Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything (much as I wish I did) the only thing that is mine is the idea and words.

It was that night again, the single night of the year that anyone who even thought they might be weak holed themselves into their dorm rooms and locked the doors. It was Bonfire night at Twilight University, the night when the whole football team essentially got drunk off their asses and went out and beat the snot out of any 'wimp' they found to be roaming the campus. That's why they all locked themselves in. Should the team find anyone they would mercilessly pound the poor sucker into pulp that might have resembled a human at one point. If you were in a group they sectioned the group up and deal with each member; if you ran they would catch you. It was like a one night free for all hunt for the football team.

That is where I came in, Roxas, new student of illustrative art at the University, that cold night in November I was completely oblivious as to why there was no one around the halls for once. The usually busy school had become a ghost town in a matter of hours as soon as the sun sank below the horizon. Under my arms I carried tubes containing my last few weeks worth of drawings large posters of either commissioned or personal value, all hand drawn. I needed to get copies made of these and what better time than when most of the student population had dwindled and the copying room was free. I didn't quite expect the whole school to be deserted though that just seemed a little peculiar. Not that I had much to base off of; I usually was sequestered away in my dorm room working deftly at a new idea for a picture a painting, anything really.

My skin was pale from not getting out much during the day, I swam at night after classes to keep my body limber and fit but that was about it beyond that and my classes I did little to leave my room unless friends were involved.

Friends, yes I did have those too most were art students as well Kairi a master sculptor if I ever saw one; Namine a wonderfully gifted individual who liked to work in alternative mediums, crayon drawings could no longer be used as an insult because of what I seen her do in that medium. The two were lovers of a sort and it was always obvious when they had been together because their art forms would often mix and be even more astounding than before. Not that I had a problem with it I often wished for someone that could escalate my art in that way. I had male friends too I had Demyx, a music major who could spin the most beautiful songs together even before he had formal teaching here at the University; Zexion a student of law, Demyx highly contrasted the shorter silent man and yet they too were a couple, I guess its true that opposites attract. Then there was Axel my best friend of them all, and the only one without a match as well. He was a tall guy with red hair that set people staring at him no matter what due to just its bright hue and the fact that it spiked out from the back of his head naturally. He was an art major as well in my class even; he was an illustrator as well, though he didn't look it. In all honesty he looked like he belonged to Demyx's major not my more laid back one, he even had upside down teardrop tattoos under his brilliantly green eyes. I loved him but never had the guts to say so, and so we remained friends, close friends.

I chuckled to myself as I thought in curiosity of where he was tonight considering how deserted the campus was. He was a bit of a partier, probably off at someone's dorm having a beer or something, never touched the stuff myself. Axel had a thing for fire, or maybe it was just his hair color seeping into his brain, but he'd do some of the most gorgeous wood burnings and had captured some great photographs of himself fire breathing, a party trick he'd learned to do.

As I neared the building where I could get my copies done I rearranged the hard cardboard tubes under my arms and picked up my pace, crossing the wide expanse of grass between buildings. It was then I started hearing something, in the quiet night air I heard shouts and screams. I looked around turning on the spot to find the source of the noise when down the green I saw a group of people heading in my direction relatively fast. I saw one person in the front of the group tearing away at a sprinters gait; it was Sora a younger guy who had come to the class shortly before I had arrived. As he neared me I saw a look of sheer terror plastered to his face as behind him I saw ten or fifteen hefty looking men charging after him laughing and hooting as they ran. I turned and began to run too upon seeing that face, but my art canisters made my movements to run nearly impossible without dropping them, and I would never do that, my pieces were like children I tried to handle them with care. I tripped and fell canisters sprawling across the ground. I looked back over my shoulder fast enough to see Sora jump clear over me with all the grace befitting a track runner like him.

"Run!" he screamed at me "Get up and move!" but it was too late the hollering crowd following him gave up the chase as soon as they saw that easier prey had fallen in his wake. The thundering of their footsteps stopped right on top of me in one collective thud; it felt as though I had been caught in a stampede of some kind.

They were football players; I'd seen them around campus, the drooling ape-like jocks that could pound me into ground beef; most of them fit that grand old stereotype of being absolute assholes. I looked up from trying to pick up the tubes containing my art into the bloodshot eyes of the whole group surrounding me, like lions on a kill. And just like the big cats I had seen and drawn the leader got first dibs.

The captain moved first out of the herd, "Well lookie' here guys, a straggler," They all guffawed around me as he very effectively picked me up by the collar of my jacket and held me a good foot or two off the ground; my eyes betrayed my relatively calm face as I looked at the drunk man in terror. "Lets have some fun with him" he said a sloppy sadistic grin on his face. As if on cue about five of them tackled me out of his hand all at once, crushing the breath right out of me as they collectively slammed me into the ground. A few of the others cheered on as I wrestled with them trying to get the brutes off of me I banged my thin hands on their heads punching at them trying to get them off, that only seemed to enrage them even more. They picked me up and bodily threw me around passing me from person to person like a living ball. I attempted to fight back by kicking at them and managed to make one of the clumsy brutes drop me. I managed to regain my footing a bit before they began pressing me back into the circle as they pushed me from teammate to teammate.

I tried to avoid my own artwork, which lay at their feet, as best I could the canisters were made to take a bit of a beating but not allot. They were punching me to make me stagger; one of their massive fists would smash into me and send me reeling into another fist. The others who couldn't get to me were hooting them on until the captain of the team finally stepped in and dealt a severely low blow, a shin to the crotch that completely incapacitated any of my further movement. The kick knocked any wind I had left out of me and made my blue eyes water and bulge briefly.

I curled in to the fetal position over my art like a paralyzed crab spasming slightly. They all started to kick at that point and I received blows to every soft spot of my body I felt my nose finally break and blood began trickling down over my lips and down my chin, when one of the now indistinguishable group lifted me again I could feel the blood sickly dripping off of my face. My entire body ached with bruises as they held me there suspended by the neck above my art.

"Heh I wonder what he got in these," on of them slurred somewhere off the side of my slightly blurred vision. The fierce protection instinct for my work kicked in as soon as I heard the lid of on of those canisters pop off.

I swung blindly; wildly attacking the nearest person I could reach shouting, "leave those alone!" at the drunken idiot. I only received laughter as my weaker punches did little to the game hardened players, and then the solid cardboard cylinder hit me across the gut. The sheer force of the swing and impact sent papers flying from the tube and I screamed trying to reach for the pieces before they hit the ground and got trampled. The other drunks followed example and realizing they could do even more damage with them picked up my other pieces hitting me with them to watch the others make paper fly.

I could feel large bruises already forming across most of my body and the pain of my broken nose throbbed throughout my entire head. Up until that point it was a normal bullying beating and I could handle that, I'd been bullied a good chunk of my life what was another really beyond a few more bruises. As soon as they touched the art it got personal and I tried to suck in air through my constricted throat.

