So, here is the second chapter. It is all lovely dovey and I apology for putting in one of my favorite pairings that is not Endings Matter Most!

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It was beautiful. The beach, that was. The sun shown brightly, the sand was warm under feet, the sea breeze brushed salty air over the coast. Kairi paid no mind to the familiar setting and simply looked down at her boyfriend. She was not that displeased; a smile worked on her face as gazed at the boy's sleeping face. "Lazy bum." She mumbled fondly to herself. She knelt down, making sure her knees did not brush the ground, and slightly ruffled his hair.

He stirred only for a moment, but turned over lightly.

She rolled her eyes. A devil of a smirk appeared on her face. She leaned down, pressing a hand into the sand, placed her lips next to his ear and whispered gently, "Sora?"

The male made a sound, but did not move this time.

She chuckled, then did something quite daring; she licked the shell of his air, then whispered again; "Sora." She put an almost a singing quality to her tone.

He made something that could have been a giggle and stirred, but she easily rolled on the balls on her feet to move away from actually brushing against his face.

Kairi heard steps behind her. She turned around and stared up at an impatient Riku.

He stood a couple feet away from them and crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his toes and shaking his head disapproving. Kairi put a finger up to her lips. She then leaned back down, and stated quietly, though louder then a whisper, "Sora, it is time to wake up."

He rolled to the other side, right away from her. Oh, she could not take that. She leaned over; making sure her hair tickled his face. She giggled again, leaned down next to his ear, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Sora!"

He shot up at a sitting position and looked around confused, "Huh, whah?!" Kairi stood up and Riku laugh loudly. Sora scratched his hair. "Oh, you guys are here. What kept you?"

"Technically, we are only ten minutes late." Riku remarked, sitting on a turned-over ship to the side. "And technically, we've been here for five. Kairi just found you oh so cute while you sleep and simply watched you." His eyes stayed merry as his face converted to disgust, "Yuck."

"Hey!" Sora glared at his best friend.

Kairi merely laughed and stuck her tongue out at Riku. "Mmmmmm." She made a childish sound. Then she clapped her hands together, "Now, we were only five minutes later. So the question is…how does one fall asleep in five minutes?"

"How, indeed." Riku rumbled drying.

"You guys are mean." Sora mumbled, then took a sitting position, crossed his arms over his chest, and huffed.

"Awww…" Kairi cooed, then practically plopped herself into his lap.

The man-child let out a puff of air and looked confused at Kairi.

Kairi chuckled, then laid her head against his chest and hummed lightly.

Sora blinked and looked down at the bundle of girl against him, "Kairi?"

"Hmmmm?" She made a questioning noise, but did little else.

"…what are we doing?" Sora asked, looking down at the girl with a question.

"You want me to move?"

Sora opened his mouth, and then closed it. Come to think of it, he really did not want such a thing to happen. Even though the day was hot, she was pleasantly nice curled up like…a little bunny. He liked bunnies. So, yah, she could stay there. He opted not to say anything about it and instead asked, "So does this mean we should skip dinner?" Not that he wanted to skip the island gathering, but maybe be a little late. Like he thought before, Kairi felt nice curled up again him and there was that other…thing that was keeping him nervous now.

Kairi chuckled merrily, now moving her head against Sora's shoulder. "Actually, me and Riku lied; we were ten minutes early." She looked up at him, a smile on her lips as her nose brushed against his. "We still have at least five minutes before we had to actually leave."

"Why?" Sora was actually thinking, 'Wow, you smell good,' but he decided not to say that aloud. While it was true, it would not answer his question. Come to think of it, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted no Riku. Where had he vanished off to?

"Because we knew you might have fallen asleep." Kairi stated, then she raised her head up took look up at the sky. "And he said you had something to tell to me?"

"Whah?" Sora asked, not hearing that last question, since he stared at Kairi's neck and a little down Kairi's chest. She was not wearing a sleeved shirt and why the wrap she wore was not low cut and clung to her flesh like a seal, the top of the cloth showed a lot of nice skin.

