Author's Note: Wow, thank you to all of you who favorited and alerted, and to TheKabbageKat for my first ever review for this story! I'm very excited to see where this will go, and I've got some ideas, but let's just watch them come into play, shall we?

Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Ariel would be going on a rant right now about how unfair it is that she isn't a Princess of Heart. So, I don't. xD

Chapter One:

Party Preparation

And I don't know, and I can't guess

If it's gonna be okay, but now my last wish

Is that you do this with me

Kiss me here and hold my hand.

Let me feel like I'm the only one, I know you can.

Won't you do it for me now?

'Do It For me Now' by Angels and Airwaves

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They had gotten home late, which was expected. Sometimes, Roxas, Hayner, Pence and Olette could stay sitting on top of that clock tower for hours. Roxas wouldn't have a problem as long as he never looked down, although he was still harrassed for his needless fear of heights every once in a while.

"You guys sleep in the living room," Olette called down to them, dumping a few blankets and pillows in the center of the room from the balcony upstairs which she was yelling at them from, "I'll be up in my room. And try not to wake me up too early- it's been a long day, I need some sleep." Olette yawned loudly.

"Aw, we can't sleep in your room, Olette?" Hayner asked unnecessarily, although he did earn a couple of sniggers from Roxas and Pence.

"Good-night," Olette shouted in the angriest voice she could muster, and they heard her slamming the door to her room. None of them had ever been up there for as long as they knew her; she said it was some psycho rule of her parents', but something told Roxas that she was hiding something.

"She's still pissed at you, man," Pence began, grabbing the biggest blanket that he could find out of the pile and one of the old pillows; it was the one that still had the barf stain on it from about four years ago. Things were safer back when they were younger and it was okay to sleep in the same room. Then again, Olette probably didn't want to sleep in the same room with them even if they could, because Pence's throwing up problem never really stopped.

"I know," Hayner mumbled, grabbing the second blanket out of the pile. None of them were really tired, but they knew that the next day would probably be long and tiring. Plus, Hayner had a long day of sucking up ahead of him to get Olette to forgive him. "All I did was throw up on her shirt. I'm not the only one who's thrown up on something of hers before." He stared pointedly at Pence's pillow.

Pence twisted his face into concentration, or possibly rage. "Well, yeah, but I was twelve, and I ate too much ice cream. You're seventeen and you drank too much brandy." He laid down on the ground and covered himself in his pillow.

Hayner, however, stayed sitting on the couch. He opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again, shrugging. "You have a point."

Roxas had been completely ignoring these two, however. He was sitting on the loveseat, not even making a move to get a blanket and pillow, despite how tired he was. All he could think about was the red-headed man in the grocery store, how he didn't have the courage to say more than a few words to him, how gorgeous he was. How-

"Roxas, are you listening?" Hayner asked impatiently.

Roxas stumbled back, his cheeks flaring. "What?"

"We were saying that we've got to get you talking to some college dudes tomorrow. Maybe you'll find someone," Pence said suggestively. Roxas shifted where he was sitting. Since the first time that Hayner and Pence joked that he was gay and he didn't protest, he felt awkward talking about his relationships in front of them.

He felt even more awkward that his two straight guy friends were trying to set him up with another dude. How did they know who he liked? They were both in love with Olette for at least a half a year.

Before Roxas could even open his mouth to protest, someone rang the doorbell to Olette's house.

"Get it," Olette commanded the boys lazily from her room, her voice with a tone that explained how upset she was for being woken up.

"Commanding, commanding," Hayner smirked at Pence, who smiled back. Still, he stood up because Pence was already in his pajamas and lying on the floor, so he walked over to the door, which was only a few feet away. Roxas couldn't quite see who was on the other side, but Hayner's jaw had dropped.

Roxas, nervously and excitedly, hoping maybe it was the red-haired man, ran up to the door. Instead, a girl was standing there. Her hair was a dark brown, and was layered at least ten times, the longest layer going just below her shoulders, and the shortest not exceeding her eyebrows. She had dark brown eyes with golden specks in them, and one hand was buried in her jeans pocket while the other one was carrying a package of some kind.

