Second to None

Summary: Roxas has always lived in the shadow of his twin brother, Sora. But Roxas never seemed to mind. In fact, he didn't want to come out of that shadow. Roxas/Axel, Sora/Riku. One-shot.

They looked so similar, but they couldn't have been more different. Sora entered the world, squalling, red-faced and wriggling with all the vigor of life. Roxas was so still and quiet, the doctors were afraid he wouldn't make it. But he did.

Sora played with blocks, trains, robots, and just about everything he could get his hands on. But he always wanted more. He would scream and stamp his feet, and the tears would flow until he got his way. Roxas was content with a ragged stuffed blue bunny, whom he named Sally and dragged everywhere. When his mother tried to throw the bunny away and give him a new one, Roxas didn't protest, but went secretly instead to the garbage to retrieve Sally and ignored the new toy.

"You can't name him 'Sally!'" 5-year old Tidus had lectured him in kindergarten. "He's blue. He's a boy bunny. Sally is a girl'sname."

Roxas had said nothing in return, but clutched his bunny closer.

"Shut up!" Sora had came screaming back out of nowhere in Roxas's defense. "He can call him whatever he wants!" He then proceeded to punch Tidus in the teeth and landed in trouble.

In fact, trouble followed Sora. All sorts of trouble. No teacher hadn'theard of Sora and his bold antics. He was caught several times trying to start a food fight during lunch hour, and he even succeeded once. He had most of his classmates in 5th grade convinced that their teacher was a vampire, and soon, the whole school started wondering why the building reeked of garlic. He came to school one day in middle school on a dare, dressed as a girl, and sat in on random classes. He was caught by lunch hour, and sent home to change.

Roxas never raised any uproar. In fact, teachers rarely noticed him, except for his English teachers. He enjoyed books and excelled at writing; when his pen was put to the page, he had something to say about everything. But he never spoke up in class, and he never raised his hand. Sora never raised his hand either, but that was because he simply called out.

Sora was popular. He started conversations and made friends easily, but had a tight-knit group he consistently hung out with. Roxas was part of that circle by virtue of being Sora's brother, but one would not call him popular. He was blunt and sarcastic, difficult to approach and harder to engage.

Sora was quick to anger but quick to forgive. Roxas was the opposite.

In 7th grade, everyoneknew that Roxas liked Hayner, except for Hayner himself. Tidus, Sora and Riku constantly teased Roxas about it, while Selphie and Kairi persistently offered advice. Roxas patiently bore it all, until one day, Riku accidentally spilled the beans to Hayner. Roxas had been so upset that he missed school for a week and stopped talking to Riku for three months.

Sora and Roxas had a brother who was 3 years older—Cloud. He was easy-going and popular like Sora, but level-headed and contemplative like Roxas. Cloud and Sora mixed like water and oil, squabbling and bickering constantly. Screaming matches were ready to ensue at any point whenever both of them shared the same space. With Roxas, however, Cloud rarely had any contentions. The two were happy to sit in the same room without speaking to each other, comfortable in each other's silence.

Today was Sora and Roxas's 16th birthday. They had planned an intimate gathering at their house and invited their closest friends. Even with just a handful of teens, the house was in a state of chaos. Selphie was chasing Sora around the house after he had jumped out from behind a door to scare her. Selphie had brought her dog, Bubba, and Bubba was barking mad with excitement at the scene. Kairi and Yuffie were eating nachos with cheese dip and throwing balls of dirty napkins, trying to distract Tidus and Riku, who were engrossed in a video game and competitively yelling at each other. Hayner and Olette had just initiated a game of 52-pickup. Used wrapping paper was strewn around the floor, and plates of half-finished food laid on every table. It didn't help that Cloud had some friends over as well, popping in and out of the kitchen to grab food, contributing to the mess.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, Roxas decided to step outside, eager for a break from the madness. A tall figure was leaning on the railing of the porch steps. The figure turned and peered down at Roxas through emerald green eyes. He realized it was one of Cloud's friends. Roxas had only seen him once before, and once was all it took to leave an impression. The older boy's hair was ablaze, wild and red like an unquenchable fire. In his fingers, he held a cigarette, and a puff of smoke escaped through his lips as he exhaled.

