Chapter Text
“Hey, would it be cool if I asked Xion to homecoming?” Roxas blinked at the question with his popsicle stick hanging loosely in his mouth. Axel had run him and Xion to the store super quick to pick them up before auditions as a way to distract Xion and celebrate their first possible show as a trio. However, Hayner’s question was still jarring enough that the wooden stick had almost fallen out of his mouth.
Roxas had been in the same school as Hayner, Pence, and Olette since elementary school. However, the school was still big enough that he didn’t know them by much other than name until high school when he and Hayner had broken into a fistfight during a heated gym-class-soccer match. Mr. Ansem (or Xemnas 2.0 as Roxas liked to call him to not confuse him with the blond science teacher he also had mixed feeling about) had not been amused and gave them detention after prying them apart. If you asked either of them, they wouldn’t be able to tell you what exactly happened during detention but whatever it was they left the best of friends. However, despite their close friendship, Roxas still wasn’t able to tell him somethings.
Like that he was dating the hottest guy in the senior class.
It wasn’t like that he thought Hayner would have a problem with him being gay. Especially since Hayner himself had a “love is love” sticker on the bumper of his hand-me-down car and a bi flag hanging in his room. However, Hayner wasn’t exactly the quietest or most tactful. And Roxas hadn’t been ready to come out to his family before his dad’s passing and now that Terra was taking care of them, he wanted to get more a feel before opening that can of worms.
But back to the issue at hand.
“You,” Roxas said with the popsicle stick still in his mouth as he pointed at Hayner where he was sitting in the hallway floor next to him. “Want to ask my sister to homecoming? And are asking me for permission?”
“Well yeah,” Hayner said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the audition script in his hand to avoid eye-contact. “I wanted to make sure it wasn’t weird for you or anything.”
“I mean, it’s up to her but I’m not going to punch you for it or anything,” Roxas stated with a shrug. “Unless you hurt her, then I make no promises.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Hayner said with a light laugh.
Roxas smiled back softly. He would be lying if he said that the idea of one of his best friends going to a dance with his sister didn’t seem weird. But it wasn’t anything he couldn’t get used to the idea of.
“Besides, it isn’t like your asking for permission to date her or anything,” Roxas stated with a laugh before looking down at his own script.
“Right,” Hayner said but something seemed off in his voice. Like it was quieter than usual. Roxas was quiet to brush it off though, it was likely Hayner was just changing his focus to his practice script instead of the previous conversation.
“Hey Roxas!” Roxas’ head snapped up a little too quickly at the sound of his name coming from that voice. He looked over to the door into the next hall and saw Axel standing there, all lean muscles and mischievous smiles. It made Roxas’ stomach do summer-saults even after just over six months of them being together.
“What don’t tell me you need help with lines?” Roxas teased with a smile of his own. Axel only shrugged in response. “I thought you were going to run them with Xion?”
“I was but then Kairi saw her when she got here with Riku and snatched her right up. Honestly, didn’t anyone teach her it’s rude to steal one’s scene partner?”
“Like you’re stealing mine?” Hayner interjected with a teasing jab.
“Not my fault Riku didn’t want to run lines with me,” Axel said looking visibly hurt. “Said he would rather run lines by himself anyway.”
Roxas snorted at that. It would be like Riku to go off on his own and do the whole brooding teenager thing. Though, if Roxas had a guess, Riku likely just went to the art room to have Namine help him instead. Not that he particularly minded.
“You going to be fine if I run lines with Axel?” Roxas asked with a cocked eyebrow and grin. Hayner quickly waved off any concern Roxas had.
“I’m up soon anyway,” was his only response and Roxas nodded in acknowledgment before rising to his feet to follow Axel into the hall he had just came from. It was likely better this way anyway since they were auditioning for parts that played opposite of each other quite frequently in the show.
When they finally reached an area where they could be alone Roxas quickly felt Axel’s lips on his own. Roxas could feel himself melting into the feel and taste; like cinnamon and some caramel based soda. The feeling didn’t last long though before he pulled himself out of his stupor and pushing Axel off of him.
“Are you crazy,” Roxas hissed as he tried to muster a look that was akin to a glare though something told him by Axel’s own expression it was more of a pout than anything menacing.
