Author's Note: Ok, not as Akuroku as I may have promised. But I have decided one thing. Up until now, I've been writing less to get chapters out faster. I'm going to start making them longer, but they will take longer to come out. Anyway, this chapter marks the start of Axel and Roxas' proper relationship. Sparks will be flying soon. WHAT SORT OF SPARKS THOUGH? DUN DUN DUN. Yeah... All your reviews are belong to me.

Roxas woke up on saturday morning and instantly turned around to check his alarm clock. 6:45. What? Why am I up this early? I normally don't wake up until 9. Roxas thought as he got out of bed. Roxas was one of those people who once they woke up, couldn't get back to sleep no matter what. So he crept downstairs and into the living room, and sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. Nothing interesting, so he did the boring routines of the morning. It was around 8:00 AM when the rest of the family woke up. Sora walked into the living room and gave a fake gasp. "Roxas? Is that you?" Sora asked with a fake gasp. Roxas rolled his eyes and then headed back up the stairs to get something from his bedroom. When he was rummaging through his drawers, his phone rang. It was an tune with japanese lyrics. He span around and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Roxas asked into the reciever.

"Ah, Blondie! You're up, great. You ready to go soon?" Axel asked, a grin obvious from the voice emitting through the phone.

"What? This early? It's only-"

"8 AM, I know. Want me to pick you up?" Axel asked. Roxas stopped for a moment. Axel had a car? Cool, was what went through his mind at first, but then he wondered if it was a good idea to get into a car with someone he'd only known for a short while. It wasn't that he didn't trust Axel, but it just seemed... wierd. Let's add that to the collection of wierd things.

"Sure... Just let me get ready... And I need to tell my mum where I'm going and everything!" Roxas replied happily. He was genuinely excited for the first time in ages. Axel laughed.

"Righty-o, Rox... Fifteen minutes sound good to you?"

"Ah... Yeah. See you soon."

"Bye." Axel said as he hung up. Roxas did the same and then apporached his wardobe to get ready. He had alot of clothes, but he always ended up wearing his jacket out and all of his other now 'trademark' clothes. It was only Axel... nothing special. So he changed out of his pajamas and then went downstairs. "Mum?" Roxas called out as he entered the kitchen. She was washing up.

"Yesss, honey?" She replied, cheery as always.

"I'm... going out with a friend. He'll be here to pick me up in a few minutes." Roxas said as he grabbed a banana and started eating it. He'd need more than a banana, but there wasn't time to eat anything large. His mum looked at him with a widening grin on her face. Roxas stared back at her mid-chew.

"... O...K, Roxas... When will you be back?" She asked, turning back to her washing.

"I don't know. Before dark." Roxas estimated before throwing the banana peel into the bin. He heard a car pull up outside, and his mum spying through the blind was a dead clue that it was Axel. His mum probably thought it was strange that he was going out on the weekend because... he never did, besides going out with Hayner and his other friends. But that was out of the window. Roxas had never told his mum about Axel either, so she didn't know who he was going out with. He could tell she was still grinning as he said his goodbyes to the house and went outside to greet Axel, who was leaning on the side of his car. Roxas had expected a cheap car. Boy, was he wrong. Well, he wasn't totally wrong. It wasn't cheap, but at the same time it wasn't exactly what you might call a top of the range sports car.

It was black, with a streamlined shape, but to be honest, it looked a bit... dusty, to say the least. "Hey, Blondie!" Axel yelled as he waved at the blonde. See, in pretty much every other place, the legal driving age is eighteen. But in Radiant Garden, it's sixteen. Nobody really knows why. Roxas walked up to the car and ran his finger over the bonet of the care and made his way to the door.

"Axel, why is this car so dirty?" Roxas asked as he examined the inside through the window. Axel laughed.

"That's because I never clean it, duh. Anyway, we're not supposed to be at... the special place for another hour and half. Have you eaten?" Axel asked as he opened the car door for Roxas and then walked over to the right of the car where the drivers seat was. Roxas climbed in. It smelled of new car.

"Only a banana. Why?"

"Because we're going to Starbucks." Axel smirked as he started to reverse onto the street. It was only a 5 minute drive to Starbucks, and the drive was spent with Axel asking Roxas about his type of music. "Hey, Blondie."

"What?" Roxas said as he stared out of the window.

