"Love of mine,

Someday you will die

But I'll be close behind

I'll follow you into the dark."

Roxas danced, bobbing his head up and down as he walked down the front steps. This was his favorite song EVER. He couldn't remember a Pink Floyd song that got him this pumped since his mother had introduced him to 'Time'.

All night he had been looking up the lyrics and putting them onto his new iPod, grinning as he began his walk down to his employer's house. He was so excited to give the CD back to Axel and actually have something other than his daughter to converse about. Roxas had been trying to think of something that could get him to stay longer at Axel's house, something to keep him lingering until the last possible minute in which Axel would drive him home. Roxas could probably make a mess and stay until he had cleaned up every little spot, or maybe Kairi could beg him to stay…

He decided the latter wouldn't work since Kairi didn't seem all that fond of him, but maybe he could use it as an excuse to spend the night, eventually. That would be outrageously fun. Maybe he could even have the chance to fall asleep on Axel's shoulder if they stayed up late…

The blonde felt like a school girl, giddy with excitement over the prospect of actually having a conversation with his crush. He felt like it was wrong to like Axel, at least on the surface. His parent's had always been anti-gay and bisexual, but he had had these feelings for a while. But other than the weird, super sexual dreams he'd had during the beginning of his puberty, he didn't think about guys in that way. Sure, he had stray thoughts here and there, but he crushed on guys for their personality, not the thought of sex. The same had been with Axel. He only liked the thought of getting to live with Axel, getting to be there and share time with him, though the thought of shower sex with the older man certainly didn't ruin his dreams.

This made a light blush sneak onto the blonde's face as he knocked on Axel's door, willing himself to ignore his semi-erect problem in his skinny jeans.

The door opened and he was greeted by a smiling Axel, motioning him in as he pointedly wiggled the phone in his hand, mouthing 'I'll be one second' to Roxas.

The boy went in, being as quiet as he could be as he slipped his shoes off at the door, going to sit down across from Kairi like he had the last day. He was a little frustrated that Axel was on the phone, but he didn't make it known as he waved at Kairi who was shoving spoonfuls of yogurt into her mouth.

"No, mom, I don't need help. I have a babysitter for the summer…" Axel muttered, sitting down next to Kairi, across the table from Roxas.

Kairi chanted, "Nana, nana, nana!" in her singsong voice as yogurt spewed from her lips. The blonde got to paper towel to clean it up, all the while listening intently to what Axel had to say.

"No, mom…I'm sure. Thank you though. You know I don't need cash…" The redhead put his head in one hand as he sighed. "Mom, just stop it. It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm fine. I've been eating plenty…If you really want to, you can take Kairi for a couple of days, but I can handle it. I've been fine for these four years, I think I'll be fine until she takes an interest in boys."

Roxas chuckled which earned a glance from Axel, followed by a quick wink.

Suddenly, Axel's tone took on a morose, crepuscular sound as he sighed again. "It's hard…even now…it's still difficult when I look at her and I've heard it doesn't get any easier but I can handle it…but I have to go. I love you. Bye."

He hung up the phone and looked down at his feet before he seemed to regain his usual Axel-self. He stood up and placed his hands on his thin hips, thinking a moment before speaking to Roxas. "Well, I'm afraid today will be a lot like yesterday. Just as boring and all…I might be home a little earlier because there is a lot to do around the house…"

Roxas nodded, blushing as he softly replied, "If you need any help, I would be more than happy to help out…"

"That's really sweet, but I think I can-"

Axel was interrupted as his cell phone went off. "For the love of…" He hit a button on his blackberry and walked from the room with a growl.

Roxas looked back at Kairi, his eyes growing large. He didn't think that Axel could muster a tone like that, but apparently he was wrong. Dead wrong.

Kairi looked at him for a moment, but she went back to singing quietly and eating her yogurt. It was quiet until Axel came back into the room. "Your mom wouldn't mind if I kept you here like…thirty minutes later?"

Roxas shook his head, grinning. "Of course not. I'll stay as late as you need me to!"

The redhead nodded as he eyed something on the floor with a little displeased glare. Roxas wondered if Axel had heard him, but the redhead snapped out of the trance, walking towards the door to grab his things. "I need to get going, but I'll be home about the same time, it sounds like. They can't get anything done without me. I won't need you for much longer than thirty minutes." He shut the door with a quick smile at Kairi.

--

Roxas went over to the directions that Axel had failed to mention that he had left on the counter as Kairi finished up her breakfast. "Looks like you get a sandwich for lunch today, Kairi."

She made a little giggly happy noise as the last of the yogurt was poured out on the floor. "Woxas…"

The blonde sighed, grabbing a cloth, knowing that if he kept using paper towels the Amazon would be reduced to a couple of twigs by the end of the summer. "Kairi, you make more messes than anything I've seen before." It was true. The next door neighbors dogs weren't even this messy. But oh well. He was getting paid to be in Axel's house.

