Special Discount, Ch. 8

Chapter Eight

"A Corrupt Little Child"

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There was something to be said about waking up with another person curled up around you in bed.

Even Roxas couldn't deny it.

He was the first to wake up on the morning of the very last day of Otakon. He lazily drifted back into reality without much enthusiasm, gently humming to himself in pleasure of how comfortable he was. It was soft and warm beneath the covers and there was an especially soft and warm body pressing against him.

Roxas shifted again to nuzzle into a firm, breathing chest. When he did so, the other pair of legs tangled with his own became more entangled as the arms entwined about his waist clenched together into a more secure hold. A wispy sigh and murmur by Roxas's ear accompanied the movement.

"... too early... more sleep... mmm." Obviously not yet in tune completely with the outside world, the blond snuggled further into the person he was sleeping with and melted back into a sleepy putty without even once opening his eyes. He would have time, after all, to worry about Axel, and the last day of Otakon, and the profession of love the night before... later.

... Wait...

"SHIT!" Roxas immediately sprang up, simultaneously head-butting Axel in his dash out of bed. "Damnit, damnit, damnit! Get up! Everyone, up!"

The clock read 8:13, which infuriated Roxas even more. As Axel groaned, slumped confusedly amidst the scattered blankets on the bed and effectively woken up from the unexpected wake up call, Hayner and Seifer were sluggishly rising as well. The blond filled his lungs with air again, sprinting about the hotel room and digging frantically through his bag. They had so much to do, to buy, to indulge in! And they were wasting all the valuable time they had sleeping? Not on Roxas's watch. This would just not do.

"UP! UP! It's the last day of Otakon, we need to get going, let's go!"

The room was left in an ominous silence as Roxas dashed into the bathroom to take a quick shower and slammed the door shut behind him. Axel rubbed his chin where Roxas had injured it, looking for some clarification from the pair on the other bed. Seifer was busy staring with glazed eyes at the ceiling, so it was Roxas's cousin that Axel turned to. "Er..."

"Great." Hayner rolled his eyes in the peaceful quiet, ignoring Axel as he yawned and ran his hand through his hair. "It's begun."

Cryptic phrases like that never boded well for Axel. The red-head sighed. Ever.

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For the third and final day of Otakon, Roxas had finally allowed Axel to dress as he pleased, which cheered the red-head considerably. His greatest fear had been that the shorter male had saved the best costume for last, but he had thankfully been spared. The blond himself didn't bother cosplaying either, throwing on a shirt emblazoned with some anime character instead, as well as a pair of bright green goggles that were now nestled in his spikes of hair.

The blond had rushed the entire group back to the convention center as soon as Hayner, Seifer, and Axel had eventually consented to get up and go get ready, which took a good amount of harassing on Roxas's part. After a frenzy of complaining and energetic hand motions from the blond about how they needed to get moving and actually indulge in the last day, they had finally made it. Now, Roxas eagerly led the pack, hurrying through the steadily swelling crowd of con-goers towards the immense area where the dealers all sold their wares and anime-like goods.

Axel, to be perfectly frank, was torn between being astonished and extremely amused. Never before had he seen the usually grumbling Roxas be so lively. He had been relatively calm the previous two days, and yet somehow overnight, someone had given the boy an energy boost, which all started with the rather disappointing morning. Axel had been looking forward to waking up with Roxas, cozy under the blankets. But the blond had decided to flail out of bed and cause a riot instead. It really wasn't as romantic as what Axel had had in mind.

However, Axel definitely did not have any qualms about how their talk about love and their relationship from before had been temporarily put to the side. They would have time to deal with that later, after all.

Instead, the red-head decided to find out this stranger was and what had happened to his own Roxas.

"Does he do this often?" Axel muttered to Hayner as they followed after the crazed otaku from a safe distance, not bothering to keep up as they finally reached the huge Dealer's room.

Hayner grinned suddenly, "Oh, that's right. You've never seen Roxas's otaku side before."

Axel raised an eyebrow, glancing meaningfully at Roxas, who was already occupied at a booth, tugging out his wallet and pointing out random things. "Do tell."

The trio stopped nearby to watch Roxas and Hayner chuckled. "He's not like this a lot. He's usually a bit calmer and better at hiding it, but Roxas is a total nerd. Have you seen his room yet?"

"Not in detail, no." Axel thought back to the brief moment when he had snuck into Roxas's room to deposit his cat on the bed. He hadn't actually had time to look around the room too intently.

