Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Stop," a deep echoing voice ordered. The sound trailed around the room as a tall, gangly figure wiggled around on the examination table, emitting a string of high pitched, frantic giggles. Large hands tried to pin the pale naked body to table but the other was abnormally strong and pushed him away playfully, continuing the joyful noise. "Stop moving!" the voice ordered again and the other panted as its breath tried to catch up.

"I can't! Your hands are freezing!" the body said between laughs and the booming voice sighed, stepping away. The thin form sat up and looked down at itself. Long, lean legs attached to working feet and wiggling toes, check. Hips, spine and a relatively well toned abdomen, check. Long arms with wide palms and thin fingers, check. He…was a he, he noticed. He was okay with that, at least he didn't have two genders like some others, but that was neither here nor there. The only problem he had was that his hair was white. All of it was. Not even white, but a glittering platinum. "Can I have a mirror?" he asked the other voice.

The man attached to the voice was obviously aged, yet his long hair retained its own pale blonde color. His bright copper eyes rolled in their sockets as he sighed with exasperation and began the search for the other form's request. This was Ansem, the naked figure registered. He had heard about him often enough but this was the first time he had seen the man with his own eyes. A few drawers of a metal desk slammed closed as Ansem dug around their contents. He seemed energetic enough; the years must have been good to him. After a few minutes of searching, the man found a mirror and went back to the table, handing it over to the figure.

"Ooo, I turned out pretty good, didn't I?" the figure asked as he examined his face. He ran a finger down the bridge of his strong nose and over his sharp jaw. He grinned at himself and found that he had all of his teeth behind his lips. His canines through, might be a little scary, they were a little too long, a little too pointy, but he chocked it up to his Totem. His eyes were colorless, just like his hair. "You didn't want to pick out a color?" he asked Ansem curiously.

"You can when we get to that point. But if you keep moving around we won't make any progress. I still need to check you," he answered calmly, pulling on a new pair of examining gloves, and the naked figure handed the mirror to him, laying back. He snorted back his laugh when Ansem's hands touched him again, and tried not to wiggle around away from their icy touch.

The older man poked and prodded at his skin, pressing into his gut to make sure all of his organs were there and could feel them working away like they were supposed to. The figure's initial examination of his reflexes showed that they were fine, and his eyes dilated properly. He had all the proper holes formed for various bodily functions and his genitals were mature enough as well with the proper amount of hair in all the right places. Ansem snapped his fingers next to the figure's sensitive ears and the corner his eyes twitched with the sound, trying not to flinch away.

"Stand up," the man ordered and the figure did as he was told; standing on wobbly legs and feeling the hard flooring under the pads of his virgin feet. He could feel every piece of grit under his skin, which was saying a lot because the room was kept incredibly clean and sterile. He wiggled his toes again and the flexed his hands. He would have to get used to thumbs. Ansem moved around him with a contemplating face, feeling his chest and back, making sure all the muscles were developed alright. He pushed around the figure's thighs and calves, deeming them worthy as well. "Arms out," he said and the figure held them out, making a line with his shoulders. Ansem kneaded around the limbs and the armpits carefully, taking mental notes. He took the hands and ran the joints under his thumbs, feeling their form. After he was finished he patted the figure's shoulder and gave him a curt smile.

"All done?" the figure asked and Ansem nodded.

"Your training will begin in the morning, you need to pick a Charge from the Catalogue and I'll help you get set up with your hair and eye color if that suits you. When we're ready to do that, we'll do your dental, but until then, don't eat anything too hard."

"Yes'sir!" the figure said enthusiastically and grinned at him.

The worst part about living in Radiant Garden was that it was in fact, a radiant garden. Not that Roxas had a problem with plants, quite the contrary, he just hated the insects. He couldn't escape the flies. There was always at least one buzzing around his house looking to land on him when he least expected and he would hit himself in the face trying to get it away. The city itself though, was quite beautiful. Cliffside houses perched next to parks and groves of trees, rivers flowing freely and out the city walls turning into waterfalls, as well as anything one would need found in the city center behind a large crystalline rock formation. The schools, libraries, civil services, shopping, everything was tucked in the middle, while the people lived outside and looked in. The most important thing to Roxas though, was the school or rather, the college.

The only places in the city center that housed people were the hotels, and the college. The commuters to the school were few and far between outside of the staff and the college had built itself an enormous set of dormitories to keep it that way. The short blonde had already been attending classes there for two years but this year, his brother Sora was starting with him and as luck would have it, they were roommates, just as they were at home. Roxas groaned as he batted another fly away, apparently nowhere in the city was immune to their annoying charms.

