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Hello my Loves! This one took a wee while to write because I wrote it then realised I switched from 3rd to 1st person and rewrote it THEN realised I didn't like how Axel was written so REWROTE IT *huffs*

Loosely based on the movie 'Wild Child,' whatta film 3

Enjoy! x

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Late Night Kitchen Run

Part I

Deep in the English countryside north of London stood Hartland College, an ancient co-ed boarding school. If one were to accidentally wander into the campus at night they would think they'd happened upon Oxford university, as the two institutions had had the privilege of sharing an architect. A long, winding gravel driveway led to the main building, which housed the main foyer of the school. Corridors branched off from the foyer and made traversing the school rather simple. To the right was the gymnasium, straight ahead the courtyard and classrooms and the the left were the boarding houses in which the male and female students were divided into two seperate wings.

The school itself was very isolated. It was a twenty minute drive to the nearest tiny stone-walled village, which the students were permitted to visit twice a month to buy fish and chips and visit the post office. After the village it was a further twenty minutes by train or car to the nearest high way and four hours back to London.

Desperate to finish an essay that was due in the morning, Roxas Strife sat at his desk in the boarding house by the dull orange light of his desk lamp furiously writing. He knew it was past lights out but he just didn't want to face the wrath of his tweed-wearing English teacher Mr Clarkson and he also couldn't stomach the idea of his grade dropping a level. Roxas Strife didn't get anything if it wasn't an A, everyone knew that.

With his hand pulsing from writing too much too fast he paused for a second and looked out the window. It was a quiet night, devoid of the usual ever-present rain. The way the moonlight fell on the immaculate and extravagant hedges and lawns of the gardens made Roxas's essay stress dwindle, if only for a moment. No one was around for hundreds of miles and the rest of the boarding house was fast asleep, it was difficult not to feel so at peace with all the sleepy surroundings. He could even hear his best friend Hayner's snores seeping into his room from the one next door. He smiled to himself and went back to writing, this time only gently scratching his pencil over his essay paper, happily moving on to the final paragraph.

What destroyed Roxas's peace was his door opening.

Roxas watched as a figure stepped silently into his room. His eyes widened seeing Axel, the school's star lacrosse player quietly slide the door and knob back into place. The older boy then turned around, sent Roxas a quick wave and a wink, opened his small wardrobe and disappeared into it. Roxas sat starring at the wardrobe, wondering if he was having a fever dream. He blinked a few times at the ground, what the jiminy fuck?

But ah, there it was- not ten seconds later Roxas heard the familiar clip clop of the Matron's slippers on the wooden hallway floor outside his room. Now that made a lot of sense, it looked like Axel was evading capture. And the Matron's footsteps hadn't continued down the hallway… They were right outside Roxas's room. He didn't have time to throw himself into bed and turn off his light, so he quickly turned back to his essay as the door to his room once again opened.

"Roxas," the Matron said, looking immensely pissed off, "did you hear anyone come by here just now?" Roxas looked up at the large Scottish woman with what he hoped was a look of pure innocence. It wasn't a difficult task for him as all of the staff knew he was one of the top students in the school.

"Uh, yeah actually," Roxas had a quick mind which easily produced a quick lie. "I heard bathroom door open minute ago." He jerked his head towards the top end of the hallway. The Matron stood staring at him for the moment and held his breath. He tried his hardest not to look in the direction of his wardrobe, where no doubt Axel was holding his own breath.

Finally, after a millennia, the Matron huffed. Thank you Roxas," she said and went to turn to leave but stopped again to look back at him, "and turn that light out would you? It's well past lights out."

Roxas, remembering his unfinished essay gathered all his courage and asked the Matron in a small, polite voice, "is it okay if I have the light on for five more minutes? I've almost finished this paragraph and this essay is due tomorrow." His eyes shined up at her and the Matron reluctantly nodded. He knew she wouldn't refuse him, being a good student had its perks. If only she knew what was lurking in his closet.

"Alright, but I'll be back round in five minutes to check that light is out," she sighed, "goodnight Roxas," and with that she headed out the door.

Roxas only breathed a small sigh of relief when her footsteps finally faded off down the corridor. He then turned to watch his wardrobe door slide open and a grinning Axel step out onto his carpet. He was astonished that the senior had managed to stay quiet that entire time, he was usually the loudest person in a room. It struck Roxas for a second that he had never seen Axel on his own.

