The Embodiment of Emotion

Title: The Embodiment of Emotion
Author: Conjure_Lass
Pairing: Axel and Roxas
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17 (i'm getting there folks)
Summary: When Roxas is given a new lease on life, he's also given the possibility for future happiness...but things don't always go as planned. Will he survive long enough to enjoy it? Find out!
Author's Notes: Gaaaah! The date chapter! I had SUCH a good time writing this. There is a LOT of movement between future and past, but they connect in a way that I think you'll all like.

It had been a cold night in The World that Never Was, and Axel had found himself abnormally restless. Usually it was no problem for the Nobody to find something to occupy his time, but everything about the evening was especially still and stale. And so he’d decided to amuse himself with wandering aimlessly around the castle, finding new doors that had apparently been a secret, accidentally walking in on Marluxia dying his hair, finding Larxene’s pants in the oddest places. All in all, after about two hours of this he had, once again, become bored.

Turning down one corner, he found himself outside the library, glancing in. At this late an hour he had expected it to be empty, however, his eyes brightened to see one blonde head sticking up over the top of the couch. Roxas! With a happy smile (as happy as Nobodies ever got) he went into the room, moving in front of the couch and looking down at his best friend.

Roxas, for his part, was happily reading a book, the warm fire in front of him the only light. True, it was making his eyes hurt a little to read in the firelight, but he hadn’t felt like turning on any of the normal lights. It just seemed very fake tonight. He didn’t really notice when Axel walked in, too engrossed in his book and not really feeling up to company anyway. So it was a bit of a surprise when Axel’s body (who could mistake that hair) cast a long shadow onto the pages of his book and caught his attention.

“Axel?” he questioned, closing his book softly. “What are you still doing up? You went to bed hours ago.”

Axel chuckled, sitting down on the couch and putting his head into Roxas’ lap, looking up at him. “I couldn’t sleep. Too bored. Entertain me Rox?”

Laughing, Roxas rolled his eyes and leaned his head back, letting his hand fall into the red hair below him. The first time that he’d felt Axel’s hair he’d been surprised that it was so soft, having expected it to be very hard and pointy. There were a lot of things about Axel that, on the outside, appeared to be very abrasive, while in reality he was really much more kind than he let on.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Roxas stroking Axel’s hair while Axel nearly purred in contentment, Roxas finally spoke.

“I want to know where I came from,” he said softly, looking down into his companion’s green eyes, which were half-open and sleepy. “I can’t remember anything like you all can…”

“I know Roxas,” Axel replied, his hand wandering up to cup the younger man’s cheek. “If there were a way for me to fix that…I would.”

“I know,” Roxas murmured back, leaning down and wrapping his arms around Axel’s head, burying his small nose in the redhead’s neck and allowing himself to breath. Sometimes, if he just concentrated on the quiet intake and exhale of breath, he could swear he heard someone else speaking. But when he allowed his mind to function again it was gone, and all that was left was the lingering feeling that he’d been left behind.

When he came back from his contemplation however, he discovered that Axel’s own arms had moved to hug him back, and that now they were locked in what could only be described as a very odd looking version of a cuddle. A few breathless moments passed while Roxas tried to figure out what he was supposed to do, but after thinking about it he realized that it didn’t actually require quite as much thought as he’d originally imagined.

And for the first time since he could remember (which wasn’t long, but it seemed that way) he had been able to just relax.

*****

“Roxas, stop fussing! You look good!” Sora exclaimed, slapping Roxas’ hand away from his hair for probably the hundredth time. “You’d look good no matter what you wore, okay? You’re perfect…beautiful…handsome…whatever! Just stop messing with your hair!”

Roxas turned away from the full length mirror in his bedroom, glaring at his Other with narrowed eyes. What a hypocrite! Roxas could easily remember being in Sora’s head while he’d gotten ready to go on his first date with Riku, as the Keyblade Master had been a nervous wreck. It had taken the mahogany-haired boy at least forty-five minutes just to make sure that the mess he called his hair had been perfectly in place. Eventually it had looked exactly like it always did; though Sora swore it looked just a little bit smoother than normal.

