I don't own the characters, nor do I make money off of this work. Please review :)

You know that delicious feeling you have when you're in the blissful state between sleep and consciousness? That floating and being at peace with the world? Axel was in this state, curled up in his bed under his blanket, despite it being almost too hot. He poked a foot out of the covers, making it instantly better. He was drifting, drifting… drift…ing…

When he was jolted out of that beautiful state into one of awareness by a knock on his wall. It took him a minute to comprehend if it actually happened, or if his brain was playing a cruel joke on him. A few seconds after his heart settled from panic, another knock happened upon his wall, with a quiet, "Axel?" sounding from the other side. Said redhead sighed and laid back down.

"Yeah?" he said, a bit irritated, rubbing his eyes grumpily.

"You up?" The voice said. Axel rolled his eyes, his brain screaming out a 'no shit, Sherlock.'

"I am now," he said, trying hard to keep the bitterness out of his voice, and only slightly succeeding. The voice didn't return, but Axel did hear the shifting of fabric and the squeak of a mattress on the other side of the wall. He found himself drifting away again. It was a few minutes before a soft tink tink tink on the glass of his patio door roused him again. He sighed and sat up.

There at the door stood Roxas, his little blond fireball of a neighbor and wall-mate, wrapped up in a blanket with one hand poking out from beneath the fabric to tap on the door again.

"You locked the door," Roxas said from the other side of the glass, jiggling the door handle for emphasis. Axel smiled slightly, then slid his way out of the comfort of his own blanket, stretching his back a bit before making his way over.

"What's the password?" he said with a grin.

The blond rolled his eyes and said, "It's fucking cold out here, open the damn door."

"I guess that's acceptable," the redhead drawled, then flipped the lock on the door. The blond bundle of blanket quickly opened the door and shoved his way past Axel, leaving the redhead to close and lock the door again. And Axel did just that before peeking at the alarm clock on his dresser, which read 2:46 AM. It wasn't the latest (earliest?) Roxas had been over, the redhead noted.

The bundle of blanket was released to the floor and the blond that invaded his room now invaded his bed, schooching all the way to the wall, and stealing most of the blankets. A small smile found its way to the redhead's face as he made his way to his own bed, and sat next to the invader.

"What's up, Rox?" he said, ruffling the hair that was taking over his pillow.

"Nothing," the boy replied shortly. He managed to bury himself more under the covers.

Axel frowned. He hated these nights. These were the nights that Roxas would take over his bed, pretend he was sleeping, when in reality he stared at the wall until dawn, and thought Axel was none the wiser. But Axel knew all too well because these were the nights that Axel laid next to Roxas, feeling his frigid breathing next to him, eyes going dry from staring at the ceiling. He didn't talk because he knew Roxas wouldn't answer. So Axel did what he always did, and stole half of his blankets back and stuffed himself next to the other body crowding his small twin mattress.

True to form, Roxas stirred about a quarter to 6, the sun peeking itself over the horizon. Instead of his usual routine of using Axel's shower to steal the hot water, and going to the kitchen to steal Axel's cereal, he stumbled his way to the patio door and pulled the curtains over the glass wall. This was new for Axel. Roxas, this creature of almost habit, had never done this. The blond did another new surprising thing. He crawled back into bed and curled up, facing away from Axel.

"Roxas?" Axel asked with a slight edge of concern in his voice. The boy was silent. He was silent when Axel turned to face him. He was silent when Axel wrapped his arms around him. He was silent when Axel pulled him close, burying his face in the unruly spikes that attacked his face. "What's wrong, Sunshine?" he said affectionately, picking the nickname Roxas hated the most to try to get a rise out of him.

Instead, the blond collapsed in on himself, shaking from his head to his pretty little toes. Axel held him tighter, feeling the wet hot tears slide from Roxas' face to his own arm, before finally soaking into his mattress. This was new. Roxas was the strong one. Roxas was the one that laughed in the face of crying. But here he was. Here he was curled up in Axel's bed, cuddled close in Axel's arms, sobbing fat tears into Axel's questionable stained sheets. This was new, and this was scary.

Axel didn't know what to do, but let the boy, well, let it out. He needed it, the redhead decided. Roxas deserved to sob, cry, scream out. He'd never seen this. He'd never even heard it from the other side of the divider between them. He'd seen the apathetic, sleepless nights, sure, but nothing like this. All he could do was hold the blond until the shaking stopped, the tears trickled, and a deep breath released itself from the boy's lungs. Even then, Axel was in no hurry to move.

They laid there in the quiet for a while. Axel was scared to say anything, and Roxas only sniffled occasionally. Eventually, when the sun peeked through the small gap Roxas accidentally left in the curtains and shone its ugly ray right into Axel's cornea, the redhead decided to finally speak.

"You want pancakes?" At this, the blond nodded.

Half an hour later found the pair in the kitchen, Axel flipping pancakes and doing his damndest not to burn the bacon again, and Roxas sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar, swinging his feet gently. Roxