Ansem The Wise Preparatory Boarding School

Chapter Nine – The Bowling Alley Incident

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.

Roxas stared at the rain tapping on the glass of the car window watching it streak across his vision in slow motion. Sometimes it looked like two streams close together were racing each other, until one always veered off course. Riku and Sora sat up front while he was crammed in the back of Riku's Porsche Panamera with Kairi and Namine. At least the quiet blonde girl had volunteered to take the middle since she was the smallest.

They were headed off campus for the first time since school began two weeks ago. He'd been eating all his meals with the group and now sat next to Namine in every class they had together, which happily was his first 3 periods. He even had hung with all of them a couple times after school around campus, but that was only when Axel was busy... None of the others in the car knew anything about it, but he had been spending pretty much all his time with the two-time junior these days.

He questioned himself why he was hiding Axel from everyone else in his life, maybe because right now, it was just simple. Roxas hadn't asked him anything about 'The Organization' and Axel never mentioned it again.

When the school day was over, he would always go back to his dorm to get his homework out of the way until Axel showed up, the time always varied, another don't-ask-don't-tell of theirs. They'd play video games, watch videos, sometimes Axel would bring chips or little bags of popcorn and they would try to shoot the snacks into the others mouths. A few times they'd gone to Axels room when his roommate wasn't there, he couldn't tell if the older boy was hiding him from his friends as well, or if he was doing this for Roxas' benefit. Axel's room was wayyy bigger and better than his and Sora's room. He knew he shouldn't ogle at the things the other boy had, after all he was filthy rich like every other kid here, but he couldn't help but geek out over the extensive collections of consoles and games. There was even the original Super Mario Brothers on Super Nintendo!

After dinner, he continued to meet up with Axel at the clocktower and sometimes they would stay up there until curfew just talking. Other days, Axel would have to "take care of some business" or something of that nature. He'd always offer to walk him back to the dorms, but Roxas would always insist he could take care of himself. Axel wouldn't give him the chance to find out though and walked with him anyways. Roxas never asked what the older boy's "business" was and Axel never told him.

He knew he'd have to ask Axel about 'The Organization' eventually, but honestly, he was afraid. Once he asked him, he would have to make a choice if he was okay with this or not. To him, Axel was funny and caring, he was crazy, outgoing, and always had something witty to say. His heart ached as he though of his wild hair, those emerald eyes, the oh so sexy tattoo's… "No, Roxas stop, not again, STOP!"

The longer he went there, the more he heard about Axel and the Organization. The census was divided, some talk about the members like they were rock stars or something, some more like they were the scum of the earth. Most students could at least agree that they were the dealers there, if they didn't sell directly to you, whoever you were buying from bought their shit off one of the members. Everything else Riku said seemed to be true too, gambling, alcohol, porn, you name it. Roxas hated him for it.

Couldn't he have decided to become friends with ANYONE ELSE!? No, He was going to choose to have a gang member as he his first real friend here. Honestly though, he felt like he never really had a choice. He was just pulled toward Axel, like a magnet. Apparently, the entire school must feel the same way, rumor had it his new redheaded companion was basically the biggest player in the school. He had fucked EVERYONE, everywhere in this school. Girls, boys, teachers? Didn't matter. The redhead only did one night stands usually, but there were so many that were always trying to comeback for more, supposedly he was amazing in bed. Roxas shivered at the thought and again pushed down the uneasiness in his stomach along with the way his heart sped up at the thought.

So yeah, right now, he was just happy to live in this bubble a little longer before complicating everything by letting more people into their relationship, which despite everything, was just friendship, or at least that was what he told himself, repeatedly. Every day.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the other redhead in his life let out a high-pitched squeal of delight, Roxas resisted the urge to cover his ears.

"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD, WE'RE HERE!" Yelled Kairi as they pulled into a crowded parking lot of a well-kept old-fashioned bowling alley. Riku found an empty spot right next to an incredible cherry red Ferrari 488 GTB. He felt his mouth fall open, but he closed it quickly hoping to prevent the drool. Stepping out of the car, he left the door open for Namine and watched her pause awkwardly before scooting over to his side. He immediately felt guilty for not offering to help her out.

"Thanks, Roxas." she called shy and sweet, exiting the car with grace. It was the first time he was seeing her in clothes that she actually picked out herself, not ones she was forced to wear during school/gym. She was cute and casual in a simple white dress with a powder blue cardigan over her shoulders and white keds. Roxas felt shy all of a sudden as he took in how nice she looked. For a bowling alley. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks, she likes me.

The thought burned through him and shame and guilt flooded his senses. He liked Namine, he really did. Besides Axel, she was the best person he had met at the school, he just didn't think he liked her, like that. Thoughts of Axel flashed through his mind and he tried as best he could to push them away. This was just because he has just thought about him in accordance with Namine right? Yeah, maybe that's it, maybe he did like Namine and he just didn't know it yet. He shook himself from his inner monologue and forced a smile at his friend she smiled back, a faint pink gracing her cheeks.