“You have got about no room to talk,” Roxas answered, turning back to the mirror one last time to get the whole picture of himself. Actually, he did have to admit that he looked pretty good. White jeans clung to his hips semi-tight, the back pockets a startling blue along with two patches over the knees that were sewn in. When the pants reached the knees they billowed out slightly over large white tennis shoes with thick soles that made Roxas a little taller and blue shoelaces. The laces matched the shirt, which was long sleeved and done in the same cerulean blue color as his eyes. A large white stripe went directly down the front and came up to the collar, moving to cover his shoulders then down in thinner stripes along his arms to his wrists. On his hands were the two rings that he had worn long ago, along with a simple diamond stud in his right ear. Taking a deep breath, he turned away from the mirror and walked by Sora, winking and going down the stairs to wait for Axel to get there.

It didn’t take long (though with Sora around it felt like an eternity) to finally hear a loud rumbling outside the door, prompting Roxas to get up and look out his sitting room curtains again. Not able to see anything, he ran to the door and poked his head out, only to see one of the most…interesting sights he’d ever seen.

There sat Axel on a motorcycle, trying without success to get the kickstand down and eventually just leaning it up against the railing of the porch. Roxas walked out, eyebrow raised in confusion as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He sat in silence for a second just taking Axel in, not having seen the older man in anything other than his black coat and pants before (well other than pajamas but did that really count?)

While Roxas’ outfit was bright and slightly angelic, Axel’s outfit could only be described as devilishly attractive. Black baggy pants hung low on his hips, with a dark green belt with studs of silver all along the middle. Green braided cords were wrapped around his upper thighs, knees and mid-calf, trailing along the sides of his legs and swishing as he walked. On his upper body was a form-fitting, black, long sleeved t-shirt with green bands of color around his upper arms and around his waist. On his neck was a simple silver chain with a small charm clasped to the bottom that Roxas couldn’t quite make out. The outfit was completed with black boots that were slightly covered with the bottoms of Axel’s long pants.

All in all…a very pretty picture. Very pretty indeed.

Finally Roxas’ voice came, though it was a little deeper than he’d originally intended. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and attempted to sound like he wasn’t about to spaz out and run into the house like a virgin girl.

“Where the hell did you get the bike?” he asked, watching Axel’s face break out into a grin.

“Well…Lulu heard I had a date tonight and she told me that every guy looks about a hundred times sexier with a bike. So she let me borrow hers.” Axel laughed, putting his finger up to his lips as though he’d just thought of something. “Though what that says about her is beyond me. I don’t know how she’d ride with all those belts anyway…”

Roxas laughed, looking down at the ground then back up at his companion who came up the two at a time and stopped at the top. The blonde looked up just in time to see Axel walking towards him, cocking his head to the side while he walked around Roxas in a completely circle. Blue eyes followed him and then rolled, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head.

“What are you doing?” Roxas asked, reaching to the side and grabbing Axel’s sleeve, making him stop walking so that Roxas could get a better look at him. There was a look in Axel’s eyes making the younger man squirm, like he was being eaten alive or was some object of desire. Biting at his bottom lip, he smiled in spite of the feeling (since it wasn’t entirely unwelcome) and tugged on Axel’s sleeve again.

“I’m looking at you,” Axel said simply, as though the answer had been very obvious and he wasn’t sure why Roxas had asked to begin with. “You look good…why wouldn’t I get a better look?”

Roxas bit at his bottom lip, getting a silent thrill when Axel’s eyes moved to watch his teeth gnaw at his mouth. This side of Axel was, he had to admit, very appealing. Not to mention, Roxas had never had someone’s attention quite like this before. Sure, he and Axel had shared a…unique relationship when they were with the organization, but it hadn’t been anything romantic.