"Hey guys I've got an idea," I heard one of them say as they smacked me across the back with the resounding hollow thunk of the empty canister resounding in my ears. I heard laughter as whatever the plan was spread through the group and the captain hefted me over his shoulder. They carried me away and I became limp as I saw the scattered leafs of paper on the ground most of them trampled with the few survivors being plucked at by the wind. Tears streamed from my face as I watched weeks worth of work either be blown away or soaked by wet grass.

I didn't have long to dwell on my fallen children though as I was thrown to the ground near the building I had already been walking towards before. I scrambled on the ground as soon as I got my breath back, trying to curl into a more safe position against a tree. Drunken laughs erupted from the crowd as someone grabbed my wrists twisting painfully. I froze, whatever movement I had been making stopped instantly; I was an artist I needed my hands more than any other part of my body save my eyes. The one holding my wrists twisted my arms back leaving my chest open to any hits. But the hit never came only the unwelcome sound of my jacket tearing as they ripped the clothes clean off my body.

They stripped me down till I was in nothing but my boxers and I felt a garden hose snaked around my waist it was then I knew what they were going to do and I fought it until the end thrashing against the one holding my arms now instead of my wrists. I kicked and screamed at them; though to them any of my blows had to have felt like they held all the tenacity of a kitten. They laughed as they managed to get the hose looped around my waist a few times and them proceeded to hoist me up with the use of a nearby tree branch. My wrists free I dangled like that for a bit trying to suck in air at the awkward angle I was at.

No, hanging me from a tree in nothing but my underwear was not humiliating enough. I felt the first blow come directly in contact with my shoulder. They were treating me like a piñata. I flailed my arms after that initial hit and managed to grab and hang onto one of my canisters. The man on the other end shook me off easily though and sent me spinning making my already pounding head worse to the point were I felt like I was going to be sick. The spinning stopped thankfully but only long enough for them to grab my hands and feet and tie them with what felt like fishing line or wire, I couldn't really tell at the moment as they sent me turning again with a smack to the jaw. The wire quickly started to cut off the blood flow to my hands and feet as the blood sought out ways to escape my body through my nose and any open cuts caused by the beating. Tears streamed down my face as I screamed for them to stop and cried for help. My heart and my head hammering away mercilessly as the entire troupe took turns beating at me with my own canisters. The torment went on for what seemed like hours in my mind, I hung from that tree with the hose squeezing my gut and more often then not hanging upside down so all the blood rushed to my head.

I began to feel light headed and the beating only stopped briefly as the dizziness finally took over and I vomited to the ground. Over their intoxicated laughing I heard one voice call out in the quiet night.

"Hey! You there! What do you think you're doing!?" shouted someone beyond the blurred range of my vision. Like a pack of dogs being beaten back by their master they dropped their makeshift weapons and scattered all of them running off into the night back to their dorm or to torture some other poor sap.

They left me hanging though, and even if the beating had ended of natural causes I feel they would have left me dangling there anyway. I felt the hose holding me give a sudden jerk though and I groaned in agony as the cold of the fall night started to seep into my heated skin and the quick movement brought my attention back to my broken nose. With the jerk though I felt myself being lowered and thin soft hands pulled me a little to the side so that I didn't land in a puddle of my own sick. There were two people there that I could tell, one was the one helping to lower me, and the other pulling me into their arms before I touched the ground. I looked up my head lolling back a bit as I did so even with my vision messed up I could tell it was Axel, that red mane of hair stood out even against the night sky.

"How's he look?" asked the other beyond my range of view that one was a teacher one of ours, that was probably where Axel had been, meeting with a teacher over something of no importance to me at the moment.

"They've probably been at him for a while from the look of it," Axel replied. I heard his voice coming from low in his chest and the sound was a welcome on to my aching head, I rested my head against his shoulder as they set about unwrapping the hose from my belly and the wire from my numb hands and feet. I had completely lost feeling in those by then which worried me deeply. The wire in my hand had dug into my skin and when unwrapped came off with an almost audible peeling sound.

"Should I take him to the hospital?" Axel asked quietly as they unbound my feet. He carefully rubbed at my face wiping a bit of the drying blood away from my mouth and nose so I could breath.

"It looks like its all superficial damage, just take him home and get him bandaged up, if there's any problems tomorrow then take him," our professor instructed as I felt him turning my ankles to look at them. I felt axel nod and he repositioned me in his arms lifting me off the ground. He was much taller than me and stronger too he managed to carry me with no problem.

"Sir? Will there be anything done to those guys?" Axel questioned as my brain seemed to begin to fog over and shut down for the moment, I closed my eyes just to make the thudding in my head decrease.

"I'll see what I can do, but in the end those boys are ultimately under the rule of the dean and their coach," And that was the last I heard from him as Axel began walking after a brief, "thank you sir."

Axel carried me all the way back to my dorm, climbing the four stories to my room. I lay cradled in his arms just breathing the entire way, my entire body was freezing cold by the time we reached the building and the normally over done heater was a welcome feeling as he carried me through the halls. He used the spare key I had given him to unlock my room door and gently laid me down on my bed. He left to grab the community first aid kit down the hall; he knew where it was since he lived on the same floor. By the time he returned I had lifted my head a bit to rest on my headboard since lying down made what little blood was still dribbling from my nose run backwards down my throat. He smiled at me upon return,

"You're awake," he said quietly, closing the door behind him. I heaved a sigh

"Just resting my eyes," I murmured as he set down the first aid kit and a bowl of water.

"What possessed you to go out there tonight of all the nights in the year?" he asked, pulling over a chair to sit in, and carefully helping me sit up even more so he could reach my wounds better.

"What makes tonight so special?" I asked in response a question for a question.

"Its Bonfire Night the one night those monsters are allowed to drink themselves crazy out of the year," he explained as I slouched before him completely exhausted. My arms lay limp at my sides I couldn't move my hands, and I didn't know if that was just because they were numb or not.

"No one told me about that," I leaned forward resting my forehead on Axel's shoulder. It was then I remembered the broken nose as pain spiked suddenly through my face making me sit back up and hiss.

"Yeah, they should really warn about stuff like that, if it makes you feel any better I didn't know until I was sitting in professor Vexen's office." Axel tilted my chin up so that I was looking into his green eyes, my sight was returning thankfully. "He commented that I was taking a risk coming to see him tonight," I stared into his eyes relaxing a little more as I got lost there. I let him support me, my body shooting pains everywhere if I tried to move myself.

"This is going to hurt," he warned bringing my brain back to the situation at hand. His spindly hands had roamed over my face so that his thumbs were lined up the way my nose should be pointing. I barely managed to braced myself as with a sharp push of his thumbs he reset my nose. I cried out at that, fresh tears springing up at the sting, but thankfully when it finally dwindled my face felt better for it. "Sorry about that, didn't think you wanted a crooked nose," he said chuckling slightly holding on to me in comfort, my head resting on his shoulder again. I let off a hollow chuckle as well groaning as he sat me back up.

