Heyy, I'm back ^___^ Miss me? -crickets-

...yeah.

AAANYWAYS. Slightly -cough- belated Christmas Akuroku fic. I've been working it for a while, and I tried my hardest to get it up before the end of January.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Wish I did. That'd rule.

And now on with the story!!


"And if x is equal to 8 then..."

Roxas looked up at his teacher, who had been droning on for the past hour.

Only...

He looked over, checking the time.

5 more minutes. That's all I have to endure...5 more minutes and I'm finally free.

The blonde jumped slightly as his phone buzzed, alerting him to a new text message.

"Hey, Roxy, meet me after class.~Ax."

He quickly texted back an "Okay, where"


DRRIRIIIIIIIII!!

Roxas swung his bag over his shoulder, and waving a quick goodbye to his friends he raced out the door.

Jogging through the school he stopped right outside Axel's locker, almost bumping into the redhead.

"Hey."

"Oh, hey Rox! Listen, I got an idea. You know how you said Sora, Riku, and Kairi were all going to be hanging out during Christmas break?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you come spend Christmas with me! You can stay until break is over, I don't mind! My parents are going to be gone, and I know how you don't like having a lot of people around, so thats good for you!"

"Uh...I guess I could ask?"
"You can bring your stuff over tonight, if you like. Wanna walk home together?"

"Axel, we always walk home together, you live two houses away from mine."

"Right. Want me to help you pack?"

"Let me call my mom, okay?

Axel nodded, rocking back and forth on his feet while Roxas reached into his pocket to grab his cell phone. As it was ringing the two of them headed towards the doors, pushing them open and walking out into the chilly air.

"Hey mom. Yeah, I'm coming home soon. Axel wants to know if I can stay at his house for winter break. Yes, I'll make sure to stop by on Christmas. Okay. Okay. Talk to you in a bit. Bye."

Roxas snapped his phone shut, stuffing it back into his jeans.

"I can go to your house."

Axel cheered, grabbing Roxas's hand and running as fast as he could in the direction of their houses.

"AXEL! Slow down, people are staring!"

He smirked, slowing to a halt.

"D'you wanna know why they're staring?"

Axel twitched his arm slightly, making Roxas stumble and fall forward onto his chest.

A muffled squealing sound and a loud giggle came from the two girls across the street. They walked over to them, one of them subtlety pulling out a camera.

"Axel...let go of me..."

"But my dear Roxas, I'm not holding on to you. In case you hadn't noticed, you're the one clinging to my shirt."

"Ah...sorry..."

The girls were clinging to each other in fangirl delight, staring at them, squealing their hearts out.

"Alright, lets go, I wanna get all of the decorations up! Christmas is only in a day and a half!"

He pulled Roxas by the hand again and dragged him away.

"AaahhhHh!"

They barged in through Roxas's front door, yelling a hello to his mom, before running upstairs to pack a few things.

Axel rummaged through Roxas's closet, trying to find a duffel bag for him, and grabbing a few pairs of jeans.

"Do you want to bring these shirts, Roxy?"

Roxas looked up from his sock drawer to see Axel holding up some turtlenecks.

"Yeah, sure."

When they were finished, and Roxas had grabbed his toothbrush, DS, and some pajamas, they headed back downstairs.

"Are you boys leaving now?"

"Yes, mom."

"Oh, Roxas, your father and I have decided that since you and your brother aren't going to be home for break, we're taking a little vacation."

"Okay, have fun."

"You as well. Stay safe, alright?"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure Axel doesn't burn the tree down...this year."

"That was an accident!"

Stare.

"Well...okay, mostly an accident. I didn't know pine was that flammable."

"Okay, be as careful as you two can be."

They all laughed, and Axel and Roxas walked out the door, heading down the street to Axel's house.

As soon as they got inside,Roxas gasped. It looked like a Christmas store had exploded in Axel's living room.

"Where did you GET all of this?"

"18 years worth of Christmas decorations."

"Ah..."

"Well, dump your stuff wherever and lets get started! I already put up the tree, we just need to decorate it, put up the stuff on the walls, decorate the mantle, put up the wreath on the door, make some hot chocolate, and then we're done!"

"Axel...it's already almost five. To do all the stuff you're wanting to do, we'll have to work practically non-stop all night. Can't we just split this over the two days? Christmas is tomorrow NIGHT."

"Exactly! Which is why we need to work hard!"

"If I don't get dinner, I'm going home."

"We can eat!"

"We can start in on this after dinner, okay?"

"But Roxyyy..."

He glared at him, but the effect was slightly ruined by his stomach grumbling.

"Want pizza?"

"Sure. Get the usual."

Axel nodded and headed off to the phone.

