Ballad

by skinnedkneedmisfit

All Namine wanted was a cover band for her wedding. All Roxas wanted was to make his fiancee happy. All Axel wanted was to be heard.

23. Eternal Flame

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy! Warning: this chapter contains some nsfw bits!

In this chapter: Roxas gets to know all about Axel's tattoos on a very intimate level.

xxxXXXxxx

Ballad
Chapter Eighteen
"Eternal Flame"

xxxXXXxxx

Roxas woke up in his own bed.

At first, there was nothing strange about this, except he vaguely remembered not falling asleep there. What was strange was there was another person in the bed with him. Over the past few months, Roxas had grown used to going to sleep and waking up alone. A warm presence at his side and the dulcet sounds of someone else's breathing gave him the strangest sense of calm.

During the night Roxas had rolled in his side facing the wall. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Axel. He was sleeping on his back, mouth open and snoring softly, while clutching his pillow in a vice grip across his stomach.

It was… nice. It was actually incredibly pleasant that Roxas didn't have to feel worried or scared. There was no sneaking around or double lives to be paranoid about. He could just be here and enjoy the moment. The black-haired punk's face was so solidly asleep it was amusing. His eyes weren't even moving behind closed eyelids. He was out cold.

Judging by the sun shining through his bedroom window above his bed, it was still very early in the morning. Too early to do much but possibly go back to sleep. Roxas turned so he was facing Axel and scooted a little bit closer. He wondered whether or not it was worth it to try and pry Axel's strangle hold off the pillow, but decided he didn't feel like getting his spine crushed in the punk's arms so early.

Instead, he laid on his stomach and wrapped his arms around his pillow and just… looked, taking in the profile of the sleepy man. Axel's deep, solid breaths soothed him as his eyes slowly started to close back to sleep.

And then his morning alarm went off.

"-YOU UNDERSTAND? DO YOU FEEL THE SAME OR AM I ONLY DREAMING? OR IS THIS BURNING-"

Axel woke up with a start, choking on his uvula and coughing while Roxas panicked. The stupid oldies station Roxas usually woke up to was ruining everything.

"Shit! Fuck!"

"Whu?"

"-AN ETERNAL FLAME? I BELIEVE IT'S MEANT TO BE, DARLING. I-"

Through a feat no man could explain, Roxas managed to punch his clock-radio three times before picking it up and flinging it across the room, successfully unplugging it and making the music stop.

"Wuzzhapning? Bangles?"

"Nothing, go back to sleep," Roxas said, panting and now completely wired.

Axel yawned loudly, put his pillow back behind his head and laid back down. "Hey," he said, reaching out. His now-empty hands needed something to cling to and Roxas was the nearest replacement. The blond glanced over his shoulder to Axel's needy, outstretched arms and rolled his eyes. He laid back into bed and shimmied closer to Axel. "You have class today?" he mumbled, loosely draping his arm over Roxas' waist. Even though Axel's eyes were closed, Roxas still let out an embarrassed blush.

"…Yeah," Roxas sighed, thinking about the eight-AM lecture he had to get ready and catch a bus for. "Think I'm gonna skip it, though."

At that Axel cracked open one of his eyes and looked down at him. "Don't be too hasty on my account."

Roxas almost laughed out loud, rolling his eyes at him. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." He reached his arm up and pulled on one of the longer tufts of Axel's black hair. "Besides, I got big plans today."

Axel smirked and tugged Roxas in closer, smothering his face into the shorter man's neck. "Whatever. It can wait. For now, just… Close your eyes. Give me your hand, darling…" Axel slyly took Roxas' hand into his and gripped it tight once the blond realized what was happening.

"Axel."

"Do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand?"

"Axel, stop." Roxas shifted and tried to hold in a laugh as Axel forced him closer to his body.

"Do you feel the same? Or am I only dreaming? Or is this burning an eternal flame?"

"I think it's called chlamydia you should get that checked out."

"Hush. I believe it's meant to be darling. I watch you when you're sleeping. You belong with me."

Axel seemed to pause, anticipating Roxas to interrupt. He just stared up at him, blond eyebrow cocked as he stared into Axel's green eyes. "No comment."

Axel smirked and continued. "Do you feel the same, or am I only dreaming? But is this burning (burning) an eternal flame?"

Roxas felt Axel's arms go slack for a moment, figuring he had his fun. "Got that out of your-"

Before he could finish, Axel strengthened his grip and rolled over, pinning Roxas beneath him against the mattress. "SAY MY NAME! SUN SHINES THROUGH THE RAIN! OF ALL LIFE, SO-"

Roxas managed to get his arms free and pressed both hands against Axel's mouth. "Jesus Christ you've got to stop," he begged.

"I might. For a price," Axel said, muffled behind Roxas' hands.

Although he wasn't sure if he could believe him, Roxas lowered his arms and crossed them across his chest. "And what's that?"

Axel was positively leering. His elbows rested on either side of Roxas' head as he leaned down close, making their noses touch. "Something simple." His eyes flickered down to Roxas' lips, just for a moment, and watched as they tweaked upward. He decided to just go for it and leaned down that extra inch to kiss him.

This had nothing on their first kiss. It wasn't rushed. It wasn't nervous. Just a simple, chaste peck that somehow had Axel's heart bursting from his chest like a literal flock of butterflies. It felt so good. Too good. He pulled away and smiled at Roxas. Even after such a short kiss, the boy's cheeks were flushed and his eyes half-lidded and faded.

"Make me pancakes."

Roxas blinked. "What?"

"I'll shut up if you make me pancakes."

"Fucker what makes you think I got pancake mix, I don't even have coffee."

"Then make me cereal."

"I don't have milk."

Axel looked up towards the window and clenched his eyes shut. "Jesus. Oatmeal?"

"Gross."

Axel rolled off of Roxas and held his hands up. "Alright, get dressed, we're going grocery shopping. You're a grown ass man and you don't even have pancake mix." Axel swung his legs over the side of the bed and stretched his arms out while popping his back.

Roxas sat up and realized they were both still wearing the same clothes as last night. He crawled over to where Axel sat and draped his arms over his shoulders. "Are you sure you wanna go grocery shopping?" he asked softly. He could feel a very physical shiver go down Axel's spine, and he smiled. "Wouldn't you rather stay home," he said, lips on the shell of Axel's ear, "and dye your hair?" He tugged on the punk's hair again before dodging a pillow aimed at the side of his head.

"We all make mistakes, Roxas!" he whined. "But seriously it's gonna take a long time to dye my hair, I can take care of it myself, it's no big deal."

"I wanna help, though. We have all the stuff here, may as well, right?"

Axel seemed to ponder over it a little bit before glancing at Roxas and grinning. "Fine. You have any experience with this?"

"I went to the salon with Namine once… And there was that one time I hung out with Kairi when she was dyeing her hair while I waited for Sora to get home."

"Ah, so you're an expert." He stood up and popped his back again. "Okay. C'mon, I'll show you the secrets to my success." He grabbed his bag from the convenience store from the coffee table and followed Roxas into the restroom. "I hope you're ready for a lot of gross fumes and the possibility of this not working."

Roxas paused in pulling out an old towel from the cabinet under the sink. "Wait- it might not work."

Axel just shrugged. "It's a cheap dye I used," he said, looking in the mirror and pulling on a tendrel by his ear. "But it's been in there forever and sometimes that makes it more difficult."

The color correction box came with a small packet of directions that unfolded to be nearly the size of a newspaper page. There were several warnings including opening a window, but Roxas' bathroom didn't have a window. He worried his lip. "This seems… really complicated. Wouldn't it be easier going to a hair studio?"

"Yeah, with what money?" Axel placed the instructions on the counter, then in one fell swoop removed his shirt. He didn't seem to notice Roxas' sudden, quiet gasp as he wrapped the towel around his shoulders like a shawl. The color correction kit came with a pair of gloves, a brush, and a plastic cap.

With hand-eye coordination skill Roxas wasn't sure he himself possessed, Axel pulled on the gloves and started applying the color correction mixture like this was something he did all the time. "Doesn't that hurt?" Roxas asked. The room was starting to smell like something rotten. "Like doesn't it burn or something?"

Axel glanced down at him and shrugged. "Maybe it did the first few times." The first few times. Axel really was going to lose all his hair. "But I guess you get used to it."

Roxas wasn't sure how much it would help, but he left the bathroom door open and went into his bedroom to open the window. While he was there he went ahead and changed out of the clothes he had been wearing since yesterday. He swapped his jeans and band tee for pajama bottoms and a more comfortable white undershirt. For good measure he opened the window at the front of the apartment to get a decent cross-breeze going. Upon returning to the bathroom, it looked like Axel was over halfway finished applying the mixture to his hair. The punk's eyes glanced him up and down through the mirror, noting his change of clothes.

"Pardon while I slip into something more comfortable," Roxas joked. Axel paused for a minute and quickly leaned down to give Roxas a brief kiss on the cheek.

"Fucking adorable," he muttered loud enough for Roxas to hear. He went back to work on his hair and Roxas took a moment to examine Axel's progress.

"I think you're missing a few spots," Roxas said. Axel dropped the piece he was working on and tried to turn so he could still see his hair in the mirror, with little success. After a moment he gave up.

"It doesn't really matter," he said, continuing with his work. "We're dyeing it again in a second anyway."

Roxas read over the instructions again. "It says here to wait at least a day before re-dyeing it."

Axel's lips pressed to a thin, crooked smile. "Yep, it sure does." Holy shit Axel was going to lose all his hair. One he was finished, he collected his hair to the top of his head and wrapped the plastic cap around it. "Okay now we wait a few minutes. You got a hair dryer or something?"

There was an awkward moment for Roxas when he realized that when Namine left, she also took a bunch of her things he was used to having access to without question. Those things including her hair dryer, straightener, and even some of her makeup. While Roxas hadn't gotten up the nerve to buy eyeliner for himself, he did manage to make it out of the haircare aisle at the grocery story with some basic hardware. He pulled the hair dryer out from a drawer and handed it off to Axel.

The punk plugged it in and just stood there while he let the hot hair blow across his plastic-wrapped scalp. He seemed to be concentrating, and Roxas was beginning to get hungry, so he left the bathroom to put a kettle on and try and find something for them to eat. He was starting to feel really fucking pathetic not having anything in his kitchen. Not that he would've been able to know that Axel would suddenly appear, but it would have been nice to surprise him with pancakes. So he liked pancakes. He stored that information for later.

The only thing he had that could remotely be considered breakfast food were eggs and toast. He took out the griddle and went to work. Luckily eggs were relatively hard to screw up. Within a few minutes he had a hot breakfast ready, including tea with caffeine in it that Roxas took a few sips of before walking into the bathroom with the food.

Axel was sitting on the toilet with a bored look on his face until Roxas walked in and his eyes lit up. He glanced at the plate as it was placed on the counter and he clicked the hair dryer off.

"Gross you eat in the bathroom?" That didn't stop him from grabbing a piece of toast with a fried egg on top, like a poor man's egg biscuit, and shoving all of it in his mouth at once. Roxas didn't say a thing as he grabbed the other piece and took a bite, jumping up on the counter to sit.

"How much longer?" Roxas asked. Axel stood back up and checked in the mirror, peeking under the plastic cap. Roxas was surprised that his hair was significantly lighter.

"Not much." He flung the cap off and gave his hair a closer inspection. "Actually, I think it's ready to be rinsed." Roxas wasn't entirely sure what that would entail, but Axel was already combing his hair forward and turning on the shower. Without a second of hesitation, he braced his hands on the tiled walls and dunked his head under the water. Roxas just watched as Axel rinsed away the color correction. After a few minutes and then squeezing the excess water out, Axel leaned back and glanced at Roxas.

"You really are a redhead," Roxas said, pulling on a piece of damp, light-colored hair. Axel just frowned and reached for the hair dryer again.

"Tell no one of my secret shame. I'm letting you see me in my natural state because I trust you." Roxas had half the mind to go into the living room and grab his cell off the coffee table to take a quick picture. He decided to stay perched on the countertop while Axel lazily blow-dried his hair. The loud sound was almost comforting, too loud to talk, and Roxas closed his eyes and nearly drifted off before waking up with a jolt when the dryer was shut off.

"Okay now I'll need your help," Axel said, opening up the cardboard box for the hair dye. Roxas was excited about finally being helpful that he jumped off the counter to read the instructions. It seemed simple enough.

"So that's it?" he asked, reading the short guide. It even game with illustrations.

"Yup! Just try not to get any on my skin, the stuff stains."

Roxas was glad he changed clothes. It would've sucked to get red dye all over his favorite jeans. Axel didn't really seem to mind if he got any on his black jeans or not. He readjusted the towel around his shoulder and saddled the toilet so he faced the wall. It made it easier for Roxas to reach his hair. The dye came in a tube with a small bottle of conditioner to mix together in a cheap plastic bowl. Roxas put on the gloves and prayed that he did this right.

It was basically the equivalent of smearing maroon pudding into Axel's hair. He made sure to get his ginger roots to hide his secret, although Roxas really didn't understand why. He thought it was cute. Using the tips of his fingers he wiggled around his scalp to make sure he got all the strands close to his head.

While he was busy making sure he didn't splatter any ink onto Axel's skin, Roxas was constantly distracted by the second skin of Axel's tattoos covering his body. This was the first time he was ever really able to pause and inspect. He tried to sneak a few peeks that weren't hidden under the towel. It was mostly a bunch of words. His entire body was just some young person's journal entry of their favorite song lyrics and memories.

"Do you ever think… that maybe when you're older you might regret it?"

Axel had nearly fallen asleep to the sensations of Roxas massaging the dye into his scalp that he jerked and glanced behind him. "Hm? Regret what?"

"Like, what if you really liked a song but then you grew to hate it? Would it make you angry that you have it tattooed on your body?"

He seemed to pause and think about Roxas' words before facing the wall again and resting his elbows on the water basin. "I don't think that could ever happen. Sure, songs get overplayed and it may lose the original meaning, but for those songs, the ones that really mean something to you, it's different. When you find something that really changes you, you remember that moment. You want it to be a part of you forever. I have a lot of different tattoos, but they all represent a feeling that I want to remember forever. They're mostly all positive. So when I look at my body, all I see are good memories. I feel a sense of pride because of that."

Roxas smiled as he rubbed the dye into the last big section of hair from the back. "Hey, turn around so I can see the front better."

Axel shifted so he was facing Roxas. His towel hung loosely across his shoulders and showed off his chest and stomach. There was hardly any real estate left for new tattoos, practically every inch was covered. The centerpiece was a large banner on his chest, just below his clavicle. Roxas had seen it numerous times, but he never really understood it. "What does that mean?" Roxas asked, taking a step back for a moment and gesturing towards the sprawling gothic text. "Cantus Vici Totus? Is that some kinda spell?"

Axel smirked. "Kinda. Basically… cantus is a term for song. It's where we get music terms like cantilena, cantata, canticles, and like a ton others… It can mean… anything really, a lyric, a poem, a chant…" He pointed to the tattoo and brought his point home. "It sorta means 'Music Conquers All.'"

Roxas remembered some of the words on his chest from engravings set in stone on the older buildings on campus. "What made you choose Latin?"

Axel just shrugged and tilted his head. "Took it in high school. Thought it was cool."

"What? I thought you took French!"

"I did take French! After I dropped out of Latin…"

"If you hated it enough to drop out of why did you get a tattoo of it?"

Axel's smirk stretched to an unabashed grin. "…Well-"

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Believe it or not, there was a time in his life, sometime between the creation of Latin and when he first laid eyes on Roxas Strife, that Axel did not have fire-engine red hair. There was a time before the tattoos on his body. There was a time before 13 Hearts. A time before he was even called Axel. A time where he spent his summer vacations walking the streets of Traverse Town, because it somehow made more sense to fry on the sidewalks than bake in the oven of his home.

Lea Paul was thirteen. Two weeks before he entered high school. He stood on the sidewalk in front of a music store that just got in a beautiful cherry red Stratocaster with a little shimmer to it. Lea had been ogling it for weeks now, but there was no way he'd ever be able to afford it. Instead he liked to spend hours standing in front of the window, hoping against hope that a millionaire would drive past in a limousine and take pity on the poor boy and write him a check for three thousand dollars, conveniently the same price as the tag in the window display.

"It's cool looking, isn't it," someone said. Lea didn't even acknowledge the words were directed at him before a body shifted in the corner of his vision. He glanced over and saw a boy. About his age, a little shorter, a little thicker, but with the same wistful gaze at the Strat in the display.

"It's pretty rad," Lea sighed, turning his eyes back to the window. "Could never afford it, though."

"Never say never," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Mow enough lawns and anything's possible."

Lea rolled his eyes and looked back at the kid. He wore nice department store jeans with manicured holes in the knees, brand new sneakers with clean laces, and a shirt crisp and starch over his roly-poly body. Of course some fatass rich kid was going to give him advice on saving money.

"Well, that's gonna be a hard pass," Lea said. Mowing lawns and manual labor weren't exactly his style. He'd much rather listen to music on his walkman and read comic books in the privacy of his bedroom, thank you very much.

The boy started moving, shifting a little wildly. He was rocking back and forth on his feet, with a slight bounce on the tips of his toes. "I have a guitar! It's just an acoustic that belonged to my dad, but I can play." Well now he was just bragging.

"I can play too!" Lea said. In all honestly he only knew two chords, but that was only one chord away from being able to play in a punk band, and for thirteen Lea thought that was pretty darn good.

"Wanna come over to my house then?" The way he asked didn't sound like a challenge, but Lea took it as one.

"Hell yeah, lead the way."

The boy's bright smile was like a beacon as he led Lea out of the neighborhood and into the suburbs. The further they went, the more Lea realized that these were nice houses. Old ones that had been there for so long that some of them had historical markers on the front. The trees in the lawns were huge and sprawling, covering the sidewalks and the streets from the summer sun. They talked about stupid stuff, their favorite bands, favorite albums, favorite songs, until they arrived at another house that looked like it was from a period drama.

"This is my aunt's house. I live here," he explained, leading the way up the stone steps to the blue front door. Without knocking or taking out a key, the boy walked right in and shouted, "I'm home!"

Nobody answered, but Lea soon realized they weren't alone. There was a girl, a little girl, watching afternoon cartoons on the couch. She couldn't have been older than seven. She didn't reply when Lea walked past, but made eye contact and hid her face halfway behind a pillow clutched to her tummy.

"Is Aunt Mal home?" the boy asked her, and her silver-blonde locks shook as she turned her head side to side. He seemed somewhat relieved by her response. "Okay, cool. We're gonna be in my room. Knock if you need anything."

He turned to Lea and motioned for him to follow up a stairwell. Every wooden step creaked under their weight as the old house seemed to shift around them. The inside of the house itself was rather bare. There were no photographs, only framed landscape paintings on the wall. No clutter. It made Lea feel uncomfortable and afraid to touch anything.

The boy's room was like a breath of fresh air. He had posters for all his favorite bands that he told Lea about hanging on his wall, but not much stuff. There was a small boom box by his bedside table and small stacks of CDs and several cassette tapes littered nearby. Most notably, an acoustic guitar sat in the corner. Lea immediately frowned.

"That's a bass guitar."

"I know. My dad used to play it all the time when I was a kid." He sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled the guitar into his lap. Immediately he started plucking a little melody from the thick coiled strings. Lea was impressed. It wasn't a difficult piece, and he had to continuously stare at the neck to make sure his fingers were in the right positions. Sometimes he stalled or missed, but it was better than anything Lea could do.

The boy looked up at him and grinned crookedly, seemingly ashamed of his own playing. "You wanna try?"

"How am I supposed to play a bass guitar, there's only four strings!" he complained. The boy just shrugged and started playing the same melody again. He was practicing.

"So, do you own a guitar?" he asked, and at that exact moment he missed a note. He wasn't very good at talking and playing.

"Um, yeah… an acoustic, too. A Fender."

"You should bring it by sometime! Maybe we could work on something together…" Something being a song.

It never really occurred to Lea to play music with someone else. He had the acoustic guitar because it was cheaper than an electric. Mostly, he just used it to try and play songs he heard on the radio. Since his house had a computer but no printer, he would painstakingly draw out his own chord charts and looked up progressions for his favorite songs. He found writing sheet music was easier than drawing chords, and he quickly learned how to transcribe songs into sheets in a basic shorthand that pretty much only he could read, but it got the job done. He wasn't really good at memorizing just yet, but he was getting there. He could feel it.

"…Yeah, I'd like that."

They sat in his room for about an hour before the boy noticed the time. "My aunt's gonna be home soon. You should probably head out."

Lea cocked his head. "Why? Am I not allowed here?"

He didn't receive an answer, just a hesitant laugh as the boy placed his bass back in the corner of the room. He even went so far as to put a bedsheet over it to hide it. "She just doesn't like loud noises, is all."

With that, Lea left the house and found his way back home. His mom's car was parked in the driveway. When he walked through the door she was in the kitchen emptying out a grocery bag. "That you, kiddo?" she hollered, not realized he was standing right beside her.

"Yep," Lea replied, and started helping her put the week's groceries away.

"Leave a note next time. Usually you're home before dinner."

He dumped the oranges into the bowl on the counter. "Sorry. I met this kid and we hung out at his place. He has a bass guitar and he said we could play together if I wanted!"

His enthusiasm made her smile. "That's fun! Are you gonna do it?" Lea nodded his head. "What's his name?"

Lea blinked. "Uh."

Riku Kuroyama. The kid's name was Riku Kuroyama. Lea felt like an idiot asking the next time they hanged out, but apparently Riku felt pretty stupid too because he didn't know Lea's name either.

"Like the guitars? Gibson Les Pauls?" Riku asked. Lea held onto his Fender a little tighter.

"No. Not like Gibsons," he said. Although Lea knew several boys named "Lee," the way his distracted, exhausted mother filled in his name after just giving birth gave him no end of grief in elementary and middle school. Girls would snicker. Boys would trash him in the school yard. Perhaps it's the name that made him strong, but he wouldn't wish this fate on anybody.

Lea had just appeared on Riku's doorstep one afternoon with his guitar strapped to his back, hoping the boy would be home. He was even sure to show up early so they would have more time to jam before his aunt got home. Even if they were playing acoustic, it still got noisy.

When Lea arrived back home, it was nearly time for supper again and his mom was standing over the stove stirring a pot of spaghetti. "How'd you do today, kiddo?"

"Good! I learned how to play the opening part to Sweet Child of Mine."

She looked at him, impressed. "Really?"

He took the guitar off his back and wrapped the strap across his shoulder. It was a little slow and messy, he kept having to pause to make sure his fingers were on the right frets, but he managed to make it through. It was his first time trying to pluck a melody like that, rather than playing chords.

"That's really impressive! Did Riku teach you that?"

"Kind of. He's good at plucking. I wanna be better than him someday."

She placed a lid on top of the noodles and went to work warming up the sauce in a separate pot. "How old is he?" she asked, simply curious.

Lea blinked. "…Uh."

Thirteen. Riku Kuroyama was thirteen, same as Lea. Their birthdays were both in the spring, in the same month of March too. Luckily it wasn't as embarrassing as asking for a name. Lea was secretly glad that they were the same age, it would've been bothersome if Riku were too much older or younger.

Today they decided to play outside on the patio in the backyard. The overgrown foliage covered the entire yard, creating a nice shaded canopy for them to practice under. Riku insisted that they spend most of their time learning how to play When I Come Around, his favorite song from his favorite band. On this visit Lea decided to bring his music binder where he kept blank pages of sheet music. They looked up the chords online and Lea translated it onto the paper, explaining to Riku how he was able to read it. Riku was a fairly quick adapter and learned how to read Lea's scrawl within an hour. He liked it, saying it was like a secret language only they could understand.

They started playing, and Riku started singing along. "I heard you crying loud, all the way across town, 'cause you been searching for that someone and it's me out on the prowl, as you sit around feeling sorry for yourself…"

Lea stopped strumming for a moment. This was different. It wasn't like the somewhat nasally singing that usually accompanied this kind of music. Riku sang from his diaphragm, loud and clear. "That's… really good," Lea commented.

Riku couldn't fight the tinge growing on his ears. "Thanks, but I- I dunno. I haven't… my voice hasn't changed yet so I don't… know how long it'll last," he muttered. It was horrifying, being a teenager on the cusp of puberty. Lea had noticed his voice starting to crack earlier in the year, after his first big growth spurt, and it was both exciting and the scariest experience he could imagine. He'd tried to sing before, even if it was just along to the radio, but he wasn't as good. For Riku it seemed to come naturally, but for Lea, he had to work and focus to try and force his voice to hit the notes he wanted them to hit.

Music was difficult.

Lea wasn't really the type to volunteer himself into something challenging on purpose, but sitting on the patio, hearing the cicadas buzz, and looking at the boy playing next to him made him want to try.

When he got home that evening he found his mom on the couch with a cigarette watching television.

"I want an electric guitar," he said. He usually didn't request much. He was aware of his family's situation. And it wasn't like he was asking for the three-thousand dollar Strat hanging in the window at the music store. "Maybe for Christmas or something."

She flicked some ash into the tray on the coffee table. "Christmas is five months away, kid," she said with a smirk. "But thanks for the heads up. We'll see what Santa can provide." Lea smiled proudly and sat on the overstuffed easychair and placed his guitar in his lap.

"Wanna hear what we did today?"

"Of course." She put the television on mute and turned her attention to her son. Lea took a deep breath and tried not to mess up. He hit a wrong chord and cursed under his breath, his mom didn't seem to care, and soldiered through as far as he could get before it got to the part where Riku would start singing, and he stopped.

"That was amazing!" she said. "You learned all of that in one day?"

"Yeah. Riku's really cool. He can do… like, everything," Lea said, laughing hesitantly. The more he hung out with him the more he realized how immensely talented the boy was. Lea couldn't hold a candle to that flame.

His mom had that nostalgic, happy look on her face that screamed My baby's making friends. She flicked some more ash from her cigarette. "So what school does he go to?"

Lea blinked. "…Motherfu-"

"Language."

As luck would have it, or maybe it wasn't entirely coincidence since Riku technically lived closer to the campus than Lea did, they were zoned in the same high school. They even shared some classes! Lea considered himself fortunate arming himself in his freshman year of school with a cool kid who could play an instrument. A cool instrument. Not like those losers in marching band.

"Do you think we could join marching band?" Riku asked, eyeing a recruitment table in the cafeteria. The space was filled with tables for various clubs and organizations trying desperately to find new members.

"No. Why? …God no, are you insane?"

"Well, I mean, you're good at music, I'm good at music. Maybe we could get a grade to play music."

"The marching band doesn't have guitars, idiot. This school doesn't even have an orchestra," Lea muttered, much to his disappointment. He would love to learn how to pluck better with some traditional guitar lessons. He looked over at the recruitment table for the band. There were three kids behind the table, an overzealous trombone player speaking a little too loud to a student who had dared to step too close to the booth, an eagle-eyed senior marking new potential targets from across the room, and a bored looking boy leaning back in his chair simultaneously eating a Slim Jim and texting on his cell phone.

The bored looking boy would become important later on.

Lea shook his head and turned back to his schedule. "What do you have after this?"

"English Lit, you?"

He smirked. "The complete opposite. Latin."

ooo

Several weeks into the school year, Lea was starting to notice a problem. High school was hard. He was doing okay in his core classes, although he wished science wasn't always such an uphill struggle, but Latin was seriously face-in-the-dirt pummeling his ass. Getting a decent grip on the English language was hard enough. He only took the course because the idea of a 'dead' language sounded really cool to him. Maybe he had made a huge mistake.

"Bonum commune communitatis…" he said, looking at his notes. He closed his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "Bonum… commune… c- communitas- No. Fuck."

Riku strummed his bass. He sat on Lea's bed with his guitar in his lap while Lea sat on the floor, Latin notes sprawled around him in preparation for a huge test he had tomorrow. "You were close, though?"

"Yeah?" Lea asked, a sarcastic sneer across his face. "Well close doesn't cut it. My teacher is a nightmare. She acts like she doesn't give a shit and then you get your quiz back and it's marked to hell like- like what the fuck."

"You're panicking."

"I'm allowed to panic," Lea shot him an icy glare. "Just because somebody's strict-as-fuck aunt made you take french classes in middle school…"

"I didn't make you take Latin, Mister Dead Language." Riku put his bass down. "And hey, I'm doing you a favor. I couldn't take French this year because it overlapped with my Bio class but, if you play your cards right, we can take it together next year and I can guarantee you an easy A." Lea smiled at the thought. "You just gotta survive Latin first."

"Stupid waste of time," Lea sighed, looking down at the confusing mass of vowels and consonants. Luckily he just needed three language credits to graduate. It didn't matter if the credits were all from the same language.

Riku plucked a short bass solo while Lea continued his struggle. "Hey, I've got an idea."

"Hit me."

"Okay, so what if-"

"No, I mean literally punch me in the face, please." Lea looked up at his friend, eyes big and glassy. "This is a nightmare."

"Well, it might be less of a nightmare if you made a song."

"What?"

"Yeah. Like, find vocabulary words that rhyme and just sorta… throw them together. In a way that makes sense." Riku placed his guitar on the bed and crawled down to the floor, picking up the worksheet Lea was struggling with. "Like this. Communitatis rhymes with… discipulus. Sort of. So we just…" He grabbed the textbook nearby and flipped to the dictionary in the back. It took him a moment to find a word that worked.

"Okay," Riku said. "So, Bonum commune communitatis, optimum canticum discipulus."

"…Oh."

"This helped me with French. Just find shit that rhymes, use words you don't know, and remember the English counterpart, so when you're stuck on a sentence where you don't know the vocab, just sing the song and it helps. For me, at least."

"That's… genuinely helpful."

Riku shot him a look. "Don't act like I don't save your ass all the time." He stood back up and sat on the bed, placing his bass back on his lap. "Hurry up and finish so we can play." Always impatient. His legs were bouncing and Lea was close to recommending him to sprint up and down the street a few times.

"I'm studying for an exam," Lea reminded. "There's no stopping point tonight."

But Riku continued to thumb his bass, coming up with little licks and melodies that made Lea's hand twitch towards his music binder. He kept telling himself to focus, but it eventually became too much and he grabbed his guitar leaning against the wall.

"Now we're talkin'!" Riku said happily, sitting up a little bit straighter.

"It's just to help me practice Latin," Lea warned. He took a moment to tune and started playing to a new little song he had written in the margins of his notes. After he played it a couple times, Riku played along with a bass rhythm that made Lea look up and smile.

"Bonum commune communitatis, optimum canticum discipulus-

Cattus et canis bellum, legisperitum vociferatus veritatem-

Ego vereri probatio, cras surgam, cantus vici totus."

When he realized Lea had finished Riku nodded in appreciation. "I have no idea what any of that meant, but I assume it'll help you?"

"I dunno. It's better than reading the same sentence over and over again and never sticking."

Riku smiled. "Cool. Sing it again. I like your voice."

Lea wasn't expecting the compliment and looked back down to his vocabulary list. "I'm not. I'm… whatever."

"You've got a voice made for dead languages," Riku chuckled, strumming his thumb across his strings before tamping them down to silence them. "Go on."

Lea took a deep breath and sang it again. Riku busted out a little bass lick at the end, and Lea started adding new verses.

It was their very first song.

And Lea passed his exam by the skin of his teeth.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"Cute," Roxas said, giving Axel's scalp one last look before declaring himself finished with applying the dye.

"Get every nook and cranny?" he asked, standing up and checking his hairline in the mirror. Roxas did a pretty good job staying in the lines, as it were. "Not too shabby."

"Now what?"

"Now we wait some more!" Axel said with a laugh at Roxas' pained expression. "Hey, I warned you this was gonna take forever."

After his was finished rolling his eyes, he glanced back down at Axel's torso and saw another tattoo without an obvious meaning. It was a small rose on Axel's ribcage with three petals falling from it. "What's this rose one mean?" Roxas asked, figuring Axel wouldn't be able to see it from his angle if Roxas pointed.

"Oh! That's really old, actually. One of my firsts. I got tattoos for all of my friends."

Roxas gave him a look. "I thought it would've been an 'Axel Rose' thing. Why would you do something like that?" It seemed about as stupid as getting a lover's name tattooed over your heart. What would happen if the relationship went south?

"Like I said before, to remember the good times, feel nostalgic if they end. I'm a romantic at heart." He beamed down at Roxas while the blond shook his head, motioning for Axel to sit back down on the toilet lid while waiting for the dye to set. "My very first tattoo was this one," he said, pointing to a small red heart with a black outline on his shoulder, couldn't have been bigger than a quarter, with the word 'MOM' written inside in simple black letters. "I was seventeen and wanted to get a tattoo. The parlor said I needed to have a parent come with me to give consent. At first I wanted to get some music related thing, but then I realized I wouldn't have music if it weren't for her. So she held my hand and I totally didn't cry and after about thirty minutes, whoomp there it is."

He pointed to a stripe of kanji that went down the side of his right forearm. "This was my second, after I graduated high school and before I moved to the harbor. Riku wrote it out and Fuu designed the calligraphy. It says Odoru Hi no Kaze… it's sort of a nickname he gave me. And this," he said, twisting around and pointing blindly to the small rose on his ribcage, "was my third. In recognition of the best drummer I've ever known."

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Fall was marching band season, not that Lea and Riku, proud sophomores, really noticed or cared. They spent the time when they didn't have to be in class hanging out in the courtyard with a bunch of kids of similar ilk. Ripped jeans, oversized band shirts, and perhaps too many necklaces and bracelets…

Lea sat perched on a large rock, one of several that decorated the courtyard, while Riku sat next to him, legs dangling as he swung them back and forth. "Why are there so many people out today?" Riku asked. Lea glanced up and noticed that, yeah, there were a lot of students hanging out around the courtyard. A lot of teachers, too.

"Was there a fight?"

"Doesn't look like it…"

Riku continued looking around, wondering if he'd see an answer. "Oh, y'know what, dude? I think there's the homecoming rally today." That would explain it. The only thing good that came from pep rallies were the extended lunch hour. Lea didn't have to pretend not to care as he skipped a song on his discman.

After a few moments of silence between them, Riku added, "So I had another idea for a song."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'll show you after school."

"Rad."

They had a small smattering of 'songs,' and the only reason why Lea hesitated to call them that was because there was something missing. Something incredibly vital to any punk outfit.

"I think-" Ironically, Lea was cut off by the sound of drums.

Although he wasn't in marching band, Lea was somewhat familiar with how the system worked. If a person plays well enough, they get 'first chair' and that means they get the better parts. The solos. There was a boy at the lead of the drumline wearing a set of tenors on a harness across his shoulders. His face was blank and focused as he marched down the hallway. Their school was innercity and huge so their band was also one of the biggest in the state. You couldn't go anywhere near the band hall without seeing dozens of banners of all the competitions they won. Even the drumline competed in several contests and always ranked nationally. So this boy, marching with as many as thirty other drummers to his back, and nine other tenors to his side, signaled he was the best of them all. He played louder and with more ferocity than any of the other drummers.

His eyes looked so damn hollow and angry that Lea turned to Riku and said, "We gotta get him for our band."

To which Riku blinked and turned to his friend. "We have a band?"

ooo

Instead of hunting down the mysterious drummer in the band hall, Lea took a different approach. The Monday after homecoming, he and Riku went into the library to check out last year's yearbook. There was no way that kid was a freshman. The club page for the marching band included a huge panoramic of all the band members, with the drumline front and center posing with their drums. Lea found the tenors and zeroed in on their guy.

"There he is!" he said. His hair was a little shorter, and since there were so many kids in the photo, his picture was reduced to being only a few millimeters wide, but Lea was sure of it. Unfortunately, the list of names underneath was alphabetical and not in order of the photo. Thankfully since the band was so huge, whoever organized the list of names had them split into subcategories. They only had to look up a few names in the tenors section before they found him.

Marluxia Floris. A junior.

"Well at least he's not a senior," Riku said. "It shouldn't be difficult to find him and join us." Famous last words.

Venturing to the band hall took some nerve. Despite the club being as huge as it was, it was run like a village where everybody knew everybody and had the paranormal ability to suss out anyone who didn't belong. As soon as Lea and Riku entered the giant room where indoor practices were held, all eyes were on them. The boys tried to ignore it as they made their way to the back of the space where the drumline traditionally stayed. It looked like Marluxia wasn't around, but a friendly looking girl Lea recognized from the drumline stood next to her snare and chatted with a friend. Chatty girls were usually a good bet.

"You talk to her," Lea murmured. Riku jerked to attention and turned to him.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're the kinda cute girls like. Just talk to her."

Riku's frown only increased. "That's stupid. That's not true." Was it? Lea rolled his eyes and wondered why his friend was even questioning himself and nudged him forward with his elbow. Riku pulled nervously at the hem of his shirt and stepped forward. Deep breath. "H-Hey." The other drummer the girl was talking to motioned at Riku, and she turned around to look at him. She looked popular, ginger red hair pulled back into a high ponytail and glasses with chic frames. She blinked, then smiled widely.

"Yes?"

"I- We're looking for a guy…" he said, really wishing he could talk without stuttering. That would be really cool right about now.

She tilted her head. "A guy?"

"A drummer," Riku said. His face was starting to glow crimson. The girl seemed to have no qualms with maintaining eye contact while in the meantime Riku couldn't stop staring at her shoulder. "Marluxia?" She lifted a brow. "Marluxia Floris?" Riku wanted to punch himself in the stomach. Like there were any other Marluxias that went to this school.

She craned her face to the ceiling, smile turning from genuine to slightly sickened. "Of course you are." For a brief second she glanced over her shoulder to the other drummer, who shrugged, before turning back to Riku, broad smile back in place. "You'll have to talk to the drum major."

Riku was clueless. Was that the leader of the drumline? "C-cool. Um…" It didn't seem like any of the other people were more than random members of the percussion.

"They usually hang out together in the offices," she said, pointing to a short hallway where solo practice rooms and offices were kept. "But I'd knock first. They like to… well, I don't have to spell it out for you."

Riku's shoulders tightened for a moment, and Lea was certain he saw his white hair puff up in defense. "No," Riku said. "I think you oughta spell it out for me." The boy was getting on the defensive, for some reason Lea couldn't begin to fathom, but he knew it was dangerous when his best friend took that tone. Lea pulled on Riku's shoulder, hiding the shorter teen to rage behind him as he tried to enact damage control.

"Thank you… Sorry, I don't think I caught your name," Lea said, trying to act suave but he was fifteen and it was difficult when he had acne scars all over his forehead. Damn Riku and his naturally clear complexion.

The girl glanced up at him, smirking. "Myrtle."

Lea acted as gracious as possible with the kettle of over-bubbling rage beside him. "Thank you, Myrtle. We can find him now." He steered Riku away from the drum section and towards the offices. "What was that?" he whispered loudly in Riku's ear. He knew Riku could get hot-blooded over certain things, but he didn't hear the girl say anything particularly offensive. At least, he thought.

"Are you deaf?" Riku responded, still prickly. "The way she spoke, you could-" he paused for a moment, glancing up at Lea. "You know the drum major is a boy this year, right?" Lea wasn't sure if he did or didn't. With band being the biggest department in the school, it seemed like it made sense to know who was the shadow king behind the conductor. However Lea still felt like the pieces weren't lining up completely.