"Maybe we should put up a fly strip," Sora said as he opened another box of his things. Roxas shook his head and plugged in a lamp.

"Not like it'd do any good, there's just so many."

"Not really, no one else ever seems to be bothered by them, just us. Maybe we smell like feet or something."

"I think after so many years, someone would've said something if that were the case," the blonde said and laughed.

"Yeah maybe," the brunette grinned. There was a frantic banging on their door and Roxas leaned over and turned the knob, letting it fall open by itself. It was pushed open by a girl who was more Sora's friend than she was Roxas'. Wine colored hair blew through the door as Kairi rushed in and tackled into Sora, the brunette grunted against her sudden weight.

"SoraSoraSoraSora!" she chattered excitedly with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Whatwhatwhatwhat?" Sora yelled back as he tried to calm her.

"Our English Lit professor died!" she said and the boy's mouth dropped open.

"Classes haven't even started! What happened?" he asked. Roxas watched the scene with raised brows in surprise.

"He hit a deer on the highway leaving the city, apparently," she said and held up a piece of paper. Sora took it from her and his eyes widened. It was an e-mail from the school dated earlier in the week telling what happened.

"Holy crap," he said and looked to Roxas. "What's going to happen now?"

"Hell if I know, they'll probably find a replacement for him though. Which is sort of an okay thing. I mean, it sucks the guy died but at the same time at least you don't have to get used to a whole new professor halfway through the semester," the blonde offered. Sora nodded, Kairi huffed.

"Damn, I heard he was nice, too. I hope we don't get a shitty sub," she said and crossed her arms. She startled as a fly landed just above her brow and she shooed it away. "Ah well, did you guys need a hand? Namine and I are just about finished with our room."

"That'd be awesome, I'm so slow," Sora said and shoved his hands back in his box.

"I have all my stuff done, I'm going to go skulk around and see what I can see," Roxas said and patted his pockets, making sure he had his keys before leaving. He and Sora's parents had left about an hour earlier with tears in their eyes; sputtering words of endearment and sappy things he had heard before when he had first started school. That was the way things were in Radiant Garden though. People were born there, grew up there, went to school there, and became successful there before heading out of the city to the rest of the world. Some families, like his own stayed there simply because, well, why leave? The air was clean and fresh, the water unpolluted, and the people were always kind enough to one another making crime a non-issue. Everyone had proud doting parents and were given the best of what their families could afford. Roxas pushed the metal doors open and stepped out into the courtyard in the middle of the campus.

He knew most of the people that went to the college by this point, except for the freshmen that is, and he saw some familiar faces trotting around and socializing with one another. He had his own little group of friends and it was until this year that he bunked with his long time pal, Hayner. He assumed Hayner would be rooming with Pence now that he was at odds, and headed for the East dorm where the chubby photographer tended to stay. The dormitories were separated with the girls in the North and South and the guys in the East and West. The academic building, or rather, cluster of buildings was on the far end of the campus and there was a library and a few other facilities near it as well.

Roxas was a Genetics major as strange as it sounded, and this would be his first year taking classes that actually pertained to his area of interest. He loved facts. Learning the cold hard details about organic compounds and the way the world's organisms were formed is what he loved to deal with. He found security knowing the weird little details that other people didn't, and reveled when he could confuse people with whatever he was talking about. But mostly, he hoped to do his own research at some point. He wanted to conquer the human genome and help solve the riddles surrounding all the genetic diseases and problems that faced modern society. At lofty as it was, it was still a goal, and he hoped to achieve it some day. He had prepared himself to be in school until his thirties, getting his doctorate in the field and gaining as much knowledge as he could before moving forward on his own.

He was excited to start his classes. He had heard that they got a new Genetics teacher over the summer who was apparently extremely versed in the field. He hoped to shake the person's hand and absorb the entirety of their mind through osmosis, so he could skip the process of the next ten years and get right to the good stuff. Alas, that was an impossible dream, but he wished it all the same. He started to daydream about the prospects of his future success as his feet continued forward on auto-pilot. The concrete path through the courtyard was relatively empty and he weaved around the few bodies that were there in a daze, until he collided into a hard chest. The person he ran into was a man, and he barked out a yelp in surprise, dropping an armload of books and papers. Roxas gasped and his attention snapped to the person in front of him.

