(A/N): Aha. So. Been awhile. Again. Believe it or not, I am trying to stay on top of that. Sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. And if you fave or alert, please take the time to leave a review. It's very much appreciated.

Disclaimer: Non.

Still Don't Even

"Hey."

Roxas's eyelids flickered as he woke up enough to become aware of the chill of the car window pressed against his temple. For a second the fact that the car was no longer moving wafted along the edge of his consciousness, but he found he didn't really care enough to investigate. He slumped a little farther down in his seat, one heel tapping against the dashboard in time to the music blaring from his headphones.

"Hey."

It couldn't be time for lunch already. They'd stopped for breakfast on the road and wound up eating it in the car – Axel had laughed at the way Roxas clutched at his door handle the entire time the redhead ate with one hand and drove with the other. "Relax, kid," he'd drawled, that annoying smirk plastered all over his face. "I know what I'm doing."

"Hey."

Suddenly Roxas's headphones were jerked away from him, one of the wires tangling painfully around the back of his left ear. "Ow! Axel, what the hell!" He sat up, fully awake now, and turned to glare at the other man. Axel held his headphones out with one finger, swinging them back and forth as he stared at the blond. "What the hell was that for?" Roxas demanded, rubbing his sore ear.

"I was trying to talk to you," Axel said mildly, expression implacable.

"You almost ripped my ear off!"

"You shouldn't have the volume turned up so loud," Axel chided, ignoring Roxas's outburst. "It's bad for your hearing, y'know." Roxas growled in frustration and tried to grab the headphones back from the redhead, but Axel easily swung them out of reach. "I'm still talking here, kid."

"What?"

Axel blew out his breath in a harsh sigh before tossing the headphones back at the blond. "I just wanted to know if you were thirsty. Forget it." Without waiting for a response he shoved his door open and pushed himself out of the car, stepping around the gas pump they were parked next to.

Roxas clumsily caught the headphones in one hand and blinked at the space the redhead had so recently filled. "What the hell?" he demanded of the empty air, watching Axel stalk toward the convenience store. He carefully slid his headphones and CD player back into his duffle bag before following Axel out of the car. "Hey! Hey, Axel!" If Axel heard him, he ignored him. Roxas tore his hands through his hair and glared at the redhead's back, ignoring the curious looks he was drawing from a few of the other customers filling their tanks at the sprawling pumps. Finally, with a muttered curse, he took off after the redhead.

He caught him just inside the door. He'd already opened his mouth to start yelling at the man when Axel glanced over his shoulder at him. The expression on the redhead's face made him close his mouth again. Axel turned away from him again, moving toward the soda machines. "Your social skills leave a lot to be desired, you know that, kid?" he asked, tone neutral.

Roxas sighed and frowned at his shoes as he trailed behind the other man. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Sorry," Roxas repeated, glaring at the floor. Axel paused so suddenly Roxas almost crashed into him, and he stepped back with a scowl. The redhead was staring down at him, head cocked and arms crossed over his chest. "I'm sorry, okay?" Roxas grumbled, jamming his hands into his pockets.

Axel stared at him for another second before he shook his head. "You're a weird kid, you know that?" he muttered, turning away from the blond again. Roxas's shoulders had already begun to slump when Axel's hand darted out and mussed his hair. The redhead only laughed when Roxas glared at him and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make it lie flat.

"Stop doing that," Roxas groused, huffing at the man's self-satisfied expression.

Axel shrugged. "Couldn't help it," he replied, eyes glinting. "Besides," he continued, grabbing a large cup from the soda machine, "you deserved that one." Roxas glared at him before he glanced away.

"Whatever."

"Do you have any other response in your vocabulary?" Axel inquired, pressing the nozzle for the Coke.

"Please stop talking."

Axel laughed as he fixed a plastic lid onto his cup and grabbed a straw. "Okay, that is different," he admitted, heading for the counter. "If you want a soda, hurry up and get it." Roxas glanced at the soda machine before following Axel to the counter. The redhead only rolled his eyes at him before digging his money out of his pocket.

"So that's it?" Roxas asked as he trailed Axel back out into the parking lot.

"What's it?"

"You're just…over me –"

"Being a dick?" Axel supplied helpfully, grinning over his shoulder at the blond. "Please, Roxas. I don't scare that easy." Roxas shook his head and hurried after him.