Before Lea could reply, the office door swung open and they were face-to-face with an imposing senior with a stern face and brown eyes so pale they looked yellow. He acknowledged the two boys immediately as people who didn't belong in the band hall. "Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked, voice deep and mature. Axel was already jealous.

"We were just…" Lea trailed off when the boy they were looking for appeared behind the drum major, not bothering to glance up from a booklet of sheet music as he slinked by them towards the back of the hall to the drumline. "Ah- wait a second, Marluxia?" The boy perked at his name and turned around. At first it seemed like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to recognize them or not.

He glanced between the two boys and the drum major. The senior could tell he wasn't needed by the younger students and moved to the desk at the front of the hall near the podium. "…Yes?" Marluxia asked.

"I'm Lea, and this is Riku," he introduced, gesturing towards his sullen friend. "We're in a band and we're looking for a drummer."

The boy nodded, seeming to understand slightly. "Ah. You're looking for recommendations?"

Lea shook his head. "Uh, not really. Ideally, we're looking for you."

Marluxia seemed shocked for a moment. "Sorry, I've never played a drum set before, but Myrtle," he said, pointing to the redhead still chatting with her friends in the back, "her dad's a drummer in a band and she really knows her stuff. She's first snare and I think she's more in line with what you're looking for."

"What's it going to take to get you to play for us?" Riku asked, not backing down.

Marluxia returned the question with a perturbed look. "As I said, I've never played a drum set before. I don't even own drums, and the tenors are on lease from school, I can't use them for anything other than school events and practice." He sounded almost dead inside, like he was reciting what school officials told him every year when he had to renew his lease on his tenors.

"But you get to take the drums home with you to practice, right?" Riku asked. He was starting to bounce slightly on the balls of his feet. Lea ginned.

"…Yes?"

Here's the funny thing about tenors: THEY'RE REALLY FUCKING LOUD WHEN PLAYED IN A SMALL SPACE. Like, say, the garage at Lea's house. It seemed like no matter how loud the volume was turned up on their amps, they couldn't compete with the noise from Marluxia's drums.

"This is ridiculous," Marluxia finally said, holding his mallets together and crossing his arms. He had a stand that he kept his tenors on during practice so he didn't have to wear out his shoulders with the burden of the harness. "It doesn't make any sense if you don't have a drum kit. There's no cymbals." Riku was about to say something when Marluxia cut him off. "And no, I can't borrow the cymbals from school." Whether he couldn't because of a rule in place or simply because he didn't want to, the boys decided not to pry.

"But we're getting there," Riku said. "Thanks for coming out. I know you didn't want to."

"I…" Marluxia didn't know what else to say. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was more like… people usually didn't bother asking him out like this. He did a pretty decent job of walking into the band hall, drumming, and then leaving. He made no friends along the way. "It's fine. I don't mind."

Marluxia Floris, high school junior, had made his first friends since entering Traverse Town High.

He unfolded his arms and put the mallets back in his hands. "So, there is something," he said, softly knocking one of the sticks again the rim of a tom. "There used to be a jazz band, but they had to cut it a few years ago to fit the marching band's budget. They still have some of the equipment though."

"Jazz band?" Lea inquired.

"Yeah, like a kit," Marluxia looked up at them, face nondescript, but Lea was slowly starting to figure out that there were varying degrees of emotion in those flatlined lips and narrow brows. Marluxia almost appeared giddy, if you knew what to look for. "I bet I can get the major to loan it to me."

Lea and Riku both saw the drum major. The dude looked imposing even when they had done nothing wrong. "How do you plan on doing that?" Lea asked. He didn't doubt Marluxia's abilities, he was simply curious.

"I can be… persuasive."

Riku's arm dropped on impulse and strummed his bass so hard he almost cut himself on the strings. Unfortunately it was still plugged into the amp and the sound resonated loud enough that Lea flinched in shock. "Dude, what the hell?" he muttered to the bassist, but let it slide easily as he turned his attention back to Marluxia. "So you really think you can do it?"

The drummer just smirked. "It'll be easy."

Nobody knew how exactly the drum kit appeared in Lea's garage the following afternoon after school, but Marluxia simply assured it was easy. The boy had never sat behind a drum kit before, and only rarely had used wooden drumsticks as opposed to the fiberglass mallets he'd gotten handy with while mastering the tenors. The drumset actually had fewer drums than his tenor set up, one snare, two toms, and the bass along with a cymbal. He could handle this.

The entire day's practice was dedicated to Marluxia getting acquainted with the drumset. He told them the last time he'd played a snare was in middle school. It took a lot of getting used to, but each sound was unique, just like his tenors, only there were more options now. Getting his foot to line up with the bass drum came naturally. Having a cymbal to play without being on a field with a person holding one up for him made solos so much easier. Marluxia was drenched in sweat and grinning like a madman by the end of practice.

"So you'll do it?" Lea asked.

Marluxia looked up at him and Riku, the two boys' faces bright with hope. The drummer hadn't felt this inspired and rejuvenated in years. He rolled his eyes at them and used the back of his hand to flick sweat off his forehead. "Yeah," he panted. "I'll be in your fucking band…"

It wasn't until after Marluxia had packed up the kit into the trunk of his car and left that Riku started noticing the stupid smirk plastered across his friend's face. "What?" he asked, taking a drink from a bottle of water before he strapped his guitar to his back and prepared for the walk home.

"You've got a big fat crush on Marluxia Floris," he snickered jokingly.

Riku hiccupped and water started dribbling on his shirt. "That- that is not what you saw."

"Bullshit. Marly and Riku sittin' in a tree!" Lea stopped to gasp loudly, still teasing. "That's why you were acting so defensive in front of that drummer girl in the band hall the other day."

"There's a difference between liking someone and wanting to…" He held his hand out in front of him, trying to grasp for the right word. "…protect one of your own. Kids at school are fucking useless when it comes to tact."

"I'm sure Mars is doing fine. Don't stress about it too much." He patted Riku on the back and set him off down the driveway back to his house. It wasn't until he was eating dinner with his mom that he realized, all joking aside, Riku just came out to him, didn't he? He tried not to spill leftover lasagna all over his lap.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Language."

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Roxas chuckled softly. He liked hearing stories about Axel and Riku as kids. He went through Axel's scalp in an attempt to make sure the dye was setting properly. He almost had a heart attack when he pulled back on a piece near Axel's ear and saw a bright red splotch, but upon closer inspection he realized it wasn't dye. He let out an interested hum.

"'Sup, Rox?"

"There's a tattoo even here?" It was a small one, hiding in the bald patch of skin behind the shell of Axel's ear. Roxas had never noticed it before. The tattoo was a simply red heart with a black outline, and in the middle '13' was written in a simple black font. "This is a band thing, huh?"

"Oh, yeah! I forget it's there sometimes, too. It was sort of our makeshift symbol before Fuu designed us a nice one. Everyone in the band has one. Xig's is on his calf, Luxord on his shoulder, Riku's is on his forearm. I think Marly's is on his hip."

"So like… how did you guys find each other anyway? It makes sense that you went to the same school with Riku and Marluxia, but…"

"Oh, you want the full story," Axel said, laughing slightly. "Well, buckle down, because it's a twofer. You'll also get to hear how we got our name, too. I like to think it's poetic." Axel rubbed his fingers softly on the tattoo behind his ear, staring off as he tried to remember the exact sequence of events that made everything fall into place so perfectly.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Traverse High School. Senior Class. Population six hundred and twenty-three. B-Lunch.

"Le– Axel. Hey."

Somewhere in the halls, if you climbed the stairwell to the literature wing, past the second women's bathroom, down the northeast stairs, and took a left, you would find Riku and Axel bored out of their minds.

"Dude."

Axel had his earbuds in and was looking down at his binder. He was studying. If anybody ever knew he studied his entire aesthetic would be obliterated, so he had to do it in secret. But he had to graduate. If not his mom would have a meltdown and he would rather leave town with the wind at his back. He liked his mom…

"Dude."

Still, it didn't make this any easier. French was kicking his ass. Riku was a piece of shit for recommending this to him. He should've just taken Latin and finished what he started. All he needed was this one credit and so far he was failing every pop quiz that witch of a teacher threw at him.

"Dude." Riku jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow and knocked him on his side.

Axel yanked the earbuds from his ears and glared at him. "What, dumbass?"

His friend handed him a crumpled sheet of notebook paper. "Arthur gave me this note during passing periods between lunches. What do you think it means?"

Axel rubbed his eyes and snatched the sheet from Riku, taking in a deep breath as he mumbled it quickly without emotion to himself. "Dearest Riku – seriously? – I wish that there were more hours in a lifetime to know your infinite mysteries, riddles of which I – Jesus Christ is this guy for real? Yadda, yadda, yadda – uh… Sadly time is an unknown beast of which there is no championing. A resolution, simple though unfortunate, leads me to decide that what little time is left in these hallowed halls would be best spent… securing a role in my academic future…" A huge grin cracked across Axel's face. "Fucking hell! Dude you just got dumped!"

Riku scrunched up his face and let his forehead thud against his knees. "I thought so but I can never understand what the fuck he's trying to say…" Axel crumbled up the note and tossed it towards the recycle basket at the end of the hall, missing spectacularly. "Hey- I wanna-"

"What? Keep it? You gotta let it go, man. I told you not to date the theatre kids. Especially little dweebs with a hard-on for Shakespeare. You're better off waiting until we get to the harbor."

It was a distant, glimmering dream that once they graduated they would join Marluxia at Destiny Harbor, get stupid boring jobs to pay rent, and basically screw off. Although expecting Riku to put a cap on it until the end of the school year was hopeless. The boy was already restlessly twitching his feet against the linoleum tiled floors.

After a few moments he turned back to Axel. "Hey, d'you practice that song I gave you?"

Axel shifted away from his French notes again. "Yeah? A little."

"…Can I come by after school?"

Riku would do pretty much anything to avoid going home. "Yeah, sure."

Neither of them were incredibly smart, and shared a lot of the lower-ranked required courses for the rest of the day. Afterwards they shared a tram to the redhead's house. Axel walked through the door first, not having to worry about it being locked.

"Ma! I'm home!" he shouted, taking a straight shot down the hall to the bedrooms.

"Hey kiddo," his mom called in response, not looking up from her spot on the couch where she sat reading the newspaper and balancing a cigarette over an ashtray.

As soon as they made it to his bedroom, they threw their backpacks on the floor and Axel picked up an old, nameless electric guitar in the corner. "Okay, this is what I've got so far." He pulled out a sheet of music, scribbled on pre-lined paper stolen from the band hall, and passed it off to Riku.

His friend never took any sort of formal singing lessons, but thankfully he was motivated enough to be self-taught in music and could at least understand what Axel was going for. He tried clearing his throat before singing the melody.

"You're sharp," Axel said. "Sorry, stretch it out another bar and see what happens."

Riku adjusted accordingly while Axel furiously scribbled more notes down on a fresh sheet of music paper. "I like that a lot better," Riku said once he finished. "It matches the chorus better."

Axel smiled and took Riku's recommendation to heart, adding it to the new draft. "So, how many songs does this make now?" He shrugged his shoulders in response and Axel picked up a journal he kept on his bedside table, should inspiration strike in the middle of the night. "This is our twelfth song, Riku."

"Yeah, but they're not all finished."

"That's not the point. Twelve is enough to make an album. When are we gonna do it?"

Riku shifted uncomfortably a moment. "I don't see the point if Mars isn't around."

"He's literally only three hours away."

"Three hours is a lot of distance!"

"You spend more than three hours watching porn on a daily basis, three hours is nothing. Why are you holding back?"

Riku didn't have a response. Axel sat his guitar in his lap and strummed the new melody Riku had hummed, and Riku started singing the actual lyrics. It was so good that it made Axel's heart literally ache. Riku's voice had so much weight that it seemed to take control of the song, turning Axel's fumbling, learning fingers into something powerful. He hated that he was the only one who got to witness this. They were definitely better than all the other garage bands at their school.

Axel stopped playing and reached for his cell phone. Riku was only mildly irritated when his singing was cut off. "What're you doing?"

"Calling Mars. He's coming home this weekend."

"He is?"

"He is now."

ooo

"Count us down."

Marluxia sighed loudly, for the fifteenth time that evening. He couldn't even bring himself to raise his drumsticks anymore. Above the snare, he clacked his sticks three times before starting with his short solo before Axel and Riku kicked in with guitar and bass.

"Make this the last thing you ever remember just like-

That rainy day last September, you were like-

Trying to be the frontline contender, one I like-

Acting a lie, pretending tender, I was like-"

"Good, good," Axel encouraged, nodding his head towards Marluxia and signaling for a switch in tempo. They didn't have words for the bridge yet but Riku was good at improvising. An audio recorder sat on a stool by the garage door, red light flashing.

"There are no WORDS-

To this part of the SONG-

When will Axel learn his CHORDS-

They always comes out WRONG-"

Axel messed up and his pick slid across the strings, making a scratch that threw Marluxia off rhythm and Riku starting laughing. "Strong words for someone who can barely walk and chew gum," he groused, pointing out that Riku consistently had trouble with singing and playing his bass at the same time. "And you messed up another recording!"

Marluxia sighed loudly a fifteenth time and stood up to stretch. "I thought you guys said this song was tight."

"It would be if you came home more." Marluxia chose to ignore Axel's jab and took several deep gulps of water from the jug he kept near his kit. The garage didn't have any air vents and the fan was hardly enough to keep him from sweating. All-in-all, he was looking forward to his friends getting their asses to the harbor where the summers were infinitely cooler near the shore.

"That reminds me, there's this festival thing coming up at Destiny. Something to kick-off the summer tourist season," Marluxia said, once he was finishing chugging the water. "We could play there, if we scratch up the money for the entry fee."

Axel wasn't so sure. "How much?"

"Fifty. Each."

"One hundred fifty to enter?" Axel and Riku shared a glance. "You still have birthday money?"

"Hardly any," Riku answered. Life was rough with two boys with no jobs. "You?"

"I've got maybe sixty-three cents on my dresser right now."

Both turned to look at Marluxia, their friend with a job, with the biggest puppydog eyes.

"Fuck no."

"Why not?"

"Because it's my money and I have to pay rent and bills. Fuck you assholes I'm just as broke as you by the end of the month."

Riku turned to Axel. "No, we can make this work! We just have to like… mow a lawn or something. We can charge like ten bucks for that. Both of us do it a couple times and we're golden!"

Axel was unimpressed. "You've never mowed a lawn in your life."

"How hard can it be?"

"What about gas money? And a place to stay. And food."

Riku looked at Marluxia. "Well that's easy."

"I've only got the one couch. One of you has the floor. I'm not cooking for you guys."

"Doesn't matter, it's perfect."

"We don't have a lawn mower," Axel reminded. For as long as he could remember his yard had always been dirt. The only excavating he ever did was in the springtime when his mom made him earn his keep by pulling weeds that sprouted from nothing.

"No problem! My aunt does. A nice one!"

Axel almost winced at this. Sometimes Riku could get so optimistic that he would go out of his way to ignore big problems. His aunt was a monster and there was no way she was going to just let them use her lawnmower to make money. "…Maybe there's something else we could do?" Axel suggested, silently begging Marluxia to help.

"Bake sale," the drummer said, as if that would solve all their problems.

"Bake sale," Axel echoed, confused and unimpressed. "How are we gonna raise fifty fucking dollars with a bake sale."

"Larxene can help." Larxene. The girl he hooked up with sometimes and stayed friends with afterwards. She lived in Bastion, the next big town a few hours away from Traverse.

Riku's face lit up at the idea of a Larxene-backed bake sale. Pot brownies. Axel could see where this was headed and immediately shut the idea down. "Hell naw. We'll mow a fucking lawn." There was no way he was going to get dragged into dealing, that much he was certain. He shot a glare at Riku. "You sure you can get us that lawnmower?"

His friend just shrugged, a lazy smirk on his face. "Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."

"Okay. Then it's settled. Riku, you live in a nicer neighborhood, you ask them if they need their lawns cut. Bring Fuu with you, she's freaking adorable the neighborhood won't be able to say no." Riku's little sister was in middle school but still looked like a small child. She wasn't the type to humor the people around her by using her looks to get what she wanted, but she had an adorable face with cheeks meant for pinching. All she'd have to do was stand behind Riku while he sweet talked his neighbors into giving them cash for a half-assed crop job.

After deciding how they would start their summer, the boys went back to practice.

ooo

"I really think we need more than that. Most of them aren't even finished yet," Riku said, pulling the lawnmower down the sidewalk behind him. Axel walked a few steps ahead, a weed wacker braced across his shoulders.

"I've been working on some lyrics for that melody you gave me. That's thirteen."

"Yeah, but I think we need more than that many songs for our set. I mean most of the songs aren't longer than a minute."

"I will be shocked silent if that dumb festival gives us more than ten minutes onstage. I bet we're golden." They approached a house that appeared empty. "Is this the one?"

"Yeah, they said they'd be out of town. They just need the lawn mowed and some weeds pulled." Riku approached the front door and looked under the welcome mat. There was a sandwich baggy with a ten-dollar bill sealed inside. "Just like they said. Alright, let's get to work!" It was their first job. It took Riku nearly fifteen minutes to figure out how to start the mower before it finally roared to life and led Riku down a path of grassy destruction.

After getting the first half of the lawn finished, they paused to take a break. Riku didn't think to bring a water bottle, and Axel let him take a few swigs from his.

"Mars sent me over the paperwork," Riku said, handing the bottle back. "For the festival."

"Oh yeah?"

"It asks for a band name."

Axel paused. "We don't have one yet?"

Riku replied by shaking his head, taking the handle of the mower and pushing towards the second half of the lawn. "I asked Mars about it and he said he didn't care, he's fine with whatever."

Grunting as he stood back up, Axel rolled his eyes and muttered "Typical" under his breath.

"So… I mean you're good at this stuff. If you have any ideas, hit me up."

Axel nodded as he woke up the weed wacker and went to town on the hard-to-reach spots Riku missed. The other boy noticed his cell phone buzzing in his back pocket and stepped away. Axel couldn't hear what he was saying over the roaring of the motor, but Riku looked upset after he snapped his phone shut. Axel turned the weed wacker off and waited expectantly.

Riku turned to him with a crooked smile. "Well. Aunt Mal says to return the lawn mower or she's going to call the police."

Axel's lips pressed into a fine line. "You can't be serious." Riku only shrugged in response. "Okay. Well. We'll just knock on every door on our way back and see how many lawns we can get done before returning it."

In the end, they raised one hundred and twenty dollars between the two of them mowing lawns, although Riku's aunt took forty, claiming it was for maintenance fees for the lawn mower they 'stole.' Axel casually begged and pleaded his mom, who loaned the band fifty dollars for the rest of the registration fees and gas to get there.

Band practice the following weekend found Axel struggling with the sign-up paperwork. Band names were frustrating. Often pointless, sometimes based on inside jokes, rarely have any true meaning. It would be nice to find a name that labeled their sound, and the personalities of everyone involved. Something simple, leave the long names for song titles. Something that people would remember and talk about.

It didn't hit Axel until the following weekend during band practice. Marluxia showed up and he and Riku tried to hash out better rhythm to their new song. Meanwhile, Axel sat on a musty old bench shoved against the garage wall and tried to think of a decent band name.

"I like this part. The progression gives it some oomf," Riku said, playing out a series of chords on Axel's guitar that the punk remembered writing down a few days ago. Axel grinned and bit at the end of his pen.

"So I was thinking- Yeah, I like that part too, so why don't we keep it solo. We drop out after the third measure and the fourth through the eighth can be Axel."

