Mrrr, thanks to Carly/afairysharp for betaing this for me so quickly and inflating my ego waaay too much. As far as Axel/Roxas goes, let it be known that I like it on certain days. For the most part I only really enjoy it if it's done by some of my favorite authors just because I trust them to do it right. Not to say that others can't do it right, it's just that I'm a wuss, and I'VE BEEN HURT SO MUCH WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. I have trust issues. Or something.

Anyway. Nghadlajf. Axel/Roxasish,. Please, if you're going to read, and favorite (or just read) leave me a reivew? It'd make my day!!

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Axel's so caught up in watching the other members that he doesn't watch himself. He's been so careful, so cautious with all his little lies and games with the other members that when cute, bitchy number XIII comes in he forgets what the hell he was doing. XIII comes in, does his little job and the Superior would probably die of glee if he had a heart. Axel thinks that he'd really, really love to see that because he's all for irony.

But Axel, plotting, devious, bastard-of-a-Nobody he can't see through his own lies enough to find a way out again. He can tug at Marluxia, at Larxene and make them think his moves are theirs as he twists the string around Vexen and it pops. He can twist the strings around the Superior as he plays both sides (no side at all unless it's his) and he doesn't bother to play games with the others. Demyx isn't any fun at all, II and III don't care, Luxord is a master at gambling and Axel has no urge to lose but good little XIII fucked it up.

Only, he's not XIII anymore, no no no. He's Roxas, Roxas the Keyblader. Roxas, the savior of all their sorry half-asses, the blondie-boy who glares at everything in the room like he can make it burst into flame. The kid that strolls into any room that he likes, and all of them just shut up because he's the goddamn Messiah who doesn't even have any idea of what's going on. Axel's pretty sure that he hates him as much as his not-heart can and then some.

It's bad enough that Roxas is toeing in all of his plans, but he can deal with that. What really pisses him off is the fact that he can't stay away. XIII isn't XIII anymore, and Roxas has stopped hitting him every time he calls the blond by name. Axel privately thinks that it's a kind of victory when he presses the boy to a wall and tries to kiss him- he gets so so so close- and then Roxas, with his pretty pink lips just a half inch away, grabs him by the throat and knees him in the balls.

He can't stop the laughter that bubbles up as he falls to his knees and holds himself, voice rough with amusement as he calls a goodbye to Roxas. He thinks that he's got XIII wrapped around his fingers and can play him just like he can every other member. It's just that he's not like every other member. He can play the strings but there's not always any kind of definite tune that will come out- Roxas is a wild card and Axel finds he really likes that about the boy.

Axel tries to kiss him again a few weeks later, just to see what happens. Roxas jerks his head away at the last moment, pretty blue eyes narrow. He has just a moment of relief to note he's not getting hit in the balls only to find that he's laid out on the ground and goddamn, the kid packs a punch when he wants to. The redhead doesn't try to get up right away; he only stares at the ceiling and sets Demyx's coat on fire when he comes in asking what happened.

A month after that, he kicks Roxas awake (not because anything's going on, just because he can) and grins down at him. "Come on. I want to see what you can do," he says and moves away before Roxas can land any kind of hit on his sorry ass. It turns out that Roxas can 'do' much more than Axel gives him credit for as he slices through hoards of Heartless. He's dangerous, sweaty and utterly blank looking and that's when Axel realizes what it is that drives the blond- what it is that he can manipulate to make him his. "Good job," he says, ruffling blond hair and not bothering to block the hit to his stomach that's not quite full-strength. "So tell me, does this make us best friends forever?"

"What was this, a date?" Roxas mutters, letting go of his weapons and glaring up. "Shitty date, friends or not."

He shrugs elegantly and summons a portal, because he's got every member that he wants wrapped around his fingers. It's only except for the fact that he doesn't. He watches Roxas pull his little apathetic thing as he stands out in the rain and Axel realizes that he's misread him the entire time.

Roxas is going out there to search for his heart whether anyone left in their Organization likes it or not. Axel's torn between smug pride and anger as he feels the thread that he wrapped around Roxas break. It's the beginning of the end, he thinks as he smacks his head against concrete wall, water soaking him to the bone. The other strands are slowly unraveling around his fingers and he can't find it in himself to care anymore because he's a Nobody and they don't care, at all. It's out of Nothing that he thinks he'll be the one to kill Roxas because no one else deserves to.

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school in 15 days. oh god. In other news, anyone going to Dragon con? yours truly is! 3 let me knowwww!!