'White Lies'

Disclaimer: "did you know arcticjordan DOESN'T actually own the rights to KH?"
*le gasp* "I know, shocking right?"

xxx

CHAPTER 9: The Beginning Again:

By the time Axel had run at least half-way to Twilight Cafe he realised, as he hunched over from the killer stitch in his side, that he had disregarded the perfectly good choice of a car or public transport that he could have used. Instead, he'd acted without even thinking about it – and if he went back home now, he'd be late and might give Roxas the wrong impression.

No way in hell was he going to be late.

Opting for a brisk power-walk so as not to worsen his stitch, Axel finally understood the reasoning behind his friends' thoughts over the past few days. Larxene, Demyx and even Riku had each visited Axel during his hibernation phase in an attempt to get him out of the house. They all seemed to feel he was too hung up on Roxas, too forgiving or Roxas and overall too compulsive around Roxas.

Which was ... true. To some extent. It would at least explain his irrational departure after Roxas had called.

This was it then, Axel had decided. He'd been in the process of falling in love (he refused to admit he had fallen in love) with Roxas for the better part of the year. If nothing was to come of this meeting then that was that. Axel would force himself to from that point on get over Roxas and crush his own feelings – even if that meant inflicting self-harm emotionally.

If no good was going to come of it, then there was no logical reason to keep feeling the way he felt about Roxas, right?

Axel was so deep in thought that it took him longer than necessary to notice he was now only about a block away from Twilight Cafe. He tried not to think about it, to bottle the nerves, to remain composed.

Then all he saw was Roxas – and anxiety hit him with the impact of one of Larxene's bitch-slaps.

Roxas was standing on the pavement outside Twilight Cafe. He was rugged up in a large coat with a look of ... Axel felt his heart clench, knowing that he couldn't have mistaken it – Roxas looked worried, no, scratch that, terrified. He looked about as great as Axel felt.

That was not a good sign.

Roxas glanced up and down the street and upon seeing Axel, the boy's whole body tensed up. He simply stood there, mute and wide-eyed, while Axel walked up to stand in front of him. It would have to have been the weirdest greeting exchange Axel had ever took part in.

In the continued silence Roxas turned around and began walking away, checking over his shoulder to check Axel followed. The pair continued down the street, and Axel was thankful that it was late enough nobody else was out. If anything a person spotting him tailing a small boy right now would probably mistakenly end up with him being arrested.

Suddenly Roxas veered left and walked into a crappy looking diner that Axel wouldn't have noticed under any other circumstances. There was about the same minute amount of customers in the diner as there had been when Axel had gone into Twilight Cafe that one time.

They sat at the table in the silence in a corner booth for at least another five minutes. Nobody served them or asked for their order, perhaps it was clear that they wanted no one to come near as something hugely important was to take place.

Once Roxas talked, that is.

Peering across at the blonde, Axel wanted to simply hug him. Although Roxas had instructed them to meet he still looked far too scared to talk. Sighing, Axel decided he'd help ease them into the conversation. Damn his giving nature.

"So, why a diner?"

"I didn't want to talk at work where my colleagues would eavesdrop and mock me forever afterwards." Roxas responded shortly.

The sudden image of the waitress who had unhelpfully served him surfaced in Axel's mind, making him understand completely, "Sure, sure."

Resting his hands on the tabletop and staring a few inches to Axel's right, Roxas took a deep breath and finally spoke. As in, properly spoke about what they were both here for.

"So... I think it has already been established that after everything that's happened we can't really go back to being conventional friends."

Axel frowned; a worried crease appearing between his eyebrows.

This wasn't the most promising way to start off their conversation. In his mind there were only two plausible outcomes considering how Roxas had reacting to their kiss – and they were either continue a now strange and awkward friendship or have no further involvement in each other's lives ever again.

Going by Roxas's opening sentence, Axel was betting on the latter.

xxx

The second the train began to pull away from the station, Roxas peered through the window and watched Axel tilt his head down and slowly walk away. He was still angry, but seeing Axel's body language... he looked so dejected. It was like a light had gone out in him. Roxas had never seen Axel look like that before.