The peaceful moment was ruined when Kairi ran around to their side and linked arms with Namine talking animatedly about how exciting this is. Their first big high school outing! Who would be here? What would it be like? She hopes neither one of them trip on the slippery floors and fall front of everyone! Would Sora and Riku get too competitive and start a fight? Again? She started telling the blond girl about the time that happened back home, and Roxas followed everyone into building, the last in line and alone, as always.

The parking lot had been a good indication of how many people were there, the place was packed. Riku was able to secure them a lane right away, but Roxas was pretty sure he saw him slip the guy a $100 bill. He frowned, see this is why he hated rich kids, they think they can do whatever they want, and they deserve to bowl more than the regular kids just because they have money. Normally he would have thrown a fit about this and demand they wait their fair turn and scold Sora for not doing the same, but he wasn't back home. He was in their world now, and he needed to at least try and bite his tongue about the 'little things'.

There were probably 25 lanes in the bowling alley, almost all of them seemed to be filled with teenagers, the odd large family or older couple tossed in here and there. They were lucky enough to get 'Lane One' so they had the illusion of more privacy than the lanes in the middle. The group made quick work of renting shoes and entering silly nicknames into the screen to embarrass each other once displayed overhead. Roxy felt his face heat up once he saw "Roxy-poo" in lights above them. He wanted to pull his hood all the way over his face and hide from the world, especially when his friends began cracking up at his reaction. He was glad he had suggested Sora put in with "Silver fox" for Riku, he was going to let Sora take all the credit for it, knowing his brother probably had no idea the innuendo behind the phrase. When the older boy saw his name up there and actually blushed, and Roxas was able to come out of his hiding place to laugh along with everyone else.

Before they even got up to bowl the first frame a spunky looking blonde in a high ponytail with a blue headband came over. She wore a slightly too small yellow 50's waitress uniform and her name tag read 'Rikku'. They ordered a bunch of soda, wings and french fries and the girl promised she'd get it out as soon as she could, but they were really busy right now, so it might take a couple of minutes.

They bowled a few frames, Riku took the lead with Roxas trailing closely followed by Kairi, Sora, and Namine, but it was her first time, so she had a pass. Finally they watched the blonde balancing all their food and drinks on multiple trays. She finally made it to their table and bowed after managing to set all contents down spill free, they all clapped in recognition of a job well done. She laughed and pulled at a random tiny braid that had fallen out of her hair behind her ear.

"Hey, you kids are alright, what are you new around here or something, never seen you here before?" She questioned.

"Yeah, we go to Ansem The Wise Prep just outside town, tonight is our first night off campus Sora said eagerly. He was just so cute and innocent looking, it was… endearing, he couldn't help but chuckle and Rikku did the same.

"Oh yea? Well nice to meet you rich kids, my names Rikku, I got to the Hallow Bastion Community college, in town, but I work here to help put myself through school, we can't all be lucky enough to go to such prestigious schools." She joked with ease letting them know she held no hard feelings.

"Well if you guys need anything else, just yell for me, I'm going to be running around trying to keep this place from falling apart." she was gone in a flash of yellow, off to help the next hoard of hungry teens. Sitting for a moment to enjoy his deliciously bad bowling alley food he found himself people watching instead of paying attention to the group and whatever it was that they were talking about. Line by line he inspected his fellow bowlers, it seems there was a good mix of people he had seen around his own school and kids that dressed more like townies. It was pretty easy to spot the difference usually, but he couldn't help but smile that him and Sora were dressed more like the townie kids.

Suddenly, there was an influx of voices coming from the front door and Roxas' jaw could have hit the floor as he watched Axel stroll into the bowling alley looking like walking sex itself. He swore the older boy must have been wearing eyeliner as those jade eyes seemed even more striking than usual, his hair as always, was wild and cascading past his shoulders. He wore a ripped dark denim jacket and a motley crew t-shirt with a cut-up collar, so it now was a very low V-neck. His pants were made of leather and, oh my god was that a lace-up crotch? The blondes entire mouth went dry.

What the hell was he doing here? He knew Roxas was going to be here tonight, why would he come here and ruin the last 2 weeks of their secret friendship by blowing their cover now. He waited for those jade eyes to fall on his own, but they never did, the redhead was too preoccupied with the sandy haired blonde under his arm. They were both smiling and laughing, it made Roxas clench his jaw tight at the sight.

