S!CK

By Candied

Author's notes: Ok, sorry I'm so terribly late with the update! My internet access was taken away, and now I have to use my mother's computer to have it, but I now have a floppy disk to transfer it with! So, the updates will be frequent again! Also, since I was so late I gave you an added little bonus in this and the next chapter; Axel's perspective! YAY! And THANK YOU SO MUCH to all my reviewers, you make me so happy!

DestinyEntwinements: o.o…::pokes again:: Neko-tan: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Axel in the morning is based on me when I wake up, only with a gun. Just couldn't see him being a morning person. X3 And yes, the het monster scares all. animebuddy: Everyone seems to love Axel's morning anger. XD Ladyameena22: Nice theory, that will be answered in the next chapter. ;) DameNaYurai: Yeah, I like Zexion/Demyx! And the plot progresses even further. . xxRhixx: Glad you like it so far! I shall keep updating as much as possible. Vel::pats head:: There were many reviews, the het monster has been fended off thus far. Khfan4ever9: Sorry I haven't been able to update until now. ::points above: TT FoxDemonKirara: Yeah, and if Axel turns around too fast, someone could be decapitated! Kairiyumi: Fan art!? Squee! I would love some! I'd bounce up and down with joy! I'm glad you think I'm portraying the characters well. X3 WhiskyNight-KittyHardwick: Glad you're enjoying it! I write it for the fans!

And now, onto the fic!!!

Chapter five: Hello, Daddy dearest.

"Do you ever feel..."

I was standing on the roof of P.S. 114 with Hayner. He had paused, frozen in time.

I moved torwards him, reaching a hand out to tough his face.

And then, I was falling. I had fallen off the roof, and Hayner stood at the edge, smiling as he watched.

The wind blew through my hair, and carressed my back. I closed my eyes. I was giving in.

"Come on, Roxas! You're stronger than that, right?" It was Axel's voice.

My body slowly turned upright, and I landed softly, feet firmly planted on the ground. I turned in the direction the voice had come from, and saw Demyx, Zexion, Sora, and Larxene leaning against the building. Axel was walking torward me, a hand outstretched.

"We've all been waiting..."

----

Beep! Beep! Beep!

My eyes slowly opened upon hearing the noise. I sat up, stretching my arms.

Beep! Beep!-- BANG!

I jumped up, saring wide-eyed in the direction of the noise, to see Axel with his pistol aimed at the alarm clock, about to pump it full of lead.

BANG! BANG!

The man brought his hands to his head, pulling at the firey locks they found there.

"FUCKING ALARM!"

I stared at him, hoping that if I didn't move, he wouldn't see me. Obviously, I had woken up later today.

My 'don't move' theory was working for the time being- Axel had grabbed the bullet-pumped object, pulling on it hard and in turn yanking the cord from the wall. He then threw said item into the wall opposite him, causing it to break into peices as a loud crash echoed through the apartment.

Hearing Axel wake up was one thing, seeing it was another.

I didn't dare breathe as I watched him pull out another clock from the side-table, plug it in, and set it to the correct time.

After he had set it down, however, his eyes turned- though not his head- torward the staring blonde in his home.

The glare was cold, icy, but I couldn't take my eyes off those cool aqua ones. It felt like they were ripping my soul out.

He stood and turned his form torwards me, a creepy and mischievious grin crossing over those pale pink lips of his.

I gawked. Was Axel going to kill me?

"Good morning, Roxas." I could tell he was trying to be as nice as possible.

Cough. Stutter. Cough.

He was walking torwards me. My hairs stood on end.

He walked past me. I felt relief flow over my body, and I sighed.

Now, Sora had caught my eye, plastering himself against the wall. I saw his gaze shift to me, and his body relax.

He smiled weakly before we noth started to chuckle.

"Come on," I said, heading torward the door.

Without knocking, Sora and I entered Demyx's place.

