oh my goodness, a story? is this for real? it is! i hope i can keep this one up. school and stuff is... difficult, but i think i'll manage unless writers block gets the best of me... again... *sweatdrop* anyway, this is an akuroku story! please enjoy and REVIEW! REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY! seriously, one review and i'm smiling for twenty four hours afterwards, whether its a good one or bad. so feedback is nice! i need critism! i'm only a beginner! and i seriously need to clean out the 112 stories on my flashdrive!

this is shonen-ai. if you don't like it, please don't read it. just a heads up, i don't do lemons. i do do fluffy moments, but everything is rated T. the pairings are Akuroku, Soriku, and Zemyx. there may be more... i forget. so with that said, enjoy!

these are the characters and their ages:

Roxas Strife – 17

Axel Heart – 22

Sora Leonheart – 17 – Roxas' cousin

Riku – 18 – Sora's friend

Demyx – 21 – Axel's friend

Zexion – 21 – Demyx's boyfriend

Cloud Strife – 34 – Roxas' dad

Leon Leonheart – 33 – Cloud's brother/Sora's dad

Tifa Strife – 33 – Cloud's wife/Roxas' mom

Aerith Leonheart – 31 – Leon's wife/Sora's mom

::EDIT::

Oh god, hello again. Nice to see you all after so long ^-^" Well I have good news! This story is going to be off hiatus very very VERY soon! That means that I'll be spending as much time as possible working to tweak a few errors and change some things that I deem needed of change. Thankfully, not much at all was needed to edit chapter one!

Oh, and as for the thing up there saying I don't do lemons, well... that may (and most likely will) change xD So be prepared o3o

So I present to you a little bit better edited chapter 1, and I thank all of you loyal readers who have stuck with me on this. To any new readers, thank you all as well, and please enjoy this story!

Chapter 1

Angels and Arguments

Oh man I was so busted. Three detentions in a row? Mom was going to kill me. There goes my plans for the weekend – if I even lived that long. My mom was very strict about school. I could only have two B's on my report card, sick days were for a fever or worse, and detention was not acceptable. So having three in a row was like asking for a death sentence. But it wasn't my fault, honestly. Well, the first one wasn't, anyway. If Sora could have just waited until after school to text me my phone wouldn't have gone off, and I wouldn't have had it taken away and gotten detention. The other two were because I was late in the morning, and I blame Sora for keeping me up all night on the phone to tell me things only he thought were important. I could not wait until he got a boyfriend to tell that stuff to instead me.

I decided to stay out late that day to avoid an argument right away and enjoy some ice cream. It was probably nine by the time I got home. Great, not only was I going to be in trouble for school, but I'd also get yelled at for missing dinner without informing my parents first. Yay.

Well I was correct that my mom would be mad. Sometimes I wished Dad ware home so he could at least calm her down a little bit. She's psycho! I swear! Who freaks out when their kid has detention for three days and got a C on their math test? I couldn't help that I had no idea what the teacher was talking about and then just gave us a random test the next day! It's like my teacher knew I had no idea what was going on!

The second I walked in the door Mom was there, glaring at me. "Roxas Strife, what did I tell you about school?" she asked, her arms crossed and her hip out to the side. That was her mad stance.

"That I'm not supposed to get lower than a B and never to get detention." I rolled my eyes. This was gonna be a long rant.

"Then why have you had not one, but three days of detention this week? And your chemistry test grade is unacceptable." I swear, I just wanted to ditch school for a week just to piss her off. Maybe she'd have a heart attack and then I could just live with my dad. Cloud was the coolest dad on Earth, not even joking. He couldn't care less if I got a bad grade here and there so long as I had an excuse. Even if the excuse was something stupid, like 'I didn't get home until late so I didn't have time to study'. He'd just say to make sure to get home sooner next time and that was the end.

"Yeah, well, I'm not perfect." I glared back, mimicking her stance.

"Don't you want to get into a good college? Don't you want a scholarship? I thought we talked about this already! Without a scholarship there's no way we'd be able to pay for you!" She hollered. What a lie. We had plenty of money. How else had we afforded such an oversized house?

"I can go to a community college." I shrugged.

