Author's Note: This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but I decided to turn it into a side project to A Lesson in Life. Don't expect this to be updated as much as ALIL. Oh, and for any readers of ALIL, know that the next chapter will be out soon. I've been busy, sorry.

A blonde haired young man and a odd looking true redhead guy walked down the street leading to the large building that was the orphanage. It was a cold, rainy day, and both of them were wrapped up in scarves and gloves and massive coats. The blonde's hair would look messy from a distance, but in reality it was actually styled. The rain had messed it up, though. The redhead wore his wild hair in a ponytail, stemming from the middle back of his head. "So, Roxy! What do you want 'em to be called?" The red haired man, Axel, asked the other. The blonde, Roxas, thought for a moment before smiling.

"I dunno... Axas?" Roxas grinned as Axel rolled his eyes. They had no idea what sort of kid they wanted, they hadn't thought about what gender or anything. And Roxas had to explain to Axel that you couldn't choose the name of the kid, so now Axel was always asking what Roxas 'hoped' they would be called.

"Oh, here we are. Pretty big place..." Axel muttered as he looked up at the 3 storey building. Roxas simply walked ahead pulled the door open, with Axel running after him. The inside of the building looked old fashioned, with Victorian looking furniture in the reception area and lots of expensive looking vases and ornaments around. A woman looked up from behind a computer, which looked extremely out of place in the old fashioned building.

"Hello? Do you need something?" A rather irritable looking oldish woman asked from behind the screen. Odd, old people didn't normally bother to learn how to use computers. Axel gave her an odd look for a moment before replying.

"Ah... well..." Axel started but faltered, only starting again when Roxas elbowed him, "We were just wanting to... get some... details on adoption?" The woman gave him a glare.

"Ok, details... You pick one and leave." She said, standing up. Ah, Hollow Bastion. Always straight and to the point... Axel thought. "Is one of you looking to adopt, or something?" She asked.

"Both... Both of us are, actually." Roxas muttered, looking at the ground. And after all this time, he's still ashamed of it...

"Oh, shouldn't there be two rather ugly looking women with you, too?" She said with a malicious grin on her face.

"Says you, old bit-"

"Axel! No, we're..."

"Fags?" The woman finished for him, smiling at the enraged look on Axel's face. Fucking old hag of an old woman... "Yeah, I thought so. Lucky for you two homos, we do allow you to unfairly destroy the child's future. You'll just have to fill in some forms. Oh, you do know how to write, yes?" She cackled menacingly as she dissapeared through a door.

Axel looked around to Roxas who was looking away towards a painting that adorned one of the walls. "Can you believe her?! Jesus, what a stupid old bitch." Axel swore fairly loudly, with Roxas being relieved that nobody else was around to hear him or else they'd probably get kicked out.

"I'm sorry, Axel." Roxas apologized out of the blue. Axel frowned.

"What for?" He asked with a slight smile on his face.

"For being so afraid to.. admit it... That we're gay." Roxas said as he turned from the paining and looked into Axel's bright green eyes. Axel smiled properly now.

"Roxas, you don't need to apologise for that. It's hard." Axel was about to go on and say more, but the woman came back with some papers in her hand. That's when it struck Axel... How did she know we wanted to adopt? We never even told her properly... Geez...

"Alright, you big cock-suckers-"

"If you don't shut up..." Axle growled as Roxas restrained him. The woman laughed and slapped the table as she sat down.

"Yes, ok. You fill out these forms - if you can- and then we can move on and go window shopping." She said as she gestured towards the papers, and then towards a seating area next to the window. Roxas took the items and then stalked over to the table with Axel in tow. The light was making the room appear quite dark and gloomy, and the dark green painted walls were not helping the appearence of general repulsiveness.

"Wow, there's... like, five sheets." Roxas said as he flipped through them. The couple went through the papers answering questions such as how old they were, genders, sexual preference, schools attended... Until Axel released a giant sigh and leaned backin his chair when they finally finished. Roxas walked upto the woman and handed her the papers. She looked up at him over her glasses.