"You're alive!" said Demyx with a smile on his face, "Last time I was around when Axel woke up, I had a black eye for a week!"

I counted my blessings and slid into a chair at the kitchen table. A groggy Zexion soon joined us, planting his face on the table.

"Whyyyyy?" he moaned.

Demyx poured a cup of coffee, "Rise and shine, hunnybean!"

'Hunnybean'? Ok, maybe Demyx was gay...

A groan came from the perriwinkle-haired man as he snatched away the coffee.

"Middle of the niiiiiight..." he groaned again and took a slurp of the caffinated beverage.

"The sun's out!" Demyx chirped happily.

"Bullshit!" Zexion mumbled.

Sora and I laughed.

Demyx brought us out some scrambled eggs, and left another plate by an empty chair- obviously for Axel.

Shortly, the demon was with us, taking part in the breakfast, though not much in the conversation. Demyx was the first to notice.

"Axel, what's wrong?"

His face looked as though he was walking his last mile, on his way to his death sentence.

"My dad called," he grumbled, "he's stopping by..."

He took a drag off his cancer-stick, and popped a pill into his mouth. I could only immagine what Axel's father must be like, to have had a son like that.

I immagined a large, tattooed man behind prison bars, growling at me.

I shuddered.

Demyx shook his head, looking at Axel. "I-I... I got stuff to do today..." he was putting his hands up defensively.

"You're a damn liar, Demyx." Zexion muttered.

Axel crossed his arms and looked at his frightened friend. "I invited him over here. He'd kill me if he saw the apartment."

Demyx sqeeked. "But- I mean- Dude..." he was pleading. Now I was starting to dread meeting this guy.

Axel sighed, "You've always been such a wuss." he rolled his teal eyes.

Zexion propped his head onto his hand, and turned to his boyfriend. "Look, it'll be fine. We're all here, and besides..." he looked to me, "He always picks on the new kid."

Perfect. Just perfect.

There was a knock at the door, and I resisted the urge to slide under the table. Axel stood, and grimly walked to the door. When he opened it, there was a thin man with a self-assured smirk standing there, holding a knight-stick in his hand. He had red hair like Axels, with goggles on top of his head, but it was pulled into a low ponytail in the back. He had short whisps of hair dangling in his face, and was dressed in black dress-pants with an untucked white button-up, and a black blazer. He looked in and grinned at the group, and I thought I heard a whimper from Demyx.

"Good morning, guys," the man stated, starting to move in the room. He hit Axel square in the small of his back with the weapon. "Morning, son."

Axel winced, and rubbed at his wound. "Morning, Dad."

All but Sora and I looked to the man. "Morning, Reno."

Not as stout or evil-looking as I had immagined, but he had that same creepy grin that his son had given me on so many occassions.

I should have figured.

He sat in one of the chairs, and swung his legs onto the table, tapping it with his knight-stick. "What have you boys been up to?"

Demyx was staring at the feet on his perfectly clean table. There seemed to be a tear in his eye.

Zexion looked up at him. "Same old, same old. What about you, Reno, where's Rude?"

"At the company, today is my day off, but not his."

Zexion nodded. "I see."

Reno's eyes shifted to me, and I felt myself tremble. He was in Demyx's home. He was Axel's father. He was looking at me. And he had a weapon.

"What's your name, kid?"

I didn't let my fear show externally. "Roxas. Nice to meet you."

Reno shook his head, as if I had lied. "You a friend of that son of mine's?"

I scanned Reno's face for signs of contempt or hostility, but if he had any, he hid it well. However, in my observation, I had noticed that he looked rather young to be Axel's father.

"Uh... yeah. You could say that." I replied.

Reno shook his head, "Get out while you still can, kid. Take it from me."

I raised an eyebrow, but looked to the floor. "Well, actually... Axel's kinda... He's... helping me."

Reno's face twisted as if I had asked a beggar on the street if he could spare some change.

