Disclaimer: i claim no ownership to Kingdom Hearts or the lyrics mentioned in this fanfiction.

2. Something as simple as a smile, or a brush of hands, makes your heart skip a beat.

"Well here I am.

I don't know how to say this.

The only thing I know is awkward silence."

~Saves the Day_Freakish

"Whoa, Rox, mind slowing down there for a sec? You're close to yanking my arm out of its socket." Axel called out, stumbling to keep up to the small blonde that had his arm in a vice-like grip. Roxas immediately let go, turning around to face the car so that Axel wouldn't see the blush that was now slowly creeping onto his cheeks.

"Sorry." He mumbled, keeping his eyes trained onto the ground and stuffing his now-Axelless hand into the pocket of his hoodie. Axel stood a few metres away from his car, wincing dramatically as he rubbed his abused arm. He noticed that Roxas had stopped as well, but instead of rolling his eyes and calling Axel a wuss for complaining, he simply stood, motionless, and stared at the pavement. Axel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before reaching out a hand to place on his best friend's shoulder.

"Dude, what's up with you- you've been acting weird all night. Is something wrong?"

And here it was. The reason for his weirdness.

All Axel did was place a friendly hand on his shoulder as a display of friendship, but that simple touch had his whole body on high alert as an involuntary shiver ran down his spine.

What was wrong with him?

This was his best friend! Not a primary school crush!

"I-i uh..." Roxas took a deep breath in order to calm himself.

Damn his stupid hormones.

"I guess that I'm just a little upset that we didn't spend any time together at the party." He paused, and winced at how pathetic he sounded, "As friends, you know, like we said that we would." He added quickly and was glad that his back was still facing Axel. He could almost see the smirk start to form on the red-head's lips as he prepared a remark regarding Roxas's clinginess.

But nothing of that nature followed.

Instead, Roxas's eyes widened in shock when Axel walked over to where he stood to position himself in front of the blonde, green eyes looking downcast as a sheepish smile adorned those familiar features.

"I guess I kinda messed up, hey?" his voice, instead of the teasing, smug tone that Roxas expected to hear, was soft and apologetic.

Roxas fought back the urge take a step closer to the red head in front of him and instead answered with a feeble "Yeah."

Suddenly a bright smile cut across Axel's features.

"I should make it up to you!" he exclaimed, looking Roxas in the eyes at last, "no, I HAVE to make it up to you! Come on, I'm taking you out, we're getting pancakes and it's my treat." With that last statement he happily threw his arm around his best friend's shoulders and pulled him close to his side. He failed to notice, however, how hard Roxas was trying to hide the fact that his body tensed up as soon as Axel had crossed his personal boundary mark. It was ridiculous, really, how what they had done countless times before, the simple 'arm over the shoulder' friendly gesture, now made him feel like every part of body was on sensory over-drive. He felt Axel's hand as it unintentionally brushed against the exposed skin on his neck, watched Axel's mouth as he excitedly spoke about...something, and he inhaled the scent that was so distinctly Axel. He always smelled the same; regardless of the cologne that he was wearing...there was always the undertone of smoke and cinnamon. And not cigarette smoke either, but the smoke that you get from setting something alight. It reminded Roxas of the previous summer, when they had all spent a random Saturday night sitting around an illegal bonfire on a private beach. Everything was fine until the group's infamous pyromaniac had gotten a little too fire happy and caught alight trying to get as close to the fire as he possibly could. Roxas chuckled when he recalled the hysteria that resulted as everyone raced to try and extinguish Axel. By the end of the fiasco Roxas had collapsed on the sand in a fit of laughter as a very sheepish looking Axel apologized to everyone.

"Whatcha giggling about there, Blondie?" Axel's voice so close to his ear brought Roxas out of his thoughts and of course resulted in a very flustered Roxas.

"Ha, that wasn't giggling- it was a very manly chuckle. From a very manly man." He said, trying to cover up his unexplained nervousness.

Well, it wasn't really unexplained, was it?

"Manly? Roxie, you're too cute to be manly." Axel laughed, nuzzling his face into Roxas's neck, "this much cuteness on one person should be illegal."

Roxas laughed in surprise, using the compliment to his looks/ insult to his manliness as an excuse to playfully shove the red-head away from himself.