"Alright... You're going to have to come back in a few days, we'll phone you when you can come down. Now piss off." She said as she waved at the door. Roxas frowned and then nodded at Axel who darted for the door, who made sure to flip the old women the bird before leaving. The couple strolled down the wet streets back towards their apartment, ignoring the occasional funny look or insult hurled at them for holding hands. They really didn't care.

That night, the two of them had decided to watch some low budget scary movie. About halfway through the flim Roxas just had to look away from the screen due to the extreme amount of gore at once. Axel grinned. Roxas was layed down, his head on Axel's lap.

"What's up, Roxy? Pooping your pantaloons?" Axel asked jokingly as Roxas snorted. He had turned around so he was on his back, and now was staring at Axel's face. "Well, why don't you let me help you get it off your mind, then..." Axel muttered as he bent his head down and locked his lips with Roxas'. After a few minutes of just kissing, Axel decided to dig a little deeper. He started sliding his tongue around in Roxas' mouth, and Roxas started making strange sounds, as he leaned forward into the kiss and returned the favour. Axel always thought that was cute, how he made sounds. He never complained, anyway. Roxas stopped and Axel frowned.

"Axel, I'm getting a headache. Let's stop." Roxas said with a light chuckle at the end. Yeah, that's something else that happened to Roxas. He got headaches... Hmm...Axel reluctantly pulled away and then looked at the screen.

"Ah, Roxas! We missed the best part! The part where he get's behead-"

"Shut it, Axel, you jerk!" Roxas semi-yelled as he stood up and headed for the bedroom. "I'm going to bed."

"What? Oh, ok. Me too then. This movie is pretty shit, anyway." Axel said as he too headed for the bedroom as Roxas entered. Axel remembered the time Roxas had gone ballistic because he'd spent loads of money on a king sized bed for them. It wasn't that long after they'd moved in with each other, actually. But there wasn't much time for thinking, because Axel fell asleep before Roxas did, and then Roxas found it hard to sleep because Axel snored. But there was one way to stop him snoring. Roxas put an arm over Axel and snuggled upto him, and then, it was quiet.

It was 10 AM, and Roxas had been up since 8. It was a hard job getting up before Axel, because moving would cause him to start squirming and all sorts of strange things. So he had managed to slip out of bed and get dressed, have breakfast, and then he got a phone call. He found the phone and then answered. "Hello?"

"Is this... Axel?" A friendly sounding woman spoke on the other line.

"No, this is Roxas, I live with Axel. Can I-"

"Ah, you're on here too! You can come down to orphanage today." She cut him off.

"Oh, great, s-"

"Ok, then. See you anytime today!" And then she hung up. Everybody who worked there seemed to be psyhcopaths... Was it really a good idea to be adpoting from this place? Roxas put the hone down on the reciever and then walked into the bedroom.

"Axel, wake up." Roxas said as he put a hand on his head and started stroking his hair. Axel opened his eyes slowly and grinned.

"Morning, Roxy... What time is it?" He asked as he rubbed his sleep filled eyes. Roxas squinted over at the clock and relayed the time it displayed.

"Quarter past 10... The orphanage phoned, they said we can go down again." Roxas explained. Axel sighed and slowly sat up. Roxas had to put up a fight with himself to avoid staring at the redheads bare chest. At about lunchtime, the pair of them left for the orphanage, this time taking the care, seeing as it was pouring down badly outside. They took the car.

"Ah, you must be Axel and Roxas. Hello!" A young woman with curly blonde hair greeted them from behind the desk as she gave a small wave. "I'm... afraid Noreen will not be tending to you today. She... passed away." She was suddenly very miserable. Like this whole building, then. But for some reason, Axel and Roxas were only slightly fazed.

"Oh, dear. I'm sure she'll be missed," Axel said nonchalantly, "so. We were called?" The woman looked at them for a moment before bolting upwards.