"Axel? Helping?" His face changed again as he burst into a fit of laughter. I looked to Axel, and he was clutching a chair, as if he was going to pick it up and slam it over his father's head.

Reno's laughter lowered to a mild chuckle, and he spoke again. "You're kidding, right? Axel? My son? What, is he going to help you rob an old woman?" He returned to hysterical laughter, and I had no intention of explaining myself to this man.

"Well, nevermind."

The man took his feet from the table, and leaned in my direction. "I like you kid, you have a good sense of humor." He tapped his knight-stick on his leg. "You look tough. Maybe one day, you could be a body guard like me. My son had the chance, but he blew it."

He didn't look Axel's way, which was probably a good thing, since he was standing behind him with the chair held over his head.

"See, Axel's got a bit of an anger problem..." he continued. He raised his stick, and tapped it on the chair Axel held behind him. "Better put that down, Axel. Someone could get hurt."

Zexion stood, and took the chair from the angry redhead, setting it down in front of the table.

"Of course," Reno went on, "We'd have to do something about that hair of yours. Hopefully, you'd grow out of your innocent-looking face with time."

Work with this guy? No thanks, I'll pass.

"Not exactly the career I forsee for myself." I replied politely.

"Oh, no? I guess you're right. It's hard to take those big blue eyes seriously."

I shrugged. This wasn't so bad. I looked to Sora, who was again staring at Axel. What was with that kid?

"Axel told me about you actually." he said, though he stared at his stick as though it were far more interesting. "He made it sound like you were nothing to write home about, just mentioned that you were staying with him. So then I thought..." he stood, and made his way over to me, looming over me like a tower. "Could you possibly be the boy who's picture is all over the news for being kidnapped?"

I froze. How long had I been away from home? Only a few days... but I only called once, and I didn't tell my mother where I was. Yeah, that could be suspicious.

"And here he is, the same blonde-haired blue eyed kid I saw on the news this morning, with my delinquent son. Now tell me, what is a father supposed to think?" He tapped the stick on my chair, which made me jump. Axel's face looked like he had been hit by a train.

Reno turned to his son, and used the stick to move his chin up so that Axel would be looking into his eyes. "Why, Axel, did you kidnap some nobody kid?"

Axel pushed the weapon away, and turned so as not to look at his father's serious face. "I didn't kidnap him. He came willingly."

"That may be true, or it may not. It doesn't matter, do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because Roxas is sixteen years old. If his parents say he was kidnapped, he was kidnapped. Do you understand?"

Axel sighed. "Look, I'll take care of it," he replied non-chalantly, waving a hand, "Roxas will call his mom, and everything will be alright. He's just staying with me until we can take care of his situation. He'll be home in no time."

All of us knew that Axel's last sentence was a lie.

Reno tapped his son's cheek with his weapon. "He'd better be. If the boss finds out that my son's a kidnapper..." he shook his head, and smacked the stick on top of Axel's head, "Well, let's just say that I'm not going to lose my job because of you."

The end of Reno's ponytail was flickering with flame, but Zexion silently wet his fingers and put it out quickly.

"I have enough to worry about with that brother of yours running around and causing trouble."

Axel shook his head. "What has he been up to lately?"

"Ask him yourself," Reno looked over his shoulder at the door, "Get your ass in here, Seifer!"

Seifer!?

A boy a bit taller than myself opened the door, a beanie covering his blonde hair, and a scar running diagonally across the center of his face. He was wearing a sleaveless coat, obviously proudly showing off his muscles.

"What's up, losers?"

I glared at him. Seifer was Axel's little brother? The same Seifer that had beat me up in third grade? The same Seifer that Hayner and I had thrown water balloons at during the school play? The same Seifer who filled my locker with green jell-o?!

Yup, the same one.

He made his way to the table, looked at me, and scoffed. "Are you telling me, that you guys are hanging out with Roxas? Way to give me solid evidence that you guys suck ass."

