"Argh, cold! Cold cold cold." Axel was busy knocking snow and ice off the roof, which Roxas found a little alarming. If he fell off, Axel could break a leg. But Axel seemed to feel it was necessary, and Roxas wasn't about to argue. Could the roof collapse? There sure was quite a bit of ice. "I think that should do it." The redhead finally came back down the ladder, to Roxas relief.

It had been several months, he guessed, and the weather had turned bitterly cold. The TV said a blizzard was coming, and there were all kinds of warnings not to drive, which had prompted Axel to work on the roof before it arrived. He seemed morose though, and Roxas wondered why.

"Is something wrong?" Roxas asked, watching his breath plume in the cold air in front of him. Axel grimaced.

"My satellite internet. The TV too, actually. Bad weather kills them." Roxas blinked, then winced. That meant that Axel quite likely wouldn't be able to talk to his sister at all until the storm was over. Then another thought occurred to him.

"Wait, this means I can't watch Merlin? This sucks!" Roxas exclaimed, then blushed as Axel laughed at him.

"You and Merlin. Don't worry, the storm should be over for Saturday. Hopefully." Axel didn't have a whole lot of faith in the forecast, although he was sure they were right that a storm was coming. After spending his whole life in the mountains, Axel could spot the signs easily. "Guess what we're having for supper!" Axel said as they went back inside the house.

"Um?" Roxas blinked, thinking about it. The supplies were running low again, Axel was planning to make another trip out as soon as the weather cleared enough to allow it. Roxas was hoping he'd be able to write another letter to Sora when he did, but he wasn't sure what Axel could be thinking of making. "I have no idea."

"Bear curry." Roxas paused in hanging up his coat before turning to look at the redhead.

"You're not serious." Roxas blinked at Axel's innocent expression. "You butchered the bear?"

"Of course! Waste not, want not." Roxas looked like he'd rather eat the spiders in the basement, and Axel hastened to add. "It's really not bad. Especially in curry. I tried out a steak ahead of time, and this bear isn't the best, which is why I'm making curry." The intense spices would obliterate most of the gamy flavor.

"Well, I'll try it." Roxas wasn't going to make any promises though. "How did your entry into the Threadless competition go?" Axel sighed.

"Got an honorable mention." Axel shrugged philosophically. "Not because there was anything wrong with mine, the other entries were just so damn good." Roxas nodded. He'd been truly impressed with Axel's final entry. The little ninja bird had been surrounded by four black cats, menacing him as he faced them with his little katana. It had been incredibly cute and had really resembled the t-shirt it was taken from. "You should have seen the winner, it was truly epic. I've never seen anything that elaborate."

"Maybe you could print it out for me?" Axel still wouldn't let Roxas at his computer, and the blonde couldn't help but resent it a little. But even if Axel had trusted him absolutely, which he didn't, it would have been very tempting to send Sora an e-mail. And Roxas was fairly sure that was traceable, so Axel's caution still made sense.

"Sure!" Axel didn't mind that at all. He had plenty of ink cartridges, he could print off all kinds of things to show Roxas.

Several days later, though, neither one of them was very cheerful. The blizzard had started off slowly but it had built to a painful intensity. Axel and Roxas were both trapped in the house without TV or internet, and the store of movies had dwindled fast. Books had helped, but you could only read so many books in a day. The conditions quickly led to cabin fever, with Axel more irritable and restless and Roxas sleeping much of the day away. But the blonde was irritable too, when he was awake. So it wouldn't have really been surprising to an observer when a fight started. It had almost been inevitable. Axel and Roxas got along very well most of the time, rarely fighting, but these were the perfect conditions for one.

It was over something stupid. Later, Roxas would only vaguely remember it had had something to do with leaving a jar open. But who had left it open and why, he wasn't sure. But it ended in both of them furious, and Axel stomping to the front hall closet to get out his coat.

"Where do you think you're going?" Roxas snapped, angry, as Axel shrugged on his coat and grabbed his gloves.

"Out!" Axel slammed on his hat as Roxas scowled.

