sincere | It's [not] your birthday!! jade

Happy belated birthday,

jade_fragment!
You requested something with Axel, and Roxas, and birthdays~ Hope you enjoy. ♥

Axel broke off a large chunk of his chocolate bar and sucked on it leisurely. It was almost the last piece, but he was savoring it mostly because he liked the moment when the chocolate coated his mouth and he could almost taste it. The Assassins made lazy somersaults in the air and snaked in and out of the skyscraper's vast sides below him, occasionally darting down to pick off a Neoshadow.

He was done with the chocolate by the time he heard the soft tread of Roxas's boots, and the boy's voice saying, "Sorry if I'm late. I got caught coming out of the castle."

Pointing out that the giant clock might help him figure out 'if' he was late or not wouldn't be well-received. "Caught?" Axel echoed instead. "You mean anyone in this place had something even remotely interesting to say to you?"

Roxas lowered himself onto the ledge. Axel glanced over, extending the other chocolate bar, and noticed that Roxas was holding a small wooden box -- burnished and engraved. He frowned at it, drawing his arm back.

"What's that?" Axel asked, although his mind was already working on that. Someone had stopped him on the way out -- given it to him. Xemnas? Nothing he handed out could be good. Vexen, maybe? Some sort of incredibly questionable experiment, or treatment. He'd probably advise Roxas to ditch it, or maybe attach it to a rock and throw it to the mercy of the dark ocean.

But Roxas said, "Don't know yet. XIV gave it to me."

Her? Axel had no idea what her motivations might be, or what to think about her giving Roxas a gift. He said dryly, "Does she have something for the whole class, or are you special? Maybe she's got a thing for you, Roxaaaas~"

The boy sighed and gave him a dirty look. "Like that could even happen," was all he said, and Axel let himself feel a little smug. The lack of interest was reassuring to a strange, inexplicable part of Axel that hoarded the knowledge that Roxas only shared these intimate moments with him. Even if little miss new kid wanted in.

"She said it was a birthday gift," Roxas added, opening it.

"Ah," Axel said, smirking. "That would require it being someone's birthday. Unfortunately, since Nobodies aren't born, that would make it sort of redundant."

"Well, it's definitely not for my deathday." Roxas said, lips quirking up, and he reached into the box and pulled out a thick bracelet with a checkerboard pattern on it. "Huh."

Axel leaned over and squinted at it, watching as Roxas twisted it around his fingers. It didn't seem all that unusual to him, even if the reasons why the new girl would have given it to Roxas for a nonexistent birthday (it couldn't have been Sora's birthday; even if she'd known somehow, wasn't he born in the winter?) were mysterious. "What?"

Roxas shrugged one shoulder, still turning the bracelet around. "...looks kind of like the clothes I woke up in. A few months ago."

His "soul" clothes.

Irrationally, Axel felt more annoyed. He flipped a hand and said, "Never would've pinned you for the jewelry type," to make Roxas glower at him some more. "So? Should I get you a birthday present?"

It was stupid to get someone a birthday present if it wasn't their birthday. Stupid to ever get a Nobody a birthday present when they didn't have birthdays. But if Roxas liked the damn thing, then Axel was sure as hell not going to be shown up. He craved significant moments with Roxas like a starving man craved food. Like a Heartless craved hearts. And a Nobody, too.

Roxas turned the bracelet over again, and then shrugged, setting it back in the box. "It's -- a nice thought, I guess. A funny coincidence. But it's kind of useless, isn't it?"

He set the box down on his other side, and Axel finally found the presence of mind to smile again. He tossed the chocolate bar at Roxas, who caught it with nimble reflexes before he even seemed to realize he was catching it, and then blinked at the wrapped candy.

"Chocolate?"

"P-R-E-S-E-N-T," Axel spelled out dryly.

Roxas's lips quirked up. "Well. I guess if people have to give me useless things, it's better if they taste good."

It's [not] your birthday!! jade_fragment

no subject

no subject