"Will you go out with me?"

What?!

The only thing Axel could do was stare. Roxas was sitting casually against the chained fence that ran around the edge of the roof. Just sitting there, his perfect hair looking perfect even while blowing around in the wind, acting as though he hadn't asked out someone he barely knew.

Yeah sure, they had already made out and everything, but people randomly make out all the time. In movies. And, not to get him wrong, Axel thought Roxas was hot.. He was undeniably attractive, a fact which had lead to this whole kissing business to begin with.

However.

Axel didn't like how this kid blew him off. Just walked off, while everyone, from the tiniest freshman to the 20 year old senior, has witnessed the sex god of the school be humiliated. He didn't like the smirks he got in the hallways from his peers, or all the gossiping about his failure. Everyone had seen him scamming on the new kid, and they then saw the new kid leave mid-make out.

And here he was, looking at Axel with expectant blue eyes, chewing on his pouty bottom lip……

Axel stood up and brushed his pants off where he had been sitting.

"Sorry, I don't date." This technically wasn't a lie, since Axel hadn't properly dated anyone since Larxene Taylor in the sixth grade.

He started to walk to the door that lead to the staircase, when he felt a hand on his elbow.

"Why not?", Roxas growled.

The redhead turned around, and flicked Roxas on the nose. "Because, I like variety, if you know what I mean. Anyways, see ya."

And Axel turned on his heel, disappearing down the stairs.

The outfield of the baseball pitch during P.E. hardly ever saw much action, seeing as if anyone actually managed to hit the ball, it never made it much past the pitcher. This made it a perfect place to hold conversations. Or, in Sora's case, to cheer up his new friend.

"C'mon Roxas, I'm sure Axel will come around. I mean, personally, I've never seen him date anyone, but you can't give up just because it's unlikely!"

Roxas pouted. "You aren't doing a particularly good job of making me feel better."

The brunette grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just, I've been going to school with Axel for years, and I've never know him to be the nicest of people. He thinks because he's a little attractive, and people fall over him all the time, he rules the school. And he thinks he's a punk or something, but he's not even in a band! You can't dress like that if you're not in a band!"

Axel did dress with more chains in his attire than was normal. Not to mention the piercings, and the tattoos. Come to think of it, Axel was very different from what Roxas normally would be attracted to. He didn't even know exactly why he was so fixated on him. However, his body was reacting to the redhead, and it had to be for some reason. One he intended to figure out.

Sora's excited voice brought him out of his reverie. "Maybe you asked him out too soon. You spooked him! It's like a horse, you can't just run up and pet it, you have to gently approach them, then you tame the beast! You have to tame Axel!"

Roxas' lips quirked upwards. "Let me guess. Learning Shakespeare in English at the moment?"

Sora deflated a bit. "Yeah, we're reading The Taming of the Shrew. Which is where I might have got the idea, but credit goes to me to applying it to the current situation, ok? So, just try to be his friend, tame him, then catch him! Though if you get the herp, don't say I didn't tell you so. Because he has been around—"

"He does not have a sexually transmitted disease, thank you." I would have smelled it in his blood if he did. "I am going to take your idea into consideration, and if it succeeds, you will be rewarded thus."

Blue eyes rolled. "You don't have to give me a prize for friendly advice, Rox. Unless the prize is a paopu smoothie, then feel free."

Roxas was about to reply when he heard the sharp crack of the baseball hitting the wood of the bat. The blonde quickly calculated the ball's trajectory, took two steps to the right, lifted his arm straight above his head, and let the ball sail straight into his waiting glove. He threw the ball back in a graceful pitch, and turned to Sora with the intention of resuming their conversation. Sora, however, seemed rather stunned with his catch.

"Rox, are you good at everything? Seriously, you barely did anything and you still caught it!"

Roxas sighed and looked toward the track, where he could just make out the shock of red doing laps.

"I'm not good at catching everything, it seems."

Sora followed his gaze and groaned. "Look, if it means that much to you, I'll help you. Like, I'll try to ask his friends what he likes, you know, do some recon spy-stuff. If you need someone to make him jealous, we can, er, pretend to be...partners, even though I am not like that. I think."

The ideas both had merit. Although Roxas wasn't sure it would be all that believable that he and Sora were dating, he could still employ the boy to find out what Axel's interests were. He needed a solid foundation for the friendship part of the seduction. "Alright, try to find out as much as you can about him. If The Plan seems to be failing, then we launch into the second phase. However, maybe we won't use you as my decoy. I wouldn't want to drag you into this."

A look of relief flashed on Sora's face, but it quickly melted into an inquiring one. "Who would you use then? You could probably get Wakka to do it, if you bribed him with blitzball season tickets."

Roxas frowned, and looked out at the baseball field, where someone was running the bases. "If it gets to that point, I may call in an old …friend, who owes me a favor." For saving his life, then breaking my heart, but that is neither here nor there. Besides, Axel is worth resurrecting those ghosts.

Sora nodded, then squinted at Roxas. "Why go through all the trouble? You could have anyone in school. 'Cept me, of course."

The blonde toed his cleats into the soft green of the field. He could have Sora if he wanted, but he wasn't going to mention that. Instead he chose to say, "The prize holds as much value as the obstacles it takes to reach it."

