A/n: I'm a horrible person! Oh good lord. I'm sorry it took so long; I took a week off, and then was grounded. And have been sneaking onto the computer to write the next chapter. Accuses, accuses, accuses. I'm full of them people, and I'm so sorry for it.

Honestly, thanks to all of you who reviewed, you people make my day, and I love you all forever. On the bright side, I think I roughly have all Axel/Roxas chapters planned out. Which means this fic will have roughly 24 chapters. That also means I have to start typing faster! So much for getting to the halfway point…

Disclaimer: Don't own it, don't want it. So please do not sue.

Unlike most people my age, I enjoy school. Now, I don't love it, and it's not like I want to be there all the time, but yes, the whole learning thing, I like. As in, barely tolerate. It doesn't take much to learn, just listening, taking notes, and turning in your homework. Three steps to 4.0 fame. Well, technically my GPA is over a 4.0 with the few AP classes I took, but that doesn't really matter.

However, I do despise required classes. There's only four at my school, no matter how intelligent you may be, there's no escaping. These four classes are the following: Computer Application, Consumer Education, Earth Science, and Family Living. Normally, classes are at least somewhat tolerable; these four however, make me want to go gauge my eyes out with my sharpened number two pencil.

Earth Science is by far the worse. Most kids take it either freshman or senior year, but most choose freshman. Might as well get it out of the way fast. I had it first semester, first hour. It was a nightmare. My teacher, nicknamed Mrs. Mouse, was an idiot. A real genuine idiot. Our first day she proclaimed that the International Space Station was made by the Russians, and she wonders if we'd ever be allowed up there anytime soon. It was an easy A class, because if Miss Frizzle taught me anything, it was what an igneous rock was. But then again, Miss Frizzle was a cartoon character who could hold your attention, and not a frazzled 60-something-year-old who was most likely succumbing to early onset Alzheimer's.

Consumer Education is taught by a harsh man who taught most of the business classes. He was past his prime and coached our ever horrible football team. He was a bit rude, but yet again, another easy A. Computer Application was taught by another frazzled 60-something-year-old who taught us how to use Microsoft Word. Even thought my family didn't own a computer, I was more than familiar with the processor, and was able to finish all the required work half way through the class.

Junior year wasn't marred by any of these required classes, and I was happy to have the three out of the way. That was until I entered senior year and received my new (and final) schedule. And there, was my second semester, period 9 class. Family Living. Frankly, I'd forgotten all about the class, and figured that at the very least, I wouldn't have to worry about it for one whole semester.

Then, before I knew it, second semester had rolled around. And I was sitting in Family Living, surrounded by my peers – literally; at this point most of my classes had a mix of seniors and juniors. However, Family Living was mandatory, and taken in senior year. No ifs, ands, or buts.

"So we've just finished the Dr. Money video last class, and now we're moving on from that area of study. Chapter two is about to wrap up, and we'll be having our test next class, but we have to cover the next unit very quickly. It's a sensitive area, so I want us to keep calm about it and please remember that I need this job." This was the third class I'd ever had with Mr. Sims. He had a rather monotonous voice, and could put half of his class to sleep within ten minutes. "Now, I'm not about to discuss this in…detail. Just going to go over a few of the myths and causes of homosexuality. I'm just touching on the biological factors; I'm not going to talk about anything else. The last thing I need is one of your parents calling me later tonight. Now, I'm going to pass out this worksheet and hopefully we can get this filled out quickly enough."

He then passed out a simple enough worksheet. In fact, it only had three questions and they were opinion based on top of that.

How would you react in a loved one told you they were homosexual?

My first reaction was a bit of shock. A loved one? I suppose that'd have to be Axel, and well… I'd be surprised if he wasn't homosexual… I looked up at Mr. Sims, who was sitting at his desk, and then to Olette who sat across from me. She kept her eyes on her paper, not even aware if I was looking at her. Panic suddenly hit me. Olette didn't need to think figuratively, she'd actually experienced it.

She was writing about me! I glanced around, and noticed both Hayner and Pence were hunched over their desks as well. Of course they'd be writing about me too… Shit.

I guess it wouldn't matter, as long as they weren't in love with me or something.

That sounded generic enough, typical male answer. On to the next.

What do you think causes homosexuality?

I honestly didn't know why it mattered. I simply was, I didn't want to have to pick it apart, that was the last thing I wanted to do.

People are just wired that way.

I mean, I guess if I wanted to I could find something about my crappy childhood that lead to my being gay, but I wasn't about to point fingers at my parents. That would've destroyed my mother.

Do you think there is a way to cure homosexuality?

