The weekend soon came and Roxas was glad for the break from school. Pence had invited him to a movie with Hayner and Olette but Roxas declined. He didn't want to see other people after a week of getting frustrated over how idiotic the rest of the freshmen class was. There were only three places that varied from his annoyance. The first was his math class which was a living hell for him. The second was his room which was his sanctuary. Finally, his English Literature class. Since it was an elective, half of the class was upper classmen. Roxas was thankful to be around people with more intelligence than a teenager who barely passed high school. He also enjoyed his professor much more.

Then there was Axel.

He had sat in front of Roxas again during their second class. He never turned around or even attempted to acknowledge Roxas was anyone more than part of the class. For some reason, this irritated Roxas. He wasn't sure why since it never bothered him before.

Roxas sat back in his chair and pulled his bare feet up onto the seat. He glanced at the clock. 'Almost five.' He thought. The math book lay open on his desk, his homework half finished. The rest of his assignments were complete. Roxas debated if he wanted to waste the rest of his Saturday doing homework or save it for Sunday. He sipped at an orange soda.

His phone vibrated across the desk as it received a phone call. Roxas stared at, debating if he should answer. He finally picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Hey Roxas!" Pence called. "We were wondering if you were up for some bowling tonight." Roxas glanced back at the clock.

"I guess."

"Great! We'll come pick you up. Meet you outside in ten minutes." Pence hung up and Roxas set his phone on his desk. Then he sighed. Roxas went to his wardrobe to find some clothes. He was still in his PJ's since he had no ambition to change when he woke up. He finally picked out a pair of baggy black cargo pants with a red long sleeved shirt. He clipped on his favorite dog collar around his neck and stuffed his feet into his pair of black tennis shoes before heading outside to wait for Pence.

His roommate rolled up in a dusty blue van. Hayner was riding shotgun so Roxas climbed in the back with Olette. "Hey!" Pence greeted.

"Hey," Roxas replied half-heartedly.

"Hope you're hungry! Hayner's paying for pizza!"

"That's totally not fair!" Hayner protested, sticking his nose into the air.

"You lost the bet, silly head. Don't take it so hard," Olette reminded. Pence pulled out onto the street and they headed into town on the far side of the campus. Roxas leaned against his armrest and kept his stare out of the window.

They arrived at the bowling alley and headed inside under the large neon sign with a moogle on it. They got their shoes and ordered pizza. Hayner grumbled as he fished the last of his paper money from his wallet. They bowled for a game before breaking to eat. Then they stayed for several more rounds. Olette was the best of them. Roxas managed to win one game only because Olette messed up her eagle shot.

The groups sat back on the plastic chairs and chatted about how much longer they wanted to stay. Hayner was fed up with losing but Pence wanted to stay for neon bowling. Roxas excused himself and went to get a soda. He stood in the carpeted area and sipped at his cola. His gaze was deterred by the sound of cheering at the far end of the bowling alley. Two lanes of male students were cheering loudly or screaming in defeat. Roxas watched them for awhile while Hayner and Pence continued to argue.

A couple of the male bowlers broke from their party and went to the counter for drinks. Roxas turned his attention to his phone. He turned as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Axel smiled back at him with a root beer float in his hand, his elbows leaning on the counter.

"Hey there," Axel greeted.

"Hi," Roxas replied stiffly.

"Who's the stiff?" the second student asked. He was younger than Axel with long silver hair, a yellow shirt and blue cargo pants.

"Be nice, Riku. He's just a classmate."

"Right."

"Hurry up you two! We're starting another game!" someone from their party shouted. Roxas recognized him as the man with the dirty blonde mullet. He wore a black graphic tee with TMNT printed in bold green letters and faded jeans.

"Keep your pants on, Demyx!" Axel shouted across the bowling alley. Riku snorted as he headed over to his friends, soda in hand. "You should try smiling," Axel suggested, his attention turned back to Roxas.

"Why's that?" the younger replied.

"You always look like you're pissed off."

"Maybe I am."

"Sucks to be you then. Cute collar by the way." Axel gave him a smirk and followed Riku's path back to his group. Roxas felt his cheeks burn.

