Author Notes: I was eating peanut M&Ms when I wrote this...

Disclaimer: What ain't original ain't mine. I'm sure you have the gist of it by now...

Story Notes: Runaway from all your boredom...Aaaaaaaannnd waaaaave!!! Huh? Oh, yeah: This story contains shounen-ai, possible yaoi, kissing and touching by boys to boys and some other random things...Like tomatoes. Yes, this story is really about tomatoes.

Glory

Act.2: For Security.

He was one of those that no one really understood completely. He gave off a cold and aloof demeanour and seemed to like it that people saw him that way. He always preferred his own thoughts to the opinions of others and there were few people that tried to get into his world to try and change him. Beneath the way he distanced himself from people was something likened to practically a child. Weak, insecure, lost and alone. He just never let anyone see it.

It was better that way.

People didn't get close to him, so therefore in the end, people couldn't leave him.

He'd never have to suffer hurt nor pain, and he welcomed it into his life. Nothing was to be savoured or held onto, because he didn't want to have a need for others. Almost everything was a fleeting moment in his life, best not to be tied down lest he become used to it being there.

How on Earth he managed to be Axel's room mate was something few people understood...

He might have been staring at that tomato for hours.

The door opened to the small, two-bedroomed apartment, then closed again once the second member of the household entered. Black bag was dumped onto the kitchen counter that also doubled as the dining table, and the redhead passed the brunet whom seemed to be locked in a staring contest with a fruit. Pausing in his steps to his room, Axel looked over at the scarred face and raised a curious brow. "What are you doing?" he asked, resting a hand on the surface, green eyes looking at the round and reddish orange object.

"Fruit or vegetable?" came the soft voice.

"What?"

"Some people say it's a fruit, other's say that it's a vegetable," he replied.

"It's a tomato..." Reaching out, he attempted to grab the tomato, only to have his hand swatted away by a gloved hand. "Have you been home all day?"

Leon shrugged. "I went to do some shopping and all I bought was this."

Axel's hand rose to his face and he tried to comprehend just what his flat mate had been thinking earlier that day when he'd been 'shopping'. "That's all you bought? What about anything else?"

"Nope, just the tomato,"

Groaning in defeat as the happy mood he'd been placed in slowly began fading away, Axel thought it best to leave brunet and his tomato alone together and headed for the place he was originally intending to go to before his rather strange room mate caught his attention.

Axel was still in high school and his parents decided to kick him out because he was 'too much to handle'. Leon was several years older than the redhead and he'd been trying to find someone to replace his previous room mate. Several of Axel's friends suggested Leon to him and the pair were soon living under the same roof.

To Axel, Leon was a strange, cold and rather self-centred person who just seemed to drift through life without letting people in.

To Leon, Axel was a strange, loud and rather annoying person who just seemed to get on people's nerves, unless they knew how to put up with him.

The living arrangement suited them fine.

Behind him, the phone decided to start ringing. Without removing his gaze from the fruit on the counter, Leon leaned back on his stool and grabbed the phone. Sitting forwards again, the receiver was held to his ear while his free hand reached out to poke the fruit to see what would happen. "Yeah...?" he muttered.

"Squall!" called a voice from the other end.

"It's Leon," he corrected, finger brushing over the red skin.

There was a giggle from the other end. "Yeah, sorry. Well, there's a party tomorrow night, are you gonna go?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know..." he said simply. "I'm kind of busy..."

"It's a Friday night! How can you be busy?"

Again, he shrugged once more, despite the person calling him not being able to see any of the movements he did. "Who's the party for?"

"Aerith is throwing it as a 'Welcome home' party for Stiltzkin. Memory of Xehanort are gonna be there too and you've got to show your support for your local band you know." explained the female voice on the other end of the line.

"Stiltzkin? I didn't know he left..."

"Oh come on! Do you not pay attention on anything your friends do anymore?" It was strange how people considered themselves his 'friends', especially with the way he acted towards people. He was surprised anyone would ever want to be friends with him. "He's been travelling all around the world and he's coming home tomorrow. You have to come, or else I'll come over there and drag you out"

Repeating past movements, Leon's shoulders rose and fell in a shrugging motion. "I don't know, Yuffie..."

She growled playfully down the line. "Don't be such a sour puss!"

"Even if I say no, you'll make me go," he explained, sliding his fingers around the sides of the tomato and picking it up. Flipping his wrist, he continued to watch the tomato with deep curiosity as it sat in the palm of his hand. "So no matter what I say, I'll be going."

"That's the spirit!" she chimed.

"Whatever..."

Yuffie giggled. "There we go. Oh, and Aerith wants it to be a theme party too, so everyone has to wear a mask,"

"Why?" he asked, setting the tomato down and rubbing his forehead. Her jovial tone was starting to become irritating to him.

"So that Stiltzkin can try and figure us all out if we hide behind masks. Plus, it gives everyone the chance to really be themselves at the party. Even the guys from the band are doing it too. Ooh, you could even wear a lion mask!"

