Uh…*shuffles inside* Hey, dudes. Sorry about the long break. Good news: I finished NaNoWriMo and classes! Whoo! Now I only have finals, which I am more than happy to procrastinate from to write this chapter.

And, well, here's my final bonus chapter. A warning before you read. This is quite possibly the fluffiest, fluff-ball, puff of writing that I've wrote yet. I blame the Christmas season in the air. But I thought, hey, you guys deserve a fluffy ending, after all of the cliffhangers and pain I've put you and the characters through. So here you go. Not to say that this is the last we'll ever hear from this universe, but I'm sure this is a good place to leave things for now. ^^

I'll also be looking into new ideas for new stories, starring our favorite characters of course. Keep an eye out, dudes! :D

Thanks to all of the reviewers for the last chapter: CloakedxSchemer , Suna's Assassin, Mare Dragon, Aindel S. Druida, Whisper-Otonashi, Axeiru, Ollimartic, yumie-darkness123, DemonicxTears, Tinker16, Before-I-Fall, Before-I-Fall, ramen-is-my-goddess, Scootkadoot, A-chan, XfallenXshadowX, XfallenXshadowX.

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Bonus Chapter 3: Epilogue: Two Years Later

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"This is so stupid, Axel. Come get us so I can kill you."

"Aw, come on Roxy, baby. Just a few more minutes. You and Nami are doing great."

"A few more minutes?! We've been here for hours. It's officially Christmas Eve since two minutes ago. I'm tired and we haven't seen anything yet. Face it, this place isn't haunted."

"It is, I promise. Now sit and look pretty."

Roxas's eyebrow twitched and he choked the walkie-talkie in a stranglehold. Sitting beside him on the bed, Namine giggled.

Roxas didn't know how it had happened, but the two of them were sitting in the freakiest bedroom he had ever been in. It was dark, dirty, cold, and they were alone. Even the bed they were sitting on was moth-eaten and flat, its metal frame creaking and groaning every time they shifted an inch. Roxas found himself staring at the dark walls, the small flowers on the peeling, cracked wallpaper the only decoration in the entire room. It was either look at them or the creepy closet directly in his line of sight, so he chose the flowers instead.

The house they were in was part of a case which they had been working on for a few weeks now. The owner of the house had come to them in a panic. Apparently it had been her grandfather's house until he passed away when it had been passed onto her. She had moved in and begun renovations to get it ready for sale but after the first hammer blow strange phenomena had started up. It wasn't until she began to see apparitions that she actually got worried and had found them over the internet.

And apparently the ghost only came out around her and other blonds, which was how Roxas now found himself with Namine in the bedroom where the ghost was seen most often. Demyx had gotten out of it by saying that three people would have been too busy. Whatever. Roxas glared at the night-vision camera set up on the table a few feet away. Even knowing that the rest of the guys were just a few rooms away, being in such a place alone was slightly freaky.

After a second, he turned to Namine. "What is this ghost supposed to do anyway?"

Namine frowned thoughtfully, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. "According to the client, the spirit is said to climb onto the bed during the night and jump on the mattress, pull the sheets off, and open and close the closet door randomly throughout the night." She sighed a little. "So far though, I haven't sensed anyth-" Suddenly she paused, attention peaked.

Roxas lifted his head, his gaze following Namine's to the closet door. He tensed as a rattle filled the room, his eyes widening when he saw that the sound was coming from the handle twisting on its own. Scooting closer to Namine, he swallowed as the handle twisted further. The door opened an inch and Roxas drew his legs up onto the bed. "Uh, Namine...?"

"I'm sensing a playful personality, but he seems only curious right now. Just stay calm."

Roxas stiffened as the door opened further in short little jerks until it had swung all the way open. His heart was pounding in his chest as a thick silence filled the room, all of his senses elevated as he desperately searched for any sign of the ghost; a shadow, a floorboard squeak, anything. He jumped slightly as Namine's hand touched his, relaxing slightly into the touch as she wrapped her slim fingers around his hand. "He's coming closer." She raised her voice a little, holding up a recorder in her other hand. "We're here to talk to you. What is your name?"

Roxas swallowed then spoke up slowly. "Do you know that you're scaring the woman who sleeps here?"

"Did you live here?"

Roxas tensed as the hair suddenly stood up along the back of his neck. Beside him, Namine frowned. "Hold still, Roxas, stay calm."

Roxas was about to ask what she was talking about when there was a sudden weight on the mattress directly behind him. His breath hitched. A second later a shadowy touch passed across the back of his neck, like fingers. Crying out, he leapt off of the bed, dragging Namine with him with his other hand clapped to the back of his neck.