Kairi misinterpreted, and thought he asked about what the discussion would be, "I'm not sure, but…" She raised her head high up, staring her dark blue eyes into his light eyes. "What do you think it could be?"

Oh, he knew now. Just staring at her, being close, looking at her modest expression of curiosity, yet patients. He knew. And he stuttered with the rest of his body. "I um, um….um, um, um, um."

"Sora?" Kairi asked with concern, brushing a little palm against the side of his face and up into his hair. Oh, he rather wanted to just close his eyes and let her pet him some more. However, she was waiting. One of his hands shifted to his side and brushed his pant's side…

Then he felt an embarrassment so warm and cold at the same time, and he quickly stated, "Ithinkitsbeenthefiveminutes."

"What?" Kairi asked, blinking.

"Like, you guys said you got here ten minutes earlier, and you let me sleep for five, so…it's been ten minutes." Sora stated quickly, having mix feelings about what he should do now. There were so many options; he could sit with Kairi more, they could leave, they could be a little late, he could…do what he needed to do.

Kairi laughed a little, nuzzled her nose against his, and gave him a quick peck, "Alright. You are probably right." She fluffed his hair up a little and climbed off his lap. She stood up and stretched. Sora looked up, slightly dizzy, wondering if he should have mentioned anything. He now suddenly felt a little chilly and a little silly.

Nevertheless, Kairi reached out a hand and he took it, helping the girl pull him up. And he did not let go quite quickly.

He just stared at her.

He realized all of a sudden how much he loved her. There was a physical attraction, of course; she was pretty. She had a nice smile, pretty eyes, and (though he would never say it out-loud) always kept herself up; not with a lot of make-up, but just stayed wholesome. But it was more then that. He had known this girl since they were both about six; he knew everything about her; her sweet demeanor, unique temperament, smart-aleckness, and just how she was willing to put up with his silliness. She may joke about it, but unlike anyone else, she always told him she loved that the most about him. He even loved the girly way she ran; he teased her about it all the time, but to him, it still reminded him that she was somewhat of a girl at heart, even when she was ready to slug the biggest and scariest looking guy out there just because she pissed a friend of her's off. She was not a girl afraid to fight, even if she had skinny arms and was even smaller then Sora; she did not look for a man to protect her and was truly a girl who did not want a double standard applied to her. It scared him sometimes that something bad would happen to her because of this attitude, but…it made him proud of her as well.

The choice was obvious, of course.

"What?" Kairi asked curiously.

Yet, he was still…just not there yet. He wanted it to be prefect for her…not yet. Just soon.

"Um…you know…just…you're great." He stated, smiling bighting.

Kairi chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Alright, now let's go and find-"

"Hey, guys, we are going to be late." Riku suddenly called, walking to the couple.

"Where did you go?" Sora asked, feeling oddly suspicious.

"To the bathroom. I figured neither of you would noticed because of the gaga eyes you were making at one another. You wouldn't mind me stepping out." Riku replied smoothly.

"Ew, Riku! That's sick!"

"I know. I had to watch it."

"I mean telling us you went to pee, especially in nice clothes!" Kairi said, but only appeared to be slightly offended by it with her eyes still as happy as ever.

"Sora does it, too." Riku put in, winking at his best friend.

"Hey!" Sora was not sure why this time he had to be upset about, but he knew it was about him and he was not suppose to do something.

Kairi rolled her eyes, "I guess as long as you peed in the bushes its okay." She clapped her hands. "Alright, we better get going. Everyone is going to think we got lost again."

Sora opened his mouth, but Riku put a hand on his shoulder, silencing the younger man. "You go ahead Kairi. I gotta talk to knuckle head about something in private." Sora gave Riku a nasty look, but said nothing.

Kairi merely raised an eyebrow, but nodded and started to head to the boats. Once Kairi walked away a safe enough distance, Riku glanced at Sora, "So? I thought you were going to give it to her."