"I am NOT cute!" he exclaimed, crossing his arms in mock anger.

"well, of course you are, Roxie!" axel protested, placing his hands on his hips as if reprimanding his best friend for his inability to see his own cuteness, "look at you, with the cherubic-like face and those blue eyes...you're like the personification of cute."

Roxas merely rolled his eyes and leaned against the door of the passenger seat in Axel's car.

"Keep going at this rate, and I'm gonna order enough pancakes to make you broke."

Axel grimaced at Roxas before unlocking his door and climbing in.

"Ouch Roxie. And here I thought that we were friends." He said, leaning over to unlock Roxas's door as well.

"I am your friend, "the blonde said, as he climbed in, a smirk on his lips, "but a special kind of friend. I'm like...a friend and a bully all rolled into one."

He paused for a moment in thought. "I'm a frully."

Axel laughed before looking over to him.

"Frully? Really Roxie?"

A nudge was administered to Axel's arm.

"What's up with the sudden abuse of my name? I do not approve of 'Roxie'."

"Aww, but why? It's a manly name for a manly guy."

"Yes. Because nothing screams masculinity like a chick's name."

"Exactly."

Roxas laughed as he searched through the radio stations for something worth listening to, shaking his head with a grin visible on his face.

Roxas smiled when the familiar building came into view.

'Christmas Town Diner- where it's Christmas every day.'

No, really. That's what it said on their sign above the door, right next to the 'Santa does not work here.' sign. They had found the establishment one day after Axel had downed almost four cans of soda before realizing that his bladder was not as indestructible as he thought it was, meaning that they had to make an unscheduled pit-stop. As it would have been rude to just use their bathroom and then leave, they decided to order something as well based on Axel's deduction that " The food has to be good, Rox, I mean...it even SMELLS like Christmas in here."

And it was.

Roxas would eat at Christmas Town everyday if his wallet allowed for it.

"Right," Roxas announced, unbuckling his seat belt and grinning in his best friend's direction, "It's time that we got me some pancakes!"

Axel shook his head sadly as he prepared to jump out of the car, locking Roxas's door once he had climbed out.

"Remember buddy, "he said, pointing his index finger at Roxas in a teacherly manner, "I'm a broke student, so think of my wallet and not of the bottomless pit that is your stomach when you order?"

"But axel..." Roxas started, clutching at his heart in a dramatic manner, "don't I deserve all the pancakes that my little, fragile and bruised heart desires?" they reached the door of the diner and axel rolled his eyes before letting himself in.

"Really Rox, don't you think that you've guilt tripped me enough today?"

"Nope."

"ANYWAY," Axel said, shooting a glare over at Roxas, "you didn't have to sulk for the duration of the party. You knew just as many people there as I did."

They didn't even bother to wait for the waitress on duty to seat them; they had been here so many times before that the owner had even joked about putting up a sign and calling the table the 'Akuroku corner.' The first time that they had heard it they had both, in confusion, asked what the word meant. And the owner informed them that it was the hybrid of the Japanese version of their names. Turns out that the owner studied linguistics or something in his spare time. Although the legitimacy of the statement could be debated, for all they knew 'Akuroku' could mean 'giant rainbow hedgehog', they never really questioned it. It just felt nice to walk into a place that was so friendly and home-like to them. As soon as Roxas was seated, Axel tossed his car keys to him and started to walk away.

"Are you kidding me?!" Roxas cried, exasperated, "do you have to take a leak EVERYTIME we come here?"

Axel turned, his trademark sheepish grin already on his lips, shrugging his shoulders as he walked backwards in the direction of the bathroom.

"What can I say; my bladder really likes this place."

By the time that Axel returned, Roxas had already ordered their food and was checking his phone for any messages or missed calls. He didn't even have to ask Axel for his order, when it came to pancakes he always ordered the same thing. Good ol' normal pancakes. Because, to quote a certain red-headed pyromaniac, "These taste too good to ruin with other...stuff."

He looked up when he detected Axel's presence near the table and grinned.

"You're back from your little bathroom adventure?"

Axel pulled a face before sitting on the bench opposite his best friend.

"Don't say 'bathroom adventure'. It sounds like a cheap porno."

Roxas laughed before drawing his legs up so he could sit cross legged on the diner's plush bench.

"Hey boys," their waitress greeted before setting their food down in front of them, "enjoy and if you need anything else just give me a shout."