And going out on a date was definitely what one would consider romantic.

“Get a better look while we’re walking to…wherever you decided that we’re going tonight,” he said, moving past Axel, smelling the unmistakable smell of cinder and burning things. It was very faint, but it was there. Axel always smelled like fire embers and ash.

“We’re walking? But I brought Lulu’s bike!” Axel began running to catch up with Roxas who had already started walking down the sidewalk, pausing when he reached him. He took one last forlorn look back at the motorcycle before moving into step with the shorter teen, looking at him with a slightly bemused gaze.

He really did look good. From the way his hair fell over his eye no matter what he seemed to do, to the way his shirt matched his eyes and made them sparkle a bit. Axel had been right when he’d thought that Roxas would look amazing in white, though he hadn’t expected him to look quite so angelic. It was like he’d been plucked from some cloud…or that could have been the romantic side talking.

Wait…he had a romantic side? Since when…

Roxas laughed, giving Axel eyes that were glittering with humor and making Axel smile in return. “You were having trouble with the kickstand. Do you think I trust you to actually drive it?”

“I was not having trouble with the kickstand!” Axel exclaimed, poking Roxas in the upper arm. “I was just…trying to make sure it wasn’t going to fall over, that’s all.”

“Suuure.”

*****

It had been raining in outside in the lonely, dark world that they lived in, but that was nothing unusual. Nor was it unusual to find two particular nobodies standing under an eave looking out into the rain, preparing to go out on their nightly patrol. Not that you could really tell night from day there, but they still had watches so that’s what they went off of. Axel stood further away from the rain than Roxas, eyes narrowing as if somehow the rain were going to bite him.

“You’re only upset,” Roxas said, raising a delicate eyebrow and pointing at Axel. “Because you know that your fire is completely useless in the rain.”

“Oh, fuck you Roxie,” Axel said in retort, enjoying the way Roxas’ eyebrows came together at the nickname that he hated so much. “I just…don’t like how dark it always is here…”

Roxas’ expression softened at the sound of his friend’s voice, walking up to him and shaking his head. His hand reached up and pulled Axel’s hood over his hair, pulling away with a wink. Without saying a word, he raised his arm upwards, his entire hand becoming encased in brilliant light as he began to walk into the rain. He looked back just in time to see a large grin split the face of the man who was now following behind him.

Roxas always had made a good nightlight.

*****

“Axel,” Roxas said, pausing on the sidewalk to stare at Axel. “Are you okay?”

Axel had been standing motionless while the images passed before his eyes, blinking when they were finally over as though he’d been watching a movie. He didn’t know how long he’d been like that, but from the worried air that Roxas had about him Axel could tell that it had been a few minutes. The visions had been coming faster and more numerously since he’d met Roxas, and now he was having trouble simply brushing them off as overactive imagination.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied, waving his hair airily and motioning for them to continue walking. “Don’t worry about it…that’s been happening for a while.”

Shrugging lightly, Roxas looked down at Axel’s front pocket, noticing something glimmering there. Cocking his head to the side, he reached down and grabbed at it, discovering that it was a pair of glasses, which he promptly settled down on his nose and posed with them slightly. He’d been unaware that Axel had needed to wear things like this, so with a confused face he turned to his companion.

“I didn’t know you needed glasses,” Roxas said, pushing them further up on his nose. Now that he really thought about it, the glasses weren’t doing anything. It was like looking through normal glass or through a window. Why would you carry around glasses that didn’t actually help your vision?

Axel cleared his throat and grinned, grabbing them off Roxas’ face and placing them on his own. “If you must know, I only wear them to look smart. What do you think?”

“I think you failed,” Roxas said, laughing loudly. He gasped when he felt a few sparks of playful fire pop around Axel’s body, the taller man giving him a look that could have been pure murder. Laughter only growing, Roxas took off at a run down towards the pier, though he nearly managed to get himself killed in the meantime. He had always been a faster runner than Axel, even though he was quite a bit shorter.

