Disclaimer: I don't own KH2. It's a shame, really.
*~*~*
It had begun so simply. Xemnas had sent Axel on a mission, Axel had gone. Nothing out of the ordinary. The mission shouldn't have been unusual either- picking up a new Organization member. Axel hit the appointed spot a little early to wait for the wayward Nobody. Axel had never understood why he always got places early, because he was "bored, bored, bored out of my mind. God, when is this kid going to get here?" he muttered, absently tossing a tiny fireball from hand to hand. He glanced at the clock tower. Still five minutes until the meeting time. "Oh come ON," he groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I could be somewhere else, doing anything else… or anyone else…" Axel's incessant chatter paused for a moment as he got lost in a fantasy of tangling limbs, heavy breathing, satin-y sheets and, ah hell, even candles. He leaned back on the wall he was seated on, leaving himself slightly unbalanced, which was how… "Hey!" Axel bellowed as he thunked to the ground, pushed off by a rather large foot.
"Are you the guy? Number X or whatever?" said a sullen teenaged voice. Axel bolted up, ready to roast the little brat, when he found himself staring into bright blue eyes. Oh, shit.
*~*~*
Roxas crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow as the skinny, black-clad man tried to regain his composure. He almost snorted as his eyes raked the larger man's hairline. He looked like he'd stuck his finger in a socket- multiple times.
"Number VIII, actually. Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"
"Is that supposed to be cool or something? 'Cause if that passes for wit in your order I might not be joining after all."
"Oo-hoo, a biting remark. I'm bleeding, kid, really. You know, you might want to upgrade your venom if you want to survive. Larxene'll eat you alive if you try to pull lame shit like that with her." Roxas flushed and glared.
"I'll consider it," he ground out. "And don't call me that. You're not that much older than me." Axel looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow.
"Whatever you say, kid." He turned and began to walk away. Then he paused and glanced over his shoulder. "You coming or not?"
Roxas grit his teeth and stormed after him. GOD this guy pissed him off.
*~*~*
The kid was right, unfortunately. He wasn't that much younger than Axel and GOD was Axel aware of that. From the first second their eyes had locked, Axel had felt it coiling and roiling through his stomach- harsh, rough, raw WANT. He'd recovered fairly quickly, fortunately, and even managed to get the younger Nobody off balance. He'd even managed to sneak in an appraising glance- which was probably a bad idea, in retrospect. It certainly hadn't lessened the desire coursing through his veins. He rolled his eyes. Not that desire was a big deal or anything. Most of the Organization members had slept with each other at least once, if not more times, at some point. Sex wasn't exactly taboo when you couldn't form true emotional attachments. The problem was the force of this desire. The moment their eyes had met, it had hit him like a ton of bricks. He had never wanted anyone this much before or this quickly. So as much as Axel liked to believe nothing could scare him, he was terrified- afraid that if he let himself act on his desire for- for- he shook his head; he didn't even know the punk's name for Crissake- for Number XIII, he would be devoured, drowned in him, and this thought chilled him to the bottoms of his soul.
*~*~*
Roxas continued to trot sullenly after Axel, wondering if everyone in the Organization could be this annoying. Suddenly, Axel stopped and Roxas crashed into his back face-first. Roxas scooted back quickly and glared. "What the hell-"
"What's your name, kid?"
"Are you KIDDING?! I may have broken my nose and all so you could find out my NAME? And would you fucking LOOK at me when I'm talking?!" Roxas yelled, pissed because he was uncomfortable, his face hurt, but mostly because Axel was still facing away from him.
"No." And Roxas felt his blood boil.
*~*~*
Axel could still barely move from the impact. He had never thought, when he'd stopped, that the kid wouldn't notice and stop as well. His whole back tingled and fizzed in delicious anticipation. He couldn't explain how he'd even managed to speak, to ask for Number XIII's name as the shock waves still coursed through his body. He also knew he could not turn around, could not look at him. If he looked into those blue, blue eyes again… they were standing in the middle of a road in Twilight Town, and he knew even an audience wouldn't stop him from jumping the kid, not when every molecule in his body was screaming…
If Axel had been in his right mind, he'd have laughed at how stupid he sounded. Right now, it wasn't funny at all. It was even less funny when the teen was suddenly in front of him, getting in his face. He shoved him, screaming "you arrogant ASSHOLE, what gives you the fucking right-" Axel desperately tuned him out, stared through him and focused as hard as he could on Larxene, the order member he hated most, until he found the right words.