"I'm so sorry!" he apologized quickly and bent to help the man pick up his things.

"No no, don't apologize, I wasn't paying much attention either," came a calm and gentle voice. A pale hand reached out and started picking up the tomes as well and Roxas' eyes traveled up the arm to the man's face. He froze at his appearance. The best way he could think to describe the features was…otherworldly. Gossamer silver hair that feathered away from delicate almost feminine features fell to his shoulders. His face was a little bit Asian and was obviously diluted to some degree but his eyes were the most prominent thing about him. They were a bright teal, almond shaped and framed in long dark eyelashes. Roxas had never seen anyone with such strange features before, but remembered his manners and forced his eyes away from his face to focus on the books. Once everything was safely tucked in the man's arms again they stood and he held out his hand to the blonde. Roxas shook it and gave him a nervous smile.

"Sorry again," he apologized and the man smiled back at him before shaking his head. Roxas caught a glimpse of a piece of hair behind the man's ear that was wrapped in a tube of light blue thread and a silver charm hanging from the bottom of the tail made a soft 'clink' with the movement.

"No problem," he said. "You wouldn't happen to know where the Administration Building is would you?"

"Uh… yeah it's behind the North dorm," the blonde said and pointed in its general direction. The man's face followed his point and nodded again.

"Thank you. Are you taking English Literature this semester? Will I see you in class?" he asked. The blonde raised a brow at him.

"No. I already took it my freshman year. Can I ask why?"

"I'm Professor Leigh's replacement," he said simply. It took a moment for Roxas to realize what he was talking about. Professor Leigh was the man who had died.

"Oh, well my brother is taking that class this semester, so if you see Sora, you can give him extra homework," Roxas added and grinned. The professor laughed; a light and airy sound.

"I'll do that," he said. "I'll see you around, thank you again." The man left with a light wave and a smile, heading in the direction he was pointed towards. Roxas watched him leave with his brows pushed together lightly in thought. Everything he could take in about the man was… strange. He was human, that much was sure, and Roxas didn't believe in the occult, but it seemed like he had something a little extra. Even now, watching him walk away, it was weird. He seemed a little extra…graceful? Ethereal? Roxas couldn't put his finger on it exactly, but he decided he would figure out more data when Sora started his class. The brunette was sure to notice too. Roxas pushed the ideas into the back of his mind and continued on towards Hayner and Pence's dorm.

He wandered the halls of the dorm until he could find someone who knew Hayner and ask where he was. He cursed their terrible communication skills under his breath, as he never asked what the other blonde's room number was. As luck would have it, it was on the top floor and Roxas grumbled as he made his way up three flights of steps. He meandered through the halls, listening for familiar voices.

"—lighting. Sorry, but you can move if you hate it so much," Pence said and Roxas knocked on their door, interrupting their conversation further. He stepped inside and found most of the room still halfway to being packed up. Hardly anything was in its place and the furniture was in weird angles as they had been moving it all around.

"Hey Rox," the two friends greeted in tandem.

"Having problems?" he asked and gave them a lopsided smile.

"Pence is just being difficult, I had said specifically I wanted a room on the bottom floor, but nooo…" Hayner said mockingly.

"And Hayner is being too uptight about stairs. I made it clear I needed the lighting in this room for my projects," Pence said and gave Roxas a weak shrug.

"Hayner stop being a dick," the blonde said and the other blonde, the taller one, gave him a scowl.

"Easy for you to say, you got the room you wanted. Apparently I'm just dust in the wind," he added.

"Get over it; you knew Sora was going to room with me when I told you he was going to go to school here. It's done."

"Feh…" the taller blonde said and dismissed him with a wave. "Go on, run back to your comfy bottom floor room, while I'll waste away here, trying to get up the damn steps every day."

"You're making it sound like you're morbidly obese or something," Pence added and started to shove his desk into place.

"Well I was going to offer to help you guys get settled but if you're going to be an ass about it…" Roxas said to Hayner. Pence turned to him.

"Can you help me loft my bed?" The blonde nodded and crouched on the floor, looking for the latch that released the bed frame from its posts so they could lift it up and put it in the highest notch. Hayner grumbled and went about shoving a dresser around until it was where he wanted it. Their room, in addition to every other dorm on campus, was relatively small. Some had two separate closets of miniscule size, and some had one giant closet where the inhabitants would have to share either side. The best part about the dormitory setup though, was that in between every other dorm was a Jack and Jill bathroom setup. Meaning, there were no communal showers there, and only four people to a shower and toilet with access to two sinks. It was a blessing.

