Good Question: New chapter in celebration of Canada beating the US in hockey. Yay.

We finally start getting into what the hell Axel's been up to this entire time. And the reunion of Roxas and Axel. Too soon? Maybe. But I'm ok with that.

Chapter 12: Pleasure

Axel could not figure out where Roxas was. After Namine's outburst the day before everything seemed to have gone weird around him. It wasn't like Roxas to skip out of a hang out date without letting him know that something was up. He was worried. What if something had happened to Roxas? And there were several reasons why that would be a bad thing. He also couldn't figure out why Namine was mad at him. He didn't think she a vendetta against pre-marital sex and he knew she was fine with him bringing people home with him, regardless of gender, so he was completely stuck on reasons. Axel was a little relieved that she had shown up when she did. In all honesty, it had helped him figure out a way to stop things from going further than in the end both of them would have probably regretted.

"What a mess," he said to his ceiling, staring at it and trying to decipher answers.

Axel was a social butterfly and some fundamental part of him didn't like being plain straight ignored, and today he didn't even have Kairi to entertain him because she was at a friends house. Axel had actually sort of planned the day. A few times he had picked up his phone to call Roxas but each time didn't dial a number because he figured if Roxas wanted to call him he would, or something, and his gut feeling told him to wait. He quickly grew tired of moping around the house, pulled on a warm hoodie, and told Namine's door (because she was still ignoring him) that he was leaving and that he'd call if he was going to be too late, though he doubted she particularly cared. The girl could be quite a little … cruel girl, when she wanted to be.

Ten minutes later he found himself in front of Marluxia's apartment, they were always up for some fun. He hopped out of the car and didn't bother to lock up, no one would want anything in his car. He had gotten to the entrance to the apartment building before running back and locking up his car. He went up the stairs 3 steps at a time and arrived at the door in no time, he knocked briefly before walking in, the door was rarely locked.

"Yo! Anyone home?" he called out.

"Axel! Close the door!" Axel sprang against the door, slamming it shut as he watched Xigbar appear in the hallway, taking a sharp turn around the corner.

"Hurry! Catch it! It's coming your way!" Xigbar yelled, vaulting over a couch as the thing he was chasing changed directions.

"What?!" Axel asked bewildered, his eyes scanning the ground.

Axel didn't have to look long before he saw it, or rather, was mauled by it. A dog that he recognized all too quickly jumpe dup his leg and into his arms. She was shaking.

"Jesus christ, what did you do to her?" Axel asked as he brushed his fingers through her white fur.

"We didn't do anything," Luxord said walking in from the kitchen, a freshly sharpened knife in his hand.

Axel stared at the knife, giving them an 'oh really?' look, before double checking the collar to make sure it was Butterskotch. "Is Roxas over here?" he asked as the dog began to clam down.

"Oh, Roxas dropped her off earlier this morning," Xigbar said, attempting to bribe the dog over to him with a piece of meat. Axel's hand stopped petting Butterskotch long enough for her to start whining before he continued, "Ah."

"Something happen?" Luxord asked, getting a second piece of meat out and making faces at the dog trying to get it to leave Axel.

"I don't know. Why do you ask?" Axel asked, reminding himself that there was a perfectly logical reason why Roxas hadn't contacted him.

"No reason, Roxas just seemed a bit off and you seem a little lost," Luxord mentioned as he moved to the couch, giving up, and taking a swig of beer that he had left on the table. "Here," he said, with enough warning for Axel to place the dog down to catch the beer that Luxord threw at him.

"Out of it? Me?" Axel asked as he popped it open.

"It's not every day we get to see the great Axel in his pajamas," Xigbar said, noticing as Luxord had that Axel hadn't protested the beer. He usually only drank a bit during parties and special occasions.

Axel looked down confused and realized that as it had been so kindly pointed out to him, he was still wearing the loose fire pattern slacks that he had worn to bed. "I didn't notice."

"I figured," Xigbar said with a snort, "so what's a happened?"

Axel contemplated for a few seconds, but couldn't figure out even for himself what was wrong. "I don't know, but Roxas and I were supposed to hang out today, but he hasn't called."

"You'll probably see him at school, and he seemed like he was busy, he had to drop Butterskotch off here because there wasn't going to be anyone to watch him," Luxord said trying to console him a little bit.

Xigbar grumbled and gave up trying to grab the dog, "Well, you could always return the dog for us, and at the same time invite him to the party Marluxia's holding here next weekend. We forgot to ask this morning. We were a little too preoccupied not being able to say no to taking the dog."

"Not a problem," Axel said, glad to have an excuse to drop by Roxas's house without seemingly like he was overly worried about something small. "That being cleared up, you got anything to eat?"

-

A few hours later, it was already starting to stretch into the evening, Axel arrived at Roxas's house. He didn't even bother to wait after he rang the doorbell to walk in, he had been told he was always welcome at their house and shouldn't bother to wait.

"Anyone home?" he called out as he gently set Butterskotch to the ground.

Tina appeared around the corner with a bright smile, "Axel!" she exclaimed giving him a hug which he gladly returned, "I haven't seen you in awhile. How've you been?"

Axel shrugged and smiled back, "Busy, very busy."

Tina nodded and ushered him further into the house. "You came at a bad time, I'm afraid Roxas is out on a date with some people, I don't know when he'll be back."

Axel felt his stomach knot up a little bit and felt panicked. "I see. Well, I just came to return the dog."

Tina opened her mouth to say something and cursed as a certain ringtone rang on her phone. She glanced at the number and answered sounding frustrated, "What do you need?"

Axel couldn't help but overhear a bit of the conversation and recognized the other person as his brother.

