Office Innuendos.
In the five long years that Roxas had been a boss, he had never seen someone he considered as unprofessional as Axel. And to him, everything was about professionalism. But these ideals all began to change with that one signature smirk for the other, and for some reason, he felt compelled to give him a go.
When Roxas told his assistant, Demyx – who he may or may not have promoted to that level because of their close friendship in university – to hire someone with a bit of spark to help motivate other workers in the room, he never meant it like this. From the moment he saw that spiky red hair and the diamond-shaped tattoos under his eyes, he knew it was going to shake things up a little, and probably not in a good way.
With a shrug and a mischievous grin from Demyx, he walked up to the redhead with the intention of giving him a stack of papers.
"Hello, Axel." Roxas started with a critical glare, "I'm Roxas Strife, your new boss. But you'll refer to me as Mr. Strife."
"So, Roxy?"
"...Excuse me?" Roxas wasn't used to being interrupted in the workplace.
"Roxy," Axel said as if it was obvious, "Your nickname."
"...Huh."
"Unless you'd rather me be more verbal, if, you know, like your men verbal..."
"Uh..." There was a short pause but, with a wink from the redhead, the cogs started turning in Roxas' brain and he felt a flare of annoyance in his stomach. "Axel, we have a strong office policy against fraternising with other workers. Especially their bosses."
And without another word, the blonde turned on his heal, thinking that his short lecture had influenced the other to make a change for the better.
He was wrong.
...
When Roxas was feeling less frustrated from that morning with Axel, he decided to give him the stack of sheets he'd been meaning to. This time, though, he decided to keep his cool if the other did anything he thought of as immature. Walking over to the redhead's desk, trying to walk with a casual swagger, he cleared his throat, prompting the other to turn around.
"Yes, sir?" the redhead smirked up at the other, and Roxas was struck by just how bright his emerald eyes were. But after a moment he got a hold of his thoughts and stood up straighter.
"I need you to go over these." He held up the sheets.
"What are they?"
"Just records." Roxas answered, surprised – his employees weren't supposed to question back – but explained anyway, "Normally I'd do them myself, but I'm very busy at the moment. Very stressed."
The redhead seemed to light up at this as he said, "And you're asking me to help relieve the stress, yeah?"
"...Well, yeah... Can you do it?" The boss didn't see what was so odd about his statement.
"Oh yeah, trust me," Axel said in a low, suggestive voice, "I'm the right man for the job."
"...Right." Bewildered, Roxas walked off, taking a quick look around the room to see that everyone was doing their work.
He only understood what sort of 'job' Axel was speaking of when sat down in his chair, and even then, he almost toppled over backwards in surprise.
...
The next week went by with next to no contact between the two. Roxas had been keeping an eye on his redhead employee, making sure that their sexual innuendos were kept to a minimum. Part of this was by politely forcing Demyx to run errands for him so he didn't have to leave his office, but this was impossible when his blonde assistant and best friend took a week off, making him speak to Axel directly.
He could've sworn it was intentional.
So when he walked up to the other's desk, he couldn't deny the fact that he was nervous. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Excuse me, Axel..."
"Yes, Mr Roxy?"
'Ignore it...' he thought, before sheepishly asking, "I'll need you to come over here."
"I'll come wherever you want me to, Ro—"
"Shh, someone'll hear you!" Roxas whispered quickly.
Axel replied innocently, "But I thought you liked your men verbal."
"Huh...?"
"Maybe you'll just have to punish me for being too noisy..." Axel winked, as Roxas put a hand to his forehead in shame.
"Just get in my office." He sighed, hiding the smile that was threatening to show.
Once the two were in his office, Axel said, "So, more stress relieving, hey?"
"No!"
"Damn, I thought you were going to ask me to be like, the secretary or something." Axel chuckled.
"Well, that's the thing, I mean... Demyx is away, I've got no one to organise my stuff, and I'm too busy to do it myself."
"Aaaand... why're you asking me?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it. You've got a room full of people who are willing to do the job for you, and you get me, the new guy."
Roxas realised he had a point, but tried to play it cool. "I'm just, you know... Trying to give you experience in this sort of area."
"Experience, eh?" the corners of the blonde's mouths twitched upwards in the slightest. "That's certainly something I've got plenty of."
"Why did I see that coming..."
"And you're smiling."
"Am not." Roxas' smile widened slightly, but he stubbornly refused to admit it.
"See? We're getting along!"
"Are not."
"Crabby ass."
At this, the blonde gave a laugh, and Axel smiled wider.
"See? You can be fun when you're not all in stoic-boss mode."
"I'm not stoic, just... professional. I've got a room of people to look after, you know." Roxas rolled his eyes with a small grin, and Axel leaned close, putting his mouth next to the other's ear.
