One-shot*

"Please?"
"Absolutely not."
"C'mon, Axel! It'll be fun." Roxas pleaded. The duo stood in the square in front of the Twilight Town clock tower. Sitting up on that clock tower was one of Axel's favorite pastimes, but being down in the square was definitely not. He would rather be doing anything else right now, anything. In fact, he wouldn't even have minded if Xemnas himself showed up just to yell at him, as long as he was no longer in this situation.

"No." Axel said, turning away from Roxas. He knew if he looked at the smaller blonde too long, Roxas would be able to convince him to jump off a bridge if he wanted him to.
"But Axel…." There it was- that ripple of sadness spreading in the boy's voice. Axel fought the overwhelming urge to look at his other.
You won't win this time. Axel thought smugly.

"Come on, you know this is safer than using the portals, and we can do it together!" Roxas said, trying to get Axel to look at him. Axel eyed the skateboard distrustfully.
"Are you serious?" Axel asked incredulously. "That can't possibly be safe."

The skateboard sat motionless in front of the duo. Axel was convinced it was going to turn into a nobody eating heartless at any moment, but Roxas was unperturbed. He was going to get Axel to try out skateboarding, and he had a foolproof idea on how to do it. It should be simple with Axel's cocky personality.

Roxas couldn't help but smirk as he conceded, "Well, I understand Axel. If you're too afraid to try, it's understandable. Or I could always get you a helmet. Although I'm pretty sure they only come in pink, since only little girls wear them."

If Axel had paid any attention, it would have been obvious that Roxas was messing with him. Besides the fact that Roxas was smirking, he wasn't exactly a good liar. But, as Roxas predicted, Axel's cockiness got the better of him, and within moments Roxas had him hook, line, and sinker.

"Yeah right! I'm not scared, you little jerk." Axel took a step closer to the skateboard, and then quickly stepped back. "Alright then, show me how, oh master of boarding." Axel said snidely, trying to cover up his nervousness.

Roxas felt a little guilty knowing he was scaring Axel, but this was for his own good. Using those portals all the time was literally eating away at Axel, and Roxas would do anything to help stop that.

"Alright." Roxas stepped on the board, leaving one foot on the ground. "Watch, it's really simple. I'm going to leave one foot on the board and use the other foot to push off the ground." Roxas explained slowly. Axel watched suspiciously, nodding his head as if he understood everything that Roxas was saying- which he didn't.

After a few more explanations, Roxas demonstrated around the square, avoiding the occasional person that passed by.
"You know, we could get in a helluva lot of trouble for letting people see us down here." Axel said, eyeing an old man as he passed by.
Roxas scoffed. "First off, why are you suspicious of some old guy? And since when have you cared about getting in trouble?" He continued skateboarding around Axel, making the redheaded nobody extremely edgy, much to his chagrin.
"I think I'm rubbing off on you a bit too much." Axel sighed.
Roxas promptly ignored him as he hopped off the board. "O.K." Roxas kicked the board so that it was in one of his hands. "It's your turn, Axel. Think you can get it? Or do you need me to hold you?"

Roxas smirked as Axel seized the board from him. This was too easy.

Axel dropped the board on the ground unceremoniously and hopped onto it.
"Wait!" Roxas called, realizing what Axel was doing. But he was far too late.

Axel hopped onto the board with both feet, and it went flying before he even put all of his weight on it. The poor guy had no idea what happened. Thank goodness for Roxas, who was quick to realize what was happening. Unfortunately though, when someone falls off a skateboard like that, it happens fast. Roxas didn't have time to do anything more than whatever he thought of first, and, being Sora's nobody, the dumbest and most painful idea was what came to mind.

Without a second thought, Roxas threw himself underneath Axel's falling form. In less than a second, they landed in a painful heap on the ground….

Axel wasn't feeling too bad, even though he had just fallen. He was pretty shaken up (something he wouldn't be telling Roxas), and he never wanted to get on that damn skateboard thing again, but he was O.K. In fact, the ground was feeling kind of….soft…

Roxas groaned underneath him, and Axel scrambled to get up.
"Roxas! You idiot, why did you jump underneath me?"
"A simple thank you would suffice." Roxas moaned into the ground. Axel picked him up gingerly and sat him on his knee to examine him. "I'm fine." Roxas said, letting Axel check him out anyway to humour him.

Axel brushed back Roxas' hair, only to find a cut on his forehead. He frowned, angry that Roxas had gotten hurt over something so trivial.
"Does it sting?" Axel asked quietly.
"Of course it stings!" Roxas tried to brush his hand aside, but Axel wouldn't have it. He leaned in close to Roxas, despite the blonde trying to push him away.