Axel didn't even look up from the paperwork, he just blindly gave Marluxia a thumbs-up. "I have a good idea for the opening, too," Riku said, taking off Axel's guitar and switching back to his bass. "What if I started with something low. Make it sound like a heartbeat." He strummed a low note in a repeated bu-bump sound like what one would hear from a doctor's stethoscope. "And you can come in with you bass…" Marluxia started stomping on his pedal to the same rhythm, making the heartbeat much louder. "Perfect. I think this really ties it to the hospital room line after the bridge. What do you think?"

"Sounds rad."

"Axel?"

The redhead snapped his head up, not really paying attention to what they were saying. "Huh?"

Riku was all smiles. "I think our thirteenth song is wrapped!" He started playing his bass like a heartbeat again, and that's when it happened.

"Thirteen." Axel grinned. It suddenly felt incredibly real. "Our thirteenth song. We're going to go into our first show with thirteen original songs."

Marluxia shrugged. "Not terrible. Not great, but I'm sure there've been worse."

"I like it. Thirteen." Riku continued strumming. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Bu-bump.

Axel grinned. "I love it. Thirteen songs, with all our hearts poured into each and every one."

Marluxia paused for a moment. "…We're gonna have more than thirteen songs, right?"

Axel scrawled '13 Hearts' on the line beside Band Name and stood up to grab his guitar. "Okay guys, I liked what I heard. I think you said something about a solo?"

ooo

The summer sun reflecting on the white sands of Destiny Harbor was scorching hot. Axel was used to playing in the heat the garage, but nothing compared to the humidity of a stage less than twenty yards away from an actual ocean.

"We've gotta play in this?" Axel whined, wiping away the sweat that was already starting to form on his brow just for being foolish enough to stand outside. Riku was contemplating tying a bandana around his hand to keep the sweat from ruining the neck of his guitar.

"It's not that bad, once you get used to it," Marluxia shrugged. He wore a loose-knit blouse and denim shorts so he could enjoy the seabreeze on his legs. The drummer seemed perfectly at home here, and Axel would glare in jealousy if he could just get his eyes to stop watering for one second from the salt water whipping in the wind.

"When do we go on?" Riku asked. Marluxia had the schedule folded up in his back pocket.

"Let's see…" he said, unfolding it and dragging his finger down the line. They had already left their equipment with the festival staff, so they were free to roam until it was time to play. "We have soundcheck immediately after the first band, so meet up back here at three, okay?"

"Wait, where're you going?" Axel asked. He didn't really like being stuck in an unfamiliar town without his guide.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom at work to get ready," he said, gesturing towards the boardwalk where his day job was based. Located a few shops inward was a small florist where he got a job cultivating plants, something he was surprisingly good at. "Three o'clock." He gave Riku and Axel a stern point with his index finger, not entirely sure he could trust tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumber on the beach by themselves.

Once he was gone, Riku turned to his friend and sighed. "Well. What now?"

The harbor was crowded with the music festival going on that weekend. Tons of food carts filled the boardwalk, and the beach was filled with college kids laying in the sun and playing in the waves. While Riku was distracted by seagulls attacking a nearby picnic basket, Axel noticed a couple guys with a beach volleyball making eyes at them. He puffed out his chest and nudged Riku with his elbow.

"Dude. Do you know how to play volleyball?"

Riku turned his attention away from the bird savagely tearing a BLT to shreds. "What? No."

"Great. Let's take some lessons." Axel placed his hand on Riku's back and propelled him towards the very handsome and also shirtless college hunks. Axel had never even so much as kissed a guy, but he knew prospects when he saw them. Riku seemed to catch on quick.

"We don't even know their names," Riku muttered as they drew closer.

"That's the thing about being rock stars. We don't need to know their names. New city every night! Never the same bed twice!"

"You're horrible."

Axel didn't disagree as he hurled Riku towards the beach babes because once the baby fat melted away Riku became conventionally attractive enough to pull off introductions without having to try too hard. Axel, on the other hand, was already accruing a beautiful sunburn across his cheeks and nose, and he couldn't stop blinking awkwardly to get the sand out of his eyes. But still, he was persistent. Some guy out there would have to love him for that.

ooo

"It's three," Axel sighed.

"It's three-o-five. I told you to be here at three." Marluxia looked gorgeous. Riku looked hot. Axel just felt like a hot mess. All the guys were hitting on Riku, and nobody was paying any attention to him. Was it his face? Was it his hair? Clothes?

"Look, it's no big deal," Axel said, motioning towards the pit. At least, where the pit would be, if there were any audience to fill it with. He turned to Riku, who was massaging his shoulder with a pissed look on his face. "Hey dude. You ready?"

"God, barely. That fucker practically gnawed my shoulder off." One of the beach boys pulled Riku away for a few minutes to make out by the rocks near the shore. He supposed things got a little frisky. The least those losers could've done was watch their show. Wasn't it the dream of festival attendees to sleep with the band?

They got up onstage, Marluxia's kit already set up and ready, guitars tuned, mic plugged in, sound levels steady, and played. Riku was correct about what he said a while ago, most of their songs were barely a minute long, but they were fast. They were quick-paced and demanded action. A couple girls slowly meandered closer to the stage, heads bobbing. They didn't go unnoticed by Riku and he turned to them, smiled awkwardly, and missed like three notes but the girls didn't notice and cheered along anyway.

More kids started approaching the stage. They were riveted by the short span of the songs, by Marluxia's fast tempo from years of drumline, by Axel's shredding, and Riku's voice. Axel found himself feeling so at home on that stage at the harbor. It didn't matter that Marluxia was mad at him, or Riku was prettier than him, or that he had sand in his buttcrack. All that mattered was there was thirteen-year-old girl snapping pictures of them with her disposable camera and having the time of life dancing in all the empty space in front of the stage.

Their set was over much sooner than Axel thought it would. He wanted to stay on for hours, even though he realized they were already cutting it close with their meager song bank. They had to pack up quick to make room for the next band to perform. They were already onstage and tuning before Marluxia was done packing in his kit.

"That was great!" Axel exclaimed, completely energized by the experience. Riku smiled, guitar strapped to his back as he followed Axel, presumably to the bar. They obviously weren't old enough to drink yet, but playing on stage made him crave a soda.

"That was okay," Marluxia said, turning to their lead singer. "You gotta get better at playing and singing at the same time. You mess up a lot."

"Or you could just get a new bassist."

The three boys looked to their left to a man, with leathery sun-worn skin that probably made him look a lot older than he really was, sitting on a barstool a few seats away. He had a beer bottle in his hand, and Axel realized when he turned his head to face them that the guy had an eyepatch, like a pirate.

"Are you…" Axel drawled, pausing to soak up that appearance. What this guy in a band? Was this a costume? Judging by the board shorts and flip-flops, it looked like his usual appearance. Were those scars on his face real? What the fuck happened to this guy? "…offering? Jesus Christ what happened to your face?"

The stranger rolled his eyes – er, eye. "Skydiving incident. And I'm not offering, merely suggesting. You really blipped a lot, y'know?" he said, turning towards Riku.

The teen turned his head down and looked away. "I know I did. You can stop rubbing it in…"

"You look familiar," Marluxia said. He hadn't lived on the harbor for longer than a few months, but in a touristy place like this, familiar faces have a habit of standing out. Especially faces as unusual as his. "What's your name?"

"Xigbar," he said, holding out his hand. "You're familiar too. Fresh meat?"

"Moved in early this summer."

Xigbar leaned back in his chair, the eyebrow over his good eye cocking high. "What made you decide to live here?"

"I just… had to get away for a little while." Marluxia's answer made Axel and Riku pretend to go over the wine menu. After Marluxia graduated he decided to come out to his parents about his hobbies. They didn't take kindly to their son having a secret closet filled with women's clothes. A huge fight erupted and Marluxia decided he wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere. So why not Destiny Harbor? "So, Xigbar, I see you around Merrie Melodies a lot. You play?"

"Classical guitar," he answered with a smug grin, leaning against the bar. It was obvious he was used to people not believing him based on his looks. Marluxia was intrigued.

"Really? I started off in concert band, too, with snares for a hot minute before moving to marching. Trained on tenors."

Xigbar perked up, more than happy to talk shop. "Yeah, I could tell. The way you hold your sticks is like a mallet."

"Is it obvious? Is it bad?" Marluxia remembered the drum major drilling into them how to properly hold their instruments, but his way always felt most comfortable. For competitions he would conform to the rules, but during rehearsals and on the field he would slip back into his old grip. Once he reached first chair, they stopped complaining.

"Nah, s'like holding a pencil. Sure, there's a 'right' way, but your way is what's right, right?"

Marluxia grinned happily. Finally, someone got it. The drummer almost missed Axel sliding a Coke in front of him, giving the older boy a pat on the back. Axel felt a sense of calm optimism that Marluxia found a safe place in the harbor. He hoped that he and Riku could find similar stability… especially Riku.

"Anyway, is your set over for the weekend?" Xigbar asked, pointing at the guitars strapped to the teens' backs.

"Unless we do some busking…" Axel said with a shrug. They could use the practice and gas money for the ride home.

"Well, if you've got nothing going on right now, wanna jam with me?" He paused for a moment, taking in the reactions. "…I'm a music instructor at Merrie Melodies," he tacked on quickly. "I've got access to the training rooms. Totally chill."

The boys all agreed that going someplace with air conditioning away from the crowds sounded excellent. Xigbar even helped Marluxia carry his kit to the store and offered to hold it in the stockroom, promising it would be safe.

They jammed for hours. And Xigbar was amazing. He was in his mid-twenties, but looked almost forty because of his skin. ("Always wear sunscreen," he'd said, looking directly at Axel). The boys were stunned when they heard Xigbar play. He wasn't joking, he was really good at classical guitar. He had a deep-stained Yamaha acoustic guitar that Axel knew for a fact cost more than their van, employee discount included. The fact that the strap obviously belong to Xigbar and the back of the guitar had stickers on it meant that this guitar was his. How many hours did he have to work to afford it? Axel's mind was spinning.

The way Xigbar plucked his strings, the way his fingers slid up and down the coiled strings without making a sound, made Axel insanely jealous. He was good, compared to the other kids at his school who were in garage bands, but he wasn't even shit compared to the talent at the harbor. "How did you learn to play like that?" Axel asked in awe.

Xigbar glanced at him and smirked. "…Lemme guess, you're self-taught?"

Axel looked down at his guitar. His finger placement felt natural. The way he strummed was like how they explained it in an instructional book he checked out from the library. "Is it that obvious?" The older man's single eye had a way of focusing on everything the boys were doing wrong. Chalk it up to being a professional instructor, but the ability was certainly uncanny.

"Yeah. I was self-taught too." He rolled his eye at Axel's slack-jawed gaze. "Chill, Bambi, I just practiced a lot. Look, you gotta keep your wrist forward. Don't grip the neck like you're choking a baby." Axel never thought of it like that. He'd gotten so used to his grip he wasn't sure if he could just re-learn it. "I swear to god it's easier." Well… if Xigbar swears.

Before the weekend was over everybody swapped numbers with their new friend. Marluxia was grateful in having another contact at the Harbor that he could rely on. The drive home was calm and relaxing. The van usually camped out on the street in front of Axel's house when not in use. He dropped Riku off at his place, making him promise to practice with him tomorrow.

He got to his house just at twilight. His mom welcomed him home with dinner, pizza fresh from delivery, and parked him at the dining table to tell her everything about his trip. Axel was sure to tell her about the kids who took pictures, how the set started out with nobody around, but they drew a crowd of nearly fifteen people by the end, and how cool Xigbar was to them.

"Sounds like you had a blast! I guess it didn't help at all convincing you to stay in Traverse after graduation…" she said with a soft chuckle, taking his plate when he was finished. It wasn't a secret that Axel loved his mom, but he really felt like the harbor was the scene where he belonged.

While she was rinsing off his plate, she noticed Axel's cell phone lighting up on the countertop where he had placed it by the van's keys. "Hey, Lea! Phone!" she called over the running water. He rushed into the kitchen and checked the screen.

"Huh. It's Riku." He flipped his cell open and leaned against the counter. "Sup dude?" There was a short pause in the conversation while his mom started working on rinsing the pizza sauce from her own plate. "Woah woah, Riku – Hey, slow down. What's wrong?"

She quickly reached to the faucet and turned the water off. Axel was looking her in the eyes, worried. "Wait, she said what? … That's not true! … Wait a sec, I- … Wait a sec, dude, don't do anything rash. Lemme- Lemme just ask."

He put his hand over the receiver and focused on his mom. "Riku just had a huge fight with his aunt. Is it okay if he comes over? Maybe stays the night?"

"What happened?" she asked, just below a whisper. Axel sharply raised his shoulders. He had no clue. All he knew was that when he dropped Riku off at home he was fine, and now he was calling him not even an hour later in tears. "I mean- is it okay with his aunt, at least?"

"I highly doubt it. I think he needs to get away."

She nervously threaded her fingers through her fiery brunette hair, nibbling on her lower lip. "…Sure. Absolutely. Do we need to pick him up?"

Axel nodded, returning to his phone call. "Hey man. It's cool. Can you get out okay? Need help? … Okay. Well, I'm gonna drive up there anyway." He picked up his keys and his mom grabbed her purse.

They picked Riku up a block away from his house, around the corner so if his aunt happened to step outside she wouldn't see them. He rushed up to the van, and Axel's mom hopped out of the passenger seat so the teen could sit between them. His face was red and his brows were turned.

"Is Fuu okay?"

"Yeah," Riku answered, voice cracking. Axel tightened his grip on the steering wheel and started the drive back home. "Sh-she's the one who told me to leave."

"What happened?" Axel asked loudly. He didn't even really need to know. All Riku had to do was give the word and he'd make sure his aunt would 'accidentally' fall down the stairs twice.

"She found the note."

"What note?"

Riku paused. "The note… Arthur wrote me. When he broke up with me."

Wheels were turning as Axel went back in time to that lunch break where they ate in the hallway and Axel had crumbled up a piece of lined paper that had been ripped from a spiral. "I- I threw that away."

Riku nodded his head. "And I picked it up off the ground after lunch ended."

"WHY?"

"Lea," his mom hissed, wrapping her arm around Riku's shoulder and combing her fingernails against his scalps in a slow, repeating pattern. She lowered her voice before talking to Riku again. "Riku, this is important. Did she do anything to you or Fuu? Did she hurt or touch you in any way? Did anything she say sound like a threat?"

He sniffed loudly and curled into her touch. "Nothing like that. B-but I lied to her. She doesn't like that I… I have to keep my music a secret from her because she doesn't like it. I sort of… said that I was going to a French club retreat over the weekend…"

"Oh, Riku," she cooed. "You shouldn't have lied to her like that."

"I know! I know, but if I told her it was for a music festival she would've made me stay home! She thinks I'm studying at the library when I practice at your house after school! The last time I got a C on my report card she locked me in my room!" His words were spilling out fast, slurring together in a desperate bid to be said before he fell apart completely. "Th-the bass I had - my dad's - when I failed a test she broke the neck off. I-" he choked on his words and started crying again. Axel was having a difficult time driving straight. "I can't- without playing, I can't- I c-c-" The panic was setting in. He was gasping for air like he was drowning. "I'd rather die!"

Axel slammed on the brakes, making the cars behind him honk madly, and parked the van on the curb in front of a stranger's house. "You don't mean that!" Riku looked at him, wide-eyes and scared. "Riku, take that back now. You don't mean that…"

Riku didn't have a response, and that terrified Axel because what if that meant his friend was serious? The boy started sobbing, releasing louder cries as Axel and his mom hugged him tighter.

"It's okay to fail a test," Axel said loudly, hoping to be heard over the breakdown. "It's okay to be mad at your aunt. But please promise you'll come to me if it ever gets to be too much." Riku started curling into the fetal position, repeating 'I'm sorry!' over and over again. "Promise me. I'll never stop being there for you, no matter what. You gotta promise to be there for me, too. Promise?"

Axel let him cry. He let Riku whimper and hiccup and moan until his voice was hoarse and there were no tears left. Ten minutes must had passed by before Axel pulled away, gripping Riku's neck and pressing their foreheads together.

"I need you to promise me."

Riku clenched his eyes closed, sniffing loudly and nodding his head. "I promise. I'm s-sorry, I just–"

He trailed off, and it seemed like he was calming down. He was gripping Axel's mom's hand so tightly that they were shaking. Axel pulled away and started up the van again. "I'm gonna hold you to that," Axel said, looking at the mirrors before carefully driving back out into the road.

They got home and Axel's mom set out a plate with leftover pizza, but Riku barely touched it. He did drink several glasses of water, which made Axel worry less. He didn't want to let the bassist out of his sight for a moment, so when Riku decided he wanted to go to bed at ten, even though it was early for Axel he got ready for sleep as well.

His mom pumped up the air mattress and got spare sheets so Riku could sleep on the floor in his room. It was a setup used for several sleepovers in the past, so the boys were used to it. Riku even had his own toothbrush at the Paul house.

Axel was still wired after the day's events, not sleepy at all, but he tried to smother himself in pillows and blankets for Riku's sake and get some shut-eye. After about an hour of sitting the darkness, constantly shifting, Riku spoke.

"…Axel, you awake?"

The rest of the house was quiet and his voice, even as a whisper, cut through the silence like thunder. "Yeah… What's on your mind?"

"I'm sorry…"

When Riku didn't say anything else, Axel shifted and turned on his reading light by his bed. The boy below him winced and covered his eyes, grimacing at the shock of light.

"Sorry about what?"

"Dude, you know why! Turn that thing off!"

"Nah, man. Talk it out. Use your words."

"What are you, my therapist?"

"I'm the closest thing with two ears you've got." He sat up in bed and reached for the music binder he kept by his bedside table for just such instances. "What're you feeling right now."

Now Riku was sitting up too. It wasn't even midnight yet and both boys were getting restless. "What, are you gonna write it down?"

"Hell yeah man! I read in an interview once that lots of famous songwriters get their ideas this way."

"Look, I don't really wanna talk about it."

Axel scribbled down some notes. "C'mon, give me something to work with."

"Hey. What did I just say?"

"C'mo-"

"Axel."

Riku was using his 'serious voice' so Axel decided to oblige and stopped asking questions about The Incident. He didn't stop writing, though. "So are you going to school tomorrow?"

"I don't see why not."

"Well. I can't loan you any clothes." Once the fifth (and hopefully final) growth spurt hit Axel like a truck, it was nearly impossible for the boys to share clothes. Axel was a beanpole and Riku had the infuriatingly uncanny ability to stack on muscle once his baby fat shucked off.

"That's fine. I'll just wear what I've got on." Well, that was going to be disgusting, because that was the same shirt Riku had worn when they left the harbor that morning and he was pretty sure he could still smell seawater on it. Axel decided not to pry. He knew he had at least ten oversized band tees in his closet that Riku could borrow when his friend came to his senses tomorrow morning.

"…Did you have fun on the trip?" Axel decided to move the conversation to a happier topic. "And don't let what happened with your aunt ruin the weekend for you. You had a fucking blast, right?"

Riku sat with his back leaning against Axel's bed, facing the opposite wall and staring blankly as he reminisced. "I liked playing onstage. I just wish I didn't suck so much at it…"

"You just need practice." Then Axel did the thing that Riku hated, which was plopping off the bed onto one side of the inflatable mattress and almost catapulting Riku into the ceiling. "How about we practice right now?"

He tossed his music binder into Riku's lap and stretched for his acoustic guitar, the same one they practiced with years ago. "You wrote a song?" Riku asked, looking at the sheet with Axel's scribbles. He even mapped out a few chords. This was ridiculous. All Riku wanted to do was sit in the dark room, trying to blind himself from his problems, and here Axel was turning his problems into a melody.

Once Axel was in tune, he started playing some of the chords he'd written down, even plucking a few notes individually, and trying his best not to hold the neck like he was choking a baby. Riku cleared his throat and started singing.

