Disclaimer, Hitei Suru, negar tener: Whatever language you say it in, I don't own it.

Chapter 10

When Roxas woke up, he was incredibly warm. It was a pleasant sensation, almost as if he were sitting in front of a giant bonfire. He snuggled into the source of the heat, burying his face against the chest in front of him, ready to fall back asleep. This, however, was not to be, as in the next moment the door burst open and Sora rushed in, screaming his head off.

"Roxas! Roxas, it's snowing! Roxas it's the first snow of the year!" The brunet jumped on top of the pair, shaking Roxas excitedly, making the blonde groan and Axel moan tiredly, "I hate the fuckin' snow."

"Sora, go 'way," Roxas mumbled. "Snow is cold and I'm really warm…"

Sora paused, frowning. "You're right. It is really warm in here. That's weird. 'Cause, I mean, it's not like we have a heater or anything…" he trailed off for a moment, in which Roxas tried to fall back asleep. "Well…anyway, it's time to get up for school or you'll both be late. Leon said I had to do it by any means necessary. I thought you ought to know that I have a bucket full of snow right outside the bedroom door…"

Axel sat up quickly, yanking Roxas up with him, as he forgot to release the blonde in his movements. "Don't you even dare," he snarled, rubbing a hand over his face and wiping the sleep from his eyes. He yawned a moment later, which really destroyed his angry image. Roxas sighed, loosening Axel's arms from around him before excusing Sora with a wave of his hand.

"We're up Sora. Put the snow back outside," he instructed.

"Okay!" Sora agreed brightly, prancing out of the room, far too awake for Roxas' liking.

"Sorry about him," Roxas muttered. "He's…well, he's kind of a morning person. Axel merely muttered obscenities under his breath while running his hand over his face again.

"You can use the shower first," Roxas offered, stifling a yawn and stretching his arms over his head.

As Axel tiredly went to take a shower, Roxas looked through Leon's closet-also known as the hall closet-for something for the redhead to wear. Leon was shorter then Axel-who wasn't?- but the brunet tended to wear his jeans long, so the bottoms dragged on the ground when he wore them. He hoped they would be long enough for Axel. He hardly spared a glance at the shirts, figuring it would be better for Axel to wear one of his own then having Leon on his case about stealing his clothes. Axel, apparently, took very quick showers, for he came back to Roxas' room about three minutes after Roxas himself. It seemed he literally took only as long as was necessary to get clean before getting out again. When Roxas questioned this, the redhead replied simply, "I don't like water. It makes me steam, which is weird as hell."

Roxas raised both his eyebrows at this, curiosity overtaking him.

"You mean…you, like, literally steam?" Axel nodded as if this were normal, accepting the offered jeans from Roxas. He promptly put them on, leaving Roxas to once more gawk stupidly. Was he seriously going commando…in Leon's jeans?

Axel seemed to realize this at the same time before shrugging.

"Well, it's too late now. I'll replace these…they fit pretty well, and I must say, I look pretty damn sexy."

Roxas groaned and shook his head, now completely distracted. Axel did look extremely sexy with no shirt on, the jeans hanging loose and low on his hips, his wet hair plastered to his neck, his chest covered in water droplets. Roxas suddenly had the insane desire to lick those little drops of water off the redhead's chest. His eyes trailed down Axel's chest, finally coming to rest on the tantalizing line of red hair that led below the waistband of the jeans.

Axel laughed and snapped his finger in front of Roxas' eyes. Roxas lifted his gaze, following Axel's hand as the redhead raised it to his face, finally pointing at his eyes.

"My eyes are up here, mister," the redhead said in an exaggerated lisping voice, causing Roxas to chuckle with embarrassment, turning away in hopes that the redhead wouldn't see him blush. Of course he did, though, and this only prompted him to try and make the blonde blush even more.

"What, Roxy? Tell me you've never gone commando before. If you haven't you really should give it a try. It's a wonderfully free feeling," he teased.

"Why would you do that to me, Ax? Now I'm not gonna be able to look at you all day without thinking about it."

Axel laughed out loud. Before Roxas knew what was happening, Axel's arms had come to wrap tightly around his waist, the redhead leaning his head down until his lips were right next to Roxas' ear, brushing against the lobe as he spoke. "Then you'll be pleased to know that I never wear boxers. The only thing under my jeans is me baby, all the time."

Roxas let out a tortured moan and he could just imagine Axel's grin. He was just about to turn around and show his boyfriend exactly what he thought of that when Sora came bounding into the room again.

"Rox, you have fifteen minutes before we have to go," Sora announced warningly, seemingly aware that Roxas had done nothing at all to ready himself for school. Roxas cussed quietly and reluctantly pulled himself out of Axel's grasp, heading off toward the bathroom so he could take a shower.

Now, if there is one thing to know about Roxas, it's the fact that he simply is incapable of taking a shower in less then ten minutes. Call it magic, science, or lack of willpower on the blonde's part, but it really was just impossible for him. That explained why, twenty minutes later when Roxas rushed out of his bedroom fully dressed with sopping wet hair, the only person he saw was Axel.