Accompanying the pair was the rest of the people that Axel always ate lunch with, along with a few others Roxas had never seen before. They were all dressed similarly to Axel, mostly in black, lots of leather. The attendant at the counter seemed nervous when they came in, but immediately got them 4 lanes at the complete opposite end, kicking a couple people out of their games early. Roxas frowned and hoped he at least gave them free games tickets or something…

Almost immediately after they sat down, Rikku brought over 4 large pitchers of beer and promised to be back with more right away. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, they were just going to serve them alcohol just like that? They were in high school! His eyes immediately found Axel again and his frown deepened when he saw him with that sandy haired boy again. He couldn't STAND the way they acted toward each other, always sitting close tighter, whispering in each other's head, touching each other's chest or arm…

"ROXAS!" the boy whipped his head in the direction of the voices and saw regrettably that 4 pairs of eyes were trained on him.

"What?!" He didn't understand why they were all yelling at him. Silence. Eventually Sora was brave enough to speak.

"We were calling your name, it's your turn, what are you looking at?" Roxas jumped up and laughed awkwardly walking a little too quickly over to the ball return and grabbed a ball that was wayyy too heavy for him. He laughed nervously and grabbed his own, more appropriately sized ball.

"Sorry guys, guess I was just spacing out." He slowly crept forward and finally released his ball, watching it roll all the way down and knock down some pins, he didn't even register how many. He felt paralyzed to turn around, but he forced himself to do it anyways and gulped when he saw emerald eyes resting on him, that ever-present smirk sending a shiver down his spine as he walked back to his friends.

"7 pins! Wow Rox, good job!" his brother exclaimed holding his hand up for a high five, which he returned unenthusiastically. He sat down and tried to just look down an get his heart beat under control.

Seriously, why didn't Axel tell him that he would be coming here tonight with all of them. He wasn't prepared for this yet, he had been living in denial, but he was happy there. Now he just hoped that Axel took the hint enough about Roxas not wanting his friends to know they were hanging out and just stay away from him. He still didn't know what he was going to say to Sora. He knew Riku was going to try and rip him a new asshole and Sora would just take his side blindly, he could never take Roxas' side even though he was his twin brother.

"Uh, Roxas?" Sora rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah?" He whipped his head back to his brother, the hair starting the prickle on the back of his neck.

"You uh, you get to go again." He pointed out and Roxas literally face palmed causing the girls the giggle.

"I'm sorry, I'm really just a space cadet tonight." He tried to joke but he couldn't bring himself to form a smile. He almost felt sick. It was just, he wasn't prepared to have to deal with Axel out in public like this. Forcing himself to take a deep breath Roxas grabbed his ball first try this time and took a few well-planned steps to perfectly take down the other 3 pins for a spare. Sora and Kairi cheered for him and he let out an actual laugh this time. He guessed this wasn't so bad…

"Way to go Roxy-poo!" Kairi yelled loudly that a couple of people turned to stare at him, more than a few of those eyes belonging to those of The Organization, including those deep emerald that belonged to the one person's gaze he was trying to avoid. His face flushed deep red and he hurried back to his side, actually putting his hood up this time and avoiding the gaze of everyone. He took a seat next to Namine who seemed to be the only one to take pity on him.

"Sorry if they are embarrassing you, I think they just tease you because they like you, I know I do." She tried to offer comforting words and placed her hand over his. His heart started pounding faster and he froze. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he didn't want to lead her on either. This was all going down his so fast… He decided his best bet was to just squeeze her hand back and stand up to go grab his soda from the other table offering her a "thanks" before he started walking.

He allowed himself to look at Axel while he was walking to get his soda. What, there was nothing wrong with looking at a friend right? He seemed so at ease, sitting with his long legs spread wide, leaning back holding his beer that sloshed over the top. He threw his head back in laughter at something one of his companions said, some guy with bleach blonde hair and a goatee that Roxas had never seen before. He began to sweat and grabbed his drink, going back to sit by Namine, she had pulled out her sketchpad and as always was holding it so close no one could see what she was drawing.

"Whatcha drawing?" He asked nonchalantly and he took a seat next to her and the blonde blushed clutching the pad ever tighter to her chest.

"I-it's nothing really. It's not done yet, it just looks like a bunch of scribbles right now." She stammered out and looked away. Roxas smiled genuinely at the humble girl in front of him, he didn't think he had ever met anyone as "good" as her, beside maybe Sora.

"I'm sure that it looks fine, would you maybe show me something that is complete? I just haven't seen any of your work yet, and you're always drawing, you have to have something finished in there"? He smiled trying the encourage the blushing girl to share her work with him. She seemed hesitant but opened the notebook up anyways to flip though the pages until she found something she was willing to share. Reluctantly, the timid girl revealed a picture she had done of Kairi eating a paopu fruit. It was AMAZING! She did such beautiful work with her coloring and shading, it was incredibly realistic, and that fruit looked good enough to eat.

