Axel's alarm went off at half nine. He showered, did his hair and got dressed. At quarter to eleven, he went to the front door.

"Where do you think you're going, Axel Sakuraba? You're grounded."

"Oh mom, please! I'm gonna do…my history project."

She took in his more groomed than usual appearance. Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh really? Sure you're not off to some bimbo cheerleader's house?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm going to Roxas's house."

She sighed. "Fine then. As long as you're doing homework."

"Yes mom." He ducked round her and went out the door. God, his mom was so annoying! He started up the engine of his battered old orange Renault and backed out of the driveway.

He got there at 11 on the dot. He parked his car outside and looked up at the huge gates. Great, he was locked out. He took his mobile from his pocket and pressed Roxas. He was number one on speed dial.

He answered straight away.

"Hi Axel. Something wrong?"

"Yeah, would you mind letting me in?"

He heard Roxas laughing. "You're supposed to press the buzzer."

"Oh right. Okay I'll do that."

"'Kay, I'll let you in."

Axel hung up. He went up to the wall and pressed the small black button on it. Roxas's voice came out of the intercom.

"Pizza guy right?"

Axel laughed. "Something like that."

"OK come in."

There was a beep and the gates opened. Axel drove his car in and parked on the massive driveway. Standing at the door beaming was Roxas.

"God, that took long enough. At my house you just ring the doorbell." complained Axel.

"Yeah, sorry about that. C'mon, I'll give you the grand tour!" Roxas took Axel's hand and led him inside.

"The entrance hall…parent's living room…mine and Sora's living room…dining room…kitchen…pool."

"YOU HAVE YOUR OWN FLAMING SWIMMING POOL?" Axel exclaimed.

"Yeah, you can come for a swim sometime if you want."

They continued the tour upstairs.

"Mom and dad's room…dad's study…first bathroom…mom's study…second bathroom…" He stopped. "Sora's room." Axel could hear talking and laughing coming from inside.

"Better we not disturb them," Roxas whispered.

They came to the end of the hallway.

"Wait, where's your room?" Axel asked, looking around.

"In here."

Roxas opened the last door. In it was not a room but the bottom of a staircase. They went up.

"Whoa!" It was a large room containing a pool table, pinball machine, exercise equipment and a huge plasma screen with Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii as well as beanbags and sofas to sit on.

"That's the "den". This is my room."

Roxas turned around and opened a door behind them.

It was a fairly large room, painted navy but with a black ceiling. He had a queen size bed, computer in the corner, plus his own TV.

"It's nice. I like the whole…simpleness."

"You mean simplicity."

"Yeah. Maybe you could give me English tutoring too?" Axel asked hopefully.

Roxas laughed. "Sure."

The door opened behind them. It was Roxas's twin Sora and Riku. They walked in casually enough, but both froze in their tracks when they saw Axel.

"What?" asked Roxas, surprised. "You knew he was coming over."

Sora blinked. "Yeah, but I thought you were kidding. I thought you were just trying to scare me."

Axel grinned. "Am I really that scary?"

Sora went pink, just like Roxas did. "I said Roxas was trying to scare me, not he did scare me."

"C'mon Sora," said Riku, tugging on his hand. Sora obediently followed him out the room and down the stairs. Axel looked at Roxas.

"Sooo… you got Guitar Hero?"

After 2 hours straight Guitar Hero, Axel was starving.

"Hey Rox, mind getting some snacks?"

"Yeah sure." Roxas left the room and went down to the kitchen. Axel left Misery Business on pause and got up for a closer look at Roxas's room. On his desk, there was a pile of his schoolbooks. Axel flicked through them, surprised on how many A's Roxas got. The last book wasn't a schoolbook, but a notepad with a bookmark in it. He opened it at the marked page and read the first line: "Dear diary,…"Whoa, it was Roxas's diary! Axel tried to resist, but he was curious. I'll just read a bit. Then I'll put it back. It was the entry for yesterday.

Dear Diary,

I don't know what's come over me. I am so confused about everything that happened today with Axel. He's in the Organization and Sora says I should just do my best to avoid them, but by Axel I'm intrigued. He's not like the others, he actually seems to have feelings. Today he helped me pick up my books after Saïx made me drop them, and then he asked me to tutor him in maths! I was so shocked. Then later on he invited me round to help him with the homework, but the weird thing was, I think he was concentrating more on me than the math. He also told me he was gay, so MAYBE he…likes me? I don't know.

The strangest thing of all? I think I'm falling for him.

Those last six words were enough to put a huge grin on Axel's face.

He heard Roxas's footsteps coming up the stairs, and he quickly shoved the diary under the schoolbooks, tried and failed to straighten his face, and threw himself down on the sofa. Roxas looked surprised at Axel's sudden euphoria (he had been thrashing Axel at Guitar Hero and Axel was getting moody) but otherwise ignored it. He threw Axel a bag of Doritos and a can of Pepsi and sat down. They started Misery Business again, Roxas not missing a single note and Axel missing about 20.

"Hmph, I'm just out of practise. My mom took my X-box off me. Normally, you'd be crying by now!" Axel laughed, about to get in his car to leave.

"Yeah, yeah, sure Axel." Roxas gave him that adorable smile, making Axel's heart pound faster and his mind make him do something very brave or very stupid. He reached out and pecked Roxas on the cheek. Roxas's eyes widened and his face flushed bright red.

"See ya Rox," Axel said huskily, giving him an alluring grin before shutting the car door and driving off. Roxas stood there, hand on his cheek, unsure of the well of happiness and excitement bubbling up inside his heart.