Roxas sighs, palms sweaty, as he makes his way out of his Speech class and towards the front of Twilight Community College. Sora gets out of class half an hour after him, which should give him plenty of time to calm down and smoke a damn cigarette. As he reaches the front gate they normally meet up at, he pulls his pack of smokes out of his pocket and taps one out. Once it's between his lips and he's digging for his lighter, he already feels his nerves calming down.

His stupid fucking class requires him to get up and present to the forty people in his class and people that Dr. Luxord invites in to make people sweat. For his presentation there had been nearly one hundred people packed into the small room. Send him to talk to a small group of people he doesn't know and he's fine, he can sweet talk just about anyone, but stick him in front of more than twenty people and he freaks out. It was one of the reasons it had taken him so long to enroll in on-campus classes instead of the internet courses he'd been taking.

As he clicks his lighter, the wind blows it out. Roxas curses and tries to light it again with his hand blocking the wind, but it looks like Sora had gotten to this lighter, too. Sora, his loving brother, had decided that Roxas would eventually stop smoking if he couldn't light the damn things, but now he just looks like a pretentious asshole with an unlit cigarette hanging between his lips.

He sighs and grabs the stick between his fingers and tosses the lighter into the trashcan nearby. He's kind of impressed when it goes in, considering he usually can't hit the broad side of a barn with an airplane.

He looks around and spots a tall red-head leaning against a wall, looking as if he had a million places he'd rather be than here. Roxas debates the merits of starting a conversation with a stranger as the sun is finishing its decent. Sora had insisted they both take night classes so it wouldn't conflict with their schedules. Roxas – though he loathes to admit his brother is right – agrees, it had been a phenomenal idea.

But his palm are still sweating, so he figures getting his cigarette is worth the slim chance the stranger was a murderer.

"Hey," He calls as he walks up, left hand in his pocket as his right shows the cigarette, "You got a light?"

The red-head looks him over before sticking his hand into his pocket, "Those things'll kill you, y'know." But he produces a lighter anyway and he only has to click it once before Roxas can take a much-needed inhale of nicotine.

"Yeah, but I just got out of a really stressful class, you know?"

"Mm, no. Not really."

Roxas takes another drag from his cigarette before asking, "You take easy classes or something?"

He chuckles, "No, I don't go here. I'm picking up a friend, but he's late."

"Kind of glad, personally, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten this." He flicks the burnt ashes from his cigarette onto the floor before covering it with his shoe.

He makes sure not to blow his smoke at his new chatting buddy while they wait and he learns that Axel – Roxas wants to laugh, but his name is no better – is friends with Zexion, whom he knows remotely through Sora's boyfriend Riku.

They chat about everything that could come up, from the crazy changes in temperature to how ridiculous Zexion's Pomeranian looks with its dip dyed hair, and Roxas finds himself enjoying the red-heads' company.

He thinks about asking Axel for another light when Sora comes walking up alone. Glancing at his watch, Roxas notes that he's fifteen minute early.

"Hey! Professor Vexen's class got out early."

"Of course it did." Roxas chuckles, but asks, "We still have to wait for Riku?"

"Duh, unless you want to walk." Sora makes a face as he reaches Roxas' side, "Ugh, have you been smoking? I thought I drained all of your lighters."

I knew it, he thinks to himself.

"You did. Axel gave me a light." He nods towards the redhead who had become very quiet.

Sora glares at Axel as if he's just kicked a puppy before muttering, quite loudly, "Those things are going to kill him."

"Yeah, but it's his body. He's a grown man, he can do what he wants. What kind of life do you live if you don't make a few mistakes."

"Like dying your hair a horrible shade of red?" Sora snarks and Roxas gapes at his brother, who is usually an easy-going person.

"At least I don't use fifteen pounds of hair gel to keep my hair straight up."

Roxas interrupts before Sora can antagonize the person whose kept him company, "Whoa, okay, ladies, you're both beautiful. No need to fight. He's right, Sora. I can do what I want."

Just then, Zexion walks up, looking a bit confused at the large gathering.

"Hey, Zexion!" Sora greets with a wave.

"You're late, runt."

"I know, my apologies, Axel, but I was held up." The statement just makes Axel grin like the cat who caught the canary but he doesn't say anything else on the subject.

"It was nice to meet you Roxas." The red-head waves at him before leading Zexion towards the public parking area.

"You should really think about stopping." Sora mutters.

"Oh, come off it, Sora." Roxas mutters, "At least I don't smoke inside the house or in Riku's car."

"You still smell like smoke all the time."

Roxas shrugs. Maybe he'll quit, maybe he won't. He does know that he wants to see Axel again.

Now continued in the chapter 'Car Sex'.