I'm sorry this story took almost three weeks to update.. I blame it on other stories that were far more superior and interesting to read than my own... damn akuroku stories! lol But here it is, at last. Hopefully I can get Prayer of the Children updated pretty soon as well, but the chapter I am working on is only half written right now (once again, I blame all the other addicting stories out there! I just couldn't look away!)

Loyal Reviewers:

LawlietxRinoa: Lol I didn't know Axel made other people scream and go crazy as much as he did me!

SporkFilledDeath345: Well I'm glad you were happy to see Dem and those guys back... they need tons of love too lol (especially Sexy Zexy)

With a side of stereotype: lol it's made of win? I like that expression

SarahXxUnlovedxX: Good, I'm you did!

Ren13013: Ha, don't we all just want Roxas to do something like that? And yes, Axel was back to see his blond headed boy... he just drug the whole gang along as well lol

an-angel-in-hell: Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

slightlee-.-sarkastik: lol In my eyes, if Roxas and Axel weren't as, well, meant to be as they are, the blond wouldn't probably be as much of an interest to me, but because they are, and Rox is associated with Axel, I like him too!

Kitsune Curoryu: Like Roxas could withstand Axel's beauty? lol yeah right... actually, could anyone?

EvilLeo01: Florida... you suck... I'm currently wearing sweat pants and a jacket I'm so cold right now... lol but I guess it works out okay, because I don't really like warm weather that much anyhow.

orgymoogle: Haha, I see your excited lol

BanpaiaYoru: I like knowing that my reviewers are happy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warning: boy/boy, a silent Axel, and a knowing Riku...

btw, I tried POCKY for the first time! Strawberry I believe it was... pretty good!

Also, I reread and reread this chapter multiple times, but I still feel like I missed mistakes... if you catch anything important just let me know so I can fix it...

Read, review, enjoy!

Chapter 24
Stranger than Fiction

Of all the things you took away,
I miss my mind the most...

My mind was racing. Literally, racing. I felt as if every fiber of my being was on fire... in a complete blaze. Though, somewhere in the recesses of my stupid mind, I realized what an idiot I was for leaving the way I did. Practically squeaking and running away.

But was it my fault, really? The dumb redhead should have known not to be so stupid! He had touched me. Seriously... he touched me. Grazed his fingertips aross my face! I had sat in utter shock at first, but once his fingers connected, my face had burned under his touch! As if someone had pushed a flame to my cheek. It had been too much.

"Roxas!" Selphie yelled from behind me, her shout coming breathless and confused.

In my sprint down the street, I chanced a look back at the tower, where Axel was still standing, and swallowed rather painfully. The bright and overly large moon was settled behind him, allowing only a dark outline of his tall body to be seen. It was almost creepy.

"Roxas, wait up!" Selphie cried out again.

I ignord her pleas and kept running. There was only one person I wanted to see right now and that was Olette. I needed to tell someone who would understand.

"Roxas!" I could hear one final effort in the last call, informing me that she would be giving up in a few seconds if I didn't wait.

Rounding one more corner, I skidded to a halt when I spotted the one I was looking for under a street light.

"Olette!" I nearly tripped in my haste to get to her, stumbling over my own feet, "I saw him! He's bac-"

"Hey Roxas!" And I finally noticed the two figures behind her. Freezing in my tracks, my eyes widened in horror...

"Demyx?"

The blonde smiled eagerly, too excited to pick up on my uncomfortableness, "Hey!"

There was a still moment of awkwardness, at least for everyone besides Dem, then he threw his arms around my neck and embraced me tightly.

I could see Olette's jaw drop over his shoulder, Larxene only staring at her nails rather boredly. The brunette covered Selphie's mouth as the sophomore approached, hushing her immediately.

"I mean..." The blonde suddenly pulled away, biting his lip hesitantly, "We're uh... just, uh..."

"It's okay, Dem. I already ran in to Axel." I told him, taking in the way his shoulders dropped and he ran a hand over his forehead rather dramatically, "Good, because I hadn't exactly practiced the whole 'We're just here on vacation' speech yet, and, well-"

"He get's it." Someone silenced the blond. I looked up to see Zexion there as well. He had grown rather tall.

"Hello Roxas." He nodded to me. I hadn't ever known the younger boy all that well, but with the way he looked at me, I wondered how much Axel had told him about me.

"Hi." I finally sighed. Tonight's exertions were finally catching up with me, and I felt the overwhelming urge to lie down.

"I think I need sleep." I finally told them, leaning forward on to my knees.

Zexion nodded with understanding, gesturing to the others, "We should be going. Axel's probably back at the apartment now. Maybe we can come see you soon?"

"Tell Ax I moved back in with my parents." Turning away, I waved over my shoulder and tugged the two girls with me.

"Who were they?" Selphie finally asked.

"Old friends." Was all I told her. Once we hit the islands again, Olette ushered Selphie home and set out a mass text informing everyone that we had quit. After that she helped me to my room.

