The date was doomed from the very beginning.

Axel could see this immediately as he watched the blonde couple and their awkward conversation. He figured it was more of a one-sided conversation anyway, as, instead of listening to the man's awkward words, the woman was looking across the room with her chin in her hands.

Running his hands through his flaming red spikes, Axel thought about what it could possibly be that was so boring to her. It definitely couldn't be the setting – it was perfectly romantic, with candles flickering in the dark setting, as soft, classical music played in the background.

And it definitely couldn't be the man taking her out, he figured, as he watched the blonde man's features.

"New table! You got this one, Ax?" Someone said behind him, and he turned to face his best friend and co-worker, Demyx.

"Yeah, it's all mine." Axel grinned back, deciding one thing. She may not have wanted him, but someone else did. And that someone may have been a tall, lanky redhead with spiky hair and a mischievous smirk.

"You're not plotting, are you..." Demyx asked suspiciously with a smile.

"Me, plotting? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Course not, Ax." The blonde rolled his eyes with a smile, touching his hair to make sure it was all in place. "Just don't do anything mean, yeah?"

"Mean? She's the one who's being mean... you'd think that if they went out on a date together, she'd seem like she's interested!"

"Come on... maybe she just got guilt tripped into it? She could be really nice!" Demyx tried to reason, being his usual nice self.

"I bet, Dem."

"Just... you know how it went wrong last time!"

Axel shrugged it off with a bashful smile and walked off to the table where the couple were browsing at their menus.

"Good evening, I'm Axel, and I'm going to be your waiter for this evening." He gave the two a polite smile before asking without thinking it through properly, "may I ask what your names are?"

"I'm Roxas," the blonde man said happily.

"Namine." The woman said, staring at the redhead strangely while adjusting the strap of her white dress.

"Nice to meet you both. Are you ready to order?"

"Yep." Namine stated bluntly before Roxas had a chance to say anything.

...

"She's nice, isn't she?" Demyx said with a 'told you so' expression, and Axel raised his eyebrows.

"No, not really." Axel sighed. "Her name's Namine. And his is Roxas."

"You asked...?"

"Yeah, it sort of... slipped out." He pursed his lips for a moment. "Didn't make things awkward though, so that was lucky."

"Yeah..." Demyx smiled. "Axel and Roxas. Sounds cute."

"Sounds cute? Have you seen him? He's cuter than..." The redhead exclaimed before trailing off into thought. "...Than kittens!"

"Pfft, tacky." Demyx laughed, "At least you'll finally have a boyfriend! Then we can go on double dates and gossip about our boyfriends, just like those people on TV!"

"Dem, they're women. We still won't be like them." Axel pointed out with a smirk.

"Oh, you might! You'll be so head-over-heels with them that you'll pretty much be a girl."

"You're just jealous 'cause I'm manlier than you."

The friendly banter continued for almost twenty minutes before Roxas' and Namine's meals were ready for them.

...

While the not-so-happy couple were eating their meals, Axel and Demyx watched them, trying to think of what to do to interrupt them without being too rude or creepy. It was only when Demyx alerted Axel of what was happening that he really made a move.

"Dude, Namine's leaving." Demyx said in a loud whisper. "Oh wait, her stuff's still at the table. What's she doing?"

"She's on the phone, genius." Axel smirked. "What could be so important that she has to go?"

"I don't know... oh!" The blonde's face lit up. "You can follow her!"

"I guess... but won't that look creepy?"

"Axel, come on." Demyx put his hands on the other's shoulders. "When have you ever felt self-conscious about being creepy?"

'He has a point there,' The redhead thought with a smirk.

...

"I'm uh, I'm out with a friend." This was the first thing that Axel heard Namine say, which immediately made him suspicious. "No, it's okay... Yeah? ...Okay, I'll see you later to night," she giggled. "It's okay, bye. Love you too." Axel heard her giggle again, before he walked as quickly as he could back to Demyx.

"Anything interesting?" His best friend said, looking at the other expectantly.

