Author's Note: Fifth fic! I'm so sorry I haven't updated since January! This is another random Kingdom Hearts one-shot, AkuRoku. I originally meant to post this on 8/13 (AkuRoku Day!) but I'll be on vacation and no where near a computer. Of course, it is yaoi, so if you don't like that kind of stuff, don't read. All flames will be given to Axel. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, then…well, just be glad that I don't own it.

Beach Day

I had died and gone to heaven. The brilliant sun was shining. The warm sand was slowly sifting between my toes. The wind was gleefully tousling my unruly, flaming red hair and bringing the tangy, fresh scent of the salty sea to my awaiting nose.

The sexy Roxas was standing right in front of me, strutting off his beautifully-tanned chest gleaming from sweat and seawater.

I truly believed that the grass—erm, sand?—could not be any greener than where I was standing now. Nothing could uproot me from my cheery disposition. Absolutely nothing.

"Axel," Roxas's musical voice said, "why won't you get in the water already? Don't tell me that you're planning to sit in that dumpy patch of sand all day."

Thank you, Roxy. Thank you for spoiling my beautiful fantasy. Thank you for crushing my dream of an ocean-free day like a solid punch going through a glass window.

Nothing could uproot me from my cheery disposition, my ass.

Why, Roxas, why did you have to say those sentences? Why couldn't you voice in that beautiful tone of yours, "Oh, Axel, will you go out with me?" or "Axel, I've loved you since the day I laid my eyes on you!" or even "Axel, how was work today?" No, Roxas, you just had to say that "w" word.

Water.

I shuddered. How I hated that stupid liquid!

Yes, it's true. The mighty, the strong, the sexy Axel is utterly and completely afraid of water. From the vast ocean to a small kiddy pool to a tiny puddle, I refuse to lay a single toe inside a body of that ugly, cold wetness.

Why did I go the beach and plan on not going in the water, you say?

Easy. Roxas invited me.

I know, I know. I'm low. But if the boy—or girl—you've crushed on for the past four years asked you to go to the ocean, would you actually say "no"?

I didn't think so.

And besides, who could possibly refuse to see Roxas—not just any hot guy, but Roxas—half-naked, only wearing a pair of swimming trunks?

No one in their right mind.

Or in a sick, twisted, perverted mind like my own.

So here I am sitting in a "dumpy patch of sand," as Roxas kindly put it. All I can do is watch the gorgeous blond play in the ocean waves, longing to be there with him, but forced away because of my phobia.

The world is such a cruel place.

So why do I have such a strong fear of water?

It all started years ago because of a little traumatizing event caused by that idiotic sitar player.

— — —

A seven-year-old Demyx was splashing around in his uncle Xigbar's pool. I was dangling my feet in the water, staring at the cloudy sky. Unfortunately, my mother had told the Melodious Nocturne that I could not swim, and asked my fish boy friend, Demyx—a competitive swimmer—to teach me the ways of the water. She had dropped me off after lunch and told me she'd be back before dinner to pick me up.

Now, let me tell you this. My mother is not a stupid person. Really. She graduated from college with a Master's degree in Biotechnology. But, even with all her brains and wit, she did not realize that Demyx had no common sense whatsoever. One time we were skateboarding together in a parking lot, and he decided it would be cool if we could see how many cars we could weave through without getting hit. Needless to say, Demyx ended up with a broken arm and I with a sprained ankle. Leaving me in his care with no adult supervision was a very careless thing to do.

"Are you ready, Axey?" Demyx cheerfully said from the middle of the pool.

"No."

Demyx pouted—a feature that to this day causes his boyfriend Zexion to swoon—and replied, "Oh, Axey. The water's not a bad thing at all! You won't drown! Won't you go in?"

"No."

"But…but your mom told me to teach you have to swim," he declared. "I have to follow her!"

"Why?" I asked. "It's not like she paid you or anything!"

"Well," Demyx responded truthfully, "because she's a grown-up."

I slammed my palm onto my forehead. Demyx was such a goodie-too-shoes; it almost made me choke to watch him.

"What's wrong, Axel?" Demyx questioned, eyes serious.

"Nothing," I hastily replied. "Nothing at all."

After a few long moments of sweet silence, during which Demyx skillfully got out of the water, Demyx planted his wet bottom next to me and started humming.

I hated humming.

Especially Demyx's humming.

"Oh, man, Demyx, will you shut it?"

"No," he replied stubbornly. "Not unless you get in the water."

What a stupidly smart maneuver. But if the Melodious Nocturne believed that I would go into the pool just because I was strongly irritated by his noise, he had another thing coming.

Five more minutes passed.

"I thought you'd really fall for that one," the impatient Demyx said, face screwed up in a thinking position. "Well, now there's only Plan B. I didn't want to do this, Axey, but you forced me to."

"What's Plan—" but I was quickly interrupted by Demyx's strong hand pushing me into the water.

In a few short seconds, my entire body was in the pool.