"Fine, I'll keep calling you kid. Now let's go," and he pushed past him, ignoring the sparks shooting up his arm where it had touched Number XIII's chest. Larxene, Larxene…
*~*~*
Roxas's jaw dropped as Axel pushed past him. But all the fight had evaporated out of him. Why the hell couldn't he shake up this guy? Chastened, he hurried after him.
"Roxas."
"Huh?"
"My name is Roxas."
"That's great, kid."
"You said you'd stop-"
And then Axel was laughing, a deep, rich laugh and Roxas's protest died in his throat as Axel turned around and focused those disconcertingly green eyes on him.
"Roxas, you need to breathe occasionally, okay? Reign in that temper of yours some. The other Organization members will mess with you way more than this."
"Shit, so they are as annoying as you?"
"Kid, you ain't seen nothin' yet."
*~*~*
Axel had no idea how he'd gotten his libido under control, but he had. Sure, he still wanted to take the kid in the middle of the street, and he really couldn't wait until he could sort this out on his own in his room in The Castle That Never Was, but he'd managed to look into Roxas's eyes (even if it was only for a second) and even joke with him. Maybe the kid's effect would lessen on him over time?
*~*~*
Axel firmly scratched that thought from his mind. It had been almost two weeks since he'd brought Roxas to The Castle That Never Was, and just seeing him still made Axel desperately want a cold shower. Worse yet, their friendly camaraderie on the way to the castle had left Roxas with the (mistaken) impression that Axel was his unofficial mentor and he made a concentrated effort to seek him out. Avoiding Roxas was troublesome, but the way Axel's lips ached to taste Roxas's whenever the two were alone for more than half a second was much worse. The fact that the kid had memorized all of Axel's usual haunts meant that Axel was constantly praying to be sent on a new mission. Clearly, Xemnas was trying to torture him, because not only had he not been given one, everyone besides himself and Roxas had.
"Hey, Axel!"
'Shit, shit, shit. Okay, you can do this…'
*~*~*
"Roxas. Yo. What've you been up to?"
Roxas shrugged good naturedly. Once he'd gotten past being annoyed as hell with Axel, he'd started actually liking him. He was offbeat and funny and he told things like they were. "Not much. Just got out of a meeting with the Superior. Man is he creepy. But he gave me my first mission!"
*~*~*
Axel felt this throat catch in the face of Roxas's enthusiasm. No one should be that beautiful. Roxas furrowed his brow and looked at Axel oddly.
"Are you okay? You look funny."
Axel cleared his throat and willed his mind to focus. "Naw, I'm cool. So what's your mission, kid?"
Roxas rolled his eyes and swatted at Axel's arm. "Don't call me that! And it's a good one, I think. We're going to India to search for hearts. Should be cool. I've never been there."
"Wait a sec, WE?" Oh yes, Xemnas was definitely trying to torture him.
*~*~*
The India mission passed with minimal mishap, although fighting a tiger had not been on the menu. The fight would have gone a lot smoother if Axel hadn't found himself standing on the side staring dazedly at Roxas as he more danced than fought, wielding a weird key-sword hybrid thing.
"It's a KeyBLADE," Roxas told him afterwards "and what the hell were you doing, just standing there while I was fighting for my life? The tiger was afraid of fire, for Crissake."
"Standard procedure first mission. Newbies always fight alone; toughens 'em up." The lie came surprisingly easily. "Now I think I am in need of a shower," he bit his tongue against the 'wanna join me?' that rose up unbidden. "See ya round, kid." Laughing, he dodged the rock that Roxas hurled at his head.
"Don't call me that!"
*~*~*
Roxas was still settling into Organization life. He'd met all the members, but since everyone was always so busy all the time, the only one he'd really gotten to know was Axel. Of course it helped that Xemnas usually sent the two out on missions together; so far they'd had the India mission and an additional two missions, one to New York ("Kid, watch out for that cat! *thunk* FUCK.") and another to mines in the deep woods ("Axel, would you put DOWN the damn rubies? Something being shiny does *not* give you an excuse to make me do all the work.") And despite the fact that Axel was a busy as the rest of them, he never seemed to be too busy for Roxas, except when he 'desperately needed a shower' which was actually surprisingly often. Axel sure took his personal hygiene seriously, Roxas mused.
