End my suffering.

Worn-out boots trudged through the ankle-high slush. Partially melted snow seeping in through the lace holes. And the hole-holes. These were old boots. And as he sloshed along in his increasingly soggy socks, he couldn't help feeling like his boss should be paying him more to stay at work past the last bus.

End me. Just, burn me in a pyre.

He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, at least his coat was warm, even if he'd had it for years. Way too much red hair was crushed unceremoniously under a purple beanie, and when he twitched his numb nose, he could practically hear the snotcicles breaking off. Wind cut into his tattooed cheekbones, maybe if he got emotional he could carve a few more teardrops into his face. The new face markings couldn't possibly make it harder to find a place willing to hire him than the ones he already had.

Fuck Wisconsin.

Fuck the winter.

Fuck this job.

The swearing echoing in his head was so loud he almost didn't see the blonde bundle on his doorstep, wrapped up in a blanket. Who was he kidding, this tripping hazzard was no strange thorn in his side. He nudged the angel-faced nuisance with his foot as he dug out his key and fought the frozen lock.

"Rise and shine, Roxas, it's 2:30 A.M., you're gonna be late for school at this rate," he announced with loud sarcasm, hearing a dog bark in one of the other shitty apartments across the puddle laden pothole of a city block he lived on.

A winter-red nose twitched, and big blue eyes sleepily blinked up at him as he finally managed to hip-check the door open. A small sleepy grumble-whimper of greeting fell from blue lips as the bundle inchwormed through the doorway. "Cocoa-"

"Spoiled little brat, let me take my damn shoes off first," he grumbled irritably, pouring a small puddle from each of his boots into a dinged up Home Depot bucket and peeling the second skin once referred to as socks off of his feet. "Close the door if you're going to lay there all dramatically. It's fucking cold out there."

With a grumble, the blanket bundle kicked the door shut, which prompted another scolding from the redhead at how the blonde was the reason the damn door kept jamming as he freed his mess of red from the confines of the beanie and tossed his jacket over a chair.

The coffee maker was started, pouring hot water over cocoa mix, an overdue 2-in-the-morning beer finding its way into the redhead's stomach alongside some potato salad that had been in the fridge for who knows how long. Didn't smell any worse than he did after that shift, so he was willing to eat it.

The fluffy angel finally pulled himself up onto a chair and started munching on some pretzels as he sipped the cocoa. "Thanks, Axel," he put on his sweetest grateful face, big baby blues shining up at him over the mug as he took another sip.

"Cut the sweet routine, fluffbaby, I know you better than that," he sighed. "Can't you say thank you and mean it for once? Remind me how much you pay me to keep being let into my apartment."

"Someone's grouchy. And here I was, trying to play nice," he huffed, pouting, but a playful glimmer betrayed him in his eyes. The pout didn't stand up to Axel's unamused expression, the corners of his lips curling up tightly in an almost catlike smile. "So, about that shower-"

Here we go.

Roxas leaned forward on the table, a slight childish sway in his hips as they were lifted off the chair. "If you want company, I could-"

"I don't remember mentioning a shower," but god did he need one. He wasn't even going to look at his bed like this. "But why don't you throw your blanket in the laundry while I take one. Put the dishes away. Earn your god damn keep around here."

The blonde pouted. "Fine. You~ are~ so~ shy~ Axel~" he teased, his little abandoned-on-the-stoop routine long gone. Where did this boy keep all this energy? He was such a god-damn counter to Axel's dingy life.

Get out of my house you little brat.

"Hmm~?" the ass-wiggle was back. Why. Why did he do this? What did he gain from making Axel's life more complicated. Wisconsin is bad enough as it is without fluffy yellow monsters living under your roof uninvited.

"I'm gonna take that shower. You stay... not in the shower with me, got it?" his resolve was definitely wavering. How many beers had he had, and how many hours had he been awake? A question for the fifteen minutes of actually hot water of his shower and an answer for the five minutes of suddenly ice-cold water of his shower.

Roxas was cute. Axel knew better. Or at least he should by now, get those thoughts out of your head. He groaned as he rinsed his hair in the icy water, relaxing as the grime of his shift and so-called commute finally peeled off his skin and was discarded amidst unhealthily colorful soap.

His missing towel elicited an irritable growl. Why. Why was he like this. The teasing, the pranks, he didn't have time for this. And then there was the flirting. He didn't have time for this either. Roxas was a really cute plague on his existence, far from the kind of relationship he needed in his shitstorm of a life.

Damp, hair dripping along with the rest of him, the nude redhead slipped into his bedroom, where to his complete lack of surprise, Roxas was sitting trimphantly on his folded towel.

"Roxas, my hair is fucking soaked, give me my towel," he grumbled. The blonde's eyes were taking him all in, from the small light red hairs between his pecs to the short patch of decently-groomed crimson framing- "Hey, eyes up here, give me my fucking towel."

