Augh sorry this took a while! Not to mention it's pretty short, but I think it makes up for that... hopefully. Eh hehe. So school has started and all so the plus side of that is I have my own laptop! Downside is that I have homework and school and all that jazz so I probably wont be able to work on my stories that much. But have no fear! I got basically half of the chapter done in a single day, so yeah. Plus I'm very motivated!

Okay I'll stop blabbering now, please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 10

A Day at the Faire

I was rudely awoken Saturday morning at ten thirty by Axel banging on the door, yelling at me to wake up. Pulling on a pair of jeans and scratching my head, I threw the door open and yelled at him. "I'm trying to sleep, the hell do you want!"

Demyx was standing next to him and the two immediately shut up, their eyes growing wide. "Holy..." Demyx breathed.

"What?" I snapped, glaring at him.

"Um... Rox, I think you forgot your shirt." Axel said, pointing at my bare chest.

I glanced down, eyes widening slightly as I noticed that every single bruise and scar from my hips up were exposed. I slammed the door and ran to my room, pulled on a long-sleeve shirt and opened it again, slowly. "What do you guys want?"

"Well we came to get you 'cause Sora sent out a mass text saying to meet him at Village Inn for breakfast before the faire, but now I'm wondering where the hell you got all... those." Demyx said.

"It's not important." I shrugged, turning to Axel. "Let me get ready, you guys can wait inside."

He nodded, grabbing the still stunned Demyx by the wrist and dragging him inside. I left them to find a seat and went to brush my teeth and fix my extremely messy hair. No doubt Axel would probably explain to Demyx that I lived alone, but I was too tired and crabby to really give a fuck at the moment. Once I was all ready I changed into something that matched a little better and would be warmer for the cooling weather and stuffed my keys in my pocket. "Alright, lets go."

"Cool!" Demyx cheered, jumping out of his seat on the couch and running out the door. Axel sighed and followed after, leaving me the last out to lock the door. We rode in Demyx's car, Axel in the passenger seat and me in the back with Zexion, who had waited in the car earlier.

Apparently the plan was that we were all going to go out for breakfast at Village Inn and then after we'd head over to the faire, which opened at noon.

Sora and his group had arrived before us and were waiting at a table, and the rest of our group would be showing up soon. When everyone had finally arrived, we pushed three tables together and went through the chaotic trouble of figuring out what each and every one of us would order. There were arguments over money issues, dieting, and of course the 'you can't get that, i'm getting that!' that usually went on between Demyx and Sora.

The waiters cringed every time they came by our table, thanks to everyone being very obnoxious. At one point a small food fight erupted thanks to Axel flinging some of his food at Marluxia, but it was ended by one of the waiters saying that we'd have to leave if we kept it up. After that we were more calm, talking among each other and occasionally bursting out in laughter.

Demyx, although he would glance over at me every now and then with a either a curious or debating look on his face, never said anything about earlier. No questions were asked and no comments were made about the many scars or one bedroom apartment. For that, I was grateful.

We left close to one, everyone piling into their designated cars and driving off towards the faire. It wasn't an overly large, extremely crowded faire like I had seen, but it wasn't small either. They had rides like a ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, a few small rollercoasters, and all of the mandatory carnival rides. Not to mention haunted houses and a whole lot of games.

When we got in line everyone began arranging themselves into their pairs. Seeing as we all were pretty big cheapskates, we decided everyone would go in with their 'date' and only pay half price. Demyx was with Zexion, Marluxia with Larxene, Sora with Riku, etc. It was a pretty good idea, in my opinion.

And before you ask, yeah, my 'date' was Axel.

Everyone seemed to split up once we got inside; surprisingly in the pairs they had gotten in with, but some joined in groups of two or three. Demyx and Zexion stayed with us for most of the time, and every now and then we'd meet up with others. We ran around for hours, but the first thing that came out of Axel's mouth was "Hey Roxy, lets go on the ferris wheel!"

