Disclaimer: don't own anything.

"Are you still dating that artsy girl?"

"Namine?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Naw, I dumped her before summer started. She always looked at me funny whenever I said something weird. She was too quiet for my tastes, more of a thinker than a doer." Axel lazily said, playing tic-tac-toe with Sora. His attention focused on the game, after all, it was a game of skill, deception, and concentration. Not like Monopoly, that game was a disaster waiting to happen. Even if you managed to get even half way through that bitch of a game, you had to deal with your opponents and their cheating tendencies. At least, that's how it was with Axel's family. The last family reunion had turned brutal when his grandfather Merlin and his grandma Flora fiercely debated on whether or not grandpa Merlin had snuck some Monopoly money into his robes (and his pointy hat, but who counted anyway). As the game progressed, grandpa Merlin then accused grandma Flora of cheating on him with a Jamaican man when she refused to sell him Boardwalk. That was the first time they had seen each other since the divorce. Not pretty.

"Gee, I wonder why," Roxas sarcastically said. He was busily sketching something on his pad. He seemed to think that class was actually for doing something. No idea how that got into his mind.

Axel gave him a withering look. He marked a 'x' on the paper and grinned at Sora. Sora stuck his tongue out in defeat. "Yes, I won!" Axel gleefully poked Riku on the arm to witness his victory. "You should be happier, Roxas. It's not every day you get to watch a genius in work," Axel added.

Sure. Like he needed advice from someone that could be deemed mentally unstable. Roxas felt that maybe he should have been a little nicer or accommodating to a person he had met only yesterday, but he shoved that thought far into the back of his mind. He needed to draw. That's all. Not think about some redhead who was not Irish, but Norwegian. He didn't know where Norway was. If someone asked him that question in exchange for sparing his life, which may happen someday, he would only say it's in Europe. Which it is…. isn't it? Roxas scratched his head in frustration.

Beep. Beep. Plunk. Beeeeeeeeeeep.

Roxas shook himself out of his stupor to hear the noise. He glared at the others with the look that challenged whoever's stupid phone it was to get it out. He continued in his duel with the rest of the class. Minutes passed and gradually other students would turn around to look at the four students in the back. Roxas glared at them further for even thinking that it might have been him. He felt a tap on his shoulder. His eyes traced the finger back to the body, which belonged to Axel. "What?" Roxas snapped.

Axel made a motion with his finger for Roxas to move closer. Roxas gulped and scooted towards him. Roxas was inches from him when Axel suddenly leaned in. Roxas shut his eyes as if that could somehow protect him from whatever Axel was about to do. He had some creative ideas on what Axel was going to do, but he banished those thoughts away with an imaginary flyswatter. He felt a warm breath on his ear that whispered, "Look down."

Roxas did. He noticed something lighting up in his pocket. Oh. Oops. Roxas sheepishly turned his phone off and waved to the rest of the students. "Sorry." Roxas knew that he probably looked incredibly stupid at the moment, but he couldn't keep his eyes glued to his pants forever. It would look as if he was staring at his crotch or something. Not that it would, right?

"Wanna play me?"

Roxas gaped at Axel. What does that mean? And why does that sound perverted? It's a totally, okay maybe not completely, normal sentence that somehow warped into some declaration of sexual hormones or something. "Pardon me?"

"You. Me. Arm wrestling." Axel deviously said, if possible.

"No thanks." I've got better things to do than act like a ten year-old or gross old man in a bar, thanks.

Then, again if possible, Axel's eyes sparked. Not like when you stick a fork into an electric outlet and get burned, but more like small flames dancing around in his eyes. They were actually intimidating. "C'mon, we could even make wagers. That is…if you're not too chicken."

And that was the magic word. Back in old times (god knows when) to face someone in a duel you would take off your glove and slap him or her across the cheek with it. In modern times this was the equivalent. That or pushing them, calling them fuckface, or generally partaking in violent and name-calling acts. Same difference.

So Roxas did what any other person in his situation would do. He accepted with cold determination. "You're on."

Roxas was feeling pretty confident; he did win his fair share of arm wrestle battles back in the day. They were against his little cousins, but that was until Axel started to crack his knuckles. He had a pair of black gloves on that made him appear tough. The cracking only intensified this effect. There was no backing down now. Roxas could only watch as his adversary made all kinds of noises cracking his knuckles. Knuckles that looked like they were twice the size of Roxas's and would have no difficulty in making his surrender. Nothing else to do but go down with a fight that lasts a minute. Hopefully.

"You ready?" Axel smiled. Yeah, I'm ready to get my ass…hand whooped you sadistic jerk. "On the count of three. One…two…three!"

The hands met in an epic clash to answer the age-old question of who was stronger. Roxas had already acknowledged defeat the moment he accepted Axel's offer, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next. The moment he touched Axel's hand he felt…nervous. The pressure of Axel's hand was forcing his to the table and Roxas gave a weak push in response. His mind was occupied with restraining his cheeks from going red and revealing the thoughts Roxas was having. Roxas had never thought of himself as being the kind of person to be into dating and constantly being infatuated with someone, only three years ago he had a major crush on Kairi. That had been flattened by the fact that she was blindly in love with Sora. However, Sora was blindly oblivious to that and remained peacefully at Riku's side to this day. He didn't really know what kind of the relationship the two had either. They were best friends, but it went deeper than that. They did things that best friends didn't do; they shared things about each other that people who were dating had no clue about. Their status didn't concern Roxas very much.

He only been in one relationship before, and that was with a girl named Olette back in his home of Twilight Town. They had dated for a few months, but soon they had realized there were no intense or romantic feelings between them. He couldn't remember how they first started dating, it was most likely Pence's doing. When he set off for Hollow Bastion, he learned that Olette and his best friend Hayner had begun dating. He was happy for them and gave them his blessings before leaving. In all actuality, he didn't care who either of them dated, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time.

Back to the present, his hand had already reached the table and Axel was staring at him. He was staring, but it was different. It was almost as if he was asking Roxas a question or trying to confirm something. Roxas blinked to notify Axel that he was back in reality. He then realized that Axel's hand was still on top of his. Roxas wasn't big on touching extensively. He couldn't say 'get your filthy paw off me' cause that would sound rude, but he didn't want to wait. He slightly moved one of his fingers in hopes that Axel would get the hint. Axel did and Roxas let out a big sigh that had been resting on the bottom of his lungs.

Axel tapped at his temple in a thinking manner. "You know…how would you like to swing by room after our classes are over?"

Roxas had thought of many possibilities of what Axel was going to say. They ranged from sodomy to strolling on the beach. But what Roxas heard wasn't one of them. This was one of the moments when he hear something but it doesn't register in your mind. Like it flew in threw one ear, looked around, and then said 'fuck this' and got the hell out. Then he said a word that wasn't even in the dictionary to express his surprise. "Huh?"

Another chapter. Yay.