A/N: Just a little disclaimer thing… Roxas is NOT in his right mind at the moment!

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Chapter Twelve

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"Roxas! We're gonna be late for work!" Axel bellowed up the stairs, wondering how he'd hardly managed to see the blond all weekend. Roxas had stayed locked in his room most of the time, and when he would come out, he was quiet and zombie-like again.

The kid came dashing down the stairs, shoving his arms through the sleeves of a hoodie, "Sorry… my alarm didn't go off…"

"It's fine, we still have a couple minutes to leave. Did you wanna get breakfast on the way?"

"Nah… you stop if you want, but I'm good," Roxas pulled his boots on, lacing them up and tying them.

Axel sighed when he noticed that the kid had stopped shaving again. He hadn't minded the beard too much last time he'd decided to wear it, but he definitely preferred for Roxas to stay clean-shaven. The facial hair took away from his adorable innocence, something that Axel was definitely attracted to.

"Axe… we going?" Roxas was waving his hand in the redhead's face, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Oh… uhm, yeah," he mumbled, grabbing his keys and heading out to the car. It was weird seeing Roxas' huge truck parked in his driveway, but he liked it. "So Roxas, you plan on telling me where you were Friday night?" Axel asked once they were on their way to work.

Roxas looked over at him and shrugged, "I was out with a friend. Why?"

"You never came home," Axel raised an eyebrow, "I'm not stupid, Roxas. Where were you? Did you go to Van's?"

"No! We were drinking, so I just… crashed at my friend's."

Axel's fingers gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly in frustration, "I've never heard you mention any other friends, Roxas… Why are you lying to me?"

"Why the fuck do you care? I don't have to answer to you," Roxas snapped, but then immediately rescinded on it, "Jesus, Axel, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, you're right… it's none of my business. Sorry I asked…" Axel mumbled.

Roxas took a deep breath and finally just admitted it, "I was out with Luxord."

The redhead slammed on his brakes at the last second, narrowly avoiding rear-ending the car in front of them. "What did you just say?" he turned to face Roxas, his eyes full of confusion.

"We went on a date…"

"No… no, no… Roxas this isn't funny. You can't joke about something like that with me."

The blond just sighed, "I'm not lying… We went to a casino and had dinner together, and then we—"

"Oh, fuck… Fuck!" Axel slammed his fists against the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare. "Roxas, you can't fall for his tricks… Whatever he did or said to get you to go out with him… he was lying. Please, you've got to believe me…"

"Oh stop it, Axe… You're overreacting. I actually ended up having a good time with him."

As traffic started to move again, it took all of Axel's strength to keep his eyes focused on the road. "That's what he does, Roxas… he makes you totally fall for him so that he can use you to feed his giant ego. Please… promise me you'll stay away from him."

"I've been thinking about it all weekend, Axe, and… I kinda wanna give him a chance. You weren't there… you didn't hear what he was saying."

"I can give a close guess…" he grumbled, wringing his hands around the steering wheel again as he grit his teeth. "Do what you want… I obviously can't stop you."

"I was going to stay away from him for your sake, Axel, but… I don't think I can. …Are you going to hate me?"

The redhead shook his head, "No, Roxas… but I stand by my opinion that this is a huge mistake. You're rebounding from Vanitas with the worst man possible… All he's going to do is use you up and then break your heart, just like he did with me."

"I seem to recall that you were the one who broke up with him."

Because he was an asshole, you idiot! Axel screamed in his mind, but decided to just drop it. "Whatever."

"So… what did you do this weekend?"

I stayed up all night worrying about you, moron… "Not much. Just hung out at home."

"Are things going to be weird between us, Axel? Because that's not what I wanted at all… I just wanted to be honest with you."

Axel took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face, "No, Rox… it won't be weird. We're friends, and I should support you no matter what."

"Oh good…" Roxas let out a sigh of relief, "I was trying all weekend to work up the courage to tell you, but I kept wussing out…"

"You can tell me anything, Rox… That's what friends are for."

…

Axel wanted to throw up when he saw Roxas approaching Luxord in the studio that morning. He knew exactly what the blond was about to do… he was about to sign his soul over to the devil.

…

Roxas took a deep breath as he walked up to Luxord, tapping on his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey… can we talk for a sec?"

The bleach-blond man grinned, "Sure, what's up?"

Roxas pulled him over to a more quiet area of the studio, "So… I think I wanna give this a shot. …If you still want to."

Luxord raised his eyebrows in surprise, folding his arms across his chest, "Yeah? Your BFF Axel isn't going to mind?"

"I told him about it this morning… he was pissed at first, but I think he'll be okay…" Roxas fidgeted with his sleeves nervously. He hadn't dated anyone but Van before… he wasn't sure if he knew how adults were supposed to date each other.

"Perfect," Luxord smiled, "So, couldn't resist me, eh?"

Roxas blushed, "I… I guess—"

The elder cut him off by pulling him up into a kiss that left the blond's head feeling fuzzy. "Oh yeah… I could get used to that," Luxord chuckled, wrapping an arm around the speechless kid's shoulders and directing him back towards the team.

Xion approached them immediately, obviously eager to hear the newest gossip. "I saw you two kiss, you know."

"We weren't trying to hide it, bitch. Roxas and I are dating now."

The raven-haired airhead looked back and forth between the two of them, "Is this like… some kind of pedophile fetish thing?"

"I'm 22 years old," Roxas snapped, "I'm plenty old enough to make my own decisions on who I want to date."

"Christ, you're practically a child… how did you even get hired here?" she sneered, giving him the once-over with her dark blue eyes.

Luxord stepped between them, snarling at Xion, "Back the fuck off, or I promise you that our next scene together is not going to be fun."

"Fucking freaks…" she mumbled, turning on her heels and heading over to hang on Xigbar.

…

Axel could practically hear his heart snapping in half when he saw Luxord kiss Roxas. He remembered how intoxicating those kisses were, but he also remembered how poorly Luxord ended up treating him in the end. Roxas was in way too deep… but all Axel could do was be there to pull him out of the water when he started to drown.

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A/N: Kind of a short chapter... Meh. The next one shall be long and exciting!

I love you guys!.

Simply Rexene