"So...do you feel fit to go out and throw some snowballs yet?"

"I think I might have one more bowl of soup first," Demyx said cheekily, even though he was already full - he was just trying to grind Axel's gears a little more, after Axel had been grinding his and Roxas's gears all morning. "After all, I can't keep the leftovers indefinitely, and I wouldn't want to have to eat it the whole time I'm here just to get rid of it."

Axel looked like he was about to punch the wall. "Demyx...all right, if the soup means that much to you, Roxas and I can take it back to the castle with us when we leave. How does that sound? That way, you don't have to waste fridge space on it here and you don't have to throw it out when you leave. Because if you try to eat it all in one sitting like you are, by the time you finish lunch, we'll have to leave."

Demyx couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. "I would almost like to see myself try. But I can keep it out on the porch or something if I'm stuck for fridge space - it's cold enough that it should keep. Now shall we collect Roxas, bundle up, and get to pelting each other with snowballs?"

"Can't. Roxas is in the bathroom."

Demyx smacked his hands on the table in exasperation, wondering if this was a deliberate attempt to grind him just a little more. "Then why were you in an all-fired hurry for me to finish eating if we had to wait for him anyway? Don't answer that. Just get your coat and boots back on." He could hear Axel laughing as the redhead went out to the entryway to retrieve his robe and boots while Demyx dropped the dirty dishes off at the sink, too irate to feel like washing them right away. He was going to have to get him somehow.

As if on cue, the back of his head started throbbing dully. Not enough to really be a serious distraction, but enough to sharpen his temper. Axel was definitely in for it. Clenching his jaw slightly, he went over and knocked on the bathroom door. "I'll be out in a second," Roxas's voice answered from the other side.

"Good; then we can get the snowball fight started in a second," Demyx called back, not bothering to hide his impatience. There was a moment's silence, then the toilet flushed, water ran in the sink, and Roxas appeared, looking bright and eager and a little flustered. "Good time you made there," Demyx said, giving him a thumbs-up as he went to get his robe and boots on.

"I didn't want you to go out and bury Axel in snowballs before I had a chance to," Roxas said as he pulled on his own boots. "After all that crap about -"

"Like either of you would get a chance to bury me in snowballs," Axel declared loudly, posing in the door to the entryway with no winter wear but his robe and boots while the other two bundled themselves up. "It's a pipe dream, little brothers. I will kick both your asses, got it memorized?" Before either of them could come up with an appropriate retort, he was out the door, presumably to stockpile snowballs.

Demyx couldn't help but growl under his breath as he tightened his scarf a little. "He's gonna be one sorry son of a bitch when I'm through with him. And wet."

"If his video game tactics are anything to go by, he's busy finding a good ambush position," Roxas muttered. "Either we better get out there before he has time to find one, or we better be really wary."

"Hmph," was all Demyx said in response. As if Axel hadn't already been in for it. All right, where could Axel hide himself in suitable position for an ambush without going off the property? Demyx didn't exactly know his way around like the back of his hand, but he could think of a few likely places...and there was no such thing as a good ambush point from any direction... "Don't go outside yet," he cautioned Roxas as he started creeping through the house, peering out all the windows one by one. "I want to see if I can see where he is from inside."

Roxas blinked at him, then ducked down, out of sight of any of the windows. "Would be nice if you could do that in Team Fortress...if you do find him, what next? Are you going to use a portal to get the drop on him?"

"Nope. Neighbors just might be watching. What I do if and when I see him will depend entirely on where he is..." He couldn't see anything from either kitchen window or the bathroom window, so he crept across the living room floor, scanning the picture window carefully, and then sneaked into the bedroom, peering cautiously through the windows. When he saw a flash of brilliant red by the woodpile - this side of the woodpile - he couldn't help but smile thinly. "Found him," he called softly to Roxas. "He's behind the woodpile if you're looking at the woodpile from outside, but not from inside. And he's right under the overhang. All right, here's my plan; see what you think of it..."

Roxas liked the plan. It was swiftly put into motion. After a few minutes spent working out the details and making sure they both knew what they were supposed to be doing, Demyx opened the front door loudly and came stomping out with a gait unlike what was normal for him; Roxas sneaked out silently right behind him and immediately set to making snowballs. Trying not to laugh out loud, Demyx pulled a tiny directional microphone that was wirelessly connected to his hearing aids out of his pocket, pointed it at the corner of the house Axel was sure to come around soon, and called, in a voice distinctly not his own, "Any of you dudes hiding out here? This is kind of important!"

There was a moment's pause, and Axel could be heard grumbling under his breath - the directional mic worked great; it could even pick up footsteps crunching on snow. "All right, all right, I'm coming...Demyx will have y- mother fuck it!"

As every speck of snow on that side of the house slid off the roof and directly onto Axel, the outraged yelling was Roxas's cue to grab all the snowballs he could and run around the corner of the house, slinging at top speed; Demyx quickly pocketed the mic, grabbed the rest of the snowballs, and followed him. By the time he got there, Axel was already half-buried in snow, and the barrage of snowballs Roxas was pelting him with didn't help; he hadn't had time to premake too many, but he made them quickly, there was snow all around, and Axel wasn't fully recovered from the snow the roof had dumped on him yet. When Demyx started firing snowballs at him too, he was completely overwhelmed. "Stop! Stop!" he yelled, trying to protect his head with his arms. "I give! This isn't fair! If all the snow from the roof hadn't just fallen on me -" His face flushed bright red as Roxas and Demyx started laughing even harder at that, apparently picking up on the fact that the snow hadn't fallen of its own accord. "Oh, you motherfuckers. Where's Xigbar? Did he drop that shit on me, or did you just haul him in as a decoy? This is the kind of thing he'd find funny as hell..."

Roxas could barely stop laughing long enough to choke out a few words. "I dunno what you're talking about, Ax," he sputtered, and dissolved into giggles. "Xigbar was never here."

Axel's face was almost as red as his hair now, and Demyx could see the veins bulging in his temple. "What?! But - I heard him - I know I did - you can't mistake that voice - he said -"

Demyx laid a hand on Axe's shoulder, struggling to control his laughter but unable to suppress a grin. "I think you're hearin' shit, dude," he said in a flawless imitation of the Freeshooter's voice.

Axel's face turned almost purple, hearing that; Demyx was privately afraid that his head might explode. "You - you - fucking - son of a -"

Demyx was starting to get worried that Axel was about to turn to physical violence more substantial than throwing snowballs, but Roxas solved that problem his own way by shoving Axel down into the snow. "Cool down, fireball," he said before the outraged redhead had a chance to react. "You're going to set your hair on fire or something in a minute. Then you might set the cottage on fire, and Demyx would have to pay damages."

Axel lay silently in the snow, glaring poisonously up at the two of them, for several moments, as the brilliant red shade faded a little and his face resumed a more normal color. "You are a matched pair of assholes and I will get you for that sooner or later, got it memorized?" he announced finally, pointing up at them, then stood up slowly, brushing snow off his head and shoulders. "That was serious overkill, though. I mean, there's two of you and one of me, and how damn much snow did you dump on me?" He sighed and shook his head, then turned to go inside, pausing for one final announcement. "I will get you two for that...someday." With that, he stomped inside, presumably to try to get warm and dry again. Demyx was strongly tempted to exchange high-fives with Roxas in front of the window, but figured that might be a little too much salt in the wound. Besides - was Roxas going for more snowballs -? This meant war!


AN: Number 72, Mischief Managed. You know Axel was asking for it.