disclaimer: i don't own kingdom hearts. because it's probably copyrighted. but not to me.
pairing/s: akuroku – duh.
warning/s: there is yaoi, there is awkwardness and there is... funstuff?

The Morning After
-or-
The Sequel to The Night Before
-or-
What Happened After That?

(for nirii)

So Roxas and Axel, best friends since Axel was so high and Roxas was this low, hadn't been visiting each other for a while due to Roxas' terrible Axel-related affliction of the heart, mind and most importantly body. Then, on a spur-of-the-moment-esque whim, Axel invited Roxas over without any chance of Roxas being able to say no. At Axel's house, movies played whilst Axel leisurely felt Roxas up without the reader (by reader, I do, of course, mean Roxas' internal monologue) even realising and Roxas sat, awkwardly trying to get through the night without exploding.

The scene was set for a night of unprepared romancing, undeliberated advances and unmeditated... Well, you get the picture.

So, fast forward to the morning with a snoring Roxas lolling over the side of Axel's bed and Axel curved towards his lamp and bedside table combo on the other side of the bed. Axel suddenly sharply tugged at the quilt, the only thing that was keeping Roxas in his death-defying lean over the side, and it untangled itself from the blond, causing him to fall to the floor in a most undignified manner.

"Urgh," he said, clutching his newly aching head. Then, "Ack!" as a sudden spark of painfulness flashed across his lower back. That's when it dawned on him; that he was in Axel's room, having just been on Axel's bed – and, the more significant part – he was naked.

Absolutely naked.

A blush spread straight across from Roxas' left ear, all the way over his cheeks and just about managed to cover his right ear too. He heard a mumble come from the bed and turned his head to see Axel shift slightly, but he wasn't awake.

Roxas thanked Yevon and began to crawl over to wear he could see a few clothes littering the carpet. He picked one up, a t-shirt, and started pulling it up over his head when he realised that it was actually Axel's but before he could pull it off him he heard Axel groan, shift onto his front and then push himself up onto all fours. Roxas froze, not knowing what to do. His eyes scanned from left to right, trying to find a way out but finding none. He tried to hide himself at the foot of the bed, but he suspected that when Axel did eventually turn around it wouldn't take him long to notice his blond friend.

Friend?

Oh Yevon; was he going to have to completely re-analyse their relationship now?

"Roxas? What just happened?"

Yes. He would. Completely.

"Um," said Roxas, staring at Axel who had turned round and had noticed him, but his voice cracked so much so he had to clear his throat a few times before he could continue. "I think," he started. "I mean, I think that... Well, if I remember – we weren't drunk... at least I don't think we were. Because I'm not sure if, well, you know – because, really, you know more about this-"

"Roxas." Axel stopped Roxas from continuing his, let's be honest, aimless ramble. "Did we have sex?"

Roxas' voice dropped to a whisper, unintentionally. "I think we did."

He heard Axel flop back onto the bed and say, "OK," in an almost defeated voice.

Roxas was frozen again; what was that meant to mean? Did that mean he didn't care? Axel had had plenty of other lovers before – was that his way of saying "OK, so you weren't as good as this one time..." or was he saying "OK, let's never do that again," - or, worst of all: "OK, it's no big deal."

Roxas suddenly felt a shiver come over him and that nauseous feeling of hot and cold mixed together, tinged with a sharp pain up his spine. He winced quietly. Axel was confusing him and he didn't need to get confused right now. What would have been freaking sweet was if Axel could just be straight with him. Roxas quickly took back that sentiment, grimacing at the awful pun. He kept the general notion though; he wished he knew what was going on.

"Roxas," came Axel's voice from the bed. "What are you doing?"

Roxas looked at the pile of clothes heaped around him, where he had been digging through for his own clothes. "Getting dressed," he said eventually.

There was a pause. "Why?"

Roxas thought about this for a moment before deciding to lie. "Because I don't feel very well; I think I should go home."

He pulled on a pair of trousers – who they belonged to he wasn't really sure and he wasn't sure he cared either – and before one could say "akurokuluvinisthebest" in their most high-pitched, frantic voice, he was out of Axel's room, house and general neighbourhood area and pitching down towards his own neighbourhood area, in need of his own bed, a hot water bottle and probably some hot chocolate too.

His house was warm and smelt like his clothes just after they'd been washed. His mother walked past, carrying the laundry and as the sun melted through a window and sparkled on her she said, "Oh, Roxie. Are you OK, sweetie? You don't look... so... good..."

