Author's Note: Oh my gosh, I am so sorry for the delay in my update. I wasn't happy with this chapter the first time I wrote it so a tried to think of a different way to do it, which took me ages. But anyway. Think of this as a very, very, very late Christmas/Hanukkah present, depending which one you celebrate, if any. Okay? Yeeessssss. Enjoy!

-o-x-Chapter 24-x-o-

"Roxie! How was it?" Rikku sang down the phone.

"Not bad," Roxas admitted, flopping down onto his bed. He had come to this conclusion as he was walking home with Sora and Riku - who were now being interrogated by Jess and one of her even scarier friends. Sure, Axel hadn't been there and Seifer had dumped him but, hey, he wasn't cut up about it. Well, he wished he wasn't.

"Missing me already?" she asked.

"Course I am. I was almost shitting myself this morning; I didn't know what to do." He laughed and closed his eyes calmly.

"Why didn't you ring me and ask, you silly darling?"

"What? And be given an earful for waking you up? I don't think so… Besides, I can't rely on you to tell me what to do all the time."

"Maybe not. I'm thinking of writing a book - How To Get The One You Want - snazzy, don't ya thing? Hey, stop laughing!"

Roxas clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. He could hear Rikku muttering irritably until he finally managed to stop. "Sorry."

"Yeah, you will be. Seriously though, I reckon it would be an instant best seller. Or maybe I could run a business to help people 'get that special person' like I did with you."

"Hey, we don't know if it's quite worked yet," Roxas sighed.

"Ah, don't be so unconfident. You'll be making beautiful babies with him any time now. Trust me."

Roxas coughed, "Um, yeah."

"So, did anything happen today?"she asked after a rather pregnant pause.

"Well, I broke up with Seifer." Roxas crossed his fingers, hoping she wasn't going to start shouting at him.

"Why on earth-"

"Or rather, he broke up with me." If he said it that way (which was the truth) it sounded like it wasn't his fault at all.

"He did what?!" Rikku screamed down the phone. "That complete and utter bastard! He doesn't deserve a penis. Why I outta-"

Roxas held the phone a little bit away from his ear as she ranted about what she should do to Seifer. He heard her pause for breath and quickly said, "He likes Hayner."

"Really? Oh. Well, I approve of that," she decided.

"Err… Did you even meet Hayner?" he asked, frowning form lack of memory and rubbing his forehead.

"I think so. To be honest, I met so many people most of them have just kinda mushed into one. Except Axel, of course."

Roxas snorted. "Right."

"Sooo, did anything else happen?"

"Actually, yes."

Rikku squealed so loudly Roxas almost dropped the phone. "What happened??"

"Oh dear, I can't seem to remember…" Roxas lied, grinning. "What a shame."

"Roxas. Don't you dare lie to me." She threatened through gritted teeth. "I have pictures of you that you really won't want other people to see. I'll post them up all around your new school in the dead of night and you won't be able to go anywhere without someone making some sort of comment and you will cry and have to leave your school, which means leaving Axel and- hey, then you can come back here!"

"Err, yes Rikku."

"You don't want to come back, do you? You evil swine!" she gasped theatrically and Roxas could just picture her rolling around her room, striking dramatic poses.

"Gah, do you want to know or not?" he snapped, pretending to be irritated to shut her up.

"Yes. Tell away Roxie."

"Well, I overheard Demyx complaining to Zexion about Larxene. Apparently she had been really pissy all day - like, more than usual."

"I know where this is going. Ha!" she shouted triumphantly.

"Yeah, I asked why and Demyx laughed and said that Axel had dumped her yesterday." It made Roxas feel a little sorry for Larxene but he still couldn't keep the shy smile off his face.

"Righteous!" she shrieked, making Roxas jump.

"Aah!"

"Uh, sorry." She mumbled sheepishly.

"Anyway, I think Demyx wanted to say something else but he stopped himself."

"He was probably dying to tell you how much Axel loved you and was going to ask you out and let you have his babies and-"

"Sure he was."

"Oh, come on, Roxas! I thought we had passed the depressed 'he'll never like me in that way' stage ages ago."

"Yeah, it's just," he sighed and began fiddling with his duvet cover, "it was supposed to be me who dumped Seifer, not the other way round. I got dumped by a guy I was only pretending to like in the first place, how sad is that?"