"Well, it's completely filled with all this junk he bought in bookstores and eBay. Figurines, manga, dolls, stuffed toys. He's a little obsessed."

Seifer, who had been silent thus far, abruptly spoke up, smirking. "But you have to give him props for having the best collection of hentai and yaoi. He's a corrupt little child. He puts up a good show to hide it, though."

"Roxas?" Axel gaped, hardly believing his ears. He glanced to where the blond was shuffling over to another booth and blinked. This was all news to him and he couldn't help but laugh slightly. I should've known.

"I thought he didn't like yaoi. I mean, I knew he was playing hard to get yesterday with the fan service bit, but still…"

Hayner snorted softly, rolling his eyes. "He didn't like it until his last girlfriend, Naminè. That girl was obsessed with pairings guys up and seeing man-on-man action. I think she came over every single time Seifer and I were at Roxas's. We never got a moment's peace, seriously. The chick was crazy."

"That's probably around when he started wondering if he was bi, right?" Seifer said thoughtfully, "Right after those two split."

Roxas's cousin nodded, tucking his arm around the taller boy's waist. "Just about." He abruptly looked to Axel, "Didn't you ever wonder why Roxas didn't find the fact that he was almost molested by a guy, you, strange?"

Axel pursed his lips, considering, "It crossed my mind briefly."

"Well, for one, he's not as innocent as he looks." Hayner chuckled, "And second, you caught him at a good time. He was just starting to consider that maybe he wasn't as straight as he thought he was. That was about a year ago. Naminè was thrilled, of course…"

Axel felt like he was a schoolgirl who was catching up on the latest gossip. No wonder he had been asking about this last night. First the confrontation, then the bizarre morning where Roxas had been completely out of character, now this. A frown curved his lips downward, "Damn, I guess I really don't know the kid at all."

"You're fine." Hayner said with a laugh. "You've got plenty of time to get through to him. He's just a stubborn idiot and likes to keep things normal and realistic for himself to make up for the fact that he's still a hardcore fanboy deep down inside. I mean, Seifer and I are anime nerds, yeah, but we can sort of show it in stride. Roxas usually just ends up making himself look like… well, you saw him this morning. And for him, the idea of hooking up with a random guy at Seven-Eleven is hardly realistic or normal."

There was a collective pause as the three thought back to Roxas's tirade hours ago before Axel running a hand through his hair and decided to finally put his doubts into question form. "I'm usually not one for being insecure, but why is Roxas putting up with me? You two know him better than I do, he must have already told you about this…"

"Yeah, we know." Seifer shrugged. "Why, you starting to have a little remorse? Questioning yourself?"

Axel scowled slightly at the wide smirk adorning the bleach-blond's lips. "It's not like I want to ask you two for advice. But Roxas isn't big on telling me anything about himself yet, so I can't really tell where we stand at this point."

Hayner looked away from Axel to watch Roxas disappear from view as the blond headed deeper into the rows of booths. "It's not for us to say. I don't know, and I don't think Roxas is completely sure about this yet, either. He likes you, though. You struck a cord with him and despite your initial meeting, I think he trusts you. The only problem is that right now, he's being a little cautious about this sort of thing. What with his whole sexual questioning and that whole fiasco with Naminè…"

"What was the-…?" Axel began, but Seifer leaned forward and cut him off with a leer.

"She caught him with his best friend, Sora. With their pants down, so to speak."

This prompted an eyebrow raise from Axel and Hayner chuckled in response, "Apparently, it was all a big misunderstanding, but Naminè was so thrilled to see her boyfriend going gay and she wanted him to go after Sora. Roxas was so disturbed by the whole thing that they just called it quits anyway."

"Hmm, I think we just corrupted Axel's view of his love-interest, Hayn." Seifer sniggered, eyeing Axel amusedly. Axel could only manage a slight frown and a twitch of his eye.

He definitely had not seen that coming. What else was this not-so-innocent kid hiding up his sleeve?

As if on cue, the not-so-innocent kid himself emerged out of the wave of roaming con-goers at that moment, his face split into a wide grin. "Aw, c'mon, guys, are you seriously all just standing around?"

"We bought everything we wanted while you and Axel were raking in the fangirls with their cameras yesterday." replied Hayner smugly, leaning against his boyfriend. "I'm sure Axel could tag along with you, though. He needs some anime merchandise to start up a collection, now that we've brought him over to the otaku side."

Axel was surprised to see that instead of looking displeased at the thought of being left along with the red-head, the blond smirked instead. Roxas moved to grab Axel hand. "Fine. Let's meet up at the Artist Alley later, then."

