Axel seemed rather surprised when I told him the next morning that Hayner and I just watched movies and made milkshakes all day. I had even told him that he didn't even try to kiss me even once. He had made sure to keep his distance and not make me feel uncomfortable, which I was thankful for. But the fact still remained; I was still afraid of him and I knew for sure that I no longer cared for him. Sure, I had cared for him a year or two back, but now, I felt nothing like that towards him. I made sure to fill Axel in on every detail, knowing that he would probably ask questions if I missed anything.

I watched as he hummed in thought before he leaned back against the chair cushions, drumming his fingers against his crossed knees. His emerald eyes were focused on the ceiling and I knew he was thinking it all over and making sure that I didn't skip anything, which I hadn't. Or at least, I don't think I did... Finally, he looked back at me and nodded. "Well, seems like everything went well, then. Hayner didn't try to rape you again and you stayed up pretty late. But who fell asleep first?" he questioned. See? I knew he would ask a question. Looks like I did forget a part.

I flashed him a reassuring smile, tucking one of my hands underneath my head. I was currently lying on my left side on the three-cushioned couch, facing Axel. "I made sure to go to sleep 2 hours after Hayner did, at 4 o'clock in the morning, which is why I didn't wake up until really late today. I was playing around on his laptop and facing him so that I would know if he had woken up," I explained. When he nodded and said that he didn't have any more questions, I sat up and looked around the attic, examining every portion of it. I then looked directly at Axel, leaning back against the couch cushions. "Hey, Axel?" I began. Only when he looked up from the book I didn't realize he had just picked up did I speak again. "Think we can make this place look a bit better?" I asked.

He hummed in thought before looking around and closing the book. I watched him as he shoved it back into his black-hole-storage-container he called a backpack. It still amazed me how much stuff that small thing could hold. I swore he used magic or something. Finally, he looked at me, emerald eyes locking with blue ones. "Sure we can. What do you have in mind, Rox?" he replied, the name seeming almost natural when it came from his mouth.

I stood up and walked over to the wall, tapping it slightly as I looked at him. I then explained everything that we could do to make the room look nicer, including polishing the end tables, washing the window, replacing the bulbs in the lamps, and everything else I could think of. Once I was done explaining, I walked over to the couch and sat down, crossing my legs. "That way, we don't have to worry about getting splinters by touching the walls or sneezing because of the dust this place has. We can work before and after school if we're not finished in time," I finished.

Before I even knew it, I was being tugged out the school's front door and towards Home Depot. (Yes, Twilight Town has a Home Depot.) Okay, not really pulled there, but close enough. Unlike Axel, my legs aren't that long, which meant that it was hard for me to keep up when he walked in his normal speed. Along the way, we talked about the types of things that we could buy. I was surprised to find that Axel's father was the owner of a major company that sold car parts and had set up many stores around the world. No wonder he had so much money...

When we finally got there, he slowed down so that I wouldn't have to strain myself just trying to keep up with him. He paused for a moment, allowing me to finally catch my breath and restore some of my energy. He then continued to walk and I followed closely, not wanting to lose him within the large store that smelled faintly like sawdust. I don't know why, but I liked that smell. When I found that he was looking at wood planks, I walked up to him and grabbed his sleeve, tugging on it slightly to get his attention. "Axel, what are we doing here?" I asked curiously, looking up at him.

He smiled down at me before he returned his eyes to the wooden planks. "I take woodshop, Rox. It'll be easier to just replace the wood for the walls and the floors rather than just repaint them. Newer ones would last longer, especially if we choose the right finish," he replied. I only nodded in agreement and let go of his sleeve. He led to me to a section where all the wood planks were the same size and examined them carefully. He then asked me which color wood would be best in the attic. After looking at all the different colors of wood, I chose an antique-looking dark oak wood for the flooring, which Axel said was a good choice.

