It was a regular thing that he and his friends did when they were bored. The prizes varied from time to time but this was the greatest prize of them all. Axel x Roxas. (For Soraslilangel)
To Jessie, I dedicate this whole piece to you. I hope you like reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
It wasn't known to him when this whole 'daring' business started but he reckoned that it must've started when they were in junior high school or something.
It started pretty innocently enough. Like the normal, 'I dare you to climb up that tree' and the odd 'I dare you to talk to that girl'. It was funny now that he thought back to it.
But as the years rolled by, the dares got a little more complicated and a little less innocent.
Things got really interesting once high school came around but they never grew old about it. In fact, the laughs they got from it came by more frequently than not. Especially when one gets slapped in the face for pinching a woman's ass.
But a dare was a dare. And Axel got himself twenty bucks from each of his friends which equaled to a hefty sum of a hundred bucks.
Of course, he didn't spend all that money on himself. No, he treated them all to a few rounds of vodka that he bought from the local alcohol retail store and saved the rest in his bank account, which was still a good amount of leftover money.
He wasn't quite old enough to drink yet. Hell, neither of his friends was. But he came off as a pretty responsible looking kid of guy. And he played his height to his advantage.
There were a few times when the store keeper just wouldn't believe him and demanded for an ID card, of course, that was when he decided it was time to hit the high road and try at another spot.
Those were the high school years, and if he thought that high school was interesting, things got even more appealing when they all entered their college years.
They were old enough to go drinking, go clubbing, head into strip bars. All sort of 'of age' things. And they didn't even have to feel guilty about being underage. Not that they ever felt guilty in the first place.
Back to the main point, the dares got more daring and the prizes got better and better each time they did it.
One time at the club down in the far reaches of the city where lots of bars and strip joints resided, Axel was dared to go up to that guy with 'the freaky sideburns' and snog him in return for a concert ticket to his favorite band that was coming in a couple of months.
Not one to pass up a free ticket to the best band ever, he decided, 'Hey, why the hell not?' so he got up from his seat, sauntered his way over to the guy with 'the freaky side burns' and kissed him for two seconds before he patted the older man on the shoulder and steered his way through the crowd back to his friends.
The man looked mildly shocked by the odd display of weird affection but Axel got himself a free ticket and his friends got a kick out of it.
"Fucking slut." Demyx teased as he gave a half smirk and half sneer to his red headed best friend.
"You should know me by now Dem, I never pass up a dare and I never pass up a free concert ticket." He chastised his friend with a click of his tongue, "I expect you to hold up to your end of the dare Dem."
"When have I never held up to my end of the dare, hm?" he smirked as he picked up his martini glass and threw his head back to drink the whole cup in one go.
Half way through their university year, things got a little bit more busy for them, with the exams, assignments, essays and shit like that. But they always made time to hang around and catch up and do a couple more dares and see how far the red head, who was the most willing of the bunch, could go.
He was either stupid or crazy when they dared him to go up to some prostitute and hook up with her for the night in exchange for a new surround system to put in the living room of his two bedroom apartment.
Axel almost went along with it until two of his friends held him back and smacked him on the head.
"What the fuck's in your head, jack-ass?" Demyx swore angrily. "Larxene was fucking around with you."
"Hey, a dare's a dare right?" he shrugged good-naturedly, "Besides, I want that new surround system."
"Next time, prince charming, but you're not wasting your first time on a hooker." Marluxia, another friend of Axel's, spoke as he delivered another good smack on the head.
The red head merely laughed and wondered what he did to deserve such good friends. More or less good friends.
And as for the stereo system?
He ended up getting it in another dare anyways. It consisted of trying to worm his way out of a speeding ticket by flirting with the policeman or woman. Whatever.
He swung both ways anyway.
It was amazing how fucked up the law was and just how lenient the policeman was when he broke the speed limit and went at it at one-fifty plus on the highway when it was suppose to be hundred max.
A few compliments here, another compliment there and he got the guy smiling and laughing along with him.
Hook, line and sinker.
So, all in all, he wormed his way out of an expensive ass speeding ticket, still got his driver's point intact and got himself a kick ass stereo system to put into his living room.
It was sweet as…
Their first year of college rolled by and each one of his friends hooked up with somebody. Somebody close by and not quite so unexpected, but still unexpected none the less.