"Feelings I can't hide
Tired with living a lie
Only one thought resides
A distant dream of an average life

Lost and confused
Tired of the abuse
Just call a fucking truce
If you will…"

Riku sighed loudly when he got to the end, snapping the binder shut and bopping Axel on the head with it. "That makes our fourteenth song."

"You liked it?"

"Of course I fucking liked it. Now get off my bed and let me go back to sleep."

"Hey dude, you woke me up."

Riku grumbled as Axel clamored back onto his bed and switched the light off.

ooo

Moving day was about as chaotic as one would expect it to be. Marluxia was there to help, to the extent of his personal willingness. Axel found out the man was much more likely to sit around and drink lemonade than help pack.

"It's too personal," Marluxia said. "I don't wanna answer phone calls at three in the morning with you wondering where your Evanescence CDs are." Axel smacked him on the back with a roll of packing tape.

"We need to finish up quick. I wanna get to Riku's as soon as possible so we can get him out of there." More than anything, Axel was excited that Riku was finally leaving his aunt's house. His friend has basically shut down in the aftermath of their big fight. She kept him on such a tight leash that the only times they got to practice was if they took their guitars to school. Riku didn't trust his bass alone outside his line of sight for even a moment. Practices were few and far between, but the boys made do passing notes with lyrics and chord progressions back and forth to each other during classes.

Somehow, by miracle of some poor, bored deity or the school forcing them out so they wouldn't have to deal with them another year, they passed all their classes and qualified for graduation. Marluxia helped them out with apartment hunting in the area, but salvation came from where they least expected it.

"The Kuroyamas do not rent from shoddy apartments," Aunt Mal said to them. Axel didn't want Riku confronting his aunt with their plans after graduation alone, so once they got the news that they were finished with high school, they decided to approach her together. Needless to say, this wasn't the reaction they were expecting. At all. "I have a home by the harbor. In the suburbs."

Riku was stunned. "You… do?"

She gave him a pointed glare. "I rent the house out as a summer home for tourists. It helps pay for you and your sister. I'm willing to allow you to live there, with modest fees."

"How modest?"

Very modest. Riku was shocked, and Axel seemed wary of trusting her. But to Riku, she seemed genuine and he remained cautiously optimistic. "You're still my charge," she said in explanation. "I need to make sure you're well taken care of. I will be coming by to check up on you. Do not do anything to embarrass the family. Parties are strictly prohibited. Any damage done to the property will be paid for from your pocket. Is this understood?"

Riku made a face. "I haven't even agreed–"

"I'm being more than hospitable."

The boys made eye contact briefly. Axel tried to speak as lowly as possible, but he was sure she could still hear him anyway. "I dunno, man. You're doing all this to get away from her. She's just doing this to control you even if you don't live in Traverse anymore…"

"Yeah, but you can't expect her to drive out every weekend to check up on things. She's got a life here too, man. And rent at her place would be cheaper than an apartment. We'd be saving a lot of money…"

"She's manipulating you. It's obvious, just- look, it's not gonna be that much more to just get a shitty one-bedroom."

"I don't want to share a one-bedroom with you…"

"Okay. Ouch. And how about this: I refuse to live in a place that she owns. How about that?"

With all due respect, Mal did a very great job sitting patiently while her nephew and his derelict best friend ranted about her within earshot. "I will cut rent in half if Lea doesn't live with you."

Axel balked. "What?"

Riku smacked his hand on the coffee table. "Deal!"

That traitorous little snot. Although Axel had to chalk it up to family matters, and Riku hopefully knew his own limits with his aunt. Regardless, Axel was going to live with him for a little while until he got his own living situation taken care of. He had his eye on an apartment complex a few miles away from the beach, but he would have to get some form of regular work if he wanted to afford it. Once Axel had packed the final box, Marluxia finally got off his ass and helped him load the last of his stuff into the back of the van.

"This is over half the space," the drummer grunted, shoving a heavy box of books inside. "Is there gonna be room for Riku's things?"

Apparently, the answer was yes. When they arrived at Riku's house, the boy must've been camping out by the door because he was already down the stairs from the porch as they parked on the curb. He had his bass strapped to one shoulder and a duffle bag filled with his clothes on the other.

"Okay, what all is there?" Axel asked, ready to get to work. He took the giant duffle and unceremoniously tossed it into the van. Marluxia was already walking up the sidewalk to the house.

"Just a couple things." He wasn't kidding. Riku only had two small boxes aside from his guitar and clothes.

"Is this really it?" Axel asked. He didn't even need to help Marluxia, who stacked the two boxes on top of each other and carried them both out himself. Axel was left wondering if this was it, if they were going to pile into the front seat of the van and drive off into the sunset, never to look back on this place again.

Of course, it wouldn't be so simple. Fuu and Mal came out of the house, and Riku excused himself to talk to them for a moment. Axel watched as he knelt down to hug his little sister, saying something into her ear that made her smile and nod. Then he talked to his Aunt.

"You know, you've always been like a son to me," she said. She held out her hand, and between her bony finger and thumb she held the key to the house on the harbor. "I only want you to be happy."

Riku tried not to laugh as she dropped the key into his palm. "Somehow, I seriously doubt that."

Her face contorted into an unamused mix of a smile and a grimace as she turned around and started towards the house. "Just… stay safe, Riku."

He gave a weak smile to her retreating figure. Fuu waved, ever silent, as Riku said his goodbyes again and hopped into the front of the van where Axel and Marluxia were waiting for him. As they drove away, he breathed the biggest sigh of relief Axel had ever heard.

Things stayed pretty constant for the following two years. Axel and Riku worked odd jobs around the harbor, sometimes working the desk at Kisaragi's pizza parlour, heavy lifting at Pansies, or every once in awhile picking up nightowl shifts at the video rental shop. The band was able to practice at Merrie Melodies, and more often than not Xigbar would join them. Riku was correct in his assumption that his aunt wouldn't stop by as often as she'd threatened. If anything, she was probably thankful that giving him the rental house kept him out of her hair.

A big turning point for the band came at the beginning of spring of their third year at the harbor.

"We need to start seeing if we can play more shows somewhere," Marluxia said. With spring break right around the corner, the harbor would become a tourist attraction again and there would be more people around than ever. Each tour season that went through, higher their status became. It was getting to the point where even Axel was becoming somewhat popular. It was important to milk this for all it was worth.

They were practicing at Merrie Melodies again. Xigbar was rewriting one of their older songs so he could fit into it, much to Axel's chagrin. "I really don't get why you don't just join us. It's stupid practicing around you and then you don't show up to sets."

"I'm a busy man. I don't have time playing with children." All obviously lies. Axel was pretty sure the only thing Xigbar did on Friday nights was get high and watch the stars from the beach. There were million other things he could be doing.

"By the say, what're you guys doing this weekend?" Riku asked.

"Sitting with my thumbs up my butt," Axel replied over whatever important obligation Xigbar tried to say to get him out of spending time with 'children.' "It's your birthday, right? Wanna do something?"

"That's right," Marluxia said softly. "March…"

"Birthday?" Xigbar clarified. He was a party dude, and was all about birthdays. "Wait wait wait– you're both turning twenty-one this month, right?"

For a moment Riku looked almost bashful. "Yeah… I was thinking about getting a beer at Kisa-"

"We need to go to Vegas."

The three younger band members turned to Xigbar. "What?" Riku was the first to ask. "Why?"

"Because you can't get into the casinos until you're twenty-one." The way he said it like it was the matter-of-fact, obvious explanation for why the boys should travel nearly 1500 miles through the desert to gamble.

"I don't even like gambling," Riku added.

"You think you don't like gambling. You've just never done it before. C'mon, I've got some money set aside. My treat." It was no secret that Xigbar was the best off amongst the group, but the boys always attributed it to him being an adult with a stable job.

"That's… too generous," Riku said, although he could feel himself being swayed by the idea of a free vacation.

Xigbar turned to Axel. "Your birthday's in March too, right? Let's work our asses off spring break, earn hella tips, and fuckin' spend a weekend in Vegas!"

Axel glanced at Riku, and just by the look in his eyes it was obvious that the bassist was more than psyched about the idea. Axel sighed, still not entirely convinced.

"I know a few people who work for clubs there," Xigbar stated. "Maybe if we ask around we could get a show there?"

Now Axel pinched his brow and chanced a look at Marluxia, who was totally into the idea of playing a set in a new city. And not just any city.

"Let's do it," Marluxia and Riku agreed.

And two weeks later they were packed in the van taking five hour driving shifts in an attempt to get to Las Vegas in a day. Of course Riku and Axel both had celebrations at the harbor. Axel even went home for a weekend to chill with his mom, but everyone was saving up and amped for this trip. There were slot machines everywhere, even in the gas stations the closer they got to the city. Xigbar got reservations for a hotel a few blocks away from the main strip, a nice one by their standards. He was able to get a discount because he said the band would be willing to play the lounge for free for a couple hours.

"But we don't play lounge music," Axel said, hearing the news.

"It's not that difficult. You packed your acoustic, we'll be fine."

Axel's brows inched further up his forehead. "…We?"

"It'll be easy, we'll just do a few covers!"

"Covers?!"

"Relax. You know some Guns n' Roses, right? And Riku I know for a fact you sing along to the top forties like all the time. Mars if you can just keep a steady tempo we'll be golden!"

"13 Hearts doesn't do covers," Axel said, resolute.

"What, you weren't expecting them to be okay with a bunch of kids screaming into microphones for a few hours, were you? It'll be quick and painless. We'll play from eight to ten and then we'll hit the casinos!"

Painless, maybe. Quick, not so much. They didn't have a lot of time to prepare songs for the last-minute set. Luckily Xigbar agreed to play with them, although Axel always hoped Xigbar's first time playing with them for real would feature more of their original material. He supposed he couldn't complain, if it meant a roof over their head during their trip.

Riku knew most of the songs, but there were some that Axel had to sing when the boy's lyric bank ran dry. At one point during the set, one of the men who had his back towards them at the bar swiveled around on his stool so he could watch, nodding along appreciatively when Axel and Riku started singing 'Under Pressure.'

The set ended, finally. Axel had started to get restless and even Riku was displaying his trademark antsy bounces on the balls of his feet. They started packing up their things once one of the hotel managers came in and thanked them for their work.

The band stood near the elevators with their equipment discussing their plans for the night when a gentleman approached them. Axel recognized him as the only person he'd made eye contact with the entire set. He had trimmed blond hair and a meticulously manicured goatee, and wore a white button-up shirt with an undone red bowtie dangling around his neck. It looked like he probably worked at one of the nearby casinos.

"Good show, lads," he said. "Impressive, all things considered."

"Thanks," Riku said, although if he were to count the mistakes they made, he would need more than all the fingers and all the toes of everyone in the band to help him tally.

"I'm under the impression that you folk aren't from around here," he eyed each of them individually, perhaps lingering a moment longer on Xigbar and his eyepatch.

"You'd be right," Axel replied. "We're from Destiny Harbor, right on the gulf."

"I enjoyed your music. Perhaps if you aren't-"

"Luxord!"

The man blinked, glancing over his shoulder to an angry looking older gentleman with long hair and a madeye giving the group a glare. Or maybe that was just his face. Either way, he looked intimidating, but the man, Luxord, didn't seem phased.

"Ah, he beckons," he said under his breath. "It was a pleasure, gentleman. Can I bother you for your names?"

"Axel."

"Riku."

"X-Xigbar."

"Marluxia."

"Luxord. Charmed. Unfortunately, I'm about to start my shift at Serendipity. Perhaps I'll see some of you tonight?"

The man was definitely charming. Axel didn't even care if he was full of shit, he was at least friendly. "Perhaps. What do you work?"

"Blackjack." The older man gave a loud harrumph that caused Luxord to glance towards the ceiling in a silent prayer for a saving grace. "Gentlemen."

Nobody in the band missed for a second the way Luxord was constantly making eyes at their not-officially-official lead guitarist. As soon as the man was far enough away everybody slowly turned and blinked owlishly at Xigbar when the elevator finally dinged.

"What was that?" Axel asked, barely able to contain his cackling laughter.

"Xuh-Xigbar? Are you for fucking real?" Riku said in an attempt to mimic Xigbar botching his own name.

"Fuck off, guys."

"So we're going to Serendipity right?" Marluxia asked the group.

"Like hell we are," Xigbar groused. Axel had never seen the man more flustered. It was really interesting.

It was difficult to tell after just meeting him what Luxord was aiming at. What appeared to be shameless flirting could just be over-the-top politeness that came with the territory of a seasoned professional card dealer. Marluxia seemed unwilling to just let it slide. "He's hot. We can't leave without at least talking to him."

"Stop it," Xigbar said shortly, cheeks tinged pink. The elevator finally arrived on their floor and they all filed out one-by-one. Xigbar was in the lead, digging the card key out of his pocket so he could lock himself in the bathroom or something. What the guitarist lacked in social skills he made up for with musical ability in spades. "He was probably just distracted by the scars. Everybody is at first."

The scars on Xigbar's face could sometimes be a touchy subject. Usually the man was quick to come up with a pithy remark, but the dead look in his eye when he had to explain his looks didn't go unnoticed by Axel. It wasn't something Axel had ever thought too much about. He was used to getting flack about his appearance because of the way he dressed or styled his hair, but all of those were personal aesthetic choices. The scars on Xigbar's face obviously weren't a choice.

The band seemed to catch the heavy feeling and decided to drop it. Marluxia tried to come up with another suggestion. "Well, if you wanna check out the Manderville, it's right around the corner. Heard they got a decent bar."

And that was the last good suggestion for the rest of that night. In a turn of events of The Hangover proportions, Axel woke up in a hammock from a rooftop garden of a five-star resort, cheeks stinging. Riku was found baking in the sun by the pool at their hotel, they found Marluxia stumbling out of a hotel room at the Palazzo with no less than five showgirls, and Xigbar was discovered very sober and in a French restaurant inside Serendipity, having an animated chat with a very handsome blackjack dealer over brunch.

"Well look what the dogs dragged in," Xigbar said with a hint of amusement when his party arrived, looking like Kentucky fried hell. "I told you not to drink anything neon. Didja drink something neon?"

"I drank the entire rainbow in neon," Riku croaked, looking several shades darker than the last time Xigbar saw him.

"Jesus Christ what happened to your face?" the guitarist asked, looking at Axel. The stinging wasn't a sunburn, like Axel originally thought. The stinging came from small purple very real and very permanent tattoos under his eyes.

The redhead glared back. "I don't want to talk about it." He slunk into a chair between Marluxia and Riku, muttering, "My mom's gonna kill me."

Well, it appeared that whatever made Xigbar reluctant to talk to Luxord last night was water under the bridge at this point. The two sat together at the small table like they were old chums.

"Anyway, you guys arrived just in time. My buddy Luxord was telling me all about his shady past."

"S'not that bad," the man said. The two looked good together, Axel thought. Like two super villains chatting over tea and biscotti. They shifted their chairs and one of the waiters brought over more so everyone could have a seat, along with complimentary water and a bread basket.

"So what've you been up to this morning?" Axel croaked out, gulping the water so fast that half the glass was gone by the time the guitarist responded.

Xigbar was talking way too loud, but the boys suspected it was on purpose. "Our friend Luxord was telling us how he's on the run from the law."

Axel could see Riku wince from the corner of his eye and looked up at the blond man, his hair as bright as the sun itself and making him wince as Xigbar's words rang in his ears. "Really?" Riku asked.

"He's making it sound a lot worse than it really is," Luxord said, waving his hand dismissively.

"So how do you guys feel about cutting our trip short a little bit?" Xigbar asked.

His hopeful smile was met with three confused glares.

"What?" Axel grumbled. "How many bits is a little?"

"Like. Today. Possibly."

Now the confused glares were focused on Luxord.

"The fuck did you do?" Marluxia asked, more exacerbated than anything.

Luxord was everything if not diplomatic. He daintily placed his folded hands over his crossed knee and explained his situation in a clear voice. "Well… remember that man I was with yesterday evening? Well, he happens to be my dear uncle who needed to make a few quick bucks. He's a genius, really, who just happened to fall on difficult times."

Axel slowly nodded along. "Ahuh…" A small smirk played on the corner of his lips. Was this guy for real?

"So I taught him how to count cards." He said it so simply, and maybe that's what he meant by his uncle being a genius. The concept of being able to keep numbers like that straight was so far lost on the boys that it may as well be brain surgery on a tightrope.

"Wait, but counting cards is illegal, isn't it?" Riku asked, still trying to catch up as fast as his sunbaked brain would allow.

"Not necessarily, although it's certainly frowned upon. What is illegal is having a nephew on the other side of the table also counting cards and communicating through a series of hand gestures how much to bid."

It would have been funny seeing the boys each spit-take their complimentary water if they weren't talking to a fugitive from the law.

"Really," Axel stated, not a question, more simply impressed that Luxord had gotten away with it as long as he had.

Marluxia turned to Xigbar. "Absolutely not."

"Are you insane?" Riku asked the guitarist. He always considered the man to be the adult of the group, but every passing day brought new surprises about how much of a lie that was. Suddenly their hangovers didn't seem all that noticeable.

"It was only like a thousand dollars," Luxord said with a shrug.

Axel's heart nearly stopped as all color paled from his face. "A- one thousand dollars?"

Luxord glanced between the boys' reactions. "It's… really not that much money here," he tried to explain. "And it was my uncle's proposition, although I'll probably be seen as an accomplice…"

"Wait– So, what's the end-game in this plan?" Riku asked, trying to stay calm and make sense of everything. He looked between Xigbar and the blackjack dealer. "You being a wanted man here or a wanted man at the harbor?"

Luxord's eyes seemed to glance above their heads, making eye contact with something in the distance, and he breathed in a deep sigh. "Well, I guess it was to be expected. Xigbar and I talked a big game, but it looks like it wasn't meant to be." He took his napkin off his lap and delicately dabbed the corners of his mouth. "I want you boys to remember me as you see me now."

"Criminally insane?" Riku asked.

"I was going for cool and collected, but I suppose it's a work in progress." He kept his eyes trained on a spot behind them as he stood and placed his napkin on his plate. The boys looked over their shoulders and saw by the greeter podium the manager of the restaurant standing next to two huge men in black suits and a cop. She had her handcuffs at the ready as Luxord calmly approached them with his arms out.

"Welp. There he goes," Xigbar sighed as the two men in suits followed the cop and Luxord out the restaurant. There was so little fanfare that most of the patrons were completely unaware of what just happened.

"That guy was a nightmare," Axel said, with a bit of unhidden awe. "Where the hell did he even come from?" He seemed so cool last night. It was amazing how frightening things could get. Was everyone from Vegas like this?

"Nah, he was pretty cool, actually." Xigbar perked up a little bit, not all that upset about what transpired, and glanced towards Riku. "He plays bass, y'know." The boy looked unamused. Xigbar smirked and turned to Marluxia. "Also dabbles in drumming."

Marluxia curled his lip like he had never been more insulted. "Die in a fire, Xig."

Xigbar just laughed and took another long sip from his mimosa, like Luxord getting escorted out of the hotel in handcuffs was the punchline of a big joke. "Man that guy was an asshole," he said through his teeth, but Axel knew him well enough by this point to know he didn't mean it. Still, the boys let go a collective sigh of relief.

Unfortunately the rest of their trip consisted of staying in bed and drinking lots of gatorade. They didn't have the money to take in one of the glitzy shows, and only Marluxia was able to come out on top in roulette with a blazing two dollars in profit.

On their last day Riku and Axel were waiting in the lobby for Marluxia and Xigbar who were still gathering their scattered belongings in their room. The boys sat on some of the scattered barstools that littered the area by the nickel slots against the wall. Riku was numbingly inserting nickel after nickel, losing every time. Axel watched on unimpressed as the total jackpot slowly creeped higher and higher.

