[KH] Stepsiblings: Winner

Stepsiblings, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl

Winner (rough draft)

 For Axel/Roxas Day, 13 August 2012

 Summary:  For Roxas, it's worth it.

 A/N:  Axel's POV.  Sequel to an unpublished story. *sweatdrop*  Takes place before they meet Saïx & Xion.

 o.o.o

 So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so friggin' cold, I'm sitting on this park bench practically curled into a fetal position, but Roxas is running around with no coat like it's summer.

"Axel!"  He runs over and pounces on me.  "You're boring!  Come play!"

"S-s-sorry, Rox-x," I chatter, "I c-can't...you g-go on-n...."

He frowns at me.  "Axel?"  I can tell he's cold, too, because of the color of his face and hands, but it just doesn't bother him.

"Sor-ry...."  I try to smile, but I can't.  Because I can't feel my lips.

He stands there staring at me for a long time, and I squeeze my eyes shut.

"It's because I played in the fountain and got our coats wet, isn't it."

"...Go...p-play, Roxas...."

Then suddenly I suck in a (painful) breath and crack my eyes open again, because I heard a sniffle.  Sure enough, tears are glimmering in his eyes.

"Ro-oxas-s, d-don't...."

"It's all my fault."

Well, yeah, but I don't care.  Every single thing I've done today has been for his sake, why in the world does it suddenly matter that he's thinking of me now?  "N...No...."

"Axel, let's go home."  He grabs my arm and tries to yank me off the bench.

"R-Rox...as...."  Just trying to stand up is hard.  I can't even walk upright, I am so - friggin' - cold.

I can barely even tell where we're going, but eventually my poor five-year-old brother manages to shove me into one of the stores across the street from the park.  I have no idea which one it is for a while, until I've stopped being cold and am now in pain, sitting here on the floor with my face and my fingers and toes tingling so fiercely that it feels like they're on fire.

Then I look up and realize that we're in a cafe.  Roxas is trotting purposefully toward me, carrying a drink that's sending wisps of steam into the air.  A couple of people in kitchen uniforms are hurrying after him and yelling.

"Flaming p--  Did you just do what I think you did?!"

Roxas reaches me and holds out his loot, which smells enticingly of hot chocolate.  "Drink it quick, before the cooks catch us," he orders.

I'm too much of a wreck to burst into laughter the way I did back at the mall, but I do keel over on the floor and just...am helpless for a while.  This kid cracks me up.  Someday he's also going to kill me.  It hurts to laugh.

Roxas puts the hot chocolate on the floor by my face and starts to crouch down beside me, but then the kitchen staff catch up to him.  One grabs him by the arm and yanks him around to face her so she can yell at him.  "What do you think you're doing?!"

"My brother's sick.  He needs chocolate."

"Wait," I gasp, trying to stop dying of hilarity and straighten up.  "Wait, he didn't mean it, you can take the chocolate back and we'll leave--"

"What's wrong with you?" the other one asks suspiciously, staring at me.

"I'm...not so good with cold weather...."

"Our coats got all wet so we can't wear them because it's cold," Roxas explains.  "Axel bought me a new shirt, see?"

They stare at his shirt blankly.

I struggle to my feet and reach out for him.  "Hey, I apologize a lot, I'm really sorry about everything.  We'll leave now."

"He just waltzed into the kitchen and grabbed that mug right off the counter!" the lady storms at me.

"Um...he's impulsive...."

"I'll pay for it," Roxas offers.

Uh, with what, kiddo?  "I can wash dishes or something if you want...."

"Regina, just let it go," the guy says to his co-worker.  "The kid didn't even drink it."

"He can't just BARGE INTO THE KITCHEN and steal stuff!"

Roxas looks at me, his face pale.  "I messed up again...."

"Look," I said.  "I would pay for the freaking chocolate, if I had any money.  If you want this gift card, I'd be glad to hand it over."  I don't mention that it only has (almost) enough value left to buy a pair of socks.  "If you want me to wash dishes or something, awesome, I bet your kitchen's warm.  Or I can come back later with some money and pay you for real.  But my brother is only five, and you're holding him pretty tightly, and I kind of need you to let go of him before I...lose my patience."  To put it mildly.

The guy sighs a little.  "Regina, here."  He pulls out his wallet.  "What is it, four ninety-nine?  Just let the kid go, you're making yourself look bad."

She glares and shoves Roxas at me.  "I don't want to see either of you even near this place again, you hear me?"

I scoop him up, trying to breathe deeply.  "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," Roxas whispers helpfully in my ear.

"Thanks, chica," I tell Ms. Uptight.  Then I wink and give her a fake phone number and march out the door before she can explode on me.

"I'm not very good at being a brother," Roxas sighs once we're out in the cold again.

I squeeze my arms tighter around him.  "You're an awesome brother.  If someone told me I could trade you for any other little brother in the world, I'd tell 'im to go jump in a lake."

"I wouldn't trade you, either."

I grin, trying not to shiver.  It's so, so, so, so cold.... "Glad we got that cleared up."

As soon as we get home, I change into the warmest clothes I can find and bury myself in piles of blankets on my bed.  My feet feel like blocks of ice, and my ears feel like they're about to fall off.  So cold...I mean, now it's warm, but it hurts after being so cold....

After a while, Roxas comes in and digs through the blankets until he finds my face.  "Hi, Axel."

"Hey, Rox."

"I brought you some ice cream to make you feel better."

I can't decide whether to groan or laugh or cry.  "Ummmm...hey, Rox...can you maybe eat my ice cream for me?  Please?  As a huge favor?"

"Oh...okay."  He climbs up to sit on the bed beside me and starts eating.  "Do you feel better now, Axel?" he finally asks.

"Yeah, I'm warming up."

"Hey, Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I give you something?"

"Sure, I guess."

He slips an ice cream stick into the blankets, nearly poking me in the eye.  "You can have that one."

It's got the word WINNER printed on it.

"Because you always let me have them, and it's not fair.  And because you're a winner, too."

I have a really hard time trying not to cry.  This kid...so worth it.  Everything is just...totally and completely worth it.  "Hey...thanks, Rox.  You're a winner, too."

"Yeah, I know," he says nonchalantly, starting on the second ice cream.

I laugh, which thankfully makes me stop wanting to cry.  "Man, do you ever get cold at all?"

"Yeah."

"Wish I had your tolerance for it...."

"Don't be confusing."

"It means that I get a lot colder a lot faster than you do."

"So when it's summer, am I gonna be rolling around on the ground dying?"

"Uh, hopefully not."

"Boo.  Then you can't give me chocolate."

"Roxas, you don't have to collapse from heatstroke for me to give you chocolate."

"So can I have some chocolate?"

"You're already eating ice cream!"

"So you're not gonna give me chocolate...."

"Are you mad at me now?" I tease.

"No."

"Good."

"Yeah."

 o.o.o

 Author's Notes:  I swear I wasn't going to do an Axel/Roxas Day fic, and I didn't even have any ideas for it.  But when I was typing up stuff from one of my notebooks this evening, I found a note for a scene in an unpublished story that I'd forgotten to include.  However, that scene already ended perfectly and didn't need the note, but that note was kind of cute and I didn't want to lose it, and then suddenly I thought, "Today is Axel/Roxas Day.  This is my Axel/Roxas Day drabble."  Except, because the characters I write WILL NOT SHUT UP, it ended up being a bit longer than a drabble and I had some trouble figuring out where to end it, but whatever.  Hopefully this story both makes enough sense out of context and doesn't spoil things in the original fic whenever I actually do manage to get it posted....