"It's okay, Roxas!" Namine clutched onto his hand, waving at the camera to soothe any possible reactions. She pulled the younger boy behind her, facing the bed with a determined expression. "If you have something to say, please, say it to me. I can sense you; I can see you in my mind. Speak to me. If I can't hear you this will be able to." She lifted the recorder again.

The mattress creaked as if the ghost was standing up. Roxas grabbed onto Namine's shoulder as she stood firm. There were a few seconds where nothing happened. Then, there was a creak from the floorboard. Two more followed at an even pace, coming toward them.

There was another silence when Roxas suddenly heard a giggle to his side then a force on his back, shoving him over onto Namine. Toppling over, he tumbled on top of her, both of them falling to the ground as he threw his arms out.

There was a thundering of footsteps outside the room before the door was thrown open, Axel and Demyx running inside, their presence immediately cutting off any supernatural energy. Roxas grunted as he was heaved to his feet, Axel's voice in his ear as familiar long arms wrapped around his chest. "You okay, Roxy?"

"Get off of me!" Scowling, Roxas slapped Axel's hands away. "What kind of stupid idea was that? I hate being used as bait, Axel!"

"But it always works so well!" A cat-like smirk spread across Axel's lips and he wrapped his arms around Roxas again. "That was some show of paranormal activity, and I'm sure we got something on the recorder. I guess the ghosts just find you as irresistibly sexy as I do."

"Pervert. Damn pedo." Punching Axel in the arm, Roxas then turned to Namine with an apologetic smile. "Sorry that I fell on you."

"No, it's alright! I should have been paying closer attention to his movements but he moved so fast. Luckily he did not seem so violent, only playful. Hopefully we will have good news for our client, or at least nothing for her to be frightened of."

Demyx smiled as he helped Namine up. "That would be nice, it being Christmas and all."

Shaking his head, Axel smirked. "I still don't understand how you can get so into Christmas. Being a pagan and all."

"Hey, most of Christmas traditions came from pagan rituals. Besides, you get presents!"

Roxas snorted. "You're almost as bad as Sora."

"Speaking of Sora," Axel put his hands on his hips. "We should probably be getting you home."

"What? We're done?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We have enough to prove that this place is haunted, likes to mess with little blonds, and it's already passed midnight." Axel looked down at his watch. "And if I remember right, you had a midnight curfew, so let's see if we can't get you back home fast."

Roxas rolled his eyes but followed Axel and the others out of the room, giving it one last glance before he hurried forward to grab Axel's hand. It had been two years since Roxas had started joining them on their cases, and it was safe to say that he still wasn't used to the more intense things. That was because most of the times, nothing exciting happened, so he had gotten used to boredom. Whenever something did happen, it always managed to shock him.

Outside of ghost hunting though, Roxas was shocked by how his life had changed over the past four years. He would be graduating high school in a few months. As crazy as it was to think about, Axel was turning twenty-six. He had graduated from college with majors in Chemistry and Fire Science and had actually moved on to become a fire fighter; as he explained, pyromaniacs made the best fire fighters. Zexion went straight into graduate school and was now working for his master's degree. Roxas had a suspicion that Zexion wasn't going to stop until he had reached his doctorate. Demyx on the other hand had graduated in the Liberal Arts and had gotten a job with a local orchestra much to his joy. Namine was exhibiting her works in galleries around town and was still taking a few art classes now and again to explore different paths though it was obvious she was going to be an artist for life.

He and Axel had been unofficially dating for two years. Well, dating in the sense of going out together and kissing and such. In fact, Roxas had so far been surprised with how seriously Axel was taking his underage status; it seemed like the redhead was working really hard to make sure that he didn't mess up their relationship. They did have their fights though. Sometimes Axel would do something so stupid that Roxas would give him the cold shoulder for weeks, like the time when he came to the Strife house drunk after a party. But they had always made up afterwards, and so far nothing had come up that had rattled them too badly. Roxas had to admit it, he was in love.

Once Roxas had shaken himself out of his thoughts, it took only a few minutes to put all of the equipment into the back of Axel's van. One thing about having been with the group for two years was that they now had a quick and efficient system for loading and unloading all the equipment. Roxas could even say that he was getting a crash course from Zexion in learning how to set up cameras with live feeds and systems of monitors; a good skill to have even outside of the ghost hunting business.

As he and Namine were lifting a particularly large monitor up into the bed of the van, Namine cleared her throat gently. "Roxas, I know you invited everyone over for Christmas this evening, and I just wanted to tell you that I'll be arriving a little later than everyone else."

"Oh, yeah, no problem. That's fine."