"So, what were you doing out there anyway Roxas?" he asked trying to make conversation to keep me awake and distract me as he picked up a wet towel and started wiping the blood and dirt off my injuries. The question only made me start crying again, quietly this time just letting the tears run down my face.

"I was going to make copies, so I could finally get some money from those commissions," I said my voice cracking terribly as I held in sobs. "Th-th-those brutes destroyed all my work!" I cried as he rubbed over my cheek with the cloth. I broke down at that, I'd never lost that much before, I had definitely had things ruined but not on this kind of scale, it was like I had lost time in my life, like a part of me was sucked out when the paper was crushed. Once I was cleaned off Axel gathered me in his arms, holding me close as he rested his chin on my head.

"shhh, Its allright," he cooed lightly telling me that over and over again calmly until I was just sniffling again. As soon as I was quiet again he sat me up, "It can always be redrawn," he said gripping my shoulders lightly, "what matters is that you aren't dead right now."

I took in a deep calming breath, he was right, if I had been left to hang there any longer much more serious things could have happened, but it didn't refill that hole that felt like it had been punched through my ribcage.

"There you go," Axel soothed letting me go to reach for the bandages.

"Thanks Axel," I replied finally gaining the strength to lift my wrist and rub at my eye.

"What are friends for?" He said taking the wrist in his hands and wrapping the ring shaped wound encircling it. He looked at it carefully after doing so turning my hand over in his own. "I know you're not feeling well but flex you hand," he said prodding at the palm. I stared at that hand as I balled it into a fist; I saw the action but couldn't feel it. I still had full motor functionality there but I lacked feeling beyond the wrist. "Okay, you had me worried for a sec" he laughed nervously continuing what he'd been doing and moving onto the other hand.

"No," I murmured still looking at my fingers curling, "I can't feel it,"

"What?" he said turning my head towards him so he could put the last bandage across the bridge of my nose.

"I can't feel my hands," I said louder lifting both of my hands up to be seen both could move and had identical wrappings on them. I felt a twinge of panic course up my spine, and I reached over to the small side table next to my bed where one of my many pen cups sat. I tried to simply pick one up and it rolled through my fingers into my palm where I gripped it quickly trying to not drop it. I tried to bring it back into my fingers as though I was going to write with it. My fingers curled to support it, but without the feeling for how much pressure I was putting on it it flipped out of my fingers and fell to the floor. I tried again with another this time managing to get it into an unnatural writing pose with the end wedged between my middle and ring fingers, but I dropped it quickly again after trying to get a grip of the cap to get it off my fingers slid around it as soon as I tried to get a grip.

"I can't feel it Axel!" I said panic rising in my voice. Never mind my injuries I couldn't feel my hands enough to grip even a simple pen properly.

"Calm down, Roxas, calm down," he said taking hold of me as I began wringing my hands together in an attempt to get the feeling to come back that way. "Your hands are okay just the feeling, we'll go get them checked out in the morning," he held me still, looking into my eyes to capture my attention.

"Get some rest. Regain some of your strength. I'll drive you to the hospital tomorrow, okay?" he asked as I stared into his eyes, my mind racing along with my heart at the thought of possibly loosing something this important. I stared for a long time trying to tell myself I was okay and calm my erratic breathing. I leaned into him finally, heaving one large sigh; he hugged me softly.

"Could you stay over here tonight?" I asked quietly.

"Sure I'll go get my things, " he replied letting me go with a small smile and getting up with the first aid kit. By the time he returned I had managed to get on a pair of pajama pants and lay back down on my bed. He lay down next to me on top of the covers. Axel covered himself with his own blanket and gave me a low "Night Roxas" as I drifted off to sleep with his warm back against mine.

"Thank you Axel," I whispered.

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The next morning I awoke stiff all over; the bruises had had more time to form and now my usually pale skin was splotched with red and purple marks everywhere. As I looked in the mirror in the bathroom I notice immediately that I had two almost perfectly symmetrical black eyes caused by my broken nose. Again I sat and stared at my unfeeling hands they were just there, flexing and usable but damaged somehow. Axel thankfully helped me with everything that morning he took everything slow aware of my bruises and the only time I stopped him from helping was when I had to take my shower, but even there he helped me out by opening any bottles I had for me first.

"Thank you Axel," I said again, it was a mantra by now, everything he did for me earned a thank you; he really didn't have to help me and could have just left me to flounder and do things for myself. We had just gotten into his car so that we could go to the local hospital when I said it.

"Aw, stop it Roxas, I'm your friend I'm supposed to help you when you need it," he said in reply.

"Yeah, but you don't have to do as much as you are."

The visit to the Hospital only confirmed what we already knew and left me with even more anxiety than what I came in with. The nerves for feelings like touch and pain in my hands were basically dead, or at least knocked out; the Doctor I had seen didn't know exactly. Whether they would come back or not, only time would tell. They checked me over for any other forms of damage, no broken bones, just allot of surface wounds thankfully. I received a tetanus shot just in case the wire that had incapacitated my hands had been rusty, and they sent me on my way, with a reminder to return for a check up a couple weeks later. I returned to Axel, who had stayed in the waiting room, feeling depressed as ever.

I was happy when he didn't go directly back to the university but instead went to one of the local restaurants we liked to hang out at. We just ordered a couple drinks and sat outside. The drink I could handle at the moment, it only required both of my hands to steady it so that I wouldn't accidentally let it slip.

"Well at least you can still use your hands, that's not too bad is it?" he said always trying to look on the positive side of things and cheer me up.

"Yeah, if I want to be grinding my pencils and paintbrushes into the paper," I muttered as I depressingly rested my chin on the table looking through my glass.

"You might not be, they said themselves that its not a definite thing, you may get the feeling back," he said moving my glass out from in front of my face, "and you can learn to use your hands as they are you know," he added.

"I've got classes, I've got due dates, I've got commissions that need to be redone…" I started listing off the things I need my hands for, but Axel interrupted.

"And those things can wait until you get your hands back under control, Thanksgiving break officially starts in a couple days that'll give you time too." I looked up at him from my spot on the table before sitting up,

"I guess you're right," I mumbled,

"You know I'm right," Axel said with a grin that somehow was infectious enough to get me to smile a little. That seemed to be a gift of his beyond his art talents; he had a knack for making people happy. He always knew how to get me to grin even at the worst of times and it seemed this one was no different. No wonder I had a crush on him he was beautiful, kind, considerate, talented, and could keep a level head. I looked at him

"You'll be around over the break right?" I asked keeping up the smile I had managed. His grin faltered for only a moment

"No," he said but recovered with a proposal I couldn't refuse, "I'm going home, you could come with me if you want though," my smile broadened, he knew I had nowhere to go, and my current situation would have left me to wallow in my own depression.

"That would be great, you sure your brother won't mind?" Axel had an older brother, Reno.