I really didn't have to think about that one; the notation itself seemed ridiculous.

No.

I turned my sheet over, and put my pen down. I wanted to put my head down as well, but thought that would be a bit inappropriate. I'd never felt so nervous before. I trusted my friends, a lot. I mean, they were pretty much my family. So I should trust them enough not to put down any names on their papers, it was supposed to be anonymous after all. It said so on the top of the worksheet… They had no business putting names down on their papers, especially my name.

I felt sick; sick down to my stomach, like I had one too many burritos that day for lunch. Which was stupid seeing as today's lunch was pizza. It was three meat pizza, even though I could only identify two of the supposed three meats. Nausea rolled over me like a wave, and the desk seemed more tempting than ever.

"Okay kids, lemme have those." Mr. Sims was up again and collecting papers. I quickly passed mine forward, and grabbed the kid's behind me as well when he nudged my shoulder with it. A part of me would've liked to turn around and glare at him, because being poked in the back by a worksheet wasn't really helping my case.

I watched worriedly as my paper slipped into the grasps of my teacher and up towards his desk. The completely irrational part of my mind would've liked for me to have run up there and stolen all the papers, maybe even set fire to them. I could've run away, the parking lot was maybe a hundred feet away; I could make the sprint in minutes. I might even be able to hotwire a car given enough time.

He was shuffling the papers and picking a few out at random. In my anxiety, I didn't hear what answers he chose to read out. For all I knew, he could've read out my own, or even one of my friends. He could've been talking about me but I would've never known. I was too wrapped up with overly complicated plans of escape that I completely missed the thing I was dreading.

By the time I came to, class was already winding down and kids were stacking their books and tapping their feet, ready to go. Mr. Sims, however, plowed through the material, stopping for nobody. I couldn't believe I had zoned out for that long, it didn't seem possible.

"So, myth. You cannot catch homosexuality. Just because a girl is on the basketball team, it doesn't mean she's a homosexual." Well that was refreshing, or…not. I could've blamed Axel than, said he had rubbed off on me or something. "Somebody who has a strong female figure is just as likely to be homosexual." My mother defiantly wasn't a strong female, in any sense of the word. "Being raised by homosexual parents would not make you homosexual." I can't even fathom a way to apply that to my life.

"So then, do people just choose to be gay?" Somebody asked, very dutifully, I could see they were taking notes, from the back of the class. I could see Mr. Sims flinch up at his podium, obviously uncomfortable with the word 'gay'.

"Well, there's evidence saying that biology could play a part in homosexuality. At the same time, I'd like to think you could choose who you were attracted to." I wish I had a choice. "Homosexuality is not an anomaly. Its' become a part of our culture, and accepted widely as a fact of life in the United States. However, the subject is still touchy; I honestly don't have any idea where our politicians stand on the issues, especially the candidates for the 2008 elections. It is, of course, a very liberal cause. On the bright side, homosexuality is not viewed as a mental illness anymore."

"I saw that on Vh1!" A girl squeaked in the front row.

"So, that's homosexuality. I'm not going to discuss it any further, and let's all hope I still have my job next week. Happy Friday guys, the rest of the time is yours."

Olette imminently turned to me as Hayner slid into the seat behind me. Pence sidled into the seat in front Olette a moment afterwards, and they simultaneously turned to look at me.

"So…" Olette's eyebrows were in danger of joining her hairline, and Hayner quickly looked in the opposite direction.

"So?" I asked back, already having a good idea where this was heading.

"Learn anything new about yourself?"

"Olette!" Hayner barked, whipping around to face her.

"I learned something!" Pence supplied.

"Oh, what?" Olette was smiling, looking perfectly cherubic, despite the evil that radiated from her.

"That Roxas, despite staring off at nothing for half an hour, is not insane." Pence grinned, and Olette's smile faded.

"Well, we all knew that." She snapped; Hayner was already starting to look the other way, obviously wanting no part in this. "You weren't paying attention at all?"

"No."

"He got anxious." Pence added. I scowled at him, he always had a thing for reading people.

"At least I don't have a secondary female trait."

"At least I pay attention in class."

"At least some of us don't cause a commotion." Olette whispered angrily, bypassing that she started it in the first place. Hayner was still avoiding direct connect with the three of us, and it seemed that Olette would soon follow his example. At least that got her off the subject… Pence gave me a little wink before turning to Hayner to talk about the Super Bowl.

While they debated who they thought would win, I packed up my things and waited for the bell to ring. A moment later, it rung and I was off. Completely ignoring my friends, I hurried off towards the front doors and my bus, not even daring to brave my locker.