The only thing Roxas was kind of unsure about in the Organization was everyone's attitude about sex. Roxas wasn't a prude, per se, and he did think about sex a fair bit (he was, after all, a teenaged boy) but he wasn't entirely comfortable with the game of Musical Partners the order members seemed to be in. He'd walked in on various order members with various partners several times now, and each time fumbled his way out of the room, face burning as they laughed and sometimes invited him to join in. Larxene had propositioned him three times now on various occasions when he was looking for Axel in the library. Roxas had been under the impression she and Marluxia were a couple, but apparently not. It was sometimes said around the order that the reason Marluxia and Larxene slept together was because no one else could stand either of them. Roxas was quickly coming to agree with this statement.
"For god's sake, Roxas, you act like it's some kind of big deal. It's just sex." Roxas shook his head. "Too much of a prude? Or are you saving yourself for someone special?" she sneered. "We're Nobodies, Roxas. We can't love. There is no one special. You may as well get what enjoyment you can."
"He's not going to enjoy it if it's with you Larxene." Roxas turned to see Axel leaning casually against the doorframe. "Our boy has standards."
Larxene flushed. "Please, like you don't look at him the same way as everyone else. You'd fuck him in a heartbeat."
Roxas stared at her incredulously. He was fully aware of the gay sex transpiring all around The Castle That Never Was, but Axel was his friend. He didn't think about him like that!
*~*~*
Axel grit his teeth. So Larxene had seen. Obviously Roxas had no idea, if the horror that crossed his face at the idea was any indication. He grabbed the thunderstruck teen's arm and, glaring at Larxene (who blew a kiss) pulled him from the room. Roxas appeared to be in shock, so Axel began guiding him back to his room.
*~*~*
To say Roxas was in shock was an understatement. To see he was verging on a panic attack would be more appropriate, not that anyone would have been able to tell. Larxene's words kept bouncing in his head, tickling the backs of his eyeballs, bubbling in his brain. 'You'd fuck him in a heartbeat… you'd fuck him in a heartbeat… you'd fuck him-"
"Axel?"
"Yeah Roxas?"
"What Larxene said… about sex… and the Organization…"
"Larxene talks too much."
"Have you… have you slept with…"
"Never with Larxene."
"Oh. But… the others?"
"It's just sex. It doesn't mean anything."
"Have you ever wanted to… with me?"
*~*~*
On the list of places Axel would like to be and things he'd like to be doing, having this conversation was probably the very last thing. He turned to look into Roxas's eyes and felt his stomach lurch. "Naw, you're too young for me, kid." He ruffled Roxas's hair and walked away. A second later, a keyblade hit the wall behind him.
"Don't call me that!"
*~*~*
Axel collapsed on his bed. It had taken him two cold showers to get himself feeling remotely normal again. He found himself desperately wishing he'd told Roxas the truth: yes, he'd thought about it, yes, he wanted to, now please unzip your pants. He ground his teeth together; as much as he wanted to feel the younger Nobody under him, he knew telling him the truth would have been the worst thing possible. Not only would Roxas not reciprocate his feelings, he'd probably never speak to him again. And while originally this would have been a wonderful and simplistic solution, he now genuinely liked Roxas as a person and didn't want to lose his friendship. Besides that, Xemnas (in his sick sense of humor) always seemed to send them on missions together. Axel didn't want to admit it, but he'd grown fond of Roxas's enthusiasm and mood swings and missions would suck without them. He groaned and covered his face with his gloved hands. He was a fucking NOBODY. Why the hell was this kid getting to him like this?
*~*~*
Unbeknownst to Axel, Roxas was currently across the castle, lying in his own bed and staring up at the ceiling. He'd been aware of various organization members checking him out; he may have been oblivious but he wasn't stupid. Not that stupid, anyways. But he'd never noticed it from AXEL. Of course, Axel may have been telling the truth. He may not have any interest in Roxas. But Roxas could tell- he just knew- that his friend had lied to him. What freaked him out, however, was not that Axel wanted him. It was that Axel didn't think wanting him was a big deal. Because Larxene had been right about something- Roxas believed in love. Even if he, as a Nobody, was incapable of the emotion, he didn't think sex should be something so casual.
A shiver shot up his spine as he pictured himself with Axel, kissing him, the two wrapped up in soft sheets- Roxas quickly quashed the fantasy. He was not attracted to Axel. Period.
"Yo Rox," he looked up to see Demyx standing in the doorway. "Xemnas said he wanted to see you about something. By the way, have you seen my sitar? I think Zexy hid it somewhere. Again."