"He won't mind at all," Axel said waving as though it was irrelevant as he chewed on the straw in his drink. Feeling much better now under the light of his positive attitude we decided to go back to the dorms.

As soon as I got to my room though my sprits dwindled a bit. My dorm room was plastered with my own pictures; I had covered the walls with papers and drawings of various things trying to cover the white that lay underneath so I wouldn't have to paint them over. On the floor, what little there was, lay drawing pads, water cups I had yet to clean, magazines, and cut up newspapers I used just in case I dropped something while I was working. Books were everywhere the small section of wall next to the door was dominated by a bookshelf holding various things including books. My desk took up a large amount of the space and had containers for pens, pencils, paintbrushes, paints, everything I used, all organized around the sides. My bed sat in the corner against a window I had covered with my first scroll painting. Over all the walls scattered papers in size from post-it notes to posters, all testaments to what I could possibly never do again. I just stood in the doorway looking over the room for a bit until Axel came up behind me

"Don't go getting all down in the dumps again," he said patting me on the shoulder, making me flinch as he accidentally hit on one of the bruises there, "Ah, sorry."

"I guess I could try to clean a little bit," I said more to myself than him.

"Just take it easy, don't get all worked up if you can't get something, I'll be back in a bit," he said going back towards the stairs.

I sighed looking at the mess that was my room trying to figure out where to start. Big things and things I didn't mind getting crumpled were all right I could handle them for those very aspects. My bed sheets were the first to go, having blood and dirt on them from the previous night. Newspapers went next, and in an attempt to pick them up felt like a cat smashing at it haphazardly till it was in some semblance of a ball and repeating with the next piece. I made an attempt at picking up any loose pens lying around, but only managed a couple before I got fed up with them flipping out of my hands.

When Axel returned his presence was signaled with a familiar hollow clunk. I turned at the sound to see him standing in the doorway with my canisters under his arms a couple of blood stains on them but for the most part they appeared to have been cleaned.

"Where would you like these?" Axel asked with a smile holding up one for me to see. I felt my chest tighten a bit; he'd gone all the way across the campus to get those for me.

"Over there," I said pointing towards my closet. He dropped them there before sitting down next to me on the bed. He noticed right away the forlorn look I had every time I looked around my room.

"I can't help but think about it Axel, I've immersed my life in my art work so much I don't know what I'll do if I can't bring myself back up to snuff," I said staring pitifully across at the half finished picture still on my desk.

"If you want to keep doing it then you'll find a way to get better despite your wounds, you know?" Axel told me nodding at the drawing and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. When I didn't respond with more than a nod an a grunt for a yeah he hugged me up a little more getting me into a light sort of headlock and ruffling my hair

"You could be one of those famous painters we see all the time, the ones who gain from their losses and end up being even better than before," he said finally managing to get a laugh out of me the first time of the day before he let me go "Either that or be a Picasso, invent a new art form after going crazy," he added keeping me laughing; I needed it, it made me feel so much better and he was right it wasn't the end of the world.

"That's more like the Roxas I know," he said grinning at me. "Heh, thank you," I said yet again.

"What for now?" He asked as I hugged him

"For just being here for me, you know me I go to those extremes I would have probably tried to kill myself already if it weren't for you," I said still smiling up at him.

"Yeah, knowing you you would have, that's why I had to be here for you… And I'll stay here for you as long as you need me," he said almost affectionately. I looked up at him. That sounded almost like a cue, like he knew I wanted to say something other than thank you. Sure, I had wanted to say something else to him in particular for a long time, but thank you always came out, it had become the substitute since I first Axel almost a year before. He ruffled my hair lightly and got up walking towards the door. A sudden rush came over me; I felt like I was going to lose him if I did not say anything and so I quickly stood up,

"I love you," I almost shouted at his back. Time froze for a moment, He stopped in the doorway and I held a hand over my mouth. I scared myself with the sheer volume of the confession. My face quickly heated up as I blushed what I was sure had to have been a dark red. Axel did not turn around at first and I began to worry, had I been wrong, had I just ruined our friendship, those questions ran screaming through my head. I sat back down where I had been and rested my forehead on my numb palms; I went from incredibly hopeful to completely depressed again in a matter of seconds. I felt like crying until a finger came to rest under my chin lifting my head out of my hands. Axel was kneeling right in front of me at eye level,

"You'll strip your gears changing moods that fast," he said with a smile on his face. I dove at him throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face there.

"How long have you wanted to say that?" he asked quietly stroking the back of my head as I just clung to him.

"Since I met you," I whispered, squeezing a little tighter with my arms like he was going to jump away. He pried me off of his neck slightly tilting his head towards mine I felt his lips press to my neck just below my ear. He pulled me away from him the rest of the way,

"My turn to thank you, I love you too Roxas," He said kissing me softly on the lips this time. In truth I was shocked, I had never expected him to return my love that was why I hadn't said it before, too many fears of what could have happened and this response was not among the calculated outcomes for some reason.

"Thank me?" I asked not really moving at all. He pressed his forehead to mine, looking into my bruised eyes. How he could stand being that close to my severely banged up face I don't know because I knew in a mirror I looked terrible.

"I've wanted to say that since I first saw you," he said the smile still there as he very lightly kissed the end of my bruised nose.

"I remember seeing you on your first day here at orientation, you were fidgety and nervous and always had to have something moving between your fingers, you wedged yourself into the corners of the lecture halls and always looked down, you had on that white checkered jacket that you always wear with the sleeves rolled up, and the attraction started there" Axel described my first day here to me; he had taken my hands in his and was letting me do the same actions he said I did. I looked down to see that my fingers were still fidgeting with each other like I'd always done I just could feel them doing it. He lifted my head again to look into his eyes, "and you're still just as gorgeous as you were then, you've lost weight and paled a tiny bit more, but your still just as beautiful." I separated my idle fingers and lifted my hands to his face trying to make them cup his jaw without hurting him and pull him closer. He put his hands over mine to guide them and let me pull; I kissed him this time. If I didn't I would cry, at the moment I looked my worst and after all was healed I would have scars from my beating, and he still thought I was good looking. I smiled and continued the kiss until Axel broke it for air. I rested my head on his shoulder again

"I love you," I said again with a sigh that seemed to be the only really coherent string of words floating through my brain at the time.

"Heh, I love you," he echoed stroking my back as I just breathed him in. Axel always had a distinct scent about him that smelled like burning wood and cinnamon, his room smelled the same way. When we finally parted he ran a thumb across my cheek.

"How about you and I pack our bags and get an early start on that break?" he asked.

