Author's note: A big thanks to GamerForever for the help with the spelling and grammar.

Axel's Pov:

I held Roxas' hand the whole way toward my flat. I had seen romantic couples do it on television and knew that it often led to sexual moments. He had tugged a little, trying to get his hand from my grip, but gave up after a moment and walked by my side in silence. I was satisfied to see Roxas waiting for me outside the café, but I was also anxious. I never had a roommate before; never shared a space or a bed. As an only child my parents gave me a bedroom all to myself, and I had never been a fan of sleepovers, so the thought of sharing a room with someone else came off slightly odd.

When we reached the stairwell to my flat we paused for a moment and I halted in my tracks. An awful scent filled my nostrils that I had not noticed before. I sniffed in the air, searching for the source. I turned my attention to him and realized that the odor was stronger where Roxas stood. I instantly loosened my grip on his hand and it fell limply to his side.

"Sorry for the smell." He said quickly, looking down in shame.

Was he serious? Did always rank of decomposing fish? I pulled a cringed expression and gawked at him. Perhaps I should revoke my invitation, but damn I needed him, I couldn't turn him away now just because he reeked a little.

"It's just that my apartment had a sewage line break and the now whole place is flooded with garbage." He told me, smiling a little tensely and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. I was relived knowing now that the stench didn't permeate from him per se, but the bag he lugged with him washed away my worry that my flat would smell like a clogged toilet for the duration of his stay.

"That's fine." I stated, beaming at him. "You can take a shower after I given you a tour of the flat." Turning my attention away from him, I continued the last steps to my front door. I could not regain a clasp on his hand, even though I thought it would be suitable to hold hands all the way to the apartment, it would have proved difficult up the spiral staircase.

I unlocked the door to my flat, leading Roxas in, and closed the door behind him. I hadn't furnished it much, nothing more than the necessities. All the walls were empty except for the mirror in the bathroom and some shelves in the kitchen. I started the tour of the place with the hall, then the kitchen; showing him where all the cooking utensils were kept. After that I showed him the living room, which he seemed to enjoy the most, probably since there was more color in that room than anywhere else in the flat. I decided to show him the bathroom before the bedroom since it would take time to decide which side of the bed he would prefer to sleep on.

"And this…" I said, opening the door to the bedroom. "…is the bedroom." I finished and waited for Roxas to walk inside and start making himself at home or something of the sort, but instead he kept standing outside the room, gazing inside to see how it all looked, seeming confused.

"It looks great, Axel, but where is the guest room?"

I frowned. A guestroom, why on earth would I have a guestroom? Except for this time, I never let people sleep in my home. Beside, this flat had only five rooms: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, work place and living room.

"Guestroom?" I questioned.

"Yeah, the other room with a bed you have and offered me to sleep in." he told me, looking doubtful.

I quirked an eyebrow. Why would I want him sleep in a different bed? The reason I invited him to live here was to get him in my bed. Or perhaps he's one of those people who enjoy sexual moments in other places. Then it hit me. It hadn't even occurred to me. I hit myself on the head, silently cursing. What if he wasn't into other guys? When I decided that I could sleep with him, I had only thought of what I would accept. I didn't even think if Roxas would submit to it too.

"Well, I thought you had an extra room and offered me it so I could sleep here. Where else should I sleep?"

"In the same?" I answered hesitantly at his question.

Roxas stared at me apprehensively. After a moment of silence, he sighed, but it didn't sound irritated or disappointed. "That's ok; I can just sleep on the couch." He told me, and went to the living room, his bag in his hand. I slowly strolled along after him.

"You know, I can sleep on the couch instead, so can you sleep on the bed." I offered. I didn't particularly want to sleep on the couch and let some stranger sleep alone in my bed, but I did need to gain his favor so we could do our stuff and I would get what I needed.

Roxas shook his head. "That's ok you don't have to, I'm just really grateful for you letting me live here for a while."

I remained silent. What else could I say; the man was simply tolerant of not having a bed. I watched as Roxas took of his jacket and laid it neatly on the sofa. He seemed to accept sleeping on the sofa, but he was clearly not satisfied through he tried to hide it.

"Can I take a shower?" He asked. "I'd prefer to get rid of this smell," laughing nervously.

"Yeah, sure, it's right over there." I said pointing toward the bathroom, before thinking how stupid it was since I had just showed him the location a couple of minutes ago. Roxas thanked me and moved towards the bathroom rapidly, with his bag still in his hands.

The moment I heard the bathroom door shut I darted to my bedroom and closed the door.

This had not turned out as planned. I should have thought everything through before I ran into it. I sighed, but here I was; too late to back out now since there was no telling when another opportunity like this would happen, if ever. I couldn't outright ask the man to have sex with me. Turning down an offer to sleep in the same bed as another man could mean he was not attracted to the same gender, or his was a person who had to fall in love before the would commit. I truly didn't know which option would prove to be more difficult to deal with.