Grinning, Demyx sprung up from around the side of the van and threw his arms around Namine's waist. "My little sister has a date to go to!"

Roxas smiled curiously as Namine's cheeks turned pink. "Demyx! It's, it's not a date! He just wants to get together for a while!"

"I don't know," Roxas spoke up with a sly smile. "An outing on Christmas? Sounds like a date to me."

Demyx nodded, patting Namine's head. "It is! He's from her art class, you know, so they already spend hours together in school. I think he must really like her." He wrapped his arms around her again as his voice changed to a whine. "But she hasn't even introduced us yet. I want to know who my baby sister is dating!"

"She hasn't brought him home yet because she knows you'll scare him off the first time you meet him, stupid." Axel sauntered over to the back of the van with Zexion, hand wrapping around the back door. "It wouldn't be the first time, right, Zexion?"

Zexion colored a little but grabbed a pouting Demyx's hand. "Whatever the case may be, we need to go home and get some rest before tonight. We can look over the evidence after Christmas." His gaze lifted to meet Axel's green eyes. "What happened to taking Roxas home, Axel?"

With a glance at his watch, Axel cursed. "Shit. 1:05? You've got to be kidding me. Climb up to the front seat, Roxy. I'm going to get damn-well shot for this."

Roxas did as he was told, clambering over the piles of equipment to the front passenger seat as Axel slammed the back doors shut behind him. Despite his concerns for the time, Axel tried his best to follow the rules of the road, stopping at red lights and everything. The last thing he needed was to find himself face-to-face with a cop that would undoubtedly know Leon. The very idea made him shudder.

Within the hour though, they were pulling into the Strife driveway. As Axel switched gears to park, he turned to Roxas. "So, did you have fun tonight?"

Roxas snorted. "I guess I had as much fun as a guy could have getting touched and pushed around by a ghost."

"Don't be like that, you know I'd never let anything bad happen to you." Axel smirked and unbuckled his seat belt. He slid closer to Roxas and lifted the blond's chin, his voice lowering as he leaned down. "You know that, right?"

"I know." Roxas tilted his head up and closed the gap between their lips. As they kissed, Roxas felt Axel's fingers carding through his hair. A few touches went lower, soothing away any of the lingering cold from the supernatural contact with their heat. Pulling away after a few moments, Roxas allowed his eyes to flutter open to find Axel smiling down tenderly at him. He couldn't help the smile that found its way onto his own lips as Axel kissed his forehead. "So you're coming over this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, sir. Me, Dem, and Zexion will be here as soon as we can wake up and get ourselves presentable."

"Good." Roxas leaned up to peck him one last time on the lips before he opened the passenger door. "I guess I'll see you then."

With a shake of his head, Axel shifted back into his own seat and opened his window. "That's cold, Roxy. And here I thought we were getting into a big make-out session."

Snorting, Roxas walked around the car. "It's Christmas, pedo. Show some control."

"I will only when you stop being so adorable!"

Red in the face, Roxas spun on the van. "Goodnight, Axel! Get out of here!" Axel only laughed, rolling up the window before he pulled out of the driveway. Grumbling to himself and rubbing his hands together to warm them back up from the chilly air; Roxas stomped up to the front porch of the house, not too surprised to see the parlor light still on.

Before he could even fish his key out of his pocket though, the door unlocked and swung open to reveal Cloud. Stumbling for words, Roxas smiled weakly. "Uh, hi! There's a good reason for why I was out so late!"

"I'm sure there is but for the moment, I don't care." Cloud ushered him into the entrance hall then upstairs, bodily blocking his view of the parlor. "Go to bed, and no peeking."

A flicker of understanding passed over Roxas's face and he looked at Cloud accusingly. "Are you and Leon still wrapping presents?" When there was no response, Roxas rolled his eyes. "You two always put this off to the last minute. Did you check to make sure you didn't forget anyone?"

Cloud froze for a second then nodded. "We double-checked this year. We'll check again though just to make sure. Now. You. Up. Bed."

"Alright, alright." Roxas shook his head but made sure not to peek down into the parlor as he hurried up the stairs. While it would have been easy to catch a glimpse of what was going on in the parlor, the childish side of him still wanted everything to be a surprise on Christmas morning. So he kept his eyes on the stairs and dashed up to the second story. Sora and Riku's door was closed so he tiptoed passed and slipped into his room. Quickly changing into his pajamas, he took a quick trip to the bathroom to brush his teeth then settled into bed, immediately relaxing as soon as he lay down.

The next thing Roxas was aware of was a large mass dropping onto the mattress on top of him. He snapped up into a sitting position only to smack foreheads with whoever was straddling him, the force of the blow sending him straight back down to his pillow.