The bus ride home wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Fortunately for me after moving in with Axel, I moved away from my friends. Hayner use to be my next door neighbor until I moved out. That would've meant a rather uncomfortable bus ride home, but thankfully, the only person I knew on the bus was Naminé.

Naminé was a sweet enough girl. I'd known her since kindergarten, even before I met any of my other friends. She had a clam about her that could penetrate even the most excitable of people. For that reason alone, I enjoyed the ride home. We would chat quietly about our day, and even got off at the same stop. Her parents owned a nice mansion at the very end of Axel's street. While the outside seemed dilapidated, Naminé insisted that it was just the style her parents had agreed on. As a joke, we often referred to her house as the Haunted Mansion. Naminé's room itself was the White Room. With a talented hand, she'd covered all of her white walls with pictures she'd drawn over the years.

Today; however, we sat in silence. Naminé, quietly sensing my distress, handed me a bud from her Zune. A slow paced song hit our eardrums simultaneously, as some guy started to croon to the pair of us. Naminé ducked her head closer to mine, her eyes already closed and foot tapping along to the music. I quickly followed suit, not wanting to accidentally pull the bud out of her ear.

Normally, the bus ride took about fifteen minutes; to get from the school to our street – you couldn't call it a subdivision, seeing as there was only the one road and the three mansions that sat on it. Today it was taking longer, about ten extra minutes until I finally got off the bus. It'd been snowing like mad, and everybody was already talking about the possibilities of having yet another snow day. As far as I'd known, Axel hadn't even left the house because of the weather.

As we were exiting the bus I handed Naminé her headphone back. She smiled coyly at me and tucked it back into her coat pocket. We walked down the road together, in a comfortable silence. When we got to the gates of Axel's house we both stopped. She waved a gloved hand shyly before heading on down the lane, towards her own set of gates.

I absently mindedly punched in the code for the gate, Axel's birthday, and walked down the gravel driveway. The door was normally unlocked unless Axel was doing something that kept him from unlocking it before I got home. I expected it to be unlocked, but it wasn't. There was a spare key; however, inside a ceramic ladybug. I slide open the secret compartment, and unlocked the door for myself. After I kicked off my shoes and placed them on the welcome mat, I realized why the door had been locked. From up the stairs I could hear the shower going. Though I had no idea what made Axel decided it'd be a good idea to take a shower at three in the afternoon.

I went to the living room and set my bag down on the coffee table. The house was silent except for the trickle of water above. I pulled out my books and decided to get an early start on my trig homework. I was only a few minutes in before I looked up, and there, staring at me was my Family Living book. The Individual, Marriage, and the Family, just sitting there, watching. I automatically stared back. I could feel my whole face scrunch up, already on the defense. Axel said I had a weird look, like an angry badger, we I was angry.

Slowly, and against my will, I picked up the book. I could hear the ghostly monotonous voice of Mr. Sims radiating from it just by glancing at the front cover.

"You cannot catch homosexuality." Positively frightening. I think I might've crapped myself. Looking around shiftily, and checking to make sure Axel was still in the shower, I flipped to the index.

Homicide

- Cohabitors, 226

- Spouses, 298-299, 301

Homogamy, 167-168, 185-186, 210

Homosexuality

- AIDS and, 522, 524-525

- Ancient Greeks and Hebrews and, 141

- Causes of, 145-147

- Defined, 137

- Episodic, 138, 146

- Factors related to, 139 n. 23, 140

- Family, 288-289, 455

- Frequency of sex, 131, 176

- Hepatitis B and, 528

The list went on and on. I couldn't believe it. Suddenly, my eyes snapped to one of the topics. Out of the closet, page 144. I flipped, as quickly as I could.

101, 102, 154, 155, 156. Wait, what? How could I have magically skipped forty pages? That didn't make sense at all. I flipped back, and then it hit me. There was no page 144. A whole chapter was missing. Turned to the front of the book, and scanned the table of contents. The entire of chapter four was gone. Fundamentals of Sexuality and Eroticism. I turned back to 102, and realized that not only was it gone, but it had been torn out.

Upstairs I could hear Axel burst out into song, and I cringed, throwing the book across the room. I stomped up the stairs, ready to tell him off. Behind me, I could hear it crash into something with a rather loud noise. Normally abuse to books was one of the few things that really set me off, but I ignored it. I had to get to work in about an hour; I had to finish at least some of my homework now.

