
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/79227.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Kingdom_Hearts
  Relationship:
      Axel/Roxas, Axel/Sora
  Additional Tags:
      Foot_Fetish
  Stats:
      Published: 2010-04-10 Words: 2399
****** Learning to Share ******
by Emerald_Embers_(emeraldembers)
Summary
     It's weird, like any three-way relationship should be.
It couldn't be healthy, his letting Roxas walk around in his body from time to
time, but the alternative was unbearable. Sora didn't want to see Roxas
forgotten - even though the other boy was technically part of him it was
obvious in every single other way that they were different people. Sora could
imagine being forgotten and the idea upset him; and since Axel had basically...
It seemed wrong to say died, but wrong not to. Sacrificed was the only medium
that could mean disappeared while carrying the weight of 'died'. Axel had
sacrificed himself for them and it was the very least he could do to make sure
both of them kept existing and kept Axel's memory alive. Whatever the red-
haired man had been for the Organisation, whatever he had been in his life
beforehand, the dark parts stopped mattering in the end because Axel had felt.
Even if his heart had to have gone for him to be able to exist, he'd topped the
achievements of all the other Nobodies by having a genuine feeling.
Sharing Sora's heart had made Roxas mellow a bit, but he'd become sadder for it
too. Sad that he'd never shared a feeling with Axel or been able to - if only
they'd been able to have hearts, without destroying themselves or stealing
someone else's, if only...
Sora knew that whatever Roxas felt wasn't the sort of love he was used to. He
knew friendship love, knew it well - knew familial love, and the almost
desperate love for friends who may as well be soul mates - but with a heart and
his memories, Roxas' love for Axel was different to all that. It was kind of
embarrassing to see memories of Roxas and Axel doing things he'd only started
thinking about recently, remembering Axel's naked back and bowed head, a hand
on his waist for balance and one - one elsewhere, and Sora wasn't supposed to
think about that but the sounds Axel had made did weird things to his insides.
Roxas hadn't really felt at the time, but that had changed now and he wanted to
do it again, to kiss Axel in the middle of everything and say "I love you" and
mean it.
Axel's being gone wasn't fair, not to Roxas, and while Sora felt weird thinking
about anything like what they'd done he was sure he'd find someone he wanted to
do those things with someday. He wasn't so sure that even if Roxas were in full
control of his body that Roxas would be able to find someone else. And he'd
enjoyed things at the time, just not in the sort of way he wanted to now.
It was so easy like this to see how darkness could creep into people's hearts -
holding onto that feeling of life being unfair hurt but was almost natural to
do.
.
The first time he'd seen out of place shadows in the corner of his eyes he'd
thought little of it - had more or less assumed it was just his imagination,
even if it had left him feeling tense and apprehensive. The second time was
enough to have him scour the area with his keyblade, hoping and hoping that it
wasn't another heartless, Saix's words still resounding with him and freaking
him out even now, weeks later.
Still, he'd nearly leapt out of his skin when black gloved hands slipped around
his waist from behind and pulled him into a hug. "You remembered me. I'm
flattered."
Sora yelped before turning in - in - yeah, they were Axel's arms, they were
quite real, and what was going on?
"I'm as surprised as you, trust me," Axel replied with a grin that Sora
honestly couldn't identify as either meaning 'yep, I'm telling the truth' or
'trusting me is pretty much the last thing you should do, ever'. "A witch like
Maleficent I understand but... guess you must've really missed me, huh, kid?"
Sora was pretty much still hung up on staring, open-mouthed, and fighting the
tears that he was about ninety percent certain were Roxas' responsibility. And
even if he knew full well that doing so was a seriously bad idea, Roxas was
nudging him for a chance to come to the surface and Sora couldn't
conscientiously say no.
.
Honestly, he hadn't expected to wake up a day later underneath Axel on his
couch. At least he wasn't naked, even if it was pretty unsettling to open his
eyes while Axel's face was inches above his. "Huh?"