Axel...Roxas recalled Cloud calling him.

"Smoke?" Axel offered. Roxas hesitated. His first instinct had been to say 'no.' But today, for some reason, he was feeling particularly inquisitive.

So instead, he replied with, "I've never smoked before." Not quite a yes, but not quite a no.

Axel studied him, seemingly unimpressed, as he held his cigarette to his lips and inhaled. Then he exhaled again.

"There's a first for everything." Axel simply said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pack, offering it to Roxas. Roxas peered into the box to see that there was only one cigarette left. Blue eyes flitted up to meet with emerald eyes, and then back to the cigarette. Roxas lifted a hand to take it. "Here." Axel lit the cigarette for Roxas and waited, his expression unbetraying of any thought or feeling.

Roxas took a deep breath and stuck one end(the right end) of the cigarette to his mouth, and inhaled.

Instantly, he began to cough violently and the cigarette fell from his hands. Axel burst into a fit of laughter and stamped out the fallen cigarette with a black boot.

"Sorry..." Roxas muttered when he had finally regained his composure. He felt terribly embarrassed that he had made a fool out of himself. What bizarre notion had taken hold of his good sense?

"For what?" The red-haired boy asked, still chuckling as he took a drag.

"For wasting your last cigarette like that. I'll buy you a new pack."

A car rolled to a stop in front of the house. Axel took one last inhale before putting out his own cigarette. "Don't bother. I'm quitting. Starting now." He gave a smile. "Happy birthday, Roxas. See you around." He hopped into his ride and the car took off.

A stunned Roxas watched as the car disappeared from sight. He knows...who I am? He's kind of…hot.

"Hey Ax—oh, it's only you out here." Cloud had appeared at the door.

"He just left. Your friend." Roxas said.

"Oh, alright. What are you doing out here? Not having fun?"

Roxas shook his head. "Just needed a breath of air. I'm good now." He headed back indoors with Cloud.

…

A week later, Roxas was sitting in the kitchen, struggling with a set of math problems and eating an overripe banana. Math was far from being his favorite subject, and his teacher, a cruel silver-haired man, did not make the class any more appealing. He frequently gave pop-quizzes, assigned homework everyday, and there was no such thing as extra-credit. Roxas had failed the last two pop-quizzes, but he was determined to be prepared for the next one. Except he still didn't understand the material. He read the lesson a few times over, scratched his head and scribbled out equations, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Number 2 is wrong." Roxas nearly fell off his seat as he jumped at the sound of the voice. He whirled backwards to see Axel peering over his shoulder. "Yo." The redhead raised a hand in greeting and headed for the fridge. Blue wondering eyes followed him.

"Cloud not around? Your front door was open, so I let myself in."

"He's at his job right now. …Do you know how to do these?"

"Do what?"

"These problems."

"Yep. I'm a math major, after all." Axel was helping himself to some milk.

"Can you help me?" Roxas ventured. "I've kind of been having trouble with this lesson."

"Hm." Axel took a swig of milk. "I could. But what do I get in return?"

Roxas shrugged. "Personal satisfaction? A box of cookies? Sexual favors?"

Axel stared at Roxas, who didn't even bat an eye, incredulously before breaking into a wicked grin. "Careful. If I were more shameless, I would've taken you up on one of those offers.." Roxas only blinked, his eyes lit with amusement. "How about this. I have an essay that could use some proofreading, and I hear you're a really good writer..."

"But...I'm not in college."

"Not important. I've been told I write at 2nd grade level, anyway." Axel smirked, dismissing the issue. "So deal?"

"Deal."

Axel took a seat next to Roxas and patiently explained each problem.

"You're a good teacher. Better than mine anyhow." Roxas admitted, after they had finished.

"Easy peasy." Axel grinned, one elbow propped on the table, chin resting in hand.

"Did you want me to read your essay now?"

"Essay? Oh, right, essay. One sec." Axel retrieved his essay from his bag and presented it to Roxas. "Be warned. It's beyond embarrassing."

"You don't look so embarrassed." Roxas noted skeptically as he took the essay from Axel, who only hummed in reply.

