Roxas was getting a little bit annoyed with himself for thinking of Axel as often as he did. It would help if he thought he could talk to someone about what had happened, but Xion, although she was a good friend, had troubles of her own to deal with, and Demyx never stopped talking long enough for Roxas to get a word in edgewise. Besides, he didn't know if he felt comfortable talking to them about something so personal. Normally, he would ask Axel for advice, but that wasn't an option anymore. Even if he had wanted to broach the subject, it would have been impossible due to Axel's constant attempts to make sure that the two of them were never alone together.

Some days, Roxas would hear Axel's footsteps coming from around the corner and quickly recede as soon as Axel found out he was alone. Even when Xion was around, which wasn't often, there was no guarantee that Axel would show up.

When he did, he would sometimes joke with them just like old times, but more often he would stare quietly at the sunset and leave before Roxas or Xion had even finished their sea salt ice cream. It wasn't that things were necessarily awkward, they just weren't like they used to be. Everyone, Roxas included, was a lot quieter. He hadn't realized how much he and Xion had relied on Axel to keep their conversations going.

After days like these, Roxas would lay in bed remembering the moment that had caused this change and wondering if he would ever experience something like it again. He found that even when he tried to suppress the memory of their kiss, he would end up experiencing it in his dreams, and he came to the conclusion that it was entirely impossible to stop thinking about Axel.

That was why when Demyx approached him about coming to one of the Organization's "nights out," Roxas had mixed feelings. Would Axel avoid coming if Roxas went? Even though he knew it would be painful to be ignored by Axel in yet another social setting, he wanted to go. He had this stupid (he acknowledged it himself) hope that something good might happen between them. He knew he would be content with just a friendly conversation after this week of rarely broken silence, but he also dreamed about them sharing another intimate moment together, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.

It was a few hours before they were supposed to leave when Roxas, embarrassed, realized he didn't have anything to wear. When Demyx popped through the door a few minutes later, he was relieved.

"What should I wear tonight?"

"Something casual? Jeans and a t-shirt, maybe?" Roxas stared at him blankly. "Okay, I'll find you something. What kind of clothes do you usually wear?" Demyx asked.

"I don't know…. I never wear anything but those black cloaks they put in my closet," Roxas gestured to where each of his robes hung neatly.

"Seriously?" Demyx asked, looking at him in surprise.

Roxas nodded. "You realize that outside of my missions, I haven't been outside this place, right? Ever."

"Ah," Demyx said, looking a little less confused and a bit more ready for action, "Well then…let's find you something!" He led the way to his room.

After a ridiculously tiring process in which Demyx made Roxas try on almost everything in his closet (for his own amusement, Roxas was sure), he put him in some plain jeans and an oversized t-shirt with what Demyx told him was a "dinosaur" on it. Not having a mirror or any knowledge of fashion, Roxas realized he was totally at the mercy of his friend.

"Well, let's go!" Demyx opened up a dark portal, and Roxas found himself in a dingy room that Demyx explained to him was a bar.

"It's where you get drunk," Demyx explained. Roxas had no idea what drunk meant until Demyx mentioned the time he'd broken into Roxas's room at three in the morning, refused to leave, and fell asleep in his closet. "You see, I did that because I was drunk," he explained. So drunk meant something akin to totally idiotic, Roxas reasoned, and he was fairly familiar with idiotic after having known Demyx for so long.

Demyx led him to a table near a discolored window that revealed a grimy street view. When Demyx finally left him, mumbling something about "tequila," Roxas decided to do some exploring. He could see a doorway that led to another room, and he heard lots of noise coming from it. He wanted to see if perhaps the rest of the Organization was there, especially Axel (which he was annoyed at himself for admitting).

He was greeted by a weird smell which he recognized as cigarette smoke from the times he'd gone on missions with Xigbar. He began surveying the room and found it wasn't hard to spot who he was looking for. There he was, holding some long, thin pole which Roxas would later find out, from Axel himself, was called a cue. He was laughing, probably winning at whatever game he was playing (like he did at everything), and, as of yet, completely oblivious to Roxas's presence. It was moments like these when Roxas really felt Axel was simply too cool to hang out with someone as untalented and unsociable as him.

He didn't have much time to ponder the subject however because Axel had just noticed him and whatever Axel noticed always got the attention of everyone else. Roxas soon found that all the members of the Organization were staring at him. Axel, knowing he was the reason everyone had drawn their attention to Roxas, would also know he had to say something, and Roxas wondered what it would be.

And then came the magic words. "What are you wearing?" Axel asked, with a face showing polite confusion. Although it hadn't been exactly what Roxas was expecting, Axel was smiling at him, and it made him feel better than he had all week.

Roxas smiled back, unsure how to react with so many eyes on him. "Demyx picked it out?" he offered, hoping that would suffice.

Axel laughed and waved him over. Roxas was ecstatic that he was being spoken to by the person he'd been ignored by (and yet had still thought about) all week.

"Have you ever played pool?" Axel asked.

"Nope."

"I'm going to teach you."

Roxas noticed that everyone had gone back to what they were doing: talking, laughing, or playing the game Axel had just described. Axel led him to an empty pool table. They were still in the same room as everyone else, but Roxas felt like they were alone, and he was excited to finally have Axel's attention all to himself.

"Here, take this," Axel said, handing him a cue. He explained the rules of pool. The only parts of the lesson that Roxas remembered were the ones where Axel had to touch his hand to fix the way he was holding something or position him at the table. He wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking, but he thought Axel's hand lingered a bit longer than necessary, and when he removed his grip from Roxas's, he seemed reluctant.