Back in the car, he pulled his CD player and headphones out from his duffle bag, flushing slightly when he caught Axel staring fixedly at them. "I'll keep it down," he mumbled, scowling at the redhead. The corner of Axel's lips twitched as he pulled away from the pump.

"Okay."

Axel left him to himself for the next few hours, though Roxas occasionally caught the man glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. The road rolled endlessly underneath them, and Roxas found it a real effort to keep the tiny, rhythmic vibrations of the vehicle from lulling him back into dozing.

They had lunch in the car, but they ate it in the restaurant's parking lot at Roxas's insistence. Axel let him retreat back to his music as they pulled back onto the highway, and Roxas satisfied himself with staring out the window at the unchanging landscape. Axel tried to start a conversation once or twice, but Roxas's monosyllabic answers and general unresponsiveness quickly killed the attempts.

Finally, they pulled off the highway to have dinner in another equally anonymous and sub-par diner. Axel waited until they were both waiting on their meals – or meal, as Axel had opted for a simple cup of lukewarm coffee – to broach a now-familiar subject. "You gonna tell me about it?" Roxas groaned and propped his head in his hands. "You know, it'd be simpler if you'd just answer the question," Axel pointed out, eyes glinting.

"I just had to leave, okay?" Roxas mumbled, massaging his temples. "Why do you care so much, anyway?" Axel shrugged.

"Mostly because you keep dodging the damn question," he replied, a sharp grin flashing across his face when Roxas glanced up at him.

"Mostly because it's none of your damn business," Roxas shot back, scowling. Axel's eyes widened dramatically as he clapped a hand to his chest.

"That hurts, Rox," he said, his manner so melodramatically wounded that Roxas couldn't help the grudging smile that snuck across his face.

"I'm sure it does, Axel," he snorted, stirring his soda with his straw. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" Axel asked.

"What were you doing out on the road that late?"

Axel shrugged. "Driving." Roxas rolled his eyes as cupped his chin in his hand.

"That's not an answer."

"But it is what I was doing," Axel returned. "Which is more of an answer than you've given me."

"God, you don't quit, do you?" Roxas muttered, flicking a stray crumb off the table. He fell silent, trying to pretend he couldn't feel the redhead watching him. He lasted about a minute before he sighed and looked up to meet the other man's gaze. "It just got to be too much, all right? I couldn't do it anymore, and I left. Okay?"

Axel stared at him pensively, head cocked to one side. "Yeah, okay," he sighed, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest as the waitress brought Roxas's order over. "For now," he added, arching an eyebrow at the blond. He only laughed when Roxas scowled at him.

"I hate you," Roxas grumbled, poking savagely at his food.

"So you've said," Axel said dryly, hooking an ashtray with his index finger and dragging it across the table.

"That's bad for you, you know," Roxas muttered vindictively as the redhead lit a cigarette. Axel rolled his eyes and blew smoke at him.

"Gonna die anyway, kid."

"Quit calling me that!"

Axel only smirked at him, tapping the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray. Roxas frowned at him and turned his attention to his food, trying to ignore the other man. Axel smiled, a sly sort of expression that made Roxas's stomach sink, but the redhead waited until Roxas had gotten through most of his meal before speaking again. "So what's in Destiny Islands?"

"What?"

"Destiny Islands," Axel prompted, bringing the cigarette back to his lips. "I figure if I'm not allowed to ask about where you're from the least you can do is tell me about where you're going. Seeing as I'm the guy driving you and all."

Roxas blew his breath out in aggravation as he shoved his plate away and settled back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've got family there," he hedged. Axel shook his head, expression unusually serious.

"Gotta do better than that, Roxas."

Roxas groaned and thumped his head against the hard plastic booth. "He's my cousin, second cousin, something like that," he grumbled. He sighed when Axel arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't really know, okay? It's sort of complicated. I just know we're related on my mom's side of the family."

"And?"

"And nothing. That's it."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it," Roxas ground out, glaring at the other man. Axel stared at him for another minute before he sighed heavily and stubbed his cigarette out.

"That's not even a plan," he snorted.

"What do you care?" Roxas asked, stung. Axel's lips thinned before he shrugged and glanced out the window.