After a few minutes of looking, we found an employee who could actually put in our order for flooring. When he asked if they should have workers come in and do it for us, Axel said that it was fine and that we had it covered. I let Axel do all the talking and I went outside to wait for him, sitting down on a bench. I was too shy to talk to strangers like that, so I knew that he could handle it. It even took months for Axel to actually start a conversation with me. That was the first time I had opened up to anyone about my problems other than to my brother. Axel had promised to keep me safe and I actually felt safe. He suggested that he should always be around me, but I had refused, saying that Hayner would come after him. When he said he didn't care about that, I told him that it would put me in more danger than what I already was. That was the only thing that got him to agree to keep away from me when we were in public. But then we started drifting closer.

Before I even knew it, I learned that he lived just a few blocks from me and we had traded cell phone numbers with each other. Hayner didn't even know that I had a cell phone when Axel did. But it didn't stop there. We started hanging out more often and I began to start to come up with excuses to meet him. The first time I let him hug me was the first time that I actually fell asleep in somebody's arms that weren't my brother's or my mother's. I had gotten so used to having Axel around that I almost felt uncomfortable when I was alone. And just recently, I had started texting him randomly, just to talk to him when I couldn't see him. We may be just best friends, but he's the closest I've ever gotten to anybody that wasn't inside the family. I hadn't even gotten this close to Hayner, who I started to push away.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my name being called. My stomach twisted instantly. I knew that voice better than anybody else's. With a small hesitation, I turned my head to see Hayner, running towards me, waving like an idiot. I sighed mentally and stood up, offering a small wave back. He stopped in front of me. "Hey, dude. Didn't think you would be here. I thought you were still at home or something," he said, grinning.

I shrugged, shoving my hands in my pockets. I knew he wouldn't do anything in public and I knew perfectly well that Axel was just inside the store. If anything, I was safe. Unless Hayner decided to drag me somewhere, which I wouldn't let him do, even if I had to lie to him again. "Eh, just waiting for someone to come out of the store," I replied, motioning towards Home Depot. He gave me a curious look. My stomach twisted again when he asked who I was waiting for. I mentally scolded myself and opened my mouth to reply, but was cut off when I heard someone shouting my name. I spun to face the redhead, watching him walk towards me with a cart full of stuff. "The guy said that I can take the cart so that we can bring all this stuff to the room," he said, motioning towards the cart. He then noticed who I was standing next to me and began looking back and forth between us. I could tell that he felt rather awkward. I mean, I did, too. I always felt awkward around Hayner, but now it was even worse now that he knew that Axel knew me.

I hesitated slightly before looking back at Hayner. "Umm. Hayner, this is Axel. He's from school. We're experimenting with some things and we need a lot of paint, paint brushes, and some wood to do that," I explained. I knew I was lying through my teeth, but at least it looked as if I was telling the truth. At least, I hoped so... I had to stop myself from sighing in relief when Hayner nodded. "Alright. I'll see you around, Rox. Don't want to keep you guys away from doing your project," he said before walking up. Only then did I let out a sigh of relief. I looked up at Axel, smiling slightly. "Well... At least we got out of that one," I said with a short laugh before walking towards the school, though I was stopped when Axel grabbed my arm.

I turned around to look at Axel, giving him a confused look as he let go of my arm. "What? We need to get this stuff to the school so that we can start painting," I said, the confusion clear in my voice. He shook his head and motioned towards the store. "I came out here to ask you if my older brother can help us get everything in the attic. He's a worker here and he won't tell anybody about the Sanctuary. He won't even step foot into the Sanctuary. He's going to be dropping off everything on the second floor if we let him help," he said. I hesitated for a moment. Was letting someone not in our group help us a real good idea? But then again... he was just helping us carry everything up all those stairs. I let out a soft sigh and nodded. "Alright. But you have to promise me that he won't get near the Sanctuary," I agreed finally.

Axel reached forward and ruffled my hair with a smirk. "You really think I would let someone into the place that's only ours? I even asked the teachers not to go in there and that we can call that room our own," he replied. I smiled at that, though I didn't know exactly why. I could only guess that it was because it was actually ours. All ours. Nobody else would be allowed to get inside without the key. And by what Axel told me, we were the only ones with that key. All the others were properly disposed of and could never be used again. After that, he asked me if I could walk back in and find his brother. He said to just look for someone with flaming red hair and I would find him. Well, that seemed easy enough. I just didn't realize how big Home Depot truly was.

