas couldn’t help but smile back. On the inside however, Olette couldn’t help but feel that this was not going to be the end of it. She couldn’t explain why, but her instinct told her so. She kept quiet, not wanting to put her worries on Roxas. She’d let it play out as it should.

“I see you’re not wearing your over-sized sweater or jacket today.” Olette commented. Roxas chuckled.

“Yeah. Last night reminded me of how I like dressing somewhat normal. I think I’ll change my wardrobe just a bit.”

“I’m proud of you Roxas! I knew something good would come out of you going to that party!” she said happily. Roxas laughed and she joined in.

The next few days were pretty uneventful for Roxas. He had been convinced by Olette and his sister to remove the hat when he went out, and he agreed for the most part. Thoughts of the party had been diminished after Roxas figured out that besides his friends, no one knew that Roxas had been the “sexy blonde” that was dancing it up at the party. He believed it was a safe assumption to believe that neither did Axel.

Roxas had been trying to keep himself busy to push out any unwanted thoughts. He was content with going to work and hanging out with his friends to ease his uneasiness. Even better, was that Roxas had been in a fantastic mood since his talk with Olette.

Currently he was stocking some new books onto the shelves at his work. He hummed along with the music coming from the radio as he did so, head in the clouds. The ring of the bell on the door alerted him to someone coming in.

“Good afternoon!” he called out. The customer didn’t answer and he pursed his lips. They didn’t have to be so rude about it. Roxas turned his attention back to stocking the shelves until he heard someone step up to him. Glancing over, Roxas could barely hold back his surprise at who he saw standing next to him. He went back to his work, pretending to not care.

“What can I help you with?” he asked. Axel leaned against one of the shelves as he studied Roxas.

“This is the only place I can seem to find you at.” Axel replied. Actually, it had just been the only thing the Axel had really known about Roxas.

“And why did you need to find me?” Roxas questioned. Axel shrugged his shoulders at the question.

“I didn’t really want to wait until vacation was over to talk to you.”

“About?”

“Cut the crap Roxas. You know what about.” Roxas set down the book in his hand and turned towards Axel, keeping gaze with him for a moment before turning his head away.

“I don’t even remember it all that well. We were drunk.” He started walking back over to the register, Axel following close behind.

“Yeah but don’t you think we should talk about what happened?” Axel put his arms on the counter and watched Roxas write something in a notebook. The blonde sighed before answering.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you would remember. Or at the very least not know who you slept with so I don‘t know what to say.” The redhead stared at Roxas with a disbelieving look on his face, a little offended.

“How could I not know who I slept with?” It was Roxas’s turn to shrug.

“I figured if no one else knew it had been me, then why should you.” Roxas sighed once again before continuing.

“Look. It was a drunken one-night stand. What else is there to talk about? I need to get back to work.” Roxas came out from behind the counter only to have his arm grabbed by a serious looking Axel.

“Is that all you think it was?” Roxas was taken aback by the question, and didn’t even realize the angry look on Axel’s face.

“What would you have called it then?” The blonde asked, but then he stopped and shook his head.

“You know what. I don’t even want to know. Bottom line is I want to forget it, and that’s what I plan to do. Lets just leave it at that.” Roxas said. He pulled his arm out of Axel’s grip and walked back behind the safety of the counter.

“Why?” Axel was being persistent, and Roxas briefly wondered why until his annoyance got the best of him.

“I don’t like the idea of being another one of Axel Yamada’s many sexual escapades. I’m just another chapter for you.” Roxas growled out, a bit more emotional about this than he thought he would be.

“What right do you have to say that? How do you know that’s how I wanted it to be?” Axel growled right back, suddenly happy that Roxas went back behind the counter, lest he decided to do something.

“Well what else am I supposed to think? You have completely ignored me since I got here, but then you’re all flirtatious once I don’t look like a nerd! It’s always about looks with you people.” Roxas yelled, his body suddenly filled with a lot of anger. Axel wasn’t fairing much better on his side either.