Finally reaching the docks, he kept running down towards the boat at the very end. Unfortunately, his shoe caught on a small rope and he went tumbling down towards the wood below, wincing slightly when he felt a sharp scraping on his forearm. Blushing madly, he stood and brushed off his pants, hoping that he hadn’t ruined them. He then lifted his arm up and pulled back the sleeve to reveal a long scrape that went from his wrist to the middle of his forearm. Recoiling slightly from just the look of it, he hissed when he began to feel the pain shoot up his arm.

“That was just divine payback for making fun of me,” Axel said, coming to a skidding halt beside Roxas who was busily making fussing noises at his new wound. Reaching his arm out, Axel brought Roxas’ arm closer to take a look at it. It was a pretty clean scrape, though from the look of it, it hurt like hell. Roxas hissed in pain when Axel took the long piece of cloth that was wrapped around his upper arm and wrapped it around his forearm, patting it gently when he was through.

“Good as new,” he nodded. “Do you need me to kiss it better?”

*****

Axel had nearly been asleep, snuggled so deeply into his blankets that he couldn’t even hear Demyx playing his guitar in the room next to his own, when he’d heard it. The soft creak of his door opening and the familiar shuffle of feet as they came into his room. His eyes opened, glancing towards the long bands of light that streamed from the doorway and the shadow that broke them. Not bothering to sit up, he smiled and waited for the younger nobody to close the door.

“Axel?” the voice came, strained and shaky as though he’d been crying. That did prompt Axel to sit up, the covers falling from his bare chest and a shiver running down his spine. The castle was always so cold. When he did his mouth fell open, too shocked at the other boy’s appearance to really move, much less speak.

Roxas was a mess, from head to toe, covered in scrapes and bruises. There was one particular scrape on his cheek that made Axel wince to think of how he attained it. He was shaking and looked exhausted, his arms wrapping around himself instantly when he finally shut the door and plunged them both into darkness. Axel could hear him feeling his way towards the bed, the mattress shifting as Roxas accidentally bumped into it. Instinctually Axel lifted the covers, wrapping his arms around the blonde when he crawled in to press himself securely around the redhead and bury his forehead in Axel’s chest.

Breaking the silence, Axel finally spoke. “What happened? Are you okay?”

It took a few moments for Roxas to answer, voice still shaky. “Xemnas decided that I needed some private tutoring with my keyblades,” he said softly, rubbing his cheek against Axel’s pale skin. “It got out of hand.”

“Oh…” Axel replied dumbly, not really knowing what else to say. And so the two of them were plunged back into a comfortable silence, until a soft sound drew the redhead’s attention down to the small body in his arms.

Roxas was crying.

“I don’t…I don’t fit in here,” he whimpered, sniffling and rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes. “I’m not like anyone else…”

Axel’s eyebrows came together, drawing Roxas closer and laying his forehead against the top of that messy yellow head. Though he knew that nobodies were never supposed to feel, he couldn’t help but think he was going to cry. Every time that Roxas’ body would shudder next to him, a soft sobbing rising up to meet his ears, he felt like something in him was breaking. From what he could remember…this was what heartbreak felt like. But he had no heart, so how the hell could that happen?

“Roxas,” he whispered, feeling the blonde look up at him. “I hope you never fit in. Never.”

*****

“I don’t think I need you to kiss my wounds like you’re my mom Axel,” Roxas said, though he actually had no mother. Unless you counted Sora’s mom, but to be honest he really didn’t consider her a mother. She was just some chick who’d given birth to his Other.

“Fine, be a hardass. See if I care,” Axel joked, turning slightly. “Well lookie here, you managed to fall right in front of the boat we’re going to be taking out this evening. Good job Captain Klutz.”

