As described by my brother, the entire next week I was not a happy camper. Christmas was alright, but the days following it was torturous. My family, for whatever reason, decided to keep me extremely busy. If I wasn't helping my mom clean, I was distracted with Sora. He was doing an odd mood cycling that I didn't like one bit. He would go from extremely happy to crying almost daily. Because of this, he spent a lot of nights in my room, keeping me up with games and falling asleep on my bed. Whenever I tried to ask him about it, he dodged my questions. I was beginning to think he had broken up with Riku, although this was unsupported. I managed to steal his phone and was about to peek through his messages when he discovered what I had done. He was mad for about an hour. A long time for him. Because of all these distractions, I didn't see Axel until New Years Eve. In exchange for going downtown with him to ring in the new year, my dad had me do that stupid "test try a job" thing. I could already hear him bragging.

This job was at a small grocery store. I was to "work" there from eight to five. It would be unpaid, and would be simply to get my feet in the water. It sounded illegal to me. In fact, I am pretty sure it is illegal, but my dad carries a lot of weight, and as I later learned it would be classified as volunteer work. Like anyone else would volunteer at a dingy, local grocery store.

Welcome to hell. Someone must have just moped because the first smell that greeted me was the smell of industrial, lemony cleaner. It filled my nose and decided to stay. I couldn't smell anything else. I walked up to the first check out line, where a girl was tapping the counter. She was older than me. Her long brown hair was braided twice, falling onto her shoulders, and a red bow sat on the back of her head. The store's uniform was a plain, black polo shirt, and her nametag read Aerith. "Excuse me, I'm looking for manager Jonas," I said.

"I'll call him up." She smiled at me.

She seems pretty friendly. Maybe this won't be so bad.

I waited patiently as she went to grab him. No one was shopping this early in the morning anyway, and I found myself staring at the rows of candy bars. I half wanted to buy one. I had skipped breakfast and my stomach was grumbling.

"Hello." A large man greeted me. He had to weigh at least twice as much as me, and his thick facial hair was intimidating. "My name is Mr. Jonas. Feel free to just call me Jonas." He winked at Aerith.

"Nice to meet you, sir." I shook his hand. "My name is Roxas, my father—"

"Ah, yes." He laughed loudly for no apparent reason. "Your father is a great man."

"Thank you," I said uncertainly.

"I have a spare uniform for you in back. You can change, and then run the register for a few hours while it's slow."

The bathroom where I was changing was disgusting. The tiles on the floor were cracking, stains covered the sink, and I didn't dare look towards the toilet. I yanked my shirt off and pulled on the polo. That was all I had been given, thankfully. It was big but I didn't mind too much. It smelled clean and that was enough.

Jonas taught me how to run the cash register. It wasn't hard at all, except for trying to remember what all the buttons did. You had to press a certain button for different payments. My forgetfulness, coupled with slight social anxiety, led to a few disasters throughout the morning. A few costumers weren't too happy with me. Jonas always laughed it off and told them how I'm new, etc, etc, until they calmed down; one woman, wearing giant square shaped sunglasses, went on and on about how incompetent I am simply because she had to slide her card again after I pushed the wrong button.

"And this is why I am going to college," I muttered to myself.

"You're doing great," Aerith told me.

"Thanks." A few hours down. I got a thirty minute break in which I spent halfheartedly eating a peanut butter sandwich and texting Axel. The second half of my day seemed to go quicker. Jonas showed me how to stock the shelves and the hardest part was actually finding where this stuff goes. Who knew this little store sold so much? It took me forever to do these tasks that a normal employee probably did in minutes….

I don't know what my dad was thinking. This was not an eye opening experience. I already knew this kind of work was horrible. What else was I going to learn? The value of hard work? I worked plenty hard on my final papers…

At least that day was good for something. Namely, a day with Axel. And a day out of the house!

"Enough about that," Axel was saying, "you won't believe what Demyx did yesterday."

We were driving downtown. There's always a celebration downtown for New Years Eve, which I hadn't been to in a while; we were planning to get dinner, maybe go to a few shows, and watch the fireworks. From what I understood, our friends would be there too. Sora was going separately, and would probably meet up with his high school friend Kairi, and Riku (so I guess they hadn't broken up). Demyx, Zexion, Larxene, and Marluxia were also going.