I had successfully got myself lost, travelling through different parts of the store until I finally came to a stop and decided to ask for help looking for this other redhead. I let out an irritated sigh, but then looked to my left to see... toilets? Why the hell was I here at toilets? I highly doubted Axel's brother would be in the toilet section. I just didn't seem to fit, seeing how Axel was. If Axel's brother was anything like the redhead, he wouldn't be caught dead checking the stock of toilets.

Surprisingly, I saw a flash of red in the corner of my eye. I ran after where I saw it disappear to and skidded around the corner, trying hard not to run into the shelves, which I was known for doing. Then I saw him; the one that looked almost exactly like Axel, only older. He was probably 20-something, by the looks of him. But I was right; he wasn't checking the stock of toilets. He was... looking at himself in the reflection... Yep. That was Axel's brother alright.

I let out a sigh and shook my head before walking towards him. I just hoped that Axel wasn't this bad when I wasn't looking. I mean, c'mon! This guy was saying "Damn, I look good today. Wait a sec... What's that? Oh, nevermind. That was just the spot right there. Damn, I look good." What kind of kook does that? I let out a soft sigh and redhead up to tap his shoulder, which caused him to jump and spin towards me. He made an attempt to look casual, but I could tell that he was embarrassed. "Axel sent me to look for you. He's outside waiting for you," I informed, crossing my arms.

"Oh good. That means that you finally let me bring the stuff to the school," he teased with a smirk, ruffling my hair. I frowned. Ok, Axel didn't do that often, but he was cocky every now and then. That's when I decided that this guy was worse. He was even cockier than Axel. I highly doubted he could even care for anyone. "Let me just go tell my boss that I'm stepping out for a bit to help a customer." I nodded and when he motioned for me to follow, I did. While I was following him, I began to wonder to myself why I hadn't been shy. Just as we neared the office, I decided that it was because he was Axel's brother, which meant that I could probably trust him.

He told me to wait outside the door and so I obeyed and waited outside the door, though I could see inside. He was talking to some blonde guy in a wheelchair, who I could only presume was the boss, considering that there was nobody else inside the office. When they were done talking, the redhead began to walk out, but was stopped when the blonde grabbed his arm. I heard him say something that sounded like "you forgot something" and Reno turned back to the blonde with a smirk. The next thing that happened completely threw me off. The redhead leaned down and actually kissed his boss. I quickly looked away and backed away only slightly, pretending that I hadn't seen them. When the redhead came back, I merely looked up at him.

"Sorry. Had to tell Rufus that I was going or else he'd kick my ass," he said. Yeah... Highly doubt that there, buddy. The guy had a wheelchair, for crying out loud! How could he kick your ass if he couldn't even walk? I shrugged the thoughts away and merely nodded, following him outside. The only reason why I followed him was because I was lost and had no idea where I was in that store. I smiled when I saw Axel and quickly walked over to him, standing beside him. My smile faded as he walked right past me and to his brother, who he had called "Reno". They talked for a moment as I stood by and watched them, not even paying attention to the words that they said; I was too lost in my thoughts.

I was completely silent, feeling as if I was just melting into the background. I realized that this was exactly what had happened with Hayner, Pence, and Olette only a few years before Hayner and I had started dating. But unlike then, Reno and Axel didn't leave me like Hayner, Pence, and Olette had. Instead, Axel looked at me with a smile I had never seen before and motioned for me to follow as his brother walked away. I hesitated slightly, but he sighed and walked over to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me along as he walked after his brother, who was pushing the cart towards a red truck.