Roxas shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't. Did Xemnas say what he wanted?"
Demyx furrowed his brow. "Nope, he just said it was important. And um… you can find him in… in the library, yeah."
"K, thanks Demyx." Roxas rolled of the bed and headed towards the library, hoping beyond hope that Xemnas would give him a long mission far, far away. Far away from Axel and long enough for him to figure out just how he was going to behave around his friend before he had to see him again.
*~*~*
Roxas stood looking at the room in absolute horror. He fucking HATED Xemnas. Not only had Xemnas sent him, in black tie attire, to infiltrate a ball, ('Think of the young, fluttering hearts!') he had sent him with Axel! The worst part? When the prince and princess had broken out into a spontaneous song about the depths of their love for one another, Axel had nudged him and whispered (with lips far too close to his ear) 'wanna dance?'
It may have been a joke, but Roxas still didn't understand why Axel had been surprised when he'd punted him into the fountain. Roxas was *definitely* going to kill Xemnas when he got back.
*~*~*
Axel grinned as he toweled himself off back in his room. It didn't make him want Roxas any less, but making snarky, sexual innuendos at him kept Roxas off balance and (hopefully!) unsuspecting of Axel's feelings. Plus it was fun. He shook off the last of the water, thanking God that castles tended to keep their fountains so absurdly clean. His tux was ruined, but it was a small price to pay. He smirked as he pictured the way Roxas's face and neck had flushed and become blotchy as Axel had whispered the words in his ear. He picked up the quickly-shrinking remains of his tux, a goofy grin fighting to break to the surface. Definitely worth it.
*~*~*
Roxas had his face buried in his pillow. Demyx was sitting in a squashy armchair in the corner of the room, absently strumming cords on his sitar (retrieved from a room in Traverse Town, where Zexion had hidden it) and chattering about something or other Zexion had said. Ordinarily Roxas wouldn't have let Demyx hang out in his room, but the other boy had never made a pass at him and the chatter kept his mind off… he groaned as the redhead resurfaced in his mind. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it… or that he wouldn't be open to the idea, per se… it was just… Axel was his friend. He cared about Axel, at least as much as a Nobody could, and he was afraid that attempting to have casual sex with Axel would irrevocably ruin their friendship. He thumped his fists against the pillow at the unfairness of it all.
"Damn you, Axel!"
"Um, Rox, dude, you okay?"
Of course. Demyx was still there. "Oh yeah, I'm-"
"Lemme guess, Axel wants you and you're not sure what to do because you kind of want him too, but you're afraid it'll ruin everything, right?" Roxas looked at Demyx incredulously. "What? It's obvious to everyone."
Oh shit. "Everyone?"
"Oh yeah. Saix is having a field day with it. Larxene is just pissed that no one will sleep with her. The rest of us are just taking bets on who'll cave first. Shit, I wasn't supposed to mention that."
Roxas swallowed hard. So everyone could tell? And they were wondering what he was going to do? He wished he knew.
*~*~*
Axel knocked on the doorframe as he walked into Roxas's room. "Knock knock, Rox. Just got back from that mission to China. Goddamn dragons. Roxas?" He squinted into the dark room and was able to make out a lump curled up under the covers. "Waiting for me?" The smirk was more than evident in his voice. He sauntered over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "You know, Rox, if you wanted to get me into bed with you, you only had to as-"
"What the hell are you doing?"
Axel jerked his head up to see Roxas standing in the doorway holding two cups of coffee. He looked down at his own hands, which were currently engaged in removing his left shoe. Then his head snapped back to Roxas, then to the two steaming cups in his hands and back to the lump on the bed. He tugged his shoe back on and headed for the door. When he was face to face with Roxas, he looked deep into his eyes.
"Fuck you." Then he swept out the door.
"Axel? Axel!" He heard Roxas calling after him, but he ignored him. The bastard.
*~*~*
Earlier:
"So Rox, can I crash in here for the night? I'm not trying to like, hit on you or anything."
Roxas raised an eyebrow at Demyx. "Then why would you want to?"
"Oh Zexion is mad about something or other or studying or something and he won't let me in the room."
"You guys share a room? I thought all the Organization members had their own rooms."
"Oh, we do. I just don't use mine. Actually, I'm not sure where it is anymore…" Demyx trailed off and furrowed his brow in thought. "Where… is… it… hmm…"
"So you and Zexion are… exclusive?"
