The Boy Next Door

"Uhh, hi mom," said Roxas blushing furiously as Axel got off of him. Was she mad? Was she going to yell? Was she going to make Axel go home??

"D-dinner's ready," she said again after a moment, turning and walking back downstairs, almost as if she was in shock. Roxas winced. He really didn't know how she and his dad were going to take this. They didn't even know that Sora was dating Riku, they just assumed that they were good friends.

"Rox," said Axel, grasping and squeezing Roxas' hand, "I'm sorry."

Roxas snapped out of his daze and looked up at Axel who looked like he was feeling extremely guilty.

"Don't worry about it Axel," Roxas said, squeezing Axel's hand lightly and smiling up at the red-head. "I don't regret it or falling for you," he said, kissing Axel's cheek.

"Are you sure?" Axel asked.

"Positive," said Roxas, "and even if my parents don't approve, we'll work something out." He said, standing and taking Axel with him to the door once the red-head smiled at him.

--

Roxas was more or less dead silent during dinner since he wasn't sure of how his mom was taking what had happened. Axel on the other hand talked freely, even to Roxas' dad who'd arrived shortly before dinner. He was even successful in getting the blonde involved in the conversation once in a while. Tifa still seemed to like Axel, Roxas noticed. He couldn't help but wonder if it was just for show though.

When they finished eating, Axel thanked Tifa and the two started to head back upstairs until she stopped them. "Roxas honey, I need you to help me with the dishes," she said. Axel started to follow, but she stopped him, saying that he shouldn't have to help because he was a guest, which was true enough. Axel was about to protest and say he wanted to help, mostly because he wasn't sure if Roxas needed him or not but Roxas' dad, Cloud, insisted on taking him with him to the living room and he was quickly whisked away. All he could do was look back at the blonde apologetically. Roxas gave him a weak smile before looking at his mom nervously and started to pick up dirty dishes as she did, taking them to the kitchen.

"M-mom?" Roxas asked as he began to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. He knew that she probably wanted to talk to him since putting dishes in the dishwasher wasn't all that hard.

"Yeah honey?" she asked, washing her hands.

"I-uh, about earlier…" Roxas started, wondering if there was any possible excuse he could come up with for Axel being on top of him like that, practically eating his face off and oh my god, it sounded even worse when he thought about it more, he thought, flushing. He took a deep breath and decided to try to figure out if he could see how she felt about it by looking at her face. He came up empty so he decided to veer away from what he'd been about to ask. "What do you think of Axel?" Roxas asked.

"He seems really nice," his mom said, smiling at him.

"…yeah," said Roxas, looking at the floor and falling silent.

"Honey, are you nervous about earlier?" She asked.

Roxas remained silent.

"Don't worry about it, it's alright," she said.

Roxas looked up her, unsure of what to think. Was that approval? Or did it mean she was just willing to forget about it?

"About Axel…" She said, making Roxas tense, "I approve."

Roxas smiled at her, before hurrying over and hugging her tightly. "Just next time, tell me if you like someone like that so I don't walk in on you or something, ok sweetie?"

"Ok," said Roxas, laughing lightly before giving her one last tight squeeze before letting go. He started to leave the kitchen until his mom interrupted him.

"One more thing, Roxas," she said. "Your father's talking to Axel about what happened right now." Roxas paled as soon as the words were spoken. He had to go save Axel before his dad killed him. "Don't interrupt them," she called after him as he ran toward the living room.

Don't interrupt them? Yeah right! He thought frantically. What if Axel's dead already? Roxas wondered, panicking. It'd be easy to get away with murdering someone new in town, right? Would his dad possibly feel the same way as his mom? Or is he killing him at this very moment- wait…is that laughter? Roxas wondered, pausing for a minute as an infectious laugh interrupted his thoughts. Sure enough, that's what it was. He listened closely and determined that there were two different laughs. One just so happened to belong to a certain red-head that he was very fond of Roxas thought relaxing. So, Axel was still alive.

Roxas smiled and resumed walking until he was in the threshold of the living room. Axel brightened when he saw him. "Heya Rox-as," he said, smirking. "I see you haven't died." Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Same to you," said the blonde.

Axel stood up, beginning to walk towards Roxas. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder at Cloud. "Seeya Mr. Strife, it was fun talking." Roxas was absolutely shocked to see his dad smile back at Axel before waving.

"Roxas," Cloud said as they turned.

"Yeah dad?" Roxas asked, looking at his dad a little confused.

"Keep it PG for a while ok?" he said.

Roxas flushed the deepest shade of red he had yet, making Axel do all he could to bite back laughter. The blonde nodded and he and Axel went back upstairs. As soon as they were in Roxas' room again, this time the blonde locked the door, Axel burst out laughing.

"What?" Roxas snapped.

"Oh nothing," said Axel, snickering. "Your face just matches my hair is all," he said grinning.