Roxas fidgeted as Axel gently licked the wound.
"There. Feel a little better?" Roxas reached towards it, a look of surprise on his face.
"Yeah. It does." Roxas looked up at Axel, who was laughing. "What?"
"You're so naïve." Axel leaned over again and teased his ear with his teeth. "I think we should head back." he whispered in his ear. "Don't you think?"

Roxas shivered beneath him, and Axel could tell that he had him.
"No."
Axel pulled away, tugging Roxas along.
"Sweet! Let's go-"Axel turned to look at Roxas. "Wait, no?"
"No. You're learning how to skateboard, remember?" Roxas said mischievously.
What is that little brat planning? Axel thought, immediately suspicious. He totally thought he had him too! And he really wanted to spend time in his room today…

"If you want to do what I think you want to do later, you have to promise to learn how to skateboard right now." Roxas said, smirking evilly. Axel glared. Roxas was going to pay for that later. Conniving kid had caught him in his own game. Maybe Roxas really had been spending too much time with him…

"Fine." Axel groaned begrudgingly. Roxas laughed at Axel's hesitant expression.
"It's going to be alright. This time just listen to me, and quit trying to show off." Roxas reprimanded.

Only Roxas would say something like that. He was the only person who would know exactly what Axel had been trying to do, since Axel never seemed to be able to be straightforward with anything. It was one of the reasons that Axel loved spending time with the kid-Roxas was easy to lie to sometimes, but he never missed how Axel was feeling.

"Relax." Roxas cooed, pushing him gently towards the skateboard that was lying in front of them. "Now, put ONE foot on it, and leave the other on the ground." Axel did as he was instructed. "Good."

Roxas explained a few more things, making sure that Axel was actually listening this time, which he was. Finally, Roxas deemed Axel ready to try to skateboard on his own.

As instructed, Axel took a gentle step onto the board again, making sure not to put too much weight on it.
"Awesome!" Roxas cheered. "Now, just push with your other foot." he reiterated. Axel continued to do as he was told and made his way across the square. (Anything for Roxas time, right?) He kept telling himself that as his stomach did backflips. It felt like he was going a hundred miles per hour on this stupid thing!

"Alright, now just turn around." Roxas huffed as he ran to keep pace with him. Axel turned his head to look at Roxas, and proceeded to totally lose focus. Roxas noticed that his friend was leaning back too far on the skateboard, and threw out his arms just in time to catch the falling figure.

Axel, being the taller and lankier of the duo, practically crushed poor Roxas again. Roxas fell to his knees in trying to support Axel's weight and sheer size difference. This time, Axel stood up much more quickly, and helped Roxas up without a moment's hesitation.

Roxas smiled, pretending he wasn't getting sore from all of this falling. Axel gave his friend an evil glare.
"What?" Roxas asked innocently. "Everyone knows that the concrete is the best teacher for a new skateboarder. You can't learn without taking a few falls." Roxas gave Axel a beautiful smile, and Axel swore that he had a heart, just for that moment.

"This is getting ridiculous. I'm taking all the falls, but you're the one getting hurt! According to your "philosophy", I haven't learned anything!" Axel fumed.
"But…"
"But, nothing. We're done. It's getting late, and you look like you could use some antiseptic." Axel opened a portal and herded Roxas towards it. Neither of them worried about people seeing them; there wasn't anyone around.
"You know this means-" Roxas began.
"Whatever. I'll live with sleeping by myself for a night. Besides, it wouldn't be any fun if you were hurt, now would it?" Axel said, a playful glint in his eye. Roxas stuck his tongue out at the redhead, annoyed that he felt like nothing got accomplished.

…..

Roxas groaned and stretched as he slowly opened his eyes. He had to admit, sleeping alone did have its benefits. It still left him sore in the morning, but not in the same places, and he felt like he had a lot more energy than he usually did.

After shaking himself awake and getting changed, Roxas headed out of his room, only to notice a shock of red out of the corner of his eye. Looking down the hall, Roxas barely glimpsed Axel as he went into his bedroom. From what he saw, Axel looked exhausted, and not too well.

Suspecting the worst, Roxas ran full speed to Axel's room and knocked on the door.
"Can't it wait?" came a muffled shout. Roxas hit the door harder. The sound of shuffling feet and a string of muttered curses drifted from inside of the room until the door opened. "What?" Axel asked, his voice hitching slightly.

Roxas looked at his friend, stunned into silence. Axel looked like he had fallen off a building! A ridiculously tall one! And apparently he hadn't slept at all either. His expression was one of irritation, and there were dark rings underneath his eyes. One of his eyes was actually swelling shut, and his lip was cut in numerous places.

Looking away from Axel's face, Roxas saw that the redhead's coat was nearly ruined. It was full of holes, especially at the knees, and was literally dripping with blood. His gloves too, were torn apart.

