Roxas can't hide a faint smile at his friend's embarrassment. It's not because he enjoys teasing him, although he does. But there's nothing about those last moments to tease about. Axel's last words were sappy, maybe, but they were his last words. Nothing about that had been funny.
He's quiet for a moment, listening. Back then, if he could glean any comprehensible explanation for Axel's choices, he'd put it down to selfishness, a dislike of complications, a sheer lack of ability to understand how hard it was not to know who you are, to miss other vital pieces besides the heart. And those were all part of it, he's pretty sure. But if there's one thing he has now that he didn't before, it's perspective. If he'd had an inkling of what awaited him, he'd still have moved forward. But Axel hadn't been wrong when he'd said that finding out the truth doesn't always work out for the best, even if it's necessary, and even if it's worth the pain, because sometimes there is no best—there's just the least worst.
Roxas had deserved the truth from the person he'd trusted the most. Axel shouldn't have lied. But the part of him that wants to be selfish, too, to turn his back on the worlds and just be happy with his best friend again understands why he did. And the part of him part of him that had awakened in Sora's heart knowing that the only friend he'd ever had given up everything for him has already forgiven him.
He lifts a hand and rests it on Axel's shoulder. "Being here is another chance for everything, right? You, me. Us being best friends." There's a lump in his throat, and he wonders if Axel can hear it. "I really missed you."
no subject
He's quiet for a moment, listening. Back then, if he could glean any comprehensible explanation for Axel's choices, he'd put it down to selfishness, a dislike of complications, a sheer lack of ability to understand how hard it was not to know who you are, to miss other vital pieces besides the heart. And those were all part of it, he's pretty sure. But if there's one thing he has now that he didn't before, it's perspective. If he'd had an inkling of what awaited him, he'd still have moved forward. But Axel hadn't been wrong when he'd said that finding out the truth doesn't always work out for the best, even if it's necessary, and even if it's worth the pain, because sometimes there is no best—there's just the least worst.
Roxas had deserved the truth from the person he'd trusted the most. Axel shouldn't have lied. But the part of him that wants to be selfish, too, to turn his back on the worlds and just be happy with his best friend again understands why he did. And the part of him part of him that had awakened in Sora's heart knowing that the only friend he'd ever had given up everything for him has already forgiven him.
He lifts a hand and rests it on Axel's shoulder. "Being here is another chance for everything, right? You, me. Us being best friends." There's a lump in his throat, and he wonders if Axel can hear it. "I really missed you."