"Fine, be like that," he said, tone artificially light. The silence that followed was almost suffocating. Roxas sank down in his seat, trying to look anywhere but at the man sitting across the table from him. Finally, Axel sighed and signaled for the check. "Forget it, kid. Wasn't my business anyway."

Roxas mumbled under his breath and pushed his hair out of his face, still avoiding the redhead's gaze. It hadn't been any of his business, but Roxas's stomach was still twisted in painful knots. "Whatever," he finally got out, shoving himself out of the booth and stalking toward the door.

His face was burning by the time he reached the car, and he rubbed one hand across his forehead as he leaned against his door, trying to quiet the blood pounding in his temples. He knew it wasn't much of a plan, but it was the only plan he had. "Shit, shit, shit," he hissed.

"You okay?"

Roxas looked up to find Axel standing just outside the diner's door and watching him, expression carefully blank.

"I have money," he said abruptly, glaring at the redhead. Axel blinked at him, a small crease appearing between his eyebrows.

"What?"

"I have money," Roxas repeated, voice low. "I wasn't just gonna show up on his doorstep and expect him to take care of me, you know. I'm not that stupid –" He broke off, his stomach muscles tightening to the point of pain.

Something in Axel's eyes softened slightly before he shrugged and raised his hands, palms out. "I never said you were, Roxas."

Roxas glared at him for another second before all the tension went out of his body at once; slouching against the car, he massaged his temples with one hand, partly because they hurt and partly because he didn't want to look at Axel any more. "Fine."

"You gonna be okay?"

Roxas looked up to find Axel watching him with what seemed to be genuine concern written across his features. He shied away from the redhead's gaze, scowling and crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah."

From the expression on Axel's face, he didn't believe that, but he let it go. "All right." He glanced around the parking lot, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So…nice night."

Roxas snorted, feeling the edges of his lips trying to tug up into a grin. "It's freezing, Axel."

"Well, yeah, there is that," Axel acknowledged, wrinkling his nose in distaste as a stiff breeze started up. "But it could always be worse." He glanced at Roxas out of the corner of his eye, a sharp grin splitting his face. "It could be my heater that's broken." He laughed when Roxas shivered involuntarily, reaching out to ruffle the blond's hair. "Get in the car, moron."


They only drove for another hour before Axel picked a hotel and pulled into the lot. "Blue Lagoon?" Roxas asked, pausing his music. Axel glanced at him.

"Yeah. So?"

Roxas shrugged, a tentative grin working its way across his face. "Just figured after the Neptune Inn you'd want to avoid water themes," he offered, laughing when Axel quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I can just leave you here, you know," he grumbled good-naturedly, pushing himself out of the car. "Be right back." Roxas watched the redhead disappear into the manager's office silently, tugging his headphones off with a sigh and carefully lowering his feet from the dashboard, wincing at the crick in his back.

He jumped when Axel rapped his knuckles against his window, turning and scowling at the other man. He was surprised when Axel didn't react, only opened the back door to grab his bag. "Let's go, kid."

"Stop calling me that," Roxas said automatically, but Axel was already moving away from the car. Roxas took a deep breath before grabbing his own bag and following him.

Axel left the door standing open for him; when Roxas entered the room he found Axel standing over his bag, which he'd set on one of the single beds. Roxas walked around him to dump his own bag on the other bed, pausing when he noticed the distracted manner in which Axel was running his fingers through his mane of hair. "What?"

Axel glanced at him briefly before he sighed and lowered himself to sit on the edge of the mattress. "We've got a problem," he said, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. "This next town we're gonna stop in – I've gotta stay for a few days. Maybe a week."

"What?" Roxas's fingers tightened around the strap of his duffle bag. "Why?"

Axel shrugged and pulled a hand over his face tiredly. " Well for one thing, I've got this thing called a budget." He glanced at Roxas, the ghost of a smile flitting across his face. "And you're kinda breaking it." Roxas stared back at him for a moment before comprehension took root and he flushed deeply. He opened his mouth, not sure what to say but certain he had to say something, but Axel overrode him. "I just maxed out my credit card." He seemed about to say something else, then shrugged again and closed his mouth.