“Did it ever occur to you that the only reason I did that was because you make yourself so unapproachable to everybody? That maybe, by some chance, I always wished you’d come to one of my parties so I could finally talk to you, hoping it would loosen you up to give me a chance?” Axel snapped out, slamming his hands on the counter. He surprised Roxas into a shock, but only for a moment before his anger pulled him out of it.

“That is the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve ever heard. That may work on other dimwits, but it won’t work on me. I have no interest in talking to you any further. If you’re not going to buy anything, kindly leave.” Roxas ground out between clenched teeth. He couldn’t believe Axel had the nerve to come in here and try to pull that utter crap on him!

“Fine. Whatever.” Axel said, walked over to the door and throwing it open. He turned back to Roxas who was still glaring at him.“But I am serious. And I am determined to prove it to you.” With that, he walked out, missing the look of surprise that crossed Roxas’s face. Once the door closed, Roxas leaned against the counter and rubbed the back of his head.

“What the heck was that about…” he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he decided to just forget it and go back to work.

It was the next day that Roxas was woken up by his phone ringing loudly on his nightstand. Groaning, he rolled over and grabbed it, glancing at the screen to see it was Olette and answered it.

“Mmm…Hello?” He greeted sleepily, laying his head back down on his pillow.

“Roxas? Morning. Did I wake you up?” Olette’s voice said from the other line.

“Uh…Well, kinda. But it’s okay. What did you need?” Roxas asked, his voice half muffled by the fluffy square of absolute comfort that was under his head. Olette giggled on the other side.

“Sorry about that. Anyway, can you meet me at the café later on?” Roxas rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned.

“Yeah sure. What time?”

“Two hours?” Olette wanted to give Roxas at least some time to get ready, especially on his day off.

“I can do that. I’ll see you then.” Roxas hung up the phone, letting it drop onto the ground from his limp hand. He groaned before he forced himself to get up, leaving his comfortable bed of wonder in favor of waking up enough to go take a shower and grab something to eat.

Two hours later Roxas was walking into the café, right on time. He didn’t even have to look around in order to know what table Olette would be sitting in. He went over to the table, ordering a coffee from the waitress that greeted him, and sat down across from her.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Roxas asked. Olette smiled, of course her best friend would know that something was up.

“What happened yesterday?” She asked, twirling a piece of her hair, the smile still present on her face.

“Ugh. I’m gonna guess you’re talking about Axel?” Roxas rested his head on one of his hands, thinking back to the bookstore.

“He came to talk to me. We argued about what to do, I said juts forget it, then he went on about this nonsense bullshit with him being serious and he left. Didn’t I tell you all of this yesterday?” Olette nodded.

“Yes. But you were angry when you told my yesterday.” She replied gently, remembering the foul mood Roxas had been in when he had called her to rant.

“Hmph. Well that bastard deserved to get told off. Playing around with people like that.” Roxas grumbled to himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Could it be possible that…Axel hadn’t been lying when he said what he did?” Olette asked carefully. Roxas blinked at her.

“What, are you serious? Of course he was lying. He must have played that card on tons of people. Where is this coming from?” The waitress came up to give him his coffee and he took a long sip, sighing in content as the caffeine hit, then turned his attention back to Olette, who was glancing away from him.

It really hadn’t been her first thought that Axel wasn’t lying. But yesterday while she was working at a clothing store down the street, the strangest thing happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olette run up the customer, putting her clothes neatly in the bag before trading her said bag for the money. She wished the woman a good day and went over to straighten up some clothes. She went to work refolding a pile of red sweaters that some earlier customers had fumbled around with.

“Olette.” She looked up at the sound of her name, and was met with a disgruntled looking Axel. Surprised, she set down the newly folded sweater.

“Axel. What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?” She asked, only earning a sigh from the redhead.

“I went to go see Roxas just a minute ago. To tell him I was serious about the other night. Heh. He didn’t believe me.” Axel explained, running a hand through one part of his hair, making it stick up even more than usual. Olette gave a half laugh.

“I can only imagine how he took that. But why are you here?” Olette’s keen womanly intuition kicked in and she studied Axel intently.