Reno hit the boy up side the head with the stick, before speaking in a so-fake-it-hurts fatherly tone. "Seifer, we're guests. Show some respect."

The prick scowled at his father, before turning to Demyx who was practically shaking with fear. "You're lucky he's here, or I'd give you a swirly."

Demyx was afraid of Seifer? Come on!

"Look, ass-wipe," Axel retorted, "Don't make me set your precious hair on fire again, or what's grown back will be gone, and you'll have to wear that ridiculous hat for even longer."

Ahh, brotherly love.

Reno glared at his sons. "Quit it you two, or I'll kick both your asses, scrape you off the floor, and hand you over to Rude."

The two looked in opposite directions.

Reno smirked. "Good, now that that has been taken care of, I have some business to attend to..." He was starting to move towards the door.

Axel looked at Seifer, who was just standing there, arms crossed. He turned to the man with the pony tail, his arms stretched out. "Where are you going?! Please don't tell me you're leaving this brat here with me!"

Reno turned to him as he opened the door, an evil grin on his face. "You two play nice, now."

Fireballs formed in Axel's hands, but Reno had already closed the door, and could be heard whistling as he walked down the hall. He turned to his brother, a look of rage in his eyes. "Why the hell did he plant you with me?!"

Seifer shrugged, and laid down on Demyx's couch. "Don't know, don't care. It's the weekend, and I guess he didn't want to bring me along to whatever he's doing. Trust me, if I had it my way, I wouldn't be here."

I looked at Axel. "I can't believe you're related to that sack of shit!" I yelled, pointing accusingly at my high school enemy.

Axel returned the glare I was giving him, scrunching his nose just slightly, "Neither can I."

"What's the matter Roxas?" Seifer piped up, "Still crying over your dead boyfriend?"

Suddenly, I was on the couch, straddling my enemy, my hands clasped around Seifer's neck. "Don't. You. Ever-"

He was coughing, trying to pry my hands off his neck, but they wouldn't budge.

Demyx stood up, looking at the redhead. "Axel, do something!"

Axel shook his head, his arms crossed. "Hey man, he deserves it. Besides, if he's dead, he's not my problem anymore."

Zexion had shot up, and was trying to pull me off the savage boy I was trying to murder, but it took Demyx's help to finally get me off of him. They tossed me into the chair, where I huffed with anger.

"If you ever say some shit like that again!" I stood up, but was restrained by Zexion, "I swear to God I'll kill you!"

Seifer was clutching his throat, which was red where my hands had been clasped around it. He said nothing, just glared at me for a moment before looking away.

Axel seemed a bit dissapointed that I hadn't, in fact, murdered his younger brother.

"Come on, Roxas," he said to me, moving torwards the door, "Let's go get some fresh air."

I followed, though slightly reluctantly, as Axel and I moved out the door and to the streets.

Axel leaned against the building, and lit up a smoke, while I kicked and cursed at the ground. "Fucking bastard!"

Axel simply nodded. "Trust me, that's what he's like all the time. It never changes."

"Still crying over your dead boyfriend?"

It was replaying in my mind over and over again. I was so filled with rage that I didn't know what to do. I wanted to punch his lights out, wake him up, and repeat the process until he didn't have a face left.

But instead, I felt hot tears pouring out from my eyes. I blinked, and brought a hand to my face, feeling the water as if to make sure it was real. It was. Then, more came. They were gushing out from under my squeezed eyelids, but I wasn't sobbing.

Axel froze, and looked over at me as I tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming.

"It's hard..." he whispered, "To lose someone you care about." His voice was solemn, full of sorrow.

My eyes were still waterfalls, and I spoke through the lump in my throat. "He wasn't my boyfriend!"

Axel sighed, and walked over to me to place a hand on my shoulder. "I know that, Roxas, but he was your friend."

I pulled away from him, and sniffled as the hot tears ran down my cheeks. I looked into his eyes as best I could with water flowing through mine. "What would you know about it?! What would you know what it was like to lose the only one close to you! The only person I trusted!"

