Roxas took out the key to his apartment, and opened the door. He switched on the lightswitch, on off on off on off on, before realizing that the power was out. "Oh, great. Now I have to find a flashlight, which could be anywhere..."

"I have a lighter." Axel blurted out, taking the flame printed lighter out of his pocket and handing it to where he thought Roxas was standing. Roxas took it, and for a second, their hands touched. Roxas blushed, suddenly glad for the darkness. He flicked the light on. "Thanks, but I think I prefer a flashlight. Less chance of burning yourself, you know."

Axel nodded, sitting down on the couch. He immediantly sprang back up, cursing and rubbing the underside of his thigh. "Shit! What the hell was that?"

"Probably a spring. We need a new couch." Roxas called from the kitchen, where he was searching fo a flashlight. 'We need a new EVERYTHING.' He thought to himself angrily. And maybe they would have more, if Roxas's father stopped his gambling obsession and his mother wasn't a prostitute. They wasted all their money on alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. The apartment smelled like those three things. And sex. It always smelled like sex.

In the living room, Axel searched around for some other source of light, seeing as his lighter was being used at the moment. No luck, but he did pierce himself with broken glass a couple times. He was sittingnext to the broken couch, sucking one of his injured fingers, when Roxas came back with two flashlights and a lighter. "Here."

Axel grabbed the lighter and flashlight, put the lighter in his pocket, and turned on the flashlight. He shined it on his fingers, which were bleeding. Roxas peered over the wet red-head's shoulder. "You okay?"

Axel nodded. "Nothing too bad. I've had worse."

"Ok. I'm going to take a shower. If you want to, there's another shower in my parents' room..." Roxas pointed his flashlight at a closed door. Axel stood up, mumbled thanks, and walked in, searching the floor for anything else that would injure him. He heard Roxas start his water, and hurried to find the bathroom door. He opened it, and unsuprisingly, it was a mess as well as the rest of the small apartment. Used condoms, bloody tampons, towels, random pieces of clothing, a toothbrush littered the floor. Axel kicked some things away from where he was standing, thenkicked off his shoes as well. He shrugged himself out of his clothes, and turned on the shower. Axel shook out his thick mane of red hair, and stepped into freezing cold water. He clenched his teeth, and proceded to find the shampoo, which he then scrubbed throughout his hair, soothing his scalp.

"And I thought I was a slob..." He said to himself, running his hands through his hair and shivering slightly. He shut off the water and stepped out, shaking his head again. He found a relatively clean towel, rubbed it through his hair, and then tied it around his waist. "Now what? It's not like I have any dry clothes... and I really don't want to put on those."

Axel poked his soaking clothes with his toe. He sighed, and left the bathroom. He peered around the room, watching where he stepped as he went. Axel exited th bedroom, and, still in the towel, walked to the other door that he guessed was Roxas's room. He knocked twice, but got no answer. "Hey Roxas... I have a slight problem..."

Roxas opened the door, fully clothed. "What?"

"Do you think that your dad would mind if I borrowed some of his clothes?"

Roxas's eyes looked from the red-head's feet to his red hair. "They'd be really loose on you, but it's better than nothing."

"Or wet clothes."

"Or wet clothes." Roxas smiled at Axel's retreating back. He sighed, glad the red-head hadn't seen him blushing the whole time Axel had been standing there in nothing but a towel.

END.