“Well you’re a really good friend of his, right? I was hoping you would know a way that I could…Convince him to give me a chance.” Axel looked away from the girl’s suddenly shaking wide eyes. This conversation was uncomfortable enough for the redhead, he really hoped she didn’t go all fan girl on him.

But Axel had nothing to worry about, instead of going all goo-goo eyed like he had predicted, Olette was practically burning him with her hard gaze, which was impressive considering Axel was a total pyro.

“And you really are serious about it?” Axel chuckled. Of course a good friend would ask that, he should have expected that.

“Yeah. I really am. That kid is one tough person to get to know, let me tell you. But I do want a chance, I just need help from you to get him to give me that chance. So what do you say?” Axel prayed she would say yes, and he even put his hands together and got down on his knees to beg. That got a laugh out of Olette and she helped him up.

“Alright, alright. I don’t see why we can’t give Roxas a little push.” She said with another laugh. Axel grinned.

“So what’s the plan?” He asked, eager to get started. Olette thought for a moment.

“Hmm…Let me try talking to him about it, see if I can’t try to get him to reconsider.” It sounded easy enough, but Olette had known Roxas for years, and he was one of the most stubborn people she had ever met.

“Awesome. Sounds great. Just call me after you talk to him.” Axel said and took the phone that Olette handed him, putting his number in and handing it back to her.

“Thanks again for helping me out.” Olette smiled and shook her head.

“I’m happy to help. Maybe you’ll pull him out of that shell of his.” Axel gave his trademark Cheshire grin again.

“That’s the plan!” he exclaimed. He waved goodbye to Olette then left the store, preparing for a long day with his little buddy impatience by his side. Olette put her phone back into her pocket and got back to work, thinking of the best way to approach Roxas with this matter. She only hoped that Roxas wouldn’t be too terribly stubborn about it, but Olette knew she was about to witness one tough battle between those two. Her bet was on Axel winning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olette pulled herself out of her flashback and found that Roxas was still watching her with a quizzical look on his face.

“So? Why are you bringing this up now?” Roxas repeated his question.

“I’m just trying to see the bigger picture. There is a chance that Axel really does want to pursue something.” She worded her explanation carefully, knowing that Roxas had a temper, which she had sparked.

“And it’s just a coincidence that he suddenly feels that way after the party? He wouldn’t have given a damn if I was still looking like a nerd. Popular people are all the same.” Roxas scoffed, taking a drink from his coffee and standing up.

“I don’t want to have this conversation.” He threw some money down for his coffee and headed out of the café. Olette paid for her drink and followed him outside.

“Wait Roxas.” She grabbed his arm and he stopped walking, waiting.

“He came to see me. Axel, after he talked to you.” She felt the muscles of Roxas’s arm tense under her hand, but she continued.

“He asked for my advice for ways to convince you for a chance. Axel never asked for help to get you, but only for a chance. You can’t give him that?” Olette asked, letting the blonde’s arm go from her grip as she waited anxiously for him to say anything. Roxas stared at the ground as he thought it over.

He thought Axel would have let it go after their conversation, but…He went to ask for advice from Olette. He just wanted a chance? Roxas chewed his lip as he thought it over before a memory from before came to his mind.

A guy he knew, very charismatic and flirtatious, just like Axel was. He had the girls convinced he was serious and that’s how he got them to date him. But when he got tired of them, he would throw some sweet words at them to make them think that they wanted to break up. Who was to say that Axel wasn’t going to do the same thing? The thought made Roxas growl.

“He’s just playing you Olette. Don’t believe him. I’m going home.” Roxas stuck his hands in his pockets as he headed home. Olette watched him with a defeated look on her face. Sighing, she pulled out her phone and dialed, putting the phone to her ear.

“Axel? It’s Olette. I just talked to him. He…Didn’t go for it. He’s heading home now, through the park? Try talking to him. Good luck.” She hung up the phone and ran a hand through her hair. She should have realized that she shouldn’t have tried to talk to Roxas herself. Of course he could only be convinced by Axel himself. She silently wished him another good luck, and headed to work.