Marluxia fell in love with, oddly enough, Larxene, who Axel had always thought was a bit of a sadistic bitch. But if Marly saw something special in her, hell, who the fuck cared? Just as long as they made each other happy, he couldn't care less.
Demyx finally confessed his undying love to Zexion which was sort of weird, because they sort of clashed. In the emo versus the rocker type of sense.
It's not that Zexion was an emo on purpose. Not at all. Everybody just lumped him together with the other 'emo's' because of his hairdo.
Jerks and stereotypes. The lot of them.
Axel found it a little funny how all of his friends ended up falling in love with one another.
"Well, looks like it's just you and me Xig." He brought up one day as he swung an arm over the said person's shoulder while they were drinking in the university bar.
"What the fuck you on about?" he quirked up his visible eyebrow at the red head who merely downed his bottle of beer and refused to elaborate.
'The poor loner doesn't need to know.' He figured as he ordered another round.
But get this, he couldn't believe it when he first saw it, but Xigbar actually found somebody to call his own. Some kid with sun bleached blond hair and a funky but natural sort of tan.
Axel never figured the eye-patch (the eye patch is actually a funny story but it's a completely different story that involved a dare back in their high school days) wearing guy would find someone to love.
Axel had always figured that Xigbar was the loner type of guy. The type of guy who would depend on nobody but himself, but again, like many other times, he managed to prove himself wrong.
The year passed by with more bullshit from college, more job hunting to keep up with the rent of the apartment, more dares and more wonderful rewards.
The end of the year rolled around, college exams were finally over, everybody took a job and started working full time to save up some cash but every time they met up, they'd each have a go at a dare they thought up of some weeks ago while they were bored at work.
Axel, being the ass that he always was, dared Marluxia to go up to some random chick and feel her up and then the red head dared for Larxene not to get angry over it.
The reward, at first, was a hundred bucks each, but his true intentions were a bit strange, but he liked to see them happy. In the sense that if they truly cared for each other, they would talk or scream about it, and then make up later on. It showed how much they meant to each other and how much they loved one another.
Demyx never knew Axel was such a sap, but after a while, he noticed that look that the red head had in his eyes whenever he saw Marluxia kiss Larxene or whenever Zexion leaned over to whisper something sweet into the dirty haired blonds' ear.
Demyx realized, just as a best friend should but probably a little too late, that Axel wanted a relationship. And he realized why Axel's dares had been getting a little stranger and stranger every time.
It was a bit sad but he figured that now since he knew, he'd do his damndest to help Axel find somebody to hold and call his own.
He knew Axel very well, he knew that Axel would never back away from a dare, regardless of how stupid or gross it was as long as the reward was good.
Demyx never knew that Axel started to live his life through dares until just now.
That was when Demyx's dares stopped being stupid and he started to put more thought into it. And he found the perfect person for the dare to be executed on.
"Hey Axel." The dirty haired blond started, "I dare ya to go to that kid across the road and hit on him." He jerked a thumb over to the short boy who stood by the bus stop sign who looked in their general direction but not directly at them.
Axel looked at where the dirty haired blond boy pointed until his eyes fell upon a blond boy who was wearing a sleeveless black hoodie with black trousers, a black and white checkered wrist band on one arm and a black sports watch on the other.
"Too easy Dem, too easy." He smirked and cracked his knuckles, "What's the prize?"
"Hmm…" he seemed to put a bit of thought into this, "Fifty bucks."
"Fifty?" just to go up to a kid and hit on him? "You're shitting me."
"I shit you not, dare or no?" he was playing Axel like a puppet and it was time to put his plan into action.
Operation, make Axel find his true love. Something like that.
The red head stared at his best friend through scrutinizing green eyes before he finally shrugged nonchalantly, "Dare."
The red head checked the traffic, looked both ways before he deemed it was safe to cross the road. He sauntered up towards the blond and when he and the short boy made eye contact, Axel gave a wink which made the blond quirk up an eyebrow at the bold move.
Not five steps away from each other, the boy spoke, "If you're just gonna hit on me for a stupid dare, then get lost." He spat out as soon as the red head was within hearing distance.
"Woo…" that kid had telepathic powers, "Who said I was gonna hit on you?"