"It's not cute!" Roxas hissed under his breath. He finished his soda and returned to his own party. Olette informed him they were staying for one round of neon bowling before heading back to their dorms. They waited around until the lights turned off only to be replaced by black ones.

"Alright!" Pence cheered. Roxas wasn't a huge fan of neon bowling. He felt like he was on an acid trip. Their clothes glowed along with their bowling balls, making the colors seem far more vibrant than they were. Roxas glanced at the far lanes between his turns to bowl. The large group of guys was having a blast. Axel stuck out with his white tank top although Riku's shirt stuck out quite a bit as well. What stuck out the most was one of the group members was wearing a pair of pink skinny jeans. They glowed vibrantly under the black light. Roxas uttered some inappropriate words in his head.

Once the game was over, Roxas followed the others back to the counter to retrieve their shoes. Then they loaded into Pence's van and headed back. They dropped off Olette and Hayner first before parking in the ramp. Roxas remained silent as he and Pence returned to their room. As Roxas reclaimed his PJ's, Pence chimed up from his computer.

"Hey, did you know those guys?"

"No."

"Just being friendly, huh?"

"I guess. Did you know them?"

"Only one. His names Seifer. He's a senior, I think. He used to go to my high school."

"Which one was he?"

"The guy with the hat. He never takes it off. Weird, huh?" Pence said with a laugh. Roxas recalled the man behind him in the bookstore.

"Right." They went off to do their separate hobbies before they went to sleep. Pence watched an old sports movie while Roxas flicked through his phone contacts, deleting the ones he felt weren't worth keeping. He wasn't left with many names.

'Not like I need friends.' Roxas grumbled in his head.

XxXxX

Sunday passed by as everyone stayed inside to do their homework. Rain pounded against the windows, showing no signs of stopping in the near future. The weather carried over into Monday and well into Tuesday. The students were soaked as they sprinted across campus to keep dry.

Roxas showed up for his morning English Lit class soaking wet. He didn't feel compelled to run and the building was a ten minute walk from his dorm. As he waited for class to start, his numb fingers flicked against the screen of his phone. Water dripped and pooled around his chair. Roxas was caught off guard as something hit him in the face. It was a hand towel.

Roxas looked up to see Axel sitting sideways in his chair. "Hey," he greeted.

"What do you want?" Roxas asked coldly. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Just give it back to me on Thursday. College is hard enough without a cold." Roxas frowned. He was about to protest but Axel turned to the front of the classroom. Roxas ran the towel over his arms and through his hair, spraying droplets onto the floor. He couldn't figure out why Axel was carrying around a towel in his bag and why he felt compelled to be nice enough to hand it out. When the class was released, Roxas dropped the towel on Axel's desk before leaving without a word.

XxXxX

The first month of school passed by quickly. Soon, the first round of exams had arrived. Pence was stressed out for his Anatomy I exam. He constantly muttered terms under his breath wherever he went. Roxas wasn't worried about his exams. He passed each one nearly flawlessly.

Save one.

"Damn," Roxas cursed, chewing on the end of his Pocky. "A fucking C." He slammed his fist on his desk. His math grade was not to his liking. Roxas sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He had calculated the odds of him getting a 4.0 for the semester, something he needed to keep his scholarship, and it was still doable. He needed no less than 92% on his remaining exams. But Roxas had no idea how to study for math. He remembered the tutoring center and packed his bag.

Upon his arrival, he uttered a string of strong, choice words. It was Friday. The tutor center closed at 6pm. It was 6:15. "Damn it all to Hell." Roxas turned to leave when he saw Axel in his usual seat. With a sigh, he went over and sat down at his table.

Axel looked up at the distressed teen. "What's up?" Axel greeted.

"I just need a moment to think," Roxas replied, rubbing his temples with his fingers. Axel waited patiently for Roxas to calm down. "What are you, a senior?"

"Yeah. Core classes getting to you?"

"I just can't…ugh…math!"

"You can't math?"

"No! Argh!" Roxas smashed his face into the table and swore heavily under his breath.

"Want some help?"

"NO!" Roxas declined sharply, his face still pressed against the table.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone has their one class they struggle at."

"Not me." Axel raised his eyebrows.

"O-kay..." There was a moment of silence before Axel spoke up again. "I failed O-chem twice."