"Sounds wonderful," he said, sounding non-too-enthusiastic about it. "So do I have to turn up at a certain time?"

"Aerith hired out this huge hall, it even has a stage. You turn up at about five and you can help us with decorations"

"Why should I help out?"

She whimpered in a pretend and childish manner. "Because you're big and stwong?"

Somewhere out of the blue, Leon found himself chuckling very slightly. He stopped when he heard the girl gasp.

"You just laughed!"

"No I didn't."

"You did too..." she cooed. "But you'll come and help out? We'll even get your mask for you,"

Leon sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll help. But the mask better not be something stupid..."

"Great! Hey, maybe you'll even get a date this way?"

"I don't need a date," he said simply, rolling the tomato between his palm and counter top. A date might lead to him getting to know the person, then he'd get used to them and in the end he'd just get hurt when they went away. It was better if he never met anyone he could form a relationship with.

"Of course," she said, but didn't sound as if she was agreeing with him. "Oh, and Aerith says hello. Do you want to talk to her?"

"Whatever..."

There was a soft, feminine laugh on the other end this time. "Don't be so hard on yourself," she said gently. No matter how hard he tried, the young woman just seemed to calm him; it was almost frightening. She managed to chip away at the protective shell he built up around himself and yet the fear that she was getting to him only seemed to kick in when he was alone and thought about her.

"I'm not hard on myself," he replied.

"We're always here if you need to talk to us, Leon. Don't block us out entirely,"

Removing his hand from the fruit, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't..." he mumbled.

There came that soft laugh again. Soothing and calming; chipping evermore at his shell. "How are you feeling today then?"

He pondered her question a while, trying to come up with a worthwhile reply. In the end he gave up and just replied however his body wanted him to. "Alone," he said simply. "I've made rather good friends with a tomato though,"

Once more Aerith laughed. "Thank you, Leon,"

"What for?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"For just being you. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

He was about to reply, when a thought struck his mind. "Shopping?"

"What?"

"I tried shopping, but I couldn't. D-Do you want to...um..."

"I'd love to, Leon," she said, interpreting the male's words. "I'll be over in a little while,"

Something twitched at the corners of his lips, and Leon found himself smiling. "That would be nice. Bye,"

"Bye,"

There was a click and Aerith was disconnected. Leaning back, the receiver was placed back onto its stand and pushing the stool away from the counter, Leon slowly stood up. Leaving the tomato alone, he walked with barefooted across the tiled floor to the bedroom of his red headed room mate. Knocking lightly on the door, he waited for the other to welcome him in before turning the handle and opening the door. Head peered around to see what he was up to.

Laying upon his stomach on his bed, hugging a pillow; Axel was staring at his cell phone almost as intently as Leon had been staring at his tomato. He'd changed out of the stuffy school uniform students of Twilight High were forced to wear and into a comfy pair of old and worn faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt. Knowing Axel, it probably had something offensive on the front, but luckily Leon couldn't see what it was, what with the boy laying on his stomach.

"It only works if you put it next to your ear," stated Leon as he leaned against the door frame.

"I'm debating," he said, glancing up from the electronic device to the male he shared a home with. "Have you ever debated calling someone before?"

"Not really," he said simply, complete with a shrug.

Axel sighed, smoothing a hand over his hair. "So who was on the phone?"

"No one,"

"You sure were talking to them for a while if they were no one. So what did they want?"

"Are you going to some party tomorrow night?"

Axel smirked slyly. "Why, you wanna take me out?"

Blue eyes were rolled and Leon tilted his face away from the smirking teen to gaze around the rather messy bedroom. "Did you know its a mask ball?"

Axel snorted as he tried not to laugh. "You have to be kidding me?"

"Nope. Its so people can be themselves apparently," he explained while moving to the boy's dresser. For a male, Axel sure owned a large array of make-up products and other such feminine things. There even seemed to be a selection of lipsticks amongst the mess of scattered and discarded objects. "So are you going?"

Thinking on it, Axel shrugged and closed the flip lid on his phone. Pushing himself up and spinning his legs around, he sat up, clutching the pillow to his chest, green eyes watching the older male intently as he scoped out his room. "Yeah, I'm still going," he said with a grin. "So what brought this on?"

"Brought what on?"

"This! You're in my room. You're even talking to me. Whomever it was on the phone seems like they've done something weird to you," he explained as Leon lifted one of the bottles from his dresser and inspected it. "I was fifteen when I moved in here and we've barely talked so much. Well, you've barely talked so much. Do you know how infuriating one sided conversations are?"

"Not really," he said as he lowered the bottle back down and turned to look at the teenager once more, arms folding at his chest. "What's wrong with me wanting to talk anyway?"

"You just don't do it,"

"It's better for me that way,"

"So why are you doing it now?"