"You winked at me."
"I could be winking to the person behi-" and the person behind the blond was a fat dude with a horrible looking beard, "You know what? Never mind." He smirked in spite of himself.
They stood by each other in a sort of mutual silence.
"This looks bad, they're not even talking." Demyx tried to make himself look as though he wasn't constantly staring at the two other people across the road. But failed.
"Good things take time." The slate haired boy spoke as he kept his eyes focused on a particular movie advertisement.
"Yeah? Well, I'm not the patient sort of guy." He retorted and sneered at the only girl in the group who snorted at his comment.
"So? Are you gonna leave or what?" the blond spat as he raised an eyebrow at the red head.
The kid sure had some fire in him, he sort of liked it, "Hey, I could be waiting for a bus too you know?"
The boy scoffed and turned the other cheek, "Yeah, right."
Axel stared ahead at his friends who were trying not to watch his every move and maybe laugh at him from a distance before the red head glanced down to the short blond beside him.
He clicked his tongue and wondered what would be the best approach to hit on a kid who looked like he wouldn't take shit from anybody.
He was gonna go for some lame pick up lines, but he figured that the blond might deck him in the spleen. He sort of liked his spleen, whatever the fuck that was.
This kind of dare took some amount of planning and precision. Gotta hit 'em and hit 'em hard and fast. Or something like that.
"So kid, come 'round here often?" the red head asked casually.
Or not quite with planning and precision.
Either the kid was blatantly ignoring the red head or he was deaf. So Axel tried again, "Hey kid-"
He cut him off in a harsh tone, "I'm not gonna waste my time on you."
Ok, so he was blatantly ignoring him, "Hey, it's not like you've got anything better to do." He pointed out.
The blond seemed to take that into consideration for a bit before he decided to take out his mp3 and listen to his play-list of songs. That caught the red head off guard a little bit.
'He's got one hell of a spunk going on for him.' Axel thought to himself and stared back at his friends who looked like they were having a hard time suppressing a laugh.
Larxene looked as though she was ready to cackle like a witch.
"I like that kid." The blond girl smirked as she stared at the boy who was now listening to his music player.
"Perfect match for Axel right?"
She snorted, "Yeah, sure, whatever you think Dem." She patted him on his shoulder and continued to watch the other two people across the road with interest.
Axel hadn't quite given up yet, so he smirked and leaned down until his mouth was right next to the boy's ear, "You're interesting kid, I like you." It was spoken for the blonds' ears only and he loved the mixed reaction of looking both shocked while trying to keep his cool.
The blond turned to face the red head and stared right into green oblivion. He noticed the lack of space and air in between them and he drew his head back a little, "You're fucked. Get lost." He hissed and turned his head away again.
"Hey, if you found me really annoying, you would've moved away instead of putting up with my bullshit." He reasoned with a triumphant smirk and raised himself back to his full height.
He noticed that the blond was a head shorter than him.
The blond turned to the red head again and frowned before he lowered his voice to a harsh whisper, "This is my spot, and I'm first in queue for the bus ride home. I'm not gonna move away just because of a loser like you."
"Then it looks like you're gonna have to put up with me until your ride comes." He couldn't help but widen his grin at the blonds' stubbornness.
He didn't get a reply or a smart remark after that though. It disappointed the red head just a little.
"They're not talking." Demyx frowned a little and continued to watch as he folded his arms and tapped his fingers. "They're not talking."
"Geez, would you calm down a little? What makes you think your first plan was gonna succeed anyways?" the blonde girl spat out as she rolled her eyes.
"I could feel it, you know? I can tell just by looking at them." He reasoned a bit heatedly. "I mean look at them! They have chemistry."
"Demyx, you failed in science." The slate haired boy pointed out.
"Shut up Zex." He pouted in slight embarrassment when Larxene started to cackle at him.
The blond stayed silent for a good two minutes. He stayed silent, sure, but he glowered, glared, frowned, crossed his arms, tapped the soles of his black and white converse shoes on the floor and finally turned to the red head in an annoyed sort of way, "Ok, what the fuck do you want." He asked vehemently as he pulled his earphones away and sneered.
"Just wanna talk to you. Surely a bored but interesting guy such as yourself would find me just a bit appealing?" he grinned as he leaned down a little and stared into the boy's ocean eyes.