Sora frowned, and then glared with embarrassment, "I'm working on it." Riku huffed. "I'm serious! I'm going to do it tonight! You know, when everyone is around." Sora took a deep breath.

Riku rolled his eyes, "I just gave you the perfect opportunity to do it! I walked away, knelt down behind the cave while you two had a moment-which, by the way, is a bit of a hassle now since I'm at least six feet, and waited. You better give it to her tonight." Riku first scowled, then smirked, and then he smiled. An honest smile. "I'm proud of you, you know?"

"Yah…"

"No, I'm serious." Riku's expression changed from happiness to something of concern, "Are you sure you what to do this? I mean, this means you have to grow up."

Sora opened his mouth, almost readily to give out a rebuttal, but he paused, actually thinking about it. He took a deep breath, looked almost ready to panic, let the breath out, and smiled warmly.

"You know what, Riku?" Sora said, looking back at the waiting form of Kairi, who once untied the boats, waved at the two boys, "I am. I'm ready."

Riku nodded and patted Sora's shoulder. "Good luck, buddy." Then he walked away.

Sora started to follow him, but paused for a moment. He reached into one of his many pockets, pulled out something, and gazed at it. He smiled down at the small box in his palm. He could wait a little longer.

---

Axel was about six years older then Roxas. They became friends when Roxas was around fifteen; Axel was able to buy alcohol legally at that time. In fact, he was actually buying some when he met Roxas (who was buying ice cream). They started (officially) dating about two years after that. When Roxas enrolled into secondary school, he moved in with Axel. He may have told his parents that he did it for a better commute and he wanted to be able to be independent without being all alone in the city, but the close people around him (including his twin sister, who also put in a good worth with their parents about him moving out) knew the reason. The commute was actually worst. But the eventual move had nothing to do with school. There were some benefits for it: Axel was the one who paid most of the bills, meaning Roxas could concentrate on his studies. But, school was an excuse: They just wanted to be around each other as much as they could.

Now with Roxas at the age of twenty and Axel at the age of twenty-five exactly, they were quite…sated in the relationship.

It was a Friday evening, and instead of either of them being mobile with friends, going out somewhere to dance the night away, or even merely catching a movie at the theater, they simply curled up around one another, asleep and quite content with it.

Axel's mouth was wide open, a slight snoring sound taken by each breath. Roxas may have grumbled about it, but his head found itself on Axel's chest and he had been lulled to sleep by Axel's heartbeat. The snoring was not that bad. If it did get any worst, he could simply whack Axel and rolled to the other side.

A sound did wake up Roxas, but it was not the snoring; t was a familiar ringing sound.

"Axel, phone." Though from Roxas' slack and muffled jaw, it sound like, "Hashho, own."

Axel continued to snore.

Roxas was not getting up and Axel's arms were longer, meaning Axel could reach for it without getting up. So he mumbled again, raising his mouth away from the chest, but kept his head against the other man's side, "Axel, phone."

Axel finally made a sound, but instead he thought Roxas needed attention, so the redhead ran his fingers through Roxas' hair, mumbling something that might have been a hello.

Roxas groaned and used the hand against Axel's chest to beat the said chest with just slight effort. "Axel, get the damn phone." He repeated, feeling of annoyance finally building.

"Hmmmm?" Axel opened his eyes, then stated a noise that sounded like, "Oh…" Axel used the hand not still stroking Roxas' hair to reach for it. He opened the phone and asked sleepy, "What?" Roxas did not care much who was on the phone. Just let Axel deal with it. The young man cuddled against Axel, happy to be against his skin, even if it felt somewhat bony.

"What? Hold on, Nams', slow down." Axel mumbled. Now Roxas was curious, as Naminé was his twin sister. And if Naminé called, she was not doing it to merely gossip with someone or to cure boredom; his sister was sweet, polite, nice, and shy. Even though Roxas was one of the few people she would talk to on a daily bases, she would not sputter on and on about trivial things. There was good reason to, even if it was merely to check up on him. He figured this may be important (as the girl usually would not call so late in the evening) and raised his head, paying attention to the comment.