"You're just feeding the machine," Axel warned, not for the first time.

"Shhh– If anything, I'm making a future gambler very happy." Riku wasn't much for high-stakes games, so betting a couple nickels at a time wasn't a huge risk. Of course, he's bet almost twenty-five dollars in nickels at this point, with nothing to show in return. Axel continued watching as he shove coins into the slot, pressing a button, losing, and doing it again.

"This is a sickness."

"Hey, I told Xig I didn't wanna come." Coins. Button. Sad trumpet. Repeat. The jackpot slowly crept higher.

"An addiction."

"Shhh…"

The elevator dinged and Axel's head perked up as Xigbar and Marluxia walked out pulling the luggage trolley with the drum kit and amps stacked on it. He stood up and prodded Riku with his elbow. "C'mon, Sky Masterson, the party's here."

"Who?"

Axel crinkled his upper lip. "Do you even watch the movies we rent out back home?"

"Hey guys," Xigbar said as he approached, digging into his wallet for the valet coupon. "I'm gonna go get the van. You guys sit tight." Marluxia parked the trolley with his kit by the slots and followed Axel's example by giving Riku advice he didn't ask for.

"You should quit while you're behind."

Riku responded by throwing Marluxia some salty side eyes and inserting more nickels into the slot machine without even having to look. He pushed the button and heard another sad trumpet. His coin cup was almost empty. Riku dumped the last three nickels into his hand and slid them into the machine.

"Seriously though you've been to an arcade before right? You know these games are rigged so they always come out on top, you can't-"

Marluxia was cut off by the sound of sirens blaring. A rotating light on top of the jackpot sign was flashing, and coins began hemorrhaging out of the machine, even spilling onto the floor. Riku was stunned silent, but Axel and Marluxia were shouting expletives in shock.

"No fucking way!"

"How much-"

The boys looked up at the jackpot sign.

One thousand two hundred dollars.

Xigbar arrived with the keys to the van in hand. "What the fuck is going on?"

Of course, it wasn't like over a grand of nickels spilled out of the machine all at once. A slot attendant came by and helped Riku with the process of turning all the money into more manageable bills. By the time everything was settled, Riku said he would pay for everyone's dinners and gas for the drive back home.

Marluxia drew the short straw for first driver on their twenty-hour trip back home. Xigbar was a bit more familiar with the area and volunteered to front-seat navigate while Axel and Riku napped in the backseat.

While Marluxia drove further away from the main strip, the less chaotic the scenery became. Less huge buildings and more trees. More suburbia. It felt weird. What Marluxia and Xigbar hadn't expected was driving up on a retreating figure on the side of a busy intersection. He had his back turned, thumb out, holding a cardboard sign that read 'anywhere,' and perhaps most important, a guitar strapped to his back.

The light at the intersection turned red, and the van rolled to a stop just as the hitchhiker turned around.

"Is that…?" Marluxia didn't need to elaborate as a slow grin slid across Xigbar's face as he rolled down the window and stuck his head out.

"Hey, sailor!" he shouted, getting Luxord's attention. The blond gentleman's arms relaxed to his side as he smiled back. "Heading our way?"

"What?" Marluxia hissed. "What are you doing?" Axel and Riku were shuffling in the backseat, seemingly awake and disappointed that they hadn't made it out of the city yet.

"Hm? What's happening?" Axel yawned. The boys didn't expect the door beside them to slide open and a very smelly ex-blackjack dealer to gently place his guitar between their seats.

"Hello again, gents!" Luxord said happily, launching himself inside as the light turned green.

"I did not agree to this," Marluxia said, refusing to move. The cars behind them started honking wildly and he reluctantly pulled forward to find a parking lot he could stop in.

"Now, I think we got off on the wrong foot-"

"Aren't you supposed to be in prison?" Riku asked. He was wary, and rightly so, but there was a story in there somewhere and Riku was also curious.

"Card counting isn't illegal," Axel reminded.

Luxord nodded his head. "They brought me in for questioning, but they only made me stay overnight before I was free to go. All the casinos know about me, though. So I'm unhireable. I figured I'd pack up shop and see where I could start over."

"And you think your new beginning is at Destiny Harbor?" Marluxia asked. So far Luxord has proven himself to be a bit of a wild card, but not really a bad person. Marluxia recognized a level head when he saw one. At least he appreciated the man for taking risks.

Riku glanced down to the guitar Luxord had placed delicately onto the van's floor when he came in. If Marluxia was going to humor the dealer with questions, Riku figured he should ask the question on the tip of his tongue. "Is that your bass?"

And that's how Luxord and Riku ended up moving the luggage around in the back of the van so they could sit down and play together. Luxord gave him tips on how to gingerly move his fingers across the strings and how to play without constantly looking down at the neck.

"I sometimes find myself singing the note I'm playing instead of what it's actually supposed to be," Riku admitted. "I get so distracted, like I can't keep anything straight."

Luxord nodded and relaxed his shoulders against the side of the van. "Some people forget that using your voice is the same as playing an instrument. Not everyone's a one man band prodigy."

"Yeah, but I should be able to pull this off…"

"How long have you been playing?"

Riku took a moment to think, letting it sink in. "Since… I guess about seven years."

Luxord's eyes went wide and he let out a low whistle. "Practice doesn't make perfect," he finally said. "Practice makes permanent. At this point, you might be better off going about playing from a different direction."

"How so?"

He grinned and plucked a loud, twanging G. "Find yourself a new bassist or a new singer."

It wasn't like Riku was a particularly prideful person. Any compliments for his musical ability were usually received with a healthy dose of shock. But standing at the crossroads between lead singer and bassist, it wasn't incredibly difficult to choose.

They tried it out at a couple practices when they returned to the harbor. With Luxord taking over bass duties, Xigbar actually started playing with them more often, and a little bit more seriously. The soundproof room in Merrie Melodies was getting cramped with five musicians and all their equipment.

"You guys are sounding a lot better these days," one of Xigbar's coworkers, a woman named Rinoa, told Axel and Riku while they took a break one afternoon. "You've moved on to lead singer, right?"

Riku took a moment to finish guzzling down the water from his bottle before answer. "Yeah… it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Do you need help?" she asked. "I'm a vocal coach…"

It seemed like she was offering, and Riku perked up at the idea. "You really mean it?"

"Well, sure! You guys have done right by us so far. Ever since you started practicing here, we've gotten a lot more customers."

Axel tilted his head. "Really?"

She smiled. "Of course, I mean- Who doesn't want to shop at the music store that 13 Hearts endorses?" Axel and Riku swapped a look. The way she said it made it seem like common sense. They hadn't even done anything more intense than play random songs on people's patios during parties.

"Singing can be a lot more difficult than people imagine," she continued. "It's like archery. You've got to move and manipulate the correct muscles to hit the target, the correct pitch. Some people are natural at archery, but everyone needs practice. I can help teach you a few tricks that will save you on stage."

Riku agreed to do the lessons. Since he worked at the video store, he was able to swap free rentals for the service, which Rinoa gladly took him up on.

The band decided to break for the night and Axel stood up and stretched his back. "Hey I'm going to Kisaragi's," he mentioned as an open invitation. Luxord hadn't been yet and wanted to check it out. Xigbar tagged along, and Riku and Marluxia were both hungry so they figured what the hell.

It was a warm Friday evening in spring and the pizzeria was hopping. Almost every table and booth was occupied with happily chatting tourists and regulars.

"Hey, Yuffie!" Axel said happily to the short girl working the register. "Gimme a meat lovers."

"Extra peppers?" she asked, not even having to write it down for Barrett, the long-suffering cook sweating bullets by the oven. The man was already tossing dough for their order.

Axel winked. "You know it." The boy could wolf down an entire pizza on his own, but the remaining four decided to split their meals amongst two pizzas before finding a place to sit against a wall near the back.

When their names were called, Axel and Riku volunteered to pick up the pizzas at the front counter just in time to get an earful of Yuffie chewing out someone on the phone.

"Deposits don't work that way if you're the one cancelling at the last minute!" she bit out, handing Axel a pan with his deep dish on it. "We want our money back!" There was a short pause and Axel watched as her eyes turned hollow. "Or else you'll have to answer to me, got it?" That girl was horrifying. Her words must have put the fear of God into whoever was on the other line as she spat, "That's what I thought."

She hung up the phone loudly.

"Everything okay?" Riku asked.

She turned to them and glanced between the two boys and their table up against the wall. "Wait. You guys are in a band, right?" she asked.

They had played live a couple times, but it was mostly informal battle of the bands or someone's backyard. For those they usually had to pay a fee to get in or in the case of parties, in exchange for beer. A lot of the kids knew about 13 Hearts, but Yuffie worked most weekends and could never make those parties.

"Yeah, something up?" Axel asked, curious. People usually didn't ask that question without a gig offer coming up.

"Yeah, fucking Bloodfest backed out of a show last minute. We need someone to play tomorrow night. Are you guys free? We're trying to wrestle our deposit back from Seifer, so we might not be able to pay you right away, but there's free pizza in it, and– are you guys twenty-one?"

They glanced at each other. For once in their lives they didn't have to lie about that! "Yes?" Riku answered, still not entirely used to it.

"Then free beer too! Whadya say?"

They didn't even have to think. Before drawing a breath they both answered in unison, "YES."

After explaining everything to the others back at the table, they were met with an expected mix of elation and trepidation.

"I'm all for free pizza and beer," Xigbar said, not caring he'd be eating the same meal two days in a row.

"I mean, I can probably fudge my way through some songs," Luxord muttered. "How long is the set? And will they always be paying us in pizza? We need to make sure not to set a precedent for that…"

"I have work tomorrow, but…" Marluxia shrugged. "It shouldn't be a problem."

"Then we're good! Our first paying gig!" Axel announced happily, barely able to contain his excitement. The foolhardy grin plastered on his face stayed there even when his boss chewed him out for being late to the video store that night. It even remained when Seifer threatened to bash his teeth in for stealing their set.

His smile continued until they were onstage at Kisaragi's the next night, with amps borrowed from Merrie Melodies, looking out into the infectious enthusiasm of the five neighborhood teens trying to act cool as they sat at the edge of their booths to get a good look at them.

"What the fuck did you do to your face?" Riku asked, staring at his best friend judgingly.

"I just… It's just a little bit of eyeliner." The singer surmised that Axel probably got help from their drummer, but while Marluxia's makeup made him look pretty, it made Axel's sharp features look almost demonic. Axel tried to act dismissive as he tuned his guitar. There wasn't really a rush. Kisaragi's had a laidback atmosphere and it wasn't like there was another band going on after them.

"You look like a raccoon." Riku's eyes did a once-over on Axel's entire look. "Are those new shoes?"

"I wanted to look nice for the audience!" Well, he looked demonic. His behavior was pure cinnamon roll and Riku sort of loved that.

Riku glanced back up at their audience. It was now four teens. One of them left to use the restroom. The singer shook his head and muttered "Testing, one-two," into the mic, making a couple girls in the restaurant shout.

"You gotta impress them," Axel continued. "Be, like, seductive."

Riku raised an eyebrow and craned his neck towards the guitarist. "And what would you know about seduction?"

Axel just smirked. "It takes finesse. You gotta move your hips a little bit when you do that throaty thing you do with your voice."

"I do a throaty thing?"

"Look at that kid over there," Axel said, nodding to the booth where the girls were at. There was one sitting against the wall. Shy. Black hair shaved at the sides with her bangs obscuring her eyes, but they could tell she was peeking at them from behind his fringe.

"…You want me to seduce her?" Riku asked, a little unsure, but he'd try anything once. He rolled his shoulders and almost walked off the stage before Axel stopped him.

"No, dumbass, I want you to seduce her through song. You gotta have the right stage presence."

"My presence is fine."

"But when you're up here, you need to play a certain role. Every time you perform you get this stunned look like you're amazed people are willing to give you the time of day. The kids aren't lining up to see Riku-Down-The-Block sing songs he wrote in his kitchen. They wanna see Riku-The-Rock-Star sing his heart out for an audience of one– that kid right there."

Riku looked briefly up again at the girl. Her hidden eyes were focused on the table now, drawing mindless circles on a menu with her fingertips while her friends chattered excitedly beside her. Riku got Axel's basic gist. There would be a kid like this at every show from now on. Every kid would want that moment, of making eye contact with their favorite musician onstage and feeling like the song they were singing was created just for them. For a crowd of five or five thousand, Riku would have to try his best to deliver that moment for everyone. He wasn't sure if that's what he expected when he took the reigns as lead singer, but while nervously fidgeting with his mic stand one last time, he glanced over his shoulder to Axel who smiled.

"And remember, I got your back Kuroyama. We all do."

Marluxia raised his brows and gave Riku a reassuring wink while giving his kit one final test. Xigbar and Luxord strummed their guitars to his right, giving him wordless encouragement that they were behind them through and through. Riku took a deep breath, in through the nose and slowly out through the mouth, before he grabbed the mic.

"Hey everyone, we're 13 Hearts," he said, maybe too loud for their small audience, but they applauded regardless. Once he had the shy girl's attention, he intended to keep it the rest of the night. "This song is called Revel Boy."

Axel watched as Riku slowly acclimated to his role as leader. Throughout the set he would orchestrate Xigbar and Luxord on any pace changes or tricky parts they had trouble with during practice. At the end of the night they were performing for a crowd of at least thirty. A decent-sized crowd, for Kisaragi's standards. He skimmed his eyes towards the table in the back and saw the girl, finally smiling and nodding her head along to their songs. One more proselytized fan.

Riku was on top of his game that night. Afterwards people were complimenting him on his voice as he chugged down a large cup of water offered by Yuffie. Most of the compliments were on him, but Axel smiled as even Marluxia, Xigbar, and Luxord received their due praise as well.

This was actually happening, Axel realized with stunned disbelief. The band was working. They were good. Axel stared off in stunned disbelief until he felt Riku's eyes on him.

"Dude, get over here! Your fucking face scares them, they're too paralyzed to talk to you." Riku was standing near a gaggle of people all looking at Axel like he was some kind of ghoul. Maybe it was the eyeliner, but he liked it too much to stop anytime soon. Axel cracked a smile and joined the rest of the group.

The Kisaragi's were so impressed with the turnout they decided to strike a deal. Local talent could play live on alternating weekends during the spring and summer when the tourist season was at its peak. No more having to get beat up by Seifer for "stealing" gigs. It was the perfect plan. The perfect setup.

Axel looked around the restaurant, which was slowly turning into a small afterparty for their first set as a group, and grinned.

This was perfect.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"Okay, I think it's time to rinse," Axel said.

Roxas perked his head up and reached for the rubber gloves. "Really? So soon?"

So soon. Like he hadn't been sitting there listening to Axel talk for hours. "I'm probably not supposed to leave it in as long as I did." He glanced in the mirror and tapped his matted hair. Roxas stood and approached the bathtub, rolling up the legs of his pajama bottoms before stepping inside.

"Here, I'll help you," he said, motioning for Axel to lean his head over the rim of the tub while sitting on the toilet beside it. Axel turned on the faucet and waited for the water to warm up before dipping his head under. Instantly red filled the basin, putting the scene from Psycho to shame. Roxas guided his scalp under the water and massaged some of the thick chunks of dye out. The more the stuff washed away, the more it revealed soaked, deep-red hair. As Roxas leaned in closer, his shirt got splashed with water ricocheting off Axel's hair, but he chose to ignore it. He bit his lip in anticipation of finally seeing Axel back to normal again.

"Okay, I think I got it," Roxas said after noticing the water running clear no matter how Axel's head moved under the water. Without hesitation, Axel flipped his hair back and flicked a stream of water across the ceiling and opposite wall. The color paled from Roxas' face. "Why would you do that?"

The punk's only response was to look up at the blond and grin. It was foolish to even consider predicting Axel's behavior. Roxas sighed and reached forward to turn off the water. That's when the clock stopped and Axel gripped onto Roxas' arm before he had a chance to turn the faucet. The younger man looked at him questioningly.

"…Roxas." His voice sounded deep and severe, as if the life had been spooked out of him. "What is that?"

It took Roxas a second to remember. He had been so excited to see Axel back with his red hair that he'd forgotten about the phantom, dull pain on his left shoulder that had been haunting him for the past month. The water-soaked thin white shirt on his back was as translucent as glass by this point.

"How long?"

"About four weeks…"

"Take your shirt off."

He said it without any hesitation. More on the line of curiosity, Roxas thought, but that didn't stop his face from flushing as he pulled the wet fabric over his head and turned around so Axel could see. It was Roxas' first tattoo.

Axel grinned as he took it all in. It was an anatomical heart with a flame coming out of the aorta. Two green stems with thorns wrapped around the heart like an X, with a red rose blooming right behind it. Axel felt his own heart clench just looking at it.

"No way."

"I mean, you said it yourself," Roxas said, reaching for the faucet and successfully turning it off. "I wanted to preserve something precious. So years from now I could see my reflection in the mirror and have a constant reminder of all the events that shaped me. The ones that made me who I am today. Stronger than yesterday."

He stretched his arm across his body and touched the sensitive skin on his back. When he looked back at Axel, the man was sitting down in stunned disbelief. A sappy smile drew across his face. He was too happy for words. His embarrassed expression made Roxas grin, carefully stepping out of the bathtub while butterflies nervously pelted themselves against the insides of his stomach.

He took Axel's cheeks in his hands. His thumb rubbed against one of the tattoos on his cheek while his fingertips clutched at red hair. Roxas bent down, leaned in close.

"It's good having you back, Axel."

Each new kiss was slowly evolving into something different that neither boy had felt before. A kiss more heated and passionate than the last. Axel's hands found their way to the blond's bare hips, gripping him tightly and pulling him closer. Every touch burned as Roxas moved his hands from Axel's face and wrapped his arms around his neck. It felt nice kissing from a higher position, for once. There wasn't a precedent for this. He wanted to fold into Axel's lap and kiss him senseless, but there was a nagging side of him that advised against grinding on a toilet seat.

Instead he pulled back while refusing to release his arms around the punk's neck, pulling Axel to his feet. The shift in the height difference made Axel break away for a moment, breathing heavily near Roxas' ear. "What's the plan, Rox?"

Roxas gulped heavily. There was no plan. He didn't have a script to follow, but he could understand why Axel seemed to be walking on eggshells around him. It was hard to believe the man who tried so hard to scare him away was now trying everything he could to keep him close. Roxas trailed his fingers down a tattooed arm and took Axel's hand in his. It was difficult for Roxas to try and communicate that it was going to be okay. Instead he tried giving the hand what he hoped felt like a reassuring squeeze.

"C'mon," he mumbled, leading the way out of the bathroom and down the hall to his bedroom. He felt a hesitant pull on his hand as soon as they crossed the threshold. Glancing over his shoulder, Roxas noticed Axel blinking nervously, eyes glued to the floor. "Is this okay?" Roxas asked, suddenly terrified that he might have overstepped a boundary. The last time they tried anything like this, they were drunk.

Perhaps that was part of the problem. Axel's heart was pounding and he couldn't relax. His hand in Roxas' was shaking. "Is it? I mean, you're okay with… this?" Axel asked. It wasn't a mystery what was going to happen in a few moments if they let the reckless pounding of their hearts guide them. Axel just wanted to make sure there were no regrets, no walking out after this was over. His voice sounded more like stunned disbelief, and that set Roxas' mind at ease.