Once everything was in its place and the boxes were collapsed and tucked away, Roxas bid his farewells and made his way back towards his own room. He hadn't realized it had gotten so late. The lamps in the courtyard had turned on and it was nearly pitch black out otherwise. He inhaled the night air and smiled. It was peaceful, just how he liked it. He swatted a fly away as he walked along and passed by the few people that were milling about uttering a hello and the occasional wave in their direction. Classes started in the morning and he was excited to get to sleep and start the semester off right, so he hurried back quickly. Sora smiled at him when he entered their room.

"Namine says 'hi,'" the brunette said. Roxas nodded. Namine was a quiet girl, one that didn't really garner much attention from anyone. She usually spent her days drawing by herself and didn't seem to have many friends. She was a year older than Sora and that also made her a year younger than Roxas. She was one of the few additional friends the blonde had made after high school. Olette was another but he knew her some before he graduated which made it easier. Namine on the other hand, had pretty much appeared out of nowhere to him and met him his sophomore year in college, claiming they had an art class together in high school. Roxas took her word for it.

"When did she drop by?" he asked his brother.

"Oh like… five-ish or something? I don't remember exactly."

"Okay. Hey, I met your English Lit professor. The new one."

"Yeah?" Sora turned in his desk chair, away from his laptop to face the blonde. "What was he like?"

"He was… young. Very young and weird looking, you have to see it. He was nice though."

"Weird looking? Oh god does he have some weird mole I'm going to stare at all semester?" the brunette asked with a horrified face, Roxas laughed.

"No, but he isn't from around here, that's for sure."

"Oh… interesting. How do you figure?"

"I can't really describe it, I'm not good with words like that, you know," Roxas said and moved across the room to plop in his desk chair. He opened his laptop and turned it on. "You'll see him tomorrow though and you'll get the idea. Tell me more about him when you get back though, I'm really curious."

"M'kay."

Roxas' Genetics professor was late to the lecture hall. The blonde scanned the scant number of people in his class. They all looked as bored as he was while they waited. The teacher was almost twenty minutes late to their three hour class, and Roxas hoped that it was because it was a new environment for the professor and not because he was irresponsible. The great minds of the world shouldn't be late to teach the awaiting masses, he felt. Maybe the professor was a doddering old person, rich with lifetime's worth of knowledge to share with him. He could only hope. Someone across the room groaned and complained about the wait and Roxas couldn't help but agree. The door flew open as a leg kicked it inward and there was a mirthful voice apologizing to them. Everyone startled and focused at the door.

"Sorry sorry everyone! I missed my bus!" the voice called and in walked the professor hefting a large book bag, someone who Roxas felt shouldn't be teaching just based on his appearance.

He was tall, thin, and much too young. Roxas furrowed his brows into a glare at his choice of clothing, pieces of which he had never seen before but they were all completely unprofessional. The blonde himself dressed casually, usually with jeans and a nice shirt, but he was the student, not the professor. This man however, decided that it would be fine to parade around in brightly colored obnoxious accessories and weave beads and charms into his unruly crimson hair. He wore a silkscreened bright green t-shirt that clung to his frame and left no room for interpretation in terms of how built he was. In addition to the plethora of colorful bands and bracelets on his arms, he also wore several gaudy rings, at least a dozen earrings and a pair of thin framed glasses on his nose. The glasses themselves had to have been merely for show because there was no way that anyone could use blue lenses the size of quarters to see efficiently. At least he wore a normal looking black belt to hold up his strange black pants. The fabric of the lower garment hugged his thighs all the way down until about his knees, where there was excess fabric billowing out. The extra, was belted to his calves in regular increments by other brightly colored bands all the way down to his feet, where black and green tennis shoes with pink stars resided. Roxas didn't even catch his face, he was so distracted by the clothing and the man was quick to walk to the front of the room and start writing on the whiteboard.

His arm moved quickly and efficiently as he wrote his name on the board, his bracelets jingling with the movements. His lettering was neat and precise, almost like he was typing rather than writing freehand. He flicked his hand through his wild hair, pulling a few strands from underneath his collar. The hair itself was the brightest shade of red Roxas could imagine. It fell back in random choppy pieces to his shoulder blades and the blonde felt the only reason they didn't stick up all over the place like a porcupine was the fact that there was an entire arts and craft shop woven through the strands. Colorful glass beads, charms and the occasional tiny bell made light plinking sounds as he moved. Finally, he turned with a wide smile for the class, eyes squeezed shut happily. He kept the hair behind his ears and Roxas could see a brightly woven tail of hair, much like the English Lit professor's behind his ear with another charm dangling from it. The blonde was confused.

