oh my goodness an update? man am i a bit behind... at least, to ME it feels like i haven't updated in forever... but i think its only been about a week...? thank you SOOO much for the reviews. SERIOUSLY. umm i went back and tried to edit some things that were messed up... so hopefully its a bit easier to read. again, let me know if i missed anything... it seems to cut off the first few words when i put them together without spaces but periods in the middle, so i put spaces. like this: .GOODNESS. - OH. MY. GOODNESS. im think i'm going to have my friend be a sort of beta reader type person... like my editor or whatever. at least, once she gets caught up.. i think shes on chapter 5 or 6. so hopefully i'll have better edited chapters and less mistakes... but thats all i have to say! now back to english class... hehe (yes im in the middle of school right now)

::EDIT::

Thank you guys for reading through so far! So here is chapter seven, all spiffied up just for you :D


Chapter 7

Intervention for the Clueless Lovebirds

Shit. Sora knew. He saw. But did he see? Did he see us kiss? My mind flashed back to when we were walking around. I hadn't been seeing things; Sora really had been there. All I could do was open my mouth, and then close it again. Open. Close. Open. Close. Say something! "You... I... You... You followed me?"

"That's all you have to say?" he threw his hands in the air. "Seriously Roxas, if you're gonna run off every night to meet some guy you should at least tell me! It's not like I would care! Jeez!"

"You... aren't mad..?" I asked hesitantly.

Sora crossed his arms with a huff. "Well of course I'm mad! My own cousin didn't tell me that he was finally dating someone, and decided to keep the whole thing a secret! And like I didn't know Namine was out of town. You could have at least said it was Hayner or something. Not that I would have believe you, but still!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I waved my arms around frantically. "Axel and I are not dating!"

"But Riku said you kissed!" he argued.

"Riku was with you?" I screeched. Now I was madder at the fact that I had been under supervision for who knows how long by both Riku and Sora. I should have know that he would be involved...

"Well duh! So do not tell me you are not dating him when Riku clearly saw you two kissing at the carnival yesterday." Sora warned.

"But we aren't!" With a heavy (and probably over-exaggerated) sigh, I dropped onto the edge of my bed. "We aren't dating... we just... I don't even know."

Sora sat down next to me. "You know, I won't be mad at you if you like him. You don't have to hide things from me. But," he held up a finger and wiggled it around. "I have to meet him first. I need a formal introduction and at least fifteen minutes of private interrogation time. I need to make sure that he's right for my Roxas."

"You sound like my mother." I grinned, nudging him in his side.

"Except your mother would castrate you if you told her you were gay, let alone going out with some old guy." He grinned back.

My grin turned into a straight line. "Sora, I don't even know if I like him like that! And don't go around calling him old, he's only like twenty-two."

"Twenty-two!" Sora cried, burying his face in his hands, but I could still see him smiling, which meant he didn't actually mind. Well, he probably did, he was just willing to accept it over time. "Roxas that's like six years older than you!"

"I know but... well, no I don't, but he's a good guy. And he likes a lot of the things I like! Did you know he likes sea-salt ice cream? And even anime! He had an Alice Nine t-shirt on a while ago!" I smiled, remembering back to all the days we spent just sitting on that bench talking and laughing until our cheeks hurt. Why did that seem like it was so long ago? It has only been two or three days...

"And you're saying you don't love him?" Sora raised an eyebrow, and I ended up mirroring his movements.

"What?"

"Roxas, how the heck am I supposed to believe you when you say you don't love him when every time you start talking about him you suddenly get all mushy? It's totally obvious you like him; you look happier even when you're just thinking about him. Which seems to be a lot, nowadays." He pointed out. Since when was Sora this... insightful? Seriously, it was kind of freaking me out.

I sighed again. "But... that's just it. I don't know. I don't know if I like him. I don't know if I want to like him. There's so much that could go wrong, and I just don't know if I want to do this. Besides, he could not like me that way either. That kiss could have meant absolutely nothing."