"Wow! Namine, that's amazing! You should be an artist!" He exclaimed, he was happy to be talking to her about this and not thinking about Axel. This was all he had to do, just ignore him. She responded by blushing harder and turning her head away embarrassed, shutting the sketchbook quickly. There was a short awkward silence before Roxas decided to press on.

"I'm serious, you are really good, I'd love to see more of your work if you'd be willing to share some with me." He tried to look her in the eyes and eventually she looked back. He could see the fearfulness, the uncertainty in those blue orbs that were actually quite similar to his own.

"Thank, Roxas, maybe another time." She said with a small smile before placing the book under her seat before standing up, it was her turn to bowl. He decided it was safe to steal another glance at Axel, he was standing, god he was so tall, he had just grabbed his ball, only needing to take 3 steps before his long legs reached the line and he bowled a perfect spinning ball ending in a strike. A bunch of his group cheered loudly and toasted their cheap beer, Axel was of course acting like a ham, bowing and waving his arms around in celebration of himself. Roxas wanted to laugh but knew he wouldn't without possible questions. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take. Not yet…

The redhead sauntered over and sat next to the sandy haired boy again, Roxas felt his brow furrow and his mouth form into a tense line. Again with this crap? Who was this guy? Why was he all over Axel? Wait why did he care? UGHHH this was so frustrating. He didn't care, because hew as just confused about his feelings for Axel right? He was just enjoying the attention. He wasn't gay, Axel and he were just friends and it was just as simple as that. With all his inner strength he forced himself to peel his eyes away from Axel and watch his group bowl a couple of more rounds, sipping on Dr. Pepper and eating French fries with have long gone cold by this point.

About halfway into the second game, Roxas thought he had done a pretty good job of spying on Axel without drawing suspicion to himself. Try as he may, but he could not keep his eyes off the older boy. The way he smiled, his laugh, the ease that he just floated through life on, like nothing could phase him, he owned this world. Roxas had just gone up to bowl, and this time when he turned around and sent his eyes searching for Axel, he found himself staring right into the hypnotizing green gaze. He felt his mouth run dry and for some reason he just stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the other boy. Axel seemed pleased with this response, a devilish smile gracing his lips and he placed his hands behind his head as he kicked his feet up. Inwardly panicking, Roxas blinked twice and hurriedly scuffled back to his seat next to Namine. She noticed something was off with him and placed her notebook, drawing down, in her lap.

"Is everything okay." She asked kindly, her head slightly turning to question. He didn't really know how to answer so he figured he would answer mildly truthfully.

"Just… nervous I guess." He felt himself blushing and he turned away, this caused her to do the same. They stayed like this for a minute before Roxas swore he heard the girl gulp before she spoke, a tremor in her voice.

"I-I know what you mean Roxas, I'm n-nervous too." With that she again placed her hand over Roxas' and when he turned to look at her, she was very close to his face. His eyes widened as she leaned forward, and time began to move in slow motion. She was trying to kiss him. On one hand he should be happy, Namine was obviously a catch, beautiful, smart, sweet, humble, wealthy, any guy would be lucky to have her, yet why at this moment did he feel himself wanting to pull away. He knew he really didn't have romantic feelings for her, but who knows, maybe, in time, those feelings could grow. Plus, if he didn't kiss her, he'd have to explain why, and he wasn't prepared for that either. Summoning all the courage he had he closed the last 10% of the gap between them, effectively locking lips with the girl. It was weird, she was kind of cold, her lips sticky with lipgloss and they weren't really doing anything, honestly, it grossed him out. He didn't want to be rude and just pull away immediately, but he couldn't help it at the deafening *CRACK* that rang out though the entire bowling alley.

He jerked his head to look in the direction of the sound and saw that it had been made from two bowling balls that had seemingly been thrown into the ground, that would be the only way to justify how much of the tile floor was cracked now. The culprit standing in between said cracked holes in the floor was a tall fuming redhead with eyes that could kill, and they were staring straight into Roxas' soul.

Roxas felt his own eyes go wide as saucers as he was hypnotized by Axel, unable to look away from his fury, he wouldn't be surprised if actual steam came out of his ears at this rate. After about 10 seconds of brutal eye contact, Axel growled and turned on his heal walking over to his chair and grabbed his jacket before quickly making his way out the door, lighting up a smoke before the doors even closed.

Roxas' heart sank. He couldn't explain his next movements, but he sprung up from his seat, grab Namine's hands and held them together in between his.

"Namine, I'm sorry, you're great, this isn't about you, I just… I need to get some air." He raced after the older boy ignoring the calls of his friends and the manager yelling at him not to wear those shoes outside unless he wanted to buy 'em. He only had $13 left in his wallet, so he hopped the last few feet, pulling the rentals off and throwing them which way carelessly.