Her cheeks puffed up and I knew I was in for it. "No son of mine is going to a community college! You need to get into a good college that will teach you well, not a school for slackers. You're going to be taking over your father's business some day; you need a good education to be able to do so. Take a makeup test tomorrow and I expect much more effort from you from now on. You're grounded for a week, and any more detention and I'm taking away your TV and iPod. You need to learn discipline Roxas, stop fooling around and get to work!"

"Maybe I don't want to be the CEO of a major company! Aren't parents supposed to support their child and let them choose what they want to do with their life? Not force them to do something they don't want to?" This was bad. I should have just kept my mouth shut and nodded my head until she was done.

"Roxas Strife do not use that tone of voice with me! You should be grateful we're paying for you to get such a good education! I will not let you waste it with bad grades and lateness! Now go to your room this instant!" Mom yelled, pointing to the stairs. Like hell I was going to listen.

"Would you stop trying to control my whole fucking life already? I'm not wasting it; I'm doing what I want to do! And I will not go to my room! Quit thinking I'm going to be your perfect little son who does everything you say and is perfect at everything! So I got a bad grade and was late a few days, big deal! Seriously, what the fuck makes you think I-" her hand whipped across my face. She had never hit me before. The feeling was strange. While it took a few seconds for the pain to register in my face, the sound was enough to send chills down my spine – and not the good kind, either.

"Enough! You will not speak to your mother that way!" She yelled, and I could tell her voice was choked. After a second or two I straightened myself out and turned to the door. "Whatever, I'm out of here." She started yelling for me to get back inside and go to my room, threatening to take away all my appliances and ground me, but I just kept walking. Nothing could get me to go back in there.

I was probably walking for an hour. Why didn't I take my car? Oh well, too late now. I was right next to a park, wind blowing and making me shiver. The trees would help block at least a little, so I stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets and ran across the street to the dirt path. It didn't help much, but once I was in the pathway in between two rows of trees I was a tiny bit warmer. Stupid autumn, always making me so freaking cold.

I kept walking even though there were plenty of benches to sit on. There wasn't really anyone out, which I could understand. Who wanted to walk around in a park at night where you could hardly even see the cherry trees?

Something red out of the corner of my eye made me stop and turn. A person? He had really spiky, bright red hair. Why was he sleeping on a bench? There was a cigarette on the ground just under his hand that was dangling off the side, his other arm covering his eyes. Well he didn't look homeless. I mean, what kind of homeless person wore doc martins? They were almost as red as his hair. He also had on some torn up jeans and a black leather coat over a white t-shirt. There was something on it but I couldn't make out what it was. I think I stared at this person for at least five minutes. Hey, I was deciding what to do, okay?

I finally figured it would be okay to wake him up. The night was cold, I was a little bored, and I still didn't want to go home. I started poking his hand that was over his eyes a couple times until he started swatting it away. I grinned at how childishly he reacted. Waking people up was always fun. "Hey, wake up."

"No." He groaned, and I swear his voice was like velvet. A little rough, sure, but it was beautiful. I tried to shake away the thought; now was not the time to think about a stranger's pretty voice (stupid gay mind).

"You can't sleep on a bench." I said, poking him again.

"It's public property." He argued. "Let me sleep."

"You're going to freeze your ass off if you stay out here." I knew I was kind of pestering him, and it probably wasn't the most logical thing to do seeing as he was some stranger sleeping in a park. For all I knew he could have been a murderer or kidnapper or something.

Huh, whatever.

He finally gave up, and with a very drawn out sigh he sat up straight. When he looked at me I could see that his green eyes were bloodshot and he had bags under his eyes. He stared for a long time, yawning once.

"Uh. . . Are you okay?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Seriously, he had been staring for like ten minutes. Okay, more like five seconds, but it felt longer.

"Fine, fine." He waved a hand and leaned back in his seat. "So who dares to disturb my slumber?" He asked, a grin spreading across his face. I noticed he had thick eyeliner on, and there were upside down teardrop shaped tattoos under his eyes.

"A stupid teenager who never learned not to talk to strangers." I smiled. "Especially ones that sleep on park benches."

"Well excuse me for wanting to take a nap outside." He said, sticking his nose in the air. "What brings you here, kid?"