"While I'm ordering, start putting somethings up, okay?"

"'kay."

Roxas reached for a string of lights, and then, realizing they were completely tangled, set about pulling what seemed to be three strands of different shaped lights apart.

"Paopu fruit lights?"

"Oh, you found those!?"

Axel had just returned from placing his order, and was smiling.

"I've been missing those for a while!"

"They've been tangled in with the sea salt ice cream and moogle shaped lights. When did you get all of these, anyway??"

"Hmm...6th Christmas?"

"Help me untangle these, okay?"

He reached over to grab the moogle lights, right when Roxas was pulling on the string of ice creams.

"Um...Roxy? My hands stuck..."

"Oh, here, let me get that."

Roxas tried to undo the knot that holding the two strings together, but only succeeded in getting stuck himself.

"Great..."

"You're stuck too?"

"Yeah."

Axel looped part of the string behind Roxas's back and leaned forward.

"A...Axel? What are you doing?"

"Trying to find the end of this string, that should make it easier to get out of this."

"Here, maybe if I turn..."

Roxas rolled over slightly, pulling some of the lights with him.

"Ah...Yeah! I got it!"

He sat up quickly, bumping noses with Axel.

"Oh good...you...did..." he said slowly, staring down at his blonde friend.

Also grabbing the end of the string, he pulled softly, so that Roxas was a little closer.

"Roxas..."

DING DONG!!!!!

Axel stood up, face flushed, and started walking to the front door to get the pizza.

Forgetting that Roxas was still attached to his hand.

He was tripping and stumbling behind Axel as he was being half dragged through the house.

"Axel, stop pulling!!"

"Oh, sorry Rox! I didn't realize you were still attached!"

"It's fine...just open the door."

It swung open to reveal a very amused looking Demyx, and a very bored looking Zexion.

"Hey guys..."

"Axel! Roxas! I didn't know you were both here!! I brought you guys your pizza, and even though it's snowing outside, it's still warm don't worry. Because I know Axel hates cold pizza, so then he'd be in a bad mood and wouldn't give Roxas a nice Merry Christmas kiss! And that would be sad."

Roxas's face turned about at red as Axel's hair.

"WHAT!?"

"Oops..."

Zexion put an arm around Demyx's waist, pulling him slightly back.

"If you want him to leave, just pay him."

"But I don't wanna leave, Zexy! Isn't it nice talking with them?"

"Dem...I think they want to be left alone for a while, it looks like they were in the middle of decorating before we came over."

"Ooh, is that why they're holding hands in the middle of those pretty lights? Hey, are those moogles?"

Axel and Roxas looked down at their hands, which were indeed joined, and then looked back up at each other. Roxas's face was still a deep shade of red and he turned so they couldn't see.

Axel handed Demyx 10 dollars and gave Zexion a sympathetic look.

They watched their hyper and unfortunate friends walk down the pathway leading from the front door before they stopped. It looked like Zexion was scolding Demyx, because the brown haired boy was pouting. Zexions rant was stopped short because Demyx had pulled him into a quick kiss.

Roxas smiled. "Dem and Zex?"

Axel nodded. "I thought so. Those two don't know how to be secretive in the least!"

They laughed and went back to decorating.

"Wow...it's snowing really hard outside..."

Roxas walked back from the window, just as Axel came in from the kitchen, bringing two mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

"Roxy, come here, lets take a break."

"Alright."

He sat down on the couch next to Axel, accepting the mug from him.

"Thanks for inviting me over Axel..."

"You're my best friend, why wouldn't I invite you? Wanna see what crappy Christmas reruns are on?"

Roxas nodded, leaning slightly on Axel's shoulder.

They sat through all of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", but after a while they started getting bored.

"Put on ELF, at least that's recent..."

"Do we have to do any more decorating?"

"Well...not really...It's not like we have anyone to impress, right?"

"True, it's not like your parents are going to come home and grade us on our decorating skills. That'd be so stupid!"

They burst out laughing, not realizing how close they'd gotten since they'd started talking.

"Anyways, A..."

They were practically nose to nose.

Axel reached up to straighten Roxas's hair, which had gotten mussed while he'd been relaxing.

"Roxas...I..."

All of a sudden the house went completely black.

"AAH!"

Roxas lept into Axel's arms, staring around.

"Rox! Calm down! It's only a power outage."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a lighter. Clicking it on he, held it up towards the window.

"It's probably all the snow. There were some warnings about this on the radio before I went to school. Here, I'll go light the logs in the fireplace, I put some in there just in case."

Axel stood up, and wandered through the mass of opened boxes and strings of tinsel, trying not to trip. He flicked on the lighter, and held it against the logs until one of them started burning.