"Nah, nah, nah, its okay…No, we were taking a nap…Yah, we knew there was a party…No, I was tired from work…no, Roxy didn't go because he hates people, remember?"

"You jerk." Roxas mumbled, stretching. He finally opened his eyes and looked up to see when he would need to take the phone away from Axel. He always had to eventually

"Alright, alright start from the top…he did what now?" Axel blinked, slightly sitting up. Roxas grumbled as the displacement of his nice pillow, and glared up at Axel. Axel saw the look and rolled his eyes at Roxas, then merely roughed the boy's hair. "Really, now?" Axel wore a smirk. "Well, glad he finally did that."

"What is going on?" Roxas asked sleepily, laying his head back, this time on a real pillow. It did not sound like an emergency, so he relaxed and waited for his question to be answered.

"Hold on one sec, Nams,'" Axel replied, pulled the phone to his chest, and looked over at his boyfriend. "Apparently, your cousins are going to get married." He put the phone back to his ear and continued to listen to his 'sister-in-law.'

"My cousins?" Roxas' sleepy head had to process. Which ones was he talking about? Naminé and he must know them or else she would not bother calling until morning. Must be one of the immediate ones. Besides, Naminé was suppose to be at that festival with-And then it hit, "You mean Sora PROPOSED!?"

Axel pause for a moment, frowning in discomfort at the loud noise near his ear, but Naminé heard it over the phone and answered Roxas's surprised question, using Axel to relay his own interruption of her response," "Right in the middle of the festivities, too. Brave man. She could have said no and embarrassed him in front of all their friends and family."

"He actually did it?!" Roxas was still getting over this news, "I know he bought the ring, but he was dragging his feet. I didn't think he would actually do it this soon." He also was no longer really talking to his boyfriend or his sister.

Axel, on the other hand, had no problem speaking with Naminé still while Roxas talked to himself in the background, "Actually, that's pretty clever. If she said no, then people would boo here, at the very least." Axel looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep thought, "They throw beer at the women who don't say yes, you know…At the stadiums. Like, at games…Yah, you can still pay the announcement box thing to say a whole bunch of things. Usually birthdays or some advertisements, but they do marriage proposals. Or on that flying-"

Now that Axel was getting off-topic, Roxas took things into his own hands, "Give me the phone, you ass!" Roxas screamed and snatched the phone away, sending Axel a dirty look.

Axel took it in strides and smirked at his boyfriend. "But aren't you the one who tells me I should social more?" It was not a question, "You should I should practice with her."

Roxas huffed and slapped his palm over the hedgehog head's mouth, "I'm sorry, Axel's done talking for the moment…No, I am not abusing him. He just acts like a ten year old and should not be trusted with adult conversation."

Axel frowned into the hand. He then reached for the phone, "Oh, we're going to play it that way, huh?" He stated, but it sounded more like, "Loool, ware hoen tuff pway ihh phat hway, mmm?" And dove for the phone.

"Jerk!" Roxas screeched. And so began a small battle of the phone. Naminé's voice could be heard, asking something by the sound of her voice. The two males were busy with curse words and hand grabbing. Axel was grinning at the game while Roxas glared death, not at all in the mood to play. Finally, Roxas maneuvered his leg to knee the taller man straight in the gut. Axel let out a groan as he lost his breath, and rolled over, the clear loser. He may have looked pitiful, but Roxas felt no guilt.

"He just assaulted me. Your brother is abusive." Axel wailed out, obviously playing it up somewhat.

Roxas put the phone up to his ear and began talking, "I-He deserves it! He attacked me first! He'll be fine." Roxas replied. Roxas glared at Axel to his side. While the older man still clutched his stomach, the redhead smirked happily. "See? He is smiling; he is just fine. Now, just go on."