The thing about the diner was that even though they went to eat there so often, it was difficult to keep track of the staff that worked there. Because there was a university and several high schools situated in the area, many students worked at the diner until they had enough money for whatever they were saving up for, or they just realised that they couldn't balance work and studies. This meant that there was almost always a new face in the diner whenever they went there.

The waitress smiled at Roxas but when her gaze settled on Axel the smile morphed from a 'I'm smiling so that you'll tip me' into something relating more to 'Hey, I wanna get in your pants.' Roxas immediately felt involuntary anger shoot through his veins as he watched the flirty exchange.

"Thanks..." Axel trailed off as he searched her uniform shirt for a name badge, "Naminé? Nice name. "

The waitress, blonde and innocently cute and fragile looking, giggled. A faint blush was starting to taint her pale and delicate features.

She was pretty.

Gorgeous, in fact.

And that just made Roxas search harder for a flaw in her appearance.

He eventually gave up and settled on the assumption that she probably had webbed feet.

Or was really a man.

He angrily glared at her before spitting out a cold "Thanks, we'll call if we need anything."

The girl stammered out a startled sounding "S-sure" before rushing back to her station.

He stared down angrily at his chocolate-chip, Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes and realised how stupid he was being.

Axel was not his. They were not in a relationship. Best friends can flirt with girls in front of best friends.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to console himself and plastered a smile on his face.

"She's...uh, she's really pretty, isn't she?" he asked, stabbing at his pancakes with a little more force than the task required.

Axel picked up his own fork and started to tuck into his own plate of pancakes.

"Naminé? Yeah...she is pretty." He brought the fork laden with golden pancakey goodness to his mouth and chewed quickly before adding on another thought to his previous statement. "She kinda reminds me of you. Just...more pale, and you know...more girl-like."

"...oh, wow. Thanks." Roxas rolled his eyes and tried to keep his voice carefree even though the comparison had caused a stab of pain through his internal organs, "so far this night you've succeeded in insulting my masculinity on like, four different occasions."

"Aww, Roxie, you look so cute when you're fake angry!"

"Make that five."

Axel laughed, and as that sound rang through Roxas's ears, all the tension and awkwardness that Roxas's mind had created disappeared and he was able to enjoy the fact that he was having pancakes with his best friend in a crazy, Christmas themed diner at 5am on a Saturday morning.

"And then I was forced into wearing the stupid hat as well because Dem has this insane ability to guilt trip you into doing just about anything as soon as he pulls out his secret weapon."

Roxas laughed, enjoying this special 'Axel storytelling time' that came with very dramatic hand gestures and enough enthusiasm to make you want to pay attention to him.

"And what is Demyx's secret weapon?" Roxas asked, his curiosity rising.

"His damn puppy dog eyes. I swear that half the crazy shit that I've gotten in trouble for has been because of that damn music-crazed-"

Axel stopped talking because Roxas had, unintentionally, leaned forward in his seat and swept the pad of his thumb across the corner of Axel's lip, removing the smear of syrup that Roxas had spotted.

Silence followed as Roxas's brain finally caught up to his body's action and he fought to keep from running. He was so focused on that that he missed the fierce blush that covered Axel's cheeks, and the way that Axel was looking at him.

"Er...it's getting late. We should go." Roxas said, standing up and dusting crumbs from his shirt, all the while keeping his eyes settled on anything but his best friend.

"Y-yeah."

Roxas walked to the door of the diner, sending a smile to the nervous looking Naminé. He knew that she was probably going to give Axel her number once she rang up their bill.

And even though he knew that it was going to happen, seeing Axel slip that little piece of paper into his pocket, as he smiled and flirted with her, hurt more than it was meant to.

Well, hi there.
i'm actually pretty proud of the fact that i got this chapter out so soon espeically since school has been so hardcore recently. Teachers seem to think that they have to keep CONSTANTLY reminding us to study hard for the upcoming exams...like we don't already know that. -.-
Anyway.

HUUUUUUGE thank yous to memwwms, sakurasapprentice7, RisuMisu , and Moka nee-chan for reviewing.
You guys rock.
Also, huge thanks to everyone who favourited, alerted or just read this.

i hope that you enjoy it :)

oh, and of course...feedback is appreicated :D