As Roxas was cleaning up around Kairi's chair as he spied a radio with an MP3 input. A smile crossed his face as he went over to it, just dumping the yogurt drenched paper towel on the counter. He slipped the ipod from his pants and plugged it in, putting Death Cab for Cutie on shuffle.

"Deaff Cab!" Kairi yelled, smiling at Roxas. She really was adorable and Roxas had to wonder what Axel meant it was hard to look at her. Why was Axel so sad over the phone to his mother?

His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. Kairi continued to mumble along with the song playing while Roxas jogged towards the door, his skinny jeans pulling desperately at his legs. He managed to pry the large white door open and was met with a beautiful woman standing on the front steps. She had on a tight fitting knee-high skirt and a women's business jacket. Her short black hair framed her face quite wonderfully, and her large brown eyes looked at him with confusion. Roxas opened the door, leaning against the frame of the door as Death Cab floated through the air. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," she said, her weight shifting to her left hip. "Is Mr. Hatikaji around?"

Kairi managed to escape from her chair as she heard someone at the door. She ran at full force towards Roxas' legs and gave the newcomers a huge smile. "Yuffiee!"

The brown haired woman smiled down at the little girl. "Hey, Kai! Where's your dad?"

"Wok." She replied simply. Her arms wrapped around Roxas' leg and looked up to the blonde babysitter. "When daddy be home?"

Roxas regarded the woman again before frowning thoughfully. "I'm sorry, who are you?" Roxas thought for a moment that this might be Axel's wife from Kairi's excited grin, but she didn't look anything like Kairi.

"Oh, sorry." A perfectly macicured hand went to run through her short hair. "I'm Yuffie Kasigari. I work with Axel. I thought I might have been able to catch him before he left, but I guess I'm too late."

"Yeah," he nodded, placing a hand on Kairi's head. "He left just a bit ago."

"Alright, sorry about the intrusion." Yuffie looked away from Roxas' bright blue eyes to smile at Kairi again. "I'll tell your dad hi for you when I see him in a bit." Her eyes sparkled in honesty, which made Roxas think she wasn't all that bad. Maybe she was Axel's girlfriend…

The thought made him shudder. She was definitely pretty enough. She was sexy in even her work outfit, so he didn't dare imagine her in anything else. Her large eyes made her face cute instead of the squinty-eyed girls in the magazines their mother bought sometimes for makeup tips, but her body was excellent. This Yuffie girl would be good for Axel, especially since it seemed like Kairi liked her.

Kairi gave the woman another grin before running off into the playroom and as Kairi left, Yuffie gave a little wave at Roxas before heading off for her black, sleek car.

--

"So, Axel."

Axel looked up from his computer to find his coworker standing over his desk with a smirk on her face. "Yes, Yuffie?" he asked, looking at her over his glasses before tilting his head to continue working on his email.

"How old is your babysitter?"

The question surprised Axel and he looked up again, letting his black rimmed glasses fall even farther down his thin nose. "My babysitter? You mean Roxas?"

"Mhm." She purred, grinning as she sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk. "How old is he?"

"Sixteen." Axel went back to reading another line on his email before raising an arched eyebrow. "Why, Yuffie?" How would she know about Roxas anyway?

"I stopped by your house to see if I could catch you before you came to work." She replied, looking at her pretty, red fingernails. "And an adorable boy came and answered the door! He's too young to date though." Yuffie pouted, sighing softly. "How'd you find him?"

The redhead rolled his eyes. She was acting as if he had picked Roxas from a group of people, selecting him for cuteness. Like a dog. "I usually had his brother babysit over the summer, but he's off to college this year." Axel paused to consider the rest of Yuffie's statement. Roxas was indeed very cute. His bright blue eyes were always so attentive, looking to please as the tired desk-worker came home, or at least he was last night. It was very sweet he was trying to be a good boy.

"Sora said that Roxas was looking for a job so I hired him." The green-eyed man finished, pushing the thin glasses back into his nose to continue reading.

"Well, he seemed very sweet." Yuffie said softly, her eyes becoming glazed over as she thought back.

Axel smirked. He was, but that wasn't going to get in the way of their 'boss/worker' relationship.

--

Kairi snuggled her head into Roxas' shoulder; she'd had it there for a while now, but now Roxas could hear a soft snore coming from the little girl's throat. She'd exhausted herself from running around and playing tea party for three hours after her lunch break. Axel was due home any minute now and Roxas couldn't wait to show him how Kairi had passed out. He wondered if Axel would wake her as he came home. In an effort to stop the chance, Roxas flipped open his phone and texted the number that Axel had said to call if anything went wrong. He assumed that this was the redhead's cell phone number.