As the blonde sat still in his desk chair they both looked at each other not knowing quite what to say. Roxas had the feeling that this wasn't Axel's first time breaking curfew, where had he been? What had he been doing?

"What are you-" Axel lunged forward at him so quickly that with such speed only an athlete could accomplish. Roxas had a hand clapped over his mouth and immediately panicked: It was one thing having Axel in his room, it was an entirely other thing having his hand touching his face.

"Shhhh…" Axel whispered, his acid green eyes merely inches from the blonde's. He drew his hand away and Roxas relaxed somewhat. Axel then slid the pencil out of the boy's hand. To Roxas's surprise he turned to the desk, grabbed a fresh piece of paper and started to write.

Can't talk- he scrawled, too much noise. Just as he finished his sentence Hayner could be heard through the wall snorting in his sleep, so Roxas supposed he made a good point. If the Matron was anywhere along the corridor and she heard them talking… Ohhhh they'd both be so dead.

Thanks for covering for me, Axel continued, I was grabbing some snacks from the kitchen, here is your payment for your silence- Axel then rummaged around in his pocket and produced a rather crumbly chocolate chip cookie and placed it face up on the desk. Slightly horrified for his essay Roxas pushed the papers away from the crumbs. Axel did not notice, he'd already grabbed another cookie from his pocket and was munching away at it contentedly. He continued to write: Can I chill here for a bit?

Roxas's eyebrows shot up at this, but Axel didn't wait for an answer. The senior was already clambering onto Roxas's bed before he had the chance to protest. He watched in astonishment as the senior grabbed his pillows to lean up against the wall really making himself at home. Panic once again blossomed behind Roxas's ribcage. He snatched up the piece of paper, furiously wrote, then held it up to Axel

The Matron said she would be back soon? He hoped his frantic expression would get the point across, but Axel didn't look like he gave a single toss. Grinning at him again the senior stretched out to reach the lamp on Roxas's desk, and with a soft click they were plunged into darkness. On queue, the Matron could be heard rounding the end of the corridor. Roxas's whole body tensed as she walked past the room, but she didn't pause outside, she didn't even hesitate, she just kept on walking. It is difficult to describe the relief he felt.

When she was finally finally gone Axel clicked the light back on again. More than a little annoyed, Roxas immediately grabbed the paper again.

How long will you be?

He feared the answer. Axel was a senior after all, even if Roxas wanted to kick him out he couldn't. If Axel wanted Roxas to sleep on the hardwood floor in the corridor so that he could have his bed he'd do it. Axel was friendly, but that sure didn't mean he wasn't intimidating as all hell.

To the question Axel simply shrugged, a single cookie crumb falling from his lips onto the blonde's bed. The senior gestured to him to give him the paper and wrote a quick reply leaning the paper on his knee. Roxas's eyes narrowed at the response.

About an hour? Gotta wait for Matron to go to bed :D

An hoooour? Roxas thought to himself miserably. What were they supposed to do, paint each other's nails in the dark? Because they sure as hell weren't going to be able to keep the light on with the Matron snooping around. He also had that essay due in the morning, but now he was going to have to go to bed an hour late and wake up an hour early to finish his essay off.

And to top it all off, Axel now had a cell phone out.

This wouldn't have been so alarming if they weren't in a boarding school. You had to hand them in to the Matron at the beginning of the term and had to ring home on the landline beside the main office. Yet here was Axel, scrolling through what looked like Instagram like he didn't have a care in the world. If the Matron caught him with that phone he'd probably be expelled, or at least mercilessly thrown off the lacrosse team.

Roxas couldn't bring himself to care though. Axel was already being a huge pain in the ass. Defeated, the blonde still seated at the desk reached out and shut off the lamp. Luckily, he had a small torch in his top draw. He felt around for it out in the darkness and went back writing, hoping that Axel didn't try to talk to him.

Axel lasted around a minute before he prodded Roxas in the shoulder.

Setting his pen down Roxas turned to him, "What?" He mouthed.

In the torch light Axel was smiling expectantly at him and holding up his phone. The Netflix app flashed on screen with its classic red on black logo. The senior then patted the spot on the bed next to him to invite Roxas over. Roxas, of course, wasn't too keen on the idea of watching Netflix in bed, alone, near midnight with the school's hot senior star lacrosse player.

