Security in Sickness
"Roxas! It's you and me today!"
The cheerful, ever familiar voice outside of his room made Roxas wince. Now you're in trouble, whispered a little voice in his head. He irritably shook it away, but the motion just made his headache explode in further pain.
"Roxas. Are you awake?" There were two sharp knocks against his door.
Roxas contemplated not answering, just to see what his companion would do. But, at the next "Roxas?", he sighed and licked his lips, parting them to speak.
"'m awake..." he murmured, struggling to get his voice to an audible level. "You can come in." He turned his head and coughed into his pillow, swallowing against the pain in his throat.
The red-headed member of the Organization - and also Roxas's best friend - let himself into Roxas's room, stopping in the doorway. "... What's wrong with you?" Axel asked warily.
Roxas cracked his eyes open. "... Sick," he muttered, shivering.
Axel straightened and crossed the room, hand descending down upon Roxas's forehead. Vague moments of something like remembrance flickered into Roxas's consciousness before darting away again.
"How do you know to do that...?" Roxas mumbled, closing his eyes again.
"I don't really know," Axel admitted, removing his hand. "You're warm, though, I think. I'm not the best to tell. Do you have a thermometer?
"Probably in the first aid kit?" Roxas murmured.
"Alright, just a sec." Axel's footsteps moved away, the bathroom door opening.
Roxas didn't have a clue how he'd gotten sick in the first place. Okay... well, maybe it had something to do with the rainstorm he'd been out in, trying to find their target for a mission, but... being cold didn't actually make you cold, right? But being cold and wet... whispered the same little nagging voice in his head that had preempted trouble for him.
He sighed. He was miserable.
"Under the tongue," Axel said, far too cheerfully, as he returned with the thermometer and held it out to Roxas.
Roxas untangled his hand from the blankets, pushing them away slightly - he was so cold - to take the thermometer. He shoved it under his tongue and cuddled back down in his pillows, shivering harder from the air briefly touching his skin.
"You got yourself in bad, Roxas," Axel said, sounding a little condescending. "But, I guess this means you won't be accompanying me on the mission, so I have to tell Saïx you're... unfit for duty."
"Sorry," Roxas rasped around the thermometer.
Axel rolled his eyes. "Just be glad that you're too sick to tell him yourself. Be back before the reading's ready." With a whisk of a dark coat, he was gone out the door.
"I'm... so... cold..." Roxas mumbled, shivering as he curled up tighter underneath his blankets. "It's so cold..."
Axel shook down the mercury in the thermometer. "You've got a decent fever boiling there. It's no surprise, given that rainstorm you stupidly stayed out in."
"Thought I was fine..." Roxas mumbled, shivering violently. His head was pounding. He felt cold down to the core, a sore throat and all-around aches accompanying it. "I hate this..." he mumbled, tucking his face further under his blankets 'til all that was visible was his eyes and his hair.
Axel sighed. "Saïx nearly had my head when I told him like it's my fault. This bites," he said, idly fingering one of his fiery locks.
Roxas coughed, trying to have presence enough to glare. "Sorry to inconvenience you," he bit off as sarcastically as he could.
Axel waved a hand. "Apology accepted. Do you need anything?"
Roxas sighed. "... Maybe something, medicine."
"Got any potions?"
Roxas shook his head slightly. "Uh uh. Meant to get some at the start of the mission... Anyway, that's kind of injury and not illness?"
"Hmm." Axel frowned. "I don't really know. Never been sick since I became a Nobody. Funny that Nobodies can get sick, actually."
"No," Roxas muttered. "Not funny."
Axel huffed a breath and crossed his arms. "No. It's not. What was I thinking? I'm going to try and sniff out some medication." He waved his hand over his shoulder, a corridor of darkness appearing in the corner. "Anything else you want while I'm out?"
"I thought you had a mission," Roxas mumbled, although he wanted to say For you to come back. Axel'd been by his side for a long while and Roxas was quite happy with that; Axel was his best friend in the whole world. And someone there to distract you when you felt miserable was always good, especially if it was Axel.
Axel shrugged. "Hey, I am on a mission: getting my protégé better and back onto the streets." He grinned with his usual reckless abandon.
Roxas managed a weak smile. "Protégé..." he mumbled, letting his eyes slip closed. He wanted to talk with Axel, but his body was aching for more sleep. He'd only felt sick since waking up and it was approximately nine-fifteen a.m. and Roxas was officially tired of being sick.
"I'll be back as soon as possible," Axel's voice drifted to him, his voice subdued. "Try to get some rest until then, Roxas."
Roxas gave a brief hum of agreement before he was drifting again.
"Hey. Roxas."
There was something wet on his forehead. It was dripping into his eyes.
