I don't have too much time to write during the week but I sure do think about it a lot lol. Anyway, it's been a few weeks, but here's chapter two! Enjoy! I've been having fun reworking this story and coming up with ways to improve it :)

It had been a few days since Axel's first and somewhat disastrous interaction with Raina. He still wasn't quite sure what had happened. Talking to women was usually something he excelled at. To say it was an off day was a bit of an understatement. He'd been carefully avoiding her since, trying to figure out a way to recover.

Frustratingly enough, she and Demyx seemed to be getting along well—a little too well for his liking. He had seen them talking to each other every day since she'd started working there. There was a strange familiarity between them when they talked, as if they'd known each other all their lives or something. Since when the hell was Demyx of all people better with women than he was? Axel had never thought too much of the younger man, until now that is. He seemed decent enough, but his whole happy-go-lucky persona sometimes grated Axel's nerves.

He wasn't too concerned though, she was definitely out of his league and their interactions seemed pretty platonic. Still, seeing as how Axel didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her, he thought it might be time for a little outside help. Ideally, he'd turn to Roxas for advice, but since he'd told him to stay away from her and he was...not doing that, he figured he was not the best person to ask.

Just as he was contemplating his next step, he noticed Demyx standing alone in the copy room.

"Hey man," Demyx greeted with a lopsided grin as Axel started to use the copier next to him. He managed a nod back.

"Hey Demyx, how's it going?" Not that I care, really.

"Not bad, not bad," he replied, resting his hands behind his head. "What about you?"

"Uh, fine, I guess," Axel muttered. He'd never really been that great at small talk. "Listen...I've actually been meaning to talk to you."

Demyx looked startled for a moment at Axel's admission.

"Really? Me?" he questioned with a raised brow. "What for?" Axel cleared his throat. This was not his proudest moment.

"I uh, could use some advice," he said, feeling more uncomfortable by the second.

"Work related?" Axel shook his head and Demyx seemed to realize what he was implying. He broke out into a grin and ran a hand through his mullet.

"Axel...are you having lady problems?"

"Little bit," he admitted quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, well, well," Demyx said with a self satisfied smirk. He crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side. "How the turntables…" He trailed off, squinting slightly as he recognized that what he'd said was not quite right and that he didn't seem to know where the rest of his sentence was going.

"Uh...yeah, anyway," Axel continued after a moment of silence, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "I noticed you and Raina seem to get along pretty well, and I was just wondering how you got her to talk to you like that." Yikes. The words coming out of his mouth felt wrong as he'd said them.

"Dude, what happened?" Demyx asked with a laugh. "How badly did you manage to fuck it up?"

Exasperated, Axel pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

"I don't know man, she's too fuckin' cute. She looked at me with those big blue eyes and I just completely lost my train of thought."

"She is pretty cute," Demyx agreed, nodding. "But I'm not helping you." Well, that was definitely not the answer he was expecting, or hoping for.

"C'mon, why not?" Axel groaned. This was getting to be frustrating.

"Because, she's my friend." Demyx ran his hands through his hair again, not making eye contact with Axel as he muttered "I don't want you to do that thing that you usually do."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Axel asked under his breath. "And friend? She's been working here less than a week."

"Yeah," Demyx said, leaning against the copier. "You know, it's pretty easy to make friends with someone when you treat them like a human being." Axel was stunned for a moment. It was an uncharacteristically bold thing for him to say and if he'd had even a little bit of a heart left, it might have stung. Mostly though, he was just impressed he'd had the nerve to say that.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Demyx's confidence seemed to falter at the question and he swallowed. His dark green eyes darted around the room, briefly glancing at the open door as if looking for an escape.

"C'mon, Axel," he laughed, a hint of nervousness in his tone. "You know what I mean. We're not even friends. You're only talking to me because you want something." Before Axel could respond, and before Demyx lost his nerve, he picked up the copies he'd made and quickly turned to leave the room.

"See you around, Axel," Demyx said quietly as he exited. Ouch. It was a fair assessment, though, he thought as he gathered his own copies. Most of the relationships in his life were pretty transactional—his friendships, romantic relationships, even his relationship with his parents—and Axel was used to getting what he wanted out of them. He'd learned from a pretty young age how to bend others to his will. His good looks definitely didn't hurt either.

He wasn't used to people telling him no.

It was entirely immature, he knew, but being told to stay away from her was having the opposite effect of what Demyx and Roxas had intended. The more Axel was told he couldn't have her, the more he wanted her. So, it was a character flaw, big deal—he had a lot of those.

Lmao, that line from The Office is literally my favorite in the whole series and I thought it was perfect for Demyx. Also, in case there's any confusion, they are all human and have hearts in this story, Axel is just an asshole lol.