But if he was stuck with Axel, maybe it would make the time go a bit faster.

Roxas gently eased his chair back and sat down next to Axel. He leaned back against his pillows and tensed as his thigh pressed up against the senior's. Axel, having not noticed his discomfort was busy plugging his headphones and scrolling through the latest releases. Despite what Roxas thought earlier, this was going to be a long hour.

Thrillers and Rom Coms rushed across the screen. Axel offered Roxas a headphone and he took it, suddenly super conscious of how loud his breathing was but trying not to hold his breath. He popped the headphone in his ear as Axel paused on some kind reality TV show and showed it to him. Roxas simply shrugged and nodded, not all familiar with what Netflix had to offer.

Axel held the phone up on his knee as they watched the show, while Roxas's thoughts went at a million miles an hour.

It dawned on him that he'd never really looked at Axel before, like really looked at him, and now here he was right in front of him. His long athletic legs were a lot longer than his own. He had on a navy knit jumper and a pair of old track pants, and he looked good in them, cosy yet rugged. This did nothing to help Roxas's heart beat as it began to jump to his throat. He wanted to but he couldn't sneak a glance at Axel's face because that would be too obvious. He blamed his damned teenage hormones. He'd never even thought about Axel before- okay maybe he'd acknowledged in his head once looking at him from across the crowded cafeteria that he was hot, but he wouldn't have said he had a crush on him, he'd been too busy with his studies to bother with crushes.

And oh- his knee lazily knocked against Roxas's. Then the redhead let out a small yawn. His breath was warm, slightly minty, slightly cookie-y. It was all quickly becoming too much. If later asked what the Netflix show had been about the blonde would be able to produce no answer. His mind was fully tuned in to Axel's every subtle move, while focussing on keeping himself perfectly still as to not draw attention to himself.

Admittedly Roxas didn't spend too many nights up at midnight and his tiredness began to take over. His eyelids grew heavy and his breathing shallowed. The light of the TV show blurred and he didn't realise he'd closed his eyes. His body then relaxed, his headphone slipped out and he slowly relaxed from his rigid position.

He didn't know, but Axel had fallen asleep not too soon after him, his phone falling from his grip on his knee to rest on the comforter.

Roxas woke around 1AM, his eyes fluttering open when he realised what had happened. He kept his eyes firmly shut, thinking if he opened them he would break the spell: Axel's arm was was draped over him.

They were very close, way too close. Roxas was shocked to find that they were in fact cuddling and that Axel was still fast asleep. The blonde had managed to nestle himself against Axel so that his head was resting just in the crook of his neck. Every time Axel breathed out it softly ruffled his hair.

Roxas didn't really feel too concerned about this, or anywhere near close to panicking. After all, Axel was the one with his arm around him and also Axel was fast asleep. He was free to indulge this fantasy for a few more moments, then he could just slip out of Axel's arm, gently nudge him awake and he'd be on his way back to his own room. Easy.

Except when he looked up at Axel, Axel was very much awake.

Their eyes met. From the shock of it Roxas held his breath. Maybe Axel would kick him and he'd end up flat on the floor, or maybe the senior would awkwardly get up and run out of the room and they'd both live out their days pretending this had never happened?

By the dim moonlight Axel unwound his arm from around Roxas, who lifted his head slightly so he could get it out from under him. He then moved himself so he was propped up on one arm and looked down at the boy who still couldn't speak and didn't know what to say.

'Sorry,' Axel mouthed followed by a yawn. He looked tired but had a soft smile playing on his lips.

Roxas still didn't know what to say, out of politeness he shrugged as if to say 'it's fine.' What he had really wanted to say was come back because he started to feel a bit cold. After a moment Axel made no move to leave and to Roxas's complete and utter surprise he laid back down on the bed again, this time reaching to grab the covers. Roxas understood immediately and sat up so that Axel could pull them back and they could both get in. They settled under the covers with Axel pulling the blankets back up over Roxas then moving to make himself more comfortable.

Roxas was in the throws of a deep panic. Now this… This wasn't normal- but he was not about to question it as Axel pealed off his knit jumper revealing his bare chest underneath. The blonde's stomach erupted with butterflies as it dawned on him that in this scenario that maybe Axel wasn't straight, and that he was definitely going to find out in the next five minutes.