“We’re taking out a boat?” Roxas replied, turning to the small boat floating in the water. It was a smaller white sailboat, pale violet sails (good lord they were going to ride in a purple boat) with large black stripes in them that reached towards the sky. It was perfect for two people, just big enough not to look like it was going to sink but small enough for one person to steer on their own without much help.

“To be more accurate, we’re taking out Lulu’s boat…without her knowledge. So I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to her.” Axel laughed, placing his hand on the small of Roxas’ back and ushering him up the plank that lead to the deck of the small sailboat. He’d heard her mentioning something about having a sailboat and had thought it would be perfect to take Roxas on.

Taking a deep breath of the quickly chilling air, he looked out onto the water, smiling to himself. He could easily remember falling into that cold water, though at the time he hadn’t really had the opportunity (or desire) to really get a good look at the harbor. Now that he did, he had to admit that it was very pretty. The harbor was surrounded on three sides by the town, little piers and docks set up all over the place where people seemed to congregate. Men could be seen sitting or getting into boats, fishing off the wooden docks, and basically just meandering along the shores of the water. There was the smell of salt moving through the air as the breeze blew Axel’s hair around a bit.

“Are you coming?” he heard from in front of him, Roxas question snapping him from his reverie. Looking up at the deck of the ship (dubbed 10,000 Needles by Lulu) his eyes widened slightly at the sight of Roxas. The younger man’s bright hair was blowing across his eyes, showing only brief glimpses of the shining blue orbs beneath their strands. He had his arms behind his back, glancing around in a curious way before cocking his head to the side, his expression curious.

“What? What are you staring at?” he said, putting his hands on his hips and leaning forward slightly.

“You…just you.”

“Such a charmer,” Roxas murmured, turning around and walking to the other side of the boat. Though his words might have said otherwise, his face told the truth, and he’d had to turn around to hide the growing blush that was rising up on his cheeks. If he stood in the wind long enough, he could simply say that the rosy hue was due to the cold air smacking him in the cheeks. And so he stood at the front of the boat, staring out at the dancing water in the bay before him.

Sitting down at the front of the ship, he allowed his legs to dangle over the edge, looking down as the water lapped against the side of the boat. He continued to watch it until he realized that the boat hadn’t started to move, and they were still in the exact same place they were to begin with. What the hell was the problem here? Raising a curious eyebrow, he looked over his shoulder to see a very confused Axel standing over the wheel of the ship with one index finger on the metal and one hand at the back of his hair, idly scratching at his neck.

“You have no idea how to steer this thing do you?” Roxas quipped, laughing softly and pursing his lips together.

Axel, for his part, had been desperately trying to figure out how to get out of the dock for at least the last ten minutes. First it was the problem of how to get the sails unfurled (which he figured out) then it was the problem of how to actually get out of the little space they were in. After another five minutes he finally realized something…the boat had a motor for just this sort of thing. Then, once you were out where the wind was stronger you could actually sail. Feeling his cheeks grow hot with the growing sense that this whole idea was stupid, he turned the little key and heard the telltale sign of the motor starting up.

“Nah,” Axel admitted, shrugging and waving an airy hand in Roxas’ direction. “But I don’t need to know what I’m doing to handle this…you just…move the wheel. Watch.”

With that he spun the wheel of the ship, finding it odd that the boat moved in such slow motion, as though catching up with his actions. At first he thought it was pretty easy, until he got into a small group of boats and discovered that he really didn’t have quite as much control of the ship as he originally imagined he did. Axel’s eyes widened as another boat started to get perilously close, noticing that Roxas was becoming more and more tense near the front of the boat, even going so far as to stand up and take a few steps away from the railing.

“Ummmm…Axel?” Roxas said, his voice raising only slightly with his concern. “We’re not going to hit them are we?”

“I…don’t know,” Axel confessed, his voice trying to hold back the soft chuckle that he felt bubbling up in his throat. Of course, that could have just been from the fact that he was trying to cover up his own fear of hitting the boat in front of them, but that was another story all together.