"Ah! Yes! If you'll just follow me, we can go to where the kids live." She said as she started walking up a staircase behind her. Axel and Roxas followed her up the creaky stairs, all the while examining the ancient decor. They walked down a hallway after that and then approached a door. The girl turned around and then warned them. "Ok, they will probably all stare at you. Don't worry, though, they'll get bored of you soon enough." She then opened the door. Kids of many ages ranging from newborn to mid teens were doing things in the large room, such as playing on computers or throwing things at each other. Like she said, a few of them turned to stare.

Roxas was significantly more pressured than Axel, who simply put his hands in his pockets and stared at them back, which seemed to make alot of them look away. But there was one that continued to stare. He wasn't staring in a bad way, though. He was staring out of curiosity. He was one of the mid teens of the house. The bubbly blonde seemed to notice that Axel and the boy were looking at each other. "Ah, that's Damian... He's... what do they call 'em...?"

Axel finished the sentence for her, since it didn't take long looking at him to identify his fashion statement. "An emo?"

"Yes! That's it!" She shouted but promptly covered her mouth. "Err... Anyway, you have to choose a child, and then if they agree to go on trial, you'll spend a week together. After that if eveything is fine... you adopt!" Axel raised an eyebrow while Roxas scanned all the kids. Axel was starting to get an idea of who he wanted to adopt already. "Ok, so just come down when you've decided and then we'll talk... Feel free to talk to the kids, too." She smiled as Roxas nodded and then she went back downstairs.

"So, Roxy... What d'ya think of that kid over there?" Axel asked as he pointed his head over to Damian. Roxas frowned and looked.

"Err... I dunno, why don't we talk to him? He's... been staring at us for ages now." Roxas suggested as Axel nodded and immediately headed over to the boy who stood up upon seeing the two of them approach. For a moment, Roxas was convinced Axel was going to be really blunt and say, 'hey, we're gay, can we adpot you?' but he didn't, luckily.

"Hey, you're Damian, right?" Axel asked. The boy nodded and smiled.

"Mmhm! What're you guys called?" Damian asked in return. He had an interesting appearence. His hair was mid length, going down to just above his shoulders. His fringe almost covered his right eye. His hair had the occasional white streak going down it. It was evident he was wearing make up, even if it was just abit around his eyes. He was wearing a white and black striped hoodie, with slim fit dark jeans. He was suprisingly upbeat, and he was quite androdgynous to say the least.

"Ah, I'm called Axel." Axel said, pointing towards himself. Roxas realised it was his turn.

"Oh, I'm Roxas."

"Cool, cool... How... old are you guys? You don't look much older than me." Roxas decided to answer this one.

"I'm 20. Axel is 21."

"Oh... I'm 15. So... You're looking to adopt?" He asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Yeah. Why? You looking to get out of this... dare I say it, hellhole?" Axel asked with a smirk. Damian's face lit up at this.

"Yes! Yes, I so am!" He yelled, quieting down when he noticed he had gained the attention of some other kids.

"Roxas, come here a minute." Axel said with a motion of his head towards somewhere a few steps away. Roxas followed Axel. "What'dya think?"

"What? About Damian?"

"Yeah. You like him?"

"Yeah, he's cool."

"So..."

"Ok. Seems like an idea." Roxas replied with a nod. Axel grinned and re-approached Damian.

"So, kid. What about we give it a test drive?" Axel asked with a tilt of his head. Damian's eyes widened.

"You mean...?"

"Yeah, trial adoption."

"Yes! Yes!" Damian cried out, once again gaining attention. Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if you're so enthusiastic about it, I suppose we have no choice, huh Rox?" Axel asked in a funny voice. Roxas smiled and shook his head.

"Doesn't look like it." So Roxas and Axel headed back downstairs to the counter. After filling in even more forms, Damian packed up all of his things and transferred them to Axel's car. The woman at the counter said they'd be called when they had to return, and then she bid them farewell. Axel lit the ignition and then they headed for home. On the way home Damian mainly just told them about himself and revealed that he was Pansexual himself. Roxas had to explain to Axel what that was, and Axel thought that was really cute when he learned. When they got home, Axel was unpacking the things out of the car when he realised: this might not be a bit more work than he's used to...