Roxas pulled on his arm and dragged Axel to the foot of his bed, making him sit. He decided he liked it better when Axel was lower than him. "This is more than okay," Roxas stated, as if he hadn't panicked himself to sleep every night for months wondering how exactly this would play out if it ever happened. He took a deep breath. "So, uh… you probably have more experience about all this than me…"

He rolled his green eyes and gave Roxas a crooked half-smile. "You gotta stop puttin' me on a pedestal like that. I didn't get laid until I was twenty, and it was practically a favor. I'm not that cool. All the high praise is gonna go to my head." Axel bit the skin of his lower lip with his canine and it was enough to make Roxas almost groan, but he held back.

"Oh yeah? Which head are we talking about here?" Roxas inched closer and enjoyed watching the punk's throat gulp nervously. Bit by bit, Roxas' resolve was starting to crumble. "Fuck. Okay. Alright, don't laugh. I'm new at this."

Roxas took a step closer, so his legs were on either side of Axel's knees, and kissed him again. Patience was a virtue Roxas tried in vain to possess but when it came to Axel and his lips and his tongue and the sound his breath made and the way this calloused thumbs would rub circles on Roxas' bare skin, Roxas wanted it all and he wanted it now.

It was becoming too difficult to stand up, and Roxas let his knees rest on the edge of the bed. He slowly crawled so he was sitting in Axel's lap. Axel's breath shook for a moment once Roxas settled, and the young blond pulled away. "This is fine, right? I'm not…?"

"No!" Axel blurted out in response, "No, no. You're totally fine, I just…" He hesitantly looked down, realized that was a huge mistake, and then looked off to the side, brows furrowed and cheeks beet red. His voice was a few pitches higher than normal. "It's… been awhile, Rox."

Roxas' eyes went wide and lips shrunk into a small 'o' shape as he realized why Axel had been so nervous. "You haven't… since last time?" Impossible, that was nearly two months ago.

"No, I mean, yes, I've– But like, with a person, your birthday was the… I've been busy, okay!"

Roxas leaned back, arms still resting around Axel's neck, the brunt of his weight on the other's knees instead of his lap. A little bit too nervous to make that close contact yet. "I refuse to believe you were busy the entire time you were on tour. Nobody was willing to sleep with a rockstar?"

He tilted his head from side to side, as if to say they were, but, "It wouldn't've felt right…"

It took a moment for Axel's words to really sink in, but once they finally did a huge grin split across Roxas' face. "That's so… pathetic," he said, laughing. Don't get him wrong, he thought it was incredibly romantic, but it was so ridiculous to think that Axel - Axel fucking Rose - would save himself for habitual fuck-up Roxas Strife.

The very idea filled Roxas with pride as he leaned forward and kissed Axel in an attempt to make himself stop laughing. It wasn't even that funny, he was just so happy that he couldn't help it. He continued leaning on Axel until the punk got the hint and started to fall back.

Finally he had Axel where he wanted and decided to let his libido take the wheel, past hesitations be damned. Axel's breath shivered as Roxas ground the both of them together. Even though the redhead still had his jeans on, Roxas hoped Axel was feeling it as well as he was. The blond dragged his hand down marked skin until his fingers rested on the hem of the jeans. Axel's body was tight, mostly skin, wiry muscle, and bone. The jeans fit like a second skin, even tighter with his arousal pressing from inside.

Roxas pulled back, sitting on his haunches so he was hovering over Axel's hips and the poor punk looked desperate. With Roxas' lips so far away it gave him a chance to breathe, which he took with deep gasps. "Jesus Christ."

It would have been a nice, empowering feeling for Roxas knowing he did this, but currently he was hard as a diamond and trying to figure out Axel's button fly was going to be the literal death of him.

"Need a hand?" Axel asked, somehow managing to substantiate a chuckle. Roxas shot him a glare and lowered himself, grinding their cocks together, and Axel shut right up. The top button came undone easily, it was the other three that were causing a headache. Finally Roxas decided to just pull the fabric apart, and the buttons popped open one by one. Axel let out a small noise that got caught in the back of his throat.

Axel's erection strained against bright red boxer briefs and Roxas just about lost it. He knelt back down and started peppering each tattoo with small kisses and quick bites.

"Scoot back."

Not needing to be told twice, Axel quickly moved so he rested against the pillows at the head of the bed. Roxas had more room to move, and took advantage.

"Spread your legs for me."

At this point he wanted to know what he could get away with, and what Axel would be willing to accommodate. The jeans had ridden down enough that they weren't in the way, so Roxas pulled down the red briefs and took Axel's cock in his hand. Whatever noises the punk managed to suffocate moments ago were back.

Roxas returned to sending sweet kisses along Axel's torso, working his way further down. He'd only really done this once before, drunk. That time he was only copying what he knew he liked, but now was a chance to discover what Axel liked. What could he do to make the punk lose his filter and really sing?

He started simply, testing the basics. Blowing softly made Axel whimper. Roxas glanced up and managed to catch his eye. Holding eye contact, Roxas leaned down and dragged the flat of his tongue along the underside of Axel's cock from the base, switching to the tip of his tongue as he reached the head. Axel finally released a loud moan, digging his fingers into blond spikes.

Roxas continued from the base again, suctioning off little bits at a time and licking when he was done. Axel was seriously coming undone and he hadn't even taken the punk in completely yet.

"How much longer are you gonna last, rockstar?" Roxas asked, making his lips touch the sensitive skin of his shaft with every syllable.

"Jesus fuck, like five seconds?" he answered, voice high-pitched and warbled.

Roxas looked unimpressed. "You better not." Still, Axel did say it had been a while. A smirk grew across Roxas' features. "Got enough in you for more or will this be it?"

Now Axel was trying ridiculously hard to keep his chill. The corner of his lip he kept biting would bleed if he weren't careful. "Ah, you know me," he struggled, trying so, so hard. "I'm always up for a challenge."

"That's what I like to hear," were the last things said before Roxas went back to work with a long, slow drag of his tongue. When he reach the head, he enveloped it all into his mouth, taking in as much as he could, and tried not to break suction when Axel moaned so loud he could hear it echo in the front of the apartment.

"Ah- Rox, for real, I can't-" He gasped when Roxas rolled his tongue like a wave and dragged the sharp tip across his slit. "Yes, oh god, please…" He was as good as gone. A steady stream of yes and please filled the room and Roxas would have never guessed Axel could be so polite. The punk's hand gripped Roxas' hair tighter, holding on for sweet mercy as the young man continued his relentless sucking.

With a strangled, stuttering moan Axel came. Most of it hit the back of Roxas' throat and he swallowed on contact. He pulled back so he wouldn't gag, catching the rest on his hand while Axel's hips shook. For a moment, Axel looked like he had just ran a marathon. He gasped for breath and tried to focus on anything other than the blurry image of the ceiling. When his heart finally felt like it wouldn't burst through his chest, he looked down and saw Roxas just staring with a lazy smile.

"Take a picture," Axel said, embarrassed.

"Sounds tempting," Roxas replied, already stroking Axel's spent cock.

The overstimulated feeling wasn't helping so soon after coming. Axel wiped away a drop of sweat that was gathering by his temple and pushed himself up on his elbows. "Hey. C'mere." He nodded his head, calling Roxas up, but the younger man hesitated.

"Uh… are you sure?" It wasn't like he'd just had the punk's cum in his mouth or anything. Was this something Axel was into? Regardless, Axel rolled his eyes and cocked his head again.

"Yeah, I'm fucking sure. Get up here," he replied, endearingly. Roxas obliged and slowly crawled back up so Axel could kiss him.

Each kiss became deeper, longer, and Roxas was steadily quickening his pace, rolling his hips over Axel's crotch. "Tell me what you want," Axel asked between kisses. His hand snaked between them and easily found its way past the elastic of Roxas' pajama bottoms and boxers. Roxas practically purred at the sensation, a reaction Axel hadn't been expecting but appreciated.

"Mm, more of this," Roxas sighed, keeping room between their bodies for Axel's hand to move up and down his length.

"Anything else?" he added. His unoccupied hand moved from its place on Roxas' shoulder to lower back, leaving light brushes over his tattoo, until his hand moved past the hem of his pajamas to grab his butt and squeeze. The quick shooting glare from Roxas didn't go unnoticed. "Sorry. Always wanted to try," Axel said, grinning.

"Hm. I'll allow it." The way Roxas would glare at Axel made him feel giddy, like he was getting away with something that nobody else could. In fact, it was a genuine fact that nobody had ever seen Roxas do what Axel had seen. It gave him such a thrill. Roxas mewling above him while he massaged his cock was beginning to wake him up again.

"So," Axel drawled, withdrawing his hand much to Roxas' annoyance. "What exactly did you have in mind?" If Roxas was clueless then he'd play along by ear, but if the blond knew exactly what he wanted, that would be a great starting point.

It seemed that Roxas wanted to answer with actions rather than words. He ground his hips down against Axel's again and his eyes widened when he realized Axel wasn't as soft as he was before. "Oh," he said pleasantly. "That was fast." Axel response was a mix between a pained sigh and a laugh.

He grabbed onto Roxas' forearms and lifted him up, twisting their bodies around so Roxas landed onto the mattress with his legs wrapped around Axel. "And that's the only instance where it's okay to say that to me in the bedroom, got that?" the redhead said with a smile. Now that Roxas had taken care of the nervous edge within him, he felt like he could really get into it. "Now, tell me what you want, Roxy."

Perhaps Axel overestimated just how much of a turn-on having Roxas pinned would be for him. Everything seemed fine this morning, but now, looking so debauched and horny, it was a completely different scene in the same bed.

"I want all of it."

Even though Axel had just come, those words almost set him over the edge again. Who the hell was Roxas Strife and what gave him the right to make him feel this way. "And you're sure?" Axel started panicking, but only a little. He wasn't exactly prepared for this. He had a condom in his wallet, but he'd left it on the coffee table by the couch where he fell asleep last night. He wished they were at his place where he at least knew where everything was.

"I'm sure," Roxas panted. "I've… practiced, a little."

Axel's eyes went wide as an owl. "Practiced."

Roxas started getting a little antsy under the scrutiny. "I mean. Yeah. Y'know, like… f-fingers and- STOP LAUGHING." A nearby pillow collided with the side of Axel's head.

"Fuck, okay. I wasn't laughing, Rox." He was. "I was just- Wow. Really?"

Axel wasn't sure he ever saw Roxas pout before, but the look on the man's face was probably about as close to pouting he would ever chance to see. "I wanted to know what it felt like."

Now Axel was curious. If it weren't a completely inappropriate time he wanted to ask Roxas a million questions, but he narrowed it down to three. "How far did you get? Were you able to make it feel good?"

In a surprising feat of blood flow, Roxas' cheeks got even redder. "Yes."

The lecherous grin on Axel's lips widened. "And who'd you think about when you were doing it?"

"Seifer."

"Aw, c'mon, Rox," he murmured, burying his face into the crook of Roxas' neck. It had been too long since he last had a taste. It was reminiscent of carefree days and sunsets on the beach, leaving Axel with a pleasantly nostalgic thrum in his heart. He gave the warm flesh a tiny nibble, a small punishment. The short gasp released by the blond was enough to make him forgive him, though.

A mystery that would never be solved was how the boys had gotten this far and not lost their pants yet. Axel pulled away from sucking on Roxas' neck to right this terrible wrong. Roxas squirmed and twisted to help Axel in his task. Getting the tight fitting jeans off took a few more moments, but Axel managed with his dignity in tact. Luckily Roxas was there to help.

"This is ridiculous why were you even wearing pants to begin with?" he griped, flinging the vexatious garment along with Axel's bright red boxer briefs against the nearest wall. Axel dug his thumbs into the elastic waistband of Roxas' boxers and pajama bottoms and dragged them down to his knees. It took Roxas a moment to kick them away and situate himself comfortably under Axel again. He wrapped his arms around Axel's neck and dragged the punk down for another kiss.

This was it. Nothing remained between them. Axel continued grinding down as Roxas' hips bucked, one hand wrapped around their lengths while the other held onto Roxas' thigh. This would be so much easier with-

"Drawer," Roxas gasped between sloppy kisses, as if reading Axel's mind.

There was a small bedside table with a reading lamp and a book, probably for a class, along with the vacant spot where Roxas' clock radio used to stay until earlier that morning. The table had a small drawer that Axel had to reach for, but inside had everything he needed.

"Condoms, huh?" he asked, pulling the box and a bottle of lube out with together. "And how many of these have you gone through, Roxy?" The date on the box reassured they weren't ancient, and when he opened it he was pleasantly surprised that only a few of them were missing.

"Now is spectacularly not the time," Roxas said through clenched teeth.

"Now, now," Axel tisked, as if he had any control, placing the box of condoms down and snapping open the bottle of lube, "remember what I told you about moving too fast." He poured a healthy amount on the palm of his hand and rubbed them together. Axel wasn't the type to go straight for the kill, not necessarily, as he rubbed his slick fingers around Roxas' abdomen. "So, tell me what you want, and I'll do it."

Roxas curled his lip at the mess Axel was making, but then the man caressed his inner thigh and he bit out a pained chuckle. "Slow? Like, a glacier," he was joking, but Axel considered.

The punk finally wrapped his hand around Roxas' cock and the blond nearly screamed. No, going slowly wouldn't work at all. He wanted to gauge Roxas' facial reaction for what happened next. His hand moved down Roxas' cock, stopped to caress his balls and watch as he bit his lip, and fingers stretched back to dance softly over his entrance. The entire time Axel kept a sharp eye over Roxas' face to see if there was any twinge of discomfort.

Roxas cracked open a hypersensitive blue eye and glared at him. "I want you to keep going," he finally ordered through clenched teeth. This was too much. Axel was going to lose himself if he didn't calm down first. He inserted his middle finger and Roxas hissed. "Yes. Just like that."

Axel kissed his neck, encouraging the positive talk as his finger moved in and out. Roxas' breaths were leaving him in flighty little gasps that tickled the rim of Axel's ear. It seemed like Roxas had gotten used to the intrusion, so Axel slipped in his index finger and heard a slight hiss. His fingers paused their movements and Roxas began panting again. "No, keep going."

Axel obliged and bit the inside of his cheek a little harder every time Roxas released a hot, breathy moan against his neck. He started moving his fingers in a scissoring motion, and Roxas' discomfort, no matter how much he said otherwise, was becoming more apparent. To lessen the burn, Axel started kissing and licking a steady stream down Roxas' neck, scraping his teeth across his collarbone and pausing to lick at his nipple. His fingers shook, startled when Roxas groaned loudly and started grasping at the bedsheets.

"Gonna hafta move a little faster, Ax, I'm not gonna last much longer," Roxas warned, voice shaking nervously as he looked down at the devious redhead.

Okay. Okay. "Okay."

Axel drew back his fingers and reached for a condom. His hands were too slick with lube to get a decent grip on the packaging, and after fiddling for a few minutes he let out a frustrated huff and brought it to his teeth, ripping it open. The condom slid on in two brisk strokes, and Axel took a deep breath as he slicked himself up.

Roxas looked at him, lips smiling and heart pounding. "Ready?"

Axel bent down and kissed Roxas slowly. Roxas felt dizzy and lightheaded, but overcome with passion as he wrapped his arms around Axel's shoulders and pulled him closer. He felt Axel's hand as it touched at his entrance again, guiding his cock into place. Roxas' breath hitched as he gripped tighter onto Axel's shoulders.

"Roxas…"

They were too close for Axel to see Roxas' entire face. All he could see were bright pools of blue as the blond's cheeks pulled up into a sparkling grin. Axel took that as his answer and carefully slid inside.

Roxas' whole body seized for a moment and Axel couldn't move because the arms around his shoulders held him so tight. "It's okay," Roxas said, a raspy whisper, immediately knowing how bad this looked. "It's cool. I'm fine. Just give me a minute."

"T-take all the time you need, Rox," Axel wheezed. It was suffocatingly tight around him. Every instinct told him it was time to move, but he forced himself to reel it back and wait. In the meantime, he roamed his arm from Roxas' side to his thigh and back again, over and over while he tried to keep his breathing steady.

When he felt Roxas' arms loosen a fraction, he shifted and felt the low rumble of a moan inside the blond's chest. "You said you did this yourself and you made it feel good?" Axel asked, making sure. Roxas nodded his head against Axel's hair. "Then tell me everything I need to do to make this feel good. Can I start moving?"

"Yes."

Axel readjusted his arms so he wasn't lying flush against Roxas' body anymore. It was easier to see his face this way and he began by giving him a kiss. Roxas was the one to push it farther by biting at Axel's lower lip and convincing him to open his mouth with a gasp and a smile. Axel tipped his hips forward while sucking on Roxas' tongue.

He pulled out slightly and kept his eyes trained on Roxas' as he slid back it. It felt fucking heavenly but Roxas' brows were still knitted with worry. Axel's intense staring didn't go unnoticed and Roxas sighed. His cheeks were so red every time he tried to open his mouth to say something. Axel was just about to stop and force him to say something before he finally built up the nerve and spoke. "I- I like long strokes. Slow."

Axel grinned. "That I can do." He pulled out, slowly, almost to the head before thrusting back in, careful to keep a gentle pace. Roxas seemed to be okay for now, as long as everything was a fluid motion and not short, hostile jerks. His breathing came out just a slow and deep, in time with Axel's thrusts. While Axel's breathing was a bit more ragged, he found himself enjoying the pace.

His arms were getting tired in their position, so he shifted up a little bit and that's when Roxas really screamed. Axel halted and Roxas brought an arm down from tattooed shoulders to cover his mouth and hide his embarrassment. A wicked little smirk formed on Axel's face when he pulled out, languid and dawdling, and then sheathed back in. Roxas moaned.

Axel felt like he found Treasure fucking Planet. "Nice and slow, right Rox?" He was teasing, but it seemed to be getting the job done. Roxas had removed his arms from Axel's back entirely now and was grasping tightly at the sheets.

"Ahh- ha- Axel. Oh my god…"

He drove in again and had Roxas tilting his head back and howling. "How much longer you gonna last, rockstar?" Axel chuckled between heavy breaths.

He was definitely teasing and hoped Roxas wouldn't remember any of this later. Regardless, Roxas heard and gave a broken, gasping laugh. "Fuck, I don't– five seconds?" Axel found himself laughing too, leaning in and kissing Roxas in the crook of his neck.

Roxas' skin tasted salty sweet with sweat, and Axel was starting to feel a little too hot as well. Intense heat was starting to pool below his stomach. The end wouldn't be long now.

He reached between them and started stroking Roxas with slow caresses matching his thrusts. Each breath from Roxas released a little quicker, making Axel move his hips a little faster, while each exhale was punctuated with breathy moans.

"Yes, perfect– Axel–ahnn…"

It felt like a tight coil about to break. Axel bit his lip to hold it in. Roxas was on the verge of losing it, so if he could just-

Roxas somehow managed to unclench his hand from the bed sheets and wrapped it around the back of Axel's neck, pulling him down for a loud, wet, and teeth-filled kiss. Roxas came like an explosion, his body spasming all around Axel and shattering the last wall of defense keeping the punk in check.

While the blond continued to quake beneath him, Axel's hip stuttered out of rhythm, doing everything he could to get himself off. It wasn't until Roxas caught his breath that he became aware of Axel's continued thrusting, and sighed pleasantly. A soft and high, breathy little sound that squeezed like a vice in Axel's gut.

He came with Roxas stroking his hair and making encouraging noises from the back of his throat. It felt just as good as a few moments ago, making him bury his face into Roxas' chest. Each breath of his skin brought out another wave of pleasure until he was emptied and collapsed on top of Roxas.

The younger man chuckled, wrapping his arms around the punk and rolling them onto their sides so they faced each other. Axel was completely spent, eyes closed and head lolling against the mattress. Roxas wondered if he was going to fall asleep. Axel was probably still exhausted from their tour, and both of them had woken up earlier than expected because of the alarm, so perhaps it was best to go back to sleep. Roxas did the honors of taking the spent condom off of Axel and throwing it in the wastebasket by the bed.

