I would like to thank everyone who has read and commented on my new story. I appreciate all the support, and in response I have written an extra long chapter filled with plot, booze, car troubles, and a kiss. So enjoy. Edited by Lady Chimera.

Disclaimer: characters belong to Square Enix, Disney, etc.

The tone of the restaurant grew quiet after everyone had been delivered their food, and they took to enjoying the surprisingly delicious cuisine with relish.

"You know what would be really great right now?" Hayner mumbled suddenly as he leaned his body back against the red upholstery of the booth, lifting his arms to lay them against the back and crossed beneath his head before giving a low-sounding sigh of longing.

"I can only guess…" Olette groused, rolling her eyes over the boy's actions. She knew quite well what he wanted but was ignoring him for the most part due to his incessant moaning for the past three days over the same thing. "You need to get over it Hayner," she muttered in disgust before leaning down to take another sip of her diet Coke.

Apparently Hayner didn't appreciate her attitude at all. "Well, I wouldn't be in this predicament if someone hadn't moved my stuff out of the back of the car in the first place," he growled under his breath while glaring over at the brunette.

Olette froze in mid-sip, and while still holding the straw she turned to glare back at him, "How was I supposed to know your special Kentucky Blue was in that box?? It looked just like any other garbage to me!"

Roxas sat silently while watching the exchange in confusion, wondering what everyone was talking about all of a sudden. Seeing the confused look overtake the blond's face, Kairi smiled and decided to fill him in on a few things about the cousins, so she leaned in close and, in a conspiratory way, explained the situation, "You see, Olette accidentally removed Hayner's beer stash from the back of the car when we picked her up at a friend's house in Orange County because she needed room for another bag of clothes that she's taking on our trip to Vegas."

The two cousins had taken to glaring over their drinks at each other. Their antics not only drew the curious attentions of the waitress and the cook but also the tall, skinny-looking redheaded male that sat at the counter eating his dinner. Axel turned in his seat to regard them in amusement as the boy and girl continued to fight. It reminded him of Demyx, and he wondered briefly what had happened to his partner.

"It's not garbage! Do you realize what I had to go through to get that beer in the first place?!" Hayner yelled, ignorant of the stares from the other occupants of the diner as he clenched his fists in anger.

Olette knew exactly what he had gone through, considering their uncle was the one to send the special home brew to them in the first place. Hayner had gryped over the fact that it had cost him an arm and a leg to have it delivered to his house, but she hadn't thought about the consequences of her actions since she had needed the extra clothes for the trip, so she felt justified. "God, you're such a drama queen, Hayner!" Olette yelled back, easily drowning out his voice, "Only you would be interested in something that tastes like elephant piss…"

"That's rich, Olette," Hayner gave a dry, mocking laugh, "Who was the one who went ballistic because Donald decided to dissect her favorite pair of Jimmy Choos?"

Olette gasped, and her eyes widened in shock at being reminded of the horrifying incident. "You bastard!" she started, poking him in the chest with her right index finger in anger, "Who was the one that let Donald into my room in the first place? Of course he would have headed straight for the best leather there!" Her water spaniel unfortunately seemed to have an addiction to high quality leather, and she had taken to keeping her door closed in order for Donald not to get a hold of them while she was gone.

Kairi leaned her head against her palm in amusement before she continued to explain her two companions' actions to Roxas. "Donald is Kairi's water spaniel. He has a bigger fetish for shoes than she does," she laughed while leaning closer towards the blond boy until she was almost whispering in his ear, "I heard Hayner did it on purpose because Olette was going to tell Riku that Hayner thought he was hot…" Roxas's brow rose in curiosity over the new name. Kairi just waved her hand as if it wasn't anything important, "Naminé's half-brother. But you can't really blame Hayner. He IS about as pretty as you. Just with more of an attitude."

Roxas's eye twitched a bit at being referred to as not only pretty, which made him sound girly, but also that she thought he had an attitude. He allowed the slip though in favor of humoring his benefactor since she seemed to be on a roll explaining in brief detail about the cousin's past exploits against one another. It amazed Roxas that two people that were close family members could be so different from one another but could still genuinely like each other. It reminded him of his connection with his lost twin, Sora. 'I wonder where he is now...' he thought briefly while swirling the straw in his glass for a bit in contemplation.