"So, like, how does it feel to be happy for incest?" Axel stated, reaching to the draw to his side.

"One second, Naminé." Roxas put the phone against his chest and gave Axel a deadpanned look, "Now, as I keep explaining it to you, Sora and Kairi are not cousins. They are me and Naminé's cousins, but from different sides of the family. Sora is our cousin on Dad's side, and Kairi is our cousin from our Mom. They themselves are not cousin, but they are both me and Naminé's first cousins, which is why we also look alike; me to Sora and Naminé to Kairi."

"Alright" Axel pulled out a cigarette and reached for a lighter. While clicking the flame on, he asked, "So, what would that make their children to Naminé's eventual ones?" He lit the death stick and inhaled, grinning on the inside from his wit.

"Axel, shut up." Roxas rolled his eyes, and then replied over the phone, "I am not verbally abusing him, either. Just…just got back to what you called about. What did Sora do, exactly?"

For the moment, Axel was satisfied with just listening to a one-sided conversation. He closed his eyes and pondered about this news. He was not stupid; contrary to how Roxas acted, the kid was a bit of a romantic. And he knew for a while this would be on the kid's mind.

But Axel had a plan. He was not one to waste several months' paycheck on a little bit of jewelry. Roxas probably would not wear it or appreciate the gesture. But Axel had been saving his money, checking his assets, and just being completely sneaky about it.

He remembered, some time ago, they had been walking. He could not even remember the reason why, but they had been walking and Roxas paused in front of this old house.

To Axel, it was nothing special; just some house made about a hundred years ago, painted all white. It was not small; it had two stories, but it was not necessarily wide in the back. The porch was not big, but to the side one could see one of those in-door patios about half the size of a regular room. The backyard was not huge, but was next to a little forested area and flowers, untended, made it look wild. The whole thing boarded up, probably to keep people from sleeping inside or pretend ghost hunting.

Axel would never have stopped, but Roxas did, so he had to. "Creepy, huh?" Axel joked.

Roxas said nothing. Instead, he walked up the stone path, up the old steps, and peered between the cracks of the wood. Axel was a bit shocked; he did not know if this was private property. While the area was in the suburbs, it was near a busy enough intersection and a physical re-hab center right across. Axel looked back and forth for a moment, before cursing silently and running after his boyfriend. He also gazed through a window.

"The place is gutted." Not even a fixture on the wall or a scrap of carpet lined the ground.

"Yah." Roxas remarked airily.

Axel leaned back up and raised an eyebrow at his direction, "So, what, you want to see a ghost or something."

Roxas leaned away from the window and nearly glared disappointingly at Axel. Axel added the 'nearly' privately since Roxas seemed to look a little sad about it.

"Roxas?" Axel asked with concern when the boy started back down the steps. He followed with a hop and both walked silently back to the sidewalk. Roxas kept his face down, so Axel knew something was wrong, "Oh, I was teasing. It is a bit interesting of a place." It was not interesting to Axel, honestly. Different, yes, but not interesting. Roxas still said nothing, then turned to continue there walk. The redhead rolls his eyes, but kept any disappointing sounds down. "Roxas, what?" He may love to tease the little guy, but it was purely for fun and purely just to get him angry, not to upset him. Roxas was fun (and sometimes very hot) when he was all riled up. However, a sad Roxas was a cold Roxas and a Roxas that Axel needed to fix.

Axel followed a few steps behind, trying to think of a way to lighten the mood. But he suddenly heard, "Is it weird I want to live in a house like that?"

"Huh?" Axel could not follow for a moment.

"Look, I know it seems silly, but…I like old houses with a lot of character. I mean, maybe it was because me and Naminé grew up in a little one-story baby-boom houses, but…I just like old houses." Roxas explained. He then sighed and dropped his whole body. "Sorry, just, forget about it."

