All right, somehow the text for this story got swapped with a different one. It's fixed now, don't worry, and thank you to Auroura for pointing it out to me :)

Disclaimer: I don't own, and some days I'm thankful for that, because I'd probably have the entire anime club at my door if I did. *shudders*

Roxas' basement was, without a doubt, the best place to hang out. At least, that's what Axel figured. Roxas' whole house was cool, really, but the basement was the best. There was a huge squashy armchair and an old, threadbare green sofa, and even a few beanbags heaped randomly around the room. The couch, for some reason that had been extensively questioned over the years, was definitely the comfiest thing in the room to relax on, despite it missing around half of its stuffing. The two of them had found it at a garage sale a few years back, sat down, declared it awesomely comfortable, figured the people selling it for a mere twenty bucks were complete idiots, and brought it home with them. Hence how it came to reside in the basement.

There was also a good supply of video games down there, a stereo, and a mini-fridge that Roxas' parents didn't care what was in it, as long as it didn't smell too bad. So, clearly, Axel was justified in his beliefs that Roxas' basement was the best place ever. Roxas never denied it, and neither did Riku or Sora, and that's pretty much how it became their main hangout spot.

Today the two of them were down there playing Brawl. They had planned to have a huge tournament, with tons of junk food and soda and no plans of stopping for hours. Maybe a movie thrown in there somewhere, too, just for kicks. But Riku had gotten a mild case of food poisoning the night before and couldn't leave his house. Sora, not wanting Riku to be all alone and bored, had gone over to keep him company, though he'd called and apologized around twenty times for not being able to make it. So, it ended up being just the two of them. Not that Axel minded, though. He had a few things on his mind, and wasn't really sure what to do with them, but he figured that Roxas would probably be helpful for sorting them out. Hopefully.

Two hours into their marathon, Axel threw down his controller in disgust. "Come on, Snake! That was the sixth time! Sixth! Are you gonna let Kirby get away with that? Huh? Come on, man, he's a little pink blob. Pink. That's not manly, dude. You, Snake, are pure manliness. So, why, exactly, are you being torn apart by Kirby? What's next? Jigglypuff? The Ice Climbers? I swear-"

"Don't blame Snake, Ax. You're the one who's losing to 'a little pink blob'."

"Shut up." Axel stood up, stretched, and wandered over to the mini-fridge. Yanking open the door, he rummaged around until he found a Sprite, grabbed a Coke for Roxas, and for good measure, snagged a jumbo-sized bag of pretzels that was sitting next to the fridge. Tossing the pretzels towards the general area of the couch (and ignoring Roxas' yell of "Oi, watch where you're throwing things, dumbass!"), he then walked over and plopped the can into Roxas' hand. Instead of vaulting over the couch like usual (old and threadbare-ness be damned), however, he stayed standing just behind, popping the tab on his soda and taking a sip.

"So, Rox," he said, lowering the can. "What if I said that there was this…girl?"

"Huh?" There was a rustling noise as Roxas shifted around on the couch to face him, but Axel wasn't looking, suddenly becoming rather interested in his soda can. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"Uh, nowhere in particular. Just, um…yeah. Let's say that there's this girl. We've been friends for, like, ever, and she's awesome and funny but not afraid to give me a kick if I'm being an ass. Not that that ever happens, right?" he teased, looking up from his Sprite and flashing Roxas a grin. Who then thwacked him with a pillow. Axel laughed. "Alright, so maybe I am. Sometimes. Anyway, say I really like this girl, but I don't know how to tell her."

Roxas stared at him. "Ax, are you seriously asking me for dating advice? Because I hate to break it to you, but I'm not the worlds leading expert on feelings. That's more Namine's thing." He paused. "Wait, it's not Namine, is it? Is that why you're asking me? Because I don't know if I'm comfortable with you dating my sis-"

"Woah, relax Rox, it's not Namine. That'd be all kinds of weird."

"Alright, but I don't see what the issue is, then. You've dated girls before, so what makes this any different?"

"It…um, well, it just is, okay? And I'm still being hypothetical, here!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and smirked. "Alright then. So, you're saying that, hypothetically, this girl's your friend, right?" Axel nodded. "So just tell her. From the way you talked about her it seems like she knows when you're bullshitting and when you're being real. So be real. Worst that can happen is rejection, and you've dealt with that before. It sucks, but it happens. You'll get through it, and she'd probably still be your friend after."

"Hmph, easy for you to say. Not like you've ever had a girlfriend before."

"I have too! What about Olette?"

This time it was Axel's turn to smirk. "Roxas, that was fourth grade. It doesn't count. You guys didn't even kiss, just held hands in the halls and helped each other with homework. It wasn't even any different from how you normally acted." He didn't have to be looking at Roxas to know that the blond was scowling even through his heavy blush. It was sort of cute, really.

But back to the matter at hand. "So what you're saying here is that, if I happened to be in this situation, though I'm not saying I am, or anything-"

"Get on with it."

"Well, if you wouldn't interrupt. So, I should just waltz up to this person, casual as can be, and tell her how I feel? That's what you'd do?"

"Yup."

"Huh," said Axel thoughtfully. "Okay then." Moving from his spot behind the couch, he walked around it and plopped down besides Roxas again, looking for all intents and purposes like he was about to start another round of their game. Roxas gave a small squeak of surprise at the sudden change of placement (which was also kind of cute, come to think of it), but picked up his controller, thinking that maybe he'd change characters, give Axel a break from getting totally pummeled. Except Axel didn't pick up his controller. Instead, he opened his mouth and spoke again.

"So Rox. I've given this a great deal of thought. We've known each other for, what, fourteen years? Fifteen? Eh, something like that. So, you know me pretty well, I hope, or otherwise I haven't been doing my job of Best Friend very well. So, I hope you know I'm being totally and completely serious when I say that I'm kind of crazy about you. And I hope that that doesn't freak you out or anything, though I'd understand if it did, because it's kinda sudden and unexpect-" And he never did get to finish, because he was cut off by a pair of lips moving against his. Specifically, Roxas', and there was a small thump of a controller into his lap as a hand reached up to thread through his hair. It was a nice kiss, sweet and gentle and a little bit tentative, but Axel was a little too dumbstruck to enjoy it, because he had to wrap his brain around 'Oh hey, Roxas just kissed me and that's totally awesome, but I didn't get to finish what I was saying, and I had this whole awesome speech prepared, and…wait, what?' And he really hadn't been given enough time to do so.

So, when Roxas pulled back, Axel was understandably a bit stunned. Laughing a bit at the look on his friend's face, Roxas teased, "Yanno, Axel, you ramble a bit too much; I was wondering when you'd get around to saying it. And in answer to your question, which you never did get around to asking, but I'm sure would've come up, sure, I'll go out with you," he finished with a smirk.

Axel laughed. "Really? Well, that's awesome! Yanno, you give really great advice, for a guy who doesn't know about feelings. But, um…did you know, or something? Because you didn't seem all that surprised…"

"Namine may have let something slip," said Roxas, still grinning as Axel pulled the blond into a hug. "But there's one thing I wanna ask."

"What?"

"So, according to your story, am I supposed to be a girl? 'Cause, I dunno if you've noticed, but I am, in fact, a guy. And I dunno what you were expecting, but I'm not gonna start borrowing Namine's clothes to please you, or anything."

Axel snorted. "Rox, I told you the situation was hypothetical!"

Roxas gave a happy little hum. "Alright. 's long as we've got that sorted," he said, pulling Axel into another kiss.