"I'd like that," I replied carefully placing my hand over his until he moved it. In the back of my mind I wondered even if I had a grip too hard on him if he would tell me. He helped me up off the floor

"I'll be back in about a half hour, you think you can be ready then?" he said sauntering towards the door again. I replied with a yes and promptly started the messy task of packing with numbed hands. As I rummaged through the closet for the bag to pack everything that was massed on my bed into I pulled my hand back to find not only the bag in hand but an exacto knife stuck in the back of my hand. I didn't even feel it, the sharp point was just stuck in the skin; I pulled it out and felt nothing but saw the blood welling up. I dropped the knife on my desk and grabbed a towel sitting in my clothes bin to dab at the blood until it stopped. It was at that point I realized how dangerous it was to be without feeling; if that knife hadn't stuck and just fallen out I could have left a trail of blood across everything I touched until I noticed the stains or fainted. By the time Axel returned I had managed to completely stop the flow and was sitting next to all of the things I needed.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly seeing me sitting on the corner of my bad with a slightly spotted towel.

"Accidentally stabbed myself," I responded nodding towards the knife sitting on my desk. He sighed slightly relieved as I pulled the towel away from the small slice on the back of my hand.

"Remind me not to leave sharp objects around you," he said with a slight chuckle as he grabbed my things and stuffed them into the duffel I had put out. He looked at the sketchbook I had put into the pile

"I'll be practicing won't I? I need something to practice on," I explained as he put it in anyway along with a handful of my pens he grabbed himself.

"All set?" he asked picking up both my things and his own; with a yep we were off; we got in his car and drove to his home five hours away.

---------------------------------

When we arrived it was already dark and so was the house. Axel's home was a nice place in a quiet suburb. The way Axel looked I had guessed that he came from somewhere in a large city or at least near one, but this place was nice and quiet it looked like the kind of place where you would find old retirees or newlyweds and nothing exciting happened. His home was two stories tall and had a massive yard like the others on the street.

"Is Reno even home?" I asked noticing there wasn't a car in front already.

"Yeah I called earlier, he said he'd be home, he probably just parked his motorcycle in the back yard" Axel replied looking at his watch as we pulled into the driveway. He was close; it was parked in the living room on top of a mess of sheets

"Reno!" Axel called going to look for his brother and leaving me to look around the house, my exploring didn't last long as another tall red head came around the corner out of the kitchen.

"Axel you son of a gun get over here so your brother can greet you properly!" I now knew where Axel had gotten his influence from Reno looked like an older shorthaired version of Axel with a ponytail and tattoos under his eyes as well. They both had grins on their faces as Reno got Axel in a headlock and gave him a noogie. Then grabbed him in a hug that I swear could have been tight enough to make bones snap. They laughed and carried on until Axel looked up at me with one of Reno's arms over his shoulders

"Reno this is Roxas," he said introducing us before he and his brother got into an all out wrestling match.

"Ah so this is your boyfriend, good to meet you Roxas," he said walking over and offering a handshake as I blushed slightly at being called Axel's boyfriend. I took the offered hand tentatively and Reno shook.

"Not much of a grip you've got there," and I realized I hadn't closed my hand on his I gripped quickly and shook his hand for myself.

"Good to meet you to Reno," I said smiling.

"He hasn't got feeling in his hands Reno, remember?" Axel said straightening himself up again.

"Oh yeah, you did say that," he said almost absentmindedly as he pulled his hand out of mine flexing his fingers.

"How about a late diner and we can get some rest, it's been a relatively trying day," Axel suggested picking up our bags again.

"That's a good Idea, I was already making something when you came in," he said leading us into the large kitchen. I followed while Axel went upstairs to put away our things. I sat and watched as Reno continued making diner; I was rolling a wax orange around on the table when Axel came back down. We ate, making simple conversation over diner. Apparently it had started raining earlier and so Reno had brought his bike inside to work on it. Afterwards we went upstairs,

"Where do I sleep?" I asked noticing that Axel had left my things in the same room as his.

"I was hoping you wouldn't mind sleeping with me. I mean, if you don't want to we've got a spare bed," he explained trailing off as I looked from him to the bed and back; he was already in a pair of sleep pants.

"I'll sleep with you," I said with a smile digging out my own pajamas and going into the attached bathroom to change. It was only as I relaxed and took off my clothes to change that I realized both how much I had moved during the day and how much I needed to change my bandages. Most of my bandages had almost soaked through with blood.

"Axel," I called looking at the various patches of bruises in the mirror as I waited for him. He poked his head in the door with a questioning look on his face.

"Could you help me replace these?" I asked pointing at the various bandages covering my body, wrists, and nose. He sighed and rummaged through the cabinets for what he needed. Axel sat me down on the edge of the tub and knelt in front of me on the bathmat.

"Those guys really did a number on you," He said peeling the old bandages off.

"That's usually what happens when you have about ten football players try to turn you into pulp," I reasoned as he cleaned off the wounds that had started to scab over.

"You looked like death warmed over last night, at least tonight you're conscious enough to talk to me without freaking out," he said starting to work on my wrists. I couldn't help but grimace at those ones as the bandages wrapped around them exposed the still open gashes to the cooler air. Those wounds were the last lines of feeling I had going down my arm beyond those was numbness and Axel messing with them provided a very awkward sensation.

"Do those hurt?" he asked rewrapping them as I watched

"I don't know really, it's weird like I'm wearing a glove that ends right there" I described.

Axel kissed the bandaged wrist so I could feel it, "maybe when they heal you'll get feeling back," he suggested smiling as I shivered when his lips touched skin. He did the same to the other one.

"Maybe that old wives tale of kiss and make it better will actually work," I said smiling as he sat up a bit more to come face to face with me.

"My maybe was a bit more realistic," he said giving me a quick kiss before bringing his hands up to take off the remaining bandage across my nose.

"Mine was a bit more romantic," I replied glancing over in the mirror to see how bad my nose looked. It looked just as bad as I thought it bridged the space between my eyes connecting both black eyes with an ugly strip of red and purple scabbed skin. Axel only laughed as he replaced a new bandage over the wound,

"Dare to dream I guess," he said looking me in the eyes. He leaned in and kissed me again not even closing his eyes. When he moved away and stood up I looked at him,

"You aren't closing your eyes when you kiss me," I stated following him and standing up as well.

"Is it that unusual that I like to look into the eyes of the person I love?" He asked cocking his head a bit.

"No, not at all," I replied hoping my question hadn't bothered him too much "its just, you can stand being that close to this face?" I asked pointing at the bruises and black eyes; he had just changed the bandages he knew what I looked like even without them covered. He looked down at me and smiled warmly as he pulled me closer,

"I don't mind at all, I know what happened, I know what you look like under those bruises, and I love you, that's all that matters, the marks will fade," he said smoothing my hair back and kissing me on the forehead this time. I smiled at that Axel always new the right time to say things and he continued kissing down the side of my face past my eyebrow and down my cheek to my lips, and by the time he reached there I had completely sunk into his embrace and kissed back readily. When he pulled away from the sweet kiss I sighed and wrapped my arms around his bare chest resting my cheek on his warm skin.

"You're too good to me you know?" I said tiredly,

"You expect me to be any different?" he asked continuing to smooth my hair back as he stroked the back of my head making me even more relaxed and sleepy, today really had been something of a stressful day for me.