I shrugged. "Oh, just an argument with my mom. She's a little strict about school and stuff."

"Ha. You gotta love mothers. They're almost as controlling as girlfriends, but you can't break up with them. At least not until you're eighteen." he laughed, scooting over a bit so there was room for me to sit. "The name's Axel. That's spelled A-X-E-L." he held his hand out to shake.

"I'll be sure to memorize that." I grinned, accepting the gesture before sitting down next to him. "I'm Roxas."

We talked for hours. We didn't even have a set subject; it just kept changing. We talked about everything – family, school, work, friends, complaints, and even political things every now and then. I learned that he was Axel Heart, was twenty-two, living in an apartment and working at a music store his friend Demyx hooked him up with. He dropped out of high school when he was a senior because he started doing drugs, and never went to college. He was exactly the kind of person my mom told me never to talk to, but there was more to him then just being a high school dropout, though he said he did still smoke regular cigarettes. He really looked like he wanted to quit, though, and said so too. He said he had been cutting back to on smoking twice a day rather than whenever he felt like, but he said it was pretty difficult.

I told him about my mom and dad and how they wanted me to take up my dad's business once I got out of college, so my mom was pushing me to get perfect grades and a scholarship. I told him how I didn't want to. How I wanted to be a teacher, or maybe an artist. He even asked to see some of my drawings, and since I had my backpack with me I was able to show him my notebook. And he said I was really good! But he also gave me quite a bit of constructive criticism, which helped a lot. He said he drew every now and then, but he was more into charcoal and paints.

The only thing that made me stop talking was when I looked at my watch. It was almost midnight. "Crap! I gotta get home!" I yelled, jumping off of the bench. We had been sitting so long my butt was numb.

"I'd offer you a ride, but I don't have a car." Axel said, standing up after me.

"That's okay, I walked here so I can get back." I smiled, stuffing my notebook back into my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. But something made me frown. "Am I going to see you again?"

"Sure. I'll be here every night." he grinned.

"Okay. I'll have to sneak out after my parents go to sleep though, so I wont get here till after midnight." I smiled again. I was glad I'd get to see Axel again. He was a really cool guy and I wanted to get to know him more.

"Now get goin' kiddo! You don't wanna be anymore late than you already are." he said, placing a hand on my head and messing up my spikes.

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" I laughed, pushing his hand away and patting down my hair as I began running back down the street. "See you tomorrow!" I waved "Don't fall asleep until you get home!"

"I'll do my best!" he called back, and I could just barely see him grinning before he turned to walk in the opposite direction. I smiled and turned again to keep running. I couldn't wait for the next day. At the moment I didn't care what punishment I was going to get once I made it inside my house. I didn't care that my parents were either worried sick or already asleep in their beds. None of it really mattered, because I made a friend all by myself. No help from Sora, just me. And at midnight tomorrow, he was only there for me, and I was only there for him. That sounded pretty awesome to me. Heck, I might have been skipping instead of running home, who knows?

..::Axel::..

Well shit. Either God had sent me an angel or sleeping on a park bench gave me really messed up dreams, because being that adorable just wasn't possible. It was like against nature. Roxas was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen (yes I realize how cliché that is and mentally smacked myself multiple times for thinking it). His eyes were the brightest blue, and his blonde hair was spiked to one side in a way that didn't really seem possible, but still looked completely natural and smooth to the touch. Then again, I had no right to talk with the crazy red mess I called my hair. Everyone always thought I dyed it and used a bunch of gel to get it to spike up, but really all I do is take a shower in the morning, run my fingers through it, and let it air dry.

But we aren't talking about my hair right now. We're talking about Roxas. Oh, I could talk about him all day. I'd bet twenty dollars that the next day I'd be blabbering on to Demyx and Zexion about him nonstop. They'd probably be more surprised that I wasn't coming off of being stoned when I got there.

I wanted it to be midnight the next day. I had twenty-four hours until I got to see Roxas again. There was no way I was getting back to sleep, even if I did have my face stuffed in the pillow. Needless to say I got about one hour of sleep that night. Oh, sorry, I mean morning, since it was after midnight and I know how picky people are about what time of day it is. In my opinion, it is not morning until I either fall asleep and then wake up, or don't sleep at all.