"Honestly, I don't care."

"Just trying to help."

"I don't want it."

"Says the guy who sat at my table." Roxas lifted his head to see Axel smirking at him. A large red mark stood out on his forehead from where it had made contact with the table.

"Screw it." Roxas stood to leave. Axel reached across the table and grabbed him by the wrist.

"I can help you if you want. You only have to ask." Roxas remained still, his eyes glaring daggers at Axel. The red head merely stared back at him, his green eyes steady with the angered teens.

"Fine." Axel smirked, releasing Roxas's wrist.

"Great. When do you want to start?" Roxas responded by dropping his backpack on the table with a loud crash. Axel jumped slightly at the bluntness of Roxas's response. "Right. Look, the library closes soon so why don't I meet you tomorrow morning? I can pick you up and we can hang out at my place."

"Fine. 9:00." Roxas picked up his bag and stormed out of the library, leaving Axel bewildered and slightly amused.

XxXxX

The next morning Roxas stood waiting with his bag outside of his dorm. He wore a black sleeveless hooded sweatshirt and white cargo pants. At 9:00, a black car pulled up and stopped in front of him. Roxas climbed inside to see Axel in a purple shirt and frayed jeans. He also noticed he wore his favorite pair of dusty flip flops. Roxas really hated flip flops. Axel's were beige with fabric straps that were fraying around the edges.

"Ready?" Axel asked. Roxas grunted and he headed off in Axel's Mercedes. The trip across the campus took longer than Roxas expected.

'Where does this guy live?' Roxas wondered. Almost as if by cue, Axel struck up a conversation.

"I live on the far side of the campus in the Twilight Expansion." Roxas frowned. "I'm living with seven other guys and they're home so I apologize if they do anything weird. Just ignore them if you can." They continued their drive. It was getting close to twenty minutes before Axel turned off the main road.

"Just how big is this campus?" Roxas wondered aloud.

"Bigger than you think." Roxas stared out of the window and watched the fraternity houses pass by with their large Greek letters pasted on the front.

'Is Axel in a frat? Oh God, I hope not. There's nothing worse than frat boys.' They soon left the fraternity area and entered a quiet area filled with parks and apartments. Roxas let out a small sigh of relief.

"Lying naked all the day…" Roxas turned sharply to look at Axel, his heart skipping a beat. He was driving with his eyes focused on the road. Lyrics of the song playing on his stero were being muttered under his breath unconsciously.

"What the Hell are you singing?" Axel snapped out of his trance and glanced at Roxas.

"Despre Tine. It's Romanian." Axel turned up the stero and let Roxas listen to the lyrics. The line came up again but as Axel muttered it under his breath, it sounded more natural. "Ma inec in ochii tai."

"Not exactly streamline music."

"It's fun!"

"About as fun as the Numa Numa song," Roxas said sarcastically.

"Same artist." Roxas rolled his eyes. They pulled into a small parking lot in with a set of row house styled apartments. Axel retrieved his keys and unlocked the front door. "Remember, if they get too weird, just ignore them." Roxas nodded slightly.

They stepped inside to a spacious first floor. To the right was the living room filled with an assortment of furniture. To the left was a kitchen and dining area. A table seated for four sat in the corner while four stools sat at the large granite counter. The kitchen was busy with the traffic of four other males.

"Welcome back!" Demyx greeted with a smile in his dark blue bath robe.

"What's for breakfast?" Axel asked as he led Roxas farther into the apartment.

"Eggs and bacon. Toast?" a man with dark hair asked. It was to tell if it was black or a dark shade of purple. It hung over half of his face. The man wore a white shirt and printed flannel pants.

"Naturally." Axel was handed a piece of buttered toast and took a bite. The dark haired man offered one to Roxas.

"No thanks," Roxas declined. The man shrugged and bit into it himself.

"Roxas, this is Zexion. That's Demyx over there in the robe. The guy without a shirt is Terra and you remember Riku." The others gave Roxas half-hearted waves. Axel led Roxas up a flight of stairs. They bumped into a burly man on his way down.