He stepped out onto the cold, wet ground in nothing but his socks. Looking around, he didn't see the flash of red hair anywhere and his heart sank, his body going with it. Sitting on the curb, his face in his hands, he had so many emotions coursing through him it was starting to make him dizzy.

Why did Namine have to KISS him, and WHY did he have to kiss her back? Just thinking about the feeling of her lips on his nauseated him out and he felt terrible for thinking it. Namine was so nice, she didn't deserve what he just did to her in there. Kiss her and then run out after the gang member like a freak? Yeah, he had to be the biggest jerk in the world. And Axel… His heart sank even harder when the look on the redheads face flashed before him and Roxas knew that he was a garbage human being.

Through the scent of the rain Roxas could make out a faint smell of cigarette smoke. Lifting his head, he sniffed, the smell was even stronger. Off to the right he could clearly see a cloud of smoke coming from around the corner. He went to stand up but plopped right back down on his wet ass. What was he even going to say? He didn't really know why Axel was so mad, but it definitely was because of that kiss with Namine. I mean, there was no way that Axel actually liked him, right? He had made it pretty clear that he'd like to save sex with him, but it seems that he wants to have sex with everyone from what he had heard, and he refused to be another notch in the famous lover's belt. And Roxas WASN'T GAY.

Oh hell, he didn't even know why he was bothering to lie to himself any more. He knew from the moment his lips touched Namine's that he was 100% gay. Worse than that, he was absolutely crazy about the redheaded boy.

"FUCK!" He yelled to no one and forced himself to stand, he still didn't know what he was going to say to Axel, but he couldn't take just sitting there another second. He padded along in his wet socks and rounded the corner to reveal a very sexy, but very pissed off redhead. The older boy snapped his head toward Roxas, and he immediately regretted his decision to come and find him.

Axel looked at him with such hate, such anger, he shuddered. He hoped he the elder would assume it was from the chill from the rain. There were 4 small chakrams stuck in the side of the concrete wall and by the way they were smoking he could only guess they were once on fire, like the ones he pulled out on Larxene 2 weeks ago.

"Axel, I-" He began, only to be cut off.

"Oh, so you really are acknowledging me now, I'm so FLATTERED! But you're too late." He put his cigarette out on the ground before walking up and pulling the chakrams out of the concrete, he was back to not looking at Roxas. He took a couple of steps back, and somehow, in a way Roxas still couldn't figure out, lit the chakrams back on fire. He was paralyzed to do anything but watch as Axel threw one after another in a perfect line straight down. Gathering his courage he attempted to speak again.

"Look, I-" was as far as he got before he was cut off again.

"You know Roxy, I had you pegged all wrong, here I thought you were awkwardly keeping from your friends because your brother's little boyfriend gave you a pretty hard time about me," He again plucked the smoking chakrams from the wall, but this time he turned to face Roxas.

"And I was going to let that slide, at least for now, because I know what the fuck people say about me around here." Roxas swore he could see a look of hurt in the menacing emerald eyes before him. He felt a stab of guilt deep in his gut when Axel started to chuckle menacingly.

"But what I didn't expect was for you to be secretly messing around with this little girlfriend of yours?" His voice dripped with venom and he grabbed Roxas' shoulder in a crushing grip. He cried out in pain and grasped at the larger boys' fingers trying to get him to loosen his grip, but it was pointless.

"Axel, please stop, your hurting me." He pleaded. He felt like his clavicle was about to snap in half. His pleas didn't seem to be getting him anywhere and the grip seemed to tighten even harder, he was helpless to stop the tears from forming in his eyes.

"Who. Is. That. Girl." Axel ground out through clenched teeth. He had leaned down spoke right into Roxas' ear, his hot breath tickling his neck, it felt weird mixed with the pain in his shoulder.

"Namine, that's Namine, she's just a friend, Axel I'm sorry!" the blonde all but screamed, the tears spilling over now. With his admission/apology the death grip on his shoulder was released and Roxas sank down the wall clutching his shoulder in agony.

"Namine? My, my Roxy, if you had a thing going with the girl, why not tell me about it, You only see me I don't know every FUCKING day. What am I to you? A fucking joke, Axel Heart is no one's joke." Roxas peered up through watery eyes the man looming over him, he has never seen Axel like this before and it was really scary.

"I don't okay! I don't like her like that, she kissed me!" He cried up at Axel, this did nothing to soften the others impression, in fact he somehow grew even angrier looking.

"That's BULLSHIT!" Axel roared and punched the wall above Roxas head, lucky for the redhead there was a wooden sign there instead of the concrete. He instinctively put his hands up in front of his face in case the next punch that was thrown was headed in that direction.

"I SAW you Roxas! I saw you kiss her, she may have started it, but you finished it!" He boomed, Roxas squeezed his eyes closed waiting for the blow that was sure to come.

