Author's Note: As you've probably guessed, this fic is winding up. ^_^ One last fluffy chapter for you. Enjoy!
"Axel, I love you." Roxas said in a firm tone. "I'd live for you, I'd die for you, I'd probably kill for you. But I will not watch Beavis and Butthead do America for you." Axel grinned as he looked at the movie he was holding. They were in the local Blockbuster trying to figure out what movie they should rent. It was turning out to be much harder than it appeared.
"What, you don't like toilet humor? Come on Roxy it'd be fun!" Roxas shook his head, exasperated.
"No. That's as bad as South Park the Movie. Worse actually. Look, I'm not going to make you sit through The Thin Red Line again but we need to reach some middle ground here." Axel looked pained at that. Roxas had loved that movie but he'd thought it was boring and pointless.
"Ace Ventura: Pet Detective? No? Hmm…" They went back to sorting through movies and Axel suddenly found something interesting. He'd seen it before but it was the kind of movie that was always worth rewatching. "Hey Roxas! Let's get the Shawshank Redemption." It was on sale too which was good. They were going for as cheap as possible which was why they were avoiding the new releases.
"Hmm?" Roxas looked at the movie, diverted. "I've never seen that but I've heard it's good. Okay." He thought he would like that. Axel smiled.
"Nifty!" He was pleased to hear Roxas had never watched it. He was sure the blonde would like it. They quickly paid for the movie and walked outside. Axel winced faintly at the bite in the wind but fortunately it wasn't really freezing. The temperature had dipped below freezing once and that had been a pain because they'd needed to heat some water for the goats and check all the rabbit's bottles. The goats could break the skin of ice on the tank but Roxas had gotten into the habit of warming the water anyway, just in case. Axel thought it was a good idea. He remembered from his time with horses that they wouldn't always break ice, although goats were probably different.
"So what do you think of those rabbits? Should we get them?" Roxas asked and Axel frowned, thinking about it. After a lot of searching they'd managed to find a local breeder who had some angora rabbits she was willing to part with. Apparently she was breeding for showing, not to sell the wool, and was willing to sell them a pair of not show quality rabbits for two hundred dollars.
"It'll be a lot of work." Axel wasn't looking forward to that part. The rabbits would need daily care so their wool would be nice when it molted and they could pluck it off. "The part I'm really worried about though is Wobbler. Will he be okay with them living in the house?" That was one of the breeder's conditions. She'd raised her rabbits to be pets and didn't want them penned in the back with the meat rabbits. Roxas nodded.
"He'll be fine. We got him as a kitten and dad wouldn't have put up with anything that might kill the livestock so he let me keep a few rabbits inside to make sure Wobbler wouldn't eat them. He'll probably have fun playing with them, especially when they have kits." The adult rabbits probably wouldn't be thrilled with Wobbler but their babies would grow up with him. "I think we should do it. We have the money right now and it could help a lot." They could pick the wool and sell it to spinners who would make it into yarn and then sell it. Or they could make the yarn themselves although that would be even more work. Roxas was leaning towards the former at the moment. He'd already had plenty of contacts in the rabbit community and it hadn't been hard to find people who really wanted more angora wool. Axel hesitated then nodded.
"Okay. Grooming them should be kind of fun." He was a bit hazy on how to do that but Roxas could show him. Apparently one of the rabbits he'd owned as a child had been a longer haired breed, not a wool rabbit but one that required grooming. It had been a prize from a contest he'd entered and Axel had been a little shocked that someone would give away a rabbit in something like that. What if it had gone to a kid who had known nothing about rabbits? Fortunately it had gotten Roxas and his father hadn't cared about the little pet as long as the blonde took care of it. It had finally passed away from a heart attack. Axel thought that Roxas partly wanted the angoras to have real pet rabbits again.
"Okay. I'll let her know and we should be able to pick them up next month." The breeder wouldn't let rabbits go until they were at least eight months of age so there was still one month left. Roxas gave Axel a quick hug before they got into the car. "We have… forty three dollars left of our budget for today. What should we spend it on?" Roxas asked and Axel thought about it for a moment. They'd already gotten the groceries so this was money just for enjoyment.
"How about a restaurant? I haven't been to one in forever. Hey, where's the map?" Axel quickly found it and started flipping through it. He knew the city much better than Roxas. "Oh nifty, we're pretty close to that Pho place I remember. Marly took us there for lunch one time. It should be right on twenty-third." Roxas glanced over at the map as he started the car and nodded.
"You be the navigator." He pulled the car out into traffic easily. "Marluxia… this place isn't too expensive, is it?" He knew Marly was pretty rich. Axel shook his head.
"Pho's cheap Roxas. We might even have money left over." Axel grinned. "It's called Pho What." Roxas blinked but kept his eyes on the road.
"That's… a horrible name for a restaurant." Someone had clearly been trying to make a really terrible pun. "Well, as long as the food is good." Roxas had never had Pho before but after Axel had explained the concept he'd tried making some. It had turned out to be fairly easy once you got the broth right, and Roxas had already known how to make a good noodle broth.
The food turned out to be very good indeed and they both enjoyed adding the noodles, bean sprouts and raw beef to the broth before eating it. Roxas got the beef and tripe bowl while Axel got just the beef. They both got the spicy variety and it was a touch eye watering but still very good. Roxas watched Axel eat for a moment, smiling.
Everything was going so much better. The therapy had been expensive but worth it and he was only going once a month now. Dr. Ramstein had taught him various coping techniques and he'd explored the pains of his childhood. The pain would never go away, of course, but he'd learned to recognize how his experiences had warped his reactions. Knowing was half the battle and it helped him see when he was 'entering his crazy-mode' as Axel liked to put it. His nightmares had decreased although Axel still sometimes had to shove him out of the bed.
Financially, things were going better too. The special kids he'd raised for the Christmas holidays had sold very well and things were looking bright. Axel's credit card had no balance and they were able to put a bit of money into the business in the form of two more nanny goats and the angora rabbits. Roxas' credit problems weren't over and he suspected they never would be, despite a change of SIN. But with Axel as his partner it didn't matter too much. As long as no one tried to seize the farm, but he was pretty sure no one could this far after his father's death. And the property wasn't really worth that much anyway. It was their labor and animals that made it worth something and he'd purchased all of them after his father's death.
"Axel?" Roxas said shyly. "I know it's a bit late but I got you something." They hadn't been able to get each other too much for Christmas, since all the payments hadn't come in for the goats yet. Roxas had gotten Axel a tin of drinking chocolate and some really good pies from the farmer's market while the redhead had gotten him a little candle in a globe. They'd actually come from the dollar store but Axel had carefully picked through the selection to find a candle and globe that matched and together they looked beautiful. Axel blinked.
"You didn't have to." He wasn't expecting anything else. Roxas shook his head with a smile.
"Yes, I do." He took out a small box and passed it over. Axel opened it curiously then blinked and laughed. It was another tree pendant, but this one with branches instead of leaves and little blooms soldered onto each branch. The centres of the blooms were tiny garnets.
"You got this from Mark, didn't you?" Roxas smiled and nodded. "I had no idea you were doing that! Sneaky. Thank you so much Roxas." Axel was really touched. He knew how much this must have cost and Roxas had to have been saving for a while to get it. "Hey, now we'll match."
"Yes, we will." Roxas smiled and caught Axel's hand for a moment, giving him a gentle squeeze as their eyes met. The warmth in the redhead's eyes was everything he could have asked for.
They would be together forever. He could feel it.
~FIN~
