U: Unique

Axel Sinclair was your average high school junior. He did his fair share of sports, maintained his grades, and dated a few people; he was bi, every now and then. His parents were in the military and spent a few weeks in a year at some new place because 'work' sent them there. Axel didn't complain with his life, he got most things he asked for and he was raised with manners, so he rarely ever talked back. The only thing Axel would ever have to complain about was the mundanity of it all. Every day, he would go to school, do the work, eat lunch, talk with some of his team mates, and then head home to do his homework or do some chores his parents left for him. Day in and day out, everything was the same. Nothing was different, everything was the same. Until one day.

"Quiet down class, we have a new student, his name is Roxas Hart." At that moment, Axel knew that the mundanity had come to an end as he looked at him. Axel thought he was adorable, what with his spiked up hair that said 'yeah I just woke up, so what?' honey blonde hair, and his petite form. But what caught Axel's attention the most was his deep pools of sparkling cobalt eyes. Axel noticed his outfit and noticed that there was no trace of that Hollister bird or any other famous clothing brands on him. Roxas was wearing black skinny jeans with two criss- crossing belts at the top and an AFI black band t-shirt; and Axel knew that Roxas would save him.

As luck would have it, the only empty seat in the room war right next to Axel. As he walked to the seat, Axel noticed the way most of the people in the class were watching as his belts along with his hips. He felt an immediate pang of jealousy and protectiveness. For some reason, he had this untamable urge to protect him from the perverted lechers at their school.

The rest of the day had passed and Axel was quite upset, Roxas had never even once looked his way. Albeit he had never really said anything to him to begin with, Axel was still upset that he had not heard Roxas' voice. Axel was just about to turn the corner to go to his locker so he could get his books and go home, when he heard a familiar voice and a slam against a locker.

"Come on pretty birdie, won't you sing us a song?" There was laughter as Axel realized the voice belonged to Marluxia Thorn. They were on the same basketball team and Marluxia was known as being one of the perverted lechers Axel wanted to protect Roxas from. He slowly turned to show his head around the corner to see what was happening, and felt unbridled rage flow through him. The next thing he knew, Marluxia was on the ground, writhing in pain and Axel was carrying Roxas away. Once Roxas realized the Axel wasn't going to hurt him, he flung him arms around Axel's neck and began to sob. Axel carried him to his car and placed him in the passenger's side. He climbed in on the drivers side and sped home, forgetting about his books in his locker.

Axel reached his house, found that his parents weren't home, and carried Roxas in; he had cried himself to sleep. After placing him in the guest bed, Axel left to call his parents about what had happened. They praised Axel for doing the right thing and said that they would be leaving work early to come and meet Roxas. After four hours, the time was six and Roxas began to wake up. Axel had moved his laptop into the guest room so that he could be there when Roxas woke up. He sat up and started panicking, and then saw Axel was sitting on the edge of the bed and cooled down.

"Hey there, Roxas, my name is Axel Sinclair. You are here in my home; I brought you here after your attack with Marluxia. My parents are home if you would like to meet them." Roxas wanted so bad to respond, to voice his parent's worry and his thanks, but alas he could not. When it seemed Axel was waiting for a response, Roxas pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and made a hand gesture, requesting a pencil. Confused by his actions, Axel pulled out a pencil from his laptop bag. Roxas wrote for a while and gave the paper to Axel.

"Thank you Axel for bringing me here. I would love to tell you how happy I am that you found me before he could do anything more, but sadly, I can not. Something happened during my birth that has rendered me speechless; literally. I'm a mute. I don't want any sympathy or pity. Yes, I know I'm different, but I've lived with it for seventeen years.

My parents are probably going insane with worry. If I give you their phone number, would you call them for me? Thank you."

Axel looked at Roxas when he finished and would have looked to her with sympathy; if it weren't for the absolutely adorable pout Roxas was giving him, telling him that he better not. He chuckled and answered his question.

"Yes, I would gladly call your parents and tell them you are here. Would you mind if I invited them over so they could check to make sure that you're alright?" Roxas looked to Axel in complete shock. Every time someone would find out about his 'condition,' they would call him a freak and ignore him. He had moved a total of at least eight times since he was born because he desperately needed to get away from all the hate. To have every place be the same story and ignore him because he was different and shun him away from the rest of their world. To have Axel, sitting in front of him, accepting who he was, it almost brought Roxas to tears. He wasn't surprised that when Axel got up, Roxas glomped him.

Axel laughed, but honestly didn't understand what was happening. Just before he was going to hug back, Roxas quickly backed off and ran back under the covers. Axel rolled his eyes in amusement and left to get his cell phone and alert Roxas' parents that their son was awake.

Roxas's parents had come over in less than five minutes after Axel had notified them of their son's location. They followed Axel to the guest room and the mother broke down in tears of joy that her baby was ok. The mother and son had started signing and the father was translating what Roxas wanted Axel to hear; which was most of the conversation. There came a point where the mother asked why Roxas wanted Axel to listen, and the father stopped translating, in respect to Roxas.

In sign, Roxas told his mom what happened. At first, his mother was furious at Marluxia, but eternally grateful toward Axel for saving Roxas. Roxas' father noticed that Axel was watching the conversation intently, trying to figure out what they were saying with their hands. So he cut in on his son and wife and asked Roxas if Axel knew that he was mute. Roxas turned to Axel and nodded, beaming with overflowing joy. The parents saw this, looked at each other, and shared a knowing look.

One year had passed and the friendship between Roxas and Axel couldn't be stronger. Sure, a few people at school called them strange and weird, but because of Axel's physical ability and participation in countless school sports, everyone left them alone. Roxas's parents had taught Axel sign, and now, Axel and Roxas held countless conversations. Roxas couldn't be happier that he had found at least one friend and future husband who accepted who he was. Axel was eternally grateful to whatever God there was above for sending him Roxas because now, his life was so much more appealing now that he had found someone to add a little uniqueness to it.

And that completes the collection ^_^ I hope you enjoyed it and maybe, sometime in the future, I will think about reaching Z, but for now, I am happy at U. If you have any ideas for the last remaining letters, help would be greatly appreciated ^_^