The class was heading back into the building, and Sora flicked Roxas in the ear. "Ow, why did you feel the need to do that?" He rubbed his slightly stinging ear.

"You talk like an English professor, you know that?"

A pinch to Sora's side. "Do you always abuse those with good vocabulary and grammar?"

Tanned face stretched into a wide grin. "Only those I care about."

Roxas smiled. Sora was more than a simple convenience. He was becoming a friend.

Axel leaned against his mustang, smoking a clove cigarette. He was waiting for some guy (Tyler?) to meet him at his car. The kid had soccer last period, and had said he would be a few minutes after the bell. Axel took a long drag, and slowly exhaled, watching the smoke dissolve in the air. He briefly wondered what Roxas was doing, but quickly shoved that out of his mind when he heard someone shouting to him.

"Hey Axel!"

Tyler was running up to him, with some brunet kid trailing behind him.

"Hey Tyler—"

"—it's Tidus—"

"Whatever. Who's the kid?"

Tidus glanced at his companion. "My friend needs a ride home. I told him we would give him a ride on the way to your house. If that's okay."

It really wasn't okay, and Axel could feel a tick start by his eye, but he tried to remember the Calming Rules he learned in anger management classes. Besides, he was trying to get some with this Tidus kid, and it wouldn't help to yell at him.

"Yeah, it's fine. Get in."

Axel slipped into the drivers seat, and tried not to think about exactly why Tidus had caught his eye. It couldn't be because, in his peripheral vision, he had thought the boy was Roxas. Or that, if he squinted, the blurred picture looked like the blonde…..

When the others got situated, Axel put the key in the ignition, and the car purred to life.

Sora was duly impressed. The car looked expensive, and no doubt was, knowing Axel. Everyone knew Axel had money, which only helped his popularity. Sora was in the back seat of the sports car, while Tidus was in the front, trying to flirt with Axel. Sora had pretended to need a ride home when he overheard Tidus telling someone he was meeting Axel after school. This, of course, had been the perfect opportunity to enact The Plan.

After telling Axel his address, he started drilling the boy on what bands he liked, and helped himself to his CD case, which had been on the other side of the backseat.

Axel was a bit startled by the interrogation, but he always liked talking about himself, so he answered Sora's questions. Besides, he was cute, and when he got bored of Tidus, he could move on to the energetic boy.

The questions ended when they reached Sora's house, a modest two-story building with a hammock in the front. Tidus moved his seat up so Sora could scramble out of the tiny car.

"Thanks for the ride, Axel! I might need another one soon!" Sora ran to his front door.

Unable to help double entendre in his mind, Axel snickered. Tidus apparently understood what he was laughing about, and glared at him. "Do you like Sora or something?"

The jealous edge was evident, and if Axel wanted this night to end up productive, he needed to do damage control. "A kid like that? Nah. I'm glad he's finally gone; we can be alone now."

Tidus grinned in relief and started chatting as Axel pulled out of the driveway.

"Ok, so I made this playlist of songs Axel likes, so you can get familiar with them."

Sora had really gotten into The Plan, and had devoted careful time to create the playlist. Roxas put the earphone into his ear, and listened to the songs. Sora gauged the blonde's reactions to the music, which ranged from confused to contemptuous. After five minutes, Roxas handed the iPod back to Sora.

Sora looked hopefully at his friend. "So……what do you think?"

"Honestly? I can't believe trash like that is called music. How does anyone find this noise appealing?"

"Roxas! Axel loves this stuff! How can you tame him if you have nothing in common with him!"

Roxas sighed. "I will just have to hope he will be my friend for me, and not our interests. There must be other things he likes, besides," he glanced at the playlist, "Mindless Self Indulgence. What kind of a name is that anyway?"

"Well," Sora mumbled, "the only other thing I could gather was he loved his car, and he loves sex. Because that's what I'm pretty sure he did with Tidus after they dropped me off."

"What?!" Roxas gave a wild-eyed look to Sora. "Why did you omit that particular piece of information when you were telling me this to begin with?"

Sora looked sheepish. "I didn't want your feelings to be hurt."

"They aren't hurt, I'm just……so soon? He's already sleeping with other people?"

The tanned boy could see hurt in Roxas' face, despite the blonde's protests to the contrary. "I'm going to help you, whatever you decide, but I will tell you my opinions; Axel isn't a good boyfriend. I don't think he knows how to be. You just have to ask yourself if the potential pain is worth it."

Roxas bit his lip, and thought about green, green eyes. "Yes. I do believe he is worth it. I want to find out if I'm right."

A/N: Yay ok! Another chapter, who knew? I have a Twilight fic going on right now too, but I'm not really inspired on that one. I may delete it or re-write it or keep going. (if you like twilight, read it and lemme know!)

This one will continue to be updated fo sho, but only frequently if i get REVIEWS. Otherwise, who know when it will be updated? next week? NEXT YEAR? (not a real threat, since next year is like, two weeks away haha)

As always, thanks to my beta reader Melanie, who, genius that she is, has seen where this fic is going and still likes it for some reason. She is so smart, her helpful, funny comments always leave me feeling so lucky that I got a good reader! She doesn't make me feel stupid at all!

review kids.