For some reason her voice was slowing down and she seemed to be getting taller and bigger and more distorted and then he blacked out.

"Roxas... Roxas?" A pair of big blue eyes twinkled down at him as Roxas attempted to sit up, but was hindered by a tightly wrapped duvet. "Oh, hey, Roxas, you're awake. Mom was scared you had concussion or something."

Roxas smiled weakly then promptly threw up into a well placed bucket. Roxas internally applauded Sora for his psychic awareness of where Roxas may need a bucket, but was far too weak to actually do so. He sank back into his pillow and meekly accepted the glass of water that was put in his direction.

"But, apparently, I was right," said Sora, staring in horror at the blue bucket by Roxas' bed. "You caught the virus I had last week."

Roxas sighed mournfully. So much for being a gracious, kind, helpful brother and bringing soup and hot chocolate to his ill twin all week. There was no such thing as karma. On the plus side, it turned out that he hadn't been lying to Axel earlier when he said he didn't feel very well. But if karma didn't exist then what was the point?

"So, I was wondering," began Sora in a light tone – but Roxas could read behind it, Sora was about to ask him a very important, possibly embarrassing, question. "you went to Axel's house for the first time in ages – and come back wearing his shirt?"

Roxas groaned and put a hand over his face, sinking under his duvet. Or at least attempting to, because Sora refused to let him get away with that question, instead, yanking Roxas up by the tips of his sticky-out hair.

"Ow, ow, ow! Sora!" Roxas gasped, scrabbling for his brother's hands. Finally Sora let go once Roxas was sitting upright and tenderly stroking his scalp.

"So?" asked Sora again, leaning in, hand poised, ready to torture the blond locks again.

"OK, OK!" said Roxas, holding his hands up in defense. "Nothing happened – I spilt soda on my shirt so he said I could borrow his." Sora looked dubious, but lowered his wary hand anyway. Roxas looked around his room, blinking at the brightness. The curtains were open and vanilla sunshine was beaming through the window. "What's the time?" he asked.

"About two," replied Sora, staring out the window too. He sighed and got up. "I've got to go meet Riku and Kairi at the train station. See you later, Rox."

"Bye." Roxas attempted to lift himself out of the bed further but stabs of sharp discomfort in his back as well as the truly unpleasant, queasy sensation in the pit of his stomach prevented him from getting any further without knowing he would end up with a newly patterned carpet – name of vomit. As he sank back into his bedsheets he heard a tinny, vaguely recognisable ringing sort of sound, but his brain said, "shush, now, Roxas – sleep" and Roxas usually did what he was told.

It was sometime later that evening when Roxas woke up, shivering and sweating, feeling very vulnerable and even scared. He called out names and heard feet on the stairs, pounding upwards towards him like great- big- evil- nightmare- rhinos who were coming to get him. He cried out again.

"Roxas!" said a soothing voice. "Calm down, Rox. Axel's not here. It's me, Sora."

Roxas felt vaguely disappointed. Then a rush of calm swept over him. Sora passed him another drink of water.

"Axel called today actually, asking to speak to you. You hadn't picked up your phone, so I told him you were too ill to speak." Roxas watched Sora muse on this for a moment, he sipped his drink and felt oddly separate from the world. "He sounded quite disappointed actually."

Roxas pondered on this for a moment; each slurp of water bringing him slowly back into his own body, rather than his strange second-person view point of the world. He started to recall the previous night and felt very serene about it, then on this same vein he added up the fact that he had pretty much flown away from Axel in the morning and had now apparently missed a call from him – maybe Axel had thought Sora was lying to cover up some grand scheme in which Roxas would avoid Axel for the next few days, be approached every now and then by said redhead who would attempt a futile conversation and then Roxas, himself, would end up awkwardly trying to patch up a friendship lying in tatters before they both decide that it was just wrong and fall into each of their more stereotypical peer cliques.

Roxas "hm"d at this thought.

"Well, Roxie," announced Sora, patting his thighs as he stood up, "looks like you're going to be in bed for a while. No school for you. Also, no visits from anyone – mom says you might pass the bug on. Apparently I can't get the bug again... because it came from me."

Roxas attempted to throw his alarm clock at Sora, but couldn't even grab the alarm clock, instead making a funny looking arm movement and a little growly noise.

Sora laughed mercilessly. "Night night, Roxas."

Then he turned off the light and shut the door.

a/n: erm, a little threeshot which will not impede any of my other stories, I promise. I have to write it because nirii's leaving and it's all very sad. WILL MISS YOU, BABS. review, bitte (that's "please" in european, btw.)