"Ow! Roxas, you have a hard head!"

"Or maybe you just have a thick skull." Rubbing his aching head Roxas glared up at his much too festive older brother as Sora clutched his own forehead. "What do you want?"

"It's Christmas Eve!" Sora indicated to the Santa hat perched jauntily on his spiky hair. "And it's already noon! You have to get up! Come on, Roxas, we still have tons of decorating to do before everyone comes over and Leon needs help in the kitchen."

"Sora, no twenty-year-old should be this giddy about decorating," Roxas grumbled, nonetheless sitting back up as Sora hopped off of him. He grunted with surprise as Sora grabbed onto his hand, heaving him out of bed. Catching his balance, Roxas looked up only to receive a face full of sweater, his hands flying up to yank it off of his face as Sora nearly pranced around him.

"Just admit it, Roxas. You're as excited as I am! So get dressed and come downstairs, or else I'm definitely going to put the star onto the Christmas tree without you."

Roxas tore off his night shirt as Sora danced out of his room and quickly pulled on the sweater his brother had chosen for him. Sora was right. He was excited about Christmas. And there was no way in hell he was going to let Sora put the star on the tree. They always saved decorating it until Christmas day and it had always been Roxas's job to put on the final touch by adding the star.

Three minutes later he was bounding down the stairs, not surprised to see that while he was sleeping in, the banister had already been hung with garlands and lights. While their household was made up of only men, having such a nice house made it almost impossible to resist decking it out as elaborately as possible. They never went overboard though, keeping on the inside at least to what a traditional Christmas would have looked like. It matched the style of the house and practically emanated warm, Christmas cheer.

In the few minutes it had taken to get dressed, Sora had already begun to hang up ornaments on the tree, which Roxas noted definitely had more presents underneath it after last night. Soft Christmas music was coming from the stereo next to the TV as Sora climbed up onto a chair to reach the higher branches. Over on the couch, Riku was stretched across its full length, peacefully reading. While Sora was dressed in a cozy sweater and slacks, the former ghost had dressed a little more formally for the occasion, looking sharp in a dress shirt and vest. Eyeing Riku for a moment, Roxas crossed his arms. "And why did I get dragged down here if he's not being put to work?"

"I am helping," Riku said smoothly. He lifted his aquamarine gaze from his book to the pile of ornaments on the table. With a genteel flick of his wrist, one of the ornaments levitated up into the air before it floated over to the tree. Sora giggled at the sight as Roxas rolled his eyes. Psychokinesis. Totally cheating.

Footsteps behind him caused Roxas to turn around, a smile spreading across his face at the sight of Leon in an apron. Leon rolled his eyes at his son's expression. "I don't want to get my clothes dirty. Cloud's outside finishing hanging the lights so you can either go out and help him or help me with dinner and dessert. You could also help Sora finish up decorating the house."

Roxas glanced over at Sora, his eyes widening when he saw that his brother had somehow stumbled across a sprig of mistletoe amongst the ornaments, which meant he was either going to start kissing him, or worse, Riku. Those two were as affectionate as ever after four years of dating, so watching them kiss was out of the question. Hm, getting up on the frozen roof or baking cookies in the kitchen. Tough choice. "I'll help in the kitchen."

"Thought you might. Sora, don't put the star on, that's Roxas's job." Sora pouted as Leon led Roxas into the kitchen. Roxas knew that Leon would rather be the one up on the roof but seeing as how he was the only one besides Roxas and Riku who could manage to use the kitchen without blowing something sky-high, he was stuck with making dinner. And no matter how much he sulked about it, the food always came out pretty good.

Seeing that Leon was working on dinner, Roxas went straight to baking cookies. It was a fairly easy job, but after the first cloud of flour exploded in his face, he grudgingly also put on an apron. Like Leon, he didn't feel like changing his outfit if he could help it.

The first few batches of cookies and a quick break to put up the star later he heard the doorbell ring. Frowning, Roxas clapped his hands onto the apron, sending up another puff of flour. "Sora! Can you or Riku get that?"

Leon shook his head, "They left a few minutes ago to get some last minute things for me from the store."

"Oh." Dusting his hands off as best he could, Roxas hurried for the front door. He opened it to find Axel, Zexion, and Demyx on their porch, Demyx carrying a large bag. "Hey, guys."

Axel grinned, "Hey." He stepped forward and wiped off a smudge of flour from Roxas's cheek with his thumb. "Looks like you've been busy today."

Demyx lifted the bag up, "We come bearing gifts! Let us in!"