"What sort of music d'ya like?"

"Err... Let's see... Ever heard of a band called The GazzetE?"

"No. They sound funny, though. Isn't that the name of a newspaper?" Roxas rolled his eyes at this comment.

"No. I'm not suprised you haven't heard them, they're Japanese. A J-rock band."

"Oh, ok."

"What about you?"

"Ah, just mainstream crap." Axel said with a small shrug.

"Really." Roxas said, somehow not believing him one bit. Before Axel could give a proper reply, they arrived at Starbucks. Axel jumped out of the car and waited for Roxas to get out aswell before locking it. Roxas decided not to push the subject as they went in. They approached the counter, Axel commenting on the fact that the shop seemed to be a bit empty today, as only a few tables had people occupying them. A woman almost immediately adressed them.

"Hi there. What would you like?"

"We'd like... two coffee's... and... 2 breakfast combos." Axel said with a smile. The woman went back to get them. Axel was glad they'd started doing food other than buns cakes and biscuits.

"I like how you assume I want them." Roxas said with a sigh.

"You don't?"

"Oh, I do. I'm just amazed at how... Ah, it doesn't matter." Roxas spoke as the woman came back with their stuff. Axel insisted on paying for Roxas, and after much protest, Roxas let him. They found a table, which was easy, and sat down. Axel was the first to speak as he handed over half of the stuff to Roxas.

"We get on pretty well, eh, Blondie?" Axel remarked as he blew his coffee.

"...I suppose we do..." Roxas replied as he bit into the bacon sandwich that came with the breakfast combo. Why the hell did they call it a combo when it's just a sandwich? "Well, let's take that as a good sign."

"Hm. Hey, just out of interest. You have any piercings?" Axel asked, tilting his head as he too bit into his sandwich. Roxas shook his head.

"I wouldn't mind getting my ears pierced, but it looks like it hurts."

Axel grinned at this and put his sandwich down and then reached towards the hair covering his ears. He pulled it back to reveal two red studs poking out of his ear. "It doesn't hurt that much, to be honest. You just have to wait a while and then they might as well not be there. Well, that's not true. You know what I mean."

Roxas nodded and swallowed. "Well, I dunno. Aren't earrings, like, expensive?" Roxas asked. Axel shrugged.

"Depends. If you just get plain ones, then no, they don't cost that much. But they can get pricey, yeah." Axel looked at his watch. Good, still an hour left to talk with Roxas. And they did talk. After they finished their conversation and Axel had Roxas promise to get his ears pierced eventually, they talked about other things. Both of them liked it, too. But, the conversation eventually went a bit sour.

"Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"You know... alot of people know about you being bi."

"I know."

"I fell out with one of my friends because I was hanging around you. He's a big homophobe."

"Oh... Well, then... I don't want to pull you away from your friends."

"No, Axel. If he gets so tetchy over it, then maybe it's best I hang out with you more."

"Roxas..." There was an awkward silence. "Oh, look at the time. We'd best be headed towards the sk- the special place." Axel said as he stood up and put their rubbish in the bin. Roxas couldn't help but wonder why Axel kept saying 'the special place'. They headed back outside and got in the car. Axel then started driving somewhere Roxas had never really been before, so the scenery was unfamiliar with him.

"Where are we going, Axel?" Roxas asked. "I've never seen this place before."

"We're in Chimney Heights. If you just look straight ahead..." Axel trailed off as he grinned. Roxas squinted ahead and saw what appeared to be a skate park.

"A skate park? Is that the special place?"

"Yeah. It's special because it's where I first met Demyx, and some of my other friends. They're all gonna be here too, so you'd better be ready for a big... uh, welcome." Axel pulled up at the edge of the park and proceeded to lock the car. Roxas looked over the skate park. There were very few people there, and the people who were there crowded around a couple of benches in one corner. "There they all are." Axel said as he descended the large staircase that lead into the park.

The group of two that were down at the benches turned around, and one of them waved while the other just looked there way. "Hey, where's Zexxers?" Axel shouted over.

Who the hell is Zexxers? These guys are insane... Was what Roxas thought as soon as Axel shouted that. The two groups merged.