"She's totally cheating on him! What a bitch! What are we going to do?" Axel said quickly, making sure to keep his voice barely above a whisper in case someone else heard him.

"Wait... what happened?"

The blonde listened intently as his best friend explained what he heard, concern written across his face.

"That's so mean!" he exclaimed with wide eyes, looking at the table. "Hey, the Roxas guy's looking at you. They're done, take their plates and then we'll think of something. Yeah?"

"Yeah. Right." Axel nodded, and walked to their table, taking their plates without a word, instead looking at the elegant blonde woman with slightly narrowed eyes.

...

"So, what do we do?" Axel asked, cringing slightly.

"Well!" Demyx said in a proud voice, "I thought of a plan."

"It's better than the last one, right?" Axel said with mock-scepticism.

"Hey! They're all genius, why don't you think of one for once?"

Axel laughed, "As if. You're just jealous that you haven't got a short blonde boy to catch."

"Pfft. Whatever. I'm the one with the plan, so no teasing me!"

"Fiiine..." Axel rolled his eyes and chuckled, before raising his eyebrows. "So, what is the plan?"

Demyx lowered his eyebrows as an evil grin spread across his face. "Well..."

...

'Oh man, this is totally not going to work...', the redhead thought to himself, taking a deep breath, while holding in one hand he had chocolate mousse, and in the other, apple crumble with ice cream. But then he considered, 'No, shut up, Axel. C'mon, get it together. You're totally going to wow him over with your smooth moves and he's going to be head over heels in moments... yeah, that's more like you.'

With a reassuring nod from his tall, blonde friend, he was taking confident strides to the table where Roxas and Namine were awaiting their desert.

"Okay, chocolate mousse?" He asked.

"Yep, that's me." Roxas answered, and Axel placed the bowl in front of him.

"And the apple crum—" Axel was knocked forward, and the plate fell upside down on Namine's lap, and everyone froze – except the redhead, of course, who was just playing his part perfectly in the scheme of things.

"What." Namine's voice was low and blunt, and Axel feigned shock.

"Oh no, hold on, let me just wipe that up for—" He innocently moved to wipe it up before hesitating and looking at her with a grimace and an eyebrow raised. "Or, sorry, would you like me to ask that guy over there to wipe it up for me?" He pointed to someone in the distance, "I saw you watching him before..."

There was a slight pause as Axel winked at Roxas, which seemed to be the last straw for the woman in the stained dress. She let out a frustrated shriek, gathered her things and took quick strides to the bathroom, as the redhead took her seat.

"Yeah! Knew it'd work!" Demyx happily said, walking over and hi-fiving him. By now, even though the restaurant was starting to clear out, the remaining people were watching with curiosity. But they didn't care.

"Dem, we'll celebrate later. The plan isn't quite finished yet, you know." Axel wiggled his eyebrows, and Demyx halted.

"Oh, well, uh, I'll just... I'm gonna go give you both a moment... or more than a moment, you know..." He said, standing awkwardly before walking off.

"You guys... planned this?" Roxas asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, figured you needed a little..." The redhead trailed off in thought before saying, "helping hand?"

"Ugh, I know." The blonde rolled his eyes and agreed. "I don't even really like her that much... She just kept asking, I figured, why not?"

"Well, there's no point dwelling in the past, is there?" Axel chuckled, before scooping some mousse and holding it up to the other's mouth. "C'mon, eat."

"Thanks." Roxas mumbled as his cheeks flushed. He opened his mouth and took a bite, and Axel found himself blushing as well.

"You know... I'll have to give her a little credit..." He said, looking down at the table. "Wouldn't have met you otherwise..."

"Shut up and feed me before I get second thoughts." The two laughed, as Axel happily obeyed.


Suave Axel there, no? ;D I know Namine's a little OOC... or very OOC. But still. I really wanted to put up another Akuroku, 'cause it seems like forever since I did the last one! Haha.

I'd love to know what you thought of this one! Hope you like it, thanks a lot for reading! :D