Axel waited as Roxas studied the paper intently, noticing every subtle change in his face as he read on. His eyebrows furrowed and then relaxed. The muscles around his mouth twitched several times. His baby blue eyes widened ever so slightly, and his lips pursed in thought. His hand moved tirelessly, writing comments, crossing out words, and making corrections.

"Not as bad as you made it out to be." Roxas finally spoke.

"Oh?"

"I'd say you're closer to a 5th grade level." He could no longer fight off the smirk he'd been holding back.

Axel laughed good-humoredly, unfazed. "That's more credit than I deserve."

"You're right. I was just being nice."

"Shit, I don't wanna know what you're like when you're an ass then."

"Pleasant, I'm sure." Roxas flashed his most beguiling smile.

Axel said nothing in reply, admiring the blonde lazily.

"What?" Roxas huffed, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"You're really fucking cute, you know that Roxas?"

The blonde-haired youth instantly flushed a dramatic shade of rouge. "H-how do you even know I'm Roxas? I could be Sora, for all you know!" Roxas retorted, almost angrily.

"Hey, whoa, relax!" Axel held up his hands defensively. "Judging from what I know, your brother wouldn't have been the one stealing away from all the festivities during your birthday." He pointed out.

"Maybe I was just waiting for someone to arrive." Roxas shot back hotly.

"Why didn't you say anything when I called you 'Roxas' the first time?"

"You left so quickly, how could I have?"

"How come you're blonde?" Axel smiled triumphantly.

"I—." Roxas had nothing to say to that. His heart was thumping madly, his cheeks were burning and his downcast eyes roamed the floor indecisively.

"Hey…you alright?"

"I just—Why would you say that?" He demanded. Axel looked at Roxas quizzically.

"What do you mean? I was just telling it like it was. Did I offend you?"

Roxas stood up abruptly, gathered his homework and textbook and left for his room without a word or a glance. Axel was now alone in the kitchen.

"…What the fuck?"

…

"What the fuck, Axel? Did you just tell me you were hitting on my little brother?"

"I told the kid he was cute. Big fuckin' deal. It's not like I told him he was totally fuckable."

Cloud groaned, covering his face with a hand.

"Is he, though?" Reno inquired, a bit too curious.

"Is he what?" Cloud snapped irritably, glaring through his blonde bangs. "Fuckable? We are not having this conversation."

"To answer your question, Reno…yes. Yes he is." Axel announced, grinning mischievously.

"AXEL!"

"Kid doesn't know how to take a compliment." Leon interjected. "I told him he looked nice, at Cloud's graduation. He ignored me for the rest of the day."

"You stay away from my brother." Cloud struggled to be heard over Axel, Reno, and Zack's cackling. "I don't want that perverted mind of yours near him."

"Aww, come on, Cloud, is that really what you think of me?" Axel gave Cloud his most pitiful look.

"Yea man, Axel isn't that bad." Demyx spoke up in Axel's defense. "What are you afraid of?"

"He's smart. He's got a future." Reno offered with a shrug.

"And he's sexy to boot." Zack added.

Cloud grunted in reply. In all actuality, Axel was a decent character—better than most. He only exuded the bad-boy image on the exterior, and had a habit of speaking without thinking. "He's my little brother. I don't want him getting hurt."

"Cloud." Axel started, his expression turning serious, as he looked Cloud straight in the eye. "I don't fuck around. You won't have to worry about Roxas getting hurt because of me."

"…Well, alrigh—."

"PERMISSION GRANTED!" Demyx screeched gleefully, throwing two triumphant fists into the air while Reno let out a whoop.

"That doesn't mean I won't be watching your. Every. Move." Cloud said with a raised eyebrow.

"So what're you going to do?" Zack urged.

"You'll have to be careful of what you say to him. You pretty much dropped a bomb on the kid last time." Leon reminded him, crossing his arms.

Axel grinned. "I'll speak to him with my actions."

…

Letting out an audible groan, Roxas flipped onto his back and covered his face with his pillow.

….Fucking cute…

Axel's words had echoed in his head for the past few days, and tonight, Roxas could not put his mind to rest.

"Why did he say that…" Roxas muttered to no one in particular. After a few more moments of despairing over the mystery, Roxas got up and stared at the clock.

