AkuBeku in this chapter, keehee. In case you're wondering, that's basically Axel with my OC (which is just one of my best friends Bec) I don't ship Axel with anyone from Kingdom Hearts, so all is right with the world and I can ship AkuBeku and VenJess to my heart's desire! Yay!

Roxas: What's VenJess?

Me and Ven X3

Roxas: Why?

Because he's just so cute and amazing and I love love LOVE him and there's no love interest for him (and please, people, don't go saying something like...Vanitas or whatever. As I do believe I've said at some time in some place, I have nothing against what you ship, but I personally DO NOT SHIP VAN-VEN or whatever the f*** it's name is).

Roxas: 8O... You swore

Yes I'm very naughty aren't I?

Okay... I don't own KH or Maximum Ride, I techinically don't own Bec either (it'd be kinda weird if I did) she is my friend.

Chapter Thirteen: …In Love…?

'When faced with the evidence, you still want to deny it… will you?'

Even when he didn't consider them friends, Axel had always been the one Roxas had gone to when he had important questions that needed answering. Axel had a room in a separate dorm, with the other Organisation members. They all had locks on their doors, in case one of the experiments 'broke' (as many did) and tried to kill one of them. In Axel's dorm, there were no crying children or empty rooms. It could have easily been the nicest dorm in the institute, if the people in it had been able to match that description… Roxas shook his head, he had come here to ask a question, not think about those other things. And as he knocked on the door to the red-head's room, he couldn't help but feel that this was possibly one of the most important questions he had ever asked him. After receiving the call to come in, Roxas entered the room and sat down on the end of the bed- Axel was looking at what seemed to be a photo, and smiling fondly at it.

After a few moments, the red-head tucked the photo into a pocket, but not before Roxas caught a glimpse of Axel with a tall girl who had dark, short hair.

"So what's the question, huh?" Axel asked, leaning back against the wall. Roxas rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Am I that easy to read?" The taller teen shrugged, "yeah, pretty much. It's not really hard to work out that you have a question; the confused expression on your face conveys that it's a particularly important one and you're having a heck of a lot of trouble figuring it out on your own. Just ask instead of beating around the bush." A thought seemed to occur to him, "you don't need, The Talk yet, do you?" Roxas frowned, "the talk… what's that?" Axel shook his head frantically, "uh, it's nothing! Nothing of concern! Don't worry about. Actually how did that even come up in this conversation?" He chuckled nervously, "don't… it's… not important. Ever."

Roxas sat for a moment in baffled silence, the subject of 'The Talk'- whatever it was- had come up a few times in the past, and it was one of the only times Axel ever spoke in such a panicked, flustered tone. If it was that bad, he didn't want to know; he had enough problems as is.

"So, what's your problem then?" Axel asked, in a blatantly obvious attempt to steer the conversation away from the previous subject. Roxas rolled his eyes, "Axel, what is love? How can you tell if you love someone?"

He was surprised to see the teenager hesitate for a moment before answering, "That's a tricky question. There are lots of different types of love. Love is also quite different for different people. A lot of the time, it's one of those… unconditional things… like… if you really love them, you'll continue to do so no matter what. Um… well, it's generally accepted that there's the type of love you feel for friends. You care about them and you want them to be happy. If they're hurt you're upset, that sort of thing. That's usually how feel about anyone that you love. Really, the only thing that's different is the reason why you love them. Another type is love for family which is basically the same, except it's a bit stronger because there's that connection you share with those in your family, the type of connection that is forged from knowing a person your whole life. The final type of love is the purest type. Being in love with someone. With your most important person. Their opinion of you matters more than anything else, you feel happy when they're happy. Sad when they're sad. Sometimes you look at them and it feels like your heart is going to explode. You miss them when they're gone. When they're near your heart beats quickly, you feel like you can't breathe. They make you react in ways you never thought was possible…" Roxas glance up at the boy in front of him who was now speaking in a somewhat wistful tone.

Tilting his head to one side, Roxas repeated the question he had asked Sora not so long ago- only vaguely pausing to wonder at the fact that he felt so comfortable teasing his friends as well as how he now had no problem with referring to Axel a friend, "you seem to know a lot about love. Is there someone you're in love with right now?" Axel blushed and Roxas stared at him in amazement, 'they make you react in ways you never thought was possible…' 'Well, he's right about that part at least.' Roxas thought to himself, smiling slightly at Axel's reaction. He leaned forward, "so, who is it?" he asked, grinning now.