"Well since you brought presents," Roxas drawled, fondly brushing away Axel's hand. "I guess you can come in." As they walked into the house, Roxas stepped out onto the porch, poking his head out to find Cloud just coming down the ladder. "Are you done?"

"Nearly killed myself twice, but yeah, I think I'm finished." Cloud ran a hand through his blond spikes and observed his work. From what Roxas could see, the lights looked well in order; he couldn't wait to see them lit up. "Do me a favor and go into the garage to turn them on?"

"Oh, let me!" Demyx had listened in to their conversation and was now bolting back out the front door for the garage. Roxas walked over to Cloud and they waited for a few seconds before the lights flickered on into a brilliant glow, following the contour of the roofline and lighting the whole house up. Running back over to them, Demyx clapped his hands together, the Wiccan's cheeks pink from the cold behind a thick scarf. "It looks so pretty!"

"Yeah, good work Cloud."

Cloud looked down at Roxas. "Thanks. I feel a little bad about getting them up so late in the season, but better late then never. We'll just keep them up until New Year's at least." Hearing a crash from inside the house, Cloud winced. "We'd better go in to make sure Axel isn't destroying anything."

"I'll kill him if he is." Roxas growled, stomping inside to find Axel and an exasperated Zexion unloading their presents by the tree. By Axel's sheepish expression, it looked as if he had accidently knocked over a large stack of presents. When he saw Roxas he immediately waved his hands.

"I'll pick everything up!"

Roxas rolled his eyes but moved forward to help restack the pile. "It's fine. This stack is for you guys anyway, so if you broke anything, you'll get to unwrap it."

"What? You might have broken something for me?" Demyx rushed forward, worriedly inspecting any of the boxes for signs of dents as Axel stepped back.

Eying the large pile, Axel turned to Roxas with a raised eyebrow. "This is all for us?"

"Well, yeah." Roxas blushed a little, "You guys are like family, you know? So you get the same amount of presents."

"Aw, you're making me feel all warm and fuzzy, Roxy." Axel wrapped an arm around Roxas's slim waist. "Usually I'd be lucky if Reno managed to scrape together one present for me." Seeing Roxas's eyes widened, he shook his head. "Don't worry about him; he's not alone on Christmas or anything. No, Reno finally took this opportunity to crash Shinra's Christmas party. I only hope Rude can forgive me for unleashing him onto the staff; he's a crazy drunk."

Roxas chuckled, about to settle closer into Axel's arms when Zexion lifted his head. "I think something might be beginning to burn in the kitchen."

Roxas's eyes widened and he sniffed the air. "Oh, shit, the cookies!" Not caring that that was an extremely unmanly sentence, he ripped himself out of Axel's grip and tore into the kitchen just as Leon was saving the cookies from the oven. "Are they burnt?"

"Almost, but not too bad."

Sighing with relief, Roxas moved in to put them onto cooling racks. As he was moving the last cookie, Leon addressed him. "I'm probably fine in here if you want to entertain the guys-" He paused as the sound of the front door opening followed quickly by a mix of Sora and Demyx's excited squeals of "Merry Christmas!" "Actually, just make sure nothing breaks. Put on a movie or something. And if you see Cloud, send him back here."

Roxas did just that as soon as everyone had settled down, putting in "A Christmas Carol." It was a tight squeeze on the couch with the six of them. In the end, Sora and Roxas ended up on the ground with pillows, though Roxas wasn't complaining much as he settled against Axel's legs. Sora looked pretty cozy against Riku as well. The movie was probably more entertaining than it should have been what with all of its supernatural themes.

Namine arrived just in time for dinner, cheeks flushed. Demyx immediately began questioning her about how her date went but she only blushed deeper and shook her head secretly, a small smile on her lips. It took all of Zexion's skills to pull his boyfriend away from his excited interrogations and to the dinner table. By some miracle, they had managed to fit nine chairs around the table. Everyone was bumping elbows, but the food was good enough for everyone to forget the lack of space. Sitting at the head of the table across from Cloud, Leon appeared satisfied enough with how everything had turned out, though halfway through the meal he had announced that everyone else would be doing the dishes.

Dinner went smoothly and Roxas couldn't help but happily soak in the feeling of being with family as everyone began trading stories of memorable Christmases. Sora's rendition of their first Christmas with Cloud and Leon had sent everyone into fits of laughter except for an embarrassed Leon and Cloud. Let's just say that they hadn't quite figured out how to work Santa into the entire equation and had woken Sora and Roxas up frantically trying to put some last minute presents together.