Axel paused, then smiled. He rushed after Roxas and wrapped the little guy in a hug from behind. Roxas made a sound-he always had a problem about showing affection in public-but Axel ignored it and buried his face in the golden spikes. "You are simply precious." He even loved it when he squirmed around like that. Made him so…alive!

"Axel!" Roxas warned, but his boyfriend was not listening.

"Roxas, Roxas, Roxas" Axel countered. "So this is your dream?"

"No dream…but…it's something. A possible goal when I'm a little older and retired, maybe." Roxas mumbled.

"Ah yes. Those types of dreams; a little house, with a backyard, two-point-five kids, and some sort of pet?" Axel commented happily. Roxas rolled his eyes and squirmed a little. Axel let him go finally, but he quickly grasped a wrist and smiled. "Now, the question is, do I factor into this?" Axel asked teasingly.

"Of-of course." Roxas stuttered out embarrassedly. He then looked down, "Don't get me wrong; I love our apartment. And I'm in college and you aren't even thirty yet, so probably thinking about where we are gonna end up when we are old and cranky men is really stupid to think about. But like I said, it is just something to strive for. We got the rest of our lives, right?" Roxas smiled up at him and gave Axel a small smooch on his chin.

Axel paused. He thought about something, but shook his head and let go of the wrist, but he already swung an arm around Roxas' shoulders. "Speaking about home, I'm hungry. I'm cooking steaks."

"The hell you are." Roxas' expression changed from one from peace, innocent, and somewhat childish back to its usual Roxas expression, "I think we talked about the kitchen and how since I moved in…it's no longer yours."

"Now what the hell does that mean?" Axel asked, glaring, "I'll tell you, I make a mean hamburger."

"What, you mean that hockey puck? It certain is despicable." The blonde-haired person replied in a dry tone.

"Oh, and your burgers aren't bad?"

"The hell is the matter with mine?"

"They still moo!"

And the harmless bickering started. However, that night, and many nights after that, Axel had been planning. Planning something…epic.

There had been a number outside the property. A week after they passed it, he called. Apparently, the house was set for demolishment and replaced with a day-care center, but the house became historical. Therefore, it could not be torn down, but nobody wanted the house.

Except Axel.

It was actually cheap. Not exactly dirt cheap, but compared to other properties in the area…it was very reasonable. And considering the tax benefits he would be getting back from it, even with the mortgage or loan he would need, it would come out in the long run less then living at the rat-hole they currently called a home.

Over the next several months, he had to be sneaky about getting an inspector out there without Roxas figuring out. Which was pretty damn tricky since Roxas was like a damn bloodhound! Anything that Axel did that seems suspicious the younger man simply gave him this glare and asked in a menacing tone, "Axel?" Yet Axel somehow hid it under his nose.

After getting the report back, he started to find some furniture (Lucky for Axel, anything that the auctioneers did not take was in storage). Of course, he was going to need to replace some pipes here and wiring there, but it was fit enough to live inside if one needed a house. He began ordering new appliance and placing the furniture back to where it belonged, though he had to wait before putting the items in. Since he was technically buying the house through the help of the historical society, some rooms had to look…historic. He might have complained, but for approved items he did not own he could get discounts off the merchandise.

Axel was at the point where he more or less had all his eggs in one basket…he now just needed to cook them before they rotted. The plan was to do this all to himself…but…

He looked at Roxas, still talking to his twin on the phone about what happened at the proposal. He saw the slight smile and it got him to thinking…

He needed to top that and he needed to top it soon.

Therefore, the plan was still the same…just sooner then he expected. Tomorrow maybe he would convince Roxas to take a walk with him, and they would past the house. Except, after he convinced Roxas to follow him, he would unlock the door and let Roxas see if there were really any ghost inside.

Axel may very well be a jerk, a fool, and after all of this, in debt, but he knew this was the perfect way for him to say, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'

---

Seriously, this is sappy. SAPPY! Oh well, as long as Endings Matter Most likes it!