“I just wanted one kiss, I promise I’ll be good now,” Axel said a sly smile formulating on his face. Roxas somehow doubted the sincerity of his words. His gut reaction was to chastise Axel, that someone could have seen the two of them when he wasn’t ready to tell his friends or family yet. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Axel had heard the speech a least a hundred times over and Roxas knew he was asking Axel a lot by keeping their relationship a secret. If it was this hard for Roxas to hide his affection for the lanky red-head with his own reasons—he could only imagine how it must feel for Axel.
Roxas looked around the halls quickly before giving Axel’s hand a light squeeze, letting their hands touch for a moment longer than necessary. Axel was still smirking, likely from Roxas breaking his own rule, but his eyes still had a hint of melancholy in them.
“We can drop Xion home and then go back to your place?” Roxas suggested shyly as he let his hand fall from Axel’s own.
“Sure thing Roxy,” Axel said using the nickname he had for him that was only used in private. It wasn’t a permanent situation. But it didn’t make it any less painful.
…
Coffee with Aqua was somewhere between natural as breathing and pulling teeth. The two of them held a conversation and laughed like it was no one’s business, however, there was still a thickness in the air of what wasn’t being said that was driving Terra absolutely insane.
Aqua would say something about something funny she saw online or work-place drama that would make Terra laugh or say something sympathetic. In turn, she would look at him with wide eyes and as soon as he caught her gaze, she would look down into her coffee cup suddenly finding it fascinating.
Terra knew his reactions weren’t much better. He would say something to make her laugh and he would stare and when she caught him, he would look to the side or up at the ceiling. This could cause a cute little pout that would make his heart flutter just a little bit. And thus, the cycle continued.
It wouldn’t drive him so insane if either of them were good at this whole “looking but not really” thing and heaven forbid either of them try to compliment the other without tripping over their words. The whole thing was nerve-wracking. And then there was the whole situation of was it really a date or was it just coffee with a childhood friend?
He felt a little more confident though after a particularly funny joke when Aqua placed her hand casually over his own. She removed it shortly after but it still felt electric where she had touched him. He quickly grabbed his cup of coffee to take a sip. The bitter liquid was cold by now and he was almost out of it. A quick glance at the overly decorated clock was enough to tell him that they had been at their little dance for over two hours.
“Hey, I know it’s a little early,” Terra started looking at Aqua who was curious about the sudden change in routine. “But would you like to go ahead and grab dinner?”
“Asking me on a second date when we haven’t finished the first, that’s bold.” She said it with a confident smirk that made him stare blankly for a moment. Unfortunately, she had taken that as reading the signs wrong and quickly went red. “Unless this isn’t a date and I just made things super awkward.”
“No, no, no,” Terra quickly reassured as he placed his hand on her’s to comfort her. He did his best to ignore the sparks he was feeling again where his hand touched her’s. “I definitely want this to be a date, I just didn’t know if you wanted this to be a date.”
“Of course I wanted this to be a date, I’ve had a crush on you since summer camp as kids.” Her face was crimson at the confession in sharp contrast of her hair. Terra might have teased her, but he was too busy having a mental war between acknowledging how beautiful the contrast was with her hair and flushing himself at the realization.
“I’m not really sure what’s good here in town. Maybe you could show me around? I haven’t lived here in almost a decade.” When in doubt, change the subject. A peek at Aqua showed him it was the right move as she looked much more relaxed. “And preferably not pizza, I’ve been asked to order from Xiggy’s too many times already.”
She laughed at that. Even if it might have been a little bit of a white lie since he did actually make dinner most nights, he was glad it made her smile.
“Come on then, there is a pretty good Chinese place uptown.” The two threw away their long since cold coffee cups and headed to the restaurant together. And if Aqua had just happened to hold his hand while they were walking, and later at the restaurant, and later when he dropped her back off at the school to get her car he didn’t mind. And it was honestly the last thing on his mind when she had kissed him goodnight.
When he had finally managed to get home after, he barely registered anything Ven was saying to him as he went into his room and closed the door before flopping onto the bed. A quick buzz of his phone notified him a text from Aqua that he had zero hesitation answering.
Aqua: I had fun tonight
Terra: Don’t suppose I can tempt you to a third date?
It was bold. But he was feeling on top of the world right now.
Aqua: Make it for next Tuesday and you got it.
Terra beamed and suddenly couldn’t wait for next Tuesday.