And the kiss?

Roxas had never wanted himself to think about Axel and him sharing anything like that. But now that it had actually happened it would be impossible to erase anytime soon. So Roxas couldn't really help it if the few moments that Axel had grabbed him by his front and pulled him close surfaced to the front of his mind constantly.

It was so - intense. Roxas would never have imagined Axel could kiss like that. It was like what you read in those old classic novels. So much need and passion through a simple, innocent lip on lip. This was a ridiculous statement if you thought about it, considering Roxas and Axel had only kissed for a split second – before Roxas had punched Axel in the chin.

... He did feel a bit guilty about that last bit actually.

His brain was hooked on it. Stuck on a circular route. He couldn't simply hide away from Axel. That hadn't worked when Axel had told him he was ... falling in love with him and it definitely wasn't going to work with this kiss either. Eventually he'd have to meet up and talk with Axel.

It was surprisingly easy getting access to Axel's phone number. Although when he asked Demyx he did seem slightly hesitant. Roxas couldn't blame him, really. His duty as a friend to Axel meant he should be trying to protect him from harm. And Roxas had definitely hurt Axel an awful lot lately.

Still, there Roxas sat with his phone, Axel's number keyed in, finger hovering over the call button, unsure.

He'd only known Axel since the beginning of the year, when they'd met in Math class. He shouldn't feel so torn up over such a short-term friendship ending ... right?

Before he overanalysed his action and chickening out, Roxas hit the call button.

xxx

"So... I think it has already been established that after everything that's happened we can't really go back to being conventional friends."

Axel looked pained at that; but Roxas sat there quietly for a moment, choosing his following words carefully.

"Uh... so, since I've never really ... thought about it, I reckon it's only fair that I give it a shot really." Roxas mentally smacked himself. Way to make what he was saying vague.

It was almost amusing to watch the speed of Axel's expression morph from morbid to confused to restrained excitement, "Wait ... what?"

"I mean, it's a bit too late to resume our friendship as if nothing has happened. So ... I thought why not at the very least test having a relationship out?"

Axel suddenly became giddy, and instantly started attaching the word 'boyfriend' to the end of every sentence – which Roxas kept denying. They'd only just started 'seeing each other'. They didn't need to rush into the whole how to address each other debacle just quite yet.

"Ok, just to be clear," Axel said, unable to keep his elation hidden from his voice, "I need you to establish some boundaries for me."

"Uh, sure, I guess."

"Can we – go on dates?"

"I hate dates. I never even went on dates with Kairi. Too much pressure."

"Well, then what do we call it if we want to go to a movie together?"

Roxas gave Axel a less than impressed look and flatly replied, "We say we're going to the movies."

"But what if –"

"Axel. Is there anything of more importance you need to know? Otherwise I'm going home."

"Oh! Yeah! Actually, now that you mention it, I need to know where you draw the line. You neither a prude nor a slut so I was just wondering if you 'testing' this means I can go all the way with you since –"

"Axel!"

Given a sulky grumble, Axel slouched in his chair, "Well, then, what can we do?"

Fiddling with his unused napkin, Roxas's gaze met everything in the crappy diner except Axel. "We can ... hang out and joke around together and do what uh, normal c-couples do I suppose." He panicked when he saw the sly smirk on Axel's face, "Ah, you know, minus all the ... sex stuff."

"You look like a radish when you have to talk about sexual things. Embarrassed much?"

"It makes me uncomfortable." Roxas defended. It wasn't his fault that his last relationship had a distance spanned across 4 states – making sexual activity pretty impossible.

"You know I'll crack you down eventually." Axel said indifferently, "Trust me, after I force you to spend every waking second with me you'll be more sex crazed then I am."

"Impossible. You the horniest guy on the planet." Axel gave an outraged squawk, ruffling Roxas's hair and draping himself loosely over the blonde in a rough hug.