"Are you nuts? There's a blizzard going on out there!" The conditions were horrible too. Roxas had never really seen a whiteout before, but he had now.

"I don't care!" Axel snarled as he wrenched open the door. Roxas winced at the burst of cold air, but Axel didn't pause, slamming the door behind him. Roxas stared at it for a moment.

"Well, have fun and see if I care if you freeze to death!" Roxas shouted at the closed door. Shaking his head, he went to go grab his book. But he couldn't read it, he was too angry. Pacing, he resisted the urge to throw the book against a wall. That wouldn't help, and he didn't want to abuse a book that way. "Bastard!" Roxas growled.

But gradually, as he paced, his anger cooled. Yes, Axel had been an ass, but he had been snappish too. Roxas was sure he had been right, but so what? Was it worth being right, really? He didn't want to be angry with Axel anymore.

Roxas suddenly frowned as he glanced at a clock on the wall, realizing it had been almost an hour since Axel had left the house. It was cold out there, cold and easy to get turned around. Roxas felt a sudden fear. Axel had reminded him many times of how wild the wilderness was here, but had the redhead forgotten? Roxas hesitated a moment, then went to get his own coat, mittens and toque.

Axel, meanwhile, was discovering that he had made a very bad mistake. Caught up in his anger, he'd gone in a random direction, slogging through the heavy snow and not really thinking about what he was doing at all. But the blizzard was so strong he could barely see a hand in front of his face, and by the time his temper cooled enough to let him think a bit, he had no idea how far he'd gone. Axel slowed, then stopped, glancing around at the flying snow and swallowing. Fear chilled his anger more effectively than the cold, and Axel tried desperately to figure out what direction the house was in.

"Roxas!" Axel called, not expecting an answer and not getting one. He hesitated, then tried to follow his tracks back. But the blizzard was obliterating them too quickly. He couldn't have said how long he kept walking, wondering if he was going in the right direction or if he was getting further away before he heard a voice.

"Axel!" Axel's eyes widened and he called back.

"Roxas! Stay where you are and call for me!" It would be truly ironic if he found Roxas and then they were both lost in the blizzard. Ironic in a really nasty way.

"Over here!" Axel followed the sound and soon reached Roxas, who grabbed his hand. "The house is right here!" Axel heaved out a breath in relief. He felt like a complete fool for putting himself into such a dangerous situation. Roxas dragged him back inside, and Axel sighed as he felt the warm air inside the house. Then he sniffed, rubbing his nose. It had gone bright red from the cold and was watering like mad.

"Thank you so much Roxas. I-I was lost." He admitted, shamefaced as Roxas gave him an indecipherable look. Then Axel looked down. After that scare, the fight seemed like petty stupidity. "I'm really sorry I got on your case."

"It's okay." Axel looked up as Roxas touched his elbow, then began pulling off his gloves and coat. "I shouldn't have snapped at you." Axel nodded, and started pulling off his coat and gloves as well. They were caked with snow. Roxas smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "You can make it up to me in bed tonight." Make-up sex was the best kind. Axel choked at the thought, then laughed.

"Gladly!" He hugged Roxas tightly for a moment, feeling relieved and so much better. Maybe a reminder of what was important had been what he needed. Although he wasn't going to do it again.

Next time, he might not be so lucky.


"Time for another food run, Roxy. Is there anything you want, besides that stuff we've ordered?" Axel's PO Box was always insanely full when he went to check on it, but that was okay. He paid extra for the post office to hold his stuff. It was expensive, but worth it. "I was going to head out tomorrow, if you want to write a letter." Roxas nodded. He'd actually been working on the letter off and on throughout the blizzard. Things had finally cleared up, although it was incredibly difficult to walk through the snow. Axel had been busy digging out the helicopter all morning.

"Could you get some bran flakes and real milk? I love bran flakes." The milk wouldn't last long, leaving him with powdered skim, but that was just the way it went. Axel smiled.

"Sure, if you want." Axel privately couldn't imagine wanting to eat bran flakes instead of eggs, bacon and toast, but if that was what Roxas liked he would definitely get it. "With raisins?"