"No, not really," I tried to reason. I felt him chuckle as he shifted looping an arm behind my legs and picking me up breaking my hold on his chest and making me reposition it on his neck. He walked back out into the bedroom and put me down on the bed, he even paid attention to what side of the bed I liked to sleep on as he set me on the right side kissing my cheek and then went to the left side and covered both of us with the sheets.

Not even the cold of the night bothered me then. I hadn't put on a shirt, but in its place I had the warmth of Axel pressed firmly against my back. He pulled me close and gently wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me there. I wouldn't have moved away anyway, I melted into his chest and turned over. I had never imagined just falling asleep with Axel would have felt this good and so I mirrored him wrapping my own arms around his waist lightly as I buried my head in his chest. And I fell asleep that night to the sound of Axel's heart, one of the most comforting sounds in the world.

"g'night Axel, I love you," I mumbled drifting away.

"Good night Roxas, I love you too," he echoed back breathing in a long relaxing sigh and cuddling me even closer as he too fell asleep.

----------------------------------------------

The next day we rose and took it slow, there were no deadlines, we could do whatever we wanted. The day began with a shower, which Axel was even more than willing to help with as he climbed into the shower to help me scrub my hair and clean wounds even better than I could manage with my numbed hands. The action scared the hell out of me at first; he forgot to warn me first and had just climbed in behind me. He apologized, I apologized, and in the end I thanked him for it since he did clean spots where I probably would have accidentally scrubbed the scabs off with my own hands.

That first day we helped Reno out a bit and then Axel took me out to show me the area around the community and we had a good time I had felt the best there than I had in weeks.

The next day felt a little more like a slide backwards as I started to sit down and work with my hands. It took me hours just to get the pen to stay in my hand long enough to draw a series of simple shapes, and even then they looked like they had been drawn by a two year old. Axel was there though to calm me down and massaged my neck and shoulders whispering positive things in my ears, trying to get me to relax.

"It takes time and practice," he whispered after I had gotten frustrated and nearly thrown my pen across the table. When I seemed to just be spinning my tires and grinding myself into a fine powder he took me away and got me out of the house to take my mind off of it, that night there had been a few tears shed in frustration.

The third day, after seeing what I had done to myself the day before, Axel didn't let me get to work right off the bat and instead we went to a big aquarium in the city an hour away. He brought along his camera and let me take pictures while we were there teaching me a bit about how to get shots to look better as he guided my hands over the buttons with his own. I smiled allot that day and we had a great time. The next four days went back and forth like that, with one day me grinding my self down trying to get my hands to work for me again, then the next day Axel building me back up and lifting my spirits.

Then Thanksgiving Day rolled around, the reason we were on break to begin with. It was just the three of us in the house and we both helped Reno cook diner, which was an all day thing in its own right. I had made better progress with my hands and was now capable of handling utensils if I was careful and when it came to drawing and writing I had made progress, and that was it, I was definitely not up to par with my old self but at least now I was seeing a glimmer of hope and potential.

Thanksgiving diner was great even though it was just the three of us at the table; we said what we were thankful for, for me it was no longer my hands or talent it was Axel I was thankful for having. Afterwards we went back up to our bedroom too early to go to bed but too late to go out. I sat back down at the desk I had laid my papers out at; I could at least try to practice a bit more.

Axel sat down at a barstool he had brought up from the kitchen almost perching on my shoulder where he could easily dissuade any negative thoughts I started having. By now I was without bandages to cover my wounds. They were healing and completely scabbed over or already healed and left faint scars in their wake. My bruises were fading to light purple and yellow, and my wrists and nose were bare of their wrappings. My raccoon mask of black eyes had faded and all that was left of the broken nose was a mark across the bridge of my nose where the break had happened. My wrists were still the worst damage I had received. Though they weren't wrapped they still looked bad with a ring of scabbing all the way around where, underneath, the flesh was repairing itself. It was by no means pretty but Axel handled them with care, still sticking to the 'maybe' from that first night that if they healed properly I might get feeling back.

"Roxas," Axel said bending to my ear,

"What Axel?" I said concentrating hard on what I was working on, trying to keep the pen in my hand as I tried to draw a simple picture of an animal.

"I've got a gift for you," he said wrapping a thin hand over my shoulder. I looked up from the paper,

"People don't usually give gifts on Thanksgiving," I replied turning my head a bit towards his.

"Yeah, I know, but you need a pick me up and this was the closest holiday," he said pecking me on the cheek "now just turn around." I heard paper moving as I rotated my chair to face him.

My heart jumped into my throat as I laid eyes on what he was holding for me, a poster, one of my personal projects. I was lost for words as my mouth hung open just staring, it was a picture poster I had done in my spare time of all my friends, it was supposed to look like we were all posing for a photo and in the front of the group was Axel and me, with Axel almost comically planting a kiss on my cheek. It had all been in fun and I had taken it with me that night to get a copy of it made as well so I could press the original in my portfolio. I thought it had been destroyed that night along with everything else. There were small spatters of blood at one of the side edges, proof of its survival because that blood was my own from the beating. He didn't stop there, he curled up that one and propped against his leg was another scroll of paper.

He sat the one in his hands down and picked up the other unrolling it for me. I covered my mouth with my hands my eyebrows raising as me eyes widened. There in his hands was my most expensive commission, a painting on canvas paper of a night club bar scene, the entire piece was done with deep blues, purples, and blacks and I had taken it a step farther and any contents of glasses in the scene or any women's jewelry was done with gold leaf. That one was the one that I was going to be paid the most for as well. I felt tears running down my face as Axel showed me the only damage it had sustained. He flipped it over and on the back of the paper there were a couple of thin trails of blood coming from the side.

"Axel" I whispered. This was the best gift he could have possibly given me and I didn't know what I could possibly say or do to thank him. He rolled the painting up carefully and pulled a small folder from where he'd had it in the waist of his pants behind him. He opened it and inside were a few of my smaller pictures on regular sized pieces of paper, these were more damaged than the other two large ones but for the most part they had remained whole. These were pictures I had been going to get copies of so I could color them safely. They were mostly personal pieces too and among them was one I felt my face heat a bit at; it was a 'crush' picture I had done of Axel in the buff as far as I felt comfortable drawing at the time, it had started as a simple anatomy study and evolved into Axel in particular. I closed the folder, to protect the pictures from any more water damage, as I felt more tears stream down my face. I whipped at the tears, sniffing, it was overwhelming, something had survived that night and all was not lost. I felt Axel gently tug the folder out of my limp fingers and I looked up into his face, which was level with mine as he kneeled.

"Please don't cry, I just want you happy," he said whipping at the tears with his thumbs.

"You have no idea how happy I am" I said my voice cracking through the tears, I whipped again at my face with the back of my arm,

"Oh Axel, where did you get these? Where did you find them?" I asked bringing my arms up to catch him in a big hug.