It took a while, but Axel, Reno, and I had finally gotten everything up to the attic. Of course, I didn't let Reno know where our hideout was and left at him at the top of the stairs, but hey; he still helped carry the stuff up. So I guess I had to thank him for that. After saying our thanks one last time to Axel's brother, he left. I helped Axel carrying the rest of the supplies to the Sanctuary, having to take a few trips. Once we were done with that, I collapsed onto the couch and leaned back. I closed my eyes for a bit, but opened them when Axel chuckled.

"Tired?" he asked. I looked in front of me at the couch he usually sat on, but realized the voice was from somewhere else. I looked to my right to see Axel sitting right next to me. His hair was pulled back in ponytail so that his neck could have some cool air from the fan we had brought into the room not even a minute ago. I nodded lightly. "Yeah... Just a bit. Realized that those planks of wood and buckets of paint were a lot heavier than I thought," I replied with a soft laugh. Axel sighed and shook his head, looking at the planks and buckets of paint I had mentioned. "Yeah. They are pretty heavy when you have to take a lot of trips," he said. He looked back at me as I continued to look up at him. "You didn't have to carry all that, y'know. It's not that hard to overwork your body. You're weak enough as it is," he pointed out.

I looked down at my feet. Great. Scolded again... But for some reason, I didn't mind. Unlike when my mother scolded me, I didn't feel annoyed. Instead, I felt a bit... guilty. And... happy? Was I happy that Axel was worrying me or something? Or were the effects of bringing everything up here still getting to me and making me feel accomplished? I shrugged the thoughts off mentally and looked back up at Axel after a moment of silence. "Sorry, Axel. I just wanted to help," I said with an apologetic smile. To my surprise, Axel had chuckled and ruffled my hair. My hands instinctively flew up to cover my hair as I ducked away, 'fixing' my hair. What? I didn't like people touching it. Wait... Did I already explain that? I can't remember if I did or not. Anyway, I had no idea why I was surprised. Axel was always pretty easy-going and laidback. It was no wonder why he had forgiven me so easily. "Once you're ready, we'll get to taking all the furniture out and replacing the walls," he said. I nodded and stood up, laughing softly when Axel raised an eyebrow. "You're ready already?" Axel asked. I nodded again. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? Now let's finish this place up," I replied. Axel agreed and together we took out all the furniture in the room. Save for the fan, that is. We used that to keep ourselves cool as we cleaned out the attic.

It took quite a while and the sun was already setting when we finished putting in the last plank of dark oak wood on the floor, but we had finally gotten it all done. Most the work had been done by Axel at first as I just held it in place so that he could get it nailed there, but then I had asked if I could learn how to nail them in place and everything else. He agreed and taught me everything I needed to know for today and began to help him. After we got the wall done, we moved on to the floor. It was fun, taking out the floorboards. We wore heavy gloves so that we wouldn't get splinters and just ripped the floor apart. Well, not literally. It was a lot of work, but it had paid off - trust me. We then had to put the wooden planks down on the floor and secure them in place. Again, Axel did most of the work. This time, I knew how, but he wouldn't let me. He kept telling me that I shouldn't be overworking my body and let me just hand him the planks of wood. At least I helped out a little...

Soon after every piece of wood was in place with only a few left over, we put down a plastic cover to protect the wood while we painted the walls an off-white color. I picked up a paint brush that looked very much like a roller from the kitchen. I had never painted before in my life, so I had never known that such an object ever existed. Surprisingly, I knew how to use it right off the bat without Axel teaching me. But despite that, I pretended not to know how to use it. I looked over at Axel with a confused face. He laughed softly and walked over to me, standing right behind me. He grabbed me right hand and dipped the rolling paint brush into the silver tray filled with paint. "It's easy to use, Rox. Just do this," he said before he led my hand towards the wall until the paintbrush touched it. He then brought it down and back up before he pulled my hand and the paintbrush away from the wall. "Just like that," he said softly as he let go of me and backed away. I nodded with a slight blush on my cheeks. I didn't even know why the blush was there. It just appeared suddenly when Axel had stood right behind me.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize I was staring at Axel, who was currently painting below the lighter wood that lined the wall so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting paint on the wood. The only reason I had realized I was watching him was because the ladder he was standing on was wobbling and then tipping. I was going to say something about the wobbling, but it was too late. I winced as the ladder fell to the side, sending the redhead crashing downwards. My eyes widened as I realized just where he was landing. I backed up and was about to run out of the way, but it was already too late. I let out a yell of surprise as I tumbled backwards, grunting when my back hit the floor. No matter how light Axel was, it would always hurt if he fell on me. Even though he had never fallen on me before... Ah, whatever. Point is, he fell on me. Not on my leg of on my arm, on me; meaning that I couldn't sit up even if I wanted to.