My heart dropped into my stomach, but I gave him a very deadpan look. "No way in hell."

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" he begged.

"Axel, no."

"Why not?"

"… Just 'cause."

He raised an eyebrow when I looked away. "Are you scared of heights?"

"Not heights!" I groaned, dropping my head in shame. "I just really hate ferris wheels, okay? We'll go on anything just not the ferris wheel."

"Did they do something to you or something? Why discriminate against ferris wheels?" he chuckled, clearly amused at my fear.

"I was stuck on one when my friend for about two hours at the very top because something went wrong, and the whole time he was rocking back and forth. I almost fell out and by the time we got off I was crying." I said, the color draining from my face at the memory.

"Aw, don't worry I won't rock it! Come on, you might like it this time."

"…We'll see." I sighed, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to a different ride. This one was one of rides were you stood against the wall and it spun, the only thing holding you down being the force of the spinning. We were halfway through the line when I noticed I was still holding onto his hand. I let it go, coughing nervously.

"Aww and I was just starting to enjoy that." Axel sighed dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the blush on my cheeks. "Whatever."

"So let me get this straight…" Axel said, holding his chin in thought. "You'll go on a ride where there is absolutely nothing holding you down except sheer force, where you spin around and around in the air, but you won't go on a simple ferris wheel where you sit in a little compartment and move slowly around in a circle? Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me, Roxy."

"I told you, bad experience with ferris wheels!" I groaned. "I can go on anything except those."

"We have to go on it at least once; it's only natural."
"Says who?"

"Says everybody! It's mandatory that you go on a ferris wheel at least once every time you go to a carnival or faire, everybody knows this." He said, wagging a finger in my face.

I swatted it away, frowning. "That's a stupid rule, and I'm pretty freaking sure not everybody goes on a ferris wheel, Axel."

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow. "And how sure are you, exactly?"
"Really sure?"

"Sure enough to bet on it?"

"How do you make a bet on that?"

Axel grinned. "I bet you that every single person that went to the faire in our group goes on the ferris wheel at least once by the end of the night."

"And what happens if one of us looses?"

"That… will be decided at the end." He winked.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"Deal?"

"Sure."

"Shake on it."

I Sighed and took his hand, shaking it before we were allowed to climb onto the ride. There was something I learned that day; Axel is very giggly and very loud when he goes on any ride. Whether or not it's actually exciting or scary, he will yell and laugh and scream until the thing is over.

Overall the faire was extremely fun. We ran around from ride to ride, chatting as we waited and occasionally talking with another member of our group if we ran into them. Aside from going on every ride in the entire faire, we also stopped at a lot of the booths with games that were usually rigged so you couldn't win.

Axel, once again, proved me wrong.

By six the sun was going down and we were carrying stuffed animals, food, glow sticks, and all kinds of little prizes that mostly Axel (I surprised myself by winning a couple of the games myself) had won. Of course, we still had not been on the ferris wheel yet. However something had changed about the faire. Along with the people walking around there were people in costumes, very scary costumes, running around and freaking people out. At first I was worried when I kept hearing random screams, but Axel only grinned. I only noticed the creepy clowns, werewolves, and blood-covered men with chainsaws when one came right at me, revving his saw and growling in my face.

I screamed like a little girl, jumped about ten feet in the air, and clung for dear life onto Axel's head. Of course he thought it was hilarious and proceeded to give the man a high-five, but I had almost had a heart attack.

"Roxas, he was just joking, you can get off now." Axel laughed, prying at my hands. I wouldn't have it though; I curled my legs around his stomach tighter and refused to let go. So, after letting out a long sigh, he shifted so he was comfortable and carried me on his back around the faire until we found a haunted house.

"Axel, no."

"You already declined the ferris wheel, you can't say no to this." He said.

"I'm not going in there."

"So long as you're on my back you are."

I jumped off immediately, hiding behind Zexion – Demyx and him had just joined us – and glaring at him.