"Kid."
"... 'm not a kid," Roxas mumbled, voice thick with sleep. It was an argument that he had had with Axel several times, and also a point that all of the Organization, although mostly Xigbar, brought up regularly.
"Oh, I thought you were asleep."
Roxas peeled his eyes open, internally starting when he found bright blue-green eyes staring directly into his own, far too close.
Axel was crouched down next to his bed, his usual smile twisting his lips but there was something indiscernible beneath his eyes as well. Roxas didn't know what it was and, given his weird feelings occasionally when he felt healthy, he knew he wouldn't be able to figure Axel's out when he felt sick.
"Gotcha medicine." Axel stood up. "I'm really not sure if it'll help, but I doubt it'll hurt." He fiddled with the medicine for a moment before handing the correct dosage over to Roxas.
Roxas sat up enough so he wouldn't choke. The wet thing from his forehead fell and landed with a plunk onto his blankets. It was a wash-cloth, it seemed like. Cold, probably, given Roxas's forehead was freezing.
"How long have I been sleeping...?" he murmured, swallowing the medicine and then immediately burrowing back down in the covers. Or, trying to, at least, because Axel gripped his shoulder and prevented him from doing so. "What?" Roxas complained, squinting up at his elder companion.
Axel held out a bar of sea-salt ice cream.
Roxas stared at it blankly before laughing. "Axel..."
"You won't be coming to the clock tower and your temperature's too high, so you need to cool down," Axel said sternly.
Roxas reached out slowly with numb fingers. "... How long did you spend thinking up that argument?" he murmured, hesitantly licking the ice cream. He knew all of that. That his temperature was too high, but his mind was saying too freaking cold. He started to shiver harder almost instantaneously after he'd tasted the ice cream.
"Come on. I thought of it like that." He snapped his fingers. "Thought of it before I left, actually."
Roxas rolled his eyes, licking at the ice cream dully. He wasn't hungry. But it was good... good for fevers, anyway. He guessed.
Axel watched him for a minute before unzipping his coat. "Alright, move over there." He tossed the coat onto the chair, making for the bed.
"What...?" To be fair, Roxas felt so out of it to properly react, but his heart-rate did pick up when Axel pushed the blankets aside. "What are you..."
"You're cold. Being a Flurry of fire, I'm not. Simple solution," Axel replied, slipping under the blankets and sprawling out next to Roxas.
Roxas didn't have it in him to argue. He couldn't even stop shivering and even his ice cream was trembling between his fingers.
Axel hummed and sat up, leaning back against the headboard. "C'mere."
"What?"
Axel patted his chest and offered an arm.
Roxas frowned, ice cream dripping onto his fingers. "You're serious."
"Sure I am. You're cold. Now come on."
Roxas just stared at him for a moment longer, trying to clear through the fog in his brain long enough to form a good response for what Axel was proposing. But he couldn't come up with anything and his ice cream was just melting further as he shivered.
Axel sighed and grabbed Roxas's arm, pulling him back into the embrace of his arms.
"Axel- oh. You're hot." Despite thoughts of having a fever, that Axel had just crawled into bed with him, he pressed up as close to him as he could.
Axel laughed; Roxas could feel the vibrations through his chest. "Thank you," the redhead said seriously.
"Shut up," Roxas mumbled.
Axel continued to chuckle. His long arms easily circled Roxas's body, holding him loosely to his chest. "Better?"
"Yeah... Guess," he mumbled, trying to get comfortable and focus on his ice cream at the same time. Both were semi-impossible, given the circumstances. He was about to say something, to break the awkward silence, when-
Axel sneezed.
Roxas froze. "Not you, too." Axel being sick had a lot more sting to it for the Organization than Roxas being sick. Axel actually... did important things. He guessed.
"No," Axel said, rubbing his nose. "Your hair tickles. You've got bedhead."
"Oh. Sorry..." Roxas murmured, feeling embarrassed enough to blush and wishing he would; at least his face would have been warm.
"Well, I know what it's like, so I can't complain too much," Axel remarked. "Now I can't stay here, so eat your ice cream and go to sleep. I can handle the mission on my own."
"Sorry, Axel," he mumbled, resting his head back slightly.
"Mmm, not a problem. Not much of a problem," Axel amended, his breath ruffling the back of Roxas's hair.
Roxas cuddled down further, letting Axel's warmth and the faint scent of cinnamon lull him back into a sense of security: something he hadn't really felt since he'd first joined the Organization.
Because who doesn't want an Axel to cuddle with when you're sick? I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any related affiliates. All rights to their respective owners.
Love this pairing to death; I've forgotten how much I owe these boys for getting me into writing.
Thanks for reading and thank you kindly in advance if you take a moment to review! :)