"Morning Lexaeus," Axel greeted. The large man merely nodded on his way. "Don't worry, he doesn't say much. He's rooming with Riku on the left side up here. Terra and Seifer are on the right." Axel pointed out on the second floor. The hall had four doors, the two closest being the bathrooms and the farthest the rooms where each pair slept. The shower on the right was running. Axel brought Roxas up another flight of stairs to the top floor. "Demyx and Zexion are on the left. I'm on the right."

"Must be nice to be by yourself," Roxas muttered. Axel laughed.

"Not quite." He knocked on the bathroom door. A plume of steam emerged as the door cracked open. "I'm rooming with this goof."

"Speak for yourself!" the man protested. He had a towel wrapped around his waist as he blew dried his pink hair.

"Marluxia," Axel introduced.

"Nice hair," Roxas scoffed.

"It's natural so you know. Don't mind the mess in our room. I'll clean it up later," Marluxia commented.

"So we've heard," Axel shot back.

"Deal with it!" Marluxia slammed the bathroom door in his roommates face. Axel led Roxas to his room. Inside it was cramped with various possessions by both males. Marluxia's side was covered in paper and chalk.

"Graphic design major." Axel sat on his bed, which was on the cleaner half of the room. Everything from books to papers to pens were stacked in piles on his desk and shelves. "Pharmacy," Axel explained as he laid back. "Feel free to sit wherever." Roxas chose to sit on the floor and pulled out his math book. Axel rolled onto his stomach and leaned over Roxas's shoulder.

"Eh, this is easy stuff. What are you stuck on?"

"All of it." Axel laughed. Roxas shivered as Axel's breath hit the back of his neck.

"Let me see." Axel borrowed Roxas's notes and read over his homework, rolling onto his back. While he was reading, Zexion came in and set a plate of bacon and eggs on Axel's desk.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Zexion offered.

"I'm fine," Roxas replied stiffly.

"Okay then. There's juice in the fridge if you change your mind." Zexion excused himself. Axel continued to flip through Roxas's notes.

"Here's your problem." Axel rolled over and placed the notebook on Roxas's lap. "You have the equation written wrong."

"No I don't."

"It's X equals negative B, not positive." Roxas scowled and scribbled a negative sign in front of the equation. Then he plugged the numbers through the formula.

"Huh…" Roxas worked on the rest of the problems while Axel sat up and dug into his breakfast. Axel watched Roxas work from his perch on his bed.

'This kid's smart, I've seen it. He got the second highest score on the English Literature exam. Math must be his Achilles' Heel.' Axel thought to himself. He chewed thoughtfully on a piece of bacon.

Roxas worked until he got stuck again. Having Axel behind him ground against his nerves. 'How the heck did this clown get the highest score on the English Literature test?! He's a joke. I guess it's because all I ever see him do is study. He must have gotten lucky. Next time I'll make sure I don't mix up the characters on the essay. That'll put this guy in his place,' Roxas thought darkly.

Axel popped the last of his bacon in his mouth and leaned forward to see what Roxas was doing. He put his plate on his desk and grabbed the nearest pencil. Then he leaned over Roxas's shoulder. "You're mixing up the axis," Axel corrected. He erased what Roxas had just written and jotted down the correct answer. "See it now?"

All Roxas could see was Axel's arms around him and Axel's face dangerously close to the left side of his own face. Roxas's body twitched. Axel was way too comfortable with being around other guys who didn't care. Roxas cared. He shoved Axel's arms away and returned to his work.

"Yeah, whatever," he murmured. Axel gave him a quizzing look but didn't question him.

The pair worked on Roxas's math the rest of the morning. Axel remained silent unless he spoke up on how to fix the mistakes Roxas had made. After awhile, the problems actually started to make sense to the younger male. When he finished, he looked over his work as he chewed on the edge of his thumb nail. Roxas felt satisfied with his work and shoved it back into his pack.

"All done?" Axel asked, turning his head. He was lying on his back with his knees sticking up.

"Yeah." Roxas shifted his gaze awkwardly. "…thanks…"

"No problem." Axel stole Roxas's phone from beside him and started punching in numbers. Then he tossed it back to the emotionless teen. "Call me if you ever need help." Roxas stared at the screen with his newest contact.

The sound of running footsteps caused them to look up towards the door. Demyx popped his head in a few seconds later. "Brawl tournament downstairs!" he shouted. Axel leapt from his bed and grabbed his plate.