"The two big ones were still stuck to the insides of their canisters, and the little ones I found stuck around the area in the bushes and trees. I tried to find as many as I could, but most of them were too damaged to even tell what they were," he explained.

"I'm just happy that you got what you did, I was so sure I'd lost everything, thank you so very very much," I told him kissing my way towards his mouth from his ear with each word. Before he even had time to respond I captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. And we sunk into it, Axel pushed back into the kiss and he brought his tongue into it, running the strong muscle against my lip to get me to open my mouth. I did so almost unconsciously and it started a small battle between his tongue and mine as we both tried to explore each other's mouths.

When Axel pulled away it had been by far the most intense and heated kiss I had ever shared as I sat panting lightly before him. I looked up at him slightly through my eyelashes he had a conflicted grin on his face, almost like he was both confused and happy at the same time.

"You know if you do that again we might have to take things to the bed," he whispered huskily in my ear. My brain went to static for a moment as he said that; I hadn't ever really thought of doing anything like that with him, but at the same time I did have my late night fantasies and a large chunk of my mind at the moment was quickly smothering the very tiny section that had shouted stop as soon as he said those words. That section of my brain completely took control as Axel kissed my sensitive ear, nipping at the helix as he waited for an answer from me.

I turned with a wicked grin of my own in place and captured his lips again; this time he sank into it even faster and took control. When we parted his green eyes were dark with a lust that I had never seen before that made them even more beautiful to gaze into.

"I take that as a yes?" he asked his breath hitching a bit as he moved to one knee prepared to pick me up.

"Take me I'm yours," I said. As soon as I said it he took my hand and had me on my feet, leading me towards the bed, Once there he lifted me in his arms and set me down.

With an almost feline grace he was on top of me straddling my waist as he leaned down and took my mouth again. I went to grab at the back of his head to pull him closer but my hands would not cooperate. I couldn't tell whether I was hurting him or not and that scared me; this was something I hadn't done before and hurting Axel was the last thing I wanted to happen. As if he could read my mind Axel backed off a bit looking down on me as he raised himself onto his elbows.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly. My hands had slid away from what they had been trying to do and were just there before me where his neck had been.

"I don't want to hurt you," I whispered as I flexed my hands, showing him what I meant.

"Don't worry about it," he whispered back, lowering himself onto me again grinding his hips into mine making me hiss and throw my head back as he made me a little more aware of the erection forming there. Axel took advantage of my exposed neck and nipped and sucked at the sensitive skin above the artery there, kissing tenderly along my jaw line.

--- Warning: LEMON ---

"Tell me if you want me to stop," he whispered in my ear as he curled his fingers under my shirt and pulled it off, making sure to touch as much skin as he could on the way up. I shivered under the contact as he began kissing his way down my body his hands roaming along the skin brushing lightly over the fading bruises and causing me to shiver almost violently under his touches. He trailed his long fingertips down my belly hooking them under the waistline of my pants and boxers coming tantalizingly close to the area that needed the most attention. My hips bucked upwards trying to relive the pressure building there and in one swift movement he pulled the offending articles of clothing down and off.

I blushed my brain quickly coming back to me as a combination of cooler air and Axel's appraising eyes roved over my body. He noticed me tensing and laid back down covering me with his still clothed body,

"You're beautiful," he whispered kissing my forehead comfortingly. Pulled at his shirt with what I was hoping was a light grip

"No fair," I whined pushing my unclothed hips up into his own eliciting a sharp hiss and long stuttering groan from the man above me. I could feel that he wanted me; the hard bulge in his pants gave his calm face away. He raised himself up onto his knees above me and quickly stripped himself of his shirt. But instead of just taking his pants off he got off of me and walked to the bathroom returning with a bottle of lotion in hand he tossed it onto the bed and stripped the rest of the way. I couldn't help but stare at him as he had done with me; my eyes running along his tall thin body. He was by no stretch scrawny; he was just slim, with lightly defined muscles all over. I blushed even deeper red as I realized I was staring and he chuckled crawling back on top of me.

"You're cute when you blush," he said trailing a hand down my chest tracing patterns down my belly until he reached his goal. He wrapped that hand around my swollen member squeezing slightly. My brain turned to putty quickly as he began to stroke slowly along the heated flesh. He pulled long moans and groans from my lips with only the small movements of his hand. He kissed me and snaked down my body resting his other hand against my rapidly rising and falling chest. I felt my heart thudding beneath that hand as the ball of pleasure that was growing below my belly swelled.

Suddenly warm wet heat surrounded me as Axel took me into his mouth, and I forgot how to breath for a moment as he deep throated my length using his tongue to tease even more at the head and underside. I gripped at his hair feeling the soft against my wrists; I was lost to the world as he continued to suck me off. My hips bucked instinctively, but this time he held them down laying an arm across my waist. With one long hard draw he let me go his lips coming off with a small pop. I let out a small groan as Axel let go. He gave a low chuckle propping himself up again and separating my hands from his hair, I hadn't even noticed still having them there.

"W-why did you stop?" I panted pushing upwards again. I was feeling really light headed as my breath came in short and shallow.

"Didn't need you finishing so soon," he replied using his knees to separate my legs, which drew my attention back a little more.

"Do you want to go further?" he asked his voice low and heated like he was having to hold himself back; at the back of my melted and hazy mind the loving part of me thanked him for being so caring. I nodded staring half-lidded into his eyes; he smiled and kissed me again. He sat up grabbing the forgotten lotion bottle out of the sheets. Popping the cap off he spread a liberal amount onto his hand before he leaned down again next to my ear, sliding a hand under my knee to bend one of my legs.

"How do you like it?" he whispered gruffly, I paused at the question, not knowing how to answer, my relatively virgin mind only knew of one pose and it would be uncomfortable for me because of my hands.

"I-I-I don't know," I stuttered in response as he reached below me and ran a couple of lotion-cooled fingers down the middle of my back making me shiver again.

"Just be gentle, okay?" I asked trying to stroke the back of his head trying to calm what nerves were springing up as I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen next.

He chuckled low in his chest and simply lifted my hips onto his knees pulling me towards him slightly. Axel brought my legs up so my knees were bent and thighs spread and I felt his fingers prodding around my entrance spreading the lotion on his fingers around the orifice. He bent towards me bending my spine a little further, it wasn't too bad, and made me happy I did keep myself fit.

"This might hurt a bit," he warned in my ear, kissing lightly there as I felt a single slick finger slide into me all the way to the knuckle. The sudden penetration shocked me for a second but it didn't exactly hurt, the lotion definitely aided the movement; it was simply uncomfortable and felt a bit awkward. He moved a bit and I quickly got used to it being there and then the pain he had mentioned hit as he added another finger to the mix allowing him to make a scissoring motion. The sharp stinging pains wrapping around my hips made me shut my eyes as I bit my lip clinging to him with my hands, tiny strangled gasps escaped me though as he moved a bit.

