.o.O.o.

I own nothing! Don't sue me!

For additional disclaimers, warnings, summary, pairings, and everything else see the first chapter!

.x.X.x.

Suggested food: peanut butter sandwiches

Suggested beverage: hot chocolate

Suggested listening: Water-themed music. Possibly the KH version of 'Under the Sea'

.o.O.o

Where the Hell is Magic Lake?

Chapter 03: Lake Day

-o-

"Bark! Bark, bark, bark! BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK!"

Roxas angrily sat up in the dim, filtered, light of early morning, unzipping a tent window and looking outside. "HEY! SHUT YOUR DOG UP! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO – Sora?!"

"Morning Roxas!" Sora called back with a wave from across the campsite, where he was up, fully dressed, and throwing a stick for the same dog as he had brought back from the creek yesterday. Roxas flopped back down on his sleeping bag with a groan. Why the hell did Sora always insist on waking up so early?! Or rather, why did Sora insist on waking everyone else up with him?

Heaving a giant sigh and realizing there was no way he was going to be able to fall back asleep now, Roxas rolled over, only to crash into something very solid and warm. Definitely not his sleeping bag.

"AXEL! GRAH! Get out of my bed!"

Axel was sprawled across nearly the entire tent, effectively edging into most of Roxas's sleeping space. Had he been like that the whole night? Had they cuddled AGAIN!? "Axel! Axel get out of here!" Roxas growled, attempting to shove the other male out of his space. Axel however, proving to be a pain even in his sleep, simply rolled back against Roxas's shoves, throwing an arm over the blonde. "EW! GET OFF ME!"

Thrashing wildly, Roxas untangled himself and scooted to the corner of the tent, pulling his knees up to his chest and trying to take up the least amount of space possible. Axel rolled back over, mumbling something in his sleep as he gave a weak slap at the air muttering, "Nnnmm… no. Give it to Selphie!" Roxas wasn't quite sure what to do. Obviously it was not safe to go back to sleep, but he also didn't want to be getting changed to go outside in a confined space with Axel. For some reason he was compelled to be fully covered around the redhead. It just seemed safer that way. In the end, Roxas opted to just go outside in his pajamas.

"Hi Roxas!" Sora greeted. Roxas grunted in response, flopping down in a chair at the fire. Riku was already there, adding wood to it, which he had personally chopped yesterday afternoon. Roxas was a little bitter about the fact that Riku was more manly than him. He had attempted helping yesterday, but only managed to hit the log properly once or twice, sending only the most pathetic little chips flying off, mocking him as they fell mere inches away. But at least Riku had trusted him enough to let him try – Axel hadn't even been allowed near the axe.

"Morning Roxas." Riku said, moving to the portable stove they had set up and taking a pot of boiling water off of the burner.

"Morning." Roxas answered. He didn't mind talking to Riku in the mornings. Riku was a normal person and didn't act as though he had already consumed massive amounts of sugar the moment he woke up like some other people Roxas knew. In the background, Sora ran past, screaming, the dog at his heels.

"How long has he been up?" Roxas inquired.

"About two hours." Riku informed him in a deadpan voice. Ah, so it seemed as though the Wonderous and Perfect Riku wasn't as impermeable to Sora's energy levels as Roxas had always believed. "Want some hot chocolate?"

"Sure." Roxas said, accepting the steaming mug that Riku handed him. He sipped it for a minute in silence as Riku fiddled with the stove, and tossing things into a greased pan, attempting to make some sort of breakfast for himself.

"So." Riku began after a minute. "What happened to your guys' tent?"

Roxas looked up from his hot chocolate to glance in confusion to Riku, who gestured to Roxas and Axel's tent a little ways off. It had been hard to tell last night in the dark, but now, looking at it from the outside in the day, it was painfully obvious that there was something very wrong with the setup of the little canvas shelter. One entire corner was collapsed, the canvas drooping loosely and the pole that was supposed to be holding it up sticking out at an odd angle. Oh well. At least it wasn't on his side of the tent.

"Axel did it." Roxas explained without further elaboration, going back to sipping his drink. Riku shrugged, accepting the answer and going back to making himself breakfast.

"Hey guys!" Sora called out, running over to Roxas and Riku. "Is Axel awake yet?"

"No." Roxas replied. And let's keep it that way. He added in his head. When he's asleep he's in the tent, and when he's in the tent he's not out here bothering me.