"Hey Axel, what're you- oh my god AXEL! What the hell are you doing to this kid?!" An unfamiliar voice called out and it sounded like he was standing right next to Roxas.

"Dem, get the fuck outta here, I'm not ganna hurt the kid okay?!" Upon hearing this Roxas dared to lower and hands and open his squinting eyes, it took a second for them to focus but when they did he was saw none other than sandy haired boy standing above him now, Axel had gone back to his original business of throwing his flaming chakrams.

"Uh-huh are you sure about that hun, because this poor thing looks scared to death. He tried to Reach down to offer Roxas a hand to stand up, but he wasn't having it.

Now it was Roxas' turn to change emotions on a dime. How dare Axel be mad at him for kissing Namine when he had this guy hanging off him at all hours of the day. He pushed the older blonde off of him and scrambled to his feet on his own, earning a surprised stare from both other boys.

"You know what? You have no room, NO ROOM to talk Axel. I watch this slut hang all over you all day every day! You have no right to treat me like this, all because Namine decided to kiss me!" He yelled at the redhead who seemed downright stunned at his boldness. That quickly fizzled out and Axel seemed to burn with anger again.

"Don't you dare bring Demyx into this, and his is not a slut, you are the one kissing girls in the fucking bowling alley, girls that claim you don't even like. So, what was it Roxy? Just get too horny around her you couldn't help yourself!" Axel was facing him again. All 4 chakrams were in his hands surging with more fire than he had seen yet.

"FUCK YOU!" Roxas screamed, tears once again spilling over his eyes. "I don't like her okay, I, I don't why I let her kiss me, I guess I just sort of let it happen, to see, uh, how I'd feel, but it was awful okay, and I probably really hurt her feelings, and she's my FRIEND. And you, and you had to, ugh-" He couldn't bring himself to say how he felt to Axel, he was having a hard enough time realizing this himself.

Demyx was looking very sheepish and slowly backed around the corner out of sight. Axel's face softened a bit but his eyes still burned fiercely.

"What Roxas, what were you going to say?" He somehow extinguished the chakrams at his side, putting them back in his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes again. He knew he could be grossed out, I mean smoking is a disgusting habit, but damn Axel made it look sexy.

"I-I, Axel I don't-" He couldn't get his words out, he couldn't even think them to himself.

"JUST SPIT IT THE FUCK OUT!" Axel was losing his patience again, so much for smoking calming you down.

"I'M SORRY AXEL! I- I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU!" The tears flowed over his eyes again and he sank back down on the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest. He was already soaked to the bone, it'll be amazing if he doesn't catch a serious cold after this. Suddenly he felt a surge of heat and felt his body encompassed by two long strong arms and was crushed against a wide chest. His face was the first to heat back up when he realized his body was now flush against Axels, but he couldn't stop his tears and eventually just embraced the older boy back, muttering "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" over and over again. He didn't really even know exactly what he was so sorry for, but he knew that he know that was how he felt.

He heard Axel sigh and felt longer slender fingers begin to stroke his wet hair soothingly. Roxas was soaked to the core and shivering when the weather decided to take it up a notch, thunder booming across the sky. Roxas jumped at the sound and wrapped his arms around Axel's neck, pulling him down and burying his face in the crook of his neck. Suddenly he felt himself pulled to his feet, but he refused to let go of the older boy. He wanted this moment to go on forever, he didn't want Axel to start yelling at him again.

Axel was now bent over at an awkward angle since Roxas was almost a foot shorter than him. He heard and felt the older boy chuckle, the vibrations from his throat were tantalizing. Gentle hands moved down his soaked sides lightly before strong hands gripped his hips and effortlessly lifted him ups, wrapping the younger boys' legs around his waist and effectively pinning him between the redhead and the wall. Roxas knew he should be concerned and humiliated by his precarious position, but he couldn't care less, he just felt so right. Here, in this moment with Axel, and his fears all slowly melted away. He pulled back finally to look into concerned jade eyes.

"Roxy, baby, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I guess I just really lost my temper there…" The redhead looked to the blonde's shoulder where a bruise would sure to be bruised by tomorrow. Cerulean eyes searched jade for any indication of what he should do next. The heat radiating of Axels body set his own on fire. His lips were so close, Roxas could just reach out and taste them…

"ROXAS! WHERE ARE YOU!?" cut through the haze, immediately ruining the moment as his brothers voice filled Roxas' ears. He squirmed at the thought of Sora catching like this and accidently rubbed his groin against the others hard midsection causing him to let out a slight moan, and then flush with embarrassment. The redhead just looked at him amused, holding him in place.

