A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and follows! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, too.

Chapter Three.

Making his way through the dark and silent house he quickly moved towards his ultimate goal – Roxas' bedroom. Lately he just couldn't help himself. He'd tried to see reason – that he was happy watching his love from afar, but now his obsession was all but consuming him from the inside out. The door to Roxas' room was open, and he could just make out a head of blond hair poking out from under the covers. He stood over Roxas and drank him in. His soft, golden hair, and the delicate flutter of his eyelashes capturing his attention. Next, his eyes wandered over Roxas' lips. They were parted slightly…begging to be kissed…

His fingers itched. He knew he couldn't touch. He knew he shouldn't even be here. He raised the camera in his hand and focussed the lense. He told himself to be patient. Just a little longer and Roxas would be all his…

-0-

Roxas threw two teaspoons of raw sugar into his coffee and stirred slowly. This was sure to wake him up. He hadn't gone to bed any later than usual, but he'd slept badly anyway. At some point in the night he'd had a vivid dream involving a blinding flash of white light. He knew he'd half woken up, but had found nothing amiss. He'd simply written it off to the influences of the extra guacamole burrito and gone back to sleep.

He'd bought two deadbolts with Axel and then they'd headed back to his for a few more beers, and the ever manly task of installing them into his doors. Axel had brought along his cordless drill and within minutes they had both doors newly secure. The creepo had called Roxas' mobile no less than fifteen times since he had gotten home and Axel had answered it every time for him. Roxas wondered how the stalker felt being told to fuck off fifteen times, too.

Roxas wanted to kiss Axel again. Some part of him wondered if the kiss had really happened at all. He dumped some milk into his coffee and stirred it in. He shook his head lightly. No, it had definitely happened – but wasn't Axel straight? He'd never actually asked, but they had been friends for months now and this was all news to him. Axel had never talked about boyfriends – only girlfriends. Roxas didn't give a fuck what anyone thought about his preferences. He'd never had a reason to hide the fact from anyone. But Axel had left last night without turning into a wolf at the door, leaving Roxas severely disappointed.

Coffee in hand, Roxas made to leave the lunch room and head back to his desk. It was going to be a long day. He'd already had to deal with some cranky lady shouting about how she abhorred robotic cats being used in cat food commercials instead of real cats. Did it really matter so much? Apparently to some people it did.

Before he could reach the door it was already opening. His hand clenched around his paper coffee cup and he froze on instinct. Riku, his hand still resting on the door knob stopped, too. A second passed for what felt like eternity to Roxas as they stared each other down. What the hell was with this guy? Was he really the one who was…?

"Roxas, could I talk to you?" Riku said quietly. He didn't wait for Roxas to answer. He quickly looked back out into the hallway, then stepped inside and pulled the door closed. The doors lock clicked into place.

Roxas' feet were already moving before he was fully aware of it. Without turning his back to the other man, he stepped backwards and quickly to the right. The lunch room's table now between him and Riku. His last defence would be the scalding hot coffee in his hand. If Riku tried to get anywhere near him he was getting first degree burns to the face.

Riku watched all this calmly from his position in front of the door, Roxas' behaviour apparently not coming as a surprise to him.

"Look, you don't have to be so defensive," Riku raised his hands in a placating manner. "I won't keep you for long, I just wanted to –"

"Are you the one who's been calling me? Following me?" Roxas cut him off angrily. "Why were you just sitting in Consuela's by yourself last night?"

For a brief moment Riku looked genuinely confused, before realisation at what Roxas was accusing him of took over. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What, no, I was waiting for my brother."

"Then why have you been staring at me so much?" Roxas argued, his voice rising in volume. "Every time I see you, you're looking at me like you want to kill me!"

"Yeah, cause I'm shit at this stuff alright?" Riku blustered out. He jerked one of his hands through his hair in exasperation. "I just wanted to ask you about the guy that brought you donuts last week – he was short, with messy brown hair – I think it was last Wednesday."

It was Roxas' turn to be confused. Where the hell was this conversation going? He wasn't dropping his guard just yet. "…Are you talking about Sora?"

Riku looked relieved that Roxas and he were finally getting onto the same page. "I don't know his name, but he was really happy…with big blue eyes," he added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, that sounds like Sora. He's my cousin," Roxas supplied shortly. "What about him?"

Riku had the nerve to look slightly embarrassed. "This is going to come off weird no matter how I say it, but do you think you could give him my number?"

Roxas stared. This was why the guy had been staring at him and freaking him out? He'd been trying to work up the courage to ask him about Sora?