After dinner, everyone gathered back into the parlor, Demyx making a quick trip to his car for his guitar. Axel had laughed when he saw it but had immediately broken out into a carol, throwing his arms over Roxas and Zexion's shoulders. When Roxas had looked back to Cloud and Leon for help, he was dismayed to find that Leon was recording the entire thing on a digital recorder.

It took playful bullying from both Sora and Axel before Roxas finally broke down and sang along to a song, feeling almost vindictive as he raised his voice to meet Axel's. Axel had laughed it off though and had merely started swaying along to the tune of the song, taking both Roxas and a squirming Zexion with him. Apparently it was impossible to stop the force of a musician.

Luckily for Roxas's dignity, his voice still sounding like a pop star's much to his chagrin, Demyx only knew a few Christmas tunes. Soon enough, he was released from Axel's grip as Demyx pouted. "That's all I know…"

Smirking, Axel patted his friend on his styled mess of hair. "That's alright, Dem. I'm sure Zexion feels like reading a story, don't you, Zexy?"

Zexion frowned, crossing his arms. "No, I don't. That's a stupid tradition and I don't even know how it started. Besides, I need to leave for Christmas mass in an hour. It lasts until midnight so I want to get a good seat."

Roxas tilted his head to the side. "What are you guys talking about?"

Grinning, Demyx grabbed Zexion's shoulder. "For the past few years, Zexion read us a Christmas story."

"Only so the three of you would settle down enough to honor the spirit of the holiday." Zexion's visible eye was wide as he turned to Cloud and Leon. "Please tell me you have something else planned for the night."

Cloud smirked, looking to Leon who only shrugged before he glanced back at Zexion. "Not really. A story might be nice though."

"Please, Zexy?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Zexion looked to the ceiling to avoid Demyx's pleading eyes before he nodded. "Why must you be so childish sometimes?" When he received only a tug on his sleeve he sighed again. "Fine. One story. Then I need to leave." He frowned as Demyx grinned wide. "Just one story though."

So they all sat down to listen to Zexion tell a story. Surprisingly, the story itself wasn't too religious. From what Roxas had seen of the book Demyx had passed to his boyfriend, it looked to be a collection of holiday stories from the late 1800s. It was actually more entertaining than what Roxas had initially imagined. While Zexion wasn't intensely expressive, he kept an even tone that kept the attention, and for the extent of the story, everyone remained quiet. Roxas could imagine that it would have been a very good tool for calming down Axel and Demyx.

As soon as he was done, Zexion stood up, quietly closing his book and releasing everyone from his spell. "Now if you would excuse me, I have mass to attend."

Cloud smiled softly, looking to the others. "While you do that, the rest of us should be getting to bed."

Leon nodded. "He's right. You'll all have to figure out how to divide up between Roxas and Sora and Riku's bedrooms, because no one's sleeping down here. Undoubtedly, Sora will wake us all up at six if he has his way, so we should try to get as much sleep as we can."

Grinning, Demyx turned to Sora. "I like to wake up at five myself."

"I know, me too, but everyone else is so cranky so early." Sora perked up at a thought. "Hey, you should sleep in my room! We can wake up early!"

Riku shook his head despairingly as Demyx nodded. "Sure, that sounds awesome! Zexion can sleep with us too."

"Joy."

Demyx smiled apologetically over to Zexion, "It'll be fun! So that means that Namine and Axel can sleep in Roxas's room. Yay, sleepover!"

Axel grinned only to be quickly cut down by Leon's next statement. "I'll get the sleeping bags from the garage then. In the meantime you can go upstairs and get ready for bed."

"Man, it feels like I'm a kid again or something," Axel grumbled as he stood up, though his eyes were shining happily showing that he too was caught up in the Christmas mood. He stretched then reached down to catch Roxas's smaller hand. "Come on. Me and Namine need to find out where we're going to spread out on your floor."

Roxas glanced up at him then nodded, smiling as he motioned for Namine to follow as they headed upstairs followed closely by the rest of the younger generation, Demyx taking a few extra seconds by the front door to see Zexion out. Once they were all upstairs, they divided up into the two rooms. It took a while and a bit of strategic maneuvering to cycle them all through the small bathroom but the time they had all dressed down into their pajamas Leon had dropped off the necessary sleeping bags along with extra pillows and blankets. Roxas walked into his room from the bathroom to find Axel unrolling his sleeping bag. When the redhead caught sight of him, a grin spread across his lips. "My God, you're adorable."

Roxas frowned then looked down at his pajamas before crossing his arms defensively. "It's cold. I can wear flannel if I want."

"And I have no problem with that. Come over here."

"Namine's going to be back from the bathroom in a few seconds."

"That's enough time. Come here."