"Hello everyone, my name is Axel Borgerson, and I will be your source of knowledge for the next sixteen weeks," he said calmly but with a joyful inflection. He eased his eyes open and the blonde squinted at the startling color of his eyes. They had to be contacts; they were too bright, too green, too…unnatural. Almost a chartreuse. Did he pluck his eyebrows? The blonde was blown away at the entire package, he raised his hand and Mr. Borgerson raised his brows at him. "Yeeees?" he asked with a persisting smile.

"I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but are you serious?" the blonde asked in annoyance. He couldn't believe this is what he was getting. The man was a veritable freak, for sure. He had tattoos under his eyes! What normal person does that? He couldn't even have been old enough to teach this class let alone pass judgment on their grades. He glanced around the room and everyone seemed entranced by him even though he had only been in the room for three minutes. Roxas couldn't believe it. He would have to complain to the Administration if this man proved to be as useless as he looked.

"Oh I'm quite serious," Mr. Borgerson responded nicely. "Why do you ask?"

"You don't look like you're old enough to be here," the blonde blurted grumpily.

"Well… I am. I'm twenty eight. Ten years of schooling is what tells me I'm allowed to be here. If that's an issue for you, then feel free to drop my class, though if you did that, you wouldn't be able to stay here since there isn't another one for you to take so it's your choice. I promise I'm not as crazy as I look but I can't force you to change your opinion. Any other questions?" he asked and scanned the room. Hands flew up and he called on a brunette girl.

"Where did you get your pants?" she asked and her group of friends giggled at her.

"The store," he answered and smiled. They all laughed, except for Roxas. He was upset but what the man had said was right, he couldn't really drop his class without switching schools. Mr. Borgerson moved onto the next question.

"Is that really your natural hair color?" someone else asked.

"Nope, next?"

"Where did you graduate from?"

"Here, actually. Next? No more?" he asked as all the hands stayed on the desks. "Perfect, the first order of business is the syllabus, yeah?" he asked, mostly to himself and opened his bag, pulling out a fat folder and rustling through the papers inside. He handed off a small stack to the person in front who proceeded to pass them around. Roxas was the last to receive one and he held out the extras for Mr. Borgerson to collect. The man jogged to the back of the room where he was sitting and took the papers from him with a grin. The blonde was startled by his teeth but hoped he didn't appear to be. The man's canines were a little too long, almost like he had watched too many vampire movies and his mouth grew to accommodate his fandom. It was…unsettling. Roxas watched him skitter back to the front of the class before looking at the syllabus. It was generic enough, with the class number and basic information as well as the man's name.

"The biggest issue I have," the professor started when he reached the front again, "is that I don't have an office here. So that means, if any of you need help with the material you'll have to find me at my home. That is, if no one else can help you. Regardless, I already have approval from the Administration to tutor you all in my residence if you so choose. I'm actually only here part time and am a student myself still, working on my doctorate so we all can be study buddies if you want," he said with a smile. "You can drop by any time during the week but call me if you want extra on the weekends. I may even cook for you if you catch me at the right time," he continued. "All my contact information is on the next page for you all so feel free to ask me anything. Other than that, everything else is pretty boring. I included a calendar with all the approximate test dates and things on there for you, what I expect of you, policies, and how I grade. Any questions? And yes, I'm serious," he added casting an unnatural eye to Roxas. The blonde scowled in response.

"Well! I think we'll take it easy today but I want to know a bit about everyone since it's such a small class," he continued. The class had a dozen people in it and Roxas liked it that way. Mr. Borgerson stuffed his hand in his bag again and pulled out a pile of note cards. He handed the stack to the person in front and the same process of handing them back went about. "On these cards, I want you to write your names, what you're interested in, why you want to study Genetics, and some contact information. I only want phone numbers simply because I get concerned if people miss my class because it really throws you behind if you miss one. I mean, it's a three hour lecture, people, and one day a week, we're going to cover a lot very quickly so you need to be here. It's not optional. Take two cards and make a name tag with one for me, I'm terrible with names." Everyone did as they were told and soon names started to appear for the faces Roxas didn't recognize. Mr. Borgerson flipped through his folder of papers again and walked up and down the aisle, doing roll call according to the placards.