"No!?" Sora echoed, sounding astonished. "Well I guess I better go wake him up! We've got a big day ahead of us!" As much as Roxas was disappointed that Axel would soon be joining them, he consoled himself with the knowledge that it was going to be Sora who was running off to wake him. He smirked at the thought of the unpleasant wake up that the redhead was about to receive.

"AAAAAAAAAAAXEEEEEEEL!" Sora cried out, running off to the tent and unzipping the door flap in one fluid motion, diving in and followed by his canine companion. "It's time to get UUUUUUUUUUUUP!!" Roxas let out a content sigh at hearing his tent mate's sleepily angry and confused yelling, mixed with Sora's eager shouting and a whole lot of barking. A minute or so later Sora came speeding out of the tent, his hair even more chaotic than usual, but wearing a huge smile on his face. "Axel's up!" he informed Roxas and Riku.

It wasn't long before they were joined by a very disgruntled looking Axel, who shot a glare at Sora as he sat down next to Roxas by the morning fire. Almost imperceptibly, Axel scooted his chair an inch or two closer. Roxas scooted his away a foot or so.

"So then!" Sora began. "Now that we're all up –" Axel shot another glare in Sora's direction. "– I can finally tell you the plans for today – our first day camping! Yay! And today's gonna be a great first day, cause we're going to the lake and renting skidoos!"

Sora was met with blank stares as everyone tried to process what he meant by that.

"Um… we're renting what, exactly?" Axel eventually spoke up, seeming to be more awake now, and considerably less bitter about his rude awakening. Roxas and Riku nodded, wondering the same thing.

"Jet Skis!" Sora enthusiastically clarified. A resounding "ooooooooh." of understanding came from the gathered group. "So everyone go get changed – we've gotta get there early or they'll be all rented out!"

.x.X.x.

It took a short car ride to get to the lake, and Roxas insisted on sitting up front in the passenger's seat. No way was he ending up stuck in the back with the freaky redhead once again. At first Sora had pouted and not wanted to get traded to the back, but he eventually complied and recovered from his reluctance quite quickly, striking up a loud and annoying conversation with Axel while simultaneously back-seat DJ-ing, ordering Roxas to turn knobs and press buttons until they hit upon music that the brunette was satisfied with. Roxas was actually starting to weigh his options as to where he would sit on the way back. Axel was a pain, but than again, Axel plus Sora might have actually been worse to have to put up with.

Arriving at the lake and pulling into a parking spot, Sora immediately flew out of the car, running around for a second before coming back to give everyone their instructions. "Okay you guys! Me an' Riku are gonna head over to that little spot way over there and set up our area for the day! That way no one else will get a chance to claim it or bother us since it's pretty far away from everything else. Roxas, you and Axel are gonna be in charge of going and getting our skidoos! We've only got enough money for two, but that's okay – we can share! Once you've got them you can just take them over the lake to our spot on the beach, that sound good?"

No, it didn't sound good to Roxas. It meant more alone time with Axel. But since he had been spared the car ride over thanks to Sora, he figured he'd just have to suck it up and deal with it. "Yeah, fine."

"Okay! Thanks guys!" Sora called out, grabbing Riku's wrist and dragging him off.

"Why do I always get stuck with Axel?" Roxas muttered to himself as he turned to head for the Jet Ski rental place.

"Probably because Sora wants more alone time for him and Riku to run off into the woods together." Axel replied with a smirk, falling in step with the blonde.

"EW!" Roxas shouted, rounding on Axel. "God, would you cut it out? That's just… gross!"

"But so true. I bet they're already canoodling as we speak." Axel added. "Mmm… Sora/Riku."

"Oh, I am NOT hearing this!" Roxas replied, placing his hands over his ears and purposefully making his way to the rental store. Axel followed along, grinning.

A little bell above the door dinged as they entered the store, walking over to the counter which a depressed looking blonde stood behind. "Um, hey." Roxas began, not sure if the blonde was upset by their arrival, or just in general. "We're here to pick up two skidoo – er, jet skis."

Sighing, the blonde nodded. "Will you be paying by the hour or do you want them for the full day?"

"Um…" Roxas wasn't sure what to say. Sora hadn't specified. "Well how much is the difference in cos – "

"Full day!" Axel cut in.

"Um, okay…" Roxas said, handing over the money Sora had shoved at him and hoping they had enough.

"So how fast are they?" Axel inquired of the man behind the counter, squinting at the guy's nametag. "…Cloud?" He added for a personal touch.

"Fast." Cloud answered in perfect monotone, dully counting out the money. "Can I see your identification?" Roxas handed over his ID, feeling slightly bad for this Cloud guy. He seemed to hate his job even more than Roxas hated his.

