Fire Extinguisher

Roxas ambled into The Grey Area, trying not to be too disappointed by the fact that Axel hadn't made it for ice cream today. He had gone on a very interesting mission in Wonderland and wanted to discuss it, but... well, Axel was probably busy. Right?

"Hey, kiddo," Xigbar greeted on his way out. "Come to collect him?"

Roxas looked up. "What? Collect who?"

"Axel." Xigbar thumbed over his shoulder. "He's been there all afternoon."

Roxas frowned and looked around Xigbar, spotting the vaguely Axel-shaped lump on the sofa. "He's sleeping?"

Xigbar barked a laugh. "Must be nice. He gets to lay around on his keester all day while we actually have to do things like work. Must be nice to be friends with the second-in-command," he muttered dryly, pushing past Roxas and out into the hall.

Roxas frowned and left the doorway, creeping over to the sofa. It was Axel all right, and he was fast asleep. One of his arms was dangling to the floor and his hair was in a wild disarray over his face. He looked... pale, really. Not very good, anyway.

Roxas was just about to turn away and leave Axel to sleep when the Flurry in question shifted.

"Axel?" he asked, quietly.

Axel opened his eyes slowly, green staring up at Roxas. He thought they lacked the usual brightness, but thought he must have been exaggerating. Whatever that meant.

"Hey," Roxas murmured. "You slept through ice cream."

Axel blinked slowly before jolting up. "My mission!" He looked around wildly, stopping abruptly. "Ohh man. Saïx is going to kill me." He rubbed the back of his neck, shrinking in on himself.

Roxas frowned again. "You slept through your mission?"

Axel looked up. "I mean, I must have. I was feeling groggy so I sprawled out here for a few and... I guess I fell asleep," he muttered. He pushed himself to his feet, stumbling slightly.

"Are you alright?" Roxas asked critically. "You're usually, I don't know, more graceful than this?"

Axel huffed. "Thanks, man. Ah, well, I've gotta try to tackle that mission-" He no more than took a step before reaching out to steady himself against Roxas's shoulder.

"Axel?" Roxas gripped at his sleeve, just in case, although he knew he wouldn't be able to catch his friend if he fell. "What's wrong?"

Axel shook his head slightly. "... Nothin'. Sorry." He patted Roxas's shoulder before letting go.

Roxas let go of his sleeve, turning to frown at the back of Axel's head. "What's wrong? Something's wrong. Axel?"

Axel summoned up a dark corridor, straightening up. "Nothing's wrong. Just a little head rush." He turned to grin at him, tapping two fingers against his skull. "Y'know?"

"You're pale," Roxas commented, trailing him. "Are you sure you feel- Axel!"

Axel had stumbled into the wall and slid to the floor, burying his face against his knees and hugging them close.

Roxas dropped to his knees next to him. "Axel?" It was weird seeing him so... vulnerable-like. "What's wrong?"

Axel laughed breathlessly. "I'm just a little dizzy. And tired. It's nothing important. Just need to get my bearings back before I head out."

"You can't go out!" Roxas protested, grabbing Axel's arm.

"Mission," Axel retorted.

"I'll do your mission; you go to bed!"

Axel raised his head, staring tiredly at Roxas. "... You can't do my mission."

"Well, you can't do your mission right now, either," Roxas fired back. "Let me take care of it, just tell me what it is, and you go to bed. You don't look good."

Axel sighed. "... Beast's Castle... there's a group of Neoshadows that need to be taken out..."

Roxas didn't know what was more concerning: that Axel was simply giving in or the fact that he didn't have a comeback for the not looking good comment.

"Fine," Roxas said. "Can you get back to your room or-"

Axel pushed himself up slowly. "I'll manage. ... Thanks, Roxas."

Roxas stood with him. "Don't worry about it." He let go of Axel's arm once he was sure that he was able to stand on his own; he could feel him shivering. "Go to bed."