"You must be sleepy." She whispered, lying me on the bed. There was moment where I felt her pull my socks off and roll me under the covers.

"Why is he back?" I muttered, staring up at the brunette. She thought carefully before shrugging and brushing my bangs back in a complete motherly-like fashion, "He must really care."

With those final words, I drifted off.

Maybe he did care.

X.

"Wake up, Roxy!"

I groaned with pity for myself. Did anyone else ever wake up to Selphie's chirpy voice?

"Mmm, go away."

"Nuh uh! You're getting up." She patted my cheek, "You have a big date for lunch!"

"I do?" I rolled to my other side, burying my head in the pillow.

"Yeah, silly! That redhead from last night called."

"What!" I jumped up, ignoring the pounding headache that released itself from my actions, "Did he call here?" Had my mother picked up?

"No, actually." She giggled, "He called Riku, who was too tired to do anything, and in turn called me!"

I scrambled to find some clothes, throwing things all over the room and destroying it in my haste.

"Whoa, settle down!" Selphie giggled, picking up the pair of pants that had landed at her feet, "It's only nine."

"Nine?" I asked, dumbfounded, "Selph... you said my date wasn't until noon..." The brunette shrugged innocently, tossing everything back in the closet. Still confused, I stopped her, "Why the hell did you wake me up so early?"

She finally smiled, turning to face me, "We're going to make you look the sexiest you ever have."

"Why?" I sat back on my bed, rubbing my eyes, "This isn't a date."

"So why were you so excited when I said he called? And you just called it a date!"

"Because I haven't seen Axel in a long, long, time."

Her dark eyebrow rose slyly, a smirk forming on her lips, "And it has nothing to do with the fact that AXEL IS A TOTAL HOTTIE?"

My face turned beat red and I coughed, "Selph, he's not a total hottie."

"Liar!" She accused, nearly smacking me, "Your eyes nearly dropped out of your head when you saw him."

"Because I was surprised." I felt a little foolish arguing with her. It was like arguing with a five year old. Selphie rolled her eyes and began digging through my closet, "If it makes you feel any better, Olette's coming over later."

"It does, actually." I groaned and tried to discreetly crawl back under the covers. But alas, Selph saw me and screeched, "Oh no you don't!" She latched on to my ankle and pulled. Fingers clawing the sheets, I held as long as I could before my grip loosened and I was yanked off the bed.

"Lazy butt!" She stuck out her tongue, turning back to my clothes.

"Did I miss something?" Olette finally appeared at the door, hands on her hip. I stared fearfully at her and mouthed 'Help!' She seemed to take the hint and stepped towards the other brunette, "Selphie?"

"Yes?" Her voice was muffled since she had her head in the closet.

"Why don't you go grab some breakfast for Roxas and I'll get a head start on the pickings."

Selphie stared back at her, pondering this, before she shrugged and skipped out of the room. I lay back on my bed with a deflated sigh "Thank you."

"So Selph told me Axel called. Wants to go out for lunch?"

"Something like that."

She nodded her head and stood in front of me, "So what's going to happen?"

I groaned and sat up, "I'll tell you what's going to happen. We're going to talk about the past and stuff. I'm going to try as hard as possible to pretend like I hate him, and want nothing to do with him. Then eventually I'll give in and take him back with open arms because he's, well, Axel, and as hard as I try, I can't convince myself that I don't want to be with him. After all that, I will probably call you up and complain about the whole thing."

She laughed and pinched my hand, "Well, I'll be awaiting your call."

X.

There a 'ding' above me as I pushed the door to a small restaurant open. It was fairly crowded and I stood on the front mat for a moment, attempting to find Axel in the mass of tables and people. I found him in the back corner, sipping on some kind of drink and stretching.

"Hey." Was all I said at first, sitting across from him. He stared at me with what looked to be fascination, and finally greeted me with a small smile, "Everytime I see you, you seem to have grown so much older."

I opened my mouth to reply, but no words came out. I wasn't sure what to say. Gesturing to a waitress heading in our direction, he told me, "Order anything you want."

Settling on a sea-salt shake and pancakes (random, I know) we sat in uncomfortable silence. I was staring down at my nails nervously while the redhead tapped his fingers against his cheek. Neither of us knew what to say.

Several times the tension was broken by our waitress, and once Axel asked if I liked the food well enough. Even after the check was paid and we were standing outside the building, we had yet to speak.

"So..." Axel slid his hands in his pockets, staring at me strangely, "Can I... walk you home?" I stared back for a moment, figuring there'd probably be no harm in that, "Sure."

It was still really early in the afternoon, and at one point, in some kind of silent agreement, we wound up down at the beach next to the forest. It was about half a mile away from my house, near the spot Sora and Riku had once fought during a game of Never Have I Ever. We still didn't talk as we settled in the sand a few feet away from each other. Several times I tried to think of a good topic to bring up, but alas, my mind failed me and we resulted in an antagonizing quiet.

There was splashing in the shallows a ways away from us, and after careful scrutinizing, I recognized my twin and Riku wrestling.