The room filled with a warm, golden glow, reflecting off of the decorations they had put up. Axel moved all the boxes and packaging over to the side of the room away from the Christmas tree.

Sitting back down next to Roxas he leaned against the back of the couch with a sigh.

"You can go to sleep if you want, Roxas."

He nodded, pulling the blanket that was draped over one of the couch arms across himself. Staring up at Axel, he held up an edge of it, silently offering it to him.

Axel smiled and wrapped the blanket around both of them, pulling Roxas close.

They were asleep minutes later.

The rays of the sun reflecting off the snow shone brightly through the window, sending beams of light into the house.

The shadows cast on the wall from the two boys sleeping soundly on the couch moved slightly as Axel propped himself up on his elbows and yawned quitely.

He then looked down at Roxas's sleeping form, smiling softly.

"Roxas?"

Shaking his shoulder lightly, he grinned as Roxas groaned in his sleep, waved his hand sleepily at the attempt to wake him up, and curled up against Axel.

"Roxyyy..."

"Nnnnn..."

"Wake up."

Another half-conscious noise of disapproval was the only answer.

"If you don't get up I'm gonna kiss ya..."

A slight flush appeared on Roxas's face, and he twitched slightly.

"Unless you're not really asleep..."

Axel lifted Roxas slightly off of him and rolled so that he was now leaning over him, close to his face.

"Roxas..."

He could feel the other boys breath on his face as it blew in soft puffs out of his partially opened mouth.

"I'm not joking..."

Leaning in until their lips were almost touching, Axel said his name one more time.

And that was when his eyes opened.

"A...Axel??"

As the redhead shot backwards, Roxas reached up to rub his eyes. When he looked back again, Axel was all the way at the other end of the couch with 'Wicked' in his hands, reading it calmly.

"Weren't you just...over here?"

Axel looked up.

"What? Oh, sorry Roxas, I was reading, and I didn't hear you. What did you say?"

Roxas blinked in confusion.

"But you were just..."

Putting the book down, Axel shuffled over slightly on the couch so he was next to Roxas.

"What?"

"It's nothing...let's just go get breakfast..."

As Axel stood up grinning and raced to grab some Poptarts out of the pantry, Roxas followed slowly behind him.

But if it was nothing...why did it seem so real??

- - -

Afterwards when they were throwing out the paper plates that had chosen to eat on (feeling it was too much trouble to get out dishes they would actually have to wash), Roxas looked over at an unopened box in the corner of the living room.

"Axel, what about that one?"

The redhead followed his line of sight.

"AH!!"

He ran towards the box, tearing it open.

"We forgot to decorate the door!!"

Axel held up a wreath out of the box that had some ornaments and leaf strands dangling from it.

"Here, you take the wreath outside, there's a hook for it out there already, I keep forgetting to take it down."

Roxas reached for it.

"What about you?"

"I'll finish up the stuff inside, okay? Then I'll make...whatever meal it will be by the time we finish."

They laughed, grabbed their assorted decorations, and headed off.

Roxas stepped in half an hour later, stamping his feet and rubbing his hands together.

"It's COLD out there!"

"Of course, genius, it's snowing."

"I'm just stating a fact...and I could really go for some hot chocolate right now..."

Axel shook his head.

"Power's out, that means no hot water."

Untying his boots and prying his feet out of them, Roxas finally managed to make his way towards the living room, following Axel.

He found the redhead kneeling before the fire, lighting it again as it had gone out during the day.

"Wow, it's only 1:15...I'm so tired..."

Axel walked soundlessly over to the couch, holding up the blanket they had slept under that morning.

Nodding gratefully, he curled up against him, dozing off almost instantly.

Sleep well, Roxy...I'll wake you in a few hours...maybe the power will have come on by then.

He looked over at the window, where the suns glare off of the snow had lessened considerably. Everyone was tucked away in their houses, probably curled up under mounds of blankets.

Well...I guess it couldn't hurt...

Axel leaned down slightly, brushing some of the more flyaway bits of Roxas's hair out of his eyes. He breathed in softly, and brushed his lips against the blonde boy's forehead.

Roxas sighed, almost contentedly, a pink tint appearing on his face.

"Axel..."

The redhead smiled and wrapped the blanket closer around them, holding Roxas close.

When they finally woke up again the fire in the grate was dying out, with only a few smoldering embers left.

"A...Um...Axel? Why were you hugging me?"

Oops...Well at least he didn't remember the other thing...

"Body heat, remember? You were really really cold from being outside for so long."

He stared at Roxas who still looked a bit puzzled.

"I think I have some more snacks in the pantry, wanna come with me and check?"

Roxas nodded, standing up with the blanket wrapped around him like a cloak.

They shuffled towards the kitchen, intent on finding something at least slightly edible.

