Author's Note: Costa Rica was frigging amazing and this week has been hectic and crap

Author's Note: Costa Rica was frigging amazing and this week has been hectic and crap. So sorry about the elongated wait!

Disclaimer: Damn it, I still don't own it.

Other Junk: My brother and his girlfriend are playing KH2 and they just met Axel for the first time. I was very squeeful. Oh, and I made a poll for you, my darling readers. Just curious! It's on the top of my profile page for you peeps to use. So go and vote (once you finish reading, that is)!

Chapter 21

Roxas woke and found the ceiling to be quite different from what he was used to seeing - the early morning sun splaying across the white surface at a slightly different angle than in his own room. It was only a matter of time before he came to realize exactly what predicament he had wound up in. Needless to say, it was a rather awkward one. Especially seeing that a hand other than his own was resting on his stomach, precariously close to his bellybutton. Which was rather exposed due to the fact that his shirt had ridden up sometime during the night. The night… when Axel had stayed awake, whispering sweet somethings – not nothings, mind you – into Roxas's ear. No, they were not nothings. Nothing Axel said could ever be a nothing. To those murmured somethings, he had fallen asleep.

He was vaguely reminded of a certain dream that had led him to believe that he would wake to the redhead beside him and, needless to say, his heart suffered a series of attacks in quick succession. Then he realized that his pants were, in fact, still on. But regardless, it was about time to leave.

As much as Roxas had wanted to be close to Axel the previous night, he was all but thrilled to shove the arm away that had gone wandering in the redhead's sleep – he hoped he was asleep, at least – and leave the peacefully sleeping man in favor of channel-surfing. At least he tried. It was a valiant effort, but quite ineffective. As soon as he moved, the sleeping Axel clutched the blond closer, affectively ensnaring him for the time being.

Which gave the perfect opportunity to experiment. Or at least it seemed like it at the time. Screw the dream. He felt like being a mischievous sneak. Moving at the speed of a sloth with an anti-caffeine shot, Roxas inched closer to the redhead, gaze intent on the slumbering expression before him. But only up until that expression shifted ever so slightly. Roxas froze a moment too late and the unconscious redhead accommodated for Roxas's most recent move by spooning his side. The expression relaxed once more, now quite a bit closer to the wide awake blue eyes. Oh shit, what did he just get himself into?

Never mind. Screw the experiment. This was getting dangerous. That was when Roxas began his snail-speed withdrawal, only pausing when the red eyebrows furrowed at the not so sudden loss of a warm not-teddy bear. It took about an hour of Roxas-time to get out of the hairy situation – more like fifteen minutes to any other person – and make his way to the couch, where he settled on watching dorky television shows.

It was about a real not-Roxas hour of waiting before he heard a few sluggish thumps from the other room, signifying Axel's waking. It was only a matter of moments before said pajama-clad redhead stumbled into the room. The peaceful expression he had adorned was lost to squinting at the evil sun that shouldn't have been up at that ungodly hour.

"Good morning, beautiful," Roxas droned out over the top of the couch, an eyebrow raised at Axel's horrid bead-head hair.

Axel stopped in his groggy steps that were supposedly heading towards Roxas and stared. It took him a moment to wake up enough to question, "What'd I do to get that nickname?" Better question: what hadn't he done?

Roxas rolled his eyes, "You don't like to keep to yourself while you're sleeping." Like hell he was going to admit that he halfway provoked it.

This caught Axel and suddenly he wasn't quite as asleep as he had been, "Shit, what'd I do?"

Roxas turned back to the TV, quietly playing on before him, and acted as though it was the main focus of his entire being at that moment, "Nothing worth mentioning." A needy grumble came from his stomach as Full House played on the crappy television, "You got those pancakes ready? I'm freaking starving."

Axel disregarded the question and continued on with the more pressing matter, "You sure I didn't give you, like, a hand job or something?" Now, that did seem have a more significant air to it than the TV show playing.

The blond turned away from the screen and gave a suspicious glare at the redhead, "Are you prone to giving people hand jobs in your sleep?"

The redhead stalled, seeing himself caught in a corner, "No! God, no. Rox, you're making it seem like I'm in the habit of molesting everyone I come across." What a nice way to start out the morning, no?

Blue eyes narrowed over the top of the couch, "Are you?"

"Of course not!" He let out a groan and wiped a hand down the front of his face, "It's too early to be having this conversation."

"Axel, it's almost noon." Always the voice of reason. Not.

Green locked to blue, "Yeah, but that's like, eight in the morning for me."

The pair fell to silence, Roxas slipping his gaze away and back to the television screen without hearing the soft noise emanating from the box.

Roxas finally pried his mind away from his swarming thoughts, eyes locked to the screen and yet blind to it, "Axel?" There was an awkward pause and he took it to mean that the redhead was listening. Or asleep. Either would have worked, "Why did you choose me?"