"Come and get i- ah!" Roxas tumbled backwards on the bed as Axel pulled the towel out from under him, giggling. He took in another eyeful while Axel dried his hair, pouting as the towel found its way around his waist, the top part of a tragic tribal flame tattoo poking out of the top of the towel on his hip. "You never let me have any fun."

"Funny, you make me feel the same," he grumbled, pulling on some boxer-briefs and dark gray pajama pants. He flopped on the bed with a loud exhale, the blonde popping up to hover over him with a smile.

The wiggle was back, "Axel, kiss me!"

"What the fuck, Roxas."

Followed by the pout, "Axel..."

"Roxas, this is sexual harrassment."

Followed by the kittyface, "Really?"

"Yes," he knew better. He caught onto the sweet act pretty early. And Roxas was the opposite of subtle when it came to the flirting. "Be serious for once."

And then an expression he wasn't used to crossed the blonde's face. He looked hurt. Genuinely, not his quirked lip pout. His voice grew thin, quiet. "You think I'm not being serious, Axel? After everything, I thought..." he trailed off, blue averting from green, "that you'd at least know my feelings for you weren't a joke..."

The flirting was obvious, but he'd... he'd meant it? This wasn't one of his mischievous smiles anymore. Roxas... actually liked him?

The circumstances of his mysterious mooch were weird. He didn't know where this kid was from or where he was supposed to be. Neither did he, according to the blonde. A bundle on his doorstep showed up every few nights or so. He never knew what Roxas did when he wasn't around, or where he vanished off to. Roxas wouldn't tell.

He'd asked him before if he was safe doing... whatever it was he was doing, and had gotten a jovial fit of laughs in response at how worried Axel seemed about his fluffy blonde friend.

Axel hadn't asked again. Roxas didn't come back with bruises or obvious emotional trauma, so he was probably fine. Honestly, this was the first time he'd seen any genuine emotion out of him that wasn't positive. He was a bratty little demon. But, he had feelings too, he supposed.

"Roxas, come on now, don't do this," he sat up, putting a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "You can't exactly blame me, man."

Weirdly enough, that didn't seem to help. Now, Axel was no gambling man (anymore) but if he were to roll the dice on anything, it'd be that he just made things worse. The blonde protested, his usual playful demeanor washed away. "Axel, I like you! I wouldn't joke about that!"

The redhead was stunned into silence, an admittedly different flavor than his typical lack of response. This was way more drama than he signed up for. Roxas was cute, he didn't have to be gay to see that. But he was just trying to stay out of trouble and live his shit life at his shit job in his shit state and this blonde was persistently poking at the chinks in his armor.

Axel felt his lungs deflate as he let out the breath he didn't remember holding. He met those hurt baby blues with the most resigned greens. The hand on Roxas' shoulder gently slid up the side of his neck, fingers entwining into the soft locks of his houseg̶u̶e̶s̶t̶pest.

"You make my life so difficult."

"I know."

With a sigh, Axel pulled him in, ready to hurry up and get this horrible idea off the table. Roxas let out a soft whine as he was led toward Axel, his arms finding their place draped over the redhead's shoulders, tipping his lips toward Axel's...

pop

The sudden strange sound made Axel pull back just before their meeting. As his hand shifted in Roxas' hair, it met resistance. Warm, furry, blonde protrusions. "What the fuck-"

Lip corners twitched, and so did the furry masses atop the fluffboy's head. He burst into laughter as Axel jumped back violently when they moved. The blonde leaned toward the taller man on the bed, his unwelcome ass-wiggle now accentuated with a large blonde tail tipped in white.

"No. No way, this is way too much for me. What the fuck, Roxas, the catboy thing is not my fetish and this is weird as hell."

The wiggle turned into a lazier hypnotic sway, the mischievous curl and bright eyes of the fluffy, err, furry, prankster much more recognizable than the hurt look from earlier. "I'm not a cat."

"That is a profoundly unhelpful clarification. Thanks a fuckton, Roxas."

"I'm a kitsune!"

Axel's shock and panic leveled out to deadpan. "You're a Japanese fox spirit."

Roxas lit up. "Hey, you know it! See, you humans act so dumb but you really pick up information pretty quick."

"You're a- Japanese- fox spirit."

The blonde head tipped curiously. Ears twitching. Tail swishing. Ass wiggling. Why was this Axel's life? "What, you don't believe me?"

"WE'RE IN WISCONSIN."

A/N:

Hey there, everyone! This is my semi-late AkuRoku Day celebration as well as my first entry in the #Cringefic Challenge.

What is the Cringefic Challenge? Well, it's an idea that my friend and I came up with, where we take discarded fandom tropes of the past that make older fans cringe at their younger years and write them to be as genuinely good and interesting as possible.

I chose to do the Nekomimi AU (human with animal ears / tail popularized in the KH fandom by Loveless in the 2005-2008 timeframe), focusing on a fox specifically.