A/N: Sorry for not updating for so long *bows* I don't really have an excuse this time :CCC

I should have updated sooner, but I was too busy making a Namine cosplay (yay it's finally finished). I'll have to buy a new wig though, cause mine is really cheap and crappy and hair is falling out by the dozens.

Chapter is a little boring. There was gonna be some action at the end, but I'm going to Italy for some time and I didn't want you guys to wait any longer, so that'll be for next chapter.
I hope you'll enjoy it.

Thanks to Shanazi, Chrno AP (who actually tried to bribe me with a one-shot - a very attractive offer - but my imagination failed me to write), HellzLittleAngel (thanks for your support for every new chapter I write *hugs*), Cilla, WinterTurndra and XxZOmBIE uNICoRNxX ! I feel so sorry for you guys because you take your time to review and I still fail to update quickly Q.Q I feel like such a bad author.

You all get a virtual cupcake for being so awesome!

(I tried to make one of those uber cool -|||- drawings, but FFiction hates them)

Also, FFiction is acting weird. o.O

EDIT: Finished the chapter! It's almost two pages longer now. This little update is dedicated to all my lovely reviewers!

Chapter X

That man
That man is like a flame
And ooh that man plays me like a game
My only sin is I can't win
Ooh I wanna love that man
Ooh that man is on my list
And ooh that man I wanna kiss
My only sin is I can't win
Ooh I wanna love that man
-Caro Emerald

Not even a day later, I had a missed call. My phone didn't recognize the number, but I did. I just came out of the shower, and I must have not heard it.

Should I call him back? With what excuse for missing his call? I certainly wasn't going to tell the truth.

Before I could really think it through, the phone started ringing again.

It was Axel.

"Eh, hello?" I mumbled, not sure what to say.

"Hey Roxie." He sounded laid-back, and I could imagine him lounging on a couch, a cat on his lap, staring at the sun that filtered through the snowy clouds.

"Hey, Axel." I answered, realizing I had to say something to fill the silence. "How are you?"

"Good." I could hear the smirk through his voice. "Nice weather, isn't it? The sun is finally up again, and the snow is slowly melting away." Was he laughing at my failed attempt at small talk?

"Well sorry for not being as smooth at talking as you."

"Is that a compliment?"

Was it?

"Maybe."

He laughed. "Stubborn as ever, I see."

I stuck out my tongue, but then realized he couldn't see it.

"Hey, Rox?"

"Yeah?" What was with all the nicknames?

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"I think so."

"Nice. 5 o'clock at the theatre. It's a date."

He'd hung up before I even fully realized what he's said.

The boy walked briskly through the dark streets. The ground under his feet had been snowed under, trampled by pedestrians, melted, frozen, snowed under and then trampled again, making it look more like a mountain path than a sidewalk. He didn't care about that. His steel-toed boots had good grip, and he had good balance anyway. He shouldn't walk in loose snow. It was better if he couldn't be tracked. Or so he'd been told.

But he didn't care about that.

In fact, he didn't care about anything at all.

I was nervous. Axel was 11 minutes late already. I'd read stories of people who'd been stood up, but would Axel actually do that? After that day in the closet, it didn't seem very logical. But who was I to judge?

Maybe I should have called back or confirmed or something. Maybe I should have sent a mail?

"Ah, there you are." A second later, Axel was ruffling the snow out of my spikes. "Sorry I'm late. The trains were delayed. Typical." He sighed dramatically, but then got serious again. "You should have gone inside. You must be freezing."

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "It's not that cold."

I was lying through my teeth, but I didn't want to look like a sissy in front of him.

Without further ado, he took my hand and led me inside. His fingers were warm, and he must have noticed mine were almost freezing off, but he didn't say anything about it.

People were staring.

They were staring when Axel opened the door, they were staring when we walked up to the register and they were staring even more when we were discussing about who would pay for whose tickets. In the end, Axel won and he paid with a grin.

At least he let me buy our drinks and snacks –which weren't that pricey, because apparently we were going to eat out after our movie. Axel insisted on paying for that too. I gave in with a sigh, not wanting to draw even more attention to us.

The nerves started to flare again while we walked to our seats. What was Axel actually expecting? I'd never been on a date before. Well, there'd been that one relationship, but that had pretty much ended up as a disaster… so, yeah…

Luckily, the commercials started sooner than expected. At least I didn't have to start awkward conversations now. But it was only when Mickey Mouse came on screen when we noticed something was wrong. As far as I knew, Harry Potter was not made by Disney… and it certainly wasn't their 50th animation movie.

I looked to my left, only to see that Axel was as confused as I was.

"Wrong movie hall?"

Now I looked around –actually taking in our surroundings – it was amazing that we hadn't noticed before. There couldn't be that many children coming to see Harry Potter.