It seemed that none of the occupants at the table realized that a member of their audience had taken to standing next to them, at least not until he spoke. "Excuse me…" the voice coughed a bit effectively, interrupting the group who paused at the smooth tenor. It belonged to none other than the redhead that had been sitting at the counter a moment ago; the one that made Roxas blush due to the unwavering attention he had been given earlier by the man. He had never had anyone other than Seifer give him that type of thorough look before, yet, unlike Seifer, he found that he didn't really mind the attention from the redhead.

Kairi sighed, noticing that Hayner and Olette had decided to choose now to start a mutual silent treatment and took it upon herself to be the speaker for the group, "Hi. Did you need something?"

Normally Axel didn't feel intimidated by approaching others, especially considering his occupation, but he found himself starting to figit beneath their stares, especially Roxas's. "Actually…" the tall, thin redhead started to say while trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach as blue eyes focused on him, "I couldn't help overhearing that you wanted some beer."

Hayner's eyes blinked slowly as though he was having a hard time trying to decipher what the other man was saying. "You mean…" he gulped, "You know where I can get some Kentucky Blue?"

'Is it my imagination or did he sound…perky?' Axel thought with a chuckle. "Wow," the redhead gave a conspiratory smile, "You sure do like your booze," he ignored the odd look from Olette, "Actually, the place I know is a little off the beaten path, but they like to serve a lot of home brewed stuff along with some international brews." He figured it was safe to go there because the other bounty hunters that frequented the dive tended to keep to themselves.

"My god…" Hayner looked starry-eyed over the remark, "I had no idea such a place existed… An oasis of beer in the desert."

'Well, technically,' Axel thought as he watched the group, especially Roxas who had taken to glancing towards him silently out of the corner of his eye, 'It's not that well known because it's a place only those who are a part of the bounty hunter society frequent and exchange information on bounties from time to time.' Outwardly, he only continued to smile and nod even though he felt it might not be such a good idea, but their conversation had presented an opening for him to get close to Roxas and he was going to take it, "If it's ok, can I just ride with you and show you the way?"

Hayner answered first this time by jumping to his feet and clasping the redhead's hands tightly within his own, "I love you forever man." It was a little creepy how he continued to look like such a giddy kid over something as simple as a bottle of beer.

"It does sound like fun…" Kairi nodded, agreeing instantly with the idea, "We haven't had a chance to relax like this for the past couple of days. It would be fun to check out a local bar."

Olette, being the more hesitant among them–especially with places she wasn't used to–, instantly thought it was a bad idea, "I'm not going. What if there are biker men there? Or worse...geeks? I am not going to a bar full of geeks and unattractive men that want to try to touch my butt all night."

"Like anyone would be interested in your flat ass," Hayner said, rolling his eyes in annoyance at his cousin's stupidity.

"That's because you've never had a Marilyn Manson clone stick his hand up your skirt to see if you were wearing a thong." She shuddered over the Halloween memory; it was the reason she tended to stay away from bars.

"Actually…" Kairi looked thoughtful as she tapped her chin with her index finger, "If I remember correctly, wasn't he the same guy that started asking Hayner if he wore boxers or briefs?"

Hayner looked over at her in horror at that. "Are you mad?" he muttered, turning red, which made the redheaded girl grin in delight over being able to tease the normally macho young man.

"Wow," Kairi winked at Roxas quickly, "I had no idea you were into that sort of thing Hayner."

"Shut up, Kairi…"

Roxas, who up until that point had been trying not to laugh, started to chuckle, finding the whole situation hilarious. It seemed to put both Kairi and the redheaded man in good spirits, because they began to laugh along with him. Even Olette, after a moment, began to chuckle, which earned a look of disgust from her cousin.

"God, you're a dork…" Olette muttered under her breath while shaking her head in amusement.

Hayner didn't find the situation funny at all and ended up glaring over at the brunette, "Well, at least I'm not a clothes whore like you…"

"God, you're such a bastard!" Olette yelled, standing up from her seat. "I can't take your attitude any longer. I'm going to my room!" She managed to squeeze past Hayner in the booth and preceded to walk out of the restaurant in a huff towards the hotel room she currently was sharing with Kairi.

