I do not own Axel, Roxas, any other character or thing to do with Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, and Romeo and Juliet. Square Enix and Shakespeare own those, respectively.

Warnings: Shounen-ai, language, AU

The Shinra Electric Power Company. The world's leading generator of electricity. Without the organization, the world would be forever dark. Or so supporters claimed. Axel called it bullshit.

He was not a supporter. He worked for the company. There was a difference. He didn't cater to or kiss up anyone's ass; he was good at what he did or else he wouldn't have been kept as long as he had with all his mouthing off.

He would have quit a long time ago, marched up to that smug ruler of the world and spat in his face with a hearty flip of the middle finger, would have if not for the perpetually frowning spiky-haired ocean-eyed, eyes deeper than the ocean, brighter than mako, as soulful as the universe and the space-time continuum, distant azure light burning endlessly in the drowning depths, and, god, he was obsessed, wasn't he? He must be, to start spouting off poetic comparisons bordering dangerously on the edge of meditative. And he of the ever-burning Zippo, the man bound to die of lung cancer in a couple of years or so, one step away from being an official pyro, he was not meditative. When he stared at fire with a glazed look in his eyes, that was fanaticism, not meditation.

Meditation did your brain in and since his brain was just fine thank you very fucking much, he did not meditate. So he concluded and was damn well proud of himself for it. Now that he'd made his day, all he needed to provide a perfect climax for this chain of good events was for the elevator to hurry up so he could give his cell phone a quick juicing up. He watched the floor indicator inch its agonizing, gasping way down the floors, speed up suddenly, before dropping back to its snail pace, even slower if possible from the exertion. Come on, he needed to find out if he was supposed to meet Demyx at the bar or his house. Of all the times to not possess telepathy.

Damn the company for making such lame cell phones and dumping them on him. Axel swore that he had never, in his entire life, had a cell phone that didn't eat up an entire battery's worth of electricity in just over eight hours. Well, he did tend to put them through a bit of rough situations—but that was no excuse! You'd think with the amount of cash rolling into Shinra's pockets, they'd be able to afford supplying their hardworking employees with cell phones that did not malfunction after being put through the washing machine and dryer. Ok, and maybe smashed against a wall a few times, but that was entirely not his fault. Oh, and there was that chocobo who tried to eat it once when it dropped out of his pocket while he was on his motorbike... (and the owner had the nerve to complain about the near toasting his pet had gotten. Get a leash then, god, how hard was that?) Besides, the claim had been that the phone could undergo "extreme and harsh conditions, and still remain in pristine form". Nope, he definitely did not support his company.

And, oh, look. Here was the pathetic excuse for an elevator that would never justify its presence in the Shinra building. Actually, any building. Where it belonged was resting happily in a junkyard.

-

Roxas officially decided that the only possible way this day could get any worse and prove that someone upstairs had a serious grudge against him would be for one more electronic to metaphorically blow up in his face. Although the coffee maker had come dangerously close to literally fulfilling that. For a company dealing with electricity, their machines sure weren't ideal mascots for the business. He would have started for the stairs when the elevator shot right down, passing the floor he was waiting on, but for a strong sense of Oh no, you don't, you piece of machinery spawn of the king of down under. Despite the knowledge that once the elevator finally reached his floor, he would most likely have to accompany the previous caller up to whatever floor before starting on his journey downwards to the lobby, he stubbornly stayed and waited. And with his luck, the elevator would probably get stuck on the second floor. And also seeing as Luxord was supposed to be on security duty for the weekend, he would most likely stay stuck until someone decided to wander back to the office or if the gambler, by a remarkable twist of fate, himself returned. Which was about as likely as Kairi falling in love with...Rufus Shinra himself.

Someone hated his guts, he realized when the doors opened and he stormed in, bags swinging against his leg, and he swore there would be an assortment of colored bruises there tomorrow that would make a fine temporary tattoo, if he had wanted one in the first place that is, and the doors closed before he realized the other passenger had to be, of every worker in the goddamn building, Axel. I will act mature. I will not hop off at the next floor. I'll ignore him, he'll get off, and this awful day can kiss my butt. Axel, to Roxas's disgruntled estimation of his credit, seemed preoccupied and said not a word of sarcastic flirtation. His mood lightened slightly. It dipped down again when he inhaled and nearly choked on a lungful of noxious smoke. He gritted his teeth, hearing them squeak from the pressure he put on them, and managed not to swing his shopping bags into giving the redhead a blatant shiner. The hint of mellowness that had been creeping towards his mood vanished rapidly and gave way to full on fuming when he realized that Axel fucking Ross was quietly smoking and smirking at him with a deviousness that would have made the Cheshire Cat proud. His souring mood took a complete nosedive, complete with spiraling loop, when

the lights went off and the whirring of the elevator stopped as the car jolted and went silent. Roxas cursed.