Roxas scooted as far as his bed would allow to the left causing his ankle to peek off the side, but it being a single bed there wasn't really any personal space. A deep blush settled over the boy's face as Axel's arm slinked back around his waist and the senior invited him closer. The feeling of Axel's fingers grazing his bare skin between his t-shirt and pyjamas gave him goosebumps, and made the butterflies in his stomach fly lower, much lower. The simple touch drove him crazy.

He tried not to gulp as he brought his foot back from outside the bed and moved quietly closer to Axel. They both laid there, facing one another, Roxas's head coming to rest inches away from Axel's chest, and Axel eyes closed allowed his index finger to slowly… Drag across.. Roxas's… Skin…

Feeling his groin heat up Roxas shakily breathed out, trying his hardest not to move and give himself away. Now that had definitely been on purpose. Thinking maybe that was an invitiation, the blonde moved his own hand to Axel's hip, feeling the warm firm skin under his fingertips. Hearing Axel sigh he even allowed his forehead to drop forward and rest against the senior's chest. It was all he could do not to slide his leg between Axel's legs, glide his hands of his muscled chest, or pull him down into a kiss. It would be too far though, the line had already been crossed, what they were doing was already taboo enough.

Until the early hours of the morning Roxas laid there, quite awake, until he couldn't hold off any longer and drifted into a light sleep. When his alarm woke him up at 6AM, Axel was gone. There was no sign that the senior had even been there except for the piece of sheet paper they had scribbled notes to each other on. Thinking back on Axel's fingers on his skin Roxas's stomach flipped. He couldn't help thinking, maybe Axel would visit him again.

One week past since Roxas's night with Axel and his own personal teenage hell was only just beginning. He got his essay in on time, that had been a cakewalk. Sure he had been a zombie for the rest of the day due to lack of sleep (and the day after that), but that was nothing compared to how irritating it was that Axel was now on his mind.

Of course they both pretended nothing had happened at all. Roxas never caught Axel even looking in his direction. But that didn't stop Roxas looking over at him. It was like he now had a radar, or an Axel-dar. When Axel walked into the cafeteria it was like he could feel him. An energy radiating off him. Then Roxas would go all jittery or feel sick or stop speaking altogether or start speaking too much. Hayner may not have noticed any noise through the wall that night, but he had started to notice how weird his friend was acting.

"Roxas? What did you get for number four?" Hayner asked for the third time, finally breaking Roxas out of his stupor.

"Uh… Give me a minute…" Roxas gently shook his head, bringing the maths book in front of him back into focus. Falling a page behind, he rushed to catch up.

Hayner and Olette of course did not know why Roxas was starring blankly out the window, but sitting there in library on a Friday afternoon gave Roxas a near-perfect view of the lacrosse pitch where Axel and his team ran drills late into the evening. He could see him, his read hair pulled back into a pony tail as he sprinted from streaked fluidly down the field to score yet another practice goal, his team mates worshipping at his feet like he was some sort of god.

Seeing Axel wipe the sweat from his brow and grin as he shrugged off his team mates made Roxas almost snap his mechanical pencil in two. It was clear as day to him, he now had a big crush on Axel. It was also clear to him that Axel had probably had a momentary bought of insanity and was never going to go near him again. The thought hurt, especially because looking at Axel now he could still feel his fingers grazing over his hip.

He sighed and went back to his homework.

Another week past, and the red haired wonder still hadn't acknowledged Roxas's existence, and Roxas was no where near getting over his crush. That Friday he sat in the boarding house's grungy common room with Hayner, Pence and a couple of other guys in their year watching a Harry Potter DVD that Pence had brought in from home. They were allowed to stay up a little later on weekends, so at around midnight the brutish Scottish Matron came in and told them it was time for bed. They all complained a little bit, Harry had only just gotten the Philosophers Stone out of the mirror. They however quickly lost their argument, and got herded off to their bedrooms.

Hayner and Roxas walked back together down the long corridors and said goodnight and made their way into their respective rooms. Not completely tired yet Roxas decided to read for a while. He happened to have a copy of the Philosopher's Stone in the shelf above his desk so he grabbed it and flipped it open to where they'd just left off during the movie. As he began to read he fumbled his shirt and track pants off and hopped into bed. He knew the Matron would be round soon checking for lights that were on, so he grabbed his small torch and turned his desk lamp off. As the room plunged into darkness he pulled his covers up over his head and continued to read by the torch light.