"Good," Hayner stuck his tongue out at his retreating cousin's back, "More beer for us!"

Axel liked the boy's easily pleased attitude. "A guy after my own heart. My name's Axel Shuboushi by the way, but all my friends just call me Axel," he managed to look down at Roxas as he said this, giving him a slight wink, "Got it memorized?"

The shorter of the two blond boys only snorted at the question, not wanting the redhead's odd attention any longer. "Whatever…" he muttered, turning his head away.

Kairi looked at Roxas in surprise before turning to shake Axel's hand. "I'm Kairi Heart," she pointed to Hayner who raised a victory sign in response, "That's Hayner Griggs. The one that left was his cousin Olette. And this…" she pointed to Roxas who continued to ignore Axel, "is Roxas. Though I don't know his last name…" She turned to glare over at the boy for his silence, making him suddenly feel uncomfortable with the situation.

Axel was never one to give up on a challenge, either in bounty hunting or in life, and decided he was more than willing to take the time to get the blond to notice him. "Nice to meet you, Roxas Nobody," he quickly leaned down and grabbed the boy's hand, bringing it to his mouth before placing a kiss on the surprisingly soft skin which made Roxas's mouth open wide in shock at the touch.

Kairi, who might not appear so, was actually a huge fan of all boys love and was mentally squealing in delight at the show. "Wow, he's a keeper," she sighed dreamily, making Roxas look over at her like she was nuts. Kairi ignored him for the moment as she grinned over at an open-mouthed Hayner who was staring in surprise over at Axel who was still leaning over Roxas's hand, "Shall we go then?"

Maybe it was a connection between redheads or the fact that they both loved boys on a more intimate level, but Axel felt he had just meet a co-conspirator for life and was instantly happy with the prospect, "Great. Lead the way to your car, milady, and we can be on our way."

"Great. You can sit in the back with Roxas," Kairi was thrilled and ignored the mumbled squeak of indignity coming from Roxas at the idea, "This will be fun."

---

"This sucks!"

Xigbar turned to grin in amusement over at his cute companion. Demyx had started to pace back and forth over the stretch of asphalt alongside the highway in front of his car in frustration while pulling at his hair every once in awhile, making the normally decent-looking faux mohawk a mess.

"It's not that bad… I happen to know of some people out here that can help." The blonde only ignored Xigbar as he continued to mutter incoherently about deadlines and someone by the name of Axel killing him if he came up missing when they had a job to do. It wasn't something that Xigbar would normally find cute, but he couldn't help smiling over the energetic young man's antics. He pulled out his phone thoughtfully, wondering how long he could delay the tow truck coming by to help with his tire in order to prolong his "date" with Demyx. He could always call "The Organization"'s road-side service, but he knew that they would be quicker than any normal towing service and he didn't want that.

It was as he thought this that the phone began to vibrate in his hand, signaling a message was coming through. Curious about who could be texting him this late, Xigbar flipped open the phone and clicked through the buttons in order to retrieve the message. He was surprised to find another one from Luxord. 'I wonder what he wants now,' he thought while opening the message to read it.

Change of plans. Contact Axel Shuboushi (702) 733-1802. We want you to work with him and his associate to bring Roxas in. Please respond when you have located them. Plans will be arranged later. L

A lone golden eye read the message then reread it again, hoping that he wasn't misreading what he had been ordered to do by Xemnas's Chief of Security. Thinking this just had to be a coincidence, he lifted his head to stare over at Demyx for a moment. The young man had paused in his pacing and was gesturing oddly in the air like he was talking to someone about nothing in particular. Xigbar shook his head over the thought that came to mind, 'He couldn't be the person Luxord wants me to find…' To be sure, he asked out loud, "You wouldn't happen to know an Axel Shuboushi would you, Demyx?"

The blond stopped whatever he had being doing to look over at Xigbar in partial surprise then happiness over the question, "You know Ax-man?"