"Oh, yeah. We get shit about it, mostly from Larxene, but we make each other happy, you know? Or as happy as Nobodies can be, anyways. God knows why." Demyx paused, an affectionate look on his face. "We fight and drive each other crazy most of the time, but at the end of the day there's nowhere I'd rather be."
"So how did you guys decided to, y'know, become a couple?"
"Oh we didn't. It just kind of happened, I guess." Demyx sat down on the bed and started tapping his feet together. "He wasn't supposed to matter, you know? But he did. It was like he crawled under my skin and stayed there, holed up in the place where my heart's supposed to be- ack!" Roxas smacked him with a pillow.
"Dude, stop it, you're not supposed to have a philosophical side."
Demyx beamed. "Zexy says that all the time! Actually he's more likely to say 'stop trying to sound intelligent, Demyx, it just makes you look idiotic.'"
Roxas laughed at the other boy's enthusiastic nodding, then stood up. "I think I'm going to go talk to Axel. You can stay here, if you want."
"Oooo, not coming back tonight? Niice."
Roxas flushed. "I'm just going to go talk to him!" He stomped out of the room, ignoring Demyx's knowing look and the redness of his own ears.
*~*~*
Present:
"Axel! Axel, come back!" Roxas quickly put the two cups of coffee- one with extra sugar and the other strong and black, just the way Axel liked it- onto his dresser and dashed into the hall. The other man's signature red-hedgehog hairstyle was nowhere to be seen. "Damnit, Axel! What the hell just happened?!" Roxas ran down the hallway, heading back towards Axel's room. When he hadn't found his friend there originally, he'd returned to ask Demyx if he had any idea where Axel might be. Of course, Axel had been in Roxas's room, sitting on Roxas's bed, removing his shoes. Because *that* was where Axel normally hung out, after all. Why Axel had stormed out, however, had Roxas pretty damn confused. If he'd been embarrassed, wouldn't he have stopped when Roxas called after him? And 'fuck you'? What the hell had THAT been about? Roxas began running faster down the hall. He just had to find him, that was all there was to it.
*~*~*
Axel didn't return to his room. In fact, he didn't go anywhere it might have been expected of him to go. He felt like a bruise was forming in his chest, and he just had to GO.
*~*~*
Roxas ran out of Axel's room without even bothering to close the door and bolted for the library. Axel hung out in there a lot, largely to annoy Larxene. He was sure he'd find him there.
*~*~*
Axel wasn't even sure where he was. He'd just let his feet walk and walk and walk. He didn't care, he didn't care.
*~*~*
Roxas burst from the dining hall and ran for the meeting room. Where was Axel?!
*~*~*
Axel buried his face in his hands. He felt like he'd been kicked in the gut, and he hated himself for it. He knew he held no claim over Roxas, that Roxas owed no loyalty to him. He'd told Roxas he wasn't interested, for Crissake. But it still hurt, still felt like the pain of heartbreak, at least as much as a Nobody could understand it. "Fuck him." Axel whispered. "I don't care if I ever see him again." The words were bitter on his tongue, because he could taste the lie in them.
*~*~*
Roxas, in increasing desperation, burst from the final bathroom in The Castle That Never Was. Axel was not in any of the showers. Racking his brain, Roxas remembered one more place. They'd once split a Sea-salt ice cream atop the roof of the castle. Roxas bolted for the stairs, hoping against hope Axel would be there.
*~*~*
Axel heard a door slam and nimble footsteps running up a staircase. He was seriously considering diving from the turret rather than being seen like this when he looked up and saw a panting, out-of-breath Roxas standing doubled over before him. "What do you want?"
*~*~*
Roxas looked up at Axel, relief flooding his limbs. Then, he realized that, despite his mantra during his hunt being 'find Axel and everything will be okay,' he had no idea what to say to the older Nobody.
"Seriously Roxas, what the hell are you doing here? I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you. Just go away."
Roxas bit his lip and wrestled with the angry words that threatened to burst forth. Yelling at Axel would just make it worse. He found it difficult to speak through the lump inexplicably forming in his throat, but he tried anyways. "I needed to… Axel, I…"
*~*~*
Axel saw Roxas swipe subconsciously at the tears forming in his eyes. "Are you okay?" he whispered. "Did he hurt you?" and he hated himself for caring.
Roxas looked up at him, startled, and a tear spilled down his cheek. "Did… who?"
Axel threw his hands up in the air. "What, I'm supposed to know? It's not like I even saw him."