"Like, how fast?" Axel pressed.

"Really fast." Cloud responded, writing down some information.

"Like really, really fast? "

"Yes."

"Oh man, I bet they're so amazingly super fast and fun!" Axel said, turning to Roxas with a weird gleam in his eye. Apparently 'amazingly super fast and fun' things stirred some freaky primal instincts in Axel. "Are they amazingly super fast and fun?" This question was once again directed at Cloud, who seemed to be trying very hard to get the rental information filled out as fast as possible.

"Yes. They're amazingly super fast and fun." He responded, handing over two pairs of keys with a look that clearly told them to shut up and go.

"Have you ever been on one?" Axel continued, ignoring the fact that Roxas had taken the keys and, technically, they could leave now. Roxas couldn't believe his situation. The guy ran the rental store for crying out loud!

"Yes." Cloud answered, staring at them and clearly wondering why they weren't gone yet.

"Can you do amazing tricks and stuff?" Axel inquired, gripping the counter eagerly. "Like flips and turns and jumps and –"

"Ahem."

Roxas, Axel and Cloud turned to see a rather intimidating looking brunette with a ragged scar running over his face standing at the side door, not looking at all amused by the conversation taking place. In fact, he looked like he'd like nothing more than to violently chuck Axel and Roxas right out of the store for daring to so much as talk to the employee behind the counter. Roxas's figurative tail went between his legs and he fought off the urge to scamper off whimpering. Even Axel immediately shut up, looking a little worried himself.

"Your jet skis are around the back. Have them back here by the end of the day." The man (Leon, according to his nametag) told them, leaving the 'Now get the hell out of my store' unsaid.

"Yes sir!" Roxas squeaked, hightailing it out of the store, Axel following after him. Once they were out of sight and hearing range, completely around the side of the building, Axel spoke up.

"Those guys are so totally screwing."

"AXEL!" Roxas burst. "God, you are so sick!"

"Oh don't even deny it." Axel retorted with an amused smirk. "You know they are. Did you see the way that guy was looking at us? Like some angry lion protecting a kill. A kill he wanted to screw."

Axel was positively leering his face off, again only about a couple inches from Roxas's own face, and Roxas felt a blush rising. "Whatever, Axel." He spat, shoving him off and climbing onto one of the jet skis. "Let's just go." Axel swung his leg over the other jet ski, eagerly shoving the keys in. "We're not allowed to go fast inside the docking area." Roxas felt the need to point out, slipping into the regulation life jacket that they were required to wear.

"I know." Axel replied, revving the engine and not seeming to have really heard what Roxas had just said. Roxas frowned at him.

"And you need to put on your – "

VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

With the engines roaring, Axel shot off, not wearing his life jacket or obeying the speed regulations. "Axel! AXEL!!!" Roxas swore under his breath, obediently taking off at the correct speed, waiting until he was out. The chances were not looking good.

Once out of the docking area, Roxas pushed the jet ski onward at full throttle, attempting to catch up to Axel, who was racing off into the distance in the general direction of the spot Sora had pointed out to them earlier. Even going as fast as the watercraft could go, Roxas knew he wasn't going to be able to catch up to Axel. Sighing, he settled for slowing down a little, realizing just how fast he had been going. Not that he wasn't allowed to push the jet ski all the way once out on the open lake, Roxas just wasn't a fan of things that went too fast or too wild. He'd seen enough movies to know that such things usually ended up in explosions. And as impressive as explosions may or may not have been, they almost always involved a large amount of fire and pain, so he wasn't going to risk it.

A few minutes later Roxas was pulling up to the beach, docking the jet ski in a few feet of water and using the tow rope to tie it up to a low, overhanging tree branch. Axel was already on shore and giving Sora and Riku a detailed description on what they had missed out on.

"…and then this guy comes out giving us this intense death glare, so I just knew he was screwing the blonde guy –"

"Oh come on, Axel!" Roxas cut in, exasperated. "Don't keep telling everyone that."

Axel turned to Roxas, an unnerving smile gracing his features, feigned innocence dripping in his tone of voice. "What? You don't think there's anything wrong with two guys screwing each other, do ya Rox?"

Roxas immediately wanted to snap out an indignant 'yes!' but noticed that Sora was giving him a rather innocently inquiring expression, looking like the answer to the question really mattered, and somehow it made Roxas feel like he would be a terrible person for saying so. "No." He mumbled, unbuckling his life jacket and setting it on a nearby rock.