Ok, there was fate… Then there were coincidences that screamed at you to run as far away as physically possible because it was guaranteed you wouldn't like the outcome. 'And in this case…' Xigbar thought while rubbing unconsciously at the scar again that had suddenly started to ache, 'This whole situation seems too close for comfort.' He could only hope that whatever Luxord had in mind wouldn't cause any problems later for "The Organization."

---

Meanwhile, unaware of his associate's problems, Axel by then had given Kairi directions to an establishment called "The Inferno." The place was amazingly small and unassuming from the outside that you almost wouldn't believe it was a bar, considering it looked like nothing more than an old dilapidated barn from the outside with a neon sign.

Looks can be deceiving though, for the inside was not only clean and modern-looking with the leather and wood pub tables, but it also had a sitting bar highlighted with neon signs and an old, restored jukebox that played a steady stream of classics from the 80's and 90's in the back.

Kairi personally thought the place was just too cute and had gone to sit down at one of the tables eagerly while Hayner instantly headed towards the bar to order a couple of Kentucky Blue's for himself.

Roxas just wished he had decided to stay at the hotel with Olette as he followed Kairi and Axel to the table the girl had chosen. By the look in Kairi's eyes though, he had a feeling that if he suggested leaving she would get him back for it later, so, in favor of keeping the temporary peace, he chose to ignore them both and decided on drinking a virgin strawberry daiquiri while they were there since he was still too young to drink.

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to get wasted, and Roxas found himself trying to ward off the attentions of the redheaded male who had chosen to sit as close as possible to him. "Would you leave me alone?" Roxas muttered, pushing at Axel's hands that had started to alternately touch and wander his person for the past hour. It seemed that the more his companions had to drink, especially Axel, the friskier they became. It was...really demented in Roxas's mind.

"Ah, come on, Roxas," the redhead pouted as he looked down at the younger man while leaning his long arm across the blond's shoulder, "I promise to love you forever and ever."

The blond tried to push Axel's face away since his breath stunk a little like booze. He turned to glare up at the taller male as he leaned a little too close for comfort and tried to ignore the idea that he thought the guy's actions were cute since he wasn't interested in any other relationships because of Seifer. "Get. Off," he pushed at the hand that had moved to touch his ass.

Axel had managed to drink a few too many Samuel Adams since entering the establishment and was trying to control the sudden and almost overwhelming urge to drag the blond away by his hair like a caveman to the nearest abandoned sofa in the corner and cuddle with him–or make out depending on how horny he could get the other boy. "You know you want to..."

"I am not dancing with you!"

At the moment Axel became tipsy, he had made it his mission to get even closer to Roxas. The first part of his plan involved dancing, which would be followed by slow kisses, hot sex, and maybe a dual lease on a condo. Axel sighed at the lovely image that entered his head of Roxas wearing a pink apron and nothing else and welcoming him home with open arms like a good little wife. He decided to keep the last image to himself though, thinking the blond might not appreciate how fast his mind worked.

"Oh, come on, Roxas." Kairi had started to sway in her seat and appeared to be thoroughly smashed. She had taken to being Axel's drunk cheering section and thought it was a great idea if the two would dance. She had even talked Hayner into dancing with another guy that had been eyeing him since he stepped through the door despite his more homophobic tendencies.

"No. I don't like dancing." It wasn't the complete truth, but it was better than telling the two redheads that he just wasn't interested in any body-to-body contact for a while.

His two redheaded companions however, being drunk and not completely in control of their actions, seemed to think otherwise and were bound and determined to change Roxas's mind. As one, they turned and looked over at the startled blond, giving him their best "Wounded Puppy" look, which was really, really creepy coming from two older people who weren't exactly cute, especially while drunk and looking like idiots. "Would you stop that. You're creeping me out…"

"No!"

"Fine…" he sighed. If it would get the two to shut up and stop staring at him, then he would dance with Axel. "I'll dance with him once. Once! Got it? After that, I don't want to hear another word about it." Since he had a feeling the redhead would attempt to get him to do things he wasn't comfortable with, he held up one of his fingers to clarify further, "Once," while ignoring the fact that, at some point, he had decided that Axel was somewhat amusing and maybe just a little sexy.

