Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ If This Cat Could Talk... ❯ High Points and Eyebrows ( Chapter 14 )

If This Cat Could Talk…

By: Ellipsis the Great

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. Shooting T3h Flybomb belongs to the SAPC Anime Club, and specifically myself and the other officers of said club.

Summary: Axel's therapist suggests that he get a cat to help him get over an accident involving his little brother's best friend. It doesn't take him long to realize that strange things are afoot, however…

Rated: T just in case. May change later on.

Spoilers: None that I know of…

Warnings: Definite yaoi on the horizon, a little angst (obviously), and I suppose I should point out that this is AU…

 

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN: High Points and Eyebrows

 

We walked in awkward silence for a while after Kairi left; none of us were sure what to say about it, and I think none of us felt like we could talk about anything else just then.

But then Roxas proved that he still wasn't completely versed in the ways of humans by being the first to overcome the awkwardness—not by changing the subject, but by grasping something no one else would've thought to comment on and…well, commenting on it.

“I don't understand why you're forgiving her.” He said, recovering some of his earlier anger on the matter.

I shrugged. “I just am, Roxas.”

“That's not good enough.” He said. “Axel, she's ruined your life for the past ten years and suddenly she says `oops, it was a mistake' and that makes everything okay?”

“No, of…of course not, but…it's complicated, okay? I don't want to hold a grudge like she did, Roxas. That'd ruin my life just as much as she did herself.” I said.

“But why is it so…easy for you to do?” He asked.

“Because…I don't know, Roxie. I really don't. But it's like…she looked at me and saw that Kimball guy, just like I look at cars and see that drunk guy. It's not our faults that we see those things, but that's what we see. We can't help it.”

“So you're going to be able to look at a car one day, and suddenly you're just going to realize that that's not the car that put Sora in a coma?” He asked incredulously.

“I don't know, Roxas!” I said, frustrated. “I just…I don't know.”

“Calm down, boys.” Yuna said, sounding a little amused. “Roxas, sometimes these things don't have a logical explanation. It's like…why Sora won't wake up even though the doctors say there's nothing wrong with him anymore.”

Roxas blanched.

“And there's the house, yo!” Pops spoke up suddenly, obviously trying to diffuse the situation. He didn't deal well with long bouts of seriousness. “What does everyone want on their pizza?”

“We're ordering out again, huh?” Riku sniggered.

“You want to cook, then?” Pops demanded, flushing a shade of red that clashed beautifully with his hair.

“No, that's alright. The fire department said they wouldn't come anymore after last time.” Riku said, holding his hands up in surrender.

“That's what I thought.” Pops said smugly, unlocking the door and throwing it open in a manner that was a little over-exuberant even for him and switching on the lights.

“SURPRISE!” A surprisingly big group of people chorused, jumping out of their hiding places.

“Holy—” I exclaimed, rocking back on my feet, eyes wide.

“Happy Birthday, Axel!” The crowd yelled, laughing at the expression on my face.

“And welcome home, you green-eyed twit!” Luxord added with a snicker.

I recovered enough to make a face at him, but not enough to dodge the heavy hand of Rude, my dad's partner, as it slapped my back. The slap was probably gentle for Rude, but I stumbled forward with the knowledge that I would more than likely be sporting a nice, tender red mark on my shoulder for the rest of the night.

I smiled weakly at him, wishing he was more of a vocal person instead of being physical. But as long as I stayed at least his arm's length away from him, my dad would probably be the one to bear the brunt of his…well wishing.

Yeah.

Anyhow, the night slipped into an oddly normal party after that. I say `oddly' because I hadn't actually had a birthday party since my mother passed away. I'd mostly just gone out with friends for the day, and maybe went out to eat with Pops and Riku for dinner.

Roxas stuck next to me for the first half-hour or so, before Naminé arrived with Demyx (I suspected something was going on there, but decided to leave it alone). Naminé kidnapped him with only a teensy half-smile at me by way of explanation.