No wonder Hayner was staring open-mouthed at her. She's a girl.

"Hey..." the girl began, obviously feeling awkward, staring at an open mouth instead of Hayner's eyes. "My stepbrother and I just moved here, and I was told to deliver this to this address?" She lifted the bag.

Hayner obviously realized that he was gawking like an idiot, because he closed his mouth and managed to grunt reassuringly. At least, the girl's nod was a little bit quicker this time, and she handed him the bag. Written across it was 'Axel's Bar'. Roxas cocked his eyebrow- since when did Olette bother ordering beer? She always looked old enough to just walk in and get it. Then again, most teenagers those days looked twenty-one or older.

"Mm." Hayner grunted.

The girl, surprisingly, smiled now, and spoke, "Aren't you guys a little young to be ordering alcohol from a bar?" Roxas didn't know what she was talking about- this girl had to be fifteen or sixteen herself. Would she be starting school with them after winter break ended?

"Aren't you a little young to be delivering alcohol?" Roxas challenged, not quite as enticed by her appearance as Hayner was. Then again, he could have been nicer, but that was just Roxas's lack of social skills as usual.

The girl smiled. "Point taken," however, she flashed them what looked like a fake ID for a moment; apparently, her name was Solstice. "I'll keep quiet." Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked the opposite direction towarrds her car, a 1996 indigo Dodge Neon, and Hayner didn't stop looking at her until she stepped into the car.

"Pig." Roxas commented under his breath lightheartedly, but Haynder didn't seem to hear.

"Who was it?" Olette came down the stairs. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, both of them cowboy-themed, and her hair was screwed up. Obviously, she was having a difficult time going to sleep. Still, she beamed at the sight of the bag. "It's here," she smiled and took the bag from Hayner without saying thank-you.

"You're welcome," Hayner muttered.

Still, Olette frowned when she looked inside the bag. "Figures," she muttered, "I thought I ordered KWV Brandy. I meant to order Tacama."

"I told you I hate brandy!" Hayner fumed.

"Should we call them?" Pence asked, who had fallen asleep while Hayner was answering the door. Somehow, Roxas guessed that Pence's reaction to the girl would have been the same. Although he was a little more reserved about it, he was just as much of a pig as Hayner was.

"No, I'll just send Roxas over there tomorrow. I've got to clean the living room." She yawned again and began up the stairs.

"Why can't I go?" Pence asked her.

"Roxas is the only other one with a license, and I need you to help me distribute the food." Olette answered, still making her way up the stairs. She was obviously tired, and Pence should have known better than to test her while she was.

Unfortunately, Hayner didn't remember, either. "What about me?" Hayner fumed, "I've got a license. I want to see the new bar."

"Yeah, but you don't have the money to pay for gas."

"Neither does Roxas!"

"I know," Olette called, but by then, she had slammed the door to her room again.

"Of course." Roxas muttered.

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Roxas pressed down on Olette's car's horn- Twilight Town traffic on Fridays was the worst. He even had to stop at a gas station and ask some huge, smelly forty year-old man where Axel's Bar was, because it wasn't on mapquest yet and Olette lost the phone number. No wonder she wanted him to pick it up.

Finally, he parked by Axel's Bar. It was strangely small, but one of those buildings that looked small from the outside but must have stretched a mile on the inside. Everything was made out of obsidian and very modern-looking, but the windows were tainted red along with the door, which was a bright crimson.

He pushed the heavy door and was immediately blinded by the contrast of the dark against the bright morning light- for Christ's sake, it was only eight in the morning. Sighing, he made his way up to the bar, past the chairs. Nobody was there yet- it either wasn't popular yet, or nobody went to bars at night. He wouldn't know; Roxas always got his alcohol from alternative sources. The last time he tried to just get some Miller Lite from the Dominick's nearby, they started hounding him for an ID.

"Scuse me," Roxas said awkwardly, and then his heart stopped. The man standing at the bar, who was polishing glasses, turned around. It was the same red-haired man that he had seen in the grocery store not too long ago. Apparently, he recognized Roxas as well, because the tattoos under his eyes scrunched up in a smile.