"Can we come to your house, just because?" another girl asked. The professor hesitated, looking thoughtful.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well…okay I'm just going to say it, you don't look normal and I'm really curious to see how you live," she admitted and blushed. The professor laughed; a confident and velvety sound. Roxas agreed with the girl, he was more than a little curious himself but wasn't so bold as to ask so blatantly.

"Well, I live in a triplex outside the city center. I have my own floor and live with two other professors from here, believe it or not. They're both very good friends of mine and we argue about who gets to use the laundry first, just like everyone else," he said and there were a few polite chuckles at the bad joke. "But I suppose I can let you all have a day to see my home if it'll get you to feel comfortable around me. I don't want to intimidate you all and cause you to not ask for help when you really need it seeing as how the tutoring will have to be set up. Just call and give me at least an hour to clean things up before you come." There were some nods. Roxas simply folded his arms over his chest.

"Why can't you just meet us in the library?" the blonde asked.

"Like I said, I'm a student myself, and all of my resources are in my home, the most important of which is my computer. I don't have a laptop to take with me to the library otherwise, I would. I don't even have a car to drive back and forth with."

So get one, Roxas thought angrily to himself. He wasn't thrilled with the way things were working out with this class. He had such high expectations of what it was going to be like and here it was nothing like what he wanted. His professor, his fountain of knowledge, his rock and pillar to stand on was supposed to be older, normal, and have a full time job. This man was none of those things. He was only eight years older than the blonde for crying out loud! How was he expecting everyone to take him seriously?

"So! Now that that's cleared up, I want you all to call me Axel. It makes me feel really old when anyone calls me 'Mr.'"

"What nationality are you?" a younger guy down in front asked.

"I'm Swedish. There are some other Scandinavian countries tossed in there but I'm mostly Swedish. That's where my genetic donors are from anyway," he added and everyone chuckled with the way he referenced his parents. Roxas smirked. He could attribute the man's height to his genetics then. He wondered what his natural hair color was if he was really Scandinavian but decided it wasn't necessary information.

"Is that Winnie the Pooh on your bracelet?" a girl asked, leaning forward in her seat and squinting at him. Axel looked at his wrist and nodded with a smile.

"Yep. Personally, my favorite is Tigger, but Pooh is just as nice," he said and pushed his frames up his nose with a finger. "Tigger and I are pals; we have a lot in common. He likes tigers, I like tigers. He's the only one, I'm the only me. He has a lot of energy, and I drink a lot of coffee," he smiled. The girl who asked giggled. "Did everyone finish their cards?" he asked and a lot of people looked surprised, having been distracted by the impromptu Q&A. They started scribbling down the information quickly. "Finish them, and hand them back please, but I'll need the name cards for at least a couple weeks so hang onto those." Roxas jotted the information down. The man wasn't asking for much, simply a phone number, a name, and some meaningless personal opinions, so he felt safe enough to hand it over when he was finished. Axel didn't give him the impression that he was out to steal their identities.

The class progressed at a slow pace, everyone making light get-to-know you conversation with the man and a lot of people dumped some brief histories of who they were on him in response. Axel was full of smiles and listened intently to everyone, absorbing the information. Roxas sat back and glowered at him. He would've preferred if they had gotten on with the lectures and the proper knowledge but he couldn't do much to change it. Finally, he was the last one to say anything about himself and the professor smiled at him expectantly.

"Did you have anything to share…" he trailed as he squinted at the blonde's name card for a moment, "Roxas?"

"Not really," the blonde said. Everyone turned to him and he suddenly felt like he had committed a mortal sin.

"That's perfectly fine, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

"I'm just saving you all from a boring generic story, is all," Roxas added and waved a hand dismissively.

"Fantastic. If that's all, I'll see everyone next week. Start reading chapter one and take some notes because that's where we're starting. It's best to start from the beginning, yes?" Axel said and smiled brightly. Everyone murmured their goodbyes and Roxas hefted his messenger bag full of supplies over his shoulder. He was the last to leave. "Roxas?" the professor stopped him as he made his way to the door. The blonde went to his desk, trying to look polite and not annoyed that he couldn't get away quick enough.

"Yeah?"

"No hard feelings?" he asked and extended his hand to the blonde. Roxas looked at it and took in all the colorful bands and metal rings adorned on it and his arm. He took it and gave him a firm handshake, the professor reciprocating with a tight squeeze.

"Yeah," the blonde added and Axel smiled.

"Good. I'm glad. See you next week."