Not ten minutes later his door opened.

In a blind panic Roxas thought the matron had seen his torch light. He quickly turned it off and peaked out above the covers, getting ready to be chewed out.

To his complete and utter surprise a tall, lanky red head was facing the door, attempting to click it shut without making a sound. Roxas thought for for one horrific moment that he might throw up but the nausea passed, quickly being replaced by nervous tingles all over his body. Why had Axel come back to his room? What was happening? Roxas thought for a second that he should just pretend to be asleep and see what happens, but he couldn't he had to say something-

He immediately sat up and turned towards the red head but faltered. He could see Axel in the light coming in from under his door- and was looking quite lovely, freshly showered in a shirt and pyjama pants. Roxas didn't get a chance to say anything as Axel thrust a collection of papers into his lap. Confused, Roxas reached out and grabbed them while Axel climbed over him and assumed his position from beside him on the bed. Roxas, feeling surprisingly less nervous than he thought he would turnt my hand torch on again and read the title handwritten on the page.

'Feminism in Shakespeare's The Tempest'

It was three pages of an essay. Axel looked at him expectantly and handed Roxas a worn pencil. The blonde realised he want him to proofread it, is that all he wanted, an essay proof-read? Is that why the other night had happened, because Axel wanted to make sure Roxas the nerd would always be available to him to help with his homework? He couldn't argue with him because the red head had already pulled out his phone and began scrolling through instagram.

As Roxas began to read and scribble notes in the margin, it occurred to him how far away Axel's dorm room was. The seniors were a flight of stairs above the juniors and down a large open corridor- surely he hadn't risked his neck to get to Roxas's room only to have his essay looked over? Surely he would have just sucked it up and approached Roxas in person rather than risk detention or being expelled? It didn't make any sense.

Luckily Roxas had read The Tempest before, clearly Axel had taken a lot of his essay points from Spark Notes. He took his sweet time reading over the pages as he really didn't know what was going to happen once he finished. After underlining a fair bit of wrong spelling, citation errors and Spark Notes rip-off sentences, Roxas handed the essay back to Axel who folded and pocketed the papers.

"Thanks," Axel whispered to him. He was so close that his breath tickled Roxas's ear. It was a shock hearing the red head's voice so quiet, and not yelling at his team mates from the other side of the lacrosse pitch.

"So… This is like our second date," Axel continued, playfully nudging Roxas's arm.

Roxas felt like his stomach had detached from his body and launched itself out the window. He locked eyes with the senior. "I didn't know this was a date?" He breathed back, trying to remove the shock from his face and wishing he was smoother.

"Roxas," Axel shook his head, letting out a small exasperated laugh. "You're in the library every day, if I just wanted my essay proofreading I'd have done it already-" As if he'd been waiting for an opportunity all night, Axel leant in and quickly captured Roxas's lips with his own.

At that moment there was a soft click as Hayner next door turned on his bed side lamp. The two of them froze mid-kiss. Axel backed off only an inch, grinning at Roxas's panicked expression. Roxas himself couldn't breathe. If Hayner had heard them talking and decided to come and investigate there was absolutely no explaining their way out of it.

After the longest minute in the history of longest minutes Hayner switched his light off again. Air rushed back into Roxas's lungs, and the two teenagers breathed a sigh of relief. Roxas couldn't help but mirror Axel's grin as he began to realise what had just happened. Axel had kissed him!

And Axel was kissing him again.

It was so easy that Roxas could have laughed out loud. This time Roxas was ready, and he kissed back with such quiet ferocity so that he could tell Axel just how he felt about him. Their hands connected on the bed as they made out, before Roxas pulled away, leaning his forehead against Axel's, closing his eyes, delighting in his fast heart beat, his heated skin.

Breaking the spell, Axel pulled back, reluctantly. He brought his lips to Roxas's ear and the blonde tried not to shiver. He simply uttered, "Lacrosse in the morning…" And gently kissed Roxas's neck. In disbelief Roxas watched him rise from the bed and disappear off to his own room.

Unsure what to think, Roxas laid awake for a long time that night. He had kissed Axel. Axel had kissed him. If daytime Axel ignored him, then when would he see nighttime Axel again?

He hoped it would be soon.