"Axel!" He whined and wiggled again, trying to ignore the friction he was causing in his lower region, he desperately needed to get back on the ground before it was too late. The elder just chuckled low and slowly put Roxas back on the ground, he grimaced slightly when his near frozen socks hit the even more freezing ground. What he wouldn't give for a dry pair of socks and some shoes right now…

"Hey kid, I realllly can't let you go over there…" He could barely make out Demyx's voice above the storm that had rolled in, he stared at Axel like a deer in headlights, not sure what he was going to do, but he knew he at least couldn't hide Axel, his FRIEND, from anyone anymore.

"C'mon", he pulled at Axel's arm and then started off towards the front of the building where he could where his brother was arguing, unknowingly, with another member of The Organization.

"What are you talking about, is Roxas over there?! Roxas! ROXAS?!" Sora's voice was starting to sound frantic as he rounded the corner and let go of Axel's arm.

"Sora! Would you stop already!" He scolded his twin for his dramatics but then remembered that he had just been quite dramatic himself. Unfortunately for Roxas, his brother was not alone, standing a few feet back was a pissed off looking Riku, arms folded across his chest, which was puffed out by the looks of it, and a red faced Namine who had obviously been crying, with Kairi's arm placed protectively over her shoulder. Words couldn't describe how horrible Roxas felt knowing he was the cause of his friend's pain.

If the situation had been different, he would have laughed at the rapid change of Sora's facial expressions as his emotions bounced around in his head, starting with being angry at Demyx for not letting him go find Roxas, to being happy to hear Roxas call back to him, to confused as to why Roxas was on the side of the bowling alley with Axel, and finally fear as Roxas and Axel approached the group.

"Roxas, what the heck is going on, and why are you out here with-" Sora gulped "-him?" It was a fair question but Roxas didn't really have a good answer for him right now, so he reacted kind of like an asshole.

"Can't you mind your own business and let me live my own life for once Sora?!" The words stung him a little as they left his mouth and his brothers face immediately took on the look of a kicked puppy. He saw Riku's eyes narrow behind him, but Roxas couldn't care less, he didn't think Riku would try anything with Axel here. I mean Riku was tough, but he wasn't Axel tough.

"B-but Rox, you just ran out on us," He lowered his voice "And what did you do to Namine?" The second part stung Roxas so hard, he just hoped that Axel would believe him now that he saw what a mess Roxas had just caused.

"Look I came out here to be with Axel because," He paused to turn and look Axel right in the eyes, God it was just not fair how gorgeous they are. "He's my friend." You could cut the tension in the air with a knife as all the teens just stood there in the rain, not sure what to do next.

Another crack of thunder rang out causing both twins to jump, they had never done well with thunder storms, when they were little they would always go and cuddle up with Cloud, no matter what the elder Strife was doing, he would always hold the boys until the storm had passed. Once Cloud was gone the boys mostly relied on each other for support, but this time, when the thunder cracked, Roxas once again jumped and turned to bury his face in Axels chest the redhead quickly encircling him in long, strong arms, while Sora leapt into Demyx's arms, only to push himself away once he had realized what he had done. Roxas was hesitant to leave Axels embrace, but knew he had to and pulled away too.

"Alright Rox, we can talk about this later, c'mon your soaked, and it's a storm out here, we need to get going!" Sora all but yelled above the noise of the wind and rain, the storm had been picking up with every passing second. He had a point, but the last thing Roxas wanted to do was squeeze back into Riku's car with all of them, and even worse, Namine, he didn't think he was ready to face her. Plus, he didn't want to leave Axel, something about the older boy just made him believe that everything was going to be OK. As if reading his mind, he felt a hand settle on his shoulder, and in an overly nice, not Axel at all way of talk, he spoke to Sora.

"Actually, Roxas and I were just about to head back to campus, I had offered to drive him."" He leaned in closer to almost whisper to Sora, Roxas didn't know if he was trying to do it or not, but something about that man's low hushed, gravelly words made all the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He flaunted a killer smile at the brunette who blushed slightly. "He's obviously having a hard-enough time as it is, plus the girl, she probably doesn't really want to ride back with him either."

"B-but, Rox, are you okay? That's still not telling me what the heck is going on?!" Sora stuttered out, he wasn't ready to let it go at just that, but Roxas wasn't willing to say anything more at this point, he was still reeling from all of his own emotions, he could not bear the thought of having to recap everything, having to admit that he was GAY, to his brother.

"Sora, please, just go okay? I'll be fine I promise, and we can talk about this when I get back to the room tonight." He gave his brother a pleading look, and his twin looked at him like he had just grown a second head or something. The brunette looked back at Riku and the girls, who weren't even paying attention to them anymore, they were turned away using Kairi's jacket as an umbrella for both of them. He couldn't blame Namine for not wanting to look at him right now… Riku shook his head at Sora like he disapproved but didn't want to actually say anything. God, he was such a passive aggressive self-righteous prick sometime, always thinking he knew what was best and trying to boss him around. To show his seriousness he reached out and grabbed his brothers' hand, looking at him intensely in the eyes.