It was 7:30PM on a Friday, and Roxas had nothing to keep himself busy with. Sora and Riku had asked Roxas if he wanted to watch a movie with them, but Roxas had declined, noticing that the two had become very close recently.

He headed downstairs to find Cloud and Leon watching TV.

"Hey." Roxas sauntered into the living room and headed for a couch. Leon nodded in greeting.

"Hey…" Cloud glanced up, giving Roxas a weird look.

Roxas stopped just as he was about to plop down. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Uh, no. Not at all." Anxiously, the older blonde licked his lip as he stole a look at his phone. "Not going out tonight, Roxas?"

"Nah. Sora and Riku asked me to go to the movies, but I didn't want to be third wheel."

"I see." Cloud answered distractedly, texting on his phone. "I didn't know they were going out."

"Not officially, but they might as well be."

For awhile, the trio watched TV in silence.

Then, the doorbell rang.

"Hmph. I wonder who that could be." Leon's voice carried a trace of amusement.

"Err, could you get that, Roxas?" Cloud asked, apparently absorbed in a commercial about a blender.

Roxas got up and went to answer the door.

"Yo!" Axel was there to greet him with a wide grin, dressed casually in ripped jeans and a black form-fitting v-neck tee. His hair was wild and windswept, cheeks slightly rosy, and expression breathless, as if he had ran over.

Shit, he looks good… Roxas was instantly a shade of pink.

"You remember me, right? Well I guess I never introduced myself, actually." He rubbed the back of his head. "Name's Axel."

Roxas backed from the door as the redhead invited himself in. "Uh…Cloud and Leon are in the living room…" He managed to stammer.

"Actually, I'm here to see you."

Roxas froze, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Me?"

"Yea. Do you wanna grab a bite to eat? Or something?"

"You should go." Cloud urged, appearing behind Roxas. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. "For your information, you were interrupting something."

Roxas blushed even more deeply and grabbed Axel's wrist, leading him out the door.

"Wuh—okay? Bye Cloud!" Axel called out.

Cloud walked back into the living room and collapsed on the sofa, laying his head in Leon's lap, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"God…what did I just do?"

"A good thing." Leon assured, stroking Cloud's hair.

…

"Sooo, what do you want to do?" Axel started up the car.

"Anything. Let's just…get out of there so that Cloud can…do his thing."

Axel glanced over at Roxas, who was absent-mindedly staring out the window, as he drove.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing really. I was just…just surprised to find out that Cloud and Leon were…that way, I guess. It just…seems like everyone's finding someone these days."

"Jealous?" Axel teased.

Roxas shook his head. "No. I'm happy for them, and they deserve to be happy."

"And what about you? Don't you deserve to be happy, too?"

Roxas shrugged, shifting in his seat as Axel braked to a stop. He craned his neck forward, looking around. "Where are we?"

"The park near your house. Come on."

The sun was nearly set, but the park was still warm and alive with people. Children could be heard, shrieking with laughter. Joggers and cyclists sped past the pair. Some benches held gossiping mothers, while others were occupied by couples young and old. An ice cream truck was parked by the curb, where people happily walked away from with their ice creams.

"Oh, hold on!" Axel dashed over to the ice cream truck and returned shortly with a strawberry cone. "Here." He held it out to Roxas with a smile.

"I'm okay." Despite his answer, he stared at the ice cream cone longingly.

"Help me eat it, please?" Axel begged. "I don't want to get too fat."

Reluctantly, Roxas took the cone from Axel, and in a matter of minutes, it was gone.

"Strawberry's my favorite ice cream flavor." Roxas admitted happily.

"I couldn't tell." Axel snickered on the inside. Oh, I know. Cloud told me so…

"Thanks a lot." Roxas managed, feeling a bit mortified when he quickly realized that he had consumed most of the ice cream. "I guess I owe you, since I ate almost all of your ice cream."

Axel chuckled lightly and ruffled Roxas's hair. "Don't worry about it. Ah. I think you have some on your face."

"I do?" Roxas reached up to feel around his mouth self-consciously. "Where?"

Axel squinted to see in the growing dark, leaning down and drawing closer to Roxas to get a better look. Roxas felt his breath hitch in his throat, as Axel loomed right in front of his face, peering at his mouth.