In the end, the movie was hilarious. It had been a long time since I last saw a good old Disney movie, and even though Tangled wasn't old, it was more than good.

Once in the cold air outside again, we immediately caught the bus. Which was weird. We were going to a restaurant, no? And as far as I knew, there were plenty restaurants in the vicinity of the theatre.

"Axel, why are we taking the bus?"

He smiled. "Because it's a bit too far to walk there in this cold." That answer was way too vague for my liking, but he just laughed at my questioning look. "You'll see when we get there." Grin. "I won't kidnap you, promise." He added. I was not convinced.

In the end, the bus ride only took a few minutes, but I had to admit that my fingers probably would have frozen off had we walked. We had ended up in a pleasant area with a few little restaurants, but I still didn't understand the need to go so far… Until Axel took my hand again and I turned and saw a big, rainbow colored flag.

Axel must have noticed me stopping for a moment and instantly became a little nervous. "Well, it thought you seemed quite uncomfortable with people staring at us and all, and I thought you found it unnerving for people to stare because we're both guys and then I remembered this place so I thought maybe… We can still go to another restaurant if you like." Yep. Definitely nervous. Not that I was any better off.

"No, it's all right." It was better actually.

He held the door open for me. It annoyed me a little – I wasn't a chick, now was I – but somewhere deep inside me, I also thought it was kind of sweet. I vaguely remembered Olette saying something about a gentlemanly air seeping through.

A waitress led us to a small booth in front of the window. The only sounds came from the soft murmurs of the few other patrons and the gentle jazz melody that seemingly came out of nowhere.

On Axel's advice, we both got lasagna. Then silence again.

Searching for a subject, I stumbled on a question I should have asked myself minutes ago.

"How come you know this restaurant?"

He stared blankly at me for a split second before he got the underlying question: "How in hell do you know a gay restaurant in the middle of nowhere and why are you so certain their lasagna is amazing here?"

He smiled. "I came here with Demyx once."

Wait – What? "Demyx?"

"No, not like that," he laughed." A long time ago, I was kind of… confused with my sexuality and Demyx dragged me here. I wasn't really honest with myself right then and I wouldn't listen to anything, but I do remember their incredible food."

"Oh..."

Silence.

"Hey Rox?"

I looked up. Again with the nickname?

"Let's play a game." I arched an eyebrow. I'd played enough games with Sora to be cautious of that word.

"Twenty questions." He suggested. I thought for a while. That game certainly listed under the 'suspicious' category, but would it really hurt? Everything was better than that stupid, embarrassing silence.

"What's your favorite color?"

He didn't have to think about that.

"Red."

"Really, I would never have guessed." I said sarcastically.

"Then you shouldn't have asked."

"I'd hoped it was something different. So, did you paint your hair?"

He wagged his finger at me.

"Ah, ah, Roxas. It's my turn." He said, smirking. That look promised trouble. Maybe I should really have thought about refusing a little longer.

"So, Roxas…" He stopped a second for the dramatic effect. "Do you have some embarrassing experience you never dared to tell anyone?"

I actually had to think about that for a while, until something my mind reminded something I would rather forget about.

"Well… There was one day we had a big test for Latin that took a little too long. We had PE next period and our teacher was pretty sucky. We had to do ten push-ups for every minute we were too late, so I was running and not really looking where I was going. I ended up in the girls changing room."

Axel snorted and I gave him a glare.

"The good part was that there was only one girl changing in there. The bad thing was that I didn't really realize I had the wrong room."

Now Axel was really trying to hold back laughter.

"Shut up. It's not that funny."

It was no use. He only laughed louder at my reaction.

"Do you realize it's not nice to laugh at your date?"

"Yes, but it's just too cute to see you blushing." He smiled. At least he'd stopped laughing. "And, did she hit you?" He asked with a smirk.

I was just about to answer grumpily when I reminded myself I didn't have to. "Nice try, but it's my turn."

"Wrong." He grinned. "You already asked me if I had manners."

"That doesn't count."

"It's a question, so it does."

"Fuck you."

Grin. "Go ahead."

I gave him my hardest glare yet. He just smiled sweetly and ruffled my hair over the table.

"So, did she?"

I sighed, defeated. "She didn't, but she screamed so hard I was deaf for the rest of the day."

He started chuckling, but luckily stopped before it got out of hand again.

"Now it's my turn. Same question."

He smiled to himself. "When I was fourteen, we were playing with pretty strong magnets during physics. I wanted to see if my braces were of real metal. I couldn't get them off anymore."

I stared with big eyes. "Braces? Really?" Somehow, I just couldn't picture Axel with braces.

"You know, Rox, I'll ignore it just this once, but the next time you ask a question when it's not your turn, you'll have to undergo punishment."

I could barely stop myself from asking what kind of punishment that might be. It was probably better not to know.