Axel went even redder before finally seeming to gain his composure and smirking, "you wanna know that badly? Fine." He bought out the photo he had been looking at earlier when Roxas had first come into the room. He started explaining in a slightly apologetic voice, "You're aware that the members of the Organisation are allowed a bit more freedom than the rest of you. Like… we're allowed to go into town- of course, we've still all got those transmitter chips in each of us. So it's not like we can make a run for it, or tell anyone about the institute. But we have a bit of freedom." Roxas nodded, he knew this already. "Well, one time I was out in town, and I saw this girl get grabbed and dragged into an alley. Well, I was thinking, 'pretty girl in trouble? I am so there, I'll be her hero!' or whatever. Anyway, I run over and there's like, five of them, and they're all crowded around her saying things like 'give us your money and maybe we'll go easy on you!' You know… all those jerky, evil, kinda-cliché-but-still-scary-if-they're-directed-at-you lines. And this chick, she just, stares at them for a few moments then she goes, 'screw you! You think you're evil? You think you're scary? Well you haven't seen envy from Fullmetal Alchemist! He's the biggest douche! He killed H- Oops… spoilers… anyway, you ain't got nothing on him! And if Edward and Roy and all of them can beat him, then I can handle bunch of idiots like yourself who probably don't even have a Tumblr blog!' And she ended up… somehow… managing to beat the living daylights out the lot of them, before I could even join in and help."

Axel chucked, a somewhat dreamy look came into his eyes, "she's real hard-core, and absolutely crazy, she's heaps of fun to be around, and when I saw her, and got to speak to her, I just knew that… she was the one." Roxas stared, vaguely impressed with this girl for somehow managing to turn Axel into some kind of love-struck, starry-eyed kohai (1).

He tilted his head to one side curiously, "so what's her name?" Axel grinned, "Bec, how cool is her name! I mean-" "Okay, okay." Roxas interrupted; it was utterly hilarious seeing Axel act like this, but it didn't really answer his question… or rather, it didn't help him much with his current situation. "So is it like… you see her, and you instantly know that you love her?" He asked. Axel shook his head, "it varies from person to person, for some people it might be love at first sight, for others, it could be a gradual thing. Like, for years you were just friends, then you realised that your emotions went into some kind of… mini whirlwind everytime they were near, and you realise that you're in love." He grinned, "Finally realising your feelings for Xion are you?" He asked, smirking. Roxas went red, "oh… shut up!" He growled, before getting to his feet and walking out of the room, blushing a furious red.

He didn't go to the clock tower this time- he was concerned that Sora might deem it necessary to come and confuse him once more- instead, he ended up in his room, lying on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.

He thought over what Axel had told him, he thought over what Sora had told him, and he thought over how he reacted around Xion, and he realised, and sat up in his bad, staring at the wall in front of him in shock,

"I am in love with Xion!"

(1) Kohai; Underclassman (in terms of kohai and senpai how senpai is the upperclassman and stuff)

So Roxas... admitting your feelings are you now?

Roxas: *Blushes* Sh-shut up! *Runs off and hides*

Okay... then... Axel... what do you think of Bec?

*Turns to where Axel is sitting gazing lovingly at his photo again, I should probably take that off him if he's not gonna listen*

Axel: *Looks up* Did someone say Bec?

*Sigh*

Yes, I did. I wanted to know what you thought of her.

Axel: Oh! She is the most amazing person ever! And she is hot! And lot's of fun to be with and-

Okay, never mind. I asked for interview purposes but if you're just gonna go on like that... I mean... happy for you but... I think I'm gonna go play with Roxas instead.

Axel: B-but... *sad-face* I wanna talk about Bec more...

*Walks away*

Roxie! Huggles!

Roxas: No get away! Leave me alone! I don't love Xion! Stop putting words in my mouth! I'll never admit to it, you can't make me!

Roxie~ I already did.

Roxas: Have I ever told you that I really don't like you.

Yes you have, almost every chapter in fact.