“I’m serious Axel! We’re going to hit that boat!” Roxas exclaimed, turning and running towards Axel at the wheel. He reached the taller man just in time to watch the other small ship barely pass by them, leaving only a few mere feet between the two sailboats. Roxas’ face went blank as he watched it pass, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides while the faces of the other people mirrored his shock. Once they were passed, his eyes turned to his companion, glittering with annoyance and coming down from his fear.

“I could kill you!” Roxas growled out, walking up to stand directly in front of Axel, looking up. While most people would have had a hard time being intimidating while looking up at someone nearly a foot taller than them, Axel found that Roxas was intimidating no matter how small he was. Swallowing a bit, he grinned down at the smaller man and reached out to pat him gently on the cheek.

“Rox,” he said, motioning with his hands. “We’re fine. Now get that stick out of your ass and have a good time!”

Roxas’ eyes widened, his breath coming in a harsh rush as he nearly lost his temper, but then he nearly instantly cooled off. It had been his experience that he had a hard time staying angry at Axel no matter what he did. Reaching out, he pushed Axel to the side, sliding in front of him to place his own hands on the wheel of the ship and glancing back over his shoulder with a small smile.

“I’d feel better with two people at the wheel if it’s all the same to you,” Roxas said with a indignant sniff, moving to look beyond the end of the boat. His breath caught when Axel slide up behind him, his longer arms moving out beside Roxas’ own to move the wheel of the ship along with him. Somewhere in those brief seconds, where all Roxas could smell was salt water and burning embers, he felt Axel’s hands slide along his, making him nearly pull away. But the warm feeling of Axel’s chest against his back and the simple pleasure of having someone holding his hands calmed his fear and allowed him to enjoy the moment. Though he’d had someone hold him in his previous life, in this real body with real emotions everything seemed so much more…vibrant. It was like he’d been wearing blinders his entire prior life, though it had been no fault of his own.

“Hey,” Roxas said softly, looking over his shoulder for a moment. “Let’s go over there.” He pointed towards a cove in the distance, leaving his hands the way they were, fingers intertwined with Axel’s much longer ones as they both steered the boat. Roxas had to admit, watching the sun of Twilight Town shine on the dark water of the harbor, that he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather have been…even if they did almost hit a boat in the process.

Twenty minutes later they had put the anchor down and had moved to the side of the boat, Roxas with his knees pulled up to his chest, staring out at the sun. Everything was quieter out here, the only sounds the lazy rocking of the boat, the waves against the rocks and the occasional cry of some random sea bird. Other than that, there was nothing. And that was honestly the way Roxas preferred it. Let Sora have his friends and his laughter, Roxas was far more content to sit in perfect silence, knowing that someone he cared for was there to sit with him.

“Are you okay?” Axel said quietly, sitting down next to the blonde after getting the boat to stop moving. He’d been watching Roxas while he moved to sit at the edge of the ship, becoming slightly worried as a somber look came over his smaller companion’s face. Not understanding what could be wrong, he’d kept his distance at first, merely watching for some sign that the blonde was all right. When a tiny sigh had escaped his lips Axel had finally found whatever courage he could manage and slid up next to him, drawing one knee up to his chest and leaning his chin on it.

“You know what?” Axel said, leaning in and bumping Roxas with his shoulder, sending him reeling a bit.

“Hmm?” Roxas replied sleepily, as though he’d been awakened from a deep sleep.

“Ever since I met you,” Axel said, raising an eyebrow. “I couldn’t care less that I can’t remember a thing about who I was before you…”

Roxas smiled, scooting just a bit closer until he could feel the warm press of their bodies where they met. Reaching out, he let his hand move over the redhead’s again, nodding his agreement and attempting not to blush furiously. When he failed in that he shook his head, laughing at himself for a moment before looking up into his friend’s eyes with a soft sigh. He just wasn’t very good at this sort of thing, but then again he really hadn’t had much practice had he? Granted, whom would he have practiced with? Did being in Sora’s head count? Probably not.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

*****

“So…this is a sunset,” Roxas had said, blinking wide blue eyes at the slowly setting sun.

