Sweet Seconds

Time was torturing him. Roxas couldn't stop glancing at the clock even if only seconds had managed to tick by. More than once he thought about replacing the batteries, realized he was being crazy, and dismissed the idea. People came to buy treats now and then but there weren't enough to occupy his time. Even Sora seemed quiet today… he was definitely losing it, Sora was never quiet.

When seven finally approached the minute hand drummed loudly through the silence as his knuckles turned white. He released the counter from his unintentional death grip at 6:58 with a heavy sigh, waving his hands in the air like it might massage the sore joints. He was increasingly nervous now but he didn't know why. He didn't want to get his hopes up but his brain wouldn't really listen.

When did he ever listen to his own advice? Never, obviously.

He was so busy zoning out at the clock he hadn't even closed up the shop. There wasn't much to do but it would take more than two minutes… Trying to speed through the closing process he was finished, changed, and wishing Sora goodnight as soon as humanly possible. He didn't make it out the door without Sora chatting him up, like always, but he made it short. The brunette seemed to notice his insistence to leave.

The minute he stepped out the back door his heart sank. There was no red hair to catch his eye. No one was waiting for him. It was only a few minutes past seven… well maybe fifteen minutes past but that wasn't long… He was upset for no reason really… he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. Why was he so damn excited in the first place? Like he was waiting for a date or something? He cursed himself all the way around the corner.

"What's with that face?"

The blonde jumped out of his skin at the sound of a voice. He heard him before he saw him but the redhead had been waiting around the corner for a while now.

He figured he would come out the back door. Axel had arrived ten minutes early and spotted the daydreamer leaning against the counter inside. He didn't even notice him walk past the window. His first thought was to check for a back door, easy enough to find, and before seven he took a seat on the bench near the building. It would have been creepy to wait near the door. He was use to people getting the wrong first impression of him. So he chose a place he could sit and still spot Roxas no matter which direction he decided to go. There was just that problem with his face like the blonde had just been dumped.

The initial wave of surprise passed but the hammering of his heart was hard to handle. As usual Roxas had jumped to conclusions, which would have been fine if Axel hadn't startled him and noticed the crappy face he'd been making. He didn't seem to know why but that didn't make him feel less embarrassed. It was worse being caught acting stupid by someone he liked. "Sorry that took so long."

Axel just shrugged, continuing the conversation without noticing the lack of an answer, not minding the wait either way. The time had passed quickly while he stewed over what to say. "You said seven. I assumed you'd be out a bit after that." Honestly all he had managed to do was go home, change, and head back. All he could think about was the time passing slowly before he had grown impatient and returned. He didn't want to look too anxious though. No need to mention that.

For the first time he realized Roxas had already changed. He wasn't wearing his work clothes and his usual white apron. He looked even more adorable in his real clothes and Axel stood up before the blonde could notice he was undressing him with his eyes. "So are you hungry?" He cleared his throat.

Roxas lit up. "I'm starving! You want to come to my house? I was thinking of making curry." Blinking several times he noticed the redhead's wide eyes and went over his words again. He just invited him over like they always hung out. Well, whatever, he hoped to end up there eventually. "Sorry, that probably sounded creepy. I didn't mean it like that."

Did he ask out of pure naivety? Axel loved the idea of going over to his house but that wasn't the safest idea. He would have trouble controlling himself if he was alone, especially if Roxas lived by himself. That was why he'd planned on going out to eat…

Maybe he could be good, just once, so he wouldn't scare him off. Going for the gentle approach, Axel smiled. "You can make curry?"

Roxas calmed down. "I can cook a little." Actually he could cook well enough to feed himself for years so he must have been doing something right. They hesitated to see who might lead the way until Roxas gave in and started walking. The thought of Sora stepping outside and finding them really cemented his decision to go. Axel seemed willing to follow.

A few steps away Axel laughed, still thinking about their awkward encounter. "Not creepy, by the way."

This spurred a smile.

It had only been a couple hours but somewhere along the line things really got out of hand. Roxas had taken the initiative and invited Axel over, partially by accident, but they ended up at the house either way. Axel marveled at the cute one bedroom apartment as Roxas started dinner, but time had sped up. Dinner had already passed and watching Axel eat had been amusing, but it had been too fast. He struggled to wash the few dishes there were, taking the time to dry them just to prolong his moment alone.

