Summ.
Axel didn't care that his older brother was dating a guy. Until he fell in love with the boyfriend's son. They're engaged to be married, but will the young lovers stand up for their relationship? I mean it's not REALLY incest!

It is written in first person, chapters switching viewpoints from Axel to Roxas. Axel for odd numbered chapters, Roxas for even numbered chapters.

"Have you ever walked on the shoreline, Axel?"

I looked up from my half-eaten piece of square pizza (something that I still don't understand the reason for) to look at Cloud. He was sitting on the edge of the empty fountain next to me. "No, I haven't… why?"

"Well, that was actually my first date. A walk on the beach. It's really nice to see the sunset on the water. There's so much life in the tide pools and you find nice little shells that you can give as gifts or something. You can make necklaces or bracelets out of them, or simply give them to someone you want to see smile. They're surprisingly good presents."

"Really?" the first thing that came to mind was the idea of making Roxas smile. I'd never gotten him a gift apart from his birthday, but he was smiling mostly because he was glad that I was there. We both thought I would be out of town with Reno, but my brother arranged it so we could make it back in time for June 3rd. The prospect of giving Roxas a present just to say 'I love you' sounded incredible. But to get it, I'd have to be proactive. "That sounds really cool! Can we look for shells, Cloud?"

Cloud's face lit up with delight at my proposal to actually do something together. "Sure! Are you going to finish your pizza first? We should get a little bucket from the beach shop to put them in. I'll go get that while you finish eating, okay?"

"Alright."

"Oh, and I know this sounds like a stupid question, but is there any particular color you want for the bucket?"

"Yellow…" like Roxas' hair, "or blue…" like his eyes.

"You got it!" Cloud ran off and I threw away the cold slice of pizza, taking a sip of my soda and cleaning the grease off my hands with a napkin. As I tossed the napkin in the trash and put the soda can into a recycling bin, Cloud came back with a yellow bucket and a blue plastic shovel. "Both colors came together, so I got this one."

"Great. Let's go."

The walk along the beach with Cloud was… odd… but nice. He was really trying to be friendly, and I tried to be kind in return, but I also tried to be blatantly obvious that if he were to ever be a relative of mine, he'd be my father-in-law.

"What do you think about this one?"

"That's a really good one, Axel! Be careful with it or you might break it if you just throw it into the bucket."

"Yeah."

"Axel! Come over here!"

I ran over. "What?"

"It's a little seahorse!"

I looked at it and suddenly really, really wanted to keep it. I'd never even considered having a pet, let alone a wild animal, but that little seahorse was the first animal I had ever claimed to be—"Cute!"

"I know, right? I like seahorses."

"I want to take it home…" I realized I sounded like a child in a pet store, but I didn't care. I instantly loved it. "Would it be okay… to keep it?"

"It's a salt-water fish, Axel, and a wild animal… it will be a lot more difficult to take care of than a goldfish."

"But look at it, Cloud… it's so small and all alone! I don't want to send it out into the ocean to be eaten by a shark! It's so cute and helpless…"

Cloud smiled. "You'd need to get a tank and special filters and special food, you know."

"I don't care… I want to take care of it. I've never had a pet, but I really want to help it…" I looked at Cloud, and he sighed in defeat.

"If you're certain you don't mind the extra work…"

"I don't!"

"I'll be right back, then."

Cloud returned with a small plastic fish tank and filled it with water from the tide pool, the seahorse being pulled into the container as well. Covering the tank, Cloud handed it to me. My face lit up.

"Well, we'd better go to a pet store to get what you need to take care of it…"

I gently lifted the tank to eye level and smiled at the little seahorse swimming around inside as if nothing had happened. "I love you, little seahorse… Nei. I'll call you Nei."

The trip to the pet store was strange mostly because Cloud was still baffled at my behavior around Nei. I did say it was the strangest day of my life. I melted inside when I saw that seahorse. It was a similar feeling to when I first saw Roxas 'sleeping' on the day we met; so adorable and helpless…

We returned to the apartment and set up everything for my new pet, eating red curry as we watched Nei swim around his new home. We got him a snail to help keep the tank clean, and the snail was eagerly setting to work. I decided to myself that I would let Roxas name the snail. I hoped he would like my seahorse as much as I did.

'Roxas… I miss you, my love…'

"Axel, Reno called and said he's coming back. Roxas twisted his ankle and doesn't want to walk anymore. Do you want me to take him home, or do you want him to stay here?"

"I would love it if he could stay here and see my seahorse."

'That's part of the reason… but I really just want to be able to kiss him again and say goodbye properly before he leaves next time…'

"Alright."

Reno came home with Roxas, who was limping badly. I rushed to my lover's side and asked him if he was okay, doting on him like a worried mother even though he insisted it was just a sprain at most.

"What's this thing doing here?" Reno inquired.

"That's my seahorse. Cloud found him on the beach and I took him home. He was all alone. Look how small and defenseless he is!"

Reno turned to Cloud. "I thought I told you not to ruin my brother, Cloud."

"I did nothing of the sort. HE argued with ME saying that he wanted to keep it. I don't have an iron will, Reno."

"That's true. We'd have no sex life if you did…"

Having heard far too much, I carried Roxas to my room and closed the door, lying with him on my bed as my arms snaked around his waist. "I missed you, baby…"

He smiled at me, bringing our lips together in a tender kiss. "I didn't get to tell you how much I love you before I left."

"Never too late to start, love…"

"I love you, Axel…" he kissed me softly again.

"Love you too…"

Our kisses were sweet and loving, not escalating into passion, just pure love and longing. We murmured our belated 'I love you's to one another, nuzzling together in a beautiful embrace.

The strangest day of my life… was one of the best.

I love the balance of sex and plot and fluff in this story. It makes me smile.