"Yes… I'll come right away… uhuh… no, no! Don't touch it," Tina ordered before hanging up. She gave an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Axel. Would you mind dog sitting until Roxas gets back? Or I get back home?"

Axel shrugged and swallowed back an uncomfortable feeling, "That's fine. Not like I have much to do anyway."

"Thanks hun," she said with another quick hug and she was out the door.

Several slow hours passed by him, he thought he had consumed about enough water and coke to fill up an ocean two times over. He almost fell asleep but woke up as he heard a loud bang outside, like someone was closing a car door. Butterskotch began to bark and ran to the door excitedly. Axel sat up and went to the door, assuming it was Roxas. He stopped and glanced out the window to see who it was first, just to make sure. It was Roxas. He leaned in closer to the window to see what was going on. Roxas was kissing Demyx goodbye, and for some reason, Axel had to clutch at his heart and stomach to try and get them to quiet down. He cursed a bit, wondering what the hell was going on, it meant that it had failed or rather, it hadn't told him anything useful. For he felt no wiser standing there in the window, feeling crushed. It had never bothered him before, the way they had acted around each other. And it made him angry. He scooted back from the window quickly as Roxas went to the door and opened it.

"Tina?" he called out.

"Nope, just me," Axel said, feeling quite depressed.

Roxas jumped a foot and slammed the door shut, the door having slipped from his fingers. "Jesus!" Roxas yelled out, his eyes wide and his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

"No, Axel. Or have you forgotten me already?" he teased, trying to lighten the mood he was in.

Roxas tried not to smile but he couldn't help it. "I could never forget you," he said as half of his heart tried to claw it's way out of his chest and out of the house.

"You never called," Axel mentioned idly, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.

"Oh… I well," Roxas began not sure what to say, "Namine, Namine said you were busy," Roxas lied.

Axel tilted his head to the side, he didn't think that Namine would lie or be that mad at him, but it was entirely possible that he had made her so angry that she would get back at him passive aggressively. "Well, I'm not right now. Wanna go somewhere?" Axel asked, hopeful to patch up whatever was wrong between them. Roxas was getting easier to read, and he could tell that something was upsetting him and making the air between them thick.

Roxas gave a small smile and tried to think of an excuse, instead, the excuse bit his leg.

"Ow!!" Roxas yelped, shaking his leg.

Axel sprang to Roxas's defense, prying Butterskotch off of his leg," Bad girl!" Axel scolded, smacking the dog on the bottom.

"Fu-jes-christ-damn it!" Roxas let out as he watched a bit of blood seep through the jeans he as wearing.

Axel immediately turned back to Roxas, letting the dog go. "You're bleeding!"

"No fucking shit. Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Roxas snapped.

Axel pouted but didn't say anything. He stood up and lifted Roxas into his arms. Roxas immediately began to protest, turning bright red and blushing, not even his anger being able to hide the effect Axel had on him. "Axel! Put me down!"

Axel shook his head as he led Roxas through the house and into the living room, amazingly dodging anything that Roxas, had he been doing it, would've smacked the person he was carrying straight into. "No, we have to keep you off of that leg."

Roxas attempted protesting again, "You're over-reacting an-"

"No," Axel said, placing a soft finger onto Roxas's lips, silencing him. Axel smiled to himself as Roxas quieted down as he was placed onto the couch. "I'll go get the first aid kit," Axel said before moving to the kitchen to search through their cupboards.

"You're nothing but trouble," Roxas muttered as Butterskotch came into view from the other side of the couch.

Just as Roxas awas about to move Axel appeared from around the corner. "Fond it!"

"I can do it, you can go ahead and go home," Roxas mumbled, feeling awkward, mainly because he couldn't tell if he was about to burst into tears or confess his love. Neither would be good.

Axel shook his head and kneeled next to Roxas, he gently peeled back the jean leg to find a nasty bite mark. "You should probably still go to the hospital just in case," Axel mumbled as he pulled out the disinfectant.

Roxas looked out of the window, it looked like bad weather was approaching and it was late. He didn't want Axel stuck at his house. "You should really go home, Axel."

Axel shook his head again and otherwise ignored him. "This is going to sting bad," Axel warned before gently trying to clean out the wound. Roxas hissed and Axel stopped. This continued for the next five minutes as Axel cleaned the wound thoroughly. "There," Axel said as he threw away the dirty puffs he had used to clean the wound.

"It hurts," Roxas said with a pout, sounding positively miserable.

Axel, of course, did the first thing that came to mind, something he had done for Namine and Kairi, having taken care of them as he was growing up. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss right above the bite mark on Roxas's leg. "That better?" he asked, completely unaware of the emotional rollercoaster he had sent Roxas on. Roxas blushed and mumbled a small yes, hoping that Axel would leave now that he was feeling better. Axel laughed a little bit and wrapped up Roxas's leg.

"There, all wrapped up," Axel said as he packed away the first aid kit.

Roxas inspected Axel's work, surprised at how well he had done it, "You do this often?" Roxas asked, tilting his head back so that Axel could hear him in the kitchen.

"Mom and Dad aren't around much, and never were, so with little kids in the house there are bound to be tons of accidents," Axel said as he came back with two mugs of hot chocolate.

'When did he make that?' Roxas wondered as he took a cup for himself.

"It's getting late, you really should get home," Roxas tried again, his pulse speeding up as Axel sat next to him.

"No,"Axel said, turning to face Roxas, "I'm not leaving you alone. Tina should be here in a few hours."

Axel smiled and covered Roxas with a short blanket so that the foot was still elevated and not pressured down by the blanket.

"Thank you," Roxas said, blushing into his hot chocolate.

"The pleasure is more than mine," Axel replied with a wink, feeling better.