"Oh sweet Jesus…" Rikku muttered quietly. "Roxas, does it really matter? All you should be thinking about is when Axel is going to ask you, okay?"

"Uh huh," he mumbled pathetically.

"And he is going to ask you. Full stop. Right?"

"Sure…" he said unconvincingly.

"Be more positive, Roxas! Show me that you're confident about this! Go on, shout it!" she encouraged enthusiastically.

"Yes!" He sat bolt upright suddenly, making his head reel slightly.

"That's more like it! …Yes, what?"

"I've got someone else calling me!" He almost squealed in excitement and suspension.

"Ohmygod!" Rikku did squeal and the line went dead.

"Damn, I was going to put her on hold," he muttered, biting his lip nervously and pressing the accept call button.

"Hello?"

"ROXAS! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

Ah. Not who he was hoping it to be. Roxas settled back down onto his bed, his shoulders sagging and his head lolling back. "Hey, Hayner."

"Don't you 'hey Hayner' me! Why didn't you tell me what Seifer said?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He really didn't feel like talking to Hayner right now, especially if he was just going to have a go at him. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay, but he's practically stalking me now! He tried to talk to me when me, Olette and Pence came out of last period and then he was there when I was doing my shift at Starbucks and I swear he winked at me."

"Hayner, I think you're being paranoid." Roxas attempted to reassure his 'distressed' friend. "I would love to talk about this all night but I really have to go."

"No! I need to know if he-"

"Bye Hayner." He said stoically. Part of him wanted to know what Hayner was trying to say, but most of him didn't care. "I'll see you tomorrow." He then added, so as not to seem too harsh.

"No, I need-"

Roxas ignored Hayner's feeble protests and hung up. He stared at his wooden door numbly. He wasn't taking the view in, he didn't register that he was looking at it, he wasn't even thinking really. Just staring straight ahead of him, his mind as blank as it tends to get. His eyes jerked away from the door to somewhere on the ceiling as he fell back onto his pillows, emitting a whooshing sound. He wondered if he should call Rikku back but he didn't even feel like talking to her.

He had known it was going to be Axel. He was sure it was going to be him. But it wasn't. He had been so excited. The butterflies had been fluttering around his stomach, his chest had been clenching in anticipation… he had just been so certain. Why hadn't it been Axel? He just felt so stupid right now. That would teach him to get his hopes up.

He rolled over on to his side, sliding his cold hands underneath his pillow. He could hear Sora and Riku in the next room. It wasn't something he particularly wanted to hear, ever. And now it seemed worse because it made him feel so much more alone, even though it meant that he knew that there were other people near by. In all honestly, it made him a little jealous. Sora had what he wanted. So did Demyx. So did Olette. So did Zexion. So did Pence. So did Riku. So did Tidus. So did Selphie. So did everyone else who was in a functioning relationship with someone they wanted to be with. People managed to get what they wanted all the time without any effort and Roxas had tried so hard. He didn't know what else he could do. He really thought it was going to happen on Saturday, but now… he doubted it.

It was like every cliché love song he had ever heard. He hadn't been able to get Axel off his mind since he had met him. It hadn't been love at first sight or anything like that. He didn't know how to say or describe how he felt. All he knew what that-

"Arrggh!" He shot blot upright, looking around wildly. He relaxed when he realised that he was still alone. A scarily clear image of Rikku's face if she could see him moping around had popped into his mind and he never wanted to see it again. She would be annoyed for him not ringing her back, he knew that, but he couldn't help it. She would want to know what Axel had said but, of course, Axel hadn't said anything because it wasn't him who was ringing.

Ding-dong.

Shaking his head, Roxas heaved himself off the bed. He wasn't going to mope around anymore. He was going to go about as normal. He wasn't even going to think about Axel. He wasn't going to give him another second's thought. He was going to detach. Completely detach. If Axel did want him, it would happen and if he didn't… well, then, it wouldn't happen.

"Roxas? Can you get the door?" he heard Sora shout from his bedroom.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Can't you get it yourself?" He hadn't even noticed the doorbell ringing. Had Jess gone out or something? Probably. She'd probably gone to find out what Demyx was up to as he had informed her that he would be staying the night at Zexion's.

He could hear whispering coming from Sora's room and then a loud giggle. "He's busy." It was Riku who spoke this time.