"Did you set some dangerous chemicals on fire and inhale the fumes or something? Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?"
"I mean, it's not like I care or anything. You're way too young for me. And you're not even that attractive." Axel willed his mouth to stop moving, but he didn't seem to have any control over it anymore. "I just wish you'd trusted me enough to tell me you were planning to sleep with one of the Organization members. I could have pointed out one of the safer ones to you. I hope you used protection. Or was it a spur-of-the-moment thing?"
*~*~*
Roxas's jaw dropped. "That's… that's what you think?" Well, at least that explained the bizarre behavior.
Axel rolled his eyes. "Don't try to play innocent with me, kid. I know all the signs. Hell, I've given all the signs. I know-"
Whatever Axel knew, Roxas would never find out, because in that moment Roxas cut him off, covering Axel's lips with his own.
*~*~*
Axel's moment of unadulterated shock quickly caved to the insistence of Roxas's lips. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and pulled him closer, parting his lips with a skilled tongue. He'd wanted this for so long, it felt like reaching out and touching a dream. The only difference was that this dream was soft, warm and real.
*~*~*
Roxas was dizzy. Axel kissed in the same way he lived; rough, dangerous and fierce. At some point Axel had pulled Roxas into his lap and his hands were now fumbling with the zipper of Roxas's Organization robes.
Roxas found the expertise with which Axel kissed coupled with his ineptitude with zippers so wonderfully ironic that he was unable to suppress the bubble of gleeful laughter that burst in his chest and bounced against Axel's lips.
Suddenly, before any of it could register, Axel had shoved him off, stood and wiped his lips with the back of his sleeve. He stared down at Roxas through heavy-lidded, lust-darkened eyes. "Don't fuck with me, Roxas." Then he conjured a portal to the darkness and was gone.
Roxas found himself half-lying, half-kneeling on the floor, shaking. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, partly from the residual desire coursing through his veins and partly from the jagged pain he felt from Axel's rejection. What the hell had happened? He knew Axel wanted him, he knew Axel had been kissing him back just as passionately; if anyone was fucking with the other it was definitely Axel.
Roxas wasn't sure how long he stayed up on that rooftop, just shaking and lying there; it wasn't like there was a sun in The World That Never Was to tip him off. What he did know was that he was not going to go running after Axel again. He'd made his own thoughts on the matter perfectly clear, now it was up to Axel to stop being so goddamn confusing. Finally he pulled himself together and tottered back down the stairs.
*~*~*
Axel slammed his way through the Betwixt and Between. The Dusks must have sensed his foul mood, because not one popped up anywhere in the nowhere space. Roxas had slept with someone else. Roxas had kissed *him*. He'd kissed Roxas back. He'd found himself finally being able to pour out the desire he'd felt since the first second he'd seen Roxas- and the blond had laughed. LAUGHED. He had NEVER heard Roxas laugh before, and the first time he did it was at Axel. The asshole. This was all some sick game to him. He'd thought he meant more to Roxas than that. Hell, he'd thought there *was* more to Roxas than that. But no, Roxas may as well have been Larxene for all the remaining humanity in him. Axel wished that a Dusk would show up. Incinerating something might have improved his mood. But that thought gave him an idea. He walked out of the portal into Roxas's room. He figured the blond probably wouldn't be hanging around there, seeing as sitting still drove him nuts, and wrecking his room was fair turnabout, in his opinion.
The sight that greeted him surprised him, to say the least. Demyx was sitting on Roxas's bed, arms crossed, sitar on the floor next to him. The bed was made, and two untouched cups of coffee sat on the dresser.
"Demyx? What the hell are you doing in here?"
"I spent the night."
"You?! It was fucking YOU?!?" Axel summoned his chakram before he'd even had a moment to think; Demyx's element was water, and his was fire. The two didn't exactly mix. But if Axel *had* thought of that, he wouldn't have cared anyways. His logic was currently incapacitated by his blind rage.
Demyx held up his hands. "Axel, what the hell is your problem?"
"You fucked Roxas, that's my problem! Does Zexion know? From what I heard you guys are quite the cute little couple. How does he feel knowing his little wife is out sleeping around?!"
Demyx leaped out of the way of a fireball Axel hurled at him and grabbed up his sitar. "I did WHAT now?"
"Don't you even try to deny it now! You already admitted you slept with Roxas and now you're going to deal with the consequences, goddamnit!" Axel spun a chakram at Demyx. He played a cord on his sitar and water engulfed the flaming weapon, halting its progression.