He slid a photo across the table with a little boy on it, laughing with an ice cream in his hand. Short hair, no tattoos and braces, but unmistakably Axel.

"See, braces," he smiled, and then put the photo back in his wallet when our food arrived.

Like Axel had promised, it smelled heavenly, and, if possible, it tasted even better. After a few minutes of munching down the divine meal, I noticed Axel smiling at me. I looked away a little awkwardly.

I was just about to question his weird behavior, when he began speaking. A good thing too, if you kept in mind the penalty I would have had to undergo.

"Looks like you like the food." I blushed a bit. Had I been eating a little too fast to be proper? Wasn't really impossible.

"How long have you been skating?"

I looked up, a little surprised. Not a question I'd been expecting.

"I don't know actually." I scratched the back of my head. "My parents were huge skating fans and I guess I've been standing on ice before I could even walk properly."

I could see he had another question ready, but it was my turn. I probably had a lot of questions flowing around somewhere in the very back of my mind, but none of them came to mind.

"Can't we just have a normal conversation instead of this game?"

He grinned at that.

"Nope. It's much more entertaining this way. And you lost your question again, by the way. My turn."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You've been hanging out with Sora too often."

He stuck his tongue out.

"You have any trophies? Or was your excuse for skipping drawing academy just a fluke?"

"I do have some trophies from way back, but I don't really do competitions anymore. And that were two questions."

I took another bite from my food, smug that I'd caught him.

"Then you can punish me as you see fit." He winked.

I decided to ignore that ever happened.

Even though I'd never admit it, the evening went by way too fast for my liking, and it seemed to only be minutes until we were waiting for my bus, Axel insisting to 'walk' me home, even though it was no doubt a huge detour for him. Before I could protest however, we'd already gotten on and the bus departed.

Though actually, I really, really didn't mind sitting out of everyone's view, with Axel's arm around my waist.

The drive passed in silence as I tried not to doze off against Axel's shoulder. I did my best to hide how tired I actually was, but judging from the fond smile on Axel's face, I was failing miserably.

And then came the awkward moment we were standing on my porch, both hesitating, together with the realization that this date was actually really coming to an end and I didn't want him to go.

It was after ten o'clock and well past the time I was expected home, and every minute I stayed out would only increase the detention I would probably get for worrying my parents, but I couldn't care less.

And then there was still that tiny question that had been pestering me for a while now.

"So…" I hesitated a bit, unsure of what to actually say. "What are we now… exactly?"

" A couple?... If you'd like, that is."

There was a little hesitation and uncertainty in Axel's voice, something I wasn't used to, but it was somehow… really sweet too.

I couldn't do anything but smile at that.

"Yeah, I'd like."

Axel's eyes lit up with relief and happiness, and then… mischief. That didn't promise anything good.

"You know, Roxas…" He paused and smirked a little for extra effect. I looked at him questionably, but by now, I didn't really know if I wanted to hear the end of that sentence.

"It was my turn to ask a question."

It took a minute for me to understand what he was talking about.

"But I wasn't even aware we were still playing that game!"

"I never said we'd stopped playing, did I?"

I racked my brain, and sure, technically we could've still been playing.

"So…?" I asked.

"So you'll have to undergo punishment." He smiled.

"…And what would that punishment be?" I was kind of starting to fear for my innocence. Luckily, Axel probably didn't want to push it.

"Seeing as you're quite tired… how about a good night kiss?"

I blushed – why the hell was I blushing, it was just a little kiss – and before I could let my nerves take the better of me, I stood up on my tip-toes, and pressed my lips softly against his.

He was shocked for a second, but then he came back to his senses and responded and it was like all coherent thinking just flew out the window. I blame that on lack of oxygen.

By the time I could breathe again – Axel's scent, like spices and burning embers – I realized I had somehow ended up pressed against the door, and I hoped no-one had seen us.

"Axel…?"

I gave him a quick peck, to give myself some time to get the right words, and because I just wanted another taste of his lips.

"Hmm?"

I bit my lip and clutched his shirt a little bit tighter – when had my hands gotten there?

"Could we like… not make this public…? You can tell your friends all right, but… my parents are kind of strict and… stuff happened."

He seemed curious, but decided against asking and smiled none the less, albeit a little concerned.

"Off course."

I hope you like it guys! Nothing much to say other than that I don't have acces to the internet for a while, so I won't be able to reply immediately, but please review! I'll love you for all eternity! ( or at least untill the next chapter is out)

PS: the vet said my cat needs to play more (she's quite fat) does anyone have tips to get her to play more often?

Random fact of the day:
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

On the same note: a cat's brain isn't really big either. Which acyaully saved a cat last month or so. The cat got an arrow through its head, but it didn't hit its brains, so it could easily be removed and the cat wasn't hurt at all.