I used to really hate storms. Everything about them just freaked me out. Even thunder used to bother me despite the fact that it's harmless. I just hated big storms.

There was one particular storm when everything sucked. It had been a raging tropical storm and I was stuck in my dorm room for the evening. That wasn't even the worst part, through. The worst part was that I was stuck in the room with my asshole of a roommate: Axel. He was a cocky bastard who thought he was the shit. And to make matters even worse, the power was expected to go out at some point. And when the power went out, no matter the time of the year, the dorms became freezing.

Thus, everything sucked.

I had removed myself by sitting at my desk with my earphones in and a couple of text books in front of me, along with my notebook. In reality, though, I wasn't doing homework; I was just doodling and writing random blurbs of poetry down. I had just wanted to keep Axel off my back. He was sleeping at the moment, but he obviously couldn't sleep forever. And when he did wake up, I wanted him to get the impression that I was busy so he would just leave me alone.

Now it was only a matter of time until I would discover how well that would work out.

And then my earphones were suddenly removed from my ears and Axel's face was beside mine.

"Roxy, I'm bored," he whined. His chin was resting on my left shoulder and his arms were around me.

"Get off!" I demanded, pushing him back as best I could with the angle I was at. "I'm busy."

"No you're not," he denied. "I'm not blind; I can see that you're only doodling."

I sighed. "Whatever." I put my earphones back in.

And so he took my iPod next.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, jumping out of the seat at my desk. "Give that back!"

"Why should I? It is pretty rude after all," he claimed.

"You're rude all the time," I said back.

I started jumping, trying to get my iPod back from him. But he was holding it over his head and he was a lot taller than me, so it had been nearly impossible. Finally, I just grabbed his sleeve and attempted to pull his whole arm down. That didn't work either, though. And now he has his infamous smirk spread across his face. I quickly backed away from him because of this. I knew that smirk all too well and I hated it.

"What's wrong, Roxy?" he checked, stepping closer to me.

"Just give my iPod back to me," I replied, holding my hand out.

"What's the magic word?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're such a prick." I sat back down at my desk with a sigh, giving up on my iPod retrieval.

But then he put it down on top of one of my books. I turned to him as he sat back down on his bed. Just then, the power had gone out.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath so that only I could hear. I had forgotten how pitch black the dorm got without any light. And how afraid of the dark I was.

But then there was a small light. The source was Axel's lighter. He opened one of his drawers and pulled out two candles. He lit them both and set his lighter down.

"We're not supposed to have candles—" I began quietly.

"Well, I don't think either of us have a flashlight," he cut me off.

"Hey, what's with the attitude all of a sudden?" I questioned, unappreciative of his tone of voice.

"What's with the attitude you've been giving me all year? You barely even know me, yet you just assume that I'm a total dick."

I hadn't known how to reply. But I had to admit that he was right; I never really did take the chance to get to know him. Or give him a chance.

"First impressions stick," I finally spoke up.

"Fuck first impressions," he said back.

"Why do you even care what I think of you?"

Before I had even finished speaking, he was back on his feet. He had jumped off his bed and took two large strides over to me. He was towering over me and I was trapped in my chair.

"Axel, what are you doing?" My voice was almost a whisper now.

"Something I've wanted to try since the first day I first met you," he admitted.

Then he kissed me.

And even to my own surprise, I kissed him back.

Then embarrassingly enough, I couldn't resist letting out a little whimper when Axel pulled away.

He chuckled at this. "You're cute, Roxy."

I tried to keep my face from turning as red as his hair. "Shut up."

He continued to chuckle as he returned to his bed. He gestured for me to come over.

"Fuck that, I'm not gonna sleep with you," I told him in denial. My defences were back up and running.

"Whoa, I'm not asking you to sleep with me. Just come lay down with me."

"But then…why did you kiss me?"

"Usually you kiss a person when you like them, Roxas, not just because you want to sleep with them."

I paused. For some odd reason it had taken a lot for me to comprehend such a simple statement. "So…you like me?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"But you don't want—?"

"Not right now." He sighed. "See? You don't know me at all. I'm not that kind of guy, Roxas."

I contemplated this. And I had realised that he was right; I judged him the first day we met and I had been totally wrong. Then he had spent a majority of the year trying to…impress me? I wasn't even sure. All I knew was that I had been the real asshole.

"Don't feel so guilty," he spoke up. "It happens to everyone."

"What does?"

"Prejudgment and misjudgment. I bet you couldn't even tell that I'm gay."

"No, I couldn't," I admitted. "Did you know I'm—?"

"Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't have kissed you. Now, come lay down with me."

"But—"

"Roxas, we just lost power so it's not like you can see what you're doing. Besides, you weren't really doing anything anyway."

I watched his figure lay down. Before I moved, though, I took another moment to think about the situation at hand. Then I finally stood up and crawled into the bed beside Axel. He draped an arm over my waist and kissed my shoulder. I held back a shiver at this action.

"Will you let me show you the real me?" he wondered.

"What do you mean?"

"Would you be willing to go on a few dates with me to actually get to know me?"

"Oh! I—" I had turned my head to look into Axel's green eyes, dimly lit only by the candles, but still so entrancing. I nodded. "Yeah."

He smiled and kissed my nose. I smiled at this and blushed a bit, hoping Axel wasn't able to tell. I figured he didn't when he had laid his head back down. I turned my head forward again and listened to the sounds of the storm, remaining close to the redhead's warm body.

That night, stormy weather became my favourite.