"Ugh... You okay, Roxas?" I heard him ask. I opened my eyes, which I hadn't even known were closed before, and looked straight up at him. I no longer felt his weight on me, which wasn't much at all. I glanced around quickly, noticing instantly that his hands were on both sides of my head. I forced down the blush and nodded softly. Thankfully, my blush hadn't shown through. Or if it did, Axel didn't say anything about it. I tried to move my legs a bit, but they only ran into a knee on each side. Okay, I was trapped... Pinned down, if you will. At least he wasn't laying on me anymore. I looked up at Axel again, my blush becoming a little bit apparent when I noticed how close his face was to mine. "My back hurts a bit, but I'm fine," I said softly. Axel nodded to show that he was listening and not just off in his own world.

A moment of silence slipped between us two and I could tell that Axel was debating about something. About what, I had no idea. All I knew was that he arguing with himself and having a hard time deciding on something. I could see the fight in his eyes. If only I could tap into his brain like my brother could mine... He moved slightly and at first, I thought he was getting up, but then I noticed that his face was even closer than before. Not only that, but he wasn't stopping and he had closed his eyes. Now I knew exactly what he was doing. Funny thing is, I accepted and my boy acted on its own accord. I lifted up my head a bit and closed my eyes, supporting myself with my elbows as I lifted my body slightly.

I knew exactly what he was doing. What I was doing... I had no idea. Our lips met and I found myself pressing back into the gentle kiss. To my surprise, it didn't stop there. When I felt him part his lips, m lips did the same. Unlike what it was with Hayner, I actually shivered when he deepened the kiss. It felt a lot more than what Hayner's kisses felt like. This one wasn't demanding and I could tell easily that Axel wasn't trying to take over. And it certainly wasn't possessive. Instead, it was gentle and... dare I say it, loving. I was surprised that I could actually tell the difference between the two. But then again, this whole thing was surprising for me.

Before I knew it, Axel was pulling away. Truthfully, I didn't want the kiss to end, but I stayed quiet and allowed Axel to break the kiss. I opened my eyes to find emerald eyes staring right into mine, causing my cheeks to heat up only slightly. I forced myself to look away and lowered my head again, focusing my eyes on a nearby paint bucket. I remained completely silent, not sure of what to say. I heard a soft sigh and looked back up at Axel, who had sat up. I sat up and backed away a bit as an instinct. "Sorry, Rox. I just... I don't know," he said softly.

I shook my head. "It's okay. It was just a spur of the moment. Nothing more. It happens to a lot of people, even if they're not in love with each other," I said before I stood up. He looked up at me and looked like he was about to say something, but then changed his words completely. "Right. Just a spur of the moment thing," he said with a soft smile. I didn't return the smile at all. I could tell that despite the mask he wore, he was rather... sad? Axel sad? An apocalypse must be coming or something. I had never seen the redhead sad, let alone mask his emotions like that. I walked over to him and helped him up, patting his shoulder. I pretended to not notice the sadness and smiled up at him, patting his shoulders. "Right. As I said, they happen all the time. Especially between two friends. Just because it seems like the right moment. Doesn't exactly mean anything," I said, though I felt like I was lying to him.