"You're annoying, that's for sure." He scoffed and turned his head away again.
"So, can I get a name or no?" he knew he was pushing his luck a little, but it didn't hurt to try.
"Would you fuck off if I told you?"
"Nah, I'd probably stick to you like glue." He replied honestly and watched the mixed emotions that swam behind those blue eyes.
"Then you're not getting anything out of me." He replied as he fully turned his head the other direction in search for his bus ride home.
"I'm Axel."
"What?" he stopped looking for his bus and stared at the red head with wide disbelieving eyes.
"My name's Axel. Got it memorized?" he smirked as he tapped his forehead.
"So you think you can get a name out of me just because you gave me yours?" he retorted a little angrily.
"A little, but you don't have to." He grinned, "As long as you got my name swimming in that head of yours, I'm feeling pretty content."
The blond was caught in between wanting to flip the red head off and scoffing but he settled for scowl instead as he folded his arms.
A familiar sight of the bus turned the corner and slowed to a stop in front of the blond who was caught in between getting on and forever erasing the red head from his head and staying behind.
"Fuck. Stupid bus got in the way." Demyx swore when his view was blocked by the huge vehicle. "Move you idiot, move!" he hissed and slapped the air in front of him angrily in an attempt to make the bus leave.
"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist Demy-kins." The blonde girl smirked and stared at the windows of the bus.
"MOVE!!" he screamed out and almost tore his hair out in anticipation.
The blond bit the inside of his lip as he reached into his pocket for his bus card and turned his back to the red head.
He never caught the look of disappointment flashing through those green eyes.
The blond stopped just as he had one foot onto the bus. He sucked in a breath and breathed out tiredly before he stepped off again and allowed the other people to get on first.
Axel looked just about the happiest man alive.
"It's Roxas by the way. So now you get to have my name swimming in that stupid head of yours." He spoke without turning around to face the other.
"Roxas. I like it." he smiled.
"Excuse me, are you getting on?" the bus driver, an old man in his forties asked as he leaned over his seat a little.
The blond made no move to acknowledge what the driver said and continued to stand in his spot with his eyes scowling at nothing in particular.
The driver finally shrugged, pushed the button for the door to close and drove off.
"It's moving." The dirty haired blond spoke almost breathlessly and waited for it to completely pass.
He almost screamed out in complete happiness when he saw that the boy was still there, "He's still there!! He's still there!!!" he grabbed onto his boyfriend's jacket and pulled him for a happy kiss.
Zexion wasn't big on public display of affection, but he was torn between kissing back and pushing him away.
He went along with the kiss anyway.
"Stupid Axel, you made me miss my bus." Roxas scowled half heartedly as he shoved his bus card back into his pocket.
The red head smirked, "Want me to make it up to you?"
"As if you had a choice?" he spoke as he turned around half way and quirked up an eyebrow at the red head as if daring him to back down now.
"How's about I take you to meet my-" he cut himself off when he saw his best friend eating his other friend's face off. "Ok, you know what? Why don't we just walk around and I treat you to something hm?" he asked as he stepped by the blond, swung an arm over the smaller boy's shoulder and led him away.
"I want three sticks of odango, two caramelized tempura and one sea salt ice cream bar."
The red head stared at the blond with shocked eyes, "Woo…so I guess the way to your heart is through your stomach?" he smirked.
The blond scoffed, "Get real. You'll need a map if you wanna get anywhere close to it." he retorted and brushed off the arm that hung around his shoulder.
Roxas didn't want to admit how natural it felt to have the red head's arm on his shoulder but he didn't shrug it off the second time that Axel tried.
"Ah, but you're saying that I could get somewhere close to it right?"
"Whatever."
He grinned and gave a side glance to his friends and gave them a thumbs' up before he continued to walk and talk with the blond.
Operation, make Axel find his true love, success. A complete success.
Demyx was feeling might proud of himself. And years later, he would bring up the subject of his brilliant master plan of how he got Axel and Roxas together.
And together, Axel and Roxas would stare at the dirty haired blond and say, "Bullshit."
Life is like a piano concerto. There will be the exciting parts and the slow parts, the loud parts and the soft parts.
It's horrible and it doesn't make sense if played in one parts each, but put it all together, you get a masterpiece.