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the one giving you orders," Axel joked weakly.

"Oh, thanks," Roxas murmured.

"But I think I will," Axel continued, sighing. "'night."

Roxas watched him stumble out of the Grey Area, frowning as he watched him go.

It was half past two by the time that Roxas got back. His arms were as tired as his eyelids, barely wanting to swing his Keyblade during the mission. He wondered vaguely if Axel's tiredness was catching, but Roxas knew it was just because he hadn't been sleeping well and, well, it was past his bed-time.

Invariably, he ended up drifting past Axel's room. It was on his way to his own room, but he dithered for a moment outside the door. He knew Axel was probably asleep and that was the point of him taking his mission for him, but... he still didn't know what had been wrong with his friend. It would be so easy to just peek in and check because these doors didn't lock, or if they did, that was a control room thing and nothing something they could just implement, but... that was invading Axel's personal space.

Roxas sighed and rubbed at his eyes, trudging past. If he didn't get some sleep, he'd be about as useful as Axel was right now.

When he hit the Grey Area the next morning, Demyx informed him that he'd have a solo mission today because Axel was out of commission. When the blonde hadn't been able to produce any information as to why, Roxas said he'd be back and turned back to the hall.

"Axel?" he asked, rapping his knuckles against the door. "Are you-"

"Yeah."

Roxas shifted. "Er... Does that mean-"

"... Just come in, Roxas."

Roxas strode in, doing a double take when he saw the mountain of blankets on the bed. "... Axel?"

The blankets moved slightly. "... Yep." His voice was muffled. "... can't go on the mission today, Rox," he mumbled.

Roxas crossed the room slowly. "... Are you... worse?"

The blankets shuffled around and Axel's face peered out from the gaps between them, green eyes staring dully out at Roxas, red hair pushed into his face. He looked ghastly. "... Nah. Just look like this all the time." He pulled the blankets impossibly closer.

Roxas stared before edging closer. "What's wrong with you?"

"Dunno," Axel muttered. "I thought... you know... as Nobodies, we couldn't actually... well, I suppose because we do have a physical body, we have to have an immune system..." He sighed. "Not that any of us are doctors, but Saïx thinks I have the flu. Not that he was sympathetic about it, but I ended up fainting to prove to him that I actually am sick..."

"What!" Roxas exclaimed. "You passed out?"

Axel winced slightly. "Unintentionally... and my head hurts, Roxas. Don't talk too loud... actually, I'd rather sleep than all of this..." He shifted and stopped moving almost as quickly as he had started. "... I've never been this cold in my life. It's not agreeable to... fire wielders."

Roxas continued to stare at him before shaking himself out of it. "Do you... um, a fever, I think it's called."

Axel's eyes fluttered closed. "... must be nice to not have any memories of being sick. It's horrible." He coughed slightly. "... but 've got a fever, yeah. Body's hotter than usual and my mind screams I'm cold. It's wonderful."

"Should you be buried under all those blankets?"

Axel laughed weakly. "No. Just as you shouldn't be around me because it's catching. The flu, I mean."

"How can I help?" Roxas asked quietly. Axel was right; he had no recollection on ever being sick or how to deal with it. And, going by the looks of Axel's pale face, he was glad that he didn't have memories of that.

"Go to work," Axel mumbled. "Before you get sick or in trouble, too. Someone has to... keep the Organization on their toes, after all... if I can't."

"... I'll come back after my mission," Roxas promised.

Axel smiled wryly without opening his eyes. "Yeah... See ya."

Roxas sprinted down the hallway, hair windswept from Neverland and his fingers sticky with the melting sea-salt ice cream he held in his hand.

"Axel?" he greeted, letting Axel's bedroom door slide open.

Axel was sprawled out across the bed, half of the blankets tossed away, one sleeve in his fitted black sleep-shirt hitched up to his elbow. His shirt had hiked up partially over his stomach, revealing pale skin mottled with goosebumps and his hair was a wild mess spread onto the pillow beneath his head.