"Come on, Rox they aren't that scary." He said.

"He's right!" Demyx piped up. "At first I thought they'd be scary, but then after Zexion and I went through the last one I realized they weren't as bad as I thought they'd be!"

"Besides, if they know you're such a scaredy-cat they'll just try and scare you more." Axel grinned.

I shook my head and Zexion sighed, turning to squeeze my hand reassuringly. "We'll be going in with you, Roxas. You'll be alright."

"You guys suck." I groaned, slumping over in defeat behind Axel with Demyx and Zexion behind me. As it turns out, we went to the scariest haunted house in the whole park. At the end Demyx and I sat on a bench that was close by, holding onto each other as we shook in fear while Axel and Zexion sat across from us looking completely unfazed. I had sunk to a new kind of low that night.

"Okay, so that one probably wasn't the best to start off." Axel admitted. "But man that was amazing! Hell even I got freaked out a bit in there!"

"That was horrible." I groaned. "You have the worst sense of humor ever if you think that was fun."

"Oh come on, it's fun to get scared! That's the whole reason they're around in the first place."

"Whatever, I'm never going in another haunted house again."

"Amen to that!" Demyx cried, slumping his head on my shoulder. It seemed like the only person taking it worse than me was him.

Axel rolled his eyes and stood up. "Alright, enough sulking; let's get going."

"Why are you so pissy all of the sudden?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not pissy." He mumbled. "I'm just bored of sitting around when we could be going on another ride or playing a game or something!"

"I'm a bit hungry, we haven't eaten anything yet and it's getting late." Zexion said, standing up and placing himself next to Demyx. "Plus I doubt they have anyone scaring people around the food courts."

"Right, it's already after six." I said, checking the time on my phone.

"Alright, we'll get some food then." Axel nodded, and with that we were off looking for some food. It took us over an hour to find a collection of food stands, thanks to Axel getting lost, Demyx getting distracted, and me freaking out every time I saw one of the people in their freaky costumes and then insisted on taking a different route.

However, as soon as we did find the food, we ordered a lot. I swear, Axel could clean out a whole restaurant if he wanted to. Altogether we ordered three funnel cakes, four caramel apples, a tub of chicken, a whole lot of fries, a giant bag of caramel corn, fudge, and other kinds of Halloween and Autumn themed treats.

Despite my complaints, Axel managed to drag me through a few other haunted houses. Thankfully none of them were as bad as the first, but I still jumped and squealed every now and then. Axel, unlike my girly reactions, tended to curse when he got startled and then seconds later he'd start cracking up. That tended to make things a little less scary for me.

We were outside, standing near the ferris wheel once again, both of us decorated in all kinds of glow sticks and eating the last of the caramel corn.

"Rox, will you please go on the ferris wheel?" Axel begged "Just once?"

"I thought we talked about this." I groaned.

"Yeah but come one! It's just one time, that's all I ask."

"Isn't the faire closing soon? It's almost midnight."

"We leave at twelve thirty, but come one! We're gonna miss it!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Miss what?"

"The best part of the faire, that's what!" he exclaimed.

Demyx came up and grinned. "Aw, Roxy you've gotta go on the ferris wheel now!"

"What is so important about going on the ferris wheel right now?" I asked, getting slightly irritated.

Demyx snickered. "You have to get on to figure it out!"

"No, tell me first!"

"Roxas, it's best if you just go with them on this one." Zexion said, popping some cotton candy in his mouth.

"Why?" Demyx and Axel shared a grin before Axel came over, grabbed me by my legs and threw me over his shoulder. "Wha- put me down!" I screeched, hitting his back with as much strength as I could muster.

"You brought this on yourself!" Axel said, running off towards what I could only guess was the ferris wheel. About three minutes later I was sitting in one of those godforsaken carts, the safety bar secured not-so-safely over my lap and Axel sitting next to me with a very smug look on his face.

