These drabbles contain slash between Roxas and Sora. If this offends you, please turn back now. I respect any desires not to read such material and wish no offense; therefore, you have been warned about the potentially offensive content of this story. Thanks for your understanding!
17: A pillowcase artist (Sequel to the Cancer is growing inside)
Genre: Angst, romance
Rating: K+
Pairing: Roxas/Sora
I can't see that thief that lives inside of your head
But I can be some courage at the side of your bed
I don't know what's happening and I can't pretend
But I can be your
Our Lady Peace - Thief
Roxas looked nearly peaceful while sleeping. With his eyes closed, Sandman's magical sand in his eyelashes and almost aware of the fact that all the nightmares only happened in his own mind. Sora could see a small stubble on the young man's face. Roxas' lips were slightly open and he breathed steam against the frozen window; the midwinter was hiding behind it.
Sora curled up under his warm blanket. He turned so that he could stare at his husband better; something inside his chest ached painfully and he gripped his pillow harder. He could almost taste blood as he bit his lower lip and tried not to cry. He pressed his hand against his stomach and his cold fingers on his sensitive skin sent shivers down his spine.
"Sora," Roxas muttered sleepily. Sora, who was lying on the edge of the bed as far from his husband as possible, tensed. He closed his eyes quickly and buried his head into his pillow. Roxas sneered quietly and lifted his head to see the man who was pretending to sleep beside him. Sora's breath was far too thick for him to be really asleep.
When the silence had continued for a short eternity, Sora opened his eyes again. He noticed that Roxas had fallen asleep already. A worried wrinkle between Roxas' eyebrows had become clearer, but Sora couldn't see it in the dark room. He looked at his husband's reddish lips, stubble and fair hair.
Sora bit the inside of his cheek. And Roxas opened his eyes.
"Do you watch me when I try to sleep?"
The silence followed the question again. Roxas drew flowers on his pillowcase, only invisible outlines, of course. And Sora tried to swallow his uncertainty, his muscles were still tense. He wondered why he was still ready to run away. "No... Of course not."
Roxas smiled and repeated Sora's answer with kind laughter in his voice, "Yes, yes, yes, yes. Of course you don't."
Sora was lucky that the moon wasn't bright that night. The red on his cheeks was swallowed by darkness; he felt it but he hoped that Roxas wouldn't notice it as well. Roxas' finger was still drawing flowers on the pillowcase.
"They're orange, aren't they?" Sora asked because he wanted to change the subject.
"No, they're yellow," Roxas replied, reluctant to think about something else.
"Like the sun?"
"Yeah. Just like the sun."
Sora fell silent and kept watching as Roxas continued drawing. He imagined those four yellow flowers in his mind. When Roxas didn't say anything else, Sora sat up. He pressed his hand on his husband's pillow, messed up the picture and wiped the imaginary paint on his shirt. Roxas stopped and stared forward but he still didn't say anything.
"I'm... I'm sorry for dying." Sora looked at the ceiling and coughed.
"It's okay," Roxas finally answered; Sora winced quietly because he knew it was okay, that Roxas had accepted it a long time ago. Because he couldn't accept it himself.
"I was watching you."
"I know."
"And there's nothing wrong with yellow."
"I was just kidding. They were orange after all."
"Yes, I knew it."
A/N: Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and the second most common in women, is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually.