Some time after Roxas had called Axel and proceeded to sit in his room reading, a thought occurred. Where did Axel live? In Roxas's giddy, girlish phone call and afterglow he'd forgotten to ask the redhead. This led to another call with the same repeated greeting.

"Yeah, Axel, it's Roxas again. I forgot to ask where you lived."

He could hear laughter on the other side of the line, then: "631 Jade Avenue. My house is the brick one with blue shutters." At Roxas's comment (which had been a sarcastic "wow that totally doesn't clash") Axel explained. "My mom picked 'em out, don't ask."

"I see." Roxas smiled, fiddling with the corner of the page in his book. It was numbered 63; Roxas hadn't gotten too far yet, but it seemed like an interesting read. It was fantasy -- something Olette had lent him. "Twilight," she had called it. "It's a really good read! I think you'll like it," she had told him. Since there was nothing better to do, Roxas had chosen to read it.

"Yeah, anyway, come by then. Catch you later, Rox."

And so, the next day, Roxas had come by. He stood uneasily in front of the door, having brought study materials and expected to be greeted by Axel's mother or father or brother or someone. After he'd rung the doorbell he was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the redhead himself.

"I see you're the type who likes to be fashionably late," Axel commented as he stepped aside for Roxas to enter.

"Eeehh, I had a little trouble finding your house," Roxas commented as he took his shoes and socks off. "There's another house with bright blue shutters and brick so I thought it was you."

Axel laughed again; it was soft and pleasing to Roxas's ears. "I didn't think anyone would have the same eye for color that my mother does." He began to lead Roxas into the living room, where there were books and papers and pencils placed.

"Wait, you actually invited me over to study?" Roxas asked, surprised. He set his bag down on the couch and looked incredulously at Axel.

Axel returned Roxas's look with a confused one of his own. "Yes, I did. Did you think I had some...else...in mind?" He then gave a devious grin that made Roxas feel the butterflies that had set up shop in his stomach take flight. That grin was the first hint Axel gave.

"Well, y--no! I didn't!" He quickly averted his gaze and changed the subject, clambering onto the couch. "So, um, what do you wanna do first?"

It was then that Axel made his second hint. "Biology is always a good subject." He then flopped down on his couch, taking up two thirds of the couch and resting his head against Roxas's leg.

Roxas coughed. "Uh, how about we start with algebra first?" He received an "Algebra is fine too" and Axel reached over and grabbed two books. Everything then was quiet, save for a few questions from Axel and answers from Roxas -- regarding, of course, algebra.

Though Roxas had protested before, sort of, he had actually looked forward to more than studying. Bookish though he could occasionally be the blond didn't enjoy studying all the time, and Jesus Christ, he wanted some action...or...something. Even he wasn't sure what he wanted.

So it was that this went on for at least a half-hour longer, with Roxas becoming increasingly more bored, until Axel sat up and went to the kitchen for snacks. "You want something?" He asked, lingering at the door.

"Yeah." Roxas immediately stood up and followed Axel into the kitchen, where Axel told him to take anything he wanted -- just not all of his particular poison. Roxas started looking through the fridge and found something he had a particular fondness for: whipped cream in a can. And just to his luck, there were two cans; one was full and unopened, with the other having about a third or fourth left. Roxas plucked it out of the fridge and asked if he could have it. Axel answered yes, his back turned towards Roxas. Apparently he was having some sort of sandwich or something? Roxas couldn't see.

"Come back to the living room when you're ready," he called to Axel as he went back and flopped over the couch, sticking out his tongue and squirting a dollop of whipped cream onto it. Axel came back in shortly after and seated himself on the couch with a...peanut-butter-and-banana-sandwich? What? Roxas frowned.

"Okay, my brother Sora eats burned bagels like they were candy and now you eat..." Roxas gestured vaguely at Axel's food, "...that?"

Axel nodded and took a small bite. "It's good," he said after he swallowed it. "You should try it."

Roxas eyed the food skeptically but held out his hand, into which Axel placed the fruity-nutty sandwich. Roxas squirted a small amount of whipped cream on it --because whipped cream always improved everything, in Roxas's opinion-- and took a bite. It was...weird, to say the least. Sort of salty, thanks to the crunchy peanuts in the peanut butter, but more sweet than anything. The whipped cream was mostly drowned out, but was still sort of noticeable if you looked.

"So? You like it?" Axel asked with a grin. Roxas took another bite in response. "Hey, don't eat it all! It's mine!" Roxas pushed Axel away with his feet, observing the whipped cream can in one hand and munching on the peanut-butter-and-banana-sandwich that was in the other. Axel pulled away, pleased with this defiance. It only made the challenge more satisfying to overcome.

Axel grabbed one of Roxas's feet and pulled Roxas in closer, making the smaller teen drop Axel's sandwich as well as the can of whipped cream -- a dollop of which there remained on Roxas's lip. He looked leeringly at that drop of cream -- and this was the third hint Axel gave.

Of course, at this point, there was no denying what was imminent. Axel pulled Roxas onto his lap, at which point Roxas immediately stiffened, forgetting the sandwich, and immediately pressed his lips against Roxas's, trailing his tongue around the corners of Roxas's mouth and licking up the whipped cream.

Roxas's face lit up in a flush as Axel did this, but he didn't fight it. Instead he pressed back, opening his mouth slightly and let Axel's tongue touch his own, which sent a shiver up Roxas's spine. He felt Axel's hands go up his shirt, and immediately pulled away. They were making out! In Axel's living room! Roxas voiced this comment, murmuring, "What if your parents walk in?" to which Axel immediately shook his head.

"My parents are out at church shit -- they always are on Sundays. Don't worry," he said in a soothing voice. Roxas wasn't prepared for Axel to push him down on the couch, kissing him as they went. Unprepared, yes -- but it was certainly a pleasant surprise. He responded by lifting up Axel's shirt slightly and feeling his smooth chest and stomach. Axel made a small noise of approval and Roxas continued his motions, allowing Axel to do the same. He felt a shudder go up his spine as ran his fingers lightly across Roxas's skin, and Roxas opened his eyes slightly to meet with Axel's green ones. A sudden thought ran through the blonde's mind.

"Axel, I wanna see you... without a shirt," Roxas whispered, suddenly averting his gaze. He had expected Axel to laugh and maybe remove Roxas's own shirt, but instead the redhead moved back and pulled the article off swiftly tossing it aside to reveal a pale, smooth chest -- a chest that Roxas was sure he would see in his dreams. His eyes trailed across it, taking in every detail, and then traveled to the redhead's toned stomach. As he stared he noted the belly button placed perfectly in the center, with a slight muscle definition that was oh-so-delightful. And then it was that Roxas's blue eyes caught sight of the one flaw on Axel's body.

A long, thin, white stripe on Axel's left side. It was slightly jagged in one spot, and ran horizontally from halfway across Axel's stomach to past his hip.

Roxas's eyebrows immediately furrowed; that looked like a scar. Axel moved back down to continue with his actions, but Roxas pushed him away. "Axel, no -- where did you get this?" He asked as he ran a thumb across the stripe.

Axel looked downward, confused at first, but then recognition flickered in his eyes. A grim darkness quickly passed across his face, but then his smile returned and he looked back at Roxas. "Accidents, babe," he purred. "Forget about it." He moved closer once more.

Roxas immediately scooted back. "No, Axel, I wanna know." He paused for a moment, looking serious. "Tell me now."

Axel sat back on the couch and sighed. "Fine, but it's a long story." The look on his face made it seem like he wanted to add and a boner-killer.

"So a while back I went out with this chick -- her name was Larxene." Roxas wasn't too surprised to hear that -- he'd seen Axel with guys and girls and it kinda seemed like he'd tap anyone as long as they were hot. The back of Roxas's head began to warm, thinking that if Axel came across someone more attractive than he was Axel would move on. He was about to say something but Axel cut him off.

"Things were pretty good with her. She was real hot, but the problem was she was kinda...crazy." Axel saw Roxas about to object, and continued. "Not just 'my-ex-girlfriend's-crazy' crazy, but actually not mentally well. I think she was bipolar or some crazy shit, I dunno -- but she wasn't right in the head, that's for fuckin' sure."

Axel paused and adjusted himself on the couch. "She'd get upset at little things, and I mean really upset. Like throw-things-at-me upset." An unreadable look passed over Axel's face as he paused, then said, "But she'd always make up with me, and she would mean it, too. That's why I stayed with her, because she always seemed sorry afterward, so I knew she cared."

Axel then sighed and grabbed his shirt which had landed on the table, sensing that the moment was over. "But it all went bad one morning after I'd stayed over at her place."

"It was while I was making coffee. She was sitting at the table and said something about something--" At which point Roxas laughed and said, "Yeah, totally not vague." Axel looked at him with grim amusement. "I don't remember too much from then. I'll tell you why I don't. Apparently whatever I'd said hadn't flown with Larxene -- pissed her off, you know? So while I had my back turned, making the coffee, she grabbed the scissors or a knife or something and got me right here." Axel placed his right hand over the old wound.

Roxas, meanwhile, had gone from disapproved --of Axel staying with a nutty girl just because making up with her was good-- to wide-eyed shock. "Wh...she did that to you...?" Roxas could hardly believe it; what could he have said that was so nasty?

Axel nodded, a look of hurt in his eyes that refused to meet Roxas's gaze. "Yeah. She cut me pretty deep too, and I ended up lying on the kitchen floor bleeding for a while. I don't think I passed out, but things were kinda out of focus for a little while. I think one of her friends came over and found me there and called an ambulance. When I came around, I had a bunch of stitches in my side and I was in the hospital."

Roxas was, at this point, pretty much speechless. What to say to that? It was even worse than when Axel first came to Roxas's house. It was another awkward situation where a person couldn't really say more than 'gee, sorry it sucked so hard.' Silence fell like a curtain around the two until Roxas finally broke it.

"Uh...wow," he muttered, fiddling his fingers. Axel snorted in response.

"'Wow'? That's all you've got to say?"

"No! But... what happened after that?" Roxas gestured vaguely with his hands.

Axel leaned back on the couch. "Not much. Larxene skipped town after that, and as much as I liked her, I was not willing to go through that shit again. Took weeks to heal up."

Roxas immediately felt a sharp pang of fear, though he tried to stifle it. "You mean, she's still out there?"

"I...yeah, I guess so. But don't worry," Axel quickly insisted. "She's long gone." His expression softened into a smile at Roxas's expression. "C'mon, Rox, don't worry. It's an old story and an old wound."

Roxas crawled into Axel's lap and laid his head on Axel's shoulder. "I don't like seeing wounds on you, Ax...even if they are old."

Axel wrapped his arms around the smaller teen. "I know." He put a small peck on Roxas's forehead, bringing a smile to both of their faces.


A/N: Yes, yes, I edited this, if you're curious, taking out that last bit. -ahem- Anyway, epilogue should be up soon, and I'm sorry to anyone who was disappointed by this change.