He felt… relaxed. It was a difficult feeling to parse, because his body ached and his chest was sore like he'd just finished running, but… when he looked down at Axel he was at peace. Like this was really going to be all okay. He laid beside him and placed his arm on Axel's shoulder, letting it slide up to the crook of his neck to touch his hair.

After a few moments, enough for their breaths to calm to a dull roar, Axel peeked open his eye to look at Roxas. The boy still had his eyes closed, lazily combing his fingers through Axel's damp hair and softly untangling any knots he came to. Axel sighed loudly through his nose, making Roxas crack his eyes open. They paused and stared for a few moments.

"…I missed you," Roxas mumbled.

A different three-word phrase almost flowed off the tip of Axel's tongue before he realized something. Roxas wasn't looking him in the eyes, he was looking a little to the left, where his hand was softly combing through red bangs.

"…Are you talking to my hair?"

Roxas didn't reply, but pulled a longer tuft out from behind Axel's neck and leaned in close to kiss it. "I missed you so, so much," his voice cracked near the end, unable to contain his laugh. Axel elbowed him away and shook his fingertips through his damp hair, effectively ruining any combing Roxas had accomplished. Axel liked it better like this anyway.

"You're terrible." The punk sat up in bed and started to stand.

"Nooo, come back!" Roxas whined.

Axel looked over his shoulder and saw the blond stretching his arms out needily. "You talkin' to me or the moneymaker?" he asked, giving his red hair one last good shake. "I just need to use the restroom, I'll be right back."

Roxas nodded, yawning and stretching out as he wrapped the sheets around him like a cocoon, possibly to go back to sleep. Axel retreated back to the bathroom and took a brief look around. He quickly wadded up the hair dye instructions and bottles and threw them away in the small bin by the toilet. His reflection in the mirror caught his eye, and he paused.

Each tattoo told a story. Each stab of ink was a line on a map leading him to this very moment. He touched the Latin banner across his chest, in remembrance of his first song, and trailed up a few inches to his collarbone. There was a new one, there, almost unnoticeable from the cacophony of art across his body. From a precious two hours of free time in Hartford. After Axel had taken Demyx's advice and done a lot of thinking. It was a key.

Axel leaned against the counter and thought back to how it all started. How it came to this. He tapped a rhythm on the tattooed collarbone, steady like a heartbeat, and remembered.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

It all started late in the summer, sometime in mid-September. Axel usually made sure to call his mother at least a couple times a month, just to check up on her and the house, see what the family was up to, the usual miscellany. His mother seemed excited to point out an interesting tidbit of his dear cousin who also happened to live in Bastion as well.

"So remember how Tifa has her wedding planner business going on?" she asked, her voice gravelly after years of cigarette abuse. Axel made a mental note to quit. "She's got a new gig! An adorable young couple getting hitched in December! Isn't that great?"

"Awesome," Axel said. He had his phone balanced in the crook of his neck while he was orchestrating a private message chat with Luxord.

gramblinman81: Still on for practice tomorrow night?

flurryflamme: ofc

He took a sip from his water and sorted through notes for the song he wanted to introduce at practice. It was a wild one, lots of thrashing involved. They tested it out a little bit last week, but he was able to come up with something more solid for them to work with.

"You should give her a call and see if she can help you guys find a job…"

"Mom, I don't need help, we're fine. Trust me."

"Lea, I don't like you driving that tram around a big city like that! You know a lot of tram drivers get murdered!"

Like doing music full time was any safer than a regular paycheck that put food on the table. "Nobody has ever killed a tram driver in Bastion, mom." Besides, Traverse was even bigger than Bastion. She didn't need to worry about him, he was safe.

"Well a little extra business never killed anyone, either. You need to put yourself out there more, make this band more than just a hobby!"

"There isn't a musician alive who doesn't have at least three side-jobs outside of music. And we do not play weddings," he said with a hint of finality in his voice. As far as he was concerned, he was done talking about it.

gramblinman83: You know it's been about a year. We were going to make a drive out to the harbor tomorrow afternoon and try to see him…

gramblinman83: We'd appreciate it if you could be there.

Axel frowned.

"You guys made those business cards a few years back didn't you? I still have them laying around, I'm gonna pass them on to-"

He blinked and caught up with what his mother was saying. "Do not give Tifa those business cards, okay? Those things are a joke." It hardly mattered. He could practically hear her stuffing the dumb things into her purse for her next drive into the city.

"Okay, I won't. So what's been going on with you, kiddo?"

A new message popped in the screen.

gramblinman83: You there? Are you coming or not?

"Sorry, Mom. Something's come up, is it okay if I call you back?"

flurryflamme: I have work. maybe next time

ooo

There wouldn't be a next time. In all honesty, Axel was too scared to see his best friend anymore. He'd changed too much. Both of them had. They were evolving in different ways, and Riku's trajectory was too far in the wrong direction. It didn't matter how much Axel preached or yelled, Riku would always shut down and ignore the ones around him. The others might be better equipped for dealing with that kind of drama, but Axel hated it. He hated looking at his friend and seeing a monster. He wanted his Riku back.

When Luxord and Marluxia returned from the harbor the following evening, they both had grim looks on their faces and refused to say anything. While Marluxia was busy setting up his kit and Luxord tuning his bass, Xigbar stole Axel away for a moment to talk.

"Lux told me all about it when he got back," he said, voice low so the others couldn't hear over Luxord's plucking. "It's bad, man. Like really bad. Lux said that Mars told him it'll be pointless trying anymore. They think he's done."

Every word stung. It didn't seem worth traveling down to the harbor and checking up on him. It had been over a year since Axel fucked up and if Riku wasn't ready to forgive him, then Axel was ready to walk away. There was no use dealing with him, no matter what kind of past they shared. Sometimes bad things happen, sometimes good people make mistakes, and there's nothing to be done about it, right?

Axel's lips pressed into a thin line as he nodded. "Got it." He gave Xigbar a rough pat on the shoulder. "Thanks for letting me know." He turned back to the others. "How's it going, gang?"

"I'm set," Luxord said. Marluxia answered by testing out his bass drum with a few good hits before breaking out a short solo.

"I'm good."

"Rad. I've got that new song on lock, mostly. I wanna test it out." He passed out copies he'd made using the xerox machine in the office at the tram station, when his boss was out of the room. The three others looked it over with interest. Scrawled across the top of the sheets was the title, Deadly Night Shade.

ooo

It was a few minutes before doors at their usual Saturday set at the Organization. They had wrapped up sound check and Marluxia had escaped across the street with Xigbar to a food truck for a last-minute dinner. Axel used his drink ticket on a beer, nothing too heavy, and leaned against the bar.

Seifer stood nearby and was saying something about pickups.

"These were fucking heavy, man," he said, trying to describe the sound. "It's got a really sweet tone, something different from my humbuckers."

"Yeah I get you," he said, taking a swig. It was difficult to hear with the pre-show music the Organization had playing across the room. Axel was pretty accustomed to smiling and nodding when Seifer discussed equipment. The dude was a total gearhead who knew his stuff, but it was difficult getting in the mood. If something sounded really worthwhile he'd be sure to ask him about it later.

"They were on sale, but too rich for my blood."

"Did you ask if they could hold them, at least?"

"Fuckin' course, dude."

It was just music banter until Luxord left the green room with the set list in his hand, approaching the two of them. "Axel, I've been prompted by Marluxia. He wanted me to remind you that he needs a break after Night Shade, so maybe talk up the audience or something afterward, yeah?"

"I'll see what I-"

He was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and when Axel turned around his blood almost froze solid.

It was – but… it couldn't be…

"What do you want?" Axel's voice sounded cold, but he felt like a deer in the headlights. The kid looked just like the rat bastard that broke his best friend's heart a year ago. But it wasn't him. The hair was too different. The face was similar, but it wasn't him.

Axel realized after staring at the kid's face a little too hard that maybe it was coming across as glaring. He laughed, smirking crookedly, and leaned against the bar. "Look, kid, I- uh don't do autographs unless you catch me after a show." He turned back to his friends. They saw this, right? It wasn't just him? Seifer might not remember but Luxord had to. But they just laughed in a patronizing way at the blond young man and there was another tap on his shoulder. Axel turned back around, trying to hide a nervous gulp.

"That's… not what I wanted," he said, holding out a business card. Not just any business card. One that Axel made as a joke to placate his mom who insisted that a band was a business and every good businessman had business cards. He picked it up, like seeing a ghost twice in one night, and flipped it around. It was definitely one that he'd made.

If he had this, that must've meant that his mom gave it to Tifa, who… "You know Tifa?" he asked. His mind reeled back to that conversation with his mom last month. She said Tifa had a wedding planner gig. Axel glanced down to the ring on Roxas' finger. The boy looked like he was fifteen. "Aren't you a little young to be getting hitched?"

The kid looked like he could not have been more offended, like he was a literal bird with ruffled feathers. Axel tried not to chuckle. "Aren't you a little bold to be talking down to your future employer?"

Wow, and this kid was a royal prick, too. Money was money, though. A couple extra bucks probably wouldn't kill anybody in the band. And even though Seifer didn't get paid much to help out, Axel could feel the roadie wheedling his way into his brain. 'Don't fuck up this gig, lamer. I want those pickups.'

"Right, right… Sorry," Axel said, handing the card back to him. He hadn't really spoken to Tifa lately. He wished she said something before just handing their card off like that. "I think I remember Tifa talking about you. You're the really young couple getting married this December?"

The young man quirked a brow, seeming to wonder how Axel knew all this already. "Who is Tifa to you?"

"My cousin," he answered simply. "She's constantly trying to get us to play Master of Ceremonies and stuff. It's really not our scene." That much was obvious, Axel thought, as he nodded his head towards the club. The Organization was his home away from home, with the tattered walls, worn wooden floors, and everything painted different shades of mix-matched black.

His attention was brought back to the duffle bag he kept at his feet, heavy with new merch. "We do play some awesome covers, though, if that's what you're interested in. It's just we won't play them tonight. We're trying to sell our new CD tonight, you see, and most of the kids here probably wouldn't know Fleetwood Mac from Freddie Mercury…" Ask them to tell the difference between Gorilla Biscuits and Black Flag, however, and you'd be there all night.

The young man's face lit up at the name Freddie Mercury in a way that Axel would absolutely, one-hundred percent, never ever in a million years call endearing, no way. But it was a face that looked good on his youthful features, and Axel wouldn't mind seeing it more often. Or punching it off his rotten, pompous mug. Axel was filled with mixed emotions tonight.

More people were filtering inside, ones that Cid allowed through ahead of the line, and were starting to crowd around the bar. The loud music wasn't helping the stilted conversation much. "Can we go somewhere else to talk?" the man asked.

Axel blinked, wondering where they could possibly go. The alleyway in the back with the dumpsters was a little terrifying since the light above the door burnt out. Cid probably wouldn't let them use his office while he was playing bouncer for the night. The bathrooms were disgusting, whether it was part of the club's charm or not. The only place left was the green room.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." He turned to to Luxord and Seifer. "Mars will get his break, don't worry. I'll be done in a few minutes." He pulled his attention back to his potential (but incredibly unlikely) employer and motioned towards the door near the back of the club. "We're done with mic check so it'll be a little bit before doors open. Over here." He approached the door and opened it, walking in and holding the door open for the blond. Marluxia and Xigbar hadn't returned yet, so the room was still empty.

"I'm sorry," the man spoke first, "but I don't know your name." Ah, yes. Introductions are crucial for businessmen.

"Oh, sorry, I'm kind of used to people knowing who I am around here," Axel said, trying not to smirk. He loved the way the man's skin crawled. "Axel Rose," he answered, holding out his hand for the man to shake, presumably, although he simply looked between Axel's tattooed face and calloused hand with a confused grimace.

"Seriously? Like… Axl Rose?"

Axel liked to think the name evoked a certain kind of vintage, hard rock charm. It was certainly better than Lea. Frankly, he was sick of people always criticising his name. "Yeah." After a brief moment of glaring into each other's eyes, Axel lowered his hand when it became painfully obvious the blond wanted nothing to do with him.

"Ugh. You aren't going to sing Welcome to the Jungle or anything tonight, are you?"

Axel tried to laugh. Tried to be good-natured about it. Tried so hard not to punch this stranger in the fucking face. "No. That song's only good if there's a bunch of hammered people around." His band's usual audience was a bunch of misfit teenagers. He usually tried his best to show them a good time, without the kids needing booze to realize it.

The man made a testy hum sound. "I'm going to be perfectly honest for a moment," he said. Fucking beautiful, Axel thought, lemme hear it. "You aren't really the type I want playing my wedding."

"Really?" Axel asked, positively brimming with scorn. This was getting to be too much. He needed a cigarette. There was a carton in one of the outer pockets of his duffle bag, and he bent down to pull one out, briefly promising his mom that he would quit just as soon as this scuzzbag got out of his life. "And what is your type, small-fry?" Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn't Axel. Although watching those feathers ruffle again would never get old.

"Do you really think I need to explain? Look at you! Look at you! Your hair is dyed, you wear all black, your face is holed up, you have tattoos on your cheeks…"

Oh. So this was a looks thing. Like if Axel went around wearing khakis like this bozo then maybe they could be best friends forever. Axel rolled his eyes and dug into the back pocket of his jeans for his lighter and sparked the cigarette hanging in his mouth.

"Honestly? You're obviously not the type I would want to play for," Axel responded, ready to unleash hell. "I know a lot of business types that are really cool people to hang out with but you just seem like complete and total prick." He took a deep drag from his cigarette, telling himself to calm down. He released the smoke with a shaky breath towards the small vent in the ceiling.

They did really need the money. At the very least, Axel had to try. "But Tifa vouches for you. So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Our rates are three hundred for the night, food, tickets for the bar, and I want to be able to sell our CD at the ceremony." This was ridiculous. Who tries to sell a CD at a reception? Axel was sure he'd say no.

The man looked like he was about to explode. "Rest assured we don't associate with the types interested in your music. And don't go naming prices until we've heard you play."

"You came on a piss-poor night if you wanted to hear us. Your ears will be bleeding before the first song's over." And just wait until Deadly Night Shade, motherfucker. Axel took another drag from his cigarette and had enough, flicking it to the ground and stomping it out. "We aren't playing any 60's Dylan hippie shit tonight. You're going to get killed." He let the smoke leak out mouth like a fucking pissed off dragon. Axel wanted the kid to go crying home to his mom after he was through with him.

But the blond didn't back down. If anything, Axel's creepy schtick only made him bolder. "I'm going to watch the show," he said, defiantly. Fine, sure. His funeral. Axel wouldn't be responsible for whatever happened.

From the other side of the door he could hear Xigbar talking with Luxord. Their time alone together had finally reached its end. "Do whatever you want, kid. I can't tell you to leave."

Luxord must have said something about Axel speaking with somebody, because Xigbar knocked on the door before entering, something he was rarely inclined to do. The three of them came piling in. The chatter outside was growing louder, so doors must've opened.

"This fucking sucks," Xigbar whined, walking to the cracked mirror in the corner to check if he had any pepper stuck in his teeth. "I hate playing here. Their green room is a bathroom."

Marluxia shoved him aside. "Stop before you break it." He only had a few minutes to put on makeup and he hated rushing it. The guitarist glared at the drummer for a moment before focusing his good on eye on the young man practically pinned to the wall by the door.

"Dude, who's the kid?"

He was opening his mouth, maybe to give a name to that face, but it wasn't worth it. Axel spoke over him, needing to get this familiar face away from him. "He's nobody," Axel insisted. He wondered if Xigbar saw the resemblance. Probably not. They probably forgot all about that fucking Strife kid by now.

Axel held the door open and ushered the man outside. "Sorry, buddy, but we got a show to prepare for." As soon as he was out the door, Axel slammed it shut and nearly screamed.

"You okay there, dude?" Xigbar asked, the only one who really witnessed the awkward exchange.

"Yeah. It's nothing. It's dumb. I think I'm just crazy."

That had to be it. His thoughts were still heavy with Riku after what happened with Marluxia and Luxord's trip last month that it had him thinking about what happened a little too much. There was a small part of him who felt guilty for taking his aggressions out on the poor kid who wandered in asking him to play a gig. The two events had nothing to do with each other. Axel probably scarred him for life.

In the big picture though, maybe it wasn't such a big deal. The brat looked like he needed a swift kick in the ass. He was definitely cute with his feathers ruffled, Axel had to admit. The punk decided not to tell his bandmates about the potential gig. If they found out how he acted they would probably blacklist him from making arrangements again, and he didn't want to lose that.

So they went out and played their usual style for the usual gang of scene kids who piled in the Organization every Saturday night for loud music and a raucous time. For many of them, this was their safe space. 13 Hearts didn't care about what was expected of them, they only wanted each and every one of them to dance and forget about home, or school, or work, if only for an hour.

After Deadly Night Shade, which tore the place the shreds and Axel was so proud, he gave Marluxia his promised break and chatted up the audience a little bit. He held his hand above his eyes to block out the bright stage lights and scope the crowd a little bit. His chaotic breath caught in his throat when he saw that blondie was still there. Not only that, he was buying a CD.

His heart clenched as he grabbed onto the mic. "Oh! Ohh! What have we here?" Xigbar and Luxord gave him a side eye. "Guys, follow my lead. Last Caress," he whispered to them. Luxord nodded and Xigbar pressed his pedal on the ground and strummed his guitar until he got the right tone.

The prick seemed to pause, knowing something was up, and glanced towards the stage. It looked like his entire body froze over when he realized Axel was staring at him. Axel decided to give blondie what he asked for.

"We have one last song to sing before we crash for the night. It's a cover."

Axel took a deep breath and put on his strongest face.

"I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!"

If looks could kill, Axel would have been fucking eviscerated after the glare blondie had shot at him. Not long after that, the man walked out of the club and, Axel wished, out of his life forever.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"Axel, are you okay?" Roxas called from his room.

Axel blinked and refocused on the mirror, fingertips still tapping on his collarbone. "Yeah, one sec." True to his word, he did have to use the restroom. After flushing and returning to the bedroom, it had gotten a little colder thanks to the late winter chill still clinging to the air outside. At least it was warm under the covers with Roxas.

He smiled.

"I'm thinking about going back to sleep," Roxas said softly, looking up at Axel with big blue eyes. If looks could kill. Axel tried to remember to breathe. "Do you have anything going on today?"

There were several things Axel had to do today. He had to call the man from Red Dragon Records and arrange an appointment. He had to check in with Riku and make sure he was doing okay. He had to call Seifer and see that their equipment was someplace safe. Axel's ears flooded with sound as his heart rushed blood throughout his body. He felt like he would never be the same again. God, he wished he was right.

"Nothing more important than this."

Using what little strength he had left, Roxas shimmied a few extra inches closer. Axel wrapped his arm around him, tight, and released a deep, quivering breath. There were so many things on the tip of his tongue. He never wanted Roxas to leave. He was so thankful for everything he'd done for him. He cared about him more than any person on the face of the planet, and Axel cared deeply for a lot of people.

All words escaped him as Roxas relaxed in his arms, breath becoming deep and steady. Axel pressed his forehead against his and soon followed him into sleep.

xxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

I am so sorry I'm such a slow writer. This was another chapter that I completely rewrote from top to bottom, and in a classic case of "show, don't tell," this included writing in all those flashbacks that weren't in the original chapter.

Unfortunately, the next chapter is also unfinished, and I have no way of knowing how long it will be until the next update. Keep your eyes peeled on my tumblr because I'll usually make random updates there with my progress…

I don't really have much to say this time around! Other than…

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

And you know what the greatest gift of all would be? A shiny new review from YOU! So please leave a review! They mean so much, even if it's just a couple small words. And of course, follow/favs are appreciated as well! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME ALL THIS TIME!