"You want me to give him your number?" He repeated slowly. Honestly he was a bit dumbfounded.

"Tell him my last name is Archer too…he can check me out on Facebook first if that'll make him more interested."

Roxas sagged visibly, the tension rushing out of him. A small laugh burst past his lips. "Yeah sure, I can do that."

Riku grinned too, feeling the previous atmosphere dissipate completely. "Oh, shut up, don't give me that."

Now Roxas really laughed. "What – can't get a date? Gotta resort to picking up coworkers' relatives?"

Riku quirked a cocky grin. "I honestly thought he might be your boyfriend, so this went a lot smoother than I anticipated."

"Yeah, could've got ugly real quick," Roxas replied. But he was thinking for an entirely different reason…

"Alright, I'll give him your number and throw in a good word for you. He's a bit of a space cadet, but he's a good guy. He'll let you down easy," he teased.

"Yeah, yeah." Riku rolled his eyes. "But thanks." He turned and unlocked the door, but paused before opening it. "What did you mean about me calling you?" He frowned. "Is someone harassing you?"

Roxas shook his head as he walked around the table heading towards the door. "Yeah, someone's been calling me nonstop, at all hours. It's doing my head in." He paused. "It's been going on for a while now, so when I started noticing you staring at me, I thought maybe you were behind it. I'm sorry I accused you."

"Don't worry about it…I realised I was probably freaking you out when you practically ran out of Consuela's yesterday."

Roxas snorted, but honestly the guy wasn't wrong.

"Have you told the police?" Riku continued, Roxas now standing beside him.

"I have, but without any physical evidence they can't do much. At least they're aware of it now, though."

Riku nodded and pulled the door open. "What is wrong with people these days? Maybe you should change your mobile number?"

Roxas had considered it, but man, what a hassle. His mobile number was connected to everything – his bank accounts, his memberships, all his relatives spread across the country…but it was definitely something he should look into if El Creepo's enthusiasm for tormenting him didn't let up.

"Yeah I might do that," he acquiesced. They walked down the corridor together, heading back to their respective cubicles. "Hey, give me your number before I get side tracked. I have to call Sora today anyhow."

"How could I forget?" Riku grinned. Roxas held out his phone and Riku dutifully punched in his number.

-0-

On his lunch break, Roxas called Sora.

As he waited for his cousin to answer, Roxas thought about Riku. He wasn't the guy harassing him after all – a complete dead end. He supposed that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it sure didn't help any either. The ringing stopped as the call connected.

"Bout time you called me back! I needed you yesterday, man!" Sora all but shouted down the line. Roxas moved the phone away from his ear.

"Sorry, I was really caught up with work," Roxas lied. "What did you want anyway?"

He heard Sora sigh explosively. "Goofy and I needed one more player for footy tryouts! We ended up convincing Donald instead, even though all he did was grumble about it. But it all worked out in the end."

Sora was never without his two best friends, Goofy and Donald. Roxas had only met them once. Donald was short and grumpy, Goofy tall and, well – goofy! He couldn't remember the guys' real name though.

"I would've said no anyway, I hate running around – you know this." Roxas wasn't lazy per se, but organised sports just weren't his thing. Sora on the other hand, could never get enough. He was constantly signing up for triathlons and odd challenges like badminton comps. He was a bundle of energy, and made friends wherever he went.

Sora had been over the moon when Roxas had moved to Hollow Bastion. He'd taken him around, shown him the sights and the best places to eat. Despite their energy levels and interests being drastically different they'd always been close friends. Just because they were cousins didn't mean they had to get along.

"It was worth a try. I was going to beg till I was blue in the face." Roxas could just imagine the pout Sora would've been sporting right now.

"Anyway Sora, are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

"No, I'm not! What, are you gonna set me up with someone?" He joked. Sometimes Roxas didn't think Sora was as airheaded as he made himself out to be.

"Yeah, a guy I work with saw you in here last week bringing me donuts – said he really liked your ass – I mean eyes." Roxas grinned like an idiot. Hey, he could have fun with this.

"Wait, no way! What's this guy look like? Does he have silver hair? Greeny-blue eyes?" Sora sounded excited.

"Yeah, Riku Archer is his name. How'd you know? He wants me to give you his number."

"Holy crap! I can't believe this!" Sora screamed into his ear. "I was checking him out, too! This is so great!"

Roxas laughed. "Okay, calm down. At least let him buy you dinner first before you throw him down somewhere." What were the odds that they were both checking each other out?