"Maybe it's just all that stress that I've been relieving, hey?"
"Shush, you!" Roxas giggled, realising he hadn't had this much fun at work in a while.
But at that moment, someone opened the door, and Roxas jumped away from the redhead as quick as he could.
"H-hi, um, Luxord, what d'you want?" he stuttered, cheeks reddening.
"Oh, never mind, I can see you two are, well," he raised an eyebrow and smirked, "busy." With a thumbs up, he shut the room.
"Ugh, not you too..." Roxas shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead as Axel chuckled.
...
Over the next couple of weeks, Roxas and Axel became quite good friends. Demyx, being the social person he was, also befriended the redhead, and the three went out every few days for dinner or to just catch up on the weekends.
Axel sometimes accompanied Roxas in business meetings when Demyx was busy taking extra long lunch breaks to meet a certain mystery man – Axel had associated the name with 'Sexy', for some reason – and the boss was starting to realise that appearances didn't make anyone less witty.
He didn't mind the innuendos as much as he did before, dismissing them instead as everyday jokes. Even when they involved other people commenting, he laughed it off. One time after a meeting, as two business partners were chatting casually about Axel and Roxas, one of them said, "Their hair's kind of messy, but in a nice way. Think they style it like that?"
"The redhead definitely does. Those spikes are, like, perfectly shaped." The other one replied.
Axel, who just happened to be listening to their conversation with the blonde, cut in and said, "Yeah, mine may be styled, but his?" he pointed a thumb towards Roxas, "You can't style that sex hair."
"Excuse me?" The businesswoman said, blushing slightly.
"Yeah, I worked pretty hard to get his hair like that. But it was worth it." The redhead adjusted his collar with a wink, and Roxas felt his cheeks heat up as he grinned. The businesswoman's partner cleared his throat and tried to hide a smile as Axel continued. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I think those spikes are lacking a little. Better go and try to see if we can get them back to what they were, hey?"
"Axeellll!" Roxas said, as his employee whisked him away, leaving the business partners awkwardly standing in the hallway.
...
With the next couple of weeks came strange and unexpected feelings that even Axel hadn't seen coming. They showed in subtle differences, such as Roxas' new love for green ties. Or, more specifically, ties the colour of – or as close as he could get to – Axel's eyes.
But to Axel couldn't blame him, being the kind of man the redhead was.
Roxas, of course, didn't know what had come over him. So when Axel subtly brought up the subject, he found himself taking deep, nervous breaths.
"So, I like your green tie, Roxy." He said, raising an eyebrow to the blonde.
"Thanks..."
"I notice it's green, hey?"
"Nice observational skills there." Roxas smirked a little.
Axel ignored the sarcasm and prompted, "So, you like green more now?"
"Well, I'm just trying it out, you know. Something new. My other shirts and ties are getting worn out, you know," Roxas loosened his collar slightly, "It's unprofessional."
"Oh, come on, drop the professional bullshit." Axel rolled his eyes, "Why the sudden interest in green?"
"Um. It's a nice colour? Snakes are green. And so are leaves. And natural things."
"Eyes are green..."
"No?" Roxas looked at the ground. "I mean, yes, but that's not what I was thinking of."
"What? My eyes?" The redhead smirked and stood up.
"N-no," the blonde stuttered as Axel walked over to him, stopping inches away.
"Then why are you so nervous?"
"I'm not..."
"You know, you're really not the best liar..." Axel chuckled softly, before leaning close to Roxas' ear and whispering, "Or did you just get new ones so that I can take them off?"
Roxas' breath hitched as warm hands touched his collar and pulled him forward, so that his forehead was touching the other's. "This is wrong. We can't."
"And why's that, Roxy?" Axel asked with a bemused tone of voice, and Roxas subconsciously closed his eyes.
"It's unprofessional. I'm a totally bad boss." He took a deep breath. "Worst boss ever. Oh god..."
"Come on, just have fun once in a while." Spikes of hair tickled the blonde's cheek as he felt Axel trailing kisses on and around his neck. "Trust me, it's worth it."
"Well... maybe just this once." Roxas smiled faintly, feeling Axel chuckle against his chest. "But you do know I can call harassment on this, right?"
"Oh, you wouldn't."
"How're you so sure of it?" Roxas asked with raised eyebrows.
Unbuttoning his shirt with a mischievous smirk, Axel replied, "you can't say it's harassment if you want it."
This was a birthdayfic for someone on DeviantART. And, you know, I just realised how douchey Roxas is in this haha. But oh well. They end up all lovey-dovey by the end, so it's all okay. ;D
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters belong to Square Enix.