Woot! Back on a roll! In case anyone forgot, Roxas had some sense knocked into him by Leon and showed up at Demyx and Zexion's funeral with Reno, followed by a cameo in Goodbye Is Overrated :D

"So...the tiny girl? The one with the black hair? Who the hell is that?" Roxas asked as he carefully watched Axel, his hands on the steering wheel, his intense gaze focused on the road before them. However, when he let a smirk crack out on his lips, the kid's stomach suddenly felt much less tense.

"That is Xion. She was Zexion's best friend, totally crazy sometimes, everyone at school knows her as a little nympho. Kinda like you." The redhead turned to smirk at the kid, but Roxas only rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm surprised you don't know her, you go to the same school as her. Actually, I'm surprised no one recognized you today. I mean all those people, the kids? You went to school with all of them."

"You're forgetting. I just finished my freshman year. You're making me out to be older in your head." He argued and Axel scoffed.

"You seem a lot older than a freshman."

"That's because I am." The sandy haired kid smiled. "I'm a sophomore." His companion in the driver's seat laughed as he rubbed the corners of his eyes, digging his thumbs in like usual, only prompting the younger boy to grab them, retreating them into his lap as he stared out the window, nonchalantly intertwining their fingers on his thighs. Axel did his best not to act surprised, a new tactic for the redhead. He figured the less surprised he acted when Roxas did something remotely revealing of the fact that he did indeed like him, the more natural it would be, the easier it would be for the kid. And so Axel continued driving, one hand on the wheel, one hand connected to the kid's smaller one.

"Are you hungry?"

"Surprisingly no. I surpassed the munchies stage and now I'm just bleh."

"Munchies? You were stoned?" Axel asked, half entertained and half confused. Maybe a little jealous that he hadn't thought of it himself.

"Yea, me and Namine, the blonde girl? We smoked a joint outside the church...thing." Roxas struggled for the words. He never knew how to word things like this. Anything having to do with religion, death, seriousness. It just wasn't his forte. "I'm sorry I brought it but I didn't think I could handle all this very well without something."

"No it's fine. I mean I get that. That whole situation kind of sucked."

"Do you want to...I dunno, talk about it?" Roxas asked, his eyes a little wide with surprise at himself for letting the words escape his lips.

"Are you trying to be a good person right now?" Ax asked with a smirk but shook his head. "No, I don't need to talk about it."

"You're sure? I mean while you have me in this really weird and uncharacteristic mood of niceness, you might wanna take advantage of it. No pun intended."

"Of course not." He replied and laughed, slowing down though once he felt his entire body tense up. This wasn't unusual lately though, every once in a while Axel couldn't help but feel miserable. Ever since hearing about Demyx, even when he was with Roxas or his friends, he felt miserable occasionally. It was just something he had to get used to apparently. "I'm just gonna pull over. For a few minutes. But I'm fine, we don't have to talk or anything." He explained as he turned the wheel, stopping his car on the side of the road and resting his head on the backs of his hands, the steering wheel pressed into his palms. Roxas looked on with worry, uncomfortably glancing out the window occasionally.

"Talk about something. Please? Tell me about all the people at the...thing." He was wary of the word 'funeral' for obvious reasons. "So the tiny girl is Xion, how do you know her?" The redhead smirked, his eyes closed, his face hidden. The kid was trying really hard surprisingly enough.

"Uh I knew her because Demyx knew her. I never went to school with her and she was friends with his brother and she was at the house sometimes when I was there."

"And everyone else? Who were those guys she was with? Like the buff, scary one? And the less buff, still scary one?"

"That would be Vincent, buff one. And Genesis, less buff one."

"Did you know them?"

"I did, we actually used to be really good friends. They were sophomores when I was a senior."

"Ah, so d'you fuck either of them?" The kid asked with a grin, letting it widen when Axel scoffed gently.

"Vincent is straight but no for Gen, I started dating Demyx as soon as I met him basically."

"Oh, I didn't know. You guys were together kind of a long time weren't you?"

"Uh four years, yea." Axel nodded against the plastic of the wheel beneath him, staring down at the horn in despair. What was wrong with him? "Actually Reno knew him first. Reno met him at school and asked him out on a date and he made the mistake of bringing him home one night and I uh saw him and that was it. I wanted him and that was it so I got him. It wasn't hard honestly. I remember finding him at school and basically cornering him at his locker and he looked at me with those freaking blue eyes and he smiled and after that...well, needless to say Reno was out of the picture."

"Nice, kind of a douche bag move." Roxas smirked again and so did Axel, still hidden by his arms.

"Yea, it was but I'm an incredibly selfish person so I just took what I wanted." He said, turning his head to smile at the kid in the passenger seat.

"So, before...me. Before me, did you ever cheat on him?" Axel sighed and lifted his head, staring at the ceiling as he leaned back in his seat, releasing the lever that sent him flying backwards. His lips turned up a little as he pictured Demyx's smiling face above his. This same spot, too many times.

"No. Never. I loved him. I loved him more than anything, more than I thought possible. I loved Demyx a lot." The redhead continued to stare at the top of the car, missing Roxas' saddened glance out the window, his chin resting on his fist, trying not to look at the man in the driver's seat.

"Why'd you do it then? Why did you cheat on him?" Axel pondered the question silently, the same one he had asked himself multiple times before, the one he hadn't been able to get out of his head for the past few months.

"I don't know. I really don't. That's a shitty answer but I can't give you anything better. I loved him but I did something stupid." He turned his head and finally spotted the kid, watching the unmoving road outside the window, his eyes sad, his mouth frowning gently, his whole demeanor much less confident than he had ever seen. "Are you ok?"

"Me? Yea, fine." Roxas turned his attention back to the driver, pasting a false smart ass smirk on his face, but it was translucent.

"If it helps...Rox, I don't...I guess I don't regret doing it. I loved Demyx, I really did. I know no one really believes me anymore, I know no one thinks I ever deserved him, I know all that. And I feel terrible for hurting him, I feel terrible that he's gone before I could even have the chance to make it better but...I don't regret meeting you? Make sense? I really...you don't wanna hear it, I know, but I like you. That's all I'll say. Just that I like you." The kid sat silently, not sure where to go after that. No one ever put it like that before. No one had ever said anything remotely like that and for the first time, he felt loved. He knew Axel didn't say he loved him but that's how he felt. More than his mother, more than Leon, more than himself, Axel loved him. He moved slowly across the divide, lifting his knee over first, shifting his entire body to Axel's side, finally straddling the redhead's lap, looking down at him with a questioning look. "Roxas." He said quietly, lifting his hand to gently press it against the kid's face, running his thumb down the outline of his cheek, his jaw, his bottom lip. Roxas' eyes closed, keeping them shut, still unwilling to look at the man beneath him; he leaned down slowly, resting his head against the man's chest, letting the man's hands move, one arm wrapping around his back, the other running softly through his hair.

"Axel?"

"Yea Rox?"

"I like you too."

Sorry if it seems short, but I thought this would be a good cliffhanger type end point and my beta for this story (the oh so lovely Redfaerie, thanks again for doing this!) agreed apparently so there it is! Tada!