Still frowning, Roxas padded over, the floorboards cold under his bare feet. As soon as he was close enough, Axel wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's waist. He raised a hand to tenderly caress Roxas's cheek, smiling as Roxas leaned into the touch. "So, Roxas…"

"Hm?"

"What are you planning to do once you graduate?"

Roxas opened his eyes, looking up at Axel questioningly. "I'm not sure. Go to RGU probably. I don't know what I'm going to study though. Olette's been talking about opening a café or something, she's managed to rope Pence and Hayner into her idea so if it actually works out I imagine that I'll at least have a part time job."

"Look at you, sounding all grown up with talk of jobs."

"I've been working for two years now." Roxas's irritation was diffused when Axel pulled him closer. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just planning things out, Roxy." Back to nicknames, Axel poked the tip of Roxas's nose. "I'm always planning. Now why don't you get into bed before I decide to sneak in there with you and your cute flannel pjs?"

Roxas snorted but did as he was told and slipped into bed. Just in time too. Not a moment later, Namine walked into the room, closing the door behind her now that everyone was inside. Axel flopped down innocently onto the floor, resting his arms under his head as he smirked up at her. "You're going to have to find your own place to sleep. Me and my legs claim all of this space."

Namine lifted a delicate eyebrow and Roxas smiled guiltily. His room really wasn't that big, and Axel's long frame basically took up the area with the most space at the foot of his bed. Namine was pretty much out of viable spaces to sleep. Suddenly, Namine pressed her hands together and giggled. "It's alright, Axel. I'm sure Roxas wouldn't mind if I slept in bed with him. It's a queen size, big enough for the both of us after all."

Roxas blinked. "Hm? Oh, yeah, sure."

Axel sat up, just tall enough to look over the footboard and watch as Namine slipped into the bed as well, his expression very much affronted. "What the hell? You're okay with that Roxas?"

Roxas glared at him. "Why shouldn't I be? You took up all the floor space. And it'd be rude to let her sleep on the ground anyway while I'm in bed. I mean, the floor's hardwood. Besides, me and her have been through a bad ghost experience today, we deserve it."

"What about me?"

"You can take care of yourself."

"Hmph. Scoot over." Roxas let out a yelp as Axel lifted up the covers but couldn't find the heart to protest as Axel gently pushed him in to the center of the mattress. A second later, he flushed as Axel's weight dropped down onto the mattress, the flush deepening as a long arm wrapped around his waist. Even though there was no sexual tension at all, this was still the first time he had been in bed with Axel! On his other side, Namine giggled and he could feel rather than see Axel grin behind him. "Well, goodnight, kiddies."

Snorting, Roxas rolled his eyes as Namine let out a small "goodnight." He would have never imagined that he would be so comfortable with people outside his family, but right now there was nothing awkward or tense about them being together. It was like sleeping with Sora. Well, that was how it felt with Namine anyway. Soon enough, he felt his eyes getting heavy and before he knew it, he was asleep.

OoOoOoO

O

O

"Shit, what the hell?!"

"It's Christmas morning! Wake up!"

Roxas's eyes snapped open at the sound of a loud thump and he sat up. Blearily rubbing his eyes, he squinted over to see that Axel was gone from his side of the bed. Namine was sitting up beside him, looking as confused as he felt when something dropped down on the bed in front of him. Demyx. He grunted as Demyx grabbed onto his shoulders, glaring sleepily as he was shaken into consciousness. "Mn, stop, whatdyou want?"

"It's Christmas!"

Suddenly Axel sprung up off of the ground, hand flying to grab Demyx's ear. "What the hell did you pull me off the bed for?"

"Ow, ow, ow! It was the only way I could think of to get you up quick enough!"

Sora quickly took Demyx's place and grabbed Roxas and Namine's hands, "Come on, we've got to go downstairs!"

Roxas blinked sleepily, blue eyes drifting up to the doorway when Zexion shuffled in, a blanket draped over his shoulders as he rubbed his eyes. Beside him, Riku was leaning against the doorway, somehow managing to look ridiculously put together even at six in the morning in his pajamas, although he was a little pale. Maybe it was the robe he was wrapped up in. He also seemed a little distracted with some thought or another but that might have been because he just woke up. Running a hand through his smooth silver hair, he spoke up slowly, the thickness of his voice the only thing giving his grogginess away. "Sora, maybe we should give them a few minutes to wake before forcing them down the stairs…Why don't you go see if Leon and Cloud are awake?"

Sora grinned, leaping off of Roxas's bed and speeding passed Riku and Zexion. Roxas had no doubt that Leon and Cloud were in for a rude awakening. As his brother left the room, Roxas gathered the strength to slide out of bed.