Sora smiled widely, jumping up and down. "I want a turn on the skidoos!" he announced, clambering on to one of them and pulling a life vest over his mass of chocolate spikes, sloppily buckling the vest up. Roxas's fear of Sora operating anything more technical that a toaster resurfaced.

"I'll go with you." Riku insisted, both an offer of friendship and an attempt at damage control at the same time. "You guys mind if we take them out for a bit?"

"Go ahead." Axel said with a flippant wave. "We'll wait here."

"'K. Thanks guys." Riku said, buckling up his life jacket and climbing onto the other water vehicle. Sora waited impatiently for Riku to be ready to go, fidgeting in his seat as the motor rumbled. The moment Riku turned his own engine on Sora let out a giant whoop, taking off onto the lake, Riku following after him a second later. Thankfully it seemed as though Sora actually did know how to manage the jet skis, even if a little recklessly.

"You gotta admit they're perfect together." Axel voice came from not an inch away from Roxas's ear.

"Argh! Axel! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Roxas told him, turning around to glare at the redhead. "And why do you care so much?"

Axel shrugged. "I dunno. Mostly because it bothers you so much."

"Well… don't." Roxas weakly replied, looking away. He felt a little bad that it weirded him out so much – Sora and Riku were his friends after all – but his stomach couldn't help but give a funny twist every time Axel brought it up.

"Just Sora and Riku, or that kind of thing in general?" Axel asked, and Roxas turned to look at him in confusion. For a second Axel had sounded almost… serious. The same as when he had made the comment about Roxas's singing voice the other night. Once again, Roxas was torn between just snapping something back at him or answering honestly.

"I… I don't know!" he half-shouted in frustration, throwing his hands up. "Why does it matter?"

Axel just shrugged in response. Roxas rolled his eyes, moving to go dig out some food from the bag they had brought. Rummaging around, Roxas eventually pulled out a sandwich and a juice box, plopping down on a nearby picnic bench. Axel sat down next to him, watching the smaller boy eat his lunch. Roxas was extremely weirded out. Finally he couldn't take it anymore – he was almost done with his food and would like to finish eating the rest of it in peace!

"Axel! What are you doing?" he snapped, sending a death glare at the redhead to convey his irritation.

"Watching you eat." Axel replied, like it was the most normal thing in the world to be doing.

"Well stop it, it's weird." Roxas told him, taking an angry bite out of his sandwich and trying to ignore Axel.

"Whatcha eating?"

"A sandwich." Roxas snapped, hoping if he just answered the question that Axel would leave him alone.

"What kind of sandwich?"

"Leave me alone, Axel."

"But what kind of a sandwich is it?"

"PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY!" Roxas shouted, frustrated at the absurdity of the situation. Why the hell did Axel care what kind of a sandwich he had?

It seemed as though the answer satiated Axel, and they lapsed into silence. Roxas bitterly finished his food, no longer enjoying it. But at least Axel was no longer trying to make conversation about it. What a freak.

"Mmm… Peanut butter/jelly…"

"AXEL!!" Roxas shouted, standing up and not sure whether he wanted to hit the other male, or just go drown himself in the lake and rid himself of this idiocy once and for all. Axel just grinned up at him, not seeming at all intimidated by the blonde looming over him, attempting to look threatening.

"Hey guys, we're back!"

Roxas and Axel looked over to see Sora and Riku pulling up on their jet skis, Sora looking thrilled and Riku looking a bit disheveled, as though he had somehow been severely harassed out on the lake by some passing lake bullies. Such were the outcomes for trying to keep up with Sora.

"That was fast." Axel commented.

"Yeah, well, I uh… kinda almost hit a couple boats." Sora admitted, scratching at the back of his head sheepishly. "So Riku thought it might be better if we shared a skidoo for now. So we came back to drop this one off. You guys can use it now if you want!"

"Okay!" Axel eagerly responded. Somehow Roxas wasn't sure if having Axel out there on his own would be much better than Sora. "We'll be back in a bit!" Sora called out, hopping in Riku's lap and budging his way into the front seat so he could be the one in control of the steering. But at least now he had Riku right behind him to take control if (scratch that, more like when, in Roxas's opinion) necessary.

The moment they took off, Axel turned to Roxas, that weird gleam back in his eyes. "Let's take it out!"

"You can take it out." Roxas told him. "I am not going to be on that thing with you driving."