"What….happened?" Roxas whispered. Maybe someone had tried to kill him! Fear ate at Roxas blindly, causing him to think of all the worst case scenarios.
"Don't look at me like that." Axel pleaded. "I'm fine. Really." Roxas wasn't even slightly convinced. "Look, can I get some sleep first? Then we can talk. Besides, don't you have a mission to do?" Axel asked.

Axel always tries to act professional when he doesn't want to do something, Roxas noted.
"Fine." Roxas said bitterly, still fearing the worst. "We'll meet at the usual spot?"
"Course." Axel managed, closing the door.

Throughout Roxas' stupid mission, he only thought about Axel and all of the things that could have happened to him. Guilt started to eat away at him. Maybe, if Roxas had been with Axel last night, nothing would have happened. He could have prevented this! Whatever "this" was…

….

Roxas leapt out of the portal of darkness, turning the corner at the top of the clock tower as fast as he dared. Falling wasn't exactly on his list of things to do today, but apparently, it was on Axel's.

As Roxas rounded the corner, he found his friend leaning dangerously far over the edge of the tower. In fact, it didn't even look like Axel was conscious. He sprinted to his friend, barely managing to push him back before he toppled over the edge.

"Axel! Axel, wake up!" Roxas called, shaking the redhead as he dragged him away from the precipice. Axel had managed to look worse than he had that morning, and Roxas was freakishly worried. What could possibly have happened?

Axel cracked open his eye that hadn't swollen shut, wincing as he tried to do so. "Hey, Rox. What's up?"

"I thought you said you were going to get some rest!" Roxas found himself shouting, even though Axel was laying in his arms, their faces only inches away from one another.

"Hey, no need to be so loud, short stuff. I went to get some sleep, but duty called. Siax came especially to my room to send me on a mission. Those were some damn huge heartless too." Axel coughed and sighed heavily. "I'm exhausted."

"You look terrible." Roxas huffed, angry at his friend's recklessness.

"Eh, these are all surface wounds. Nothing major."

"And how did you get so beat up in the first place? Did Siax send you on a mission in the middle of the night?"

"No, that was my own special mission. I'll let you in on it later. But first, I want some sleep."

Roxas tried to help Axel up, but it became very apparent that all those slight wounds had come together to make Axel lose a lot of blood. Axel was too weak to stand on his own, and he was barely holding on to consciousness.

"Well, I guess I'm dragging you." Roxas could think of no other alternative, and, not wanting to waste time, didn't deliberate with himself any further. Opening a portal, Roxas moved as quickly as he could to drag his semi-conscious friend back to their world.

….

Two days later, a mostly recovered Axel finally reappeared from his room, much to Roxas' delight. Roxas had been nursing his friend, but he hadn't regained consciousness until breakfast on the second day since Roxas had dragged him back to his room.

"I have a surprise for you," was the only thing that Axel had said before vanishing to take on his newest mission. Roxas was forced to wait the entire day whilst going on his own not so interesting mission to see what the surprise would be.

Unsure of where to go, Roxas decided to try the usual spot, and wound up on the top of the clock tower in Twilight Town. Taking his usual place on the edge of the tower, Roxas looked down to see who was in the square that day- only to find that he knew the person that was down there.

That shock of red hair was unmistakable, but what was confusing Roxas was the fact that Axel wasn't standing down there- he was skateboarding.

Roxas ran down to the square as quickly as he could, and stopped and stared in awe at his friend. There was Axel, actually riding a skateboard, and not killing himself in the process.

Noticing that Roxas was watching him, Axel hopped off the board gracefully and kicked it up into his hand.

"What's up?" Axel asked, a smug smile playing on his face. Roxas broke out into a huge grin, and was so stunned he couldn't think of a word to say. To convey his happiness and wonder, Roxas could think of no better action than running up and kissing Axel wholeheartedly. As he did this, Roxas heard the skateboard clattering to the ground, but neither of them cared at that moment.

After finally breaking away for air, Roxas was bubbling with questions: "So was that how you hurt yourself that night?"

"Yeah, I beat myself up trying to learn. You were kinda right about the concrete helping you learn, but after a while, it just started to hinder my progress, since my knees stopped being able to hold me up by the end of the night."

"I'm sorry you went through all of that just for me." Roxas said, suddenly feeling guilty again.

"Hey, don't sweat it. I'm the one who snuck out, remember? It was meant to be a surprise, since I know how much you worry about me."

They kissed again, and as Roxas took a step closer to Axel, he accidently stepped on the discarded skateboard.

"Whoa!" Roxas fell away from the kiss and found himself sprawled out on the concrete with his sights now on the sky above him.

Axel, upon seeing that the blonde was alright, burst into hysterical laughter.

"Karma's a bitch, ain't it Roxy?"