"I FOUND POCKY!"

They raced back to the couch, burrowing under the blanket, boxes in hand.

"Mmm...a nice warm fire, a fresh box of pocky, and a wonderful person to spend time with.", Axel commented, ripping open one of the packages.

Roxas blushed slightly at the compliment, opening a package of his own and putting a stick of pocky into his mouth.

"Imma steal your pocky..."

He looked over, startled, and saw Axel leaning against the back of the couch, staring intently at the chocolate.

"And how do you intend to steal it, if I am already eating it?"

Axel smirked, "I have my ways."

He leaned closer, biting at the breaded part of it, nibbling along until he had eaten half of it.

Roxas stared at him blankly, face flushing slightly.

"Oh my, Roxy, looks like you don't want your pocky. Guess I'll just have to eat the rest!"

Roxas's face was about as red as his pyromaniac friend's hair.

He's getting way too close...

And then Roxas took a bite.

Another bite.

The sweet chocolaty taste filled his mouth as he ate up to just before the middle.

"Two can play at that game, Ax."

He bit at it again, making the gap between their lips almost non-existent.

Ah what the hell...here goes nothing...

Roxas reached up and trailed his fingers across the sides of Axel's face, sliding his fingers farther so that they were slightly tangled in Axel's hair.

"Rox..."

Barely a second later they were wrapped in each other's arms, lips pressed together desperately. A small moan escaped Roxas, and the redhead smirked, pushing him down onto the couch.

They broke apart slightly to breathe, before returning to the kiss.

Axel nipped lightly at Roxas's bottom lip, darting his tongue out to make sure it hadn't hurt.

Roxas partially opened his mouth, letting Axel's tongue roll softly against the tip of his.

"Ah...Axel..."

He smiled at him,closing his eyes again.

Axel kissed up from Roxas's lips to the tip of his nose, to his forehead.

"Roxas...I love you."

Roxas's face turned redder than it had been moments before, and Axel stared at him, slightly in awe of the deep color.

"I...I love you too, Axel."

And at that particular moment, when they were leaning in for another kiss, all the lights turned back on, and the familiar buzz of electrical equipment returned.

The tree shone brightly through the room, fantastically colored lights bouncing off all the walls.

Warm air started to waft through the house, defrosting Roxas's chilled toes.

He pulled the blanket off of the floor where it had fallen, and draped it over the two of them.

"Christmas miracle?", he asked, grinning.

"Nah, power company.", Axel responded, beginning to laugh moments after. "This, however...IS a Christmas miracle."
Pulling Roxas close, he kissed him again. Then he reached up behind his head and flicked the light switch off.

The soft glow of the tree combined with the soothing flames in the fireplace created a very peaceful atmosphere.

They fell asleep very quickly afterwards.

- - -

On Christmas morning they woke up blearily, staring around the room.

Roxas smiled and pecked Axel lightly on the lips.

"Merry Christmas, love."

Axel grinned and rolled off the couch, pulling Roxas with him, so that he was pinning him to the ground.

"And here's my Christmas present", he stated, smirking.

"Axel! What about breakfast?"

"We can eat later...", Axel murmured against Roxas's collarbone, that he had been sucking on lovingly, leaving small marks.

"A...wai...what?!? Axel...WHERE ARE YOUR HANDS GOING!?"

"Just acquainting my hands with your lovely skin."

"Axel, your hand is in my pants."

"My hand likes it there."

"Oh no, we are not doing ANYTHING in the living room, the window is open and little kids are playing outside."

Axel smirked and pulled the blanket over them completely.

"And now no one can see us."

"Axel! No! Axel...Ah! Haa...What...What are you doing?"

"Unwrapping my present."

Roxas shrieked as the still semi-cold air swept across his now almost-bare chest.

But he tilted his head up so that Axel could pull him into a breathstopping kiss, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's shoulders.

- - -

"Axel...my butt hurts..."

Axel leaned over and kissed Roxas softly on the cheek, apologetically.

"Can we eat breakfast now?"

Scooping Roxas up into his arms bridal style, Axel carried him off to the kitchen.

"Help yourself to whatever, you know I can't cook" he said, laughing.

Half an hour later they were seated at the table with a nice plate of steaming hot eggs, which Roxas thankfully knew how to cook.

He grabbed a forkful and blew on it slightly, before holding the fork out to Axel, who ate it happily.

"Like it?"

"Yup."

He tilted Roxas's chin up with the end of his own fork, "But not as much as the person serving it."

They leaned in again, kissing sweetly this time.

Outside the snow began to fall again, quietly, covering the footsteps that had been made by the children playing earlier.

"I love you, Roxas."

"Mmm...me too."


Aww X3

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