"Hey, you're the kid from the grocery store," he smiled and put down the glass he had been polishing, walking up to the bar, unbelievably close to Roxas.

"I'm not a kid," Roxas rebuttled, but sent himself aback with his response. There you go again you retard, Roxas mentally scolded himself, pushing people away. Just one sentence that doesn't make people glare at you like that.

"Chill, kid," the man responded, "you know, I'm not allowed to sell alcohol to minors."

"And if I told you I wasn't a minor?" Roxas asked, crossing his arms stubbornly. Well, it was a better start. At least this time Roxas's response wasn't derogatory.

"I'd ask you what coffee you're drinking in the morning and why you're not sharing, 'cause damn, you're small." The redhead smirked as he said this, and Roxas, who usually disliked showing his own emotions openly, laughed at his jokes.

"I'm Roxas," Roxas blurted out, extending his left arm.

Much to his pleasant surprise, Axel took it. His grip wasn't very firm, but it was soft, one that reminded him of Olette's back when she used to grab Roxas's hand to drag him from place to place on field trips- they were often stuck in the same classes as each other. "Axel," he responded smugly.

"Axel?" Roxas asked, shocked. "So, you... like..."

"Own the bar?" Axel asked, releasing his grip and picking back up the glass that he was polishing, "Yup, just opened for business yesterday. I'll be going to college during the day once break ends, so I've got a co-owner, though. But I couldn't pass up an opportunity to own a bar, especially only at twenty-one years old." Axel laughed, and Roxas looked at him in awe. How the hell was he so sociable?

"Who's your co-owner?" Roxas asked, trying his hardest to make conversation. Axel made it surprisingly easy, but his mind kept traveling back to having to get back to Olette with the brandy. It didn't matter- it wasn't like Hayner would forgive her for getting brandy, anyway. It was probably just revenge for him throwing up on her shirt two nights before.

"Larxene, my second cousin. And my sister, Solstice'll help me own it during the night. At least, that's what she wants people to call her at Twilight Town. She's only sixteen, so hush." Axel smiled, and Roxas's arms tightened around himself where they were crossed- so he wasn't allowed to serve alcohol to minors, but he was letting his minor step sibling own the bar when he wasn't free. Yeah, that made sense. Still, he shook his head, trying to shake off the injustice. "Did you try the chips?"

Roxas brought himself back into reality- he had been staring at Axel for a while, again. "What?" he asked stupidly.

Axel smiled and brought his face closer to Roxas's, moving the heat up to his cheeks. "The chips that I recommended yesterday. Did you try them?"

Roxas shook his head. "No, they're for Olette's party tonight." He paused. "Olette's my friend. The one that ordered the alcohol from here."

Axel smiled importantly and moved away, putting the glass back on the shelf, "Right, she was my first order. Tell her thanks." He pulled another glass from the shelf. "My sister's going to that party tonight, I think. I was invited, but I gotta work, so Hayner told me to invite any girls I knew." He chuckled lowly.

Right, Roxas thought, Hayner said that he invited some college kids that he met the other night. But Axel's not going to the party. Roxas suddenly felt deflated, although in theory he shouldn't have felt anything, because he didn't even know that Axel had the choice to go in the first place. Then, he remembered, he was there for a reason, not to flirt with the bar owner. Was that even legal? "I have to pick up a different kind of brandy for Olette."

Axel raised his eyebrow. "I'll sell you some because I like you. Just don't tell anybody where you got it. What kind do you need?"

Roxas's stomach did a backflip. Axel said that he liked him. "Tacama," Roxas responded, faintly remembering Olette's steamed conversation, mostly with Hayner, from the night before. She was only buying the brandy to smite Hayner, after all.

Axel took a few steps to the left and grabbed one out of the cabinet. When Roxas handed Axel the money, he found himself unable to take his cobalt eyes away from Axel's antifreeze ones- there was something so hypnotizing about them.