But I could only worry about him for a quarter of a moment before Demyx was chattering away in my ear about how great it was that I was awake and that it was my birthday and blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth.

A normal “conversation” (monologue?) with Demyx, basically.

Holy hell—much as I loved him, that kid could talk.

Luckily for me, Demyx has the attention span of a goldfish, and Riku soon diverted said attention. I suspected Riku might've been saving me (Riku, somehow, had the patient of a saint when it came to hyperactive teens like Demyx), but that could've been wishful thinking.

Naturally, I set about finding Roxas once Demyx had pried himself off of my arm. I chatted with Lux and Xiggy for a few minutes, walking away before they could force me to try one of their concoctions that may or may not have been alcoholic. I swore off drinking, remember?

“Besides, wouldn't you rather try it out on Rikku?” I asked teasingly, pointing at the girl in question as I slipped away from them.

…Hmm. I wondered offhandedly if I might have set the poor girl up for a tumble, then decided it was none of my business if she didn't know any better than to drink something those two had made.

“…Almost time, Roxas.”

My ears perked up at the sound of Naminé's voice, and I leaned against the wall beside the door it was coming from, head cocked to one side.

“But I'm not ready. What if—”

“No `buts' or `what ifs,' Roxas. You knew this was going to happen.”

“But I…Naminé, I can't.”

“Well…you're going to have to. If you don't do it yourself…I don't want to think of what might happen.”

“I know. I just…it's not fair.”

“It's not fair to you.” She said. “But you…as much as I hate to say it, Roxas, you don't matter. You're just…you know.”

“I know.” He said again.

“You might be able to come back.” She pointed out weakly.

“Don't lie, Naminé. I ruined everything and you know it.” He said miserably. “How am I supposed to…to just…?”

A pause, then a sigh. “Just…do what you can to get ready. You only have a few more days.”

Roxas didn't say anything, though I got the impression that he'd nodded his head.

“Hey, what's going on?” I asked; knocking on the frame of the door and flashing them a teasing grin. “Why the long faces?”

Roxas shook his head, eyes trained on the floor.

“We were just talking about…stuff.” Naminé said, giving me a sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes.

“You mind if I steal Roxie?” I asked, grabbing his hand as I spoke. I didn't comment when I felt him squeeze my hand, as if he was looking for comfort. “I think it's almost time for cake.”

“That's fine.” She said, her smile dangling at the edge of her eyes.

“C'mon then, Rox.” I said, pulling him away. He stayed close to me.

“Axel.” He said softly as we walked. “Can I…can we talk after everyone leaves?”

“Sure, Roxie.” I said, concerned. “You okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I just need to…to talk to you about something.”

“Alright.” I said.

“Yo! Everybody to the living room!” Pops' voice yelled. “We've got cake and presents!”

I smirked—Pops was really predictable, even after all this time. Cake and presents happened no earlier or later than an hour and a half into the party. After an hour, people started trickling away, which meant more cake for the rest of us (and more leftover cake for Pops), and most people left soon after if it happened that late into the party because most of the good conversations were done with. And that, of course, meant that he got to send kids home after they'd overdosed on sugar.

Sadistic bastard.

“Happy birthday to you,” Pops began in his off-tune tenor.

I think people picked it up so quickly more because they wanted to drown him out than because they actually wanted to sing. But I didn't linger too long on the thought as I caught sight of the cake, which was decorated to look like a yellow cat. I heard Roxas gag on air beside me, and a glance at his face told me that he was caught between amusement and outrage at the poor likeness to his cat form. I laughed, especially when I saw that they'd given the cat red, demonic eyes.

“You guys are awful.” I snickered.

“Yeah, well…” Pops glanced pointedly at Tifa, who rolled her eyes and tried not to look angry about the fading scratches on her face. “Just blow out the candles, you goof.”

I held back the retort that was hanging on the edge of my lips, blowing the candles out with one easy huff of air.

“I got dibs on the first slice!” Xigbar yelled.

