A/N: It's been so long since I updated... I'M SORRRYYYYYY! I was sick, and then I was tired and then I was writer-constipated... yeah, not my best chapter of life. Anyway, in all that time, I kinda forgot how the story was supposed to go, so now, I'm just gonna have to figure it out...

Chapter 5

Sea Salt Ice Cream

"Hey!" Axel replied in his unnecessarily flamboyant tone. Roxas looked down, not making eye contact or responding.

"Can we sit with you guys?" Sora asked, even though he was already seated.

"Yeah. Sit, why don't you?" Roxas replied quietly, which no one heard.

"So, new kid right?" Sora asked, holding up his burger from the school cafeteria as if he were about to eat it, realizing what he almost did, and setting it back down.

"Yeah, the name's Axel!" he responded, reaching out to shake his hand, but Riku intercepted it instead.

"I'm Riku," he hissed, glaring daggers at him, "don't touch Sora."

"You're kind of overprotective, huh?" Axel commented with a smirk. Riku's expression hardened.

"Well. He is my boyfriend." Sora replied calmly, inspecting his nails as if they had all of the sudden become the most incredibly interesting things in the world.

"Wha-?" Roxas blurted out loudly, almost falling out of his chair. "I-I thought you guys were..."

"Straight?" Sora finished.

"I think he was going to say 'just friends'" Riku replied.

Sora shrugged and got up from the table. He turned his head and said to Riku, "We better go to Namine before she flips a shit." Riku nodded and in a matter of seconds, they were gone.

"Well. That ended as quickly as it started." Axel remarked, leaning back in his chair.

Roxas stared after them, then shook his head slowly, unable to comprehend everything. "Their group picks on homosexuals... but..."

"They pick on gays?" Axel replies, "...hypocrites."

"No, the guys that you saved me from yesterday, remember them? Yeah, they pick on homosexuals. Sora and Riku are their friends... I guess it's because Sora's a gang leader..."

"That little ball of sunshine is a gang leader?" Axel asked.

"Yeah. It's all giggles and rainbows until Sora gets angry. Then shit's serious." Roxas replied with a definite nod.

Axel looked at the shorter boy hard, as if speculating something.

"What?" Roxas asked, taking another bite of his sandwich. The act reminded Axel of his own sandwich, which he took a bite of before he began to speak.

"Are you gay, Blondie?" Axel asked around the food in his mouth.

"Yeah..." for you,"does that make you uncomfortable?" Roxas asked.

"Nah." Axel responded with a grin, "it just makes my job easier."

"What?"

"Nothing."Axel smirked, "You know class started ten minutes ago right?"

Roxas's eyes widened and his head swiveled, scanning the room. Sure enough, no one was there.

"Crap... I've got to go, bye..." Roxas got up quickly and turned to run out of the room, when Axel grabbed his wrist.

"Calm yourself, blondie. We've both got to get to class, what's your next one?"

"...History."

"That's on the same hall as my class, we'll take our sweet time." Axel said smoothly, pulling him along down the corridor.

~AFTER SCHOOL~

Roxas practically sprinted home. "Hey Cloud!" He said as he passed the older boy laying out on the lawn for no apparent reason.

"Hey, cousin!" was his reply, but Roxas barely heard it, he was too happy.

"Roxy~!" a voice called from the kitchen. Namine.

"...what?" Roxas asked, his attitude was laced thick.

"Come here." Namine cooed.

Roxas grudgingly obliged, "Yes?"

"I heard you were eating lunch with Axel today." Namine said, inspecting her newly done nails.

"I did." Roxas replied.

"I thought I made myself clear, don't go near him. he is my plaything." Namine snarled, "I won't have your filthy hands touching all over him."

"I'm not playing with him. He's my friend."

"You don't deserve 'friends' it's your fault that we have to live here with Xemnas, that Mom and Dad died, that I suffered all by myself for so long..." Namine trailed off and bit her lip, then regained her previous composure. "That's it, leave."

Roxas went up to his room and sat on the edge of his bed, feeling the pain he felt before Axel showed up yesterday come back. He rocked back and forth, hands clutching his knees. Then, he relived the scene from a moment ago that had put him on cloud nine in the first place.

"What do you think?" Axel asked as he led him over to the edge of the tower.

"It's... beautiful..." Roxas breathed in awe.

"I thought so too."

"But... what if you fall?" Roxas asked looking over the edge, then jerking his head back.

"What if we fall, you mean. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah... friends." Roxas replied, suddenly seeming wary.

"Here, let me prove it." Axel handed Roxas a bar of ice cream. "This is my favorite brand of ice cream, it can only be found in my hometown, Twilight Town, so I only have some of it in the freezer and it's really special. I would only let a true friend have some."

Roxas took a timid bite of the ice cream and exclaimed, "Wow, it's amazing...it's like sweet and salty at the same time!"

"Yeah, it's called Sea Salt Ice Cream, got it memorized?"

"Thanks..." Roxas looked away.

"...?"

"I've never been close to anyone before... I'm always ostracized... it feels good to have a friend." Roxas's eyes fill with tears, and he leans over.

Axel gently puts an arm around him to console him and brings the smaller boy near. "It's okay... I'll be here for you... maybe even as more than just 'friends'."

Roxas sighed at the memory. But did Axel mean it? Or was he lying about the ice cream and his hometown and... wanting to be more than friends?

So is Axel gay? Roxas flopped back onto his bed and tried to sort out his jumbled mix of thoughts. Maybe... he really could have Axel as his boyfriend. Just because he's being bullied didn't mean he couldn't have a happy ending! And Namine can go kiss Xigbar or something. Roxas feels no love towards his bitchy sister anyways. She deserves that weirdo.

With a full and happy heart, Roxas opens his bag to look for his assignments.

~the next morning~

Roxas is so cute... Axel thought to himself as he pulled into the school with his bright red Ferrari.

"That's your car?" Roxas asked, mouth wide open.

"Yep. It matches my hair." Axel said, stepping out of the car.

"... I noticed. But that's okay, because my AWESOMENESS matches MY hair." Roxas replied, making a pose.

"You're lively today." Axel commented, lifting an eyebrow.

Roxas blushed and nodded quickly, turning away.

"I have to go help Demyx with something this morning, so I'll see you in homeroom." Axel said with a winning smile.

"Okay." Roxas nodded, leaving for class. Axel took a different route towards the Aquatic Sciences classroom. On his way, he sees two students talking to each other in hushed voices,

"You didn't know? The reason why Roxas is a loner? Well, I heard from Namine..."

Axel's eyes widened as the student relayed the story.

A/N: Again, I'm so so so so so so so sorry... I will update faster next time... and with a longer chapter... Anyway, hope you liked it ^-^ I bet there were a lot of errors with stuff matching up and all that... but when I'm not lazy, I'll just tell you what's what.

By the way, I know NOTHING about cars, NOTHING so if 'a bright red Ferrari' is unacceptable... oh well XD.

That's it... Stay Tuned~!