Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts…which means I don't own Axel…which means my life is empty. ;_;

A/N: I decided that I was due for some AkuRoku (at 3:15 in the morning—a great time for decision-making), and this is what happened!

Bon à lire!

~Slay

-Stupid Nicknames-

"I don't think that's right."

It probably wasn't. After five minutes of rewriting it over and over again, the word still looked somehow misspelled; though for the life of him he couldn't decide why. Maybe there was a second 'r' in it? Or maybe there actually was an 'h' after all—but that didn't seem right either… "Ugh." Roxas erased it for the umpteenth time, leaving a spray of pink shavings across the abused paper. He smacked his head down on the desk in defeat.

"I bet it starts with an 'x' instead of a 'z'," his friend said confidently, leaning over the assignment with his head tilted curiously.

"Oh, what do you know, Mr. I-don't-even-go-to-history-because-it's-a-waste-of-my-time?" Roxas sat up indignantly and glared at the older boy looming by his shoulder.

His friend chuckled. "Don't get so angry, Roxy—it's just a stupid paper."

"This stupid paper," Roxas corrected, holding up the stack of scrawl-ridden pages, "is worth forty percent of my final grade in that class." He set the report down. "…and don't call me that," he added crisply.

"What? Roxy? But it suits you so well!" The next thing Roxas knew, long fingers were ruffling the flaxen barbs of his hair. He grumbled and swatted the hand away. "Axel!"

Axel backed off, laughing. "Lighten up, Roxas. You need to take a break or something—you've been at it for hours. …Here, why don't we go grab some sea-salt ice cream? My treat. You can wrestle with this when we get back." He tapped the paper pointedly, harlequin eyes gleaming.

Roxas shook his head. "Are you kidding? It's already past seven and this thing is due tomorrow morning! I gotta finish it." He straightened in his chair and took up his pencil again. "It's not like the paper itself is hard…" he mumbled. "Just wish I could remember how to spell that one dictator's name."

"Should I find it mildly or completely pathetic that you can't spell the name of the guy your entire report is about?"The redhead propped himself partially on the desk, crossing his arms.

"The entire report isn't about him. Xehanort's reign is just relevant to the history of the—"

Roxas was yanked out of his chair before he could finish, and Axel offered no explanation as they tore down the stairs and cut past the den. They were half way to the front door when a voice called from the kitchen, "And just where are you dragging my son at this hour?"

Axel didn't break his stride. "This busy-body needs some ice cream STAT, Mr. Strife! I'll have him back by curfew." They met no further opposition, and against his will, Roxas was towed through the front door and out into the aureate streets of Twilight Town.

-o-o-o-

Despite his protests, Roxas was soon perched on the lip of the clock tower, staring dejectedly at the pale blue ice cream in his hand. Axel settled down beside him and gave him a playful shove. "Aw, c'mon, Roxas! You love hangin' out up here."

"Not when I have a massive paper to—" The redhead snatched the ice cream from him and popped it in Roxas' mouth, effectively silencing him with the salty sweet. "Don't be such a stick in the mud," he muttered.

Roxas didn't retort; he was too busy relishing in the savory dichotomy of flavor filling his mouth, letting himself be mollified. The truth was, he could have a hundred reports due tomorrow and it still wouldn't put him off his favorite snack. Axel knew that.

After a moment, he pulled the ice cream out of his mouth and mumbled, "Maybe I was being a little extreme…"

"Exactly!" Axel took a break from his own ice cream and elbowed the blonde. "And that's why we're here. Can't have you killing yourself over school with summer just around the corner, can we?"

Roxas could have quipped at his friend's skewed logic, but he found himself simply smiling instead. "No, I guess not."

" 'atta Roxy." Axel patted his head in approval.

"I told you not to call me that," Roxas rolled his eyes, but his smile didn't lessen.

Axel shook his head chidingly and proceeded to muss up the blonde's hair again. "Nah, you like it."

Roxas twisted out of the redhead's grip. "Do not."

"Do too." The older boy started ruthlessly poking and prodding at his blonde friend, causing him to laugh and squirm on the ledge while minding the ice cream he didn't want to drop. "Do too. Do too. Do too."'

"A-ha…n-no!"

"Roxy."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Foxy Roxy."

"What? Whoa—!" Roxas jumped out of surprise, pitching dangerously forward from the ledge. Just as the terrifying sense of vertigo was racing over him, Axel's hand shot out and snagged his collar, hauling him back against the redhead's side. Roxas slumped into his friend and listened to the alarmed heartbeat thumping in his head. Axel draped an arm around the blonde and gave him a reassuring shake.

"Sheesh, Rox. Any other buildings you wanna jump off of today?"

Roxas scowled into the vivid eyes leering down at him. "Shut up. If you hadn't startled me with your stupid nick names…"

"Stupid nicknames? You think Foxy Roxy is stupid?"

"Yes!"

"Then why're you blushing?"

"Ah—" Roxas clamped his mouth shut and turned his face away. Was he really blushing? He hunkered down under Axel's arm and nibbled bashfully at the ice cream he'd managed to hang onto. Now he could actually feel the heat in his cheeks. Dammit.

Axel grinned shrewdly and nestled down until his ear brushed the younger boy's honeyed hair, busying himself with his own light blue treat. An easy silence fell over them, and the two sat contentedly until the golden rouge of sunset drained completely from the sky and a cool, quiet dusk slid over the town.

-o-o-o-

"We should get you back home," Axel murmured, flipping the bare ice cream stick skillfully about his fingers. All he got in reply was a groggy mumble of assent. Roxas had nodded off on the redhead's shoulder and wasn't ready to be awake again. Axel smiled softly to himself. He didn't want to move either, but the youngest Strife's parents would not be happy if he kept their son out late on a school night.

He made to pry the blonde off of him, but was stopped by a weak tug on his shirt. "Hey, Ax?" A sleepy voice whispered.

"Hm?"

"…Thanks. For making me do this." Roxas craned his head up so that the spreading moonlight caught those stunning baby blues of his—tired and genuine in the silver evening glow.

Axel's smile deepened. "Sure thing."

"And Axel?"

"Yeah?"

There was a brief pause, then the blonde buried his face in Axel's shoulder and said something muffled. The redhead chuckled. "What was that?"

Roxas shifted so that his mouth was free enough to speak coherently, though his voice stayed low and shy. "I said…" he cleared his throat gracelessly. "I don't mind your stupid nicknames."

Axel was beaming now. He dragged his knuckles affectionately along the blonde's back.

"Whatever you say, Roxy."

A/N: FIN! Way to almost toss your boyfriend to his death, Ax. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, 'cause I had no idea where this was going when I started writing it. I was aiming for fluff—hopefully I hit my mark. But I'll never know if you guys don't tell me! Review for a chakram cookie! Flame for a chakram to the face!

Until next time, kiddies!

~Slay

UPDATE (10-1-12): Wow. I feel dumb. I reread this and realized that I had completely confused Twilight Town with Traverse Town. OOPS. I'm actually really surprised nobody called me on it-especially since Traverse Town doesn't even exist by the time we get to AkuRoku. Whelp, it's fixed now, but talk about epic failure. xD