"Axel, I don't think you have the full story here. I spent the night *in here.*"
Axel bellowed angrily and hurled the other chakram at Demyx's head, diving to reclaim the other. Demyx ducked and the chakram plowed into the wall, tongues of flame licking the edges of the new hole in the wall. Demyx played three more cords and water began pouring, flooding the room and soaking Axel.
"Axel! For god's sake, I didn't spend the night with *Roxas.* I have no fucking interest in Roxas! And Roxas isn't interested in me either! If you weren't such a flaming imbecile, you'd know exactly who Roxas is interested in; it's not exactly hard to see."
Axel swiped at the front of Demyx's robes, hoping to choke the information out of the little punk. "Who? Who is Roxas interested in? And what makes you so sure it's so 'obvious'?"
"Because everyone in the Organization can tell that you and Roxas are going to jump each other's bones any day now. Personally, I had my 8,000 munny on Roxas jumping you this Friday at 3:00, but now that I see what you've done to his room I'm going to have to go tell Saix to change it to you jumping him in about two hours, since that's probably going to be the only way he won't kill you."
Axel turned around, slowly and stunned, to face a nonchalant Zexion standing in the doorway, casually observing the damage that Axel and Demyx had done to the room. Axel turned and surveyed the damages and his eyes suddenly grew large. He'd put two holes in Roxas's wall, cut his bed in half and set the curtains on fire. He'd also shattered both coffee cups, and the top of the dresser was gently smoldering. Fortunately, Demyx chose that moment to play another cord on his sitar and the remaining fires were all doused by an outpouring of water.
He turned back around to face Zexion. "8,000 munny? On Roxas jumping…?"
Zexion rolled his eyes. "For god's sake Axel, I always knew you were stupid but I never knew you were this dense." Axel continued to stare in Zexion in disbelief. "I'm done with my research, Dem, so if you want to come back to the room now you're welcome to."
Demyx's face lit up and he skipped out after Zexion, pausing only to pat Axel reassuringly on the shoulder. "Bye Axel! Good luck with the whole jumping Roxas thing!"
Axel continued to stand in the center of Roxas's trashed room, staring at nothing in disbelief.
*~*~*
Once the new information had processed in Axel's head, however, his behavior was quite different. For one thing, his scowl had turned into the goofiest grin this side of the door to light. Roxas. Liked. Him. And Roxas hadn't slept with anyone else. Which meant that when Roxas had kissed him, Roxas had kissed him. And Roxas's laugh had been *happy* not malicious. He bounced up and down on his toes excitedly a few times before he realized what he was doing and quickly regained his composure. Then he rolled his eyes and bounced a few more times. Roxas liked him!
Axel was a little more accustomed to plotting than Roxas, so he didn't go gallivanting about the castle searching for the smaller Nobody. Instead, he parked himself outside Roxas's door, knowing Roxas would return sooner or later and then he could, as Zexion had put it, jump the other boy.
Axel, however, was not adept enough at plotting to remember to find something to do in the interlude, and found himself flashing back to the first time he met Roxas, and the sheer boredom of waiting. Back then he hadn't even been able to fantasize about Roxas to keep himself busy. How had he been able to function?
Axel snorted. Back then he hadn't waxed poetic about a shrimp of a kid with the most gorgeous eyes he'd ever seen, either. Shit, there he went again.
*~*~*
Axel was lying spread out on the floor of the hallway that never was, tapping his feet against the wall. 'I wonder if you can die of boredom. I wonder if Roxas is worth dying of boredom for.' He then remembered their feverish, insistent kiss from earlier, and the goofy grin manifested itself again. Roxas was most definitely worth dying of boredom for.
"God, you really are an idiot, aren't you?" Axel looked up to see blonde hair and cold eyes.
"Larxene. Can I help you?"
"If you're waiting for loverboy, it'll be a while."
"What are you-?"
"You don't KNOW?!?" Larxene crowed. "Roxas went to Xemnas and specifically asked for a mission. A long one. Far away. So Xemnas sent him to Hollow Bastion. He might be gone for weeks. Months even." Larxene had the smuggest expression Axel had ever seen; the proverbial cat that got the cream had *nothing* on her.
"Why would he ask for that?"
"I dunno." She smirked. "He looked pretty beat up, though. An emotional wreck, sans emotions. You know. I wonder how he could have gotten that way?" Larxene's smirk widened as a flash of pain crossed Axel's face. "So what are you going to do now?"
