Chapter eight

Curtains twitched on either side of the street of the terraced houses, obviously not accustomed to seeing a spiky redhead in an immaculate pinstripe suit and very shiny shoes getting out of a black convertible down their street at 3pm.

Axel took a little piece of paper out of his pocket and stared at Riku's elegant scrawl.

Was he ready to do this? Now was the time to find out. He'd planned it perfectly, 'Refrain of Denial' were going on tour the next day for a six month tour of the world.

He stopped in front of number 56 and stood there, aware of the curtains and people staring.

He crumpled the little piece of paper into a ball and put it into the pocket of this black floor length leather coat. Ringing the doorbell twice, he heard thumping down the stairs before the red door with the flaking paint opened and a man with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes stood in the doorway.

"Who are you?" the man snapped

Definitely a relative of Roxas.

"I'm Axel"

"Who is it?" came a female voice from somewhere else in the house.

"The nice man who gave Roxas that art job, Teef."

"Rox is in his room" She shouted "Can't get him to leave it."

"Sorry, Axel, can you come back another day."

"I can't, I have to go on tour tomorrow."

"Go up then, his room is the second on the left. Maybe you can talk some sense into him."

Axel looked down at his feet. It was partly his fault that Roxas was like this. Well, mostly his fault.

"Thank you..."

"Cloud"

He stepped inside the house and went up the stairs. Roxas' room was not that hard to find. Outside it, a dark haired woman was knocking on the door softly

"Roxas honey, there's someone here to see you."

"Riku?" came the voice from inside

Tifa indicated for Axel to slowly open the door.

"Roxie, it's me" He said softly

Roxas was sitting at a desk that faced a large window that looked out over a long back garden. He indicated for Axel to shut the door, not even turning to look at him.

Axel made his way towards the desk, picking up some crumpled sheets of paper. It looked like it had been ripped from an art book. The pictures were of Riku.

"This is really good."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Roxas turned, his eyes bloodshot like he hadn't slept in days. "You were a mistake, a stupid one that cost me Riku."

"Did you tell him that?"

"Of course I did. He said I'd made my choice and kicked me out."

"Sound's like Riku. He won't stand for any betrayal."

"What are you doing here, you've been avoiding me for weeks."

"Not many people come running, if they were told they were a mistake."

"Fair point."

Axel sat down on the end of the bed, opposite the desk.

"I was given your address and told to come and see you."

"Which dumbass told you to do that?"

"I can't reveal my sources"

"Why now?"

"I wanted to see you before we go on tour. Give us both time to think. Get a grip Roxie, It's been a month already. If he hasn't taken you back by now, he never will. It's time to move on."

He leant forward, wheeling Roxas on his office chair

"I like you. You're fun to be around until you get all moody and insecure"

He leant in closer and kissed the surprised blonde on the lips.

"Give me a call when I get back."

Axel handed Roxas a card with his number and a date on it.

"See you around Roxie."

Then he got up and left the room. Roxas heard him in the corridor talking to his parents. Saying that he couldn't get Roxas to leave his room.

He sat in silence.

What was wrong with him? Axel was going to leave thinking that he wasn't interested at all and would probably meet someone else when he was away. The goosebumps when the redhead touched him could not be ignored.

His heart in his mouth, he opened the door and rushed into the corridor just in time to see a shock of red hair going through the front door.

He ran to the front bedroom and threw open the windows. He could see the curtains twitch, but he didn't care.

"I expect souvenirs" he shouted out the window.

Axel looked up from his car and saluted.

After six months of phone calls and Skype, Axel opened the door to Roxas' bedroom for the second time. The blonde was staring out the window, playing with a mug once held hot coffee.

"I brought you a souvenir" Axel threw a band t-shirt at Roxas who dodged and it landed on the floor. "Why are you hiding in your room?"

Roxas didn't even look up.

Axel sat on the end of the bed and pulled Roxas who was sitting on his office chair towards him.

"I've been back here for 7 months, temping in crappy offices and all I get when I get home is demands for rent and 'Vanitus wouldn't do that, Vanitus treats everyone with respect, why can't you get a job like Vanitus. Van is a fucking Orthodontist with 2.4 kids and a wife who's as mad as a box of frogs. I bet they think why can't you be emotionally stable like your brother. He's the golden child, I'm just ..."

"You. Do you really want to be an Orthodontist?"

"They just want me to make something of myself"

"You're a fantastic artist. Come with us on tour. Be a set designer. We pay good money and you'll get to see me everyday."

"Yippee"

It was the most sarcastic voice Axel had ever heard.

"I can't face anyone at the moment. Have you seen this?"

Roxas threw a magazine at Axel, who looked confused.

"Front page"

Riku beamed from the cover, sporting short hair and holding a surf board. Next to him is a short man who looked like a brunette version of Roxas.

The caption reads: Bachelor finally tied down.

"Read the quote." spat Roxas

"'I've spent my life restoring things and Sora restored my faith in love.'"

"What were we, chopped liver?"

"I think we broke him." said Axel

They sat in silence.

"Do you want to go out sometime?" Axel said abruptly.

"Like on a date?

"Of course."

"Aren't we doing this a bit backwards? It there an ulterior motive?"

"We could show Riku what he's missing."

"In that case, No."

"Or we could get to know each other better. I'd like to take you out and have sex with you sober."

Axel tried to look as sincere as possible and from the expression, Roxas doubted that he had ever looked sincere in his life.

"Not on the first date." Roxas snapped "You don't mind being seen with Riku's cast off?"

Axel started to laugh.

"So nice of you to care about my reputation, which would be kinda sweet if I had a good one or cared about what people thought of me."

"Pick me up at 8.00. I promise I'll think about the job. Just no lying to me ok?"

Roxas leant over and kissed the redhead who grinned and grabbed him by the arms and flung him onto the bed. Roxas yelped at him in surprise, then laughed, kissing him again.