Hiya! Here's chapter two.

Before you get down to reading, though, I have a little game for you all. Whoever can guess who is writing who first gets a little...something. Probably a one-shot or maybe a brief appearance in a chapter? Who knows. It's not been decided yet. So yeah. Figure out who Kat writes and figure out who I write and be the first to do so and you'll get something fun. Kat doesn't know about this idea, so hopefully she doesn't kill me when she sees it.

That said, enjoy!

Roxas had only been at his own party for an hour and a half, and he already wanted to leave.

He knew this party was going to be boring as hell from the moment his parents had come up with the idea. However, knowing it and suffering through it were two entirely different matters.

The location of the party was impressive, even by Roxas' standards. There were high ceilings and dangling chandeliers. Roxas was almost afraid to touch anything; everything looked very breakable and very expensive. Only people like his parents and their associates would be able to afford to stay in a hotel like this, let alone rent out part of it for a birthday party.

The novelty of it wore off quickly, though. Before long, he was formally introduced (yeah, it was that kind of party) and paraded in front of the guests, tossed back and forth between rich dignitaries and businessmen like a golden beach ball. His parents insisted that he talk to absolutely everyone there. This bored Roxas to the point where he secretly hoped the old, frail oil tycoon he was just introduced to would keel over during the party, just to make things more interesting.

The worst part of the entire thing was that Roxas didn't see a single person his own age there. The room was full of a wide variety of ages; Roxas had talked to a 75-year-old businessman and his 25-year-old wife (he married her for her boobs and she married him for his money). However, there was not one single person that he could see that looked 18. The people that his parents had invited were already prominent individuals, connections that Roxas should be using to get ahead in life.

His parents wanted him to schmooze, so he did. It made him miserable smiling and lying through his teeth, but he needed to do this to get to public school. He acted the perfect gentleman. Yes, he was thrilled to take over his father's company. Yes, he had plans for the future. Yes, the Strife empire would last a long, long time. Yes, he looked forward to doing business with them someday.

Yes, he noticed the nose job. Yes, this smile hurt his face. Yes, that person was an asshole he wanted nothing to do with. Yes, he wanted to vomit cotton candy and rainbows on those overpriced, hideous designer shoes.

After an hour and a half, Roxas had already had enough. He dodged out for a brief (fifteen-minute) bathroom break (texting his friends outside), but he knew he couldn't stay hidden for long. Dinner would be starting soon, and his parents would sit him at the head of the head table and speak to the entire room for five minutes about how excited they were that he was an adult. Then, having mentioned him, they would proceed to wax poetic about the future of their company for the next twenty.

Then, the rich people would eat ten times the amount that they needed to. One fifth of them would puke the food up later. Many of the people there would get a bit tipsy. Some of the women would blame their stumbling on their ridiculously high heels.

Roxas was hardly looking forward to any of it. He wished his friends were there—that way, at least, he would have someone to suffer through it with. Hell, Sora could probably charm the pants off half of these people, even though he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. Roxas could hang back out of the limelight, and Riku would loom threateningly to discourage people from coming close.

His friends weren't there, though, and he was going to have to deal with it. His parents found him as he was walking back inside, and they started babbling about more people he just had to meet. They steered him into another conversation or two before the lights dimmed, announcing that it was time for everyone to sit down. First came the speeches (most of which were given by people he didn't actually know).

Finally, it was time for the food. Roxas sat at the small head table in the front of the room. There was no one at his table under forty. He was expected to make small talk with everyone while they waited, but he was having trouble summoning up the energy. All the people there knew was business and statistics and economics. He cared very little about any of it. The night was progressively getting more and more boring.

When the servers came out, though, everything changed. All it took was a flash of red against pale skin.

Axel was used to the hustle and bustle of working these kinds of jobs with Dem, and he enjoyed that. What Axel didn't enjoy was the group of people they were usually dealing with, and from his peeking out at the party-goers, this group had to be some of the worst. Just lovely. Even the air in the main room seemed stuck up. This party was a nightmare in the making; there was no other way to describe it. The overall mood of the place just gave Axel a bad feeling in his gut, like something was going to happen.

Shaking his head to himself, he turned back to Demyx, who was doing about as much work as Axel was. "How much longer do we have?" he asked.

Demyx shrugged. "You'd have to ask my mom. She's the one that's in the know for all of this mess."

Sighing, Axel shook his head and looked out at the party again. It was an insanely formal party, even for these kinds of people: mingling, soft music, and a full course dinner at some point throughout the evening. It made him wonder what sort of big, special occasion it was being held for. Not even the wealthy threw this fancy and formal of a shindig without a purpose.

He pondered it for a short while longer until there was a tap on his shoulder, shaking his attention from his thoughts to his surroundings.

"It's time to get things going," Demyx nearly chirped. He was way too energetic for this sort of stuff; or at least, in Axel's opinion, he was. Demyx didn't see what there wasn't to be excited about. Everything was always so interesting to look at while they were working.