I woke up at eight (after falling asleep at seven) and made myself a huge – and I mean HUGE cup of coffee. Oh how I loved that dark brown drink more than anything. I had long become immune to energy drinks, but coffee always seemed to keep me going. It was like my life support.

I took a shower and let my hair dry naturally (don't ask how it ends up spiking everywhere, I have no idea) while I cooked and ate breakfast, humming to the music I had playing on iTunes from my laptop. God, I loved shuffle. It's like you're listening to the songs for the first time in forever. Sometimes I would even find songs I had no idea I had! It's like a treasure chest filled with millions of surprising wonders.

Aside from the iTunes treasure chest, I had to get to work. And it was already ten. Crap... Work started at ten thirty, and I still had to finish my coffee! And, you know, get dressed, but coffee always came before clothes.

Needless to say, I managed to finish my coffee in about ten seconds and then changed into my usual pair jeans and leather jacket, plain old black converse on my feet and a Blink 182 t-shirt under my jacket. I also managed to catch the bus (I don't believe in buying a car, too much money) on time and actually get to work! Zexion would be so surprised. And that was saying something, because Zexion never shows emotion.

I walked into the little shop, and Demyx looked up from his iPod and fell off his chair when he saw me. "Axel! What are you doing here so early?" he yelled after climbing back to his feet with the help of the counter he had had his feet on.

"I have work at ten thirty, duh." I rolled my eyes, trying not to grin. Oh man, this was classic. I couldn't wait till Zexy showed up.

Which was apparently a hell of a lot sooner than I thought.

"What's all the commotion ― Axel what in gods name are you doing here so early?" Zexion came out of the back room, carrying some new CD's to place on some shelf or another. The look on his face was hilarious. He was trying so hard not to show how surprised he was but you could totally tell. His eyes were straining to not grow wide and he was all stiff and rigid.

"Nice to know you think so highly of me." I huffed, crossing my arms and looking away, pretending to be offended by his comment.

"Which is making me question why you aren't." he retorted.

"Yeah, did you get caught or something?" Demyx chimed in.

I rolled my eyes. "Really Demyx, think logically here. If I were to get caught, do you really think I would be standing in front of you right now?"

"Yes." Zexion said, and I stared at him for half a second in question before he continued swiftly. "But you would be behind bars and using a telephone behind a glass case. Then we'd have to bail you out with money we don't have, and you don't have to pay me back."

"Oh please, I have plenty of money. And I told you; I only smoke regular cigarettes now. Besides, I have better things on my mind." I grinned, thinking back to Roxas. Oh man, I could not wait until midnight. My comment (and probably goofy grin on my face) caused eyebrows to raise. Demyx suddenly grabbed me and started shaking my by my shoulders, causing my head to rock back and forth violently. I could barely tell whether or not I was upside down or sideways or what. "D-Demyx! Cut it out!" I yelled, jerking away. He stopped shaking me but he didn't let go nor loosen his grip. And let me tell you; Demyx's grip is fucking strong!

He stared at me like he was trying to rape me with his eyes. It was really creepy, him just boring his eyes into mine with a furious look on his face. I kept my cool, though, because I'm like that. "Who is it?" he suddenly asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Who's what?"

"Who is it! Who did this to you!" he yelled, and I was so glad we didn't have customers often, because this would be really difficult to explain to the manager and customer.

"Did what to me?" I asked, my eyebrow still raised.

"Ugh, Axel! Who is it that's making you go all mushy and goo-goo eyed?" he yelled again, clearly frustrated that I wasn't understanding what he was getting at. But I'm Axel. I don't get mushy or goo-goo eyed. For anyone.

"You're overreacting." I shrugged.

"I am not overreacting!" he protested. "You walked in here and you had this dreamy look on your face. And don't tell me it's because you were smoking this morning because you don't smell like anything but Axel today!"

Wait – did he have my sent memorized or something? I sighed, scratching behind my ear. "Okay, fine. I met someone yesterday and I'm meeting them again today."

"I knew it!" Demyx cheered, pumping a fist in the air triumphantly and then going to give me a hug. Ugh. If there was one turn off about Demyx besides his constant sugar high, it was his touchy-feely attitude. "Oooh Zexy, isn't this great? Axel's in love!"