I walked back to the try and paintbrush I had set down when I noticed Axel was about to fall before I picked them back up. I began to paint once more, glancing over at Axel to see that he was setting the ladder up again. I just hope he didn't fall again... I sighed inaudibly and returned to my painting. I noticed the eerie silence that had settled over the both of us. It troubled me that I could feel the sadness that we both shared. I wasn't seeing only Axel's sadness, but mine as well. A part of me was telling me that I should just dump Hayner and go out with Axel, but the other part argued and said that it was just a spur of moment. I listened to the more sane part and began to convince myself. I wasn't in love with Axel. At all. He may help me more than anybody else possibly could and I loved that, but it was only the comfort that I loved. I didn't love Axel. I had Hayner. Hayner was my boyfriend. Though he was abusive and probably even sex-crazed, he still loved me. Or at least liked me enough to date me.

I repeated the same things over and over in my head. I said that it was just a phase and a one-time thing; that it wasn't real. After I got one wall completely painted, I had convinced myself that I felt nothing towards Axel. I had even convinced myself that he had no feelings for me. He was just a best friend that was merely trying to make me feel actually loved. Friends do that. ... Right? I had finally been able to calm down the part that was screaming I loved him (thankfully), but it was still there. I pushed it away when I noticed just how quiet Axel was being. I paused and looked over at the other, who was painting the opposite wall from me. "Axel?" I asked softly, my voice travelling over to him. He paused and looked back at me. "Yeah?" he replied. I hesitated slightly, trying to see if I could tell what he was feeling. "Are you okay...?" I questioned, putting more worry in my tone than I had meant to. To my surprise, he nodded and smiled. "Yeah, of course I am. Just thinking if we should redo the stairs, too," he said, motioning to the stairs.

I didn't believe him at first, but I nodded anyway. I looked over at the stairs, noticing how dark they looked compared to the wood we had put in. I looked back over at Axel and nodded. "I think we should. And the walls around the stairs. They're splintering really badly," I pointed out. "We don't have to paint that wall. We could just leave it with the oak color of the natural wood so that we don't have more to paint." He thought for a moment before nodding with a smile, which I returned. "Good idea, Rox. That would easier." I returned the smile and went back to painting, thankful that I had lightened the mood. I also felt proud that I had suggested another good idea.

Thankfully, we had started up conversation once more of what type of wood we should use for the wall near the stairs. We soon agreed that we should just go ahead and paint that wall as well so that it didn't seem too out of place. After we had decided on what to do, we finished up painting the walls and decided to bring the furniture back in. It took a while, but we soon got everything back into the attic. The sun was long gone behind the horizon. We were both surprised that we had gotten that much done and I hadn't just passed out. After he started scolding me for not sleeping enough, I assured him that everything would be fine and I wouldn't pass out randomly tomorrow. He didn't seem very convinced, but he dropped the subject anyway.

"We still have more to do, Rox," he pointed out as he looked around. We were careful not to touch the walls, knowing that they were wet. I nodded as I sat on the larger couch, watching him. "I know. We still need to clean the window, buy new furniture, and fix up the stair area," I listed off, feeling smart for some odd reason. He nodded as he looked around once more. I did the same, making sure that I had listed everything that we needed to do. "You forgot something." I looked at him when I heard these words. I knew I did... "What? What'd I forget?" I asked. "We need to replace all the light bulbs." I slapped my forehead. Damn, I was an idiot... I laughed lightly. "Right. Light bulbs. But we're going to have new lamps, anyway. So I thought it was better left unsaid," I replied with a shrug.

He refused having me work on the room tomorrow and such, so we agreed to do everything after school on Monday and just rest tomorrow. It seemed reasonable enough. After we decided that it was time to go home, Axel walked me home. Apparently he didn't trust me walking by Hayner's house... But I agreed with him. I was always fearful that Hayner would tug me inside. We said our goodbyes when I had gotten to the door and I went straight to my room. But for some reason, when I lay down to go to bed, I couldn't sleep. At all. I felt like I was missing something. No, not something... Someone. Then I realized; I was missing Axel. I had seen him only a few seconds ago and I was already missing his company. I sighed and buried myself under the covers. "I'm not in love with him," I whispered softly before I drifted off to sleep.

~*I fell in love. In love with you suddenly. Now there's no place else. I could be brave in your arms.*~