"So that's pool for you!" Axel exhibited his most charming smile and ran his hand through the back of his long spiked hair in the way that meant he was unsure what to do next (a mannerism that Roxas adored). He almost seemed shy now that he no longer had the pretense of teaching Roxas something, and they stood awkwardly for a second, both unsure what to do, until Demyx shouted something about free shots from the other room, and Axel, along with all the others, rushed to follow the sound of his voice.

Roxas stood alone looking at the pool table, wondering why Axel seemed so neglectful of him sometimes, but was now perfectly happy to help him one-on-one. Roxas didn't understand it, and it made him frustrated despite the reality that he was still happy they had talked.

After Axel left, Roxas resigned himself to sitting on an uncomfortable stool, alone at a table, watching everyone drink alcohol out of tiny glasses (shot glasses, he would later learn). After each person drank, everyone else would cheer wildly as if it were quite a commendable achievement. Roxas found it rather boring. He observed Larxene and Marluxia who were hidden away in a corner, engaging in the act of kissing which Roxas so wanted to perform again with Axel.

Demyx interrupted his thoughts when he came walking (if you could call his haphazard swagger walking) over to Roxas and started speaking incoherently about some girl from Twilight Town who he'd apparently done many things with, none of which Roxas was interested in hearing about. Roxas kept turning his attention to Axel who it appeared had everyone else's attention as well. He had taken a lot of shots, and he was laughing and cheering as much as anyone.

It was about an hour later, Roxas estimated, when Demyx finally stopped talking and fell asleep next to him, his face pressed to the table. Roxas, feeling quite unsatisfied with how the night had turned out so far, absentmindedly spun a coin Demyx had left sitting on the table.

Suddenly he felt the presence of someone behind him. He saw a hint of red and knew who it must be.

"Want to make a bet?" Axel whispered in Roxas's ear, making a chill run down his spine. He could smell something unpleasant on Axel's breath, and he didn't seem to be speaking as coherently as he normally did. Roxas was too perplexed by the situation to know how to respond.

Axel put a hand on his shoulder, partially touching the bare skin of his neck. The intimacy of the gesture made his stomach flutter. "If you flip that coin and it lands on heads, I'm going to take you somewhere, okay?"

"What if it lands on tails?" Roxas asked.

Axel chuckled. "You're right. Who cares? We're going." And in seconds Roxas found himself in an unfamiliar place.

It appeared to be someone's home. There was a beaten up sofa and a fireplace and lots of books. It was cluttered, but in a charming way that Roxas liked. "Where are we?" he asked.

"The home of my Somebody…" Axel announced, appraising the room and apparently approving highly of it. "He has a wife, you know. She's pregnant. He may have made some mistakes, but overall I've decided he's a good guy…" Axel moved around the room and examined the books on the shelves. "Unfortunately, I'm his exact opposite when it comes to morals and luck."

Axel had never spoken about his Somebody in detail before, but, then again, Roxas had never asked. This brought up dozens of new questions, not only about Axel, but about himself. What did the home of Roxas's Somebody look like?

"Roxas!" Axel called his attention from across the room. He turned to find Axel staring at him in a very curious way that he found he rather liked even if he didn't know what it meant. And soon Axel had crossed the room, and his hands were on Roxas's face, and their lips were touching again.

His drunkenness had surprisingly, Roxas thought, not completely inhibited his kissing abilities, though they left a slightly bitter aftertaste. Just when Roxas was really beginning to enjoy what they were doing, Axel broke away and took his hand. "Come with me," he said, leading Roxas down a hallway and into a bedroom.

Roxas was apprehensive about the whole situation, and he kept wondering what would happen if Axel's Somebody returned. However, when Axel closed the door, Roxas was distracted from his worries by his first glimpse of what Axel was wearing. He hadn't noticed in the dim light of the bar how hot Axel looked in regular clothes. Since Roxas had only ever seen Axel in Organization robes, he couldn't help but admire the tight fit of his shirt and pants. His arms were deliciously muscular in perfect proportion to his tall and slim frame. Roxas was certain that Demyx's clothes did not fit him nearly as well, and he was aware, once again, of how much older and more sophisticated Axel was than him.

"I saw you checking me out, Roxas," Axel grinned, as he walked closer to where Roxas was leaning against the bed frame. "Do I make you nervous?" he whispered, only inches away now.

Roxas nodded.

Axel leaned closer to place a kiss on Roxas's neck. Roxas shuddered involuntarily, and Axel looked him in the eye. "I might regret it tomorrow, but why not?" He started undoing the buttons on his shirt to reveal his perfectly toned abs.

"Touch me," Axel directed, taking Roxas's hands and placing them on his bare chest. Axel was leaning in for a kiss when they heard noises outside the door.

"Time to go!" Axel exclaimed, smiling mischievously (like he always did when he was breaking rules). He took Roxas by the hand and pulled him into a portal that led them back to the Organization's headquarters.

It took a moment to adjust his eyes to the harsh brightness of the Organization when compared to the warm lighting of the bedroom they'd just escaped.

Axel's shirt was still unbuttoned, and he still looked amazing. Roxas was hoping to be invited back to Axel's room to continue what they'd just started.

"Sorry, Roxas. I should probably go..." Axel mumbled, looking suddenly anxious. He turned to leave as if that had settled everything, but Roxas just couldn't help it. He had to ask Axel the question that he'd been wondering about all week.

"Axel!" Axel turned to face him. "Are we that way now?"

"What way?" Axel asked, even though Roxas was pretty sure he knew already.

"The way that means we're more than friends."

"Let's not worry about it, okay?" He offered a lukewarm smile and said "Goodnight Roxas" as walked down the hallway and around the corner to his room. Roxas was almost overcome by disappointment, but appeased himself with the reminder that at least Axel had spoken to him and even kissed him again. That was something to be happy about, wasn't it?