The redhead was leaning against the wall, staring into space, green eyes vacant with thought. Roxas took a moment to take an appreciative look, noticing that Axel had helped himself to Roxas' favorite t-shirt. It was black with two large keys crossed on the front surrounded by flames. It wasn't something one often ran into, but he'd found it at the Salvation Army for only two bucks and he'd just felt compelled to buy it. The shirt was really soft and well worn and it had quickly become his favorite. For whatever reason, he liked that Axel was wearing it.

"Did Nami and Sora catch the bus?" he asked, snapping the older teen from his reverie. Axel nodded, absently chewing on his lip ring as they started toward his truck. Roxas was about to ask what was wrong with him when Axel came to a stop and shot him a grin.

"Do you feel that?" he asked as Roxas locked the front door.

"Feel what?" the blonde frowned before he realized what Axel was talking about. "What the heat?" They were standing outside in at least of foot of snow with no jackets on, and Roxas suddenly realized that he was nice and warm as if he were sitting in front of a fire.

"Is that you?" he asked, aghast.

"Yes it is," Axel confessed. "My…temperature runs a lot higher then normal people. That means my body needs to stay warmer then most because I can freeze to death at a higher temperature then everyone else. When I feel cold, my fire forms a wall of warmth around me to compensate for it…or at least that's what the doctor says."

Roxas grinned, stepping closer to his boyfriend to absorb more of the heat. "So you're like a walking space heater."

As Axel nodded the conformation, Roxas suddenly realized why he'd been so warm when he'd woken up that morning.

"Also," Axel said, getting more excited that Roxas was obviously impressed. "Remember when I told you that water makes me steam?" Roxas nodded, think that it was something he'd never forget. "Well, it's only water that's colder then my skin, but it's still pretty annoying."

Axel crouched down and placed his hand on top of the snow. Steam rose up from where his hand touched and in seconds, there was no snow where he'd placed his hand.

Gaping, Roxas thought that he could really get used to something like that. He hated snow and cold, which sort of made Axel his new hero.

"Let's get going, shall we?"

They climbed into the truck and took a relatively quiet ride to school chatting about unimportant things. The entire time, though, Roxas was fretting. What would happen when they got to school? Would they keep their relationship in the open and deal with the assholes together? Or would they just pretend nothing was happening between them and they were just friends. Roxas wasn't quite sure which way he wanted things to go. If they were open about it, Roxas could have a public claim to his boyfriend and he rather liked the sound of that. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he'd be able to deal with all that harassment that was sure to follow. If they were quiet about it, they'd have an easier time with the public but Roxas didn't want to pretend that he and Axel were "just friends".

"-as?" The blonde nearly jumped a mile as he was brought back to reality by Axel's voice.

"Sorry, what?" he asked dazedly.

Axel looked at him strangely before turning off the truck.

"We're here, Roxy."

Oh.

He slid out of the truck, shouldering his bag and joining Axel as he walked towards his group of friends. Halfway across the yard, Axel slipped his hand into Roxas', holding it loosely, allowing Roxas the option to pull his own hand away. Roxas didn't. Instead, he tightened the grip just the slightest bit, taking a deep breath to be ready for any onslaught of nastiness. Much to his surprise, though, no one really seemed to notice. At least not yet.

Axel's friends most certainly did notice, though, and they were met with a fair amount of catcalls as they approached. Roxas was a little bit surprised to see Zexion already there. His silver-haired friend was sitting on one of the benches, facing Demyx with his legs crossed in front of him. Demyx was chattering on cheerfully about something and Zexion was listening with rapt attention, a book lying abandoned in his lap. Roxas smiled inwardly at the pair, knowing it would only be a matter of time before Zexion gave in to his feelings and allowed things to progress between the two. He liked the idea of his friend being happy. If there was anyone in the world who deserved to be happy, it was most definitely Zexion.

They all talked about random stuff until the warning bell rang and their group quickly scattered to head for their respective classes. As Axel ushered him away, Roxas could see Demyx holding Zexion back to talk to him for a moment. He full out grinned and allowed Axel to steer him away, all the while wondering if grilling Zexion for details would be too girly.

Zexion watched the blonde in front of him, wanting to smile at the cute flustered expression he wore.

"So…Zexy…I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, uh, hang out with me today. You could come to my place after school…but only if you want to. I mean, you don't have to but I thought it might be fun…"

"Demyx," Zexion interrupted, finally taking pity on the babbling blonde. "Hanging out sounds…fun. Where should we meet after school?"

For a moment, Zexion thought Demyx was going to explode with happiness.

"How about right here?" Demyx gushed. Zexion barely had enough time to nod before Demyx swooped in and kissed him lightly on the cheek before prancing off to get to class. Zexion could feel the blush spreading over his cheeks as he set off toward homeroom. When he walked into first period five minutes late, he hardly even noticed the disapproving glance from his teacher. The only thing he could focus on for the rest of the day was Demyx.

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A/N: Eh. A bit short, but that's okay. I had a hard time with this chapter even though there really is, like, no point to it. The real reason that this was so hard was because my cat was sitting on my chest while I was writing this. Do you have any idea how hard it is to type with your cat sitting on your arms? Review, please.