"And Roxas, that bugs you. I can tell. But you can't worry about things like that. Is he the kind of person that would just kiss you if it didn't mean anything?" he asked, raising a hand to my shoulder.

"That's what Namine said..." I mumbled, looking down at my hands. "but I don't know if he is or not... I mean, I don't think he is, but I've never actually like, talked to him about that."

"Then go talk to him about it now!" Sora yelled like it was the most obvious thing in the world to do. But what about him? I had no idea how he couldn't have figured out that Riku likes him with the kind of knowledge he was using then. Maybe he did know? Or maybe he was only smart when it came to other people's problems... that seemed to be the case most of the time.

"But I don't know where he would be! He doesn't work on Sundays!" I argued. "And what would I say, anyway? I mean, say he doesn't like me, and then I'd make a total fool of myself in front of him! I'd never be able to live that down." Why was this so difficult? It would have been so much better if I could just read minds, and then I could figure out what he thought of me.

"You're over-thinking, Roxas~" He sang, and suddenly jumped to his feet to point an accusing finger at me. "If you don't work things out by the end of this week, I'm going to work things out for you!"

"Somehow that just doesn't sound very threatening." I sighed.

"I'll make Riku help me." he grinned evilly. I swear he was the spawn of the devil. Don't be fooled by his child-like innocence! He's a monster on the inside!

"I hate you." I growled.

"Soo what'll it be? Me, Riku, and the enormous amount of embarrassment that will follow, or you, yourself, and Axel?" he asked.

"Honestly, neither are sounding very appealing at the moment." I answered honestly.

"Well you have until Sunday the..." Sora took a quick look at my calendar "third before we intervene on our own. And you will not see it coming, I guarantee."

"Great..." I sighed, pushing myself off of my bed and heading over to my desk to get my coat on and stuff my wallet and keys in my pocket. "But I am in serious need of some sea-salt ice cream right now."

..::Axel::..

Sunday. At the moment, my most hated day of the week. Why? Well, because I didn't have work on Sundays. What? Me? Hate Sundays? My only day without work? But that was just the problem. I had nothing to do – nothing to keep my mind off of the obvious problem at hand. I had kissed Roxas, and we hadn't talked all day since then. I mean, usually we at least text each other once a day, but so far it had been none. No messages. No calls. No Roxas.

I slammed my head on the table, earning a lot of concerned glances from around the restaurant, but I paid them no mind and instead let out a loud groan. A bell dinged and the fake-enthusiastic cashier called my order. Either it was just me, or everything got tenser when I stood up. Jeez, people, can't a man get his cheeseburger after banging his head on a table without being questioned for insanity? I think I had eaten fast food three times that week. Honestly, it was starting to grow on me. Like it was contagious, or something; once you eat a little you can't get enough of it. Scary thought. I did not want to get fat, even if that was physically impossible for me (seriously, though, I had tests done because of how skinny I was when I was a kid).

I had been walking around all day, just kind of wandering the town trying to find something to do, and it was finally nighttime; probably around six or so. For a week I had been debating on whether or not I wanted to get a car. I had enough money, but would I really need one? Practically the only time I went out was when I went to the store or work, but now that it was October it was getting a bit too cold to walk to the park every night, or even just the bus. That got me wondering. When (and if) Roxas and I went to our bench during the winter, would we actually sit out in the freezing cold for hours? I was going to have to start looking for stores that were open at night.

I wolfed down my burger and left the place as fast as I could, not wanting to waste the time I had much too much of. An hour of walking lead me to the one place that I wanted to be and be farthest away from at the same time. But there was nowhere else to go, and nothing to do, so I sat down, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes.

"Is this how Roxas saw you the first time? Man, what a horrible first impression to make." I knew that voice...

My head snapped up. "Demyx- OUCH!" I grabbed my neck with both hands, bending my head down so my forehead was almost touching my knees. "Dammit, my neck is killing me... and for your information, I was laying down when he woke me up."

