So here's the second chapter.

It was pouring, and I wondered briefly how his mom was doing out on the beach with muscle-head Adam, or if maybe she's given up on him too. In the time it takes to get from parking lot to door, I'm drenched.

So I'm pushing open the door to my apartment, which I apparently forgot to lock in my haste to get out, when I hear some kind of noise inside. I don't see any odd cars in the lot, so either Demyx actually did show up, or someone from the building broke in. Wouldn't really surprise me; this place is filled with whack jobs.

I feel pretty safe going in. I'm strong enough, and my umbrella's leaning on the wall right next to the door. If need be, I have that as a weapon. Call me reckless.

Well… nothing could have prepared me for this.

He's sitting on my fucking couch. Roxas. He's just… there! As if nothing had ever happened. As if this was just any one of those days when he'd come over unannounced. Like… nothing had ever changed between us.

"You kept all the stuff." He says calmly, motioning towards the empty box surrounded by its former contents. I don't even know what to say to that. He's actually… here. Right. Here.

"R… Roxas." I whisper, still not sure if this is all entirely real. If it isn't, then I'd sure as hell like to live in the dream a bit longer.

You know… for the first time in a long time, it's not hurting me to say that name.

"Roxas. Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Roxas…" I repeat it over and over again, like a mantra. He just gives me a bemused little smirk. God. I missed him.

He comes over and kisses me, and my eyes fall shut and my fingers snake into his hair, and I'm just pulling him closer, closer, closer, because this is real. Real.

"Missed me?" He whispers, out foreheads pressed together. I don't even know how to answer that. I remember every agonizing second of my two months sans-Roxas all too well. "Only if you did." I whisper back. He looks at my eyes and knows what I mean, because the next kiss is like an apology.

"Calendar girl?" I ask the next time he pulls back. He smiles. "You found me, didn't you?" I swallow the growing lump in my throat as I think about how I found him after abandoning my search. "You left too quickly though. I was waiting for my mom to leave, but you were gone before I could even climb all the stairs up to this dump." He flops back down on my ancient couch and sighs. "Man, I missed it here."

For some reason, this makes me thing of his mother, and I frown. "Call your mom. She's probably still combing the beach for you." I toss my cell phone at him. He looks angry, betrayed. Like he wasn't expecting me to say any of that. Probably wasn't. "What?" I ask. "Did you honestly think I'd keep you here and leave your poor mother to think she drove off her only son?" He scowls. "She did." Man, I even missed that naïve, childish behavior of his.

"Don't care. Call." I join him on the couch, and he leans against me, looking at my phone with hatred. I grab it from him and dial. I had him put his mom's cell number in my phone, so I'd be able to screen her angry hate calls telling me to bring her kid home. He looks at me in disbelief. "If you don't tell her, I will." I threaten.

He looks really panicked. I feel back doing this to him, but had his mom found out first, I would have wanted her to call me. I doubt she would have, but it's always worth trying to be the better person. When he hears the ringing noise, he actually tries to bolt, but I'm faster than him, and stronger too. I've got him pinned in my lap with my arms wrapped around his waist, phone balancing in the crook of my neck.

"Hello? Yes, it's Axel. He's here." Roxas blanched and went still when she said she would be right over. I hung up, and Roxas looked up at me pleadingly, begging me with his eyes to do something. This time, it's my turn to give the apology kiss. He rejects it by turning his face sideways, and giving me a mouthful of hair.

"Why'd you leave?" I asked. I had to know. "I missed you, you jerk." My heart skips a beat. "You're almost eighteen. Couldn't you have waited?" That had been bugging me. "No." He says simply. I give him a little squeeze-hug to show my appreciation. "She was sending me to college in Radiant Garden." He adds. My heart plummets to my stomach, and for a moment, I regret having called his mother.

He's looking up at me again, like he's trying to tell me that there's still time to run. But there isn't, and I know that. He does too. I hold him tight, and kiss the top of his head. Don't worry." I whisper into his hair. "Don't worry." I wish I was more convinced myself. "Yeah." He whispers back.

