Musebox

[heartismyown]

 I need to practice with Roxas! Please drop me a line.


Roxas finished smashing the computer, the one that ruined his life. He swung around angrily and stalked off into an unknown room where he found Sora, fast asleep.

DiZ appeared before him. His eyes narrowed, his hand clenched tightly around the keyblade as he swung it back and forth wildly, attempting to attack him. He was familiar. He was the one who did this to him. It was all about that Sora!

"My heart is my own!" Roxas cried, spinning around. Everything has gone white.

When Roxas awakened, he found himself face to face with....

Comments

[by_heart]

Nah, I'm fine.

[He still won't meet his eyes, though. He's always been bad at keeping a poker face. It's...not that he's ever really been in love with someone like that. The worst heartache he ever felt happened when he didn't even have a heart to feel it. Maybe it's thinking about all the Christmas stuff or something...another Christmas without the person who used to be his best friend and his first Christmas with the person who holds that spot now...except things can never just be simple when it comes to Roxas.]

Just thinking about some stuff.

[heartismyown]

Oh...

[Roxas isn't sure what to do when Lea doesn't say anything more. He doesn't understand it, but he looks sad so he squeezes his arm.]

Don't be sad, Axel.

[by_heart]

[Lea slips his arm around Roxas' shoulders and hugs him to his side for a moment, but, as Roxas probably should have been expecting, it's followed soon after by Lea popping him one on the head with his other hand.]

Do I need to start wearing a name tag? Lea. L. E. A. Lea. Obviously you don't have it memorized.

[heartismyown]

[Roxas did curl his arms around him experimentally. Sora seemed to hug everyone, and he thinks it looks fun, but he drops his arms when he's popped in the head.

He gives Lea puppy eyes.]

I have it memorized, just...it's hard!

[by_heart]

[Arrrrgh, the puppy eyes!]

It's not like it's complicated or anything.

[Puppy eyes or not, he's still going to grumble about it.]

Maybe if you start getting it right, Sora will pick up on it too and I won't have to hear "Axel Axel Axel!" anymore.

[heartismyown]

[Roxas looked at his feet, kicking one of them.]

What if I can't get it right? Are you gonna eliminate me?

[by_heart]

What? No! You'll get it right eventually. Maybe I'll write it on my forehead for a while until you guys finally figure it out. It's not like it's a hard name to remember.

[Mostly he just wants Roxas to turn off the puppy eyes.]

[heartismyown]

You don't have to do that. I'll remember, okay?

[by_heart]

Get it memorized by Christmas and I'll buy you an extra present.

[That ought to put the puppy eyes away.]

[heartismyown]

Ummm okay! [Roxas brightens.]

I can do that! Then Santa will come right? Do I have to give him anything? Wait, Sora met him right, does he know what Santa likes? When is Santa coming? Do I have to wait long?

[by_heart]

[Lea throws his hands up in the air. Those two and Santa, really, it's ridiculous.]

Santa comes in two weeks, you don't give him anything, and I thought we talked about all these questions! Class dismissed! Professor Lea's office hours are over!

[He shoos Roxas down the hallway and back into the living room.]

[heartismyown]

[Roxas sighs a little, walking obediently towards the living room.]

But Axel, who am I supposed to ask my questions ?

[by_heart]

Professor Axel doesn't work here anymore. His heart wasn't in it. [Lea shrugs and shakes his head.] You gotta start trying to find things out for yourself. No one's hiding anything from you anymore. If there's something you need to know, it's out there. Trust me on this one. Go out there and find out what you need to know, then you can come back here and tell me all about it instead of getting me to tell you.

[heartismyown]

If you tell me though, it saves me a lot of time.

[Roxas could go bother Lea's neighbours. That seems like a good alternative.]

[by_heart]

Oh, so that's how it is! You're just lazy!

[Lea takes up his usual spot on the couch again.]

No way I'm going to encourage that! Go do your own homework.

[heartismyown]

Fine, I will. I'm going out to learn more about Santa.

[Roxas crosses his arms and makes to leave again.]

[by_heart]

Have fun! Don't steal anything!

[Well, if Roxas isn't going to sit, he's going to take up the whole couch again. So there.]

[heartismyown]

[Roxas sticks his tongue out at him and heads out. Well if Lea won't tell him anything, then he has to find out some things, anything he can think of so he starts walking around town. Mostly people don't answer questions and they give him strange looks and Roxas isn't entirely sure how to talk to people with hearts. It's a little awkward, but he presses on, no matter how late it gets.]

[by_heart]

[Lea's beginning to wonder if Roxas is ever coming back. After all, it's late. And cold.

He's not to the point of fretting. It's not really something he does. However, he does look out the window occasionally to see if he can see him coming. After a while, he finds himself fighting to stay awake.

What on earth is taking so long?]

[heartismyown]

[It is cold, and Roxas has a bad habit of wandering around in clothes that are not entirely appropriate for the weather. He's gone for awhile longer, but he does eventually come back to Lea's house.

He's not sure he learned all that much, but he did learn people were going around singing and that was interesting. He followed them for awhile, until someone told him to stop, and he had hot chocolate with marshmallows. He still doesn't know much about Santa, but maybe tomorrow he'll find out more. Or he can call on Sora.

It's late so when he comes in, he's as quiet as he can be.]

[by_heart]

[He tried to go to bed, figuring Roxas would just let himself in and they could talk in the morning, but that was a joke. He hasn't been able to sleep at all, so he's still awake when he hears the door open and shut. He drags himself out of bed and makes his way down the hall to see what's kept Roxas out so long.

Luckily, Roxas doesn't look like he's caught hypothermia or anything, but he still doesn't look all that cheerful.]

Hey. I was beginning to wonder about you. You've gotta be freezing.

[heartismyown]

A little, but it's not too bad. It's dark, I thought you might be sleeping.

[Roxas locks the door and steps closer to Lea. He brings a chill with him, but it's not too bad. It'll dissipate in the house after he gets bundled up in bed.]

[by_heart]

Tried that. Didn't work. C'mere.

[Lea wraps his arm around Roxas' shoulders and pulls him close to his side, like he had before in the hallway, and guides him away from the door.]

Thaw out a bit, geez. You really need to get a coat.

[heartismyown]

[Roxas smiles up at him and leans in contently.]

Why? I'll get warm again in a few minutes. I had hot chocolate too, it had little marshmallows in it. It was really sweet. I don't know if I like it better than ice cream though, I think that's still my favourite.

[by_heart]

Do you ever slow down? You're not gonna sleep at all tonight are you?

[Maybe he should ship him off to Sora for the holidays. Then they could run around with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads or whatever and he could get some work done.]

At least keep it quiet. Some of us need our rest around here.