"Please Sora, I'll be OK, I promise." He all be begged Sora, he felt so low at this moment, but he just couldn't face them right now, he especially couldn't face Namine.

"Ummmm…. OK I guess, if you're sure that's what you want to do. Here are your shoes." He held up Roxas' sneakers up by the laces. Reaching out, he grabbed them a before the thunder cracked again, sending both twins jumping out of their skin yet again. Sora took off running back to Riku and the girls. Roxas sighed and hung his head as he watched them all accept Sora's explanation and there just stare at them before eventually turning to head back to Riku's car. He looked back at Axel and Demyx, who was standing there awkwardly just looking around as if he hadn't heard and thing and was just minding his own business.

"Dem, can you watch him for a minute, I need to go and grab my boots!" Axel squeezed his shoulder one time affectionately before darting inside and leaving Roxas with a very uncomfortable looking Demyx. Roxas did nothing but glare at him like he was a gruesome creature, when suddenly the older blonde's eyes widened, and a big fat grin dawned his face.

"It's you! You're him!" He yelled and pulled the unsuspecting freshman into a soul crushing bear hug. Roxas yelped and tried to push away from the maniac, but the mohawked boy was a lot stronger than he looked.

"Alright Dem, that's enough." Axels voice sounded behind him and his heart did a little flip. He should not be feeling this strongly about the other, but he just couldn't help it anymore. Roxas was grateful when his feet made contact with the ground and was released from his hug-prison, he made a show out of shoving Demyx odd of him.

He tried to shoot him another death glare, but his hostility didn't phase him, he was just smiling like a crazy person glancing back and forth between himself and the redhead. Axel's eyes narrowed and he gave his friend a look like he had better keep his mouth shut. His friend just laughed and began to walk back into the building.

"Okay, well you kids behave, and make sure to use protection!" He called behind him causing Axel to scoff and Roxas to choke on his own spit. He knew his face had to be beet red, but at least he was finally alone with Axel. The redhead was giving him a funny look and eventually shook his head laughing.

"Roxy, are you going to put your shoes on, or are you going to keep walking around in your wet socks?" Roxas' eyes widened before glancing to the sneakers he was still supporting by the strings. If possible, his face turned an even deeper shade of red before he plopped back down on the ground, he was already soaked to the core, and tried to make quick work of removing his soaked socks, discarding, them in the gutter, and lacing his shoes up one at a time. A pair of motorcycle boots appeared in front of him and when he looked up at the redhead his breath aught in his throat.

He stared up at Axel, the rain falling all around him, catching the lights from the "BOWL" sign, making it look like thousands of diamonds were falling all around him. Somehow, his hair hadn't lost any of its volume despite it now being dripping wet. The rain had caused his shirt to stick to his skin, perfectly outlining his defined pecks and abs. His eyes dared to travel lower to the leather pants and that damn lace up crotch. Roxas couldn't help but gulp, there seemed to be a rather large bulge that was barely being contained by those thin ties. It would be so easy to just reach out and pull one of those strings free and unleash the wonders underneath, OH MY GOD what the hell was he saying?! He was lucky his face was already the deepest shade of red imaginable or the older boy might be able to follow his train of thought.

Instead as soon as he was finished with his shoes Axel reached down with both hands and pulled the blonde to his feet. Wordlessly, he followed the older boy to his car and almost lost his mind when the redhead approached the Ferrari he had been ogling earlier.

"This is YOUR car?!" He couldn't help but gawk, I mean this was a $250,000 car. He knew he was rich, but this was crazy! Axel just smiled back at him.

"C'mon Roxy baby get in the car, let's get you back to school and out of those wet clothes before you catch your death on me." The redhead called out and quickly got in the car starting it up with a roar.

AN: YAY! Some actual progress with the AkuRoku in the story. I know I am sorry, I didn't have anywhere to include the bit about Sora I wanted, my chapters keep getting longer and longer, this one at 8400, but I still feel like I don't have enough time to cover all I need to cover before I need to switch POV's. Unfortunately, Sora's plotline runs parallel to Roxas' so we will have to wait 2 more chapters for his shining moment.

Also, I hope that no one is too mad at Axel for being such a jerk, he is a little rough around the edges, but he is in a gang after all! I'm thinking "Chain of Memories" Axel right now. Now that Roxas is in his life, maybe he will learn to simmer down a bit. Or maybe you can't tame a wild animal

BTW Couldn't help but put the "I'm so FLATTERED part in here, it's one of his most famous lines in the game! Felt a little corny, but isn't that what this ridiculous fandom is about?

Also PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU CAN, even if its just a few words, it means so much to me that someone else is actually taking the time to read my work.