"For what?" Awake. Damn.

The blond swallowed before answering, "For your whole stalkerish obsession… thing, if that's what it was. In any case, there must be plenty more people out there who are far more qualified to be your boyfriend. Why wasn't it someone else, like Demyx?"

Axel gave an incredulous cough, "Dem? You think I would go after my best friend instead of you? Would you go after jerk-face? Rox, where is this coming from?"

Roxas turned his head, but kept his gaze carefully adverted and mumbled in response, "I don't know. You're just so- so you. I'm practically a grey stiff in comparison." Or maybe he had just discovered how perfect the redhead was and how imperfect he himself was while standing in his shadow.

A sigh unfolded from behind the blond and a few short strides brought the redhead to stand before him. Quite suddenly, Roxas's down turned gaze was filled with a heck of a lot of bright Christmas colors and the quiet and sincere voice rumbled on, "Roxas, you're not going to dissuade me from my feelings just to make it easier to come out to your friends. Is that what you're trying to do?"

Roxas let out a distressed moan, giving his face a rough rub, "I don't know. I just can't deal with life right now."

"Well, good thing I'm here, then." A hand rested on his uninjured knee, "We'll get through this, Rox. You've already done the big part, now you just have to work through 'till the end." Voice of experience talking once again.

"Sure." Crystal eyes turned downcast. He was drawn to the chest before him, wrapped in a hug, to which he complied and hugged back. He clung to the pajama shirt, arms tightening. Their moment was broken by another needy grumble from the blond's stomach. "You going to make those pancakes now?" The question was mumbled into a polyester-covered shoulder – not adorned with campfires, sadly.

The reassuring embrace was withdrawn and replaced by a grinning Axel, "Only if you help."

The next hour was taken up by a mad scramble for various ingredients in the tiny kitchen – after shoving Roxas's clothes in the dryer, of course, while the blond borrowed some of Axel's clothes. After an almost full-on flour war and a catastrophe involving Axel's love for large flames, which resulted in the burning of about half of the pancakes, Roxas took over the flipping. Which was when Axel made the discovery that he didn't have any maple syrup. It was decided that some sort of syrup was required and thus, the two set out for the store. All worries were forgotten for the time being, replaced by mirth and joy.

000

"So how did your brother come out?" They were walking, the plastic bag containing the required maple syrup and extra powdered sugar swinging nonchalantly from Roxas's hand. They had walked the entire way to the store and were currently on their way back to his house to complete their brunch.

"Sora?" Damn, why was it still so painful to utter his twin's name? "He never really did. I mean, he and Riku had been best friends since they were little, and they were able to keep their relationship private."

Red eyebrows were raised, "Even from you?"

Roxas let out a snort, "Like Sora could ever keep anything from me. I was forced to sit through him reciting his sappy poetry, which was torture. That and all the minute details of what they did, not that it was much." He stole a glance up at Axel, who was having a very hard time of keeping a straight face. Roxas scowled at him, "Don't you dare say it. I can see that dirty thought, don't you dare."

The grin broke through, "What?" Like hell he was as innocent as he tried to make himself appear.

Blue eyes were rolled, "Axel, you are impossible. Go on, say it. I'll brace myself."

"I'm trying to figure out the definition of torture in your context." He shot a sly glance down at Roxas, who let out a cough.

"Axel, you are such a pervert." The grocery bag was swung around and hit the redhead in the stomach. Rather nicely toned and delicious to the touch with-

"Says the one who molested me last night," the smirk only grew.

Roxas grimaced, "Shit, I guess you got me with that one. And to answer your inquiry, no, it was not torture in that sense. I had always considered myself asexual and it was torture in the boring, dragging on sense, thank you very much." This earned him a doubtful snort from Axel, who was promptly elbowed in the gut. "Shut up, Ax."

They continued on for a half of a block before the redhead continued with the previous conversation, "So, what did your parents say?"

Roxas sobered instantly, a small smile working its way onto his cheeks as he spoke, "They practically told Sora that he was gay. He was quite naïve, really. But they were fine with it."

"Do your friends know?" Came next, the question sincere.

Blond spikes swayed from side to side, "Sora made me promise not to tell anyone and I never really got around to it after the accident. So this whole gay friend thing is pretty new to them." An arm found its way around his shoulder and a kiss was pressed into the blond locks. A smile stole across Roxas's face, "What's that for?"

"Do I really need a reason?" There was that adoration again, paired with the circling thumb on his shoulder.

Roxas could feel the flush rush to his cheeks, "I guess not." The arm stiffened and blue shifted upwards, to find that a steeled expression had come over Axel. "What?"

His tone was tense, "If they didn't believe you before, they do now."

"What?" Roxas whipped around in the general direction of Axel's icy glare and found his best friend up until the night before staring back from across the street with just as much surprise. They locked eyes for a brief moment, Roxas freezing in his tracks and the arm tightening about him protectively. "Axel, we're leaving. Now." The contact between the two blonds was broken and Roxas pressed forward.