Within a few minutes, Sora was dragging Cloud and Leon by his open doorway, either not caring or not noticing that both of them looked more asleep than awake. When they got downstairs, Roxas immediately perked up at the sight of all of the presents. Finally, they would get to open them! Unable to keep the grin off of his face, he dashed forward, beating Sora into the parlor. Fueled by each other's excitement, they quickly sorted through them all, creating separate piles for everyone as per name.

As Roxas was sorting through the many presents he was surprised to come across two small boxes, one for him and one for Sora, from Axel and Riku respectively. Curious, he put them on top of both of their piles, sending Axel a questioning glance. Axel only shrugged mysteriously.

After that, the present opening turned into a sort of blur of paper and boxes and gifts. Demyx got some new CD's, Namine got a sketch pad and a nice set of oil paints. Zexion got an entire mountain of books which he appeared all too happy with and even Leon was glowing happily at the new leather jacket Cloud had bought for him. Present after present was ripped open until it Sora and Roxas only had their little presents left. Swallowing, and with a glance for some reason over to Cloud and Leon, Riku picked up his gift for Sora. "I was hoping you would open this somewhere more private. Could we go up to the bedroom?"

Sora tilted his head to the side but nodded, sending a confused look to Roxas before following his boyfriend upstairs. As they left the room, Axel grinned slyly. "Something private in the bedroom, eh? I wonder what they're doing?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Roxas growled, smacking Axel in the arm.

Wincing, Axel rubbed the abused limb. "Alright, alright. Open your present before I decide to take it back. Damn you hit hard for a small guy."

With a snort, Roxas nonetheless tore open the wrapping paper, stopping when he saw a small jewelry box. Axel hadn't gotten him some stupid piece of jewelry, had he? He wasn't that much of the girl in the relationship. With some trepidation, Roxas cracked open the box, nervousness turning to confusion when he opened it to find that it was indeed a necklace chain, but attached to it was some sort of key. Perhaps seeing the confusion written on the blond's face, Axel leaned forward to explain, suddenly sounding a little unsure with himself. "That's the um, the key to my apartment. Talked you your dads. They said it would be okay if you were, you know, if you wanted to move in with me after you graduate high school. Me and Reno have an extra room ever since Demyx moved out, so you'd get your own space. And you'd have to live with Reno, but he works long hours anyway, so it wouldn't be that bad. Hell, I have long hours at the fire station too, so hopefully wouldn't get too sick of me either. What do you say, Roxas. Want to give it a try?"

Roxas looked down at the key, running his fingers down the cool metal before he glanced up at Axel's anxious eyes. So Axel really was serious about being a couple. Thank God, he loved Axel too much for it not to be serious. Joy and relief welled up inside his chest and he didn't bother to hide it from his expression as he smiled. "I'd like that."

A smile matching Roxas's lit Axel's face and he grabbed Roxas, pulling him close into a tight embrace. From the couch, Leon crossed his arms as he watched Roxas slip the chain on over his head. "Even though your eighteen now, Roxas, Cloud and I are expecting you and Axel to behave yourselves until you graduate. Until then you still could be considered a minor."

"How long have you two known about this?"

"A few weeks." Cloud smiled a bit, "Axel talked to us before he got the key made. You're lucky we said yes; that was the second time in the same week someone came to us asking our permission for something big."

"What are you talking about?"

Cloud nodded up to the ceiling then grabbed Leon's hand, tracing the other's wedding band as Leon sent him a slightly weaker but nonetheless warm smile. Roxas started at their intertwined fingers for a second before his eyes widened. "Wait, Riku's gonna…?"

Getting to his feet at the sudden sound of thundering steps, he hurried upstairs, met halfway on the stairs by a teary Sora. It took Roxas a frantic moment to realize the tears were happy ones as Sora grabbed his hands. "Roxas, look!" Roxas looked down to see a gold band around Sora's finger before his brother pulled him into a tight hug. Burying his face into Roxas's shoulder, Sora gave a small hiccup-filled laugh. "I'm so happy! I love him so much and he finally asked!"

Roxas relaxed into Sora's embrace, hugging his big brother with equal force. Over Sora's shoulder he saw Riku at the top of the stairs. The former ghost looked paler than usual from the courage it must have taken to ask the question but he was smiling tenderly. Roxas sighed then grabbed tighter to Sora. If Sora was happy, then so was he. Riku would take care of Sora. Axel would take care of him. They were finally part of a larger family with loving parents, great friends, and wonderful lovers.

Somehow everything had turned out right, and Roxas knew it would last a lifetime.