"What did he do?" I had found a pack of Skittles in the glove compartment when Axel wasn't looking. I ripped the corner open and threw a couple in my mouth.

"…are you eating my Skittles?" Axel asked incredulously, glancing over at me.

"No," I said, my mouth full.

"Maybe I was saving those!"

I snorted. "You probably forgot they were in there."

He paused while he took an exit ramp. "Maybe."

"So what did Demyx do?"

"Oh he got drunk and for some reason he started stripping and singing that umbrella song. You know the," he started to sing, "You can stand under my umbrella, ella ella eh eh eh."

I had to laugh at his singing. "Wow."

"Don't tell him I told you."

"I won't. See, this is why you shouldn't get drunk."

We were close to our destination now. Everything around us was concrete and skyscrapers and Axel was searching for a parking garage. The sun was already starting to set. We were wearing layers upon layers of clothing because it was supposed to be cold.

He parked and we got out. "Want to eat first?" he asked, heading out onto the street.

"Sure, are we eating with everyone else?"

"Uh, let me ask." He took his phone out, sending a text while we made our way towards the streets that blocked traffic off for the event.

Apparently the group was already heading to a diner. We met them there. It seemed to be a simple place although it was packed for the holiday. Demyx gave me a fist bump when I saw him, Zexion said hi, and both Larxene and Marluxia ignored me. We grabbed a large table and I somehow found myself sandwiched between Axel and Marluxia.

I looked over the menu while the rest of them talked. There were little jukebox things around the room, and I couldn't help thinking that if my brother was here, he'd be playing with them right now.

I ordered chicken strips. The second the waiter left, Axel was poking fun at me. "Eat something more manly!" His finger jabbed my side.

"Like your burger with bacon?" I snorted.

"I got a salad," Marluxia said condescendingly.

"We can't all be healthy!" Demyx exclaimed.

Axel toasted him with his water. They were all so rowdy. Except for Zexion, of course, who was trying to hear me over them.

The food was pretty good but this crowd was wearing me down. Demyx and Axel were being rambunctious, and Larxene and Marluxia seemed to be even more mean and unbearable than usual. "Axel," I hissed.

"Huh?" He turned towards me, slurping on a chocolate milkshake.

"Are we hanging out with them all night?"

He bowed his head towards mine. "We don't have to."

"Good."

He stuck his tongue out at me and resumed chugging his shake. I was a little jealous. I should've gotten one…they were served in giant glasses, topped with a ton of whipped cream and a red cherry. It looked really good…

"Axel," I said again.

"Yep?"

"Can I have some of your milkshake?"

He gave me a falsely horrified look. He did that a lot. "But this is mine!"

The others were watching us now and I wanted to duck under the table. "Forget it," I mumbled.

"You should have ordered one for yourself," Larxene smiled. It was a vengeful smile.

"Just kidding, Roxie." Axel slid the glass towards me, beaming. I was ready to kill him, but somehow they failed to notice the nickname. Maybe they heard it as Roxas. Oh well, I didn't care, as long as I don't get teased.

I took a long sip. The ice cream was thick and creamy, and I swallowed too quickly. It was delicious. I sipped it a few more times before giving it back, while Demyx gasped, "What if you get an STD, Roxas?!"

I choked a little and Axel snapped, "So mature."

"God Demyx, we're eating," Marluxia complained.

"And you can't get an STD from spit," Zexion put in.

I felt the heat rush to my face and I took to folding my napkin multiple times. Luckily, we left soon because Marluxia wanted to catch a ballet show. They drifted ahead of us on the sidewalk while Axel stayed next to me. "I bet I know what show you wanna go to," he said.

"Oh yeah?"

The show I apparently wanted to go to involved a bunch of fire eaters. It was pretty impressive, and lasted about twenty minutes. We returned outside to look over a show guide, trying to decide what to go see next. As long as it was inside, I didn't care what it was. It was freezing out here. My core was alright, but my fingers and toes were numb and the wind kept biting my ears. I rubbed my face, trying not to shiver. People were milling about everywhere, most of them covered with some kind of glow in the dark thing. A light nearby was flashing onto the buildings and spinning around like this was a dance. "How about…uhh….there's a comedian in a little while," I pointed out.