Well, as long as Demyx didn't end up tripping over his own feet again, Axel didn't care. That had been embarrassing.

Axel sighed and followed Demyx back over to where things were set up and ready to be taken out for people to eat, pulling his hair back as he walked. That was the one rule that he actually had to follow. The hair had to stay back or Axel wasn't allowed to help anymore. Although, that rule was sort of his fault, since he liked having his hair a bit on the longer side.

He did as instructed, picking up this and that to carry out, all the while keeping his facial expression one of cool indifference. He also wasn't allowed to glare at the people who had hired the company for the evening. That was bad for business.

As secretively as he could manage, Axel's eyes scanned over the people in attendance. They all looked the same to him. Holding back a snort of disdain until he was out of their sight and hearing ranges again, Axel could hardly wait for this job to be done.

Roxas' eyes were automatically drawn to the flash of color in the room. The red hair was pulled back, but it still looked almost spiky, like it could take someone's eye out. It belonged to a tall boy with pale skin and a completely unreadable expression. He was one of the servers, it seemed.

Roxas decided almost immediately that he wanted to talk to this guy.

He couldn't tell exactly how old he was. His height and his hair made him seem older, somewhere around 22 or 23, but his eyes didn't seem that old. Roxas just knew that he seemed way, way younger than the rest of the people in this stupid place.

It wasn't just his age that caught Roxas' attention, though. There was something about the boy that seemed really interesting. He looked exotic, of course, with his bright red hair and bright green eyes. However, it wasn't that either. There was just something about him that screamed interesting (or at least ten times more interesting than the people Roxas had met so far). His eyes were sharp and bright. His movements were fluid. He did not look like the type who took shit from anyone.

Roxas seriously doubted he would try to talk about business matters with him.

His parents would not be keen on the idea of him going to talk to the server boy when he was surrounded by rich, important people. However, Roxas needed a break from rich and important. He needed to talk to a real human being.

So, he kept an eye on the redhead throughout dinner, and when the meal was over and mingling resumed, Roxas made a beeline for him. It wasn't hard to find him, with his height and his hair. Roxas almost wondered how he got a job serving at such a fancy, conservative event. He definitely wasn't the typical server; he stood out in a crowd.

He was working when Roxas approached him. His back was turned towards the table—he appeared to be clearing away plates. Roxas sidled up behind him before finally opening his mouth to speak. He didn't know what to say to him, but Roxas wasn't all that crazy about planning things. Spur of the moment worked best for him.

His usual method was failing him now. He was standing next to the boy, and his brain had lost all form of words. He didn't know what to say without sounding like a prick or a dimwit.

So, he opened his mouth and let out a boring, "Hello?"

Axel was focused on working for once, and he didn't recognize the voice, so he figured it wasn't aimed at him. Why would it be? Instead of turning to see who it was he just kept at what he was doing.

Roxas saw quickly that he would not be getting the redhead's attention this way. The room was full of people mingling and junk, so talking louder wasn't likely to get his attention, either. Roxas reached his arm up and tapped the boy on his shoulder. "Oi, you."

Axel fought the instinct to jump, since he wasn't expecting someone to tap his shoulder, and turned slowly to face the person who was invading his personal space...only to find that he had to look down. Briefly wondering about how a midget got in here, he asked, "What?"

The guy was really, really tall. Roxas knew that he was short, but this guy made him look tiny. When he wanted to talk to him, Roxas had to crane his neck upwards. "You're really tall."

Axel smirked. "Way to state the obvious, kid."

Roxas grinned. He rather liked the stranger's voice. "It's one of my many talents. I didn't get your height, so I had to have something of value. I can tell you that the sky is blue as often as you want."

Raising an eyebrow, Axel looked at this strange, strange boy. "Except that would be a lie some of the time. It's not always blue. I think liars are icky."

"I'm not a liar," Roxas pouted. "Maybe I'm colorblind? You don't know that for a fact."

Axel just shook his head. "You're...strange."

"No, I'm not. I'm Roxas. Nice to meet you."

"Regardless of who you are, you're still strange."

"Does it matter? In an hour or two we'll both be gone, and you'll never have to deal with me again. So, Mr. Stranger, I can be as strange as I want right now."

Axel muttered something under his breath, shaking his head slightly. "Does your definition of strange also include annoying?"

Frowning, Roxas shook his head. It turned out that the one interesting person in the room was also the one who did not seem to know that he was the birthday boy. Although it was refreshing that the redhead wasn't kissing ass, he was being rather unpleasant, and Rox suspected that would be different if this boy actually knew who he was. "I don't know. I figured I was allowed to be a little bit annoying, considering I have to spend my birthday with a bunch of plastic businessmen twice my age."

Axel studied Roxas for a moment. "That does explain a few things," he pondered aloud. Then he shrugged. "Sucks for you." If this kid thought he was going to change his attitude just because of that, he was sorely mistaken.