Hayner called out his name and it was met by deaf ears. Roxas kept his eyes determinedly on the pavement before him, intent on simply walking away, no longer held by Axel's secure half-embrace. But his plan was thwarted when they were intercepted. Hayner stopped the pair in their tracks, standing securely in the middle of the walkway. He took a step towards them, a sentence lost upon his lips. It didn't help that Axel decided to step between the two blonds and play the protective boyfriend.

His voice was just as acidic as his glare, "You lay a finger on him and I swear-"

Hayner was taken slightly aback, "What the hell? I'm not going to beat up my best friend." Axel didn't seem persuaded, but the blond pushed past the redhead-barrier to confront his best friend. Hayner continued, "Roxas, why didn't you tell us before?"

Roxas shifted uncomfortably, feeling quite exposed to the world, "Do we have to discuss this here?"

"You weren't answering your phone." Well, Hayner did have a point with that one.

Axel sliced in, eyes mere slits, "And for good reason, t-"

He was stopped by a soft hand falling to his clenched fist and a soft calming whisper, "Axel, chill." Roxas turned back to Hayner, "I didn't tell you because I didn't know."

Hayner gave a wary glance towards the ever-ready to attack Axel before shoving on his cocky grin, "Fair enough. Well, I'll be the messenger for the whole group and say that we're not kicking your ass out. Because that'd be a fucking douche thing to do." Good to see they thought the same as Roxas. He continued, "So since there's been a vacancy since last night, I'd like to offer you the position of my best friend." He took a step forward, undeterred by the menacing Axel, and held his hand out for the blond to clasp in their usual Hollywood handshake, "I hope I haven't been replaced just yet." What the hell do you say to that?

Roxas stared with wide eyes. How had that been so easy? It was a set up. There were some cameras hidden in the bush to the right… right? Where was the cold shoulder? The rejection? His feet took him the final few steps to stand before Hayner. A smile pried its way onto his face and he clapped their hands together, "Not replaced quite yet."

His best friend gave his usual smirk, the familiar challenging chocolate brown eyes staring into brightening blue. Their friendship hadn't dulled and still blazed on as it once had before the call for education had broken them. It was settled. Roxas's thundering and constricted heart was put to ease with his best friend's hand clasped against his own, old calluses from the Struggle tournaments pressed together. Still the same hand, still the same memories. Still his best friend.

Hayner flicked his gaze to Axel, letting his hand fall away from Roxas's, cocky grin still running rabid, "Olette was pretty disappointed to find that her most recent crush just so happens to be gay for one of her best friends."

Roxas twitched slightly, "One of the things that you were insulting him about, I might add." Here he was, defending his boyfriend again, the slight edge working its way back into his voice.

Hayner winced in return, "Yeah, I really was just making that crap up."

Axel narrowed his eyes further and growled at the taller blond, "And what was 'that crap' about, exactly?" The redhead could be quite intimidating at times, and he was using that ability to the fullest extent at that moment, stepping up to stand protectively behind Roxas.

Even Hayner had to glance upwards just a bit to meet those seething eyes, "Um, it was all in fun. I was expecting Roxas to jump in to keep 'Lette from crushing on you, but it sort of backfired." Sort of. Yeah, right. "And I think I should be heading back to- whatever I was doing. Over there." He motioned blindly across the street before dashing off in that general direction. He paused just before crossing the street and turned back to the pair, each following his every move, the redhead having rested his hand once more on the blond's shoulder, "Hey Roxas, you should call Pence and Olette. They've been worried sick about you."

Roxas mentally kicked himself out of his stupor, "S-sure thing, Hayner."

Axel continued his glare, "I still don't trust him." Hayner disappeared around the corner of a store.

"But he's still my best friend." Roxas turned and beamed up at the skeptical redhead.

He got a disbelieving stare, red brows knitted, "He made you fucking cry, and I'm not about to get over that soon. And he insulted me in ways that I don't even know about."

Roxas shook his head, "But he's still my best friend. Hayner was just being his usual self. He just happened to be being himself at the wrong time, towards the wrong person." The smile grew on the blond as he fully came to realized what had just come to pass, "He's still my best friend, Axel." It felt amazing to say.

The acrimony melted away, but a touch of bitterness remained in the redhead, "Well, since that spot is obviously taken, I suppose I get booted down to lowly boyfriend status."

Roxas's grin widened. The heavy weight he had carried for who knows how long had lifted from his shoulders and he felt fucking fantastic. He shouldered Axel lightly, "It's not as lowly as you think."

End Notes: I'm thinking one more chapter will finish this baby up, but I could be wrong. Might not be up in 3 days' time due to school kicking my ass, but it won't be another three weeks, that's for sure. Don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile page! Huzzah!