Roxas stared at him, blurting out the first thing that popped into his head. "But you said you'd take me to Destiny Islands!" he protested, flush deepening as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Axel sighed and propped his elbows on his knees.

"I am taking you to Destiny Islands," he said, and his patient tone rankled Roxas for some reason. "This is just a pit stop, okay?" He sighed again when Roxas simply continued to stare at him. "Look kid, I know people in this area, all right? It'll be fine. And if you need to get there sooner than that, I can just drop you at a bus station along the way. You've still got some money on you, right?"

"But…" Roxas trailed off, glaring unhappily at the man. "Why didn't you say anything?" he finally demanded, flopping down onto his own mattress. Axel shrugged.

"If it's that much of a problem, get a bus," he said, voice flat.

"I don't want a damn bus, Axel!" Roxas burst out, then immediately bit his lip. "Shit." He dropped his head into his hands, threading his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry. Just…I have money, okay? I meant that when I said it. I can pay for the food and the hotels and whatever else, so…" Axel fixed him with a long, measuring look. Roxas tilted his head to stare back silently for a few moments before taking a deep breath. "I don't want a bus."

Something flashed just beneath Axel's eyes before he ducked his head and sighed. "All right. Have it your way, Roxas."

"Okay," Roxas muttered, wincing and shifting self-consciously. "Thanks."

"Yeah," Axel grunted, flopping back onto the mattress. "Hell of a day," he mumbled, carding his fingers through his hair. There was a short silence as Axel stared absently at the ceiling.

"Why didn't you say anything, Axel?" Roxas finally asked, dragging his duffle bag into his lap and rummaging around for nothing in particular. Axel cut his eyes over to the blond briefly before shrugging.

"Thought I had enough to get out there," he sighed. "I'm usually better about keeping track of things like that."

"Oh." Roxas winced again and scowled down into his bag. That had been a completely nonsensical thing to say, but he couldn't think of anything else. The silence dragged on, loud and ugly in Roxas's ears. "I'm gonna take a shower," he finally muttered, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"You do that," Axel said, voice sounding far away as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

Roxas paused at the bathroom door, staring at the redhead sprawled on his back. "Axel?" Axel hummed in the back of his throat and shifted his head to look at the blond. "Would it be easier if I just got a bus?"

Axel's smile was razor-sharp. "Getting tired of me already, kid?"

"No!" Roxas flushed and glared at the redhead. "I just meant –"

"I know what you meant," Axel scoffed, waving a hand dismissively in the air. "It wouldn't change the fact that I'm broke." His hand fell back to his chest, and he turned his attention back to the ceiling. "You don't have to do me any favors, Roxas." He peered at the blond out of his corner of his eye. "Unless you wanna take a bus?"

Roxas frowned at him. "I said I didn't."

"Then don't say stupid shit like that. Don't go all noble on me now, Roxas – I don't think I could take it."

"You're an ass," Roxas grumbled, turning away from the redhead.

"That's more like it," Axel smirked. Roxas closed the door on the man's smug face and rested his hands on the counter, thankful Axel couldn't see the smile that spread across his lips.


Axel was already underneath the covers when Roxas emerged from the bathroom, hair still damp and duffle bag clasped in one hand. Roxas shook his head at what he could see of the man – namely a messy collection of red spikes peeking out from one corner of the blankets – and flicked the light off before making his way over to his own bed. Stashing his bag at the foot of his bed, he crawled underneath the covers and leaned back against the headboard.

Pulling his knees up against his chest, Roxas tilted his head back and listened to the whine of trucks passing on the highway and the faint buzzing of the motel's neon sign. He spoke before he was aware he'd been planning to. "Hey, Axel." There was no response from the redhead, and Roxas turned his head in the dark to look at where he thought the man's bed must be. "Are you awake?"

There was another brief silence, and then Axel's drowsy voice sounded out of the darkness. "Depends. What?"

Roxas hesitated, biting down on the inside of his cheek before blowing his breath out in a gentle sigh. "Thanks."

"What?"

"I just…I never said thanks. For what you're doing." Roxas ducked his head before sliding down under the covers and turning to face the wall. "So thanks."

There was a tired chuckle from the redhead. "You really are a weird kid, you know that?" he asked. He paused before he sighed, and Roxas thought he heard him turn over. "Go to sleep, Roxas. It's been a long day."