"Sounds good." Axel was folding the paper away when I was wrapped in a hug. I jerked back in surprise, and was greeted by a pretty red-haired girl. It was Kairi. Her hair was longer than I remembered, and she was dressed in a pink jacket with fuzz on the ends.

"Roxas! I haven't seen you in forever!" She pulled away. I was happy to see her. She had been friends with my brother since they were little, and I had always liked her. She was really nice. I imagined if Sora wasn't gay, they would have started dating years ago.

"How are you?" I asked. "Where's Sora?"

"Oh he's over there." She nodded towards the food stands. "Him and Riku are grabbing hot chocolate."

"Did you just meet him?"

"Nah, I met him a few weeks ago I think."

"Wow my brother is sneakier than I thought."

She laughed. "He's a determined one."

"So what have you been up to?"

"Just finishing up senior year."

"Sad that Sora graduated early?"

"Not really. I understand why he did it."

"Yeah so—"

Axel cleared his throat. I was too busy catching up to introduce him. Whoops. "Oh, uh, this is Kairi, and this is Axel," I said quickly.

Axel bowed. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she giggled.

"He's my college roommate," I explained.

"I am much more than that," he purred. "I am the greatest friend ever."

"Shut up," I elbowed him. Kairi seemed amused.

Sora and Riku showed up at that moment, each holding a steaming styrofoam cup. My brother greeted us enthusiastically and Riku nodded. The three of them looked perfect together, somehow, like they were where they belonged. Kairi was taking sips from both of their drinks, and you could see the breath from their laughter.

"We were about to go see this comedian," Axel said.

"Yeah, you guys wanna join?" I added.

"Sure!" Sora agreed for them.

We started walking and I got a sip of my brother's hot chocolate. Looked like I was going to spend all my time stealing other people's drinks. "How's your night going?" Kairi asked me.

"Pretty good, we ate at a diner earlier. Although Axel's friends are obnoxious."

"They're not that bad," Axel defended.

"They are," I whispered to Kairi.

She grinned and asked, "So how did you get such an attractive roommate?"

My breath caught in my throat and I made a weird strangled noise while Axel howled his head off. "We need to be friends," he told Kairi once he was finished.

"I'm already his friend!" Sora interrupted.

"Anyone who's Sora's friend is mine," Kairi said.

Riku, although quiet, looked happy. I was enjoying myself too; the comedian was pretty funny. She told a bunch of stories, and we were inside in the warm, which is always a good thing. After that Sora got Riku to buy him a bunch of glowing stuff: flashing glasses, a bracelet, and a necklace. He put them on a specific setting so they would change colors frequently. Guess he wouldn't get lost in the dark now.

"You should get me one too," I nudged Axel. I was kidding, but he ended up getting me what looked like a fairy wand.

Everyone thought it was hilarious. I gave it to Kairi. "But I'm too cool for this!" she teased.

"Too bad," I chuckled.

"I think the fireworks are starting soon," Riku said, looking at his phone.

"Where do you want to watch them from?"

"Anywhere is probably fine," Axel said. "There'll be a lot."

We walked around for a bit. I was getting a little tired, but I didn't want to show it. There was a crowd gathering down the street so we joined them. Sora pulled silly string out of his pockets; he only had two cans so he gave one to Axel who would "have the most fun with it." It was almost midnight. We all kept checking our phones for the time. I was silently wishing to myself that this year would be better than the last…

I guess Sora got bored of waiting, so soon he and Axel sprayed us all with silly string. I ducked as Kairi laughed. Riku stood still. The two ran around us until the cans stopped producing. Axel stood back next to me and I picked off all the bright strands.

I was about to check the time again when suddenly the sky lit up. The fireworks boomed above our heads, sparkling with reds, whites, and blues. The crowd roared. "Happy New Year!"

The light show lasted for a long time. Axel was to my left, and Kairi was to my right. Past her was the couple. The show was huge and I was just getting lost in it when I felt something touch my hand. I glanced down; Axel had run his fingers across the back of my hand.

I looked up towards him, about to ask what, when he leaned forward.

And pressed his lips against mine.

It was very lightly and lasted a fraction of a second. But there was no denying that it was a kiss.

I pushed my way through the crowd as the fireworks rumbled behind me.