"sh, sh, sh," he comforted very slowly moving the intruding fingers, "you're okay, just relax," he whispered.

"Getting all tense will only make it hurt more," he added trailing kisses along my jaw bringing his other hand up to wipe tears I hadn't even known I had shed off the sides of my face. I tried to relax more trying to take in deeper breaths as he moved, and the pain went away after a few moments. He smiled at me digging in a little harder and curling inwards with his fingers. He hit something that made my vision go white for a second and made my body writhe against his, it was easily the most intense wave of pleasure I had ever felt course through my body, and Axel noticed. His face gained a wide grin as he continued to brush and hit that spot making me gasp and moan for him again and again.

When he removed the fingers I almost groaned at the loss until he raised himself onto his knees pulling my legs up a little further so he had better access. He picked up the lotion and covered himself with it as well positioning himself against my entrance. Axel bent all the way down and planted a distracting kiss on my lips as he slid into me. The mix of almost blinding new pain mixed with pleasure as he completely sheathed himself and thankfully stopped. I broke the kiss almost immediately as my back arched and my head went back my eyes squeezing shut again,

"God, you're tight," Axel grunted above me and I opened blurry eyes to see him steady above me shaking with the effort of not moving, his green eyes mixing animal instinct with the control necessary not to hurt me. A couple deep breaths and I reached up and pulled him down by his shoulders kissing him quickly,

"Move," I commanded quietly, slightly unsure whether I should give it. He did so, fluidly pulling out and pushing back in as he set a slow pace. My hands gripped onto his shoulders as the first push came, a few more and he had me panting his name and pushing back; he picked up the pace a bit as he felt me relax.

I suddenly saw stars again and bit my lip to hold back a scream as he hit that spot inside hard over and over again at an angle. The faster he went I wrapped my legs around his waist locking my ankles against the small of his back and giving him a better angle to push into me. He managed to pry one of my hands off his shoulders and pinned it next to my head, holding it there as he rapidly continued to thrust.

The ball of pleasure that had been building earlier returned at full force below my gut and my head began to feel light again. The final piece to send me falling off the cliff and the ball exploding was Axel's other hand coming between us and wrapping around my hard erection. With a few short pulls I screamed his name as I came, spilling white fluid over his hand onto our chests. My muscles contracted around him as I spasmed in pleasure, my back arcing into an almost perfect bow as my body spent itself.

I felt myself digging my nails into his shoulder and his hand suddenly gripping down on mine as he came, bowing low over me as his thrust became shallower and I felt his seed spilling into me. The entire sensation was like an overload on my brain as it all came to a sudden halt and I began to crash.

--- End lemon ---

"I love you," I breathed, as we both lay there breathing slowly; Axel had collapsed on top of me. He carefully got up and pulled out wringing one hiss from me, as I realized how sore I was probably going to be the next day,

"I love you too," he grunted in response. The thought that plucked at my brain the most was that I had felt, not just the whole experience, my hands; I knew that in the heat of our climax there had been something.

"Axel," I moaned out urgently as he rolled off of me and the hand that was still on his shoulder came off.

"That felt great," he mumbled hazy eyed as he stared over at me.

"Axel," I said again trying to get his attention. I felt a twinge of guilt as I saw his shoulders, all that I had said about not wanting to hurt him and I had completely dug into his shoulders, leaving blood trails. He hummed a response telling me he was listening.

"I-I felt something, in my hands," I mumbled urgently. In the aftermath glow of sex we were both a bit sluggish as Axel slowly moved his hands up to take one of mine. He worked it through his fingers pressing everywhere all but massaging my hand as he concentrated his partially shut down mind on it. He hit it, it wasn't my whole hand just the very tips of my fingers and the pads of them, but it was still feeling, very slight almost like a tingling, but it was feeling.

"I can feel that," I said as he brushed his thumbs repeatedly over my fingers and watched as I reacted. He grinned and pulled me into a hug

"I told you it might come back," he said tiredly as he planted kisses all over my face. He chuckled as he sat up a little, "funny it would come back now," he said swinging his legs off the bed. I laughed a bit too,

"Maybe we should do this more often," I suggested, holding up one of my hands in front of my face, the felling wasn't allot, a tingling sensation at most, but it was the beginning of something; I knew it. Axel laughed and helped me up being careful of my back and hips as he helped me walk to the bathroom.

We were both sticky from our activities and needed to wash before we could go to sleep, and I thanked Axel for it as we took a bath together; he took his time cleaning me off.

"Did I hurt you too bad?" I asked as I lay against his chest in the water, talking about his shoulders one of which was worse than the other.

"Nah, I'm fine, you are the best lover anyone could ask for," he said giving me a small kiss. We got out and wrapped ourselves in robes before we both went to bed, Axel holding me to his chest as I held onto his hands with my own.

"Thank you, Axel, I love you," I murmured drifting off to sleep with my head against his chest, listening to his heart beat in time with my own.

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I was as sore in the morning as I thought I would be; thankfully there was not much moving around to be done since we had to go back to the university that day. Reno gave us both knowing looks over breakfast that made me blush; I honestly hadn't thought we were that loud. After breakfast we packed our things and started the five-hour drive home.

We returned from break and it seemed that during our absence I had become something of an icon at the university. The word had spread through the class starting at Sora and Professor Vexen. Others had heard of the ordeal I had managed to survive that night and an entire group of people rallied around me to appeal to the dean that something be done to the group of players that had attacked me and others that night. Unfortunately the dean wouldn't hear us and ultimately nothing was to be done; the attackers would have gotten away.

They didn't however; since the dean wouldn't listen the matter was taken to court. They had attacked me and caused irreparable damage that threatened my way of life, and others had been attacked as well, though not to the severity as I had, we had a court case. That was where our revenge was extracted; with Axel at my side we listened to their sentences. Four of them were expelled from the university, all of them were given jail time for multiple reasons including giving alcohol to minors and drug ownership.

Over the next couple months I did recover more of the feeling in my hands, with Axel's help, patience, and calmness. The feeling never entirely came back, there were areas on the backs and sides along with small spots on the palms that never entirely came back, and probably never would. With work and persistence I managed to bring my work back up to the level I had had it at before, but as with any artist we're always improving.

And as always Axel remained with me the entire time providing a calm comforting shoulder to lean on when I got overly frustrated, and a hot lover during the nights, god I loved him. Out of one of the worst times I had ever experienced there he was a beacon of hope and love, and he would be there until we graduated, and, eventually he did propose.

"Axel and Roxas, together forever, till death do us part,"

There, its done, This is the first Axel and Roxas fanfiction I have ever written, I had really hoped to have this fic done by AkuRoku Day a week ago but I got a bit of a late start and it just kept going. So here it is a long one shot with a lemon included.

Happy AkuRoku Day 2009!

I really do hope you all like it please Read and Review (I love getting reviews)