"God, this is one hell of a day, huh?" I check my watch. "And it's not even three a.m. yet." I shove him off me, and he falls sideways on the cushions. "I need a smoke." I offer in way of excuse. He pouts. Fucking adorable. My cigarettes and lighter are still under the mostly emptied Roxas-box. I put all the stuff back in, then drop it to the floor.

I light up and head back to the couch, and Roxas gives me this look that I've so missed. I know exactly what he wants. Taking a deep drag of my cigarette, I hold it far enough away from me for him to lean in and kiss me. He always had a thing for getting shotguns, and I wasn't averse to giving them. Not to him, anyway. We leaned back and just sat there quietly, waiting for whatever was coming.

I almost inhaled a mouthful of smoke when I heard the manic knocking on my door.

Roxas looked at me, I looked at him. We shared a brief kiss, then I got up to open the door. He stayed where he was. When I opened the door and she saw him just sitting there all nonchalant and what, she reacted kinda like I did. She just stood there, staring at him. Much quicker recovery time than mine though.

"Roxas! Oh my God, Roxas! My baby!" She ran forward and hugged him so hard I'm pretty sure I heard some of his bones snap. She was about as hysterical as she had been when she first showed up at my door.

She finally let him go, and held him at arms length from herself, inspecting him. She frowned. "You smell like smoke." She turns an angry glare in my direction. Jeez, thanks for the gratitude, lady. Roxas just shrugs. "Shotgun." Her eyes go wide, like she's coming up with all the worst-case scenarios for what that could mean.

She grabs his hand, sends one more nasty look my way, and starts pulling him towards the door. He resists, digging his heels into my dirty, threadbare carpet. "No." He says simply. She turns, looking at him in disbelief. I kind of pity her, actually. She honestly didn't seem to get why he wouldn't want to go. This must be tough on her.

"Rox…" The name dies in her throat. "No." He repeats, more forceful this time. He pulls his hand away from her. She looks to be on the verge of tears again. He takes a step back and grabs my hand. I have no clue where he's going with this. "I'm staying here, mom." He says. That sends her over the edge, crying all over again.

"Roxas… why?" She pleads, grabbing his other hand with hers, and pressing it against her cheek. His stern face falters for a moment, and I wonder how much longer he can keep doing this to her. Breaking her heart, I mean. I know firsthand that he's pretty damn good at it, and that it's fucking painful. He squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back. "I'm sorry, Mom." He says gently, but he doesn't sound like he means it.

She steps closer, hugging him desperately. He doesn't drop my hand, but his other arm slowly wraps around her back. She sobs into his shoulder. "Please," She chokes out. "Don't do this. Just come home, Roxas." He lifts her away from him slowly, looking her straight in the eye. "You did this. We did this." She looks at him, completely broken now.

I need to do something.

"Go with her, Rox." The two of them turn on me. One wears a mixed look of surprise, confusion, and gratitude, the other a mask of pain, betrayal, and hurt. "We'll go back to how things used to be." I squeeze his hand.

He doesn't squeeze back.

I step forward and hold him close to me, my chin resting on the crown of his head. His mother steps back and stares at us. "It's okay, Rox. Don't worry. I'll always be here for you, but you can't do this to her. She's your mom. There's always space for you here, you know that, but I can share." He relaxes a little against me. "You can stay here a few days to cool off, how's that?" He stiffens again, then relaxes. "You have the key to this dump, come over whenever for however long. Open invite, but you can't not go home, Rox. It's still your family." I look him in the eyes now. "How's that?" He swallows heavily and nods.

I step back, and he hugs his mom, placing a quick kiss on her tear-stained cheek. "I'll come back." He promises. She nods, and walks off without another word. I don't think she has any words left in her.

The silence stretches between us, but it's not an angry silence, or an uncomfortable one. It's soft. It's natural. I break it with a heavy yawn.

"Dammit Rox, it's three a.m. I'm going to bed. Join or not, but keep quiet about it, would you?" I shoot him a smile, because he knows I'm not angry. Just sleepy. He smiles back, taking my hand and joining me. This is how it's supposed to be, I think. This is right.

There was a bag with clothes for him and a toothbrush in it at my door by the time we woke up.

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