"Huh…nevermi…" Axel trailed off as he suddenly noticed Roxas staring at him, almost expectantly, with wide anxious eyes, slightly parted lips, his breaths escaping shallow and fast. How could he resist this cute blonde, who was just begging to be kissed?

Cloud is going to kill me. Axel laughed to himself on the inside. The thought only urged him on as he raised a hand to cup one side of Roxas's face.

"Oh well…" He muttered, moving in to capture Roxas's mouth in one smooth motion.

What Axel didn't anticipate was how receptive Roxas would be. He moved his lips against Axel's with surprising enthusiasm. Axel lifted his other hand to the small of Roxas's back, pressing the youth more closely to his own body, while Roxas let out a small moan, burying his hands in Axel's hair. Roxas sucked lightly on Axel's lower lip, and then opened his mouth, allowing Axel to plunge in hotly with his tongue, eager to explore. Unconsciously, the hand on Roxas's back began to trail south. Roxas let out a small gasp mid-kiss as he felt Axel's fingers dip under the waistband of his jeans.

Axel suddenly remembered himself and gently pulled away, despite his raging desire for the short blonde, and looked up to meet nervous blue eyes, wide in alarm. The two stared at each other for a moment panting breathlessly. Slowly, Axel pried Roxas away from him, holding him at arm's length. For once, it was Axel's turn to look abashed.

"I—I'm sorry Roxas. I shouldn't have taken it that fast…or that far. Let's get you home, alright?" His words were gentle and apologetic, and Roxas sort of wished that they weren't.

Roxas followed Axel back to the car wordlessly, and the drive back passed in silence. Axel pulled up to the house and parked, insisting on walking Roxas to the door. Once there, the two looked at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Uhm…thanks for the ice cream." Roxas started to say, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey Roxas…would you go out with me again? And maybe next time, we'll have a chance to talk more…"

Roxas smiled. "Yea. I'd like that."

…

The smell of pancakes and syrup wafted through the house. Roxas could smell it from upstairs in the bathroom, as he got ready, checking the mirror several times to make sure he was presentable. He dashed down the stairs to find Cloud in the kitchen flipping pancakes and Sora sitting at the counter, eating them almost as quickly as Cloud could make them.

"You're too slow." Sora complained.

"You're too fat." Cloud retorted. Sora made a face at Cloud.

"Fine! I don't want your pancakes anyway. They taste like shit."

"Is that why you ate like 10 of them already?"

"I guess you won't mind if I grab this one then." Roxas cut in, grabbing the hot pancake that Cloud had just thrown onto the empty plate. Sora pouted a bit, but said nothing.

"Where are you going?" Sora asked, eyeing his twin in sudden interest when he realized Roxas looked ready to go out.

"Oh...just…hanging out with Axel."

Cloud stiffened at the mention of Axel's name. "You've been out with him a lot these days."

"He's pretty cute…" Sora mused, and then gasped. "Are you guys doing it?" He was promptly smacked by his twin. "What?" Sora whined. "You've been in a really good mood lately. I mean, you were actually kind of nice to Riku yesterday. When was the last time that ever happened?" He said with a snort.

"I don't kiss and tell." Roxas granted his brothers a smirk before leaving.

"So you are doing it!" Sora gaped, as Cloud rolled his eyes at him.

Axel was waiting outside. He turned as soon as he heard Roxas step out the door and beamed at the blonde. Roxas was looking extra cute today in a deep v-neck that bared a sinful amount of skin on his chest, and dark jeans with a white belt. He pulled Roxas into an embrace as Roxas approached him.

"Mm…you smell good." Axel sighed, burying his face into Roxas's hair. Roxas laughed as he fought to push Axel off, but Axel held onto him tightly. Long fingers reached under Roxas's chin, tilting the blonde's face up to meet Axel's. Axel pecked him lightly on the lips.

"I'm not gonna tell you how beautiful you are…" He whispered. "Because I know you hate that. So every time I have an urge to tell you that you're beautiful, cute, sexy, or whatever…I'm just going to kiss you."

Axel leaned in to kiss him. Then again. And again. And again.

Roxas blushed happily, his entire being positively glowing.

Thanks for reading! : )