After Axel got off the phone with Olette, he started running towards the park. Thankfully, he was already in that area so he got there just in time to see Roxas. He sighed in relief that he‘d managed to catch him. He had been completely serious, and he was not going to give up on trying to convince Roxas.

Taking a deep breath, Axel approached the blonde.

“Well hi there Roxas.” he said lamely as he matched the boy’s stride. Roxas didn’t reply to him, choosing to continue staring straight ahead. Axel frowned, copying Roxas’s example and sticking his hands in his pockets.

“Are we ignoring me?” The redhead asked, a slight bit of playfulness in his voice.

“What do you want me to say?” Roxas bit out harshly. He didn’t particularly want to see Axel right now. He found it a little difficult to keep up his cold act towards the older teen and needed time to sort it all out. Let his logic win over once again.

“Well I know I would love for you to say that you’ll give me a chance.” Axel paused, receiving the glare he knew Roxas would throw at him. Grinning at being able to call it, he continued.

“But seeing as you don’t seem to want to give me that, we can just talk, while I walk you home.”

“Is that what you’re doing…” Roxas said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the other’s antics. He saw the same grin still present on Axel’s face and turned his head to make it easier to resist the smile that dared to want to appear.

“Yup. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. There’s some psychos out there. I gotta protect you from them.” Roxas flinched at the words. Axel noticed and began to worry.

“You okay Roxie? Was it something I said?” He asked immediately, stepping in front of Roxas to stop him. The blonde looked up at Axel, but couldn’t keep his gaze, he let his head fall.

“It’s none of your business. Did you…Just call me Roxie?” Axel grinned.

“Like it? I think it suits you.” Actually, the redhead and taken one look at Roxas and after knowing his name, the nickname just came with it, sort of sticking in his head with him since. Roxas didn’t seem to like it as much, if his displeasured face was anything to go by.

“Whatever.” Roxas started walking on again, Axel right at his heels in seconds.

“What are your plans for today?” Axel tried.

“Nothing that includes you.” Roxas replied in a nonchalant tone, making Axel pout.

“Aw come on, don’t be like that. It’s just a friendly conversation. Humor me.” Axel put his hands up in a begging position, much like what he did with Olette, and leaned down to give Roxas puppy dog eyes, which the blonde promptly scoffed at.

“It’s my day off. I‘ll probably just relax at home for a bit and be dragged off somewhere by Olette.” Roxas finally relented. He didn’t really see too much harm in telling Axel this, if only to get him to go away.

“I see. Any chance of letting me drag you off anywhere?” At the suspicious look on Roxas’s face, Axel put up his hands defensively.

“I was hoping for dinner, maybe a movie?” The redhead got a shake of the head and a roll of the eyes. He frowned, dejected, but only for the moment.

“It doesn’t even have to be the two of us! We could get your friends to go with us!” Axel desperately tried to reach for anything to hook Roxas into agreeing. It didn’t seem to be working. Roxas sighed, sounding a bit irritated, which wasn’t good.

“Axel. Go find someone else to harass. I’m sure a person like you has tons of things you can be doing.” He said in one breath, feeling a headache coming on from conversing with this man.

“Actually. You’d be surprised how little I have to do considering how most things don’t interest me.” Axel explained, then recognized his mistake.

“Oh. Well, except you.” He corrected, reveling in the shocked expression Roxas gave and grinning widely. The blonde gave out a light growl and then realized where they were. Somehow, Roxas had been so engrossed in his conversation with Axel that he failed to notice that they were walking up on Roxas’s house now.

“Uh…Right. So, thanks for harassing me on my way home I guess.” Roxas said slowly, unsure of what he really wanted to say.

“Anytime.” Axel smiled. He had actually gotten Roxas to talk with him, so maybe there was hope for him yet.

“I’ll catch you later Roxie.” He waved, going as far as blowing a playful kiss Roxas’s way before walking away, chuckling at the angered yell Roxas gave him.

“Hey!” The blonde barked. He huffed as he went inside of his house, grumbling “pervert” along the way. Roxas had a feeling that his life just got a whole lot more complicated.

But he had to wonder, what was with Axel’s insistency?
Could it possibly be…?