I slumped into my seat, hiding my growing terror behind a pout. Demyx and Zexion were behind us, and he waved when I glanced back. "Don't worry Roxy, you're gonna love it! I promise!"

I groaned when the ride began moving, holding onto the bar so tightly my knuckles were turning white. The cart rocked slightly at first, which frankly made my heart jump into my throat. There better be something really freaking awesome or I was going to be one unhappy Roxas.

Once everyone had been loaded onto the ride and all the carts were full, it started for real. "Relax, you'll be fine." Axel grinned, nudging me in the arm. I nodded, taking a deep breath as we rounded up to the top. We went around once more slowly, Axel tapping his finger on the bar. I shot him a curious glance but he just shook his head and told me I'd see in a second.

When we got to the very top, I gasped.

Fireworks. That was what they were all so excited about. The most breathtaking, beautiful view of fireworks I had ever seen in my entire life – not that I saw fireworks more than once a year, but the idea was still there.

I stole a glance at Axel, who was watching intently with a smile, not a smirk. The lights reflected off of his face and eyes and he just looked so peaceful. It made me smile. Turning back to the fireworks, we sat in silence as the ferris wheel continued to turn slowly. It rounds once more before it stops, letting people off as the fireworks went on.

We met up with Sora and the rest of the gang once we got off the ride and found a good spot to stand to watch the last of the fireworks with everyone. As they're going on, Axel turns to the group and grins. "Hey, everybody raise your hand if you went on the ferris wheel today!"

Everyone looked pretty confused, but raised their hands anyway. I Frowned.

"Okay, hands down. Now… anyone who didn't go on it raise your hand." He said. No one raised their hand. "Awesome, thanks. Looks like I win, Roxy."

I groaned. "Fine, you win. Happy?"

"Ah ah ah," he wagged a finger, the group going back to watch as the fireworks got bigger. By the looks of it, the finale was about to start soon. "You lost, so you have to accept punishment."

"And what exactly is that going to be?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. A very manly action, I know.

Axel thought for a moment, looked up towards the sky, and grinned. "Hmm… how about this." He leaned in quicker than I had time to think. Before I knew it he had my face in his hands and his mouth on my lips.

I stood there in shock for a good two seconds while my mind wrapped around what was happening and when I finally did, he was pulling away. My brain panicked and without thinking I quickly pulled him back, crashing our lips back together with a bit too much force.

I felt Axel grin as he kissed back harder, my arms wrapping around his neck. As it was all happening, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly at how insanely cliché the whole situation was. I mean, you always hear in those sappy love novels that there were fireworks on the true-love's first kiss – how many people actually got to say there were real fireworks?

Someone whistled across from us, a few others gasped and – from what I could hear – Namine and Demyx cheered. My face went red and even though I didn't really want it to end, I pulled away slowly and looked directly at the ground.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed." Axel grinned, nudging my arm. I couldn't help grinning back when I looked up, because even though he had said that his face was probably redder than mine.

"I hate to break up the love-fest," Demyx said, coming up behind us and wrapping am arm around both of our necks, "but the faire is closing so let's get going! Party at my house, 'kay?"

I nodded, walking along side Axel as we all filed out to the parking lot. As we walked, I felt Axel catch my hand is his. "I don't suppose that's part of my punishment as well?" I grinned.

"Think of it as interest." He said, winking.

When we got to the car I climbed into the back with Demyx and Zexion, yawning as soon as we were all settled and driving. I hadn't realized I was so tired until then. Yawning once again, I rested my head against the window and let the sound of everyone else talking and the shaking of the car sooth me to sleep. I smiled as I closed my eyes. All in all, it had been a very good day.

Oh god I have the bad feeling you guys are going to hate me in the next chapter or two... Dear lord. Have mercy on my soul. Oh god, DON'T HATE ME x_x

Well, I hope you enjoyed this, it was fun to write c: Next chapter should be up soon! In the mean time, please review! I like your feedback! :D