"Orange?"

"If you please."

Axel threw the bright fruit in Roxas' direction and it was deftly caught, peeled and chewed, segment by segment, by the little blonde boy who sat on the kitchen table. They grinned at eachother, and Axel, inside his head, breathed a long-held sigh of relief. Living with his best friend wasn't so hard. Unlike, it seemed, the rest of his friends, Axel had some semblance of control. Roxas was just one of those unattainable people; and it wasn't just Axel who couldn't attain him. He'd spoken to the girls, and practically every one of them had asked. If he didn't know better he'd have taken that as a big fat homo sign; but these were different times. Maybe fifty years ago, "I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship" meant "That wasn't just experimenting in College", but nowadays? Who knew. Maybe he actually valued friendships above romance (though why, Axel would never know).

In any case, it was a better set-up than he'd ever before imagined. The boy was sitting on his counter-top, eating fruit. Fucking brilliant. And he looked like he was just as cheerful as Axel was.

Roxas finished the last segment and sighed, leaning back on the table. "I'm glad you asked me to move in with you."

Axel opened the cupboard and flicked the kettle on to boil. "Oh, yeah?" he said absently, rummaging.

"I think you're hot."

Axel, a credit to his calm attitude, did not pause in getting mugs and teabags out before the kettle boiled. He put the teabags in mugs, then turned around, not trusting himself with the boiling water. "Really?" He squeaked, masculinity failing him for a not-so-brief moment.

Roxas nodded, smiling.

"Huh." As he processed this, Roxas hopped off the counter and poured the hot water into the mug, then busied himself finishing the tea.

"Sugar?"

Axel, leaning on the counter, rather dazed, looked at him. "Yeah. Sure."

"Full fat, Axel?"

"I figure I need it." He took the proffered mug, sipping in a ridiculous attempt to look demure, to look unflappable. Roxas clearly wasn't buying it, laughter in his eyes, but he said nothing. They looked at eachother.

"So you want to rent a movie?"

"Sure."

And they did.