"I don't mind you hanging out, and talking in your sleep. It doesn't matter doesn't matter where you've been, as long as it was deep. Yeah!" Oh good lord he was singing bad 80s songs, a category of badness all by itself. "I always knew you'd marry well and you look so fancy I can tell. I don't mind you hanging out and talking in your sleep." He was now singing the guitar solo. "Do di da do do! I GUESS YOU'RE JUST WHAT I NEEDED! WHAT I NEEDED! I NEEDED SOMEBODY TO FEED! I GUESS YOU'RE JUST WHAT I NEEDED! I NEEDED SOMEBODY TO BLEED!" More guitar noises, the idiot.

I burst into the bathroom, practically kicking the door in. Unfortunately for me, most of the shower was made out of glass. Hence why the door had been locked and why I had to kick it open just to get in. I caught an eyeful of an awfully wet and shocked looking Axel before I ducked out again.

"Roxas!" He suddenly yelled, while I was still contemplating stabbing my eyes out. "You home?"

"Yeah! I got home like, fifteen minutes ago." I called back.

"Oh! Well, sorry 'bout that. Did I interrupt your studying?"

"Yeah!"

"And did ya, um…"

"Yeah!"

"Oh…"

"Yeah!"

"Sorry for that too."

"Yeah!" The water turned off and I could hear Axel scrambling to get out of the shower. A second later he emerged in a cloud of steam with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was soaking, and actually dripping onto the carpet. Wet Axel reminded me of a wet cat. His hair was deflated, and almost stringy looking. I hadn't ever seen his hair this flat on his head, even when he had it slicked back for formal occasions, it wasn't completely under control.

"So, um. Yeah. Hi?" He asked rather awkwardly. I couldn't take my eyes off of him though. Was he really that skinny? "Hello?" He asked again, his head cocking to one side as he stared at me, his hands still around the towel at his waist. "Learn anything new today?"

"I'm gay." I answered back, automatically.

"Really now, cause I would've been surp-," I jumped. Not in surprise, but in a physical attack against Axel. Practically launched myself across the room and banged him against a wall. "Fuck!" His head had made a rather sick crack when he hit it. "What the fuck Ro-," I cut him off again, this time with my lips. I was on my tip toes to reach his height; he was considerably taller than me. However this didn't shut him up. "Look, not that I'm comp-," I shut him up again. "Jesu-," and again. "Can I even get one sentan-," and again.

I pulled him over towards our bed and pushed him down, and quickly followed him. I climbed on top of him and started to kiss him again, my hands in his hair as he grabbed onto my biceps. He was trying to pry me off of him, but I wasn't having any of that.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever kissed him that much in one day. But my mind was set, it was in an odd place, but it was defiantly set.

When I finally pulled away from him I started to kiss him on his neck. I always liked it when Axel did it to me. Axel was attempting to speak, but was somewhat distracted. I tried my best, and I was pretty sure he was enjoying it.

"What's brought this on?"

"Gotta learn how often gay people have sex." I knew my brain wasn't functioning correctly, but now I couldn't even talk right.

"What?" He attempted to push me away again, but I slipped a hand below his towel and he suddenly shut up. We continued like that for awhile, and Axel stayed silent for a good while. The next thing I knew he had flipped me over, and was returning the treatment to me. "Fine."

Sex, wasn't all flowers and rainbows like I thought it'd be. In all actuality, I couldn't remember most of it. My mind was in a haze, and I wasn't really sure what was happening. Other than that it hurt, but I was still enjoying it. Afterwards, when Axel finally rolled off of me, we laid in bed panting. I glanced over at the clock, feeling completely stratified in a way I'd never felt before and utterly lethargic. I was supposed to be at work soon. I stared at my clothes lying discarded on the floor with a single towel. Axel was breathing hard, and his eyes were glazed over.

"Oh my god." I couldn't muster a response; I just made a questioning noise in the back of my throat. "I haven't had sex in like, forever." I made another noise. "That was really bad."

"It was?"

"Oh yeah, it was horrible." He looked over at me before laughing. "My fault, don't worry."

"I liked it." He laughed again.

"I could really go for a cigarette."

"You don't smoke." I supplied.

"I know, just seems like the thing to do."

"We should do that again." I could feel my eyes closing of their own accord; I didn't even know I was tired.

"Soon."

"After I take a nap." He laughed for the third time.

"It's a date." I was one who laughed then. My eyes were closed now. For purely selfish reasons, it had been worth it. Screw The Individual, Marriage, and the Family. Utterly worth it.

A/n: Thank you a million times for putting up with me. Next chapter we return to Sora! So, enjoy, enjoy, and review! How about 55 reviews? Is that reasonable? I hope so!

Check out sukkoppu(dot)blogspot(dot)com for more info on my fics and when to expect the next chapter!

Lots of love, as always!