"Come on. You deserve a break." Roxas silently picked up his bag and followed Axel and Demyx downstairs. Axel dropped off his dishes before they slipped into the basement. It was crowded with a large leather sofa and HD plasma screen large enough to fit over the entire wall. Roxas was impressed. He pulled up a seat on the floor.

"Hey, you can't be Ike!" Seifer protested, his hat covering his wet hair.

"Why not?" Riku asked.

"He hacks!"

"So what? Deal with it." Seifer growled and picked out Solid Snake.

The boys played a sixteen person tournament with COMS to fill in the spaces. Roxas even joined in and owned Marluxia as Princess Peach. As lunch loomed near, they ordered take out from a Chinese place. When the food came, they ate and played at the same time. Roxas wondered how they could all get so drawn within the game. They spilled their food plenty of times and threw broken fortune cookies at each other.

Roxas picked at his chicken with chopsticks. Despite his gloomy nature, he actually found himself slightly enjoying the company of the eight older boys. He found out Riku was a sophomore in exercise science, Zexion was a junior majoring in English, Demyx was a fourth year junior going into music, Terra was getting a business degree while he played sports on a full ride scholarship which would end at the end of the year as he was a senior, Seifer was a senior in engineering, Lexaeus was a senior and would be moving onto med school at the end of the year, Marluxia was a senior but would be returning to school for a fifth year, and Axel was double majoring in Pharmacy and literature.

Roxas found the guys to be quirky and annoying, but it wasn't enough to overpower him. He smiled softly to himself. 'They treat me like I'm a normal guy. Hayner, Pence and Olette do too but they're usually so awkward to be around. It feels more natural here.' Roxas popped a piece of chicken into his mouth.

A pair of chopsticks struck as it kidnapped one of his chicken pieces. Roxas looked up behind him to see Axel sticking it into his mouth. He smiled mischievously. Roxas scowled and returned to his food.

When 2:00 rolled around, the boys broke up their game. Terra had to get to a game and the others had homework to do. Axel grabbed his keys and drove Roxas back to his dorm. The car ride was silent until Axel spoke up.

"What do you think of those goofballs?" Roxas shrugged.

"I guess I wouldn't mind living with them." Axel laughed.

"Oh, they were on their good behavior today. Usually the place is a Hell box. Six different types of music playing from speakers while they argue over stupid ideas, not to mention all of the…well…extra noise."

"Extra noise?" Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"We get company a lot, if you get my meaning." Roxas stopped to think about it. When the idea occurred to him, he scoffed.

"Seriously? Do you guys do anything besides school or sex?" Axel laughed hard.

"I leave the sex to the rest of them. I've got too much work to do."

"Why the double major then?"

"I couldn't decide so I went into both. You should figure out what you want to do. It'll help you focus on your classes."

"I don't have a clue to what I want to do with my life." Axel's face fell a bit.

"Have any interests?" Roxas shrugged.

"Music."

"Talk to Demyx. He could hook you up with the ins and outs of the music major."

"I wouldn't go into music anyway."

"Oh. What else would you want to do?"

"I don't mind drawing."

"Art?"

"Hell no."

"Then you should stick to architecture. You'll just have to get better at math first," Axel teased.

"Thanks for the reminder." Roxas turned his gaze to stare out the side window. Axel sighed and the car fell into silence again. He dropped Roxas off at his dorm.

"See you around," Axel called with a wave. He drove off, leaving Roxas behind.

"Whatever." Roxas went back to his room and then hit the showers.

XxXxX

"Are you still awake?" Marluxia asked, rubbing his eyes. The small desk lamp on Axel's desk was lit and Axel sat at his computer typing.

"I'm busy," Axel muttered. Marluxia sighed dramatically and rolled over to check his clock.

"It's 4:30! Go to bed! Your homework will still be there when you wake up."

"I won't have time tomorrow."

"Was that all the homework you were supposed to do this morning?" Axel didn't respond. "Hello? Earth to Axel?" Marluxia lay back down on his bed. "Ugh! Good night!" He rolled over and shoved his pillow over his head. Axel sighed.

'Only six pages to go.'