I needed to come up with a plan. I grabbed a pen and notebook, and then rapidly wrote down every idea I had into the margins before I forgot them. I needed some facts and tips to help me, which I probably could get easily from any internet site. I would also need to learn how to make the environment as romantic as possible. Make sure that every part of my plan worked flawlessly. The plan was done and now all I had to do was begin. I was going to make Roxas fall in love with me.

XXX

The rest of the week passed rather easily. On the days while Roxas was working, I used my time researching tips on making a man fall in love with you, and sometimes watching romantic movies-so called "chick-flicks". I had only been able to bear several of them, with their ridiculously predictable plots, not to mention the bad jokes and "funny lovey-dovey moments", making the films abominations of epic proportions. Well anyway, if it was as easy to make someone fall in love with you in real life as it was the movies; I would have my book finished in no time. Unfortunately though the movies didn't give me too many tips on how to make someone fall in love with me and I was forced to think even harder. Roxas certainly didn't need to be saved by me from a thief. Unless I somehow made Zack the bad guy and I would save Roxas from his terrible wrath. Nor did he need to be saved by Nazis, but I guess that would give the same effect as one with a single bad guy.

Perhaps I could bribe someone on the street to rob him and just coincidentally be there at the same time to save him. Or is that too obvious?

I vaguely remember the famous story about Romeo and Juliet, since we were forced to read it in Classical Literature, but the chances that our family members would be mortal enemies with each other were particularly small.

In the times when Roxas was around the apartment I would enter Follow Roxas Mode. I would use all my senses to track Roxas' moves; trying to catch the moments for attempting my advances. It didn't take long for me to lay out Roxas' usual routines for when he returned home: going to the bathroom, refreshing him from a busy day at work, and then he would usually be the one making dinner for us. He seemed to enjoy cooking; I rarely made more than instant noodles, so I didn't complain. It was endearing of him to think of cooking as his payment for staying here. My research on the internet had yielded me valuable tips that I tried to implement. Tips such as trying to share his passions since that would make him happier and make me look more interesting to talk with. Thankfully, his curiosities didn't reach to sports or other forms of exercise. Another tip was making him feel helpful and important to me. This ended up being easier than I had originally thought. I would purposely "forget" things where Roxas had a high chance of noticing them and then acted like I had searched for them and ended up asking him for help.

At first he was very helpful to give me my "lost" item and smile when I thanked him, but after a while he just looked at me concerned. I ended up having to stop when he asked me if I was taking medication for a mental syndrome or medical disability.

I admit that forgetting your cellphone four times a day was a bit much.

The third tip from the site was to support him through a difficult time. Asking a higher power to kill some of Roxas loved ones would be too much, but if he really was close to his family, he wouldn't have had to find a stranger to stay with in the first place. If I was really lucky, he could get fired from his work, but I guess Zack liked the man too much to even think about doing that.

Showing him that you care about him and his feelings was particularly harder since I couldn't manage to find the right moment to do so without making it look peculiar.

The times Roxas was home I tried to be with him in every moment. When he sat on the couch watching television I sat down too, trying to get closer to him to show that I wanted to be with him and wanted him to fall for me.

I tried my best, but eventually came to the conclusion that hanging after him every second was making me seem bizarre and him rather uncomfortable with my presence.

He didn't talk much, not unwelcome, but he only said things when it was naturally important at the time. He never chatted away on one subject out of the blue; neither did he ask too many questions about me or try to dig inside my mind.

I appreciated that and was grateful that he wasn't one of those people I had feared him to be, but it gave me less material to work with.

I didn't ask him too many questions about him, since I thought too many personal questions were rather improper and I myself didn't like them very much. I was thankful that Roxas appeared to reflect the same in that matter and didn't ask too many private questions either.

"I won't do that." I muttered under my breath, as I lay on the sofa with the laptop balanced on my knees.

"What?" asked Roxas, from the other end of the couch; turning his eyes from the television to me, "Is something the matter?"

I opened my mouth to respond, and then realized that it wasn't really a topic I could raise with him without him getting suspicious, and closed my mouth again. "It's nothing." I replied, not turning my attention from the glowing screen.

Reading the latest advice from the dating blog; learn how to be a better French kisser. I shuddered. Just the thought of having someone else's tongue inside my mouth, with all the saliva and bacteria, made me want to vomit.

It was Saturday and for the first time since Roxas had moved in here, he finally had the day off. It was rather odd to spend more daylight time with Roxas, since he usually went to work a little after I woke up, and came home later at four or five. This left me alone all day to do research on how to make him fall in love with me. We both sat on the furniture Roxas used as a bed at night while he watched TV, and I continued to read more advice on my laptop about how to make him fall for me.

