The most boring people talk the most, Roxas had learned. It was a simple fact, and his teachers proved it almost comically as they droned on about having a safe summer and 'be careful's. "What do they think I'm going to do?" The blond laughed after the final bell, "Jump off a cliff?"

"Wrestle a bear?" Pence offered.

Hayner shook his head before volunteering, "Nah, Roxas, the real truth is they all know you're going to kill a man."

"Oh?" An eyebrow arched, "Well, how dubious of me. Maybe I'll become Agent 007 while all of you guys are away off at band camp." He snorted.

"Hard to believe we're almost juniors." Olette hummed changing the subject, "We're going to finally be upperclassmen!"

Pence nodded, "It's going to be great! Remember when we were just incoming freshmen?"

Gossiping on in that warm flow of nostalgia again, Roxas spotted Axel waiting for him down the hall and broke away from his friends, "Have a good summer!" He called back to the three of them, "Call me!"

"We will, Rox! Be safe! Have a good summer!" Laughter never felt so sweet, so utterly free, but those first few minutes of summer tended to have that effect.

"Hey, handsome." He cooed, "Are you excited for summer?" What a boring question: obviously everyone was.

"I'm going to be a senior." Axel managed dully, "I feel like I should be more excited, but I'm not." Taking Rox's hand, the two headed for their bus.

"Why's that, babe?" He asked softly trying hard to not let his boyfriend's bad mood ruin his.

"Because…What am I going to do next, Rox? I don't want to go to college. I don't know what I want to do, but…" Sighing, the redhead sat down in his usual seat and Roxas perched next to him.

Thinking hard about what to say, the blond decided to push the future off for a later time, "Hey, let's not worry about that now, alright? It's summer! It's you last truly free summer. Let's do everything you want to do. Why don't you come with me down to my grandparents' to the lake? I could use some company. We can go boating, and we can camp in the woods. It'll be nice, very relaxing." He promised.

Axel's nanos had finally come in the mail a few days ago, and he'd been working to assimilate them with Xion's code. The program left behind by his father truly was remarkable, but it still needed a bit more work. "Rox, I have work here to do though." It's for you. I'm trying to save you…The redhead resisted sighing again. There were words he just couldn't say. 'You're limited on time. You're dying.' That would go over well, yeah right.

"What? More programming and stuff? You've been doing that ever since I got out of the hospital. Finals are over and you need a break! Come play with me." He pleaded, "It's just two weeks…"

"Rox, I-" God, the blond had mastered the look of 'kicked puppy'. "You little cheat." He huffed, "Fine. I'll come. Your grandparents are cool with the fact that you're gay, right?"

The shorter teen waggled his brows, "They don't know which means we'll have to be sneaky and it'll be double the fun."

Rolling his eyes, Axel watched as the blond stood once they had reached his stop, "Go home and pack. I leave in two days. My grandparents and parents are totally cool with it."

"Alright, fine, fine. I'll come. I'll ask my mom tonight."

Laughing a bit, Roxas hummed, "See you, babe."

"See you."

~o~

The smell of stagnant water made Axel's nostrils flair, and the humidity curled his hair as soon as they stepped out of the airport to find Roxas' grandfather who was waiting in the car for pick up, "If I was any vainer, I'd go and buy a straightener." He grumbled deciding to put his hair up in a ponytail instead.

"At least you have the build to pull off long hair." The blond stated as his eyes busily scanned the roadway, "It'd just come off feminine on me."

"I like that your hair is shaggy, though. It looks good on you." Axel hummed, "God, is it going to smell like this the whole entire time we're down here?"

"Welcome to the lands where the only thing harsher than the humidity is the heat and stank in the summer." Roxas chortled, "Oh, hey! He's over there!" The blond pointed leading Axel over.

After loading up their bags, Axel sat back and answered questions as the younger teen chatted with his grandparents, "Nana, I brought you a gift from the city. I'll show you it when we get home. Pa, I brought you something you'd like too."

The redhead already knew what they were, and he couldn't help but sigh at how thoughtful Roxas was. His grandmother liked reading, so he brought her a gift card for the bookstore, and his grandfather (according to Roxas who said, "He really doesn't need any more power tools.") was receiving a gift card for the local tool shop.

Both of the blond's grandparents were rather cheery people with a mix of old fashioned and modern values, "I try to keep up with the fashion and such." Mrs. Torm commented patting her hair when Roxas said she looked nice that afternoon, "So Axel, what do you do? I heard you're into AI and such."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded, "But nothing all that interesting." Roxas rolled his eyes and elbowed him.

After small talk and the two sizing Axel up as okay, they settled on discussing what they were going to do while down there, "There's water skiing, boating, fishing, you can camp out on the island in the lake, you can go hiking…Really whatever you want." Roxas' grandmother smiled as the two got out of the car, "But of course, only if you feel like it Roxas. I know you just got out of the hospital, baby."

Holding in a snort, Axel helped his boyfriend with the bags by carrying them to the room that they were going to share, "Thanks, Nana. I've actually been feeling much better as of late, so Axel and I will manage to at least do a couple things." Roxas hugged her and his grandpa before heading up the stairs after the redhead. Closing the door, he gave the taller teen a suggestive look.

"A queen sized bed?" Axel whistled, "Fancy."

"The better to cuddle you, my dear." The blond teased emptying out his suitcase looking for a comb, "They're expecting us downstairs in a few minutes for dinner." He hummed, "Which means we have a minute or two for ourselves." Combing his hair back, he turned and waggled his brows.

Looping his arms around the smaller boy's waist, Axel rolled his eyes, "If you want to kiss, you should just say so." He connected their lips for a several lush seconds, "It's a little bit too late to do anything today, but we should go hiking tomorrow. I think camping out on the island will be fun, but we need to prepare a tent and stuff first."

Roxas' cheeks were dusted with a faint blush, and he nodded slowly, "Axel…I know we've only been dating for a couple months now, but…I want to…I want to have sex with you." He confessed, "This next week. When we go camping out on the island." He stated as he filled up with an odd sense of courage, "I even brought condoms and lube if you're worried about that."

"Um well…I dunno, Rox." Axel flushed as well, "I don't…I love you and all, but I'd rather wait a bit longer." He wasn't quite comfortable taking their relationship to that level with all that had happened recently.

"Oh..." The blond mumbled, "That's cool."

"I love you." The redhead reconfirmed, "I really do. It's nothing against you, babe. It's me."

"Love you too." He began about to say something else before being cut off by a noise from downstairs; his grandmother shouted something up at them, but he couldn't quite make it out, "Hungry?" Roxas asked deciding to use it as an opportunity to change the subject.

Laughing a bit, Axel pecked the boy's cheek, "Starving."

We broke 40,000~ Layla betaed. I'm very grateful to my readers. Thank you! Review!