Chapter 1: Dumpster Diving

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Although the baby is my own creation.

A/N: Dedicated to The Paper Lady on who gave me the inspiration I needed to write this.

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It was a warm day in Twilight Town as Axel and Roxas casually walked down the street. Nobody else was around as far as they knew, so it surprised Roxas when he heard a faint sound.

"Hey, Axel?" he said. "Did you hear something?"

"No, I don't think so," Axel replied.

"No, there it is again," Roxas said, stopping Axel. "Listen."

Axel responded by looking at Roxas questionably before listening closely to hear what sounded like crying.

A baby crying.

"Well, where the hell's it coming from, Rox?" Axel asked as he looked around.

"I don't know . . . . This way!" he finally said as he ran toward a far-off wall, dumpsters and trash cans lined up against it. The cries became louder as Roxas lifted the dumpster lid before he tumbled in, garbage breaking his fall.

"You've got to be kidding me," Axel said, not sure if he was referring to the fact that somebody had actually thrown out their baby, or the fact that Roxas had managed to find it in under a minute.

A few seconds later, Roxas surfaced with the odd popsicle stick attached to him as he held a small baby wrapped loosely in a blanket in his arms, still crying, but not as much.

"Is he okay?" Axel asked.

"Yeah," Roxas said. "I think he's just scared."

"So now what?"

"Well, we can't leave him here," he replied as he attempted to get out of the dumpster, finding it hard to do so while holding a baby. Axel took the baby from him as he jumped down to the ground.

"And you suggest . . . ?" Axel asked as he handed the baby back to Roxas.

Roxas looked away, gently bouncing the baby in his arms. "Well, I was thinking that maybe we could take care of him."

Axel's eyes widened. "Uh, no. N-O. We are not keeping this kid. Got it memorized?" he said, waving his arms around for emphasis.

"But Axel," Roxas said, turning away from the baby for just a second to send Axel a look. Not an angry look, not a weepy look. Just a look of I'm-Already-Attached. "I think he needs me."

Axel wanted to protest, but between Roxas' look and the way he was holding that baby as if to protect it from all the evils in the world (and the fact that they both knew that he'd do anything for Roxas), it was a done deal.

"Okay," he sighed, defeated. "You can keep him."

"Thank you, Axel!" Roxas said as he pulled him into a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it," Axel replied as he pulled the popsicle sticks off of Roxas and tossed them to the side.

"Do you want to hold him?"

"It's okay, you go ahead," Axel said. "So how do you think Xemnas is going to take it?"

"I really don't know," Roxas said, holding the baby even closer. "But I don't think that he'd care since he doesn't have to take care of it."

"I hope you're right, Roxas," Axel said. "So what do you want to call him?"

"Well, I was thinking of naming him Butters," Roxas replied, looking down at the baby's face.

"You didn't think that up as you were wading through that dumpster, did you?"

"If that was the case, then I would have thought of Sticky Popsicle Sticks," he said. "I just think he looks like a Butters."

"Let me see him," Axel said, taking the baby from Roxas. Along with short blond hair, the baby also had big, innocent green eyes. "He looks kind of like you, Roxas. Except he's got green eyes."

"Do you think he looks like a Butters?"

"Sort of, I guess," Axel said as he handed the baby back to Roxas. "And since you found him, you should probably get to name him."

"Then I'm naming him Butters," Roxas said as he started walking off again, Axel beside him.

"You're not gonna make his middle name Stick, are you? Because that's just tacky."

Butters, now tired from his rescue, yawned and snuggled into Roxas' chest before falling asleep.

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A/N: Yeah, short chapter. And before everybody asks "Why Butters?" and calls out my fondness for South Park (Butters is actually one of my favorite characters), the name actually started out as "Plot Bunny," which was factored to "PB" which was then expanded to "Peanut Butter," which was shortened to "Butters." I've also got something like half of the second chapter written out already, so it shouldn't take too long getting it up (but then again, with exams coming . . . .) Please review!