'Hey, Kairi is asleep so be sure to stay quiet when you get home. – Roxas'

Roxas added his name just in case Axel hadn't added him to his contacts list yet. How creepy for someone to text that when he didn't know who it was. The blonde put his cell down on the couch as he reached for the remote, eager to find something to do for the next few minutes until Axel got home.

He jumped slightly when his phone vibrated to alert him of a new text. Roxas certainly hadn't expected a reply from the redhead.

'Aw, how cute. Kept her busy today then?'

The fact that Axel typed out his words completely instead of chtspk made Roxas grin. Of course, Axel had that expensive blackberry, why would he type in chtspk?

'Definitely. We played tea party for over two hours. Lol.'

As he sent it, Roxas realized that Axel might not understand what lol was. He quickly sent another text to explain it meant 'laugh out loud'.

His phone vibrated after another moment.

'Roxas, I know what lol means. I'm not as old as you think :P but I'm glad she's being kept busy. Makes it easier for her to sleep at night.'

The smiley made Roxas chuckle and Kairi stirred next to him. He forced himself to stay quiet as he heard the front door unlock quietly with soft footsteps following that. Before he could gently move Kairi, Axel appeared in the room with a smile. "She really is passed out, isn't she?"

Roxas nodded, glad to see Axel was home. "Yep. Tea party really takes it out of her."

Axel helped lift the little girl off of Roxas gently, so that the blonde boy could stand. "Welcome home!" Roxas whispered, leaning in so that his chin was barely an inch from Axel's shoulder. "Did Yuffie say hi from us?"

Axel nodded with a chuckle, laying Kairi on the couch as he motioned Roxas into the kitchen. Yuffie had said hello…sort of. "Yes, she did. She wanted to know how I had managed to get such a cute babysitter."

Roxas blushed a dark red as he heard Axel refer to him as 'cute', even if those weren't his words exactly, he had said them. "Cute babysitter?"

"Mhm. Apparently, she quite frankly wishes you were older." Axel chuckled softly as he set his phone on the dining room table, emptying his suit's pockets before taking the lunch dishes and inserting them into the dishwasher. "For dating purposes and such." The redhead turned back to see his nanny's reaction.

Roxas looked down at the ground. As much as he wanted to continue this conversation, he wanted to ask Axel if he thought he was cute too, but he couldn't risk moving that fast. He hadn't even decided if he wanted to attempt 'seduction'. He didn't need to get himself fired before anything else. So he quickly took the dish from Axel's hand and apologized softly, thankful for the change of topic. "I'm sorry, I'll clean up that mess for you."

"It's true though. I happened to snag a cute one." Axel winked as Roxas looked up before relenting and allowing the topic to be changed. He didn't want to come off as a pedo, for obvious reasons. "It's not a big deal, I promise. I just have to put them in the dishwasher. But anyway, did you listen to that CD?"

Roxas' eyes got wide as he remembered the CD and he rushed to the other side of the room to grab the little plastic case. He handed it to the redhead. "It was really, really good! I had to put it on my iPod right away. I got all of the lyrics from the internet and its pretty much been playing nonstop since last night!"

The redhead chuckled, putting the CD back on the counter as he sat down at his dinner table, watching Roxas sit across from him. "Which song is your favorite?"

"Definitely 'I will Follow You Into The Dark," he replied, putting his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands to look at Axel. "It's just…so beautiful. The melody is just amazing."

Axel looked down at the table, sighing softly. The blonde wondered what he had done to ruin the conversation so suddenly. If Axel simply didn't like the song, he could have just said so. The look on his face conveyed that there was a deeper meaning to the song – that it wasn't just that Axel didn't like the song. It obviously brought up back memories. "It is a pretty song."

"What's wrong, Mr. Hatikaji?"

"That song was my song to my wife at our wedding."

The statement blew Roxas away. Of course he wouldn't like it then, it brought back memories of his ex-wife – the woman that left him. Roxas looked down at his lap, his chest suddenly feeling unbearably heavy. He cursed himself for doing that to Axel. "I'm sorry…"

"It's not a big deal." The single father rose from the chair and turned toward the living room. He emerged with his daughter in his arms, still snoozing lightly, as he motioned toward the door. "We'd better get you home."

--

Roxas let his wet hair plaster itself to his face, the tips tickling his nose in an unpleasant way. But he made no move to brush it away, instead, he let his naked body slowly cover itself with goosebumps as he lay out on his bed. His mind couldn't tear itself away from the look on Axel's face when he mentioned the song.

He turned over onto his side, pulling the covers over his cold body, hoping that sleep would come to him soon.

--

--

Whoo! Chapter 2 is finished! I know it's short. My apologies, but it was a good place to end, methinks.

Thank you sooo much to everyone that has reviewed. It means a LOT, trust me. Gives me some muse whilst I have none!

This chapter did turn out to be a little dark, but it'll brighten up and we'll get to the mansex soon, hopefully :\