I would have rather read this information alone; if he happened to catch as much as a glance on what I was reading, it could destroy my entire plan, but I was needed to spend as much time with Roxas as possible since it would increase his chances of falling for me.

No matter how far I tried to get, none of my affection seemed to get to him yet. Perhaps it's time I should take my mission to the next level.

Closing the laptop, I put it aside as I turned my attention to Roxas.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, getting a shocked look from the blond. "It is dinner time, isn't it? You must be hungry, let's go out to eat!"

Roxas turned his attention to the clock on the TV before answering. "It's a little early for dinner, Axel, don't you think?"

With a quick movement, I jumped to my feet and took the opportunity to grab Roxas' left arm and smoothly pulled him from the sofa with one tug. Surprised as he was, he only stared at me, with no moves trying to shake my grip off.

"That's quiet alright. We can have an early dinner today!" I exclaimed happily, trying to give him the impression that I was excited about having dinner with him. "There is a very nice restaurant down the street we should go to, since I made our reservation there."

Roxas tugged his wrist away from my grip and looked at me oddly. "Our what?"

"Our reservation of course; if I hadn't made any reservation then there wouldn't be any guarantee we would get a table." I stated. Seriously, where was his mind?
"You made reservations for us at a restaurant down the street?" He questioned, quirking his eyebrow. "You're meaning that elegant French restaurant near the stoplights?"

"Yes, that's the one!" I smiled. "Now come on, we should shower and change our clothes before we get there. It is a fine restaurant after all. Not that we will need suits, but at least jeans and clean shirt. You can have the shower first, unless you want to share with me and save us time."

Roxas stared at me, his expression utterly full of confusion. I gave him a moment to let my suggestion sink in before I asked. "What do you say? Do you want to share shower or…?"

"I can shower by myself, thank you." He interrupted, regarding me edgily as he pulled away and moved to the bathroom.

I must say I was a little relived that he didn't want to share shower with me yet. After all, I had no clue what people who shared showers did in there that couldn't be easier on your own.

After we were both done, we went to the restaurant, freshly showered and well dressed. The French dinner was nice, although the lighting was a little too bright for my taste; I focused my mind on Roxas eyes. I read on the Internet that eye contact with the person you wanted show your interest with was sincerely important. According to the tip from the site, the longer you had and the more often you tried to catch another person's eye contact the stronger the possibility that the person would fall for you. It could just be rubbish, but statistics state that people who are romantically involved actually spend time just staring at each other.

The food they served was indeed a success. I had taken what the waiter suggested, coq au vin, while Roxas had ordered one of the fish dishes. He seemed delighted with the meal as well. I was happy with the progress so far. During the time we were eating, I had asked him several irrelevant questions to make me look interested in him, not mention eye contact to show my attentiveness.

I noticed the concern and surprised look in Roxas' eyes, when I ordered two chocolate mousses for our dessert. Perhaps he was not used to ordering desert after a meal, or maybe he wasn't hungry. I had hesitated to order the dessert for us at first, because I was, after all, already full myself, and didn't doubt that Roxas was too. He's short and not so wide. His stomach could not have been very large; too much food might overwhelm his stomach and cause him to be ill, and that would not make for a nice evening.

However all the sites had shown supper was more romantic with dessert after the main course, and it would not do to skip even a single step if it raised the chances of Roxas falling for me.

So, desserts it was.

The mousse was an elegant composition, served in two tall dessert glasses with delicate embedded metal swirls, topped with whipped cream. I carefully observed Roxas' slow motions as he ate the chocolate mousse with his spoon. I didn't even touch mine. I liked the idea of sharing mine since I was already full and polls say that many people find that extremely romantic.

"You're not going to eat?" Roxas asked, brining me from my thoughts. I searched over his face and noticed something that was not there a few moments ago. Some whipped cream from our dessert had found residence on his cheek. I licked my lips. This is a perfect opportunity. Roxas quirked his eyebrow, looking at me. "You feeling sick or anything?"

Ignoring Roxas' question, I bend over the table, nearing Roxas who searched for my intentions in silence and a questioning look. Deciding to make my move, I reach out toward Roxas' face and with my index finger I draw up the white cream from his cheek. He froze, but didn't flinch or slap my hand away. As I leaned back into my chair, I licked my finger clean of the substance as my gaze never left Roxas, causing his whole expression to turn more anxious.

I must say this action was a little surprising for both of us. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but it was certainly not something I wanted to do at every meal, every day. However, it seemed a much better alternative to tongue kissing.

Roxas rapidly snatched his napkin and compulsively wiped his check where only a small trace of the whipped cream remained. With a dazed expression he slowly turned his eyes on me.

"Axel…" He began, a troubled tone in his voice, looking uneasily at me. "Is this a date?"

Thank you all for the lovley Reviews and I'm sorry for the long wait with this update and I hope next chapter will come out soon.

Love PJ Audentia.