Axel glared at her and conjured a portal to the darkness, disappearing through it almost immediately. "Oh yes," Larxene cackled. "Go after him."
*~*~*
Roxas trudged the rest of the way down the hall and saw Larxene standing outside his door, cackling. A portal to darkness was closing in front of her. "Larxene?"
She turned around grinning slightly evilly. "Roxas, hey buddy."
He glared. "If you want a keyblade to the gut, then by all means keep calling me that. Why are you outside my room?"
"Oh, just came by to see how you were doing, I ran into Axel and he said he was going to Hollow Bastion to get away from you for a while. Thought you might need some comforting or something." Her smile widened as she saw the hurt flash across Roxas's face before a cool mask of indifference settled in.
"I'm fine, actually. But if I did want comfort, I wouldn't want it from you."
Her lip curled as she surveyed him. "Well fuck you too, Roxy. No wonder Axel left." And with that she swirled down the hallway and left Roxas in the hallway. He rolled his eyes as she left.
"Crazy bitch." He murmured as he pushed open the door to his room. The sight that greeted him made his eyes open wider than saucers and a growl form in the back of his throat. Axel was going to DIE the next time he saw him.
*~*~*
Axel was searching Hollow Bastion frantically and fruitlessly. "Roxas! Roxas, I'm sorry! Roxas, I didn't know! Rox, where are you?" he screamed until his throat was feeling raw and abused, ran until his legs felt like heavy sandbags. "Why did Roxas have to choose a mission in a place that was so goddamned BIG?!" moaned Axel as he half-dragged his body into an elevator to head for the top of the castle. Just searching the whole castle would take him a week. Damn!
His eyes brightened as he suddenly saw a portal of darkness open at the landing he was approaching. Roxas was suddenly standing there. Axel's goofy grin made another appearance as the elevator docked. "Roxas!"
He was unprepared for the keyblade the kid swung at his throat.
"Roxas, what the hell? Look, I'm sorry for shoving you away earlier, I'm an idiot, I really am, but that doesn't mean-"
He dodged another keyblade swing, this one aimed more at his ribs.
"Roxas, seriously-"
"You destroyed my room! You destroyed my bed, my dresser, put a fucking hole in my wall and then ran away to Hollow Bastion to avoid the consequences! And you think a simple 'I'm an idiot' is gonna get you out of it?! You really ARE a fucking idiot!"
"Wait, ran away to Hollow Bastion? Roxas," Axel jumped out of the way of a particularly enthusiastic swing, "I came here to find you!"
"Why the hell would I be here?!"
"Larxene said…" Axel stopped and his shoulders sagged. "Larxene lied. You didn't come here. You aren't upset about earlier at all." He sighed and massaged his temples. "I'm sorry about your room. I fought with Demyx; it was stupid. You can take my room until I can get it fixed up, and if I can't you can keep my room." Apparently something Axel had said had pacified Roxas, because he hadn't had to dodge a keyblade in almost 30 seconds.
"Larxene lied to you about... what now?"
"Nothing, really. I was hanging out outside your room; she said you wouldn't be back for days because you'd asked Xemnas for a mission and had come here."
"Why would you come after me? You wanted to say you were sorry?"
Axel shook his head pathetically. "Demyx told me some stuff; I wanted to believe it was true, but I guess it wasn-" he looked up to see Roxas had turned almost purple and looked like he was about to start choking. "Are you all right?"
"What… what exactly did Demyx tell you?" The sheer panic on Roxas's face was all Axel needed to see.
He swept Roxas into his arms and kissed him with all he was worth. Roxas let out a muffled squeak before settling in to kiss Axel back. When Axel broke away for a moment, Roxas looked up at him with terrified blue eyes.
"You're not going to storm away again, are you?"
"Naw, kid, I think I'm gonna stick around this time."
Roxas laughed, "Don't call me that!"
"I'll work on it," Axel said with a grin as he went in for another kiss.
*~*~*
*click* Demyx looked up from his camera and over at the slate-haired man standing next to him on the castle ledge. "Two hours EXACTLY! How'd you know, Zexy?"
The other man shrugged. "I told him they were obvious."
*~*~*
So ends my first foray into Akuroku! I don't want to pressure you to review, but.... I'd love to know what you think/what I can do better. If you have a minute, please click the little button and leave a sentence or two. Thanks! :)