"It's a deal."

Seifer, of course, managed to have the last word. He beamed mockingly at the pair, waggling his finger. "Have fun, you two naughty children, you."

Flicking his eyes upward into an "I am not amused" roll, Roxas didn't deem Seifer's words worthy to respond to and simply dragged Axel away into the hoard of otakus and cosplayers. Axel had no choice but to follow, unable to help himself from seeing Roxas in a new light. Roxas? The corrupt little kid?

"If you're not going to get anything, then I'll just have to buy you something." said Roxas with a grin, finally releasing the red-head to allow him to fall into step beside him. "We can wander around a little until you see something you want."

Axel promptly forced himself to focus. He'd have time to muse about the secrets behind Roxas's usually grumpy demeanor later. If he confronted him now, it would only lead to unnecessary trouble. It was better to play dumb until the right moment, really. Axel managed to stick a smile on and then looked down at the blond. "What if I only want you, blondie?"

Roxas snorted, a wry grin adorning his lips that Axel loved so much. And apparently, the lips his best friend had access to… hmm… Axel briefly lapsed back into his internal musing, but Roxas just as quickly jerked him back once more as he snatched his hand again and resumed the dragging. The strange gleam in his eyes, similar to the crazed one from that morning, had returned, and an eager look had come over the blond's features.

"You're an idiot. Come on, let's go find something appropriately perverted and ridiculous for you."

They didn't manage to get far, which was probably a good thing considering the immense size of the hall and the energetic method with which Roxas was tugging the poor red-head about. After two rows of booths, Axel hastily stopped and pointed. "I want that."

Roxas followed Axel's hand and gaze until he stopped at the correct dealer's table. He immediately frowned. "No you don't."

Axel widened his eyes, giving Roxas a shocked look. "You said you'd buy me something that I want, didn't you? I want that! It's a perfectly good thing for me to keep as a memento of our wonderful time here together."

"I meant a toy or something! Not…" Roxas motioned weakly at the booth, looking slightly flustered. "… not </i>that."

Ah, there's the Roxas we all know and love.

Axel suddenly smiled, slinging an arm about the blond's shoulders. "It's only a paddle, Roxas. Granted, a paddle with "yaoi" on it, but still."

Roxas looked from Axel's winning smile to the yaoi booth they were standing in front of. Finally, he relented and sighed, tugging out his wallet as he did so. "Fine. Fine. But don't you even think for a minute that I'm letting you smack me with that."

"Who said anything about smacking? Paddles for smacking and/or possibly spanking?" Axel gasped in mock horror. "I've never even heard of such a thing!"

"You suck."

"Only for you, Roxas."

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"Looks like you two were productive."

A good two hours later, Axel and Roxas rejoined Hayner and Seifer in one of the large halls near the entrance of the convention center. Axel had happily shoved his paddle into his belt, wearing it like a sword, while Roxas had been forced to bear the embarrassment of being asked from the booth worker if he had any plans for the paddle with his boyfriend later tonight. Really, the suggestive eyebrow wiggles hadn't been necessary at all.

"Just a little shopping." Axel replied, lifting up some of the bags that held the rest of Roxas's splurging.

"Hey, I've been working two jobs this summer for a reason." Roxas smirked, having found his revenge in forcing the red-head to carry all of his purchases. "So are we done?"

"We are." Hayner lifted his shoulders briefly to ease any creaks in them. "Unless there's something else we planned on doing?"

"Not that I know of…" Roxas said slowly, eyes glazing over as he considered anything else for the group to indulge in before leaving. "I think we can go eat lunch and then head back to the hotel."

"Sweet. Then we'll go out later tonight." The four turned and began heading out of the convention center, sifting through the crowd to make for the exit. Seifer and Hayner took the lead, hands clasped together as they emerged outside.

Roxas turned to Axel to explain as they walked, "We're not leaving back for home today. We usually stay until Monday morning during Otakon and we go out on Sunday night."

The red-head shook his head. "That's fine. What do you guys usually… go out for?"

"After-parties, obviously." Roxas chuckled, taking back some of his many purchases to help Axel with the load. "I thought that you, of all people, could have figured that one out."

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In retrospect, Axel supposed that he should have predicted what would happen next.

It all went by so fast… since when did the bottles start piling up around blondie?

Of course, no one had told him that Roxas wasn't much of a drinker.

That better not be Roxas dancing like an idiot over there… shit, it is.

Or that the blond could get so easily flustered when Seifer and Axel teased him.

