Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! HA!

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The days rolled by slowly. The freezing winter had slowly rolled around to summer. Because of the recent budget cuts, Larxene had to cut the air conditioning in the building. Axel had been coming to work in a tank top. As a result, Roxas' face was a constant shade of red that had nothing to do with the heat. More than once, Axel had leaned extremely close to him to feel his temperature.

"You sure you're OK?" Axel always asked after such occasions, after Roxas turned even redder. Roxas stammered an answer and ran out to get a drink of water.

Besides that, though, things remained the same. They spent their breaks together, talking and laughing. Roxas learned that Axel had always wanted to be a guitarist in a band. Roxas glanced at his insane hair and his tattoos. "I can see you doing that." Axel grinned, and pulled him into a headlock. "Yeah, and I can just see you on the keyboard, looking like a total idiot." Roxas playfully shoved him. Axel laughed. Roxas loved the sound. Even though he was so thin, Axel had this incredible huge laugh that filled the entire room. Whenever he heard it, Roxas fought the urge to tackle the redhead to the ground right then and there.

"So, Axel, do you have any family?"

Axel winced. He should have known the question would come up eventually. "I have a dad. He was a mechanic and a alcoholic-I ran away when I was sixteen and I never saw him again after that."

"Oh," Roxas said quietly. He didn't think that Axel had had some of the hardships that he had also gone through. Axel phrased his next question carefully.

"So…what about you family?"

Roxas froze. 'Why do you want to know about them?" he said. His voice was low and dangerous. "Well, I told you about mine, I just thought-"

"Well, I don't think it's any of your business, Axel! I never SAID we were friends!"

And with that, he ran off.

Axel sat there for what seemed like hours. He was severely, SEVERELY hurt by what Roxas had said. Hw sat, not moving, simply staring at the spot where Roxas had been in.

His cell phone rang. He jumped.

"Axel, where the hell are you? Lunch ended two hours ago!" Larxene yelled. "I'm taking the rest of the day off," he stated, and hung up.

After drinking himself into a stupor that night, Axel decided to tell Demyx what happened.

"…then he ran, and I *hic* didn't know what to do, so I didn't follow him…what the hell am I supposed to do now?" His words were slurred. Demyx led him over to the couch.

"Tell him how you feel. It's the only way to set things right."

"Tell him…are you INSANE, Demyx?! He ran out after I kissed him! Isn't that like…a world-wide symbol thing for, gee, I'm not interested?!"

Demyx sighed, and Axel bit back a sob. "Why the hell can't anyting in my life ever go right?"

The office had never looked so bleak as when he went in the next day. Axel sat, glaring moodily at his computer, as if it would magically spout out the answer to his problems. It didn't, and Axel sighed. This was going to be a loooong day.

Suddenly, Roxas appeared at his door. He looked nervous.

"Uh…look…I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to-"

Axel held up his hand. "Don't mention it. It's cool. In fact, I should be the one apologizing…Look, I'm really sorry…"

They both glanced sheepishly at each other for a minute, until Roxas looked away and said, "Um…also…can I come over to your house later tonight?"

Axel blinked. "Uh yeah, if you want. I told you you're welcome anytime."

Roxas blushed. "Thanks, Axel."

Axel kept smiling until Roxas left. Then, he swiveled in his chair and snatched up his phone.

"Larxene, I need your help!"

Roxas hadn't told Axel the reason why he needed to go to his house. The truth was-he was desperate. After his father smashed a bottle across his arm, he and Namine decided that they couldn't stay there anymore. So they had packed up their belongings and left.

Namine was staying at Kairi 's place for a while. Kairi had been her best friend since elementary school. Roxas had hidden his stuff under his desk when he had went into work that morning. If Axel hadn't let him over, he would have no place to go. His things were in a blue duffle bag filled with clothes, a toothbrush, and his box of treasures. Not money-wise(although some of the jewelry was probably worth some grand) but there were treasured possessions that had been collected over the years-a colorful sea shell, a gorgeous blue marble that he loved, the stick from his first sea-salt ice cream…things like that. And…the key to Axel's apartment, which was hidden under his shirt at all times. He wasn't about to admit that he would be most sad if he lost that key.

Roxas became steadily more nervous as the end of the work day came. When five o clock finally struck, he picked up his stuff and walked out of the building. He read the adress on the scrap of paper that Axel had given him.

And realized he had no idea where it was.

So, he picked a random direction and set out.

It had been an hour, and Roxas hadn't shown up yet. Axel tapped his foot impatiently. He turned to Demyx, who was sitting next to him, surfing channels.

"S…should I have…driven him here?"

"You don't own a car, Axel."

"Oh yeah…"

"But what if-"

Demyx put a finger to his lips. "You have told me this ten times already Axel, and I am going to say this one more time: he'll be fine, stop worrying."

"Yeah, I think you'll drive him insane if you question him again, Axel," Larxene called out from the kitchen. "Shut up, Larxene!" Axel yelled back.

Demyx patted him on the back. "Once again, he's a fairly intelligent person. He should be able to find his way here without too much trouble."

Axel sulked. "Y'know, you've gotten a lot more wordy ever since you started hanging out with Zexion."

Demyx blushed. "That's…not…"

Axel grinned. "So why don't you just ask him out? He's totally into you." Wow, he sounded like a gossiping schoolgirl.

"I'll ask him out if you ask Roxas out."

Axel thought about it for a minute. "Deal," he said, holding out his hand.

Roxas was extremely lost.

It seemed like he had searched every inch of the city, and he had no idea where he was. He desperately turned to a police officer, who was walking past.

"Excuse me, do you know where this address is?"

The officer(who was a very big guy) glanced at the paper and grunted, " That's on the other side of town."

Roxas' face fell. The officer noticed.

"Do you want me to drive you there?" he asked gently. Roxas smiled.

"By the way, my name is Lexaeus."

"I'm Roxas." Lexaeus(whose name will now be referred to as Lex) nodded.

After half an hour of weaving through traffic, they arrived at an apartment complex on the outskirts of town.

"Thank you, officer."

"Call me Lex. Oh-and here. If you ever need something, feel free to call."

Roxas slipped the business card into his jacket pocket, thinking that the only reason he'd call him was if he needed an ambulance.

Roxas slipped out of the car, thanked Lex, then turned to face the building.

It started with a poke.

Demyx had poked Axel so that he could give back the remote. Axel poked him back. What happened was that one ended up on top of another, ticking each other. They hadn't noticed Roxas come in.

Roxas stared at the spectacle in front of him. Axel was underneath some blond that he had never seen before, his hair ruffled, breathing heavily.

Roxas saw red.

Before Axel could blink, Roxas had crossed the room, pulled Demyx off, and had pulled back his fist. Axel grabbed onto his arm. "Calm down Roxas-"

Roxas wrenched away. Axel had a glimpse of tear-filled ocean eyes before Roxas dashed away.

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YES, I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO HATE ME NOW BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU FOR NOW!

MUAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry for making Axel and Roxas so stupid in this chapter, but I thought they needed to loosen up. And…a friend was helping me on this one. I had the WORST writer's block…

Anyway, please don't flame me. I will update soon and I will make up for the cliff hanger. (that's all I'm going to say.)

So, please review!