"Sora?" Axel looked as surprised as he felt. A little suspicious as well, as if
he wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't a weird trick Roxas was playing on
him.
"Uh huh," Sora replied, sitting up as soon as Axel gave him enough room and
folding his hands between his legs because, even if he wasn't naked, Roxas'
enjoyment of whatever he and Axel had been up to was pretty evident. "Did you
say something wrong?"
"We weren't talking," Axel replied with a grin edging away from confused into
lascivious. "Maybe he thinks we should get better acquainted?"
Okay, so the residual effects of Roxas taking over meant his body was quite
happy with that idea, and - ooh, oh, Axel was, apparently, a very good kisser,
but still, this - no.
Sora pushed Axel back, huffing at his own reluctance to do so. "I - I don't
really mind Roxas borrowing me," and that was still true, even if words over
this would be happening later, "But I don't really know you that well and
it's... weird."
Axel shrugged before sitting back on his haunches, and oh, looked like he had
enjoyed things too. "So what's there to do around here?"
Sora scratched the back of his head. "I've got some games and there's always
the beach if - if Kairi and Riku aren't around." Oops, hadn't given a minute's
thought to how he was going to break the news about Axel to them.
Axel raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I don't see me on a beach in broad
daylight, do you?"
"Uh?" Well, if he didn't want to leave the house much, that was handy. Double
oops, he hadn't thought about how his mom was going to react to a strange,
visibly older boy in the house. Who'd periodically be making out with him. Ack.
"Red hair, pale skin, sunburn. Got it memorised?"
"You get sunburn? Mr you're on fire Mr gets sunburn?" Sora couldn't help
giggling and the laughter just got worse when Axel glared.
"Fire and the sun are different things. For starters, one of them I can
control, the other I can't. Where're your games, then?" Axel help up a finger,
whether to stop Sora talking or himself it was hard to tell from the thoughtful
expression. "And your bathroom?"
.
The fact that Axel technically didn't exist proved surprisingly useful across
the fortnight. Eating for him seemed to be a hobby rather than a necessity, and
he could pop in and out of existence as he liked, which was beyond handy for
keeping him hidden. Riku had seemed a little suspicious at first that something
was off but seemed to have let any worries of his slide after enough uneventful
visits to the house - thanks in part to Sora and Roxas persuading Axel not to
play any tricks on the other boy. Life was... not normal, thank god, but at
least it wasn't completely crazy either apart from one mortifying moment when
Sora had found his bedside cabinet filled with wholesale sized boxes of lube
and condoms. He sure as anything didn't remember buying them, as himself or
Roxas, and confronting Axel about it revealed that yes, they were stolen, and
if he had something to say about it he'd have to do the shopping in future.
Roxas had yet to wake Sora up in the middle of anything worse than a make-out
session, probably so as not to try his luck, and even if Sora still felt a bit
weird about any not-kissing stuff it was nice enough. Funny too, in a silly
way, seeing Axel head into the bathroom whenever a heavy make-out session had
been interrupted. He probably ought to complain some way but... it didn't feel
wrong, just a bit strange.
As though he wasn't used to strangeness in all its splendour.
.
Sora woke up mid one kissing session and found out that not only was he kissing
back quite happily and easily, but Axel's kissing technique changed a little
bit after a quick falter. There was something in that idea he liked, the idea
of different kisses for him than for Roxas - and the way Axel held him was
slightly different too. Less possessive.
Little things kept popping up in this weird, weird little relationship the
three of them had that Sora hadn't expected - their different tastes, for
example. Roxas like sea-salt ice cream, fair enough - they all did - but he
also liked olives and anchovies, which Sora hated. Axel and Roxas thought that
was funny as anything though they'd only been cruel enough to order a pizza
with all Sora's pet hate toppings and wake him up in the middle of eating it
once.
The CD player had, after a lot of debate, been given away to Riku. Too many
arguments over taste and Sora really, really wasn't happy with Axel's method of
acquiring new CDs - had bullied him into giving them back by holding night time
sessions with Roxas to ransom. It was a strange, borderline domesticity.