Kairi gave Axel a quick high-five, "Score!"

Axel was beyond ecstatic by that point. "Let's shake a leg, Roxy!" the redheaded male yelled in delight, quickly grabbing Roxas's hand before he could change his mind and pulling him off the stool and onto the dance floor. He ignored the glare the blond gave him over the nickname.

It seemed that the music gods were against Roxas, because at that moment, instead of a normal dancing song like what had been playing for the last two hours, the jukebox suddenly decided to switch to an old romantic 80's song. 'God, shoot me now,' Roxas inwardly cursed as a very drunk Axel eagerly pulled the blond's body against his own and started moving into a slow moving dance.

He was surprised that the redhead could manage to move that gracefully despite his inebriation. Looking up, he found his blue eyes locking with the most beautiful green eyes he'd ever seen. 'Beautiful…' Roxas thought as Axel lead him into another turn.

"God, I love this song…" Kairi moaned in delight while watching the two from her seat. Sure, "I Melt with You" by Modern English was an older song, but it would always be a classic in Kairi's heart and so romantic. She sighed again while lifting her bottle of beer to her lips to sing into it along with the band, watching as both Axel and Roxas, despite their height differences, moved really well together. She thought it was almost as if they might have been partners in a past life.

'I shouldn't be doing this,' was Roxas's first thought as he nervously stared up at Axel as they continued to slowly maneuver across the floor together. He tried to keep their bodies as far apart as he could, not wanting to get close, but placing his left hand on the taller man's shoulder was difficult so he had to settle for grabbing onto his arm midway and letting his other hand be held within Axel's right hand.

Dancing with someone other than Seifer was different, not necessarily bad in Roxas's mind, but he still found himself comparing the differences between the two men who were almost as different as night and day. This extended to their styles, appearances, and attitudes. 'I love his eyes...' was the blonde's lone thought as Axel continued to stare silently at him. 'Really nice...and comfortable...' He started to forget why he was dancing so far away from the other in the first place and moved closer to the redhead after Axel dipped him, allowing his head to lean upon Axel's firm chest as they continued through to the next song.

Axel, who was more sober at that point, seemed to find himself getting more comfortable around the blond and took to wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, pulling him into a slight embrace as they swayed from foot to foot.

Without thinking much about the consequences, especially considering he might still be a little drunk and the fact that he had just agreed to kidnapping the kid in order to gain access to Seifer and "The Organization," Axel closed his eyes and leaned down, slowly touching his lips to Roxas's soft yet pliable ones–a texture he decided he liked as he continued the soft massaging movement with his lips for a while, mentally mapping the texture in his mind before managing to coax Roxas's mouth to open with his tongue so that he could kiss him deeper. Roxas gasped in surprise at the soft movement of the redhead's tongue as it licked at the seem of his lips but didn't instantly move away, which was a good sign in Axel's book so he proceeded to push his tongue slowly inside the blonde's mouth allowing their lips and tongues to melt and slide against one another's.

The last song they were dancing to eventually stopped, but the two continued to kiss as if there was nothing else they wanted to do in this life, finding that, despite the fact they had just met, this was something they both wanted but hadn't realized they wanted until that moment. They were eventually forced to pull away in order to regain their breaths again and took to staring at each other silently in wonder. Both ignored Kairi who starting to whoop in delight and shine a lighter; the girl was clearly shit-faced and half mad, but she wouldn't have changed the situation for anything in the world.

"Roxas… " Axel started to say, moving his hand to cup Roxas's cheek, "I…"

The blond blinked a bit as though coming out of a trance at the sound of his name, and he shoved Axel away in shock over what he had just allowed the redhead to do and ran out of the room. "Stay away from me." Roxas found he wasn't ready for another relationship so soon. It seemed that he doubted anyone could really care about him other than just for sex. Seifer had been the one to make him think that way after all.

Axel watched Roxas run away from him in surprise. He had thought they had finally been connecting like he wanted. 'I mean... he responded to the kiss, didn't he?' Somehow it seemed that the situation must be worse than how Luxord described it, and he wondered what exactly had happened between Seifer and Roxas as he ran out of the bar to look for the blond.