I brandished the cake-cutter at him. “Birthday boy's first, you old fart.”

“I'm prematurely silver!” Xigbar snapped, glaring at me.

“You're older than me. Therefore, you're an old fart.” I said, cutting the cake. “Here, Roxie.”

“You said you got the first slice.” Roxas protested as I shoved the plate at him.

“I just said that so I could call him an old fart and piss him off.” I said with a shrug as I continued divvying up the cake.

Roxas rolled his eyes, sitting in a nearby chair as Pops handed out the rest of the cake.

“Besides, he might as well not get a piece now.” Pops said. “He's gotta open presents.”

“Sure, make it sound like you're forcing me.” I said, grinning as I eyed the pile of gifts at the other side of the table.

“I just want you to know what a pain in the ass it was to actually shop for your present this year, you ginger-haired bastard.” Luxord piped up, scowling at me.

“Yeah—I'm so used to just dragging you to the mall and letting you point at stuff.” Demyx said.

“I apologize for making you two strain your brains. I hope you didn't overheat anything.” I said as genuinely as I could.

Luxord slapped me upside the head.

“Here; mine first!” Demyx chirped, either ignoring the statement or too ADD to care.

“Alright, Dem, don't piss yourself.” I said as I took the small gift from him and opened it. “Dude, I didn't know Shooting T3h Flybomb's newest CD was already out!”

“I have connections.” Demyx said with a rather eerie smile.

“You slept with the store owner, didn't you?” Rikku accused dramatically. “I knew it! How could you, Demyx?”

“I did not!” Demyx shrieked. “That guy is greasy and yucky and old!”

“What about the assistant manager?” Larxene sniggered.

Demyx blinked, head tilting to one side. “But Naminé's the assistant manager.”

Naminé made a funny choking noise, her entire face going red.

“I'm disappointed in you, Naminé.” Larxene sighed.

“But I…we didn't!” Naminé gasped.

“Larxene, shut up.” Riku rolled his eyes. “Axel should've set you on fire when he had the chance.”

…Before you ask, it's a long story that involves the time she dragged Demyx, Riku and I to that car show, and is one of the reasons the fire department gave us up as a lost cause.

Larxene pulled a face, but shut up, giving me a wary look.

“I wouldn't do that.” I said innocently, waving a hand.

“Not with this many witnesses, at least.” Luxord added.

…

“Moving on.” I cleared my throat before Pops could jump in (he tended to overreact…a lot), grabbing the next gift.

“That's from me!” Xigbar said.

“If you gave him another lighter I'll castrate you.” Larxene said.

…Long. Story.

“It's not a lighter.” Xigbar said, shifting into a subtly defensive pose. “It's—”

“Fake eyebrows, you ass.” I hissed, glaring at him.

Xigbar sneered. “Well, yours keep disappearing.”

“Just because I'm well-groomed—”

“Well-groomed does not mean nonexistent eyebrows!” He said.

“They're not nonexistent!”

“Almost nonexistent, then.” He retorted.

“Why you—!”

“Boys.” Rude said, picking both of us up by the back of our shirts and giving us his `Don't fuck with me, bitches' look.

“Got it.” I muttered, giving Xigbar one last icy glare before Rude set us down.

“We could've sold tickets, yo.” Pops whined.

Rude gave him his `look,' and Pops shut up. Though he did throw in a pout that made Rufus titter.

Yes, titter. If you don't know what it means, look it up.

I'm going to skip the rest of the gift opening for the sake of time restraints and my own waning attention span (I have the attention span of a fintail, which is a step up from a goldfish, yes-please-thank you). In fact, I'm going to skip the rest of the party—I'm pretty sure I hit all of the high points.

…Is it sad that one of the high points was an argument over my eyebrows (or lack thereof)?

Moving on…

We all know the part you're interested in, anyhow, right?

Which is…

My conversation with Roxie, of course.

 

ENDCHAPTERFIFTEEN