"Wow, Ax, you just love sleeping in weird places, don't you? I mean, you've fallen asleep in the storage room like five times before, and I always found you passed out in random places at school, and now it's park benches." He snickered, towering over me in my hunched position.

"Shut up, I didn't mean to fall asleep. A lot's going on right now, okay?" I growled, glaring up at him.

"No, you're just being impossibly overdramatic and blowing the whole situation out of proportion." Demyx smiled, holding a hand out for me. "It's cold, I'll drive you home."

I grumbled to myself but accepted his hand and he pulled me to my feet. "Seriously, Axel, it's not as big a deal as you seem to be making it. So you kissed him, big deal! It was one kiss! Sure it was probably really weird for him, and hey, maybe it was his first kiss –"

"Gee, thanks. I feel so much better." I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

"–but," he wiggled a finger at me, "this could be a good thing! Maybe he likes you, but he's just shy, and wanted you to make the first move all along? And now you did, and he was just surprised, and now all you have to do is go talk to him about it! The longer you put it off, the worse it will be. You can't ignore someone when you know you like them, and there's a huge chance they like you back."

"Since when did you start giving advice that actually worked?" I scoffed. "Need I remind you how long it took for me to convince you to ask Zexion out?"

"Exactly!" he pointed excitedly, almost stabbing me in the eye with his nail. "I don't want you to have to go through that. All it is is putting something off, and the only bad thing that will come of it is that you'll wish you did it sooner."

"Yeah, that or the fact that he'll totally think I'm a fucking creep and never speak to me again!" I yelled.

Demyx just sighed, shaking his head at me and smiled. "I don't think you get it, Axel. He's not going to do that; he likes you too much. In fact, I bet he's waiting for you to call him right now! So," he pulled out his phone and fished through his contacts before thrusting the phone at my ear, "talk to him now!"

"Whoa, when did you get his number?" I yelled, pushing the phone away but he just pushed it back and smiled even wider.

"He gave it to me and Zexion at the carnival. If you wouldn't have been staring off into space you would have noticed!"

The phone was on its second ring. I gulped. "What are you doing? End the call!" I screamed, desperately trying to reach it myself but he grabbed my wrists and trapped them in his hands. Since when was Demyx stronger than me?

"Just talk to him, Axel!" he encouraged me, the phone rounding onto it's second ring.

"What, no! I don't want to-" I was cut off by the sound of a click.

"Hello?" Roxas asked through the phone. I stayed silent, staring off at the ground. Why did he have to answer? "Um... hello?" my attention snapped back to the fact that there was still a certain blonde on the phone, waiting for someone to answer the phone.

"Ah! Um, Roxas!" I said, trying to figure out something to say. "Um, this is Demyx's phone... I left mine at my house, um, yeah, so... what's up?"

It was quiet for a second, only the sound of other voices in the background. It kind of sounded like arguing... I was actually nervous that he didn't want to talk to me at all. "I'm playing Ratchet and Clank with Sora and Riku – guys shut up!" he yelled suddenly, making me flinch. There was a lot of noise going on suddenly. Cursing, yelling, laughing, squealing, and a lot of ruckus coming from (or at least I assumed) the phone it's self. "Sora, give it back!" Roxas' voice was far away now, and I guessed that Sora had taken the phone from him. Oh great... this was going to be interesting...

"Heelllooo Axel." Sora (his voice was actually deeper than I imagined, it was kind of weird) said, and I gulped. I felt kind of like the unapproved boyfriend being judged by an overprotective father for the first time, except it was his cousin... and I wasn't dating Roxas. Yet. God, did I really just think that?

"Uh, hi..." I said, glancing at Demyx warily. He made the motion for me to put it on speaker and started to hurriedly walk to the car, dragging me after him. Wow, had we really been just standing out in the cold the whole time? I hadn't even noticed that we had stopped walking!

"Hey Sora! Put it on speaker!" someone with a deeper voice, most likely Riku, called, and he sounded like he was struggling with something.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked. Demyx had forcibly called to make me talk to Roxas, and even if I didn't want to, I would have rather talked to Roxas at the moment.