"Oh, come on, I'll be careful!" Axel pleaded. "Come on, come on, come on, come –"

"Fine!" Roxas cut in, once again simply agreeing to make the nagging go away. "God, you're as bad as Sora."

"Great, let's go!" Axel said, ignoring the comment and grabbing Roxas's wrist, dragging him off to the jet ski.

Roxas found himself unwillingly being strapped into a life jacket and pulled onto the back of the jet ski, trying his best not to sit too close to Axel. It was one thing to be dragged onto this stupid thing, but he certainly wasn't going to be seeking out any more contact than absolutely necessary.

"Um, Roxas, you're gonna have to hold on. If you don't you're just going to fall right off the moment I – "

"Fine." Roxas snapped, an irritated blush surfacing. Great. Now he was going to have to freaking hug the guy. "But you have to put on your life jacket." He added, trying to maintain an aspect of control over the situation, however slight. "If we crash I'm not getting blamed for letting you drown."

"Oh, alright." Axel huffed, snatching one up from where it was tied to the side of the watercraft. Yanking off his annoying shirt with the words "Flame on!" emblazoned on the front in bold, glossy print, he threw it to the side. Roxas was a bit taken aback. He hadn't been expecting Axel to just… just… strip right in front of him like that, and he found himself staring. Not in appreciation or anything, just in shock. He noted that although Axel looked as thin as a freaking twig, he didn't look malnourished or anything. No, quite on the contrary, he actually looked rather…

BOOBLESS! Roxas reminded himself. Axel did not have boobs, therefore he was not a girl, therefore Roxas should not be ogling at him. Staring. Looking. Whatever he was doing. Quickly turning away as Axel pulled on the life jacket, cinching it up and buckling it on, Roxas filled his mind with images of innocent things. Things that did not include shirtless Axel. Things like flowers and rainbows and puppies… all things that Roxas suddenly realized were very gay. Oh well. Not as gay at staring at a shirtless Axel.

"Happy?"

Roxas blinked up at Axel, who was twisted around in the front seat and giving Roxas an inquiring look. "Um, what?"

"Are you happy now?" Axel clarified. "I put the stupid floaty vest thing on."

"Oh. Yeah. Whatever." Roxas replied, scooting forward and barely gripping onto Axel's waist. "Let's just go."

"Alright!" Axel whooped, shoving the keys in the ignition. Revving it a couple times, he turned back to look at Roxas, a huge, ecstatic grin on his face. "You ready?" Roxas reminded himself that Axel was not innocently cute when he was excited, because excited Axel usually led to disaster.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Roxas replied. "Just don't start off too –"

Axel floored it, sending a huge wave cascading back onto the beach behind them as he took off onto the lake. Roxas's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he belatedly scrambled for a better hold around the boy in front of him. Only a little ways out into the lake, Roxas's grip failed and he went slipping off the back, screaming.

Spluttering, Roxas surfaced, flicking his hair out of his face and coughing the water out of his lungs. Panicking slightly, he realized that he was a ways from shore, way over his head in the water. His life jacket kept him floating on the surface, bunching up around his face, and he scanned the lake for Axel. The guy was a jerk, but he wouldn't have just left him there, would he?

But no, a second later he spied Axel a ways off, making a u-turn and heading back to where Roxas was floating in the water. Pulling up alongside, grinning like a madman, Axel threw him the tow rope, hauling him in. "Told ya to hold on!"

"And I told you not to take off too fast!" Roxas snapped, angry and embarrassed for getting thrown off right away.

"Oh, come on – you're fine." Axel laughed, grabbing Roxas's wrist to haul him back onto the jet ski. "Just hold on tighter this time." Muttering darkly under his breath, Roxas allowed himself to be pulled up, swinging his leg over the seat and scooting up to Axel, wrapping his arms fully and tightly around the other male's waist this time.

This time Axel didn't take off as fast, and for that Roxas was grateful. He was spared the jolt of going from zero to God-knows-what in under five seconds. However, it now seemed as though that Axel was sure Roxas was holding on, he was willing to sacrifice that initial burst of speed for a calculated buildup of it, allowing for better maneuverability in the long run.

Making a hard turn, Axel whooped as he formed a tight, perfect circle. Roxas fought the urge to pass out. His panic only increased when Axel made a few more tricky moves before heading straight for a passing boat. At first Roxas thought Axel had lost it and was going to pull a Sora and attempt to play a game of 'chicken' with an oncoming motorboat that was both bigger and faster than them, but soon realized that Axel was actually aiming the jet ski in a path that would end up with them passing directly behind the boat.

