Chapter 2

"Your cousin is a little strange up there." Axel tapped a finger to his head, ignoring Demyx's scowl as he threw off the musician's melody. "I mean, the kid spent the entire time we talked trying to get me to admit I was gay."

"You are." Demyx sighed irritably, set his guitar aside, and grabbed a notebook off of the table. "What's your point?"

"My point is that your cousin seems to like nothing more than to make my life more complicated than it is!" Axel threw his hands up in the air dramatically, not noticing the eye roll from Demyx.

"Your life isn't complicated in the least bit. Did you tell him?"

"...He thinks I'm bi."

"So you lied."

"Not really..."

Demyx simply shook his head and started to write in the notebook, tongue poking out from between his lips as he concentrated. Axel simply dug around his pocket for a cigarette and, upon producing a pack, lit one up.

"Could you please not do that do that in the house? God, you're just as bad as Larxene."

"Sorry." Axel exhaled a puff of smoke and then extinguished the tip with his fingers. "What happened yesterday after she left, anyway?"

"No one really knows, and Seifer's gang sure isn't telling. Hayner sent me a text, though, something about the sandlot looking like a tornado had gone through it."

Axel snorted. "No suspects?"

"None yet. And as stated, Seifer isn't saying anything."

"Pity the next guy that fucks with Marly."

The two friends sat in silence for the next few minutes, Demyx writing and Axel staring at the ceiling, thinking. He didn't know why, but something about the Roxas kid just rubbed him the wrong way. Why was the kid so worried about his orientation? It didn't matter, did it? It wasn't like he was lying to the kid-

Okay, so technically, he did. But what did that matter? It didn't. Nope. It didn't matter at all. It didn't matter that the kid had the most amazing set of blue eyes he had ever seen, or the way that that stray strand of hair fell into his eyes when he had his head bent concentrating, or the way he was just a little smaller than Axel, enough so that he could wrap his arms around him-

Woah. Where had that come from?

"Axel, your cell phone's beeping."

"Huh? Wha? Oh, right." Axel flipped the phone open, reading the message that was there.

Just got out- meet me at the school at seven? Marly

He flipped the phone closed again without responding, dropping it on the floor. Who did that guy think he was-

"Who was it?" Demyx was laying on the couch now, head hanging off the edge and looking at Axel.

"Nobody."

"Marluxia?"

"Yes."

"It probably wouldn't hurt to hear what he has to say."

"Whose side are you on?" Axel grabbed his phone and stood up, stuffing it in his pocket.

"Yours, dummy. I'm telling you what you should do."

"Since when do I listen to you?" Axel took the basement stairs two at a time and slammed the door behind him.

Axel flicked the cigarette at the air in front of him, watching the ash catch on the wind before blowing away, landing in some obscure place. The clock tower was a haunt for Axel since he was little, and he often came up here to think.

Okay, so he had been overly rude to Demyx. His friend was just trying to help him. Damn that kid for knowing exactly what was going through his mind. Damn him.

But that didn't matter either. He shouldn't be sitting there, telling him what to do, or how to run his life, or to go meet his ex behind the bleachers just to hear him out-

Although Axel did wonder what the urgency for a meeting was. The two hadn't exactly ended on great terms. Why should Marluxia want to meet him in- Axel glanced down at his watch- three hours, when he had basically said that he never wanted to see him again?

Axel heard the slight shuffling of feet coming around the corner, then stop. He glanced over- only to meet shocking blue eyes.

"What are you doing here?" they asked in unison.

"Nothing." Axel responded, flicking the smoldering cigarette off the top of the tower, not paying attention as it fell to the pavement below. "You?"

"Same." Roxas leaned on the corner of the clock, eyes fixed on the snowy roof in front of him. There was an awkward pause before he finally opened his mouth again. "Listen, about yesterday, I'm sorry."

"What?" Axel looked up, confused.

"I'm sorry. I was a prick, okay?" Roxas' gaze was still focused on the snow in front of him. "I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that, I don't know why I did."

Axel rubbed the side of his head, watching Roxas. The kid seemed genuinely sorry, judging by the way his body posture was- shoulders hunched, head bowed, arms crossed. He looked almost- vulnerable, reminding Axel of what Demyx usually looked like after he snapped at someone without meaning too.

Oh, great. Now he was developing a conscience.

Axel wiped off the snow next to him, clearing a spot on the tower. "I don't bite, you know."

Roxas looked at him, to the spot at the snow, and back to him. After a couple seconds where he seemed to be debating something, he sat down, shivering slightly against the cold. There was a silence between the two teenagers, both of them simply watching the people go in and out of the train station. Roxas brought his knees to his chest, hugging them. Axel sat with one leg stretched out and the other bent, drawing swirls and shapes in the snow around him.

"So you have a twin?" Axel made a pained attempt at conversation.

"Yeah. His name's Sora."

"Oh. He go to school here?"

"He graduated a year earlier than he had to, he goes to Community College."

"Here?"

"Yeah, for now. He might transfer somewhere else next semester."

"Cool." Axel wasn't used to small talk with people- he was finding this conversation rather strained. "How did he feel about moving here?"

"We didn't have a choice, did we?" Roxas's voice had a sudden defensive edge to it, something Axel didn't fail to notice. He decided to press on anyway.

"Why did you guys move here?"

"None of your business."

"So you can ask me about whether or not I'm gay- one of my personal secrets, mind you- but I'm not allowed to ask you a simple question about why you moved here? Kinda hypocritical, you know that?

"And maybe I don't want to tell you."

"Maybe I want to know."

"Maybe you should just fess up that you're not bi, you're gay."

"Does it really matter?"

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"I don't know!" Roxas threw his hands up in the air. "Maybe it's the fact that I like people to tell me the truth, I like my friends not to lie to me, I don't know!"

"So am I your friend?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because... I don't know!"

"That's not a good excuse."

"It's a good enough response for me."

"Oh, go run off to your house and be a good little boy."

"You're only two years older than me."

"Ah, but what does that matter in any argument?"

"Don't call me "little boy"."

"Isn't it past your curfew?"

"It's only five."

"Oh, so you only have fifteen minutes before mommy calls for you?"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

Axel had expected a snappy comeback. Roxas standing up and huffing off was more likely. Maybe even a slap.

What he didn't expect was for the boy's lips to meet his own. He didn't expect his hand to rise up and slide through the soft blond hair, pulling him closer. He didn't expect their bodies to form some sort of magnetic attention to each other, causing their chests to crash together. And he really didn't expect to run his tongue along the younger boy's bottom lip and then slip his own tongue inside, running it over his teeth.

It wasn't until Axel remembered where they were doing this that it really hit him and he pulled away suddenly, dropping his hand from Roxas' hair and accidentally hitting the boy's thigh with it before snatching it back. Roxas wasn't looking at him, although that didn't stop the flush creeping up his neck.

"What the hell are we doing?" Axel asked, breathing heavily and running a hand through his hair.

I know this was shorter than normal. I was actually going to add more to this chapter, but the rest of it makes more sense in Roxas's POV. Anyway, since I have the next chapter started, that should be up in a couple days. The final chapter will be Christmas eve or day, I'm not sure which.

On the bright side of life, I got my first college acceptance letter:-)

Anyways, review and have a nice night!

Serex