.
Homework done for the third weekend, Sora had headed for his living room and
slumped on the sofa, legs hanging over the edge as Axel dutifully handed the
controller over once his character lost. It was quite a pleasant surprise when
Axel pulled his shoes and socks off, throwing them away to stink up the other
side of the room before starting to idly massage his feet while watching the
game. Whoever invented foot rubs was clearly a saint, whoever taught Axel to do
them the same. It was so easy to relax into the firm, confident touch, and he
wasn't really concentrating on the game at all when a jolt of electric pleasure
shot up his spine at Axel sucking on his big toe. Had Axel forgotten which of
them he was giving the foot rub to?
Axel let that foot go, picking up the second and rubbing it firmly, smirk in
his voice as he asked, "Like that, huh?"
"Uh," Sora began intelligently. "Yes."
Axel shifted so he could look up at Sora without straining his neck and smiled
knowingly, wickedly, as he sucked on the second foot's big toe.
Having woken up to Roxas' reactions to Axel's ministrations before, Sora was
pretty much familiar with arousal - just not... getting there. And, yeah. That
was good.
Axel put the second foot down and turned to trap Sora's legs between his own,
taking Sora's hands and stroking the palms with his thumbs. "Just in case
you've not worked it out yet, I'm not the 'I've started so I've got to finish'
type." Watching Axel's lips slip down his index finger pretty much silenced any
complaints Sora might have come up with but the thought was appreciated. "Say
no when it gets too weird."
Sora nodded, wondered briefly what 'too weird' could be defined as in his world
before all his thoughts switched to Axel's mouth sucking - and licking and
occasionally nipping this time too - each of his fingers in turn. And, yeah, he
wasn't completely familiar with what was going on between his legs but he knew
the basics and knew things Roxas had done, and he couldn't help thinking about
Axel's mouth being... elsewhere. And that thought alone was making him blush
like crazy.
Axel seemed to hesitate after the last finger as if deciding what to do next
and pulled Sora down into his lap, character on the television screen driving
merrily off a cliff while Axel lay back on the floor and brought Sora with him.
It was all so new and different and just, just good, and rubbing against Axel
while they kissed was seriously good too, and suddenly he completely understood
why Roxas had wished repeatedly before they got Axel back that he'd done things
like this face to face. Despite everything... no, that wasn't the word, it
was... it was really surprising, but Axel was beautiful like this, looked
vulnerable for once, the smart-assed comments gone out the window and Sora felt
in his heart something for Axel that hadn't been put there by Roxas as he
ground his hips against the red-haired man's, too shy to use his hands. He
couldn't say "I love you", knew that was for Roxas to do, but saying Axel's
name over and over as his body tensed up didn't feel like a lesser substitute.
Axel's arms slid around his shoulders as he started jerking and held tight,
stroking his hair and kissing away any sounds he made, and Sora only caught the
tail-end of whatever Axel said before getting up unsteadily to head to the
bathroom; "both of you".
.
Axel seemed decidedly more relaxed around the house after that incident; not
carelessly so, but enough that he wasn't giving Sora five metres personal space
in all directions half the time. In all fairness, keeping his distance from
either of them wouldn't be that strange given he'd lost fights to both of them
several times, but that said, his very existence seemed worrying tenuous. If
remembering him had brought him back, none of them could afford to forget him -
not when they knew his continuing to live might be dependent on memories.
Not so strange, then, for Sora to write Axel's name down wherever he could
without it attracting the wrong sort of attention. Roxas didn't think it that
smart given that when he'd started disappearing it wasn't just people that
forgot him; photos he'd been in had... changed.
But Sora had no issues in living this co-dependent life. If he was living in a
way geared to let his friends live, what better was there in the world? How
could you top helping other people live as a purpose?
.
Besides, even if they weren't meant to exist, Roxas and Axel had. Did. And Sora
could quite happily do most anything to keep Axel looking at them, both of
them, like that.
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