"Okay, hold it." I cut in, shaking my head. "I met the kid yesterday. Or more like this morning. And he's like, sixteen. I'm not in love. That would kind of be really creepy."

"Kid? He? Axel you finally realized your gay!" Demyx cheered, which made no sense. What did he mean I realized I was gay? I was not gay. Okay, so maybe I was bi, but I would have thought they would freak out when I said sixteen...

"Axel, you said he was sixteen correct?" Zexion asked, and I was kinda surprised he spoke up. I just nodded. "You said you met him this morning. How late were you up last night?"

"Uh... around seven, I think."

Demyx continued smiling even after I pulled him off of me. I could sense Zexion getting jealous. "Ooh this is so romantic! A forbidden love because of age and gender! How did you meet?"

"Demyx you're getting way too ahead of yourself." I warned. "And again, I met him yesterday. And it wasn't exactly the best first impression. He probably thinks I'm some creep who sleeps on park benches at night stalking children."

"You were sleeping on a park bench?" Demyx asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep!" I groaned.

"What was he doing out in a park so late?"

"He said he got in a fight with his mom." I said, calming down a bit. I was still angry with him thinking I was in love. Sure, Roxas was cuter than anything I had ever seen, but I wasn't falling head over heels for him.

"oooh... so he doesn't get along with his parents?" Demyx asked, his eyes getting wide. Jeez, he just had to feel sorry for everybody, didn't he?

"Well, sort of. He said that his mom is just really, really strict about his grades and he ended up doing really bad on a test and got a couple detentions, so she freaked and he stood up for himself and then left." I explained, remembering our exact conversation.

"Ooh I remember when we were in high school! Axel, you were such a rebel. Always ditching class and smoking in the bathrooms." He reminisced, this time clutching onto Zexion. I wasn't sure if those were things to be happily remembering, but whatever... this was Demyx we're talking about here. He makes everything a good thing.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm still trying to figure out why I became friends with you." Oh, that's right; because I didn't have a choice whether I wanted to befriend him or not. Once Demyx has his mind set on being your friend, he sticks like glue. Every day for three weeks he was right there, standing next to me and blabbering away the entire time I walked to class until I finally gave up.

"Axel, your so mean." He pouted.

"I'm kidding! Jeez." I laughed, giving him a pat on the head. I preferred not to touch people as much as possible. Don't really know why, I just always get really uncomfortable when it's anything more than a handshake or a poke or something. Another reason why I'm confused that I was still friends with Demyx.

"You're seeing him again, right? Can we meet him? Can we?" he asked, looking up at me with his big puppy dog eyes and a huge smile.

"And what, freak him out? No way are you meeting him. At least not for a while." I crossed my arms and looked away. I usually came off as stubborn that way, but it was really just because I couldn't stand to look at Demyx when he puts on his puppy-dog face. No one has been able to resist that so far. No one.

"Aaaxxxeeelll~ pleeaaasseee~" he begged, grabbing onto my sleeve. "I won't scare him I promise! I'll even ask if I can hug him before I do! Pleeassee!"

"No fucking way, Demyx!" I snapped, shaking my arm until he finally let go. "Look, maybe some other time when I actually know him better and get his permission."

"Yay! Thank you Axel!" he cheered, jumping up to hug me again. This time I dodged it and he ended up falling onto the floor, but as I took a step backward I tripped over something.

When I looked up Zexion was staring down at me with the 'how dare you hurt my boyfriend' look. "Ow! What the heck Zexion! I thought you didn't want him to hug me!" I yelled, rubbing at my butt. Man that hurt! Carpet does nothing for cushioning the fall!

"I never said to send him flying across the floor." He said darkly. "He's already clumsy enough; if Demyx breaks his neck because of you, you better be prepared to pay for medical expenses.

"Aw, be nice Zexy!" Demyx chided, patting his shoulder. "Axel's just shy, he didn't mean to make me fall."

"I'm not shy I just don't like it when people touch me." I grumbled, pushing myself up off the floor. Why did I have the feeling this was going to be a long day?

So there you have it! chapter 1! again, please review! they are like little energy balls of happiness

EDIT: the edited version of chapter two shall be up in a moment :)