One day, while sitting in some random room of the Castle that Never Was, Roxas had been reading a particularly large book. When his eyebrows had come together in frustration, Axel had looked up from his own book, cocking his head to the side while he watched the blue eyes become more and more confused. After a few moments he had stood and moved over to the younger nobody, glancing down at the page that was opened.

“What’s wrong Roxas?” he said, trying to figure out what the other boy could have been so curious about.

“I don’t understand this page,” he said, scratching at his head. “I don’t get what a sunset is…what does it look like?” There was a desperation in his voice, as though he knew that he should have known what that was, but simply didn’t. It was the voice of someone who was dying to walk through life, but didn’t have anyone to show him the door to get in.

Axel had sat back slightly at this, eyes widening slightly. That was right…Roxas couldn’t remember anything of his previous life, and no one had bothered to actually take him anywhere he could see things like that. Biting at his bottom lip, he glanced around the room warily. If he took Roxas outside the castle, he could potentially be getting them both in a lot of trouble…but…he liked Roxas, and knowing that the other nobody was hurting (though they weren’t supposed to be able to) made him feel…guilty?

So he decided to break the rules…just a little.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing Roxas’ hand before he could protest and pulling him off the couch. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

A few minutes later the two young men were standing at the top of a large rock, looking across the plains of a land that could only be described as…majestic. Animals of every shape and size moved lazily across the plains, the sunset making their shadows grow long and dark. Axel stood quietly, moving his glance from the slowly setting sun to the person beside him. Roxas, for his own part, looked enthralled, the light casting deep highlights in his hair and making his pale skin seem to glow.

Finally Roxas turned to him and smiled a very small smile, the light of the sun catching in his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered as a long lock of blonde fell over his eye.

Axel reached up, brushing the golden hair away with a wordless nod in reply. If he’d had a heart, he might have said that it was very…full. But of course that was silly, wasn’t it? And as he lowered his hand, already regretting the moment and what could have been, he promised himself that if he ever had a chance at a moment like that again…he would do things differently.

*****

“Do things differently…” Axel muttered, eyes slightly glazed over as he continued to stare down at Roxas. This vision, unlike the others, had been very clear, and its power compelled him to act. Though the thought and fear of the action was enough to make the vision begin to dissipate.

“What?” Roxas asked, confused.

“I promised I’d…do things differently,” he replied, this time with more conviction. Eyes narrowing with determination, he reached forward, finding a familiarity when he cupped Roxas’ cheek in his large hand. Tilting the younger man’s head up, he was surprised when he discovered the smallest smile on Roxas’ lips.

Well, if that wasn’t in invitation he didn’t know what was.

Cautiously, as if he wasn’t sure of his welcome, he lowered his head until he was within a few inches of Roxas’ own lips. When he heard Roxas’ breath catch in his throat he grinned and moved further in, finally finding the younger man’s lips with his own.

Roxas’ initial thought had been that he was probably going to do something stupid, but he’d found that the moment that Axel’s mouth pressed against his own that things seemed very…natural. True, he fumbled around a bit at first, pulling away for a breathless moment to laugh softly, but just as quickly he came back in and things had relaxed. Axel’s taste was nothing like his scent, sharp and tangy, though between the two Roxas was rather certain that he was going to never be able to taste anything else ever again.

How long had he waited for this? Even when he was a nobody, he had wanted this…though he hadn’t known he wanted this. But some part of him must have known…

So as Roxas pulled his mouth away, biting softly on Axel’s lower lip in an almost shy way, he realized that maybe things weren’t working out like he’d wanted, but they were working out nonetheless. And with that thought he moved his arms up around Axel’s neck, buried his fingers in the flaming red hair, and sharply pulled the taller man back to him with a throaty chuckle.

“Well it wouldn’t do not to keep your promises…”