"AXEL!" Roxas shouted above the sound of the engine, the water whooshing by them, and the nearly deafening rush of air that resulted from their speed. "AXEL YOU CAN'T GO BEHIND THAT BOAT! IT'S MAKING A HUGE WAKE AND IF YOU TRY TO GO THROUGH IT IT'S GOING TO LAUNCH US STRAIGHT OUT OF THE WATER!"

Axel nodded furiously, eyes locked straight ahead at their path. "I KNOW!"

Roxas's mind short circuited and crashed with realization. Axel was doing it on purpose. He really was crazy!

"NO! AXEL YOU CAN'T! YOU'RE GOING TO GET US BOTH – "

"HOLD ON!"

With a final burst of speed, Axel leaned all the way forward and raced ahead, towards the oncoming waves the boat had left in its wake. Closing his eyes tight, Roxas screamed, holding on for dear life. This was it. He was going to die. He was going to die out in the middle of a lake in the middle of the freaking wilderness, all because he had agreed to go to a stupid birthday party.

Vaguely, Roxas felt his stomach plummet, and heard the momentary lapse of water rushing by them They were in the air. God help him, Axel had launched the stupid jet ski completely out of the water. Axel whooped in front of him and straightened up. 'Oh, he had better not have let go of the fucking steering bars.' Roxas mentally threatened, cracking one eye open a fraction, just enough to peer at what Axel was doing. Yep. He'd let go of the fucking steering bars. They were going to die.

"AXEL! GET YOUR HANDS BACK ON THE – " was all Roxas managed to get out before they were crashing back down, Axel grabbing at the steering bars at the last minute and angling the jet ski so they didn't completely capsize it.

"WHOOHOOHOOOOOO!" He cheered, punching on hand in the air as the jet ski came to a stop, not noticing that Roxas was threatening to squeeze him in two with his grip. "Was that the best or was that the freaking BEST?!"

"Axel…"Roxas slowly ground out his words slightly muffled from having pressed his face into Axels back. Axel turned his head to look back at the blonde.

"Yes?"

"Take me back to shore. Now. Slowly. And by slowly, I mean under five miles an hour."

"Oh, come on!" Axel laughed. "You've gotta admit that was crazy amazing!"

"You've got one out of two." Roxas muttered.

"Aw, come on Roxas, it wasn't that bad!" Axel said. Lied, in Roxas's opinion. It had been that bad. It had been beyond that bad. At Roxas's lack of a response, his face still buried in Axel back, Axel took pity on his little blonde companion. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry for going a little crazy. I'll keep it under control from now on, promise. Let's just stay out here a bit longer, okay?"

Roxas braved looking up, seeing that Axel really did look a little sorry. Not much, but just a tiny little bit. "You promise?" he asked, not trusting the redhead one bit.

"Promise." Axel replied, crossing his finger over his chest.

"Fine then." Roxas said, loosening his death grip around Axel's waist. "Just a little longer. And nothing crazy."

"Right." Axel agreed, facing forward and revving the engine. ('Why does he always have to do that?' Roxas wondered. 'It's not like it's necessary. Maybe he just wants to seem cool or something?')"Nice and slow."

Axel, true to his word, took off at a much more reasonable speed. Roxas relaxed a little, loosening his grip even more and scooting back a bit as he realized he practically had melded into the older teen's back during their launch. Sighing, Roxas turned his head to look out over the lake, enjoying the view now that he didn't have his eyes scrunched as tightly closed as they could go…

"WHOOPS!"

…and he was suddenly pitched off of the jet ski as Axel deliberately sped up and simultaneously made an extremely sharp turn.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Roxas hit the water with an enormous, slightly painful splash. Coughing as he resurfaced, he glanced up, only to see Axel hovering right over him, having pulled the jet ski right alongside his floundering, floating self.

"Sorry about that. Accident." Axel explained (LIED!) with a wide grin. "And you know, you really ought to get a handle on that whole 'screaming like a girl' thing. Need a hand back up?"

Roxas sent Axel the most intense death glare he had ever sent anyone in his life. And trust him, he had sent quite a few. Oh, he was going to accept that hand back up, alright. He was gonna get right back up on that jet ski with Axel.

And then he was going to kill him.

.o.O.o.

Whoo! Lakes are fun, yes? …Well, apparently not for Roxas, but whatever. XD I hoped you liked this chapter, it was fun for me to write! Jet skis are probably the most amazingly chaotically fun water type things ever. EVER. Yay for cameo appearances by Cloud and Leon!