Axel again rested his hands on my shoulders, and peered down into my pouting, wet face. "I would know, man. I lost my mother."

The tears didn't stop, and I started to sob. I wasn't only sobbing for myself though now, I was sobbing for Axel too. He had lost his mother. That must have been terrible, but somewhere inside me I knew that he didn't cry. I knew that he felt the pain, but I knew that he didn't cry. I was crying for him.

I was surprised when he pulled me torwards him, but I barried my face into his chest none the less. I needed to cry, and I needed to be held by someone who would let me. The man that not long ago I had hated, loathed even, was petting my hair and telling me that everything would be alright. I clutched part of the sleeve of his hoodie, letting the tears roll down my face.

"It'll be ok, Roxas... It'll be ok."

I didn't believe him when he said it, but I was glad he did. It felt good to hear him tell me things were going to be fine, whether it was true or not. I needed those words, I needed that hope. I don't know how long we stood there like that, but through my sniffles and sobs, I noticed that Axel smelled really nice. It was comforting.

------

I watched him cry, a feeling of sorrow in the pit of my stomach. I pet those blonde locks, and closed my eyes. I didn't care that my clothes were soaked, or that I was recieving strange looks from passers-by. It didn't matter. Roxas needed to let it out, and there was nothing that could be done about it. I brought his body down to the ground as well as my own, leaning against the building behind me. He was curled up in front of me, his face burried into my chest.

We were there for some time, before I noticed that the sobs had stopped, and my hoodie was starting to dry. I looked down at the blonde, at his closed eyes and dry face. He had cried himself to sleep on me.

Poor kid.

I scooped the boy into my arms, and checked to make sure he was still asleep. He was. Good, I could bring him inside.

I walked into the building and carried the boy up the stairs into my room. I layed him down on my bed, and brushed his hair from his face. "I'm sorry, Roxas..." I spoke, "We'll fix you soon."

I placed a kiss on his forehead, and tucked him under the covers. Perhaps dad was right about his face looking innocent. He looked like an angel when he slept.

I chuckled softly. What was I, a girl?

I turned on my heels, and walked out the door, shutting it softly behind me before entering my mullet-haired friend's apartment. I was greated by a weak smile from Demyx, and a knowing frown from Zexion.

"Is he ok, Axel?" asked the first.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. He passed out and I put him in my bed so he could take a nap," I replied non-chalantly.

The two nodded, and I turned to my brother, who was playing video games. I walked over to him, and snatched to controller out of his hands. I pinned him against the couch he sat at with a boot, and started directly into his eyes, pointing a finger at him menacingly.

"If you EVER say something like that again, I'll castrate you and use your balls for ornaments on my Christmas tree, you got it punk!?"

He glared at me, until I took my foot from his chest and picked him up, hauling him over to Demyx's bedroom. I tossed him in there, and shut the door, locking it from the outside. "You're to stay there until Dad comes to get you!"

Great, now I sounded like a girl AND a mother.

I walked into the kitchen, and sat at the table with my two friends.

"Axel?" asked Demyx.

"Yeah, man?"

He looked to the ground, obviously avoiding my eyes. "You... you and Roxas... do you... uh..."

I grinned. "Do I like him?"

Demyx nodded timidly.

"I don't know... maybe."

Demyx perked up and turned to his boyfriend. "You owe me five bucks!"

Zexion rolled his eyes. "That wasn't a 'yes'. That was a 'maybe'."

Demyx pouted. "But with Axel, it's the same thing!"

The perriwinkle-haired man shook his head. "Nope, it doesn't count."

"Aww, come on!"

"Zex..." I said, "Give him the five bucks."

Because that's as close as I would come to admitting my feelings for Roxas.

Author's notes: Teeheehee! Hope you enjoyed peering into Axel's mind. Also, as a note, from now on "---" will mean a change in perspective between Roxas and Axel. Now review!