Now what were they suppose to do? Axel was in the other room watching T.V. laughing at all the appropriate times while Roxas listened. What could they do together? He thought of grabbing a couple beers but that seemed like a bad idea. He could hardly contain himself as it was and beer always made him forget his personal boundaries. Or it helped him forget other people's boundaries and he sure as hell planned on forgetting Alex's if the time came. But it was too soon.

The redhead struggled with similar thoughts all the while, staring at the T.V. but lost in his head. He was reading all the signs, watching his body language, but his mind was second guessing his usually firm understanding of human need. More than once it seemed like Roxas was restraining himself. Even now he was in the kitchen still doing the dishes. The sound of water had stopped quite some time ago so what could he be doing besides procrastinating?

There's obviously some attraction there.

When Roxas finally came back into the room Axel decided to just be himself. Whether that ended with him getting thrown out of the apartment or… well, whatever the outcome, he had made up his mind.

The blonde sat down at one end of the coffee table and he closed the distance between them, leaving the corner of the table in the way. "I almost forgot, I brought you something." He reached for his backpack which he'd placed on the floor by the table, opening it with an idea. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

A little unsure, Roxas set aside his suspicions when the redhead began digging in his bag. Innocent enough. Maybe he was repaying him for all of those cupcakes. He closed his eyes and sure enough a second later the sound of something familiar came to his attention. A candy wrapper was his best guess. He lifted his hands, cupping them like a little bowl, expecting the touch as Axel placed something in them. What took him by surprise was the warmth on his mouth from a kiss he never expected. He was so startled he even let his tongue inside, the taste of strawberry molesting his taste buds when a hard candy fell into his mouth. The sensation was not unwelcome but it left him frozen when Axel pulled away.

It was a trick. The candy was just a ploy really, an easy way for Alex to help Roxas relax and still let his intentions be cute enough. Nothing demanding. The reaction was worse than he expected. After pulling away he would have thought… something… anything might have happened. So far Roxas had only manage to close his mouth and knock the candy against his teeth, his eyes so wide he was clearly seeing nothing, vision blurred in some state of self-doubt.

The redhead had never been this nervous before. He found seducing people easy, most of them boring and not worth playing with in the end, but he was never nervous. With Roxas he was even starting to have feelings. Not like, I want to play with you feelings, but real feelings. At this point, with no reaction at all, he was starting to regret surprising him. Nervously he plucked out a candy for himself, his fingers moving to open it, when Roxas grabbed his hand.

"You like me?"

Not exactly the first thing he expected to hear. Axel laughed under his breath. "Obviously. Why else would I kiss you?"

Another surprise. The smaller boy lunged forward and attacked his mouth again. If he hadn't been prepared surely he would have fallen over in shock. Instead his arms were trapped trying to hold up his body while hungry strawberry lips molested his mouth.

When he came to his senses Roxas pulled away, putting distance between them and hugging his legs. "This is too fast." He was shaking his head so violently Axel feared he'd do something dumb, like fall backwards and knock himself out.

His hands attempted to grab his shoulders, to calm him down… anything was better than this random explosion of worry. "I'm sorry." He just couldn't think of anything else to say.

Big blue eyes met Axel's, filled with concern. "Don't be sorry." He sighed like everything was suddenly his fault. "I was just unsure. I mean, we haven't even known each other that long."

The only reaction he could muster was annoyance. "We've known each other for a while now. I've come to visit you every week for more than a year I bet." He couldn't actually remember but a year sounded good. That was a pretty long time for him to chase after the same guy.

Roxas wasn't seeing the same timeline, obviously. "Yea, but I don't even know anything about you. We only met for a few minutes a day." It's not like he didn't want to know more but what if he just wanted to get in his pants? What was the point of inviting him over in the first place then? Even his brain was arguing with him.

At least Axel was persistent, trying to make him understand. "Tell me what you want to know. I'll tell you everything." He made the mistake of crawling towards him on his hands and knees, not intending to seduce him, but the little chicken backed away. "I like you, Roxas. Please go out with me." He changed his approach yet again, bowing so his forehead touched the floor. If he was any less threatening he would have turned into a fuzzy cat or something of the sort. That was the cutest thing he could think of that was irresistible. A cat… or maybe a plant. That was unthreatening. But he couldn't turn into either of those things.

It was silent for so long he ended up raising his head before anything happened.

Roxas was still staring down at him.

He didn't know what to say but it didn't hurt to ask again. "We can just start with dating right?"

"Yes," The blonde laughed, "we can start with dating."