"Zexion decided to stay home. He was feeling ill, apparently. Hey, is that the Roxas kid?" A pink haired teen asked. He was wearing a pink hoodie to match, and some scuffed jeans. The other teen, Demyx, was wearing the same, excep this hoodie was striped black and white. He suddenly felt a bit out of place when he noticed Axel was wearing some skinny dark jeans and a hoodie, too. Roxas wasn't wearing... any of them. He shrugged it off.

"Yeah, that's Blondie. Say hi, Blondie! This is Marluxia," Axel said, pointing at Marluxia, "and you know Demyx already."

"Hi..." Was all Roxas could really say. He never was one to be good at socialising, and he wasn't very good with these guys, for some reason. Why did they all intimidate him? And that's when he realised. He wasn't used to being friends with these type of people. They were drastically differrent to Hayner, Pence, Ollete and Sora. They were different people. He was just out of his comfort zone when it came to friends.

"Not much of a talker? Sort of like Axel when I first me him." Marluxia said as he twirled a black skateboard. Demyx tutted.

"Don't be so mean, Marlers. Now, Roxas. Do you know how to skate?" Demyx asked. Roxas shook his head.

"Want to learn?"

"Isn't it... dangerous?" Roxas asked with a look of uncertainty on his face. Demyx laughed.

"Yeah, I suppose... but that's not going to stop me teaching you how. Come on, you're going to learn." And with that, Roxas' fate was sealed. He spent the next 2 hours with Demyx and Axel teaching him how to skate with Marluxia occasionaly making a smart-ass remark. In the end, Roxas managed to get a basic grasp on it, but came out with multiple bruises and cuts. He sat down on one of the benches and sighed.

"Jesus... that's... tiring... and it hurts..." He puffed out. Axel laughed and slapped him on the back.

"Ya get used to it. Look, let's just watch those guys do it. I'm pretty beat myself." Axel said as he sat down next to Roxas. While Roxas was watching the others do incredibly complex tricks and stunts, Axel noticed Roxas' hair. Wow, he has good hair... Roxas turned around and was about to speak when his eyes met with Axel's. Neither of them turned away. Roxas blushed greatly, but he didn't look away. Axel was leaning in, and Roxas was about to, when Marluxia came upto them.

"Axel! Get here, now." He yelled as he didn't wait for Axel to obey, but instead grabbed his hood. Demyx was watching from afar with his hand covering his mouth. He pushed him over out of Roxas' hearing range. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know... He didn't-"

"That doesn't mean he likes you..." Marluxia said as Axel sighed.

"I know that, idiot. Let me go apologise." Axel said as he headed back over to the bench. Roxas had stood up and looked ready to leave. "Hey, where you going?"

"Home... I need to think."

"But you don't know this neighbourhood."

"I can remember how to get home. Bye." And with that, Roxas walked towards those stairs and was gone. Marluxia silently watched as Axel sat down.

On the way home, Roxas had a hard time thinking. What the hell was that? Oh... God... I don't like Axel that way. We're just friends, right...? That was his fault. What just happened was hit fault.

"Hey, Roxas." A familiar voice called out from behind him. Roxas turned around to see... Hayner.

"What do you want?"

"I saw you down there with the fags."

"So? Stop calling them names."

"And I saw that you're turning into a fag, too." Hayner said, ignoring the 'name' request.

"Fuck off, Hayner. I need to think." More...

Yeah, whatever. You've already gone too far. You'll end up being gay too, if you aren't careful. I thought I could trust you, Roxas, but I was wrong." Hayner said with a cringe and a shake of his head before he walked off. Roxas was in a predicament. The rest of the way home, Roxas tried to formulate a plan. He decided he needed to make sure Axel knew they were just friends... and with that, Roxas entered his house and spent the rest of the night thinking about Axel... Because Axel was on his mind, and Axel was the only person he could really think about. He couldn't really get to sleep that night, but then Axel sent him a text.

'Roxas, i'm sorry about earlier. please dont be mad'

And Roxas smiled. He had to reply.

'it's fine. how about we meet up tommorow?'

And Axel replied...

'o, cool! where and when?'

And so did Roxas.

'My house... 10 AM.'

'great! see you tommorow blondie!'

Roxas smiled and flipped his mobile off. He put on the side of his dresser and snuggled into bed. Maybe he did like Axel a bit... but he'd never admit it. Would he? Roxas knew that these past few days were the start of their friendship, and he hoped it would be a long one. What he didn't know was that they were the start of their relationship, and the start of something good.