"How does it explain anything?" Roxas asked, starting to get a bit angry with the stranger. He didn't expect him to be polite just because his parents were rich, but he did expect him to be a decent human being.

"It explains why you're being such a sourpuss," Axel explained. "Unless you're always like this. In which case, I feel bad for any friends you may have."

Roxas was unhappy with the direction this conversation was headed. Although this was the most animated discussion he had had all night, it was also the only one that had made him want to physically injure someone. However, he smiled sweetly when he delivered his response. "Would you prefer I be overly chipper? YAY! My parents forced me into a stupid social event instead of letting me hang out with my friends, which do exist, thank you very much." He paused for a few seconds. "Besides, I didn't think I had to paste on a smile for you. You appear to be the only real human being I've met all night."

Looking at Roxas for a long moment, Axel nodded. "Okay."

"What?" Roxas asked. "No snappy response to that one?"

"You're obviously miserable being here," Axel replied with a sigh. "I'm miserable being here, too. I was just sort of taking it out on the first person to talk to me that wasn't Demyx...or his mom." At the mention of his best friend, Axel looked around for him. Demyx, however, appeared to be missing at the moment, so Axel looked back at Roxas. "So, I'm done being snappy."

"Thanks," Roxas said, a small smile on his face. "I appreciate it."

"Oh, don't thank me. I'm still not a pleasant guy even when I'm not intentionally being an ass." Axel nearly chuckled.

"Joy," Roxas said, sarcastically. "Looks like I'm in for a real treat, then. I think I'll take unpleasantness over brown nosing, though. You're probably the safer bet."

"Hm, you know, Roxas, your sarcasm is a nice change from the way other people here have spoken to me." Axel rolled his eyes at the memories.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that some people here aren't the nicest," Axel said nonchalantly. He was used to it by now, having helped out Dem and his parents for years, but it did still make his blood boil sometimes.

Roxas frowned. He wasn't entirely surprised; rich people weren't usually known for being polite to those below them socially. However, it made him unhappy that people were being mean to this redheaded stranger at his party. He got an idea, and an enormous grin broke out across his face. "I could wreck their businesses for them, if you tell me who they are," he said cheekily.

Axel gave a genuine laugh. "I think I'll be okay. I wouldn't still be here if I couldn't stomach asshole comments from strangers. They're just jealous of my hair, anyway, since most of them are balding."

That one made Roxas crack up. "Your hair is awesome, so it's entirely possible."

"You think my hair is awesome?" Axel asked trying to keep the smugness out of his voice. Whether the comment was sincere or not, he was very prideful of his hair.

"Absolutely," Roxas said seriously.

Grinning, Axel said, "Okay, you're really not so bad after all."

Roxas smirked. "I'm really not. I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out."

"Don't get arrogant on me. I just called you alright."

For the first time that entire night, Roxas smiled naturally. "You're alright, too, Mr. Stranger."

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "It's only four letters. Not that hard to memorize."

"And just how do you know it doesn't have strange letters silently stuck in it somewhere?"

"Does it?"

"No."

"There you go, then, Axel."

"Smart aleck."

"Nope. Smart Roxas."

Axel rolled his eyes. Just as he was about to say something in response, Demyx popped up next to him. "Dude, Axel, my mom's looking for you everywhere. What the hell have you been do- Who's the kid?"

Roxas waved. "Roxas. Not a kid anymore, legally. Nice to meet you."

"You're eighteen? Really? You don't look eighteen. You look about like fourteen or fifteen. I'm Demyx, by the way," Dem said all very quickly with a smile.

Axel shook his head. "Down, Dem. You're going to either freak him out or insult him." He stopped before adding as an afterthought, "Or both."

Demyx just smiled innocently.

Roxas grinned at the exchange. "I'm eighteen today. Demyx, you and Axel are odd friends. He's crabby and you're hyper."

"He's not normally this energetic," Axel explained right as Demyx also said, "I'm not usually this hyper." They looked at each other for a moment. Then Axel spoke, "Dem, go tell your mom I'll be right there?"

"Sure thing, Axe!" Demyx chirped. He gave both Axel and Roxas a half-wave before almost literally bouncing away.

Axel looked at Roxas. "Sorry about him."

Roxas laughed. "It's fine. He seems really nice."

"He's a lunatic. Anyway, um, I sort have to go. Work to do and stuff."

Although he wanted to argue, Roxas only sighed. "Okay. Have fun? It was nice meeting you. You were a breath of fresh air in this awful place."

"I can almost guarantee that I won't have fun, but I will try just for you. Okay?" Axel smiled a little.

"Sounds like a plan," Roxas said, smiling.

Axel nodded. "Maybe we'll bump into each other again or something. I usually help out Dem's parents at parties like this, and you attend parties like this." He shrugged.

Roxas laughed. "Not if I can help it. I think it might be worth it, though, to run into you again. I think you were the best part of this entire thing."

With a grin, Axel said, "See ya, Roxas. Hopefully."

Smiling, Roxas nodded. "Hopefully."

[TBC]