"Of course! Two scoops of raisins in a package of Kellogg's Raisin Bran." Axel laughed at the old jingle, and flopped down onto the couch. After all the digging, he needed a break, although he wasn't done. The helicopter still needed a bit of work to be ready for flight.

For now, though, he needed a rest. Tomorrow would come soon enough.


The phone rang, and Riku picked it up, grimacing as he saw it was Sora's mom again.

Things were not going well on that front. Riku had underestimated how much Sora's mom was against the thought that both her boys were gay. Sora thought that she had been expecting grandbabies, and hoping Sora and Kairi would make a match. The fact that Sora and Kairi were nothing but friends had escaped her. Riku sighed and finally answered the phone.

"Hello?" He asked, glancing at Sora. His boyfriend was hard at work on some math problems.

"Tell Sora to come home immediately, there's another letter!" Riku blinked as the receiver clicked, then hung up the phone and glanced at Sora. His mom had sounded excited, but that wasn't surprising. Gay or not, Roxas was her son.

"Sora, we need to go over to your mom's place, she got another letter from Roxas." Sora bounced to his feet, smiling brightly with relief. Roxas said he was fine, but when months went by without a letter they had to worry. Things could change. Riku went with Sora, although he knew his reception would be chilly at best. He was right. When they arrived at the house, Sora's mom, a short woman with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes, ignored him quite thoroughly as she gave Sora a quick hug.

"The letter's here. I've read it already, but it's addressed to you." Her tone turned dry. "For obvious reasons." She had found the content of the letter less than amusing, although she was still glad to have gotten it. Sora quickly grabbed the letter and read it aloud for Riku's benefit.

Sora,

I know mom is probably reading this now so, well, I guess we're both toast. On the plus side, you get to keep your nuts. Mom, don't be too upset please? We can't help it really. I haven't noticed a girl since elementary school, but I think you probably knew that.

Things have been going okay for me. It's hard writing when I have to be careful what I say… hmm. I got to go hunting and a bear tried to eat me. But he shot it, he's really good with guns. The downside is that we ate it later, bear is really gross even in curry. It's so greasy. He says that they can taste better in summer when they're eating berries rather than the fall when they're getting ready to hibernate. We also caught some deer. He took care of skinning and gutting them, thank god.

This is probably going to sound really weird, Sora, and mom please don't freak but he's really cute. I can't tell you what he looks like but, well, he's nice and- he's reading over my shoulder and laughing at me. Oi! Just threatened him with the pen of doom. Oh well, he'd be reading this sooner or later. I like him Sora. I wish we'd met on better circumstances, but his family is really creepy and, well, I can't say too much about that.

He likes to cook. He makes the most amazing things, he's working on something from Julia Child's book tonight. I don't think French cooking usually involves that much swearing though. Or smoke in the house. It might be hot dogs tonight, heh. He also makes really awesome cakes when he's in the mood to, and the way he decorates them is beautiful. Heh, everything I'm writing is about him isn't it? But I can't tell you where I am and I'm pretty sure he won't mind me telling you a bit about him.

I hope you and Riku have been doing okay Sora, and mom, please try not to worry too much about me. You should be getting another letter in a couple months. Hmm, I can't think of anything else to write that wouldn't have to be edited out. So, I love you mom, Sora! Even Riku. I guess.

-Roxas

"Gosh, I'm flattered." Riku shook his head with a small smile as Sora beamed. Riku took his hand, giving him a gentle squeeze. "Let's get that to the police."

"…It's weird how he says that the guy who took him is nice." Sora sounded a little worried as they brought the letter to the police station. "Is that Stockholm syndrome?"

"Maybe. But on the plus side, if Roxas is getting attached to him maybe he's getting attached to Roxas." Riku thought that was generally a positive thing. He'd been reading up on the subject, and so had Sora, and he had read that when a killer couldn't dehumanize the person they were with they sometimes had trouble following through. He had no idea if the man who had taken Roxas was a killer or what, but the more he saw Roxas as a person the better the blond's chances were.

"I hope so." Sora sounded very anxious now, and Riku gave him another comforting squeeze.

None of them would rest easy until Roxas was back home.