It was dark, and it was not from the time of day or the current mystical happening.
It was just dark because rain was currently pelting into Axel's scalp with the furiosity of a thousand tiny spears, flattening his impossible hair and as if trying to push him into the floor, it continued. Roxas, standing in front of Axel with raindrops falling from his eyelashes, was stuck and uncomfortable, his jacket clinging firmly to him.
Neither had ever been happy before.
Axel smiled at the rain and the darkness and the scuffed, empty alley, wondering if it was possible to feel elation in such a dreary body as his. Roxas only wondered why he was feeling it.
And he turned to his friend and he smiled wider, looked arguably more beautiful than he ever had before. He smirked, teetering on the balls of his feet, testing the redhead with his blue and his blonde and his pink. He reached out and pulled back, waited until they were centimetres apart, never looking anything but contemplative. Axel just watched in silence, expectant - but of what, he wasn't sure. Roxas just held his stare and when he was going to laugh dismissively, turn away, walk away from the rain - he was met in the middle, lips and salt and all, his fingers slipping as he tried to grasp a handhold against Axel's soft leather jacket.
It wasn't wonderful. In fact, it was raining and it hurt his back, the crouch of the kiss aching him right in his spine - but all in all, it was what he'd asked for months ago, when they met and all he could say was "Huh", no commitment in his voice. He wished the rain would stop so he could see them without having to blink the water out of his eyes. He wished he could see what they looked like then, Axel simply content with holding his head in his hands, never insistent, simply standing with their lips touching and their eyes closed.
He pulled away and for a moment they simply looked at eachother - Roxas looking just as cold and harsh as usual, Axel smiling like he'd just wished three wishes - and had them all granted at once. And of course, if one kiss could change them it would never have happened.
Seconds passed in a moment they would remember for as long as they could, the moment when they overstepped that line, and everything changed for better or worse - they wrote their vows that day, too.
He'd thought that from then on, they would be physical. That friendship had been left in the dust - but Axel hugged him tightly, just like usual, crushing them together as if he was trying to melt Roxas into the empty space.
It was different. It was always different.
Roxas hugged him back, with a whisper neither of them ever heard - more than three words, but still the sweetest of promises.
XxX
Axel loved the rain.
Except this time it was light drizzle, barely creating puddles and spotting itself gently against his window - he watched the light in his life go out, the soft glow of Kingdom Hearts flooding eerily into his room. He smiled.
Because today, it rained.
Today, Roxas broke his promise.
But he'd still never stop looking.
Not for as long as it mattered.