It was strange and new and different. But at the same time it felt undeniably nice – and Roxas knew right then that he'd made a good decision for once in his life.

xxx

When Roxas eventually got around to telling his friends that he was going out with Axel, they were all suspiciously unresponsive. It was almost as if they'd been expecting it – which was ridiculous, since who would really have considered it a possibility taking Roxas's prior reaction into account?

Straight away each of his friends took a turn in justifying why they'd known the two would end up together. It was quite aggravating really. Roxas hated the idea that his friends had been watching his and Axel's exchanges lately – as if it were some TV show – for entertainment.

Sora started them off, "Well, for one thing, at home you were really torn up. I assumed it had been over the break-up with Kairi but when I asked you about it you were very open and honest – which generally isn't the case. So I figured it had to be something else. Then there was that weird morning at the bus stop and then one of Axel's friend's kept on bugging me –"

Tidus cut Sora's rambling off, and justified his reasoning with a short, succinct, "He's the only person you were ever really close to other than our group. That definitely made the chances higher."

Next was Pence and Wakka, simultaneously saying, "Just a gut feeling."

Roxas sighed, leaning back against the wall. Was he really that readable?

Hayner then jumped into action, having been half-asleep while everyone else had been talking. Simply because he was Hayner, he didn't even justify his reasoning (probably because he didn't have any).

He jumped onto one of the lumpy old couches and loudly announced, "If you guys wind up getting married I've totally earned the right to be best man." Everybody else could see Roxas's face grow angry, "I already have a killer toast planned: ladies and gents, before my skilful interference roxas was a self-proclaimed hetero and axel a fuc-"

"Lovely. Thanks for the sentiment Hayner." Roxas cut off, not wanting to hear the no doubt insulting description of Axel his friend was about to voice.

Roxas was getting better at interacting with more people, even his close friends. He could now stand tall and defend himself instead of disappearing into the background like he used to. Tidus quite frankly was relieved considering that since Axel attracted so much attention (even if unwillingly), if Roxas planned on being around him nearly all of the time he'd have to somewhat adjust to the different social dynamic.

xxx

Later that month, Axel and Roxas were slowly walking to Math class after having lounged around on the lawn, when they came across a most unusual sight. Axel nudged Roxas and chuckled, while Roxas simply stood there, eyebrows raised. How had he not noticed?

Riku and Sora (the most mismatched pair Roxas had come across since ... well, since himself and Axel actually) were sprawled on a bench closer to the school talking away, too immersed in each other to even realise that the school bell had rung.

It seemed innocent enough, sure. And the last thing Roxas wanted to do was become one of those schoolyard gossips that linked a simple conversation to two people liking each other. But he could sense they was something more going on here. There was a chemistry crackling between his brother and Riku, which he and, Axel too he bet, could feel being emitted in waves.

Just as he intended on tugging Axel away, so as not to intrude on this intimate conversation, Axel of course had to be an idiot.

"Ooh, love is in the air!" Axel sang loudly, causing both Riku and Sora's faces to turn red and jump away from each other, to sit at a more tolerable distance.

"Shut up, Axel!" Riku retorted.

"Tad over defensive there, Ri-ku."

"We're just friends." Sora piped up.

"That's how it starts." Axel replied smarmily, "Take us for example," he hung his lanky arm over Roxas's shoulders, much to the boy's annoyance, who vainly tried to shrug his arm off.

"We're nothing like you!" Riku called to the pair's fast retreating backs, causing them to laugh to themselves.

"That's what they all say." The two said in unison.

And all was right in the world; at least that's how it felt to Axel anyway. Eventually he'd have to grudgingly thank Hayner for a lot. Who knew that a white lie that went so wrong could make everything turn out so right?

The benefits of practical jokes were so underrated.

END!

A/N: DONE! YEAH!
*checks last post date* ahahaha wow 7 months between chapters. I'm so sorry guys.
But whatever, it's done now – enjoy it.
I have a few new ideas under way but, considering how much I procrastinate + the fact that the uni semester is starting again next week, I recommend don't hold your breath while waiting.
I DO PROMISE THEY WILL BE OUT AT SOME POINT THOUGH.
Thanks for reading, bye :D