"Oh, Riku's just holding Roxas hostage so he can't get the phone." Sora said like it was no big deal at all. "Soo Roxas told me a bit about you." Oh god. Demyx just snickered to himself, but stopped immediately when I glared daggers at him. His eyes were still laughing, though."... is someone else with you?"

"Uh, yeah, my friend Demyx..." I said.

"Hi Roxas! And, uh, Roxas' cousin!" Demyx said loudly into the phone. Good thing it wasn't against my ear anymore.

"Hi!" Sora said just as excitedly. "We are all going out to eat Friday, you should come with us! Both of you!" Whoa, double take. What the hell? He's asking us to dinner?

Demyx shifted, and I looked at him questioningly as he bit his lip. "Um, can I bring Zexion?" I jabbed him in the side as a warning.

"Who's that?" Sora asked.

"My boyfriend."

"Oh, okay then! That'll work, so now it will be even! We'll see you at... Spaghetti Works at six! Now here's Roxas!" there was a lot of rustling for a couple seconds before it was silent.

"Um, yeah, sorry about that..." Roxas said quietly, and I couldn't quite make out if he was angry or embarrassed. Maybe it was both. "Just be prepared for a lot of questions..."

"No worries," I said, flicking the phone back to normal so Demyx couldn't hear. He whined but didn't force me to change it back or anything and focused on driving. I felt kind of weird talking to Roxas on the phone with Demyx right next to me, and my stomach was already fluttering with nerves due to the paranoia going on in my head about what he was thinking at the moment. "but, uh... how are you doing?"

..::Roxas::..

I could not believe what they were doing. Sora said I had a week. It was still the first day! Couldn't he at least live up to his promise a little bit? And I did not approve to being held down by Riku one bit so Sora could be an idiot and invite Axel to dinner. But once Riku had released me the two bolted from the room and down the stairs, Sora yelling, "you'll thank me one day!" Like hell I was going to thank him! I shook my head, thinking of something to say. "Um, yeah, I'm doing fine... just kind of been hanging out... what about you?"

"Same as always." Axel sighed, sounding uneasy. "So, uh, are we still meeting up tonight?"

"Don't we always?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I was kind of nervous it would be awkward, but I still wanted to hang out with him... a kiss couldn't change that fact.

"So, that's a yes?" I smiled to myself at how his voice suddenly became happier. "I mean, I was just wondering cause, you know, I didn't want to show up and be waiting forever... or the other way around... um, well, I gotta go. Demyx has to go pick up Zexion and I'm using his phone so... I'll text you once I get inside or something."

"Okay." I nodded. "Again, I'm sorry about earlier. Sora can be kind of... you know."

Axel laughed. Oh man was it good to hear that. It had only been about two days, but it felt like forever since I had heard him laugh. "Yeah I know. You gotta love crazy friends though; sometimes their devilish ways actually make something good happen." My face started to turn red. Was he... implying something there? No no no, snap out of it, Roxas... you're getting ahead of yourself again... "Okay, see you later Rox."

"Bye" I pulled the phone from my ear and smiled at it for a second before pressing end. Okay, so maybe I would have to thank Sora sometime soon. Not out loud, but thanks to him we were at least back on speaking terms... I dropped onto my bed with a sigh. Why did it have to only be ten? Two hours seemed like forever.


I'M GOING TO MAKE CHAPTER 8 EXTRA LONG FOR YOU! because i feel like my chapters are getting short... and not very exciting. sooo chapter 8 will be extra long and exciting. hehe, is it just me, or does the part at the beginning remind you of that one skit by Dane Cook about oprah? you know, the part where he says he lives in an apartment where the rapists are gathering, and when he clicks a button on his computer to see who the rapists are in his neighborhood, they'll burst in his window and yell "HE KNOWS! GET HIM AND RAPE HIM!"

... yeah, thas only me... isn't it... ONWARD TO FRENCH CLASS! xD