AkuRoku Month Part I

Scary Beach Party

"Alright Demyx, tell him what you did this time." Saix gently nudged the blond forward towards their leader, the sitar-player soaked to the bone and dripping all over the polished marble floor.

"Well Mans-Xemnas, it all started when the Grey Area started caving in above Saix here..."


Axel strolled out from his quarters in search of their newest member, Roxas. The fire user had great plans in store for the blond today, and Part One of this plan involved taking him out for a nice, long distraction. He poked his head into the young boy's room to find it empty. "Huh...Ah!" Axel helped himself to Demyx' bedroom knowing that blonds typically flock together in order to find people on the same intellectual wavelength. When he opened the door to find yet another white, empty space, the Flurry of Dancing Flames finally started to get irked. "It's a damn castle, there's only so many places he can be." He stormed out into their lounge area to see if there was anyone to question about the location of his friend.

"Hey Axel, looking for Roxas?"

The named man turned to see Luxord walking into the room with Xion, both holding small plates of breakfast foods.

"Yeah, you see him?"

"He's right behind us – heard the words 'bacon' and 'toast' and beat everyone else down there."

Axel thanked him and quietly stalked back into the Keyblade wielder's room to wait behind the doorway. After a few moments of silence, the stone-white door opened and a small blond stepped in, three pieces of bacon in his mouth and a pile of toast and eggs on his plate. Axel couldn't resist. "Boo!"

"Yeep!" Roxas jumped a good three feet into the air, his breakfast flying up then falling down onto Axel's head. The poor kid looked like he was going to have a heart attack, if it were possible. It didn't take long for him to notice the half-Axel-half-Toast man laughing his ass off, and he couldn't help but join in.

"You went so high Roxas - I think if I scared the shit outta you a little bit more, you would've attached yourself to the ceiling." Axel ruffled the kid's hair and plucked a piece of toast from his own head, munching on it.

"You ass! You're lucky I didn't punch you in the groin out of reflex or anything." Roxas grinned up at him and snatched some toast for himself, the eggs pretty much collateral damage. "Luxord said you were looking for me?"

After a few blank eye-blinks as he was tried to remind himself of why he was looking for him, Axel answered, "got plans for you and me today. Wanna go out on the town, take a tour with your favorite partner?" He asked, stepping just a tad closer, not even realizing he'd done it.

"Sure, is Xion coming too?"

"Nope, just you and me today." He watched Roxas shrug and then take the last slice of toast from his red hair to roll it up and shove it in his mouth. If he wasn't trying to keep his mind straight and focused on not touching the kid before, he was certainly going into overdrive now.

"Alright, let's go."


"A little to the left...no, your other left. Damnit Demyx, your side that isn't right!" Marluxia snapped, pointing to the correct direction he wanted the fake palm tree moved to. The entire Grey Area looked like one of those cheesy 90s photo shoots – the kind where a woman would lay in a lawn chair in front of a large photo of a beach scene, the fans blowing on her and getting shit in her eyes.

"You don't need to be so specific ya know..." Demyx muttered, "It's just a party..." He pushed the tree into it's proper location and stepped back to admire his work. "Not bad...could use some balloons though."

"Got that covered." Marluxia snapped his fingers and Xion came bounding in with dozens of brightly-colored balloons on strings. "How many in that batch?"

"Forty-two!" She said proudly. "It took a while, but we got the helium tank working." Xion's voice had a slight squeak to it as she stood beside the pinkette and awaited further instruction.

"...you couldn't resist, could you?" The man with the flower-power just smiled and told her to release the balloons when the signal was given, Luxord walking in looking unamused with a bunch of his own. "Now then...punch, snacks, trees...music! Demyx, could you-"

"Got it covered~" Demyx strummed his Sitar, eager to put his amazing talents to good use.


"So Axel – we've walked at least a mile around this place, and still you haven't told me what you're up to." Roxas mentioned, a sea-salt ice cream in his hand as they walked up the floors of The Castle That Never Was toward their rooms.

"Are you complaining?" The redhead looked pointedly at the near-devoured bar in the boy's hand.