Now this is where his lack of common sense kicks in.

Sure, Demyx had succeeded in putting me in the water, but he had not planned on where he would put me.

In short, the stupid boy had thrown me off into the shallowest part—two feet deep—of the large pool.

Needless to say, my entire body forcefully struck the bottom. My head went "boom" "boom" "boom" on the cement surface, causing me to see millions of bright stars dancing around the pool surface.

I was sure that I would get a concussion. I was sure I would drown. I was sure that this is how I would end.

However, I did not know that God was on my side.

My buoyant, seven-year-old body lifted out of the water. I willed my head to take a shaky, desperate breath.

"See, Axey, it wasn't that bad," Demyx said, not realizing the horrifying event that had occurred to me.

I was too dumbfounded, too shocked, and too angry to respond.

Two seconds later, Demyx dunked my throbbing head back into the cold water.

Boom…

Boom…

Crash…

The pain in my head was overwhelming. White lights, blue lights, and rainbow lights were all flashing before my eyes. I did not see the crimson blood that was rolling off my forehead into the clear water.

I resurfaced again.

"Now that you're accustomed to the water," Demyx immediately said in that happy tone of his, "we can start swimming."

So, wait, let me get this straight. Demyx had thrown me into the pool to get me accustomed to the water? Is that what he called it?

Demyx jumped into the pool, and this was when I attacked him.

I punched, I kicked, and I did whatever I had to do to get back to that brainless, dim-witted child.

"Hey, hey, what did I do to you, Axel?" Demyx asked, eyebrows and hands both raised.

"You. Nearly. Killed. Me."

"I did?" Genuine puzzlement showed on his face.

I responded by dealing him more viciously savage blows.

"I'm sorry?" Demyx apologized weakly.

"I don't forgive you."

Several hours later, my mother came back to pick me up. She was shocked to find huge scratches lining my face and many bruises covering Demyx's entire body.

Needless to say, I never hung out with Demyx again.

— — —

Remind me to kill him one day, okay?

Good.

"Hello," Roxas's melodic voice said and I saw his beautiful hand wave in front of my face, "hello, Axel? Are you done daydreaming?"

Realization struck me. I had not responded to the question he had asked me ages ago.

Oh, my God! What if he thought I was ignoring him? The horror!

"Sorry!" I hastily exclaimed, shocking Roxas. "Sometimes I just drift off, you know?"

He nodded, trying to hide the amusement in his bright blue eyes.

"Are you ready to go into the ocean yet?" Roxas said, somewhat frustrated, looking at his watch. "It's almost time to leave."

"I'm sorry for wasting your day, Roxy," I apologized quietly.

Well, it was now or never. Would I tell Roxas my deepest, darkest secret?

If I did, he'd either laugh at me or accept my fear. I didn't think my delicate little heart could take being made fun of by Roxas.

I gulped. I felt sweat trickling down my back. The hair on my neck was standing on edge—more than usual, anyway.

"Well," I started.

"Yes?" he said, his pretty eyebrows raised.

"It's just that," I continued, "it's just that I…I kinda have a…I don't know, a slight phobia of water. Okay, I said it! Happy now?"

Roxas, as I predicted, burst out laughing.
Well, at least I had told him.

I turned away.

"Axel! Wait!" he said, trying to hold down his chuckling. I turned around. "It's okay, Axel! I'm not laughing at you."

"Really?" I said, somewhat spastically.

"It's just…I always thought that someone as carefree and fearless as you couldn't be afraid of anything."

Roxas, the Roxas, thought I was fearless and carefree?

Things were definitely looking up.

"Well," he continued, thinking, "that explains why you couldn't go to my pool party two years ago."

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

Then his eyebrows knitted together in anger. "If you couldn't swim, then why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"I thought you might, I don't know, laugh at me," I muttered.

He punched me in the arm. "You should've known better, Axel."

"Yeah." Boy could that blond hit.

"Well, if you're not going in the water, then what's the point in staying at the beach?" Roxas decided. "You want to head to the movies instead?"

I nodded my head in the most grateful manner I could muster.

We both walked our way to the beach parking lot, taking our time to skip through the sand.

"Axel," Roxas said when we reached my car—a bright red pickup truck, if you must know—"why are you so afraid of the water?"

I chuckled weakly. "It's a long story."

— — —

I had died and gone to heaven. The dark theater was relaxing with its lavishly comfortable reclining chairs. The best adventure movie of the summer was playing across the screen. The air conditioner was tousling my unruly, flaming red hair and bringing the delicious, tasty scent of salty popcorn to my awaiting nose.

The sexy Roxas was sitting right next to me, close enough to place my arm around his shoulder.

And you know what the best part was?

There was no body of water in sight.

— — —

Author's Note: Don't you just love AkuRoku? I've been a big fan of this pairing since God knows when. And by the way, I love writing Axel. He is such a drama queen.

Thanks so much for reading!

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