Roxas pulled a face and mimed being sick. As much as he liked both Sora and Riku: that was an image he could have gone through life without having.

Grumbling, he slumped out of his bedroom and downstairs. He raised his eyebrows at the map and several pieces of paper laid out in an 'organised mess', as Jess would call it, on the kitchen table. He guessed it was something to do with Jess so he didn't take a closer look. Then he opened the door and stared. Blinked.

"Hey, Roxas." The tall redhead said. His hands were shoved deep into his jeans pockets, the left side of his mouth was turned up in a sort of half smile, half smirk.

Roxas couldn't really believe it was him. He mentally shook himself. 'Don't get too hopeful Roxas… He's probably here to see Demyx, not you. Why would he be here to see you? Don't be ridiculous.' God, he really did have low self-esteem. "Hey, Demyx isn't here at the moment." His throat felt strangely dry. He swallowed.

"I know." Axel smirked, leaning against the door frame.

Roxas frowned in confusion. "You know?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I do know."

"Well…" the blonde wasn't really sure what to say to that. "Why are you here then?" Oh god, he hoped that hadn't sounded too rude.

Axel snorted. "Why do you think I'm here?"

He swallowed again. His mouth was completely dry now and he found it very difficult to do even such a simple action. "I- I- I don't know…" He stammered. He looked away from the redhead as he laughed. It wasn't an unkind laugh, but it was a laugh nevertheless.

"You sure?"

Roxas couldn't reply at all this time so he just shrugged, attempted to look like he wasn't really bothered. He doubted it worked. He still didn't want to get his hopes up. He didn't want to be let down. He knew that Axel might just be playing with him.

The redhead snorted and shook his head, rubbing his jaw. "I'm here because I like you, Rox."

Roxas looked up, straight into his bright green eyes. "I know you like me, you wouldn't talk to me if you didn't." Damn, why had he said that?

"No, I mean I like you. I really like you." He grinned.

Roxas wasn't sure how he could be so relaxed. Then again, it was probably really obvious that he liked him so he didn't have anything to he scared of. Then he realised: Axel had just told him that he liked him! 'Axel likes me… Axel like me! Axel likes me!' He felt the huge clenching feeling in his chest again. He felt like running outside, down the road, proclaiming to the world how happy he was right now. He felt like dancing. He was about to gush all this out to Axel, adding how much he like him too but then he realised something and frowned. "Axel. It's not raining."

Axel blinked at him. "What?"

"It's not raining." Roxas repeated. "You should have told me when it was raining. Do you have an ounce of romantic feeling in you?"

Axel smirked. "I'll guess you'll just have to find out."

Roxas blinked: what the hell was he on about? Oh god, had this all been a big joke? Oh god, oh god, oh god, at least he hadn't said anything too stupid but oh my god… He was such an idiot. Okay, he just need to start laughing and it would all be fine- "Oh!" He almost leapt back in surprise as he felt Axel's lips softly brushing against his own. It took him a few seconds to take it in, then, just as the redhead began to pull move his head away, he pushed back against Axel's lips. He leant against him slightly, trying to get up to the redhead's height. He could feel Axel smiling and wrapping his arms around his waist, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. He opened his mouth so their tongues could explore each other's mouths. Then, after just a few seconds, he pulled away.

He looked up at the grinning redhead and could help but smile back. "I guess I will have to find out."

"Sounds good to me." Axel decided, leaning down and capturing the blonde's lips again.

Roxas felt a drop of rain hit his nose and his grin widened. He couldn't have imagined it better than the way it had actually happened. Maybe it hadn't been amazing, but it was real. And that was what really mattered.

-x-X-x-

Author's Note: bahahahaha, I was just writing that last bit when Roxas is going on about it not raining and then Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake started playing on the radio and it made me laugh so much. I don't even really know why. God, I'm mad.

You know, this chapter took me so long. I completely changed the whole bit at the end with Axel and Roxas. But I like this version of it much better. :D

Did you guys like it? I hope so. Let me know in your reviews. And remember, only the epilogue to go know! Gosh, I think I will actually cry when I write the last author's note of this story; I love it so much! Ahhh.

Okay um, guys, I'm looking for a beta. I really need one. So, if anyone is interested, please let me know, okay? Goodo.

Anyhoo, make me oh so very happy and review, okay? Thank youuuuu!

Love, nirii xxx