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

[heartismyown]

[It's really dark when Roxas comes back. He sneaks into the house quietly. He does bring a tea towel and he leaves it in the entrance in favour of heading to the bathroom.

He doesn't want to wake Lea unnecessarily. He ran into some other kids, some who remind him of that Twilight Town's Seifer. They didn't exactly play fair either. He frowns at his reflection in the mirror.]

[by_heart]

[Lea managed to convince himself that it was probably okay for him to go to bed, but that doesn't mean he's been able to sleep too deeply. He stirs when he hears the door and lays quietly and listens to try to figure out what Roxas is up to. It's rare for Roxas to come back this late without saying anything and, hey, Lea worries, okay?]

[heartismyown]

[He sighs a little and runs the water in the sink. He grabs paper towels so he doesn't wreck anything else of Lea's and dampens it before pressing it to his split lip.

Maybe he shouldn't have always relied on his keyblades. He's a little disappointed in himself.]

[by_heart]

[Lea finally bites the bullet and drags himself out of bed to see what's up. The door to the bathroom is open, so he leans on the door frame and squints as his eyes adjust to the light.]

What've you been up to, sneaking in in the middle of the night?

[Okay, it's not that late, but Lea went to bed early so it counts.]

[heartismyown]

Sorry Lea, didn't mean to wake you.

[He has to pull the pink stained paper towel from his mouth to talk. It looks as though he's been punched a couple of times too. Just a little fist fight is all.]

[by_heart]

[Lea frowns, looking him over and taking in the damage.]

So you were just gonna surprise me with this in the morning instead? What happened to you?

[heartismyown]

It's not too bad. Some kids found me.

[Bigger kids, who wanted to beat him up.]

[by_heart]

That's not all they did.

[Lea brushes his fingers across a few painful looking bruises that are already forming.]

Geez, Roxas, when are you gonna learn to stay out of trouble>?

[heartismyown]

[He looks down a bit.]

Sorry.

[by_heart]

[It's not like Lea didn't get into fights when he was that age, but at least he scheduled his during daylight hours and didn't sneak in in the middle of the night after getting the crap beaten out him. Sneaking in for other reasons, yeah, but never because he'd gotten himself hurt like this.]

This is why I warned you about talking to strangers and trusting everybody, you know.

[heartismyown]

I didn't really talk to them! They kinda just...started talking to me and pushing me around.

I should've been able to take care of them though.

[by_heart]

So you get out of there! What're you going out and getting into fights for?

[A bit hypocritical of him, yeah, but there are times when he feels like he has to be the one responsible for Roxas, even though Roxas should be able to take care of himself by now.]

[heartismyown]

I didn't! I really didn't!

[Lea's getting on his nerves. He grumbles and finishes by washing his hands, a couple of split knuckles making him grimace.]

I'm going to bed.

[by_heart]

Hold it right there, mister.

[Lea moves to block the door.]

If you didn't go looking for a fight, one definitely found you and that doesn't happen for no reason. What's going on?

[Before he probably would have just let Roxas go and gone back to his own room to lose sleep over it, but now that they've been living together for a while and testing out this new sense of normalcy, such as it is, Lea's getting more comfortable with pushing a bit more when something is bothering him.]

[heartismyown]

[Roxas huffs. It's not like he minds that much. It's nice to know Lea cares even when he's being annoying with it.]

I don't know, okay? I don't know. They came after me and started shoving me around and hitting me. They were bigger than me. Don't as me how normal people are when they're going around beating up people smaller than them.

[There's no mistake there, Roxas is as small as they come for someone his supposed age.]

[by_heart]

And so you just let them do it? Don't tell me there was no way you coulda gotten out of it.

[Roxas is more than capable of holding his own in a fight. Even outnumbered, there's no reason for him to be hurt this much.]

[heartismyown]

I didn't think I was supposed to just pull out the keyblade!

[He grimaces.]

I ran, and I didn't remember which way to turn and it was a dead end.

[by_heart]

Yeah, you should've! Guys like that are just looking for someone weaker to push around. Show 'em something like that and they'll run off. Geez...

[Lea sighs and scratches at the back of his head in frustration. It's not Roxas' fault that he doesn't know these sort of things, but they seem like they should just be common sense. It's not like Roxas has never been in a fight before. Has he been coddling him that much?]

[heartismyown]

Then next time I will.

[He's not particularly upset about getting into a fight, it was just something that happened. Bruises heal, at least Roxas assumes they will. He didn't mean to wake Lea, but he couldn't say why. Maybe because he's so worried now, although how it turned out to be his fault, he'll never know.]

[by_heart]

"Next time?"

[Lea scrubs his hand over his face. This isn't working at all.]

The whole idea is for there not to be a "next time!"

[heartismyown]

Okay, but what if they find me again!

[He huffs a little.]

It's fine Lea, it's not a big deal.

[by_heart]

It's not fine!

[Lea touches the painful looking split in Roxas' lip lightly, but doesn't say anything else for a few seconds. It's not fine and it is a big deal.]

Whatever. Suit yourself. You're not gonna listen to me, anyway.

[heartismyown]

[Roxas has been in a lot of fights Lea. Almost his entire life. He can take some injuries, after all it wasn't all fun and games fighting the Heartless. He just stares at Lea, uncertain.]

Why are you so mad at me?

[by_heart]

I'm not mad.

[He is, though. A little. But mostly he's frustrated. Fighting Heartless is one thing. Roxas can handle himself against them better than Lea can. Fighting regular humans is something else entirely. It's not something Roxas has experience with and not something he needs to get experience with, either. Getting into fights like that...With Roxas, there's the constant risk of him going too far and seriously hurting someone or not going far enough and getting hurt himself. And if he's going to go do it behind Lea's back, where's Lea's place in it all?]

[heartismyown]

[Lea seems mad though, even if he says he's not and that leaves Roxas feeling confused.

He has fought a few people but they were armed, it's not like kids picking on him. The next time he'll bring out his blade and there is a serious risk he might hurt someone.

It isn't like he was looking for a fight or anything. Not unless he gets a job like that, which he's thought about. After all, he has skills with a keyblade and that's the kind of work he used to do. It would be familiar.]