I just poked some fun at his hair, he didn't have to go and drink my vodka…

And it would have been impossible to foresee that the hotel where they stayed had a hot tub and pool that were open to the residents 24/7.

Isn't there a chance of drowning if we do that?

Most of all, though, Axel certainly did not possess enough knowledge about Roxas's character to anticipate that when it came to his drunken state, he was completely unpredictable. Still, as least he was calmer than his hyper otaku side from earlier in the day. It was the only thing out of the whole drinking situation that Axel was actually thankful for.

It had been Roxas's idea to go explore the pool and leave Seifer and Hayner to their "touchy-feely-ness," as he had said. He had been already tipsy at that point, but it would have been better if he had not snatched up another bottle of Smirnoff and proceeded to down it within ten minutes. Axel was partially buzzed himself, but had enough experience with alcohol to not go completely under after a few drinks. He had already sworn to knock Seifer out for suggesting that they even go to a bar for their "after-party."

"Hey. Hey. Hey Axel…" Roxas murmured, lolling lazily in the hot tub, clad only in boxers. Axel was sitting across from him, still conscious enough to keep his pants on, surprisingly enough, and mostly occupying himself with staring off into space and making sure that Roxas didn't kill himself. Apparently, now the blond wanted to make conversation.

"Hmm?" He blinked slowly, looking over at the other man who was slowly making his way through the heated water to his side -- Roxas proceeded to settle himself over the red-head's thighs -- scratch that, to his lap. Axel hummed slowly under his breath, already knowing where this could end up but too tired to protest.

"We should go to bed, Rox…"

The blond's answer was a collection of grunts and sighs, but Axel did manage to catch "don't want to" and "too hot" beneath all of Roxas's drunken grumbles.

The red-head allowed his head to fall back and rest against the edge of the small pool. He shut his eyes tightly, too weary to wonder how things had managed to turn out this way. Most of the day had been a blur. Morning, Otakon, a brief recollection of drinking a lot, and now this. Had the day gone by so fast already? Hadn't it just been moments ago that Hayner and Seifer had been explaining the other side of Roxas to him? Hadn't he been thinking, not too long ago, about how different of a person Roxas really was?

Hadn't-

Roxas's face unexpectedly burrowed into Axel's shoulder, breaking off whatever idle stream of consciousness the red-head had been going through.   

"M'sorryisuk."

Axel lifted his head, blinking the haze out of his eyes. Maybe he was drunker than he thought, because Roxas could not have just apologized for sucking. "… What?"

Roxas tilted his head slightly to look up and meet Axel's bleary gaze. The older man just managed to catch the dull, glazed sheen that was settled over the usually clear blue eyes before Roxas shut his eyelids.

"I'm sorry I suck."

"The hell are you talking about? You don't suck." Axel said slowly, finding the process of words difficult with the hot water swirling around his body and Roxas's own legs clasped around his own. Of course, the alcohol buzz didn't help, either.

"I do." Roxas groaned, his moving lips feathering over Axel's wet skin. "Yesterday, we got close to actually starting something between us and I just go and completely ignore it the next day."

Huh. That was a complete sentence. Maybe Roxas isn't as drunk as I thought he was.

Axel took a moment to consider what to say before tucking his arms about the teen's waist and propping his chin on his water-dampened head. "It's fine, Rox. We're here for your stupid convention, not to discuss relationship details. We have time to worry about that later."

Roxas said nothing, but Axel could still feel his mouth moving over his shoulder, now solid touches of roaming lips to skin. He shivered slightly despite himself, setting himself against advances that Roxas would try to pull on him.

He's drunk and doesn't know any better. He'll regret it in the morning. They always do.

"You said you loved me."

Axel blinked, then smiled weakly. Roxas was just full of surprises today. His hold around the other loosened slightly. "I did, didn't I?"

Roxas's next words were softer as his body visibly relaxed. Axel saw his eyes flutter shut as he spoke.

"I don't know if I love you back."

Axel's heart clenched a tiny bit. Just a little. The red-head ignored it and continued to smile in a weary manner, even though the blond could not see the gesture. He didn't reply immediately but from the way that Roxas's breaths had deepened and his mouth had fallen slack, it didn't matter. The younger man had fallen asleep. Axel frowned thoughtfully, then allowed his eyes to slide shut.

"That's fine." He whispered, "I don't mind."

Axel had no idea how he managed to clamber out of the hot tub or carry Roxas back, but the next morning found the two curled up in bed, back in their hotel room, with the blond groaning loudly from a hang-over and Axel still wondering about just what the hell had happened to muddle up his life so much.