"Did they get together?" Axel asked me, watching the boys laugh and play.

"They did. Got caught too, just like..." I stopped myself there, coughing a bit, "Sora got kicked out."

The redhead turned his head to the side, examining me. It seemed as if a thousand emotions were spreading across his face. I couldn't read a single one of them.

He then looked out over the water, staring at the stars beginning to reflect off the shiny surface. We had been sitting out here longer than I thought.

Sneaking a look over my shoulder, I peered at Axel with curiosity. He had grown even taller (would he ever stop?) and his muscles seemed to have finally evened out. He wasn't so skinny anymore. His eyes seemed to have developed impossibly more greener and his face was now void of any freckles he once had. The twin tattoos were still sketched under his eyes, reminding me or our friendship five to six, or was it seven?, years ago.

"I should get you home."

He suddenly jumped to his feet and start walking back in the direction of my house without waiting for me. I scrambled to follow him, tripping several times in my haste. He didn't look back at me as we marched up through my back yard, his movements slowing since it was now pitch black out, and he didn't know the terrain all that well.

We made it to my front door and stood across from each other. "So..." I looked down at my sand covered shoes, "this is goodnight?"

"I guess." His voice sounded so serious and creepy, I swallowed. I was unable to look at him again, so I opted with just turning away, "Call me sometime?"

"Sure."

Incapable of stopping myself, I looked back at him, our eyes meeting a final time before time seemed to freeze.

There was a few seconds where it seemed like everything was in slow motion. Axel grunted something I didn't catch and nearly lunged forward.

Before I could even lie to myself and say I didn't want it, the redhead's mouth connected with mine in a fierce kiss. I gasped in surprise and he seized that moment to plunge his tongue in to my mouth against my own. My knees chose that time to give out and Axel had to grasp my hips to keep me up.

"You're already turning to goo at my touch..." Axel pulled away, a smirk appearing.

"Shut up." I growled, trying to push him away. I didn't quite catch on to the fact that he was the one holding me up, and we resulted in tumbling off the porch and in to the sand. I was the one who landed on top, and using this rare chance, I desperately kissed him again, sighing with relief when he continued to kiss back, his tongue struggling to gain control.

I wasn't sure what I was doing or what was happening, but I confidently, (or as confidently as I could manage), pulled up his shirt, revealing his taut stomach and heaving chest. The redhead responded with a quiver when I brought a cool hand across his skin.

"You okay?" I asked, leaning back a little. He used my hesitation to flip us over, kicking sand up everywhere.

"Umph! Axel!"

He smiled and laughed, leaving a bruising kiss on my neck, "Are you okay?"

There was no chance to answer because, well, he didn't wait for one. Instead he trailed little wet kisses down my neck and landed on my collar bone. Discovering that was a paticularyly sensitive spot, he continued to lick at the skin there, enjoying the way I bucked my hips a little.

"Roxy..." His hands were even colder than mine as he tugged my shirt over my head, covering my body with his own as I shivered at the sudden chilliness. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I realized this probably wasn't that great of an idea... groping each on in my yard, I mean. Though, I ignored this and remembered the redhead had said my name, "Yeah?"

"How old are you?" He dipped his tongue in to my belly button and I gasped, "I-I... I'm almost eighteen..." The words came out breathless and needy, causing Axel to laugh a little, "Good." He pressed a hand in to my thigh and scooted himself up across my body, rubbing his cheek against my chest. I reached out to grab on to his long hair, but it wasn't there. In fact, Axel's whole body was gone.

"Ax?" I groaned, sitting up.

He stood a few feet away from me, a bright smile on his face, "It was nice seeing you, Shorty." He waved, "I'll call you tomorrow."

W-what?

He was just leaving me like this?

"Ass!" I called out, cursing under my breath. The redhead turned to wave again, laughing maniacally in the night.

"Roxas?" Riku was coming up the hill to my house, "Is that you?"

Shit! I started to scramble in the sand, looking for my shirt. It was nowhere to be found and I just flushed with embarrassment when my twin's best friend, er, lover, stood above me, "Oh, uh... hey Roxas?"

"Hi... Riku." I covered my partly naked body with my arms and stood from the dirt, "What are you up to?"

He stared at my bare chest with a sly smirk and shrugged, "Probably nothing like what I can only imagine you were just doing. Axel did call me this morning, looking for you after all."

I turned scarlet, and hoped he wouldn't be able to tell in the darkness, "Ha ha... uh, yeah."

"Anyway, I thought I heard you yelling up here and thought I'd see what the commotion was. I take it your okay? I'm sure that big hickey on your neck was wanted, right?"

"I'm fine!" I squeaked, backing away, "but I should go, like, right now!"

Turning to run away, Riku called out my name, forcing me to stop.

"Yeah?"

He laughed and held out something, "Here's your shirt."

"Uh, thanks!" I ripped it out of his hands and sprinted to the back of the house, planning to scale the tree.

Stupid Axel!

-Jaspen