"Mmm...nope, not yet." He grinned and stopped walking, holding up the last bite of the ice cream to his partner. "Go on, you finish it."

Why am I being tested so much today? Axel leaned down and ran his tongue slowly up the popsicle stick, picking up the last bite with care only to sensually slide it into his mouth, his eyes locked on Roxas' own the whole moment.

"Axel...I-" They both jumped as Demyx ran up to them looking frazzled.

"Thank goodness I found you both! You gotta come with me, quick, something's wrong!" The blond led the two males past their bedrooms to the decked-out lounge.

"Surprise!" Xion and Luxord let go of their bushels of balloons, all of them floating up to the ceiling as Roxas gaped at everyone. Most of his fellow members were there, excepting Xemnas, Saix, and Vexen. The rest had wooden cups with little umbrellas in them, Demyx was playing his Sitar quietly on one of the sofas, and Axel was grinning beside him.

"You guys...what is this?" The small blond asked as Xion handed him a drink.

"It was Axel's idea." She told him, nodding at the redhead as he left to thank Marluxia again.

"Why?" Roxas watched his friend as he sipped his punch, definitely becoming a fan of the fruity drink immediately.

"He needs a reason? You're his best friend." The ravenette stated simply, like it was the answer to everything.

"Yeah...he's my best friend too."


The party lasted well into the night, most of the older members retiring throughout due to missions in the morning. Demyx had disappeared some fifteen minutes ago, Xion was fast asleep in a chair, and Axel was doing everything in his power not to be alone with Roxas for more than a few moments at a time.

Finally though, he could no longer stay away from him.

"So Roxas, how do you like it?" Axel finally asked his friend, the two of them standing in a corner away from the snoring Xion.

"I'm having fun. Still wish I knew why you did this for me though." He stepped just a little closer, staring up into his partner's green eyes. "Why did you set this up Axel? I asked around and everyone said you usually don't do things like this so...why for me?" The honest curiosity in his expression caused Axel to cave.

"R-Roxas, listen, I need to-" There was a loud rushing sound that caused everyone's attention to be focused on the hall leading to their rooms. The source quickly revealed itself to be a wall of water coming right towards them, Demyx riding on the crest of it playing his Sitar. Needless to say, this scared the absolute shit out of everyone, but alas, there was nothing that could be done. The entire room was flooded in seconds, Xion using her chair as a raft, the other members randomly floating about and shouting obscenities at the blond in charge of this travesty.

"Woo! Now's it's a real beach party!" Demyx had cheered, swimming towards the floating punch bowl. Marluxia was quietly bitching about his hair as Roxas simply looked around realizing that Axel had disappeared.

"Axel?" The blond looked up and found the redhead clinging to a light fixture in the ceiling. "How'd you get up there? And how are you dry?"

"...I'm scared of water." Axel mumbled, staring down at the treading blond.

"Seriously?" Roxas was honestly trying not to laugh, but he wasn't very successful. His laughter cut off quickly however when a cracking sound reverberated throughout the room. Suddenly the floor gave way under the weight of the gallons of water, Roxas being pulled by the suction towards the gaping crack in the floor. When his head went under the surface, Axel dove in and grabbed onto him as they both fell through to the floor below.

After all the water had drained from the room above, the two males carefully sat up, Axel holding Roxas in his arms. They stared at each other and burst into laughter.

"You look like a drowned cat!" Roxas cackled, his friend's hair plastered against his skull.

"Oh yeah? Well-"

"What...the hell...happened?" Came from a fuming Saix, who happened to be crushed beneath them.

The chuckling couple pointed up just in time for Demyx to peek over the edge of the large hole in the ceiling. Saix looked up at him and ground his teeth together.

"Demyx..."


"...and that's the way the cookie crumbles. Well, ceiling, but whatever." Demyx finished.

On the other side of the castle, far from where Demyx was being lectured, Axel was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. At least, he was trying to, but the image of Roxas kept getting in the way.

"...what are you, Roxas? What are you that you're making me feel this way?"