Leon shrugged. "Because I wanted to," he replied simply. "Oh, is there anything you want? I'm going grocery shopping."

This caused Axel to laugh. "Shopping? You went earlier and all you bought was a tomato!"

"If that's all you want..." he made his move towards the door.

"No, wait!" he called, leaning forwards on his bed, one hand supporting his weight while the other reached out towards the brunet. Green eyes were wide and almost pleading as they looked up at Leon. "Can you get me some soda?"

"Anything else?" Leon asked, looking over his shoulder as he stood in the bedroom doorway.

"Just...Get food, alright?"

With a nod, Leon turned and left the room, leaving Axel alone. Once the older male had shut the door, the red head sat back on his bed and stared down at his phone.

Did Roxas know about the party theme? Did he already have a mask? If he did, what sort of mask would it be? Thousands of questions buzzed around in Axel's head, all fighting for top spot to be the first one asked once the teen plucked up the courage to actually call the spiky haired blond. There was all manner of thinks that Axel to say to him, but first he needed to simply call the boy.

That was the current hard part.

Reaching out, he grabbed the cell phone, flipped it open, and after a quick check to the number still written on his now treasured hand, Axel entered the number. Moving the phone to his ear, he waited nervously for the object of his desire on the other end to answer. Fingers toyed with his sheets through nervousness while the ringing noises sounded through the electronic devise. Lower lip was pulled into his mouth and front teeth bit down upon it.

"Please pick up..." he chanted, forming a mantra while he waited for what seemed to be an age.

When, success!

Or so Axel though...

"Greeting foolish mortal!" answered a voice. There seemed to be another voice in the background, but Axel couldn't pick it out. The voice that had answered though sounded like Roxas, but not quite. There was a slight difference to it. "You've called Roxas' cell phone, but he can't talk to you right now!"

"Why not?" he asked, hoping it wasn't voice mail that had answered the call.

"Because he...um..." Obviously, the voice hadn't thought up an excuse as to why Roxas couldn't answer his own cell phone. There was still shouting in the background, and the one on the phone laughed. "Because I said so!"

Axel sighed, but the commotion on the other end seemed to disperse some of the nervousness and anticipation that had built up within him. "That's not a good enough answer, creep. I called Roxas, not you, so put him on."

"And who may I say is calling? Hey, Roxas that's my favourite, put it down! No, not the scissors!" There was a pause and from what Axel could tell, a loud thunk signified the phone begin dropped. In the background there was shouting, stopped when a stern voice joined the shouting and the voices quietened down. Then random noises of perhaps someone picking up the phone.

"You still there?" asked a voice that sounded distinctively like Roxas', which elevated Axel's happy mood.

"Yeah!" he almost shouted, shuffling around on his bed to get comfy and hugging his pillow tight to his chest. "What just happened?"

"I threatened to cut up my cousin's security blanket and he just gut-punched me," explained Roxas happily, although sounding a little winded. "I'm sorry about him answering my phone, I wasn't expecting any calls tonight,"

Axel pouted sadly. "You-You weren't expecting me to ring even after giving me your number?"

Roxas gasped in shock. "Oh! Axel!? I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

This did nothing to soothe Axel's current hurt ego. "Oh, right..."

There was once again voices in the background. "Hey Axel, can I ring you back in about an hour? My house is currently like a zoo..."

Shoulders slumped and Axel sighed. "Yeah, okay..." After all the time he'd spent building up the courage to call the boy, he didn't even want to talk to him.

"Great, I'll call you when I can!" replied Roxas. "Bye foolish mortal!" came the voice that had answered the phone originally. "Sora, piss off!" There was a pause. "Bye Axel, was nice to hear from you!"

A small smile managed to form on Axel's lips. Roxas sounded truthful when he said it was nice that he'd heard from him. "Bye," he said just before the line went dead on the other end. Flipping the phone closed, Axel tossed it onto the bed and flopped backwards with a heavy sigh of defeat passing his lips. After a few moments of simply laying there, he rolled over and grabbed his phone. Pushing it into his pocket as he slid off his bed, blankets slipping with him and falling to the floor. Moving away from the bed, Axel left his bedroom in search of Leon, who had returned to his staring contest with the tomato.

He could always count on Leon to be doing something out of the ordinary to help cheer him up.

"You're fucked in the head,"

"Whatever..."

- - - - -

Author's Notes: See, a whole chapter that involved a tomato! Well, not entirely, but most of it contain the tomato.

To start with, I'm not jumping between characters. I might start defining when it extremely passes from one character to another, but I'm trying to simply 'drift' from one to another. Imagine it like the like pointer in The Sims or whatever. When one character comes into contact with another, it might change onto their story, or they'll just be part of the current story running. Or something along those lines. We'll see if I like this style or not -shrugs-

Secondly; No this story will not contain AerithxLeon. She's helping him break out of his shell is all.

Next up, Aerith and Leon go shopping and Roxas learns the meaning of life! Or maybe not...