"Oh man this is gotta be fate – we were destined to be together," Sora squealed. Roxas just rolled his eyes. Here we go with the destiny thing again. Sora was a big fan of fated happenings, and what not. Roxas just thought it was a bunch of nonsense.

"Yep, it's wicked ol' fate again – shut up and let me give you his number," Roxas rushed out, talking over Sora's enthusiastic babble.

Sora quietened down instantly. He made a small humming noise of excitement as Roxas rattled off Riku's phone number.

"I can't wait," Sora said breathlessly. Roxas kind of felt sorry for Riku. The guy had no idea what he was getting himself into.

"I gotta get back to work." Roxas said reluctantly. His lunch break was just about finished. "But don't skimp on the details."

"No worries, Rox, see ya!"

-0-

The rest of the day passed without incident. Roxas answered his work phone always expecting silence on the other end, but the stalker never called – not even to his mobile. He briefly wondered if this was a good sign. Perhaps the guy was getting bored? He fervently hoped that it wasn't just the calm before the storm.

He pulled his car into his driveway just as the last rays of sunlight slipped past the horizon. It was twilight and darkness was falling rapidly. He stepped out of the small car and made sure it was locked. His skin prickling unpleasantly Roxas walked quickly down the driveway to grab his mail before heading up the stairs and onto the porch, unlocking the two locks on the front door. He felt nervous for some reason, and really wished he'd just gone over to Axel's tonight like his friend had wanted him to. Stepping inside, he turned the deadbolt in the door, feeling slightly better. That's right, he had to remind himself, no one could get in here now – not with the new locks in place.

He was safe.

He walked through the dim hallway into the kitchen and flicked on the light. There on the kitchen counter, sitting innocently enough, was a single, white envelope.

His eyes immediately flicked around the room, his shoulders tense. No one had keys to his place except Axel…so maybe his friend had left the envelope for him. His heart sunk into his stomach. He was lying to himself and his body knew it. Axel wouldn't do this; he would have let him know, or just given him whatever it was in person.

Roxas chewed at his fingernail for a moment, deciding what would be the best course of action. What if there was poison inside – like anthrax? …Or maybe razor blades? His eyes scanned each window and door in turn as he continued chewing on his nail.

Was he being watched?

The silence of the house pressed in on him, and all his eyes could focus on was that damned, white envelope.

"Fuck it," he breathed out, dropping his laptop bag, keys and phone on the counter before reaching for the source of his torment. It wasn't sealed. Roxas flipped up the lip of the opening before pulling out a single piece of firm paper folded once. It was rectangular, and as he unfolded it, he could feel the tell-tale glossy sheen of a photograph against his fingers.

It was a photograph.

A photograph of him.

That wasn't even the worst part as Roxas tried to comprehend exactly what he was holding between his shaking fingers. He looked down with disbelieving eyes and recognised himself in the photo, sleeping peacefully in his own bed. His features were lit up harshly by the artificial light of a camera's flash. He read the time stamp in the corner of the photo three times before finally letting the numbers sink in.

It was yesterday's date. Which would mean…he thought he'd dreamt that flash of white light.

Roxas slammed the photo down onto the counter as his stomach heaved violently. A hand flew up to crush desperately over his mouth.

He'd been in the house last night – the deadbolts had done nothing. He'd stood over Roxas and taken a photo, and Roxas had actually woken up when the flash had gone off.

He'd woken up, and the guy had still been in his room.

Roxas choked down a whimper. Tears borne of terror pricked at the corners of his eyes.

Ring…ring. Ring…ring.

"No…" he choked out, his home phone ringing ominously.

He knew who would be on the other end.

Ring…ring. Ring…ring.

Roxas snapped. His shaking fingers leapt out at the ringing phone and wreathed it from its cradle. He crushed it to his ear.

"Please – stop! Why are you doing this? I can't take it anymore!" He shouted desperately into the receiver. Silence was his answer, but he knew the man was there. Just listening quietly…revelling in Roxas' fear.

"Please stop this!" he begged. "What do you want from me!?"

"I'm coming for you, Roxas." He heard a harsh voice whisper.

"I'm coming for you."

Roxas hurled the phone away from him with all of his strength. It smashed into the wall opposite and clattered loudly against the tiled floor. His eyes never left the phone as he backed away from it, his senses flooded with fear.

His back hit the wall as his knees gave way beneath him. He slowly slid down the wall, his legs splaying out in front of him. He continued to stare at the phone, his eyes glassy and almost unseeing.

The green light was still on. The call was still active.

"Rrrrrrrrr….."

The house was so silent and still. The voice on the phone reverberated across the tiled floor.

"Rrroxassss…."