He looked... comfortable. But...

Roxas looked at the melting ice cream and then back to Axel before stepping forward and nudging Axel's arm. "Axel...?"

He didn't receive a response asides from Axel flinging his arm out, nearly knocking the ice cream right out of Roxas's hand.

"Axel!"

Axel jumped a bit, jerking his head to look at Roxas. "... ... Oh. Hey," he cracked out, fingers automatically shifting to fix the tangled mess that was his hair. He sighed when he realized that and instead brushed a stray hair out of his face. "You came back."

"Of course I did." He held out the ice cream. "I brought ice cream. It's... uh, kind of melting now."

Axel's eyes slowly roved to the stick of ice cream, blinking slowly. A small smile lifted his lips. "Bringin' the clocktower to me, huh...?"

"Well... if your body's too hot, it would make sense that you'd want to cool it down, so... I brought ice cream." Roxas paused. "And partially because of the fact that you're too sick to meet up with me."

Axel shuffled around until he was in a sitting position, leaning heavily back against the headboard of the bed. "Ow... Oh, this sucks." He took the ice cream, fingers trembling. "Always try to stay healthy, Roxas. Got it memorized?"

"Yeah..." Roxas nibbled at his own bar of sea-salt, watching Axel.

Axel glanced at him, doubling the look. "What?"

"Nothing," Roxas mumbled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. There was nowhere to sit and he didn't really want to sit on Axel's bed and he wasn't offering, anyway, not to mention his blankets were probably covered in his germs.

Axel sighed. "I know." He looked back at his ice cream, taking a small bite. "You're not supposed to see me like this."

Roxas looked up. "Huh?"

"'m not supposed to look so... I don't know, a mess."

Roxas blinked. "... But you're always a mess," he joked, a smile breaking his face.

Axel looked back at him quickly, staring before grinning. "Thanks, man. Isn't this the part where you're supposed to cheer me up?"

Roxas laughed, leaning against the wall. "Well, maybe... Uhh..." He licked some of the melted ice cream from his fingers. "... I don't really know what to say."

Axel barked a laugh, which turned into a cough that left him wincing. "Thanks. You're a great friend."

"I get sad when you don't come to the clocktower after we finish our missions?" Roxas said, more kind of guessed. He didn't know really what Axel wanted him to say, but it was something on his mind; he did get disappointed when they couldn't meet up to have their icing on the cake. It was the one part of his day that he really looked forward to.

Axel's eyes again shot back to Roxas's and settled there for a long moment before he looked back at his ice cream again. "You can't get sad, Roxas. We don't have hearts, remember?"

"Heart or no heart, I like spending time with you," Roxas countered. "That's why I want you to get well again so we can get back to the clocktower and our missions and stuff."

Axel smiled, although it was mostly hidden by going to lick the melting bit of his ice cream. "I want to get well soon, too, Roxas. I think you and ice cream might help."

Roxas smiled. "Good. Because I don't know what else to do," he admitted.

Axel chuckled again, softer this time. "... Yeah, this is fine." He shuffled back a bit into his pillows and sighed, letting his eyes close. "This is good."

For not having a heart, Roxas thought, Axel sure looked awfully... content.

But, not having a heart, Roxas wouldn't know what it meant to be content, anyway, so he didn't say anything and just settled into a companionable silence that may or may not have been, simply, quite enjoyable to both of them.

So... they probably can't get sick (just like they don't age, apparently), but I wanted to experiment with Axel being the one who was sick. And despite that I write a lot of male 'dominant' figures being sick (aka: Sherlock in Sherlock, Spock in Star Trek, etc...) Axel's really difficult. He's just never so vulnerable (except, arguably... KHII). I may re-write this as a slash piece, too... so look forward to that, if you like Axel/Roxas.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or any other Disney affiliated places mentioned in this story. Leave a review if you liked it. Thanks!