Axel seemed to notice that Roxas wasn't moving, and said lightheartedly, "Take your brandy and leave before it looks like a pedophile attack here," He smiled down at Roxas, who backed up a few steps with the bottle and nodded, turning on his heel to go back to the car. Before, he made it to the door, Axel's voice rang through the place again.

"Oh, and kid?" Axel asked. Roxas turned around to face the redheaded man, looking at him from the other side of the bar.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked nervously.

"Any problems at the party, just come and hang out here." Axel turned away so Roxas couldn't take note of his facial expression to see if he was serious or not, so Roxas assumed the latter. Without saying another word, he left the bar.

The air was freezing, but his cheeks were so hot that it didn't matter. Screw college kids at Olette's party- he was just somewhat social to a 21 year-old. Not just that, but a hot 21 year-old. Roxas laughed lowly as he stepped inside of the old Honda Hiccup.

A hot 21 year-old that was probably just looking out for a stupid 17 year-old and his dumb idea of a party.

It didn't help that traffic back to Olette's house still sucked.

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"Roxas! What took you so long?" Olette asked Roxas heatedly, grabbing the brandy from him without a thank-you. Roxas's didn't much take this to heart- after all, she was either PMSing or stressing out from the party prep, but either way, she deserved some leeway. She was the only friend of Roxas's that didn't make a big deal out of his sexuality, or any of his other quirks, however, like his obsession with keys.

"That guy that I met at the grocery store," Roxas began, obviously floating on cloud nine, "is the owner of that new bar. His name's Axel."

"Didn't see that one coming," Hayner laughed, sorting through CDs, deciding which ones were to be played at the party. "And now you can help me pick out the music, 'cause I haven't heard of over half of these bands."

It figured- Roxas was always stuck with the music work. He was very rarely without his mp3 player, and when he was, he was spouting out some random band titles to himself that he wanted to listen to. It was a way of keeping himself out of social situations; being the weirdest you possibly could probably got the job done right.

"Fine," Roxas said lamely, pushing Hayner out of the way lightly, and looking through the CDs. "I can't believe you haven't heard of these guys... Rise Against, Hinder... they're all major record label." Roxas shook his head as if he was scolding a child, but he was still smiling from his encounter with Axel. "Oh," Roxas said, before he forgot, "that girl from last night, Solstice?" Roxas began.

Seeing Hayner's face suddenly perk up and his head jolt towards Roxas only made Roxas wait longer, satisfied with seeing that he had a decent reaction from somebody that day, because he only got challenging ones from Axel.

"Axel was one of the guys that you invited to Olette's party. The redheaded one. Do you remember him?" Roxas asked, lingering as he sorted through some industrial bands.

"Yeah, the guy with the tattoos on his face. Whatever. What about Solstice?"

If this guy was equipped with any more testosterone, he would be one giant pair of nuts. "He couldn't make it, and you told him to invite as many girls as he could, so he invited her. She'll be coming to the party."

"Nice," Olette said, "invite tens of others that I've never met before. Whatever- you're cleaning up whatever mess they make before my parents get home on Wednesday." Olette's parents were out at Oregon for some odd reason, seeing whatever sights there were to see up in Oregon.

"She's coming?!" Hayner asked, suddenly red in the face. Yep, he was definitely a giant pair of balls. "Shit. Shit. Shit." He raised his hand and sniffed under his own armpit, a movement that made Roxas turn away in disgust, and Olette as well. "I need deoderant," he murmured, and rushed up the stairs.

"Leave my dad's deoderant alone!" Olette shouted, and then began to rub her temples with her fingers. "Stressful. And he still owes me a new shirt."

The party was in three hours.

This is going to be interesting.

Author's Note: Alrighty, so the next chapter is going to be the party! I've got a little bit of a surprise in store for it, but I can't say it or it won't be a surprise. :o But now Roxas has finally had his first real conversation with Axel! There's probably going to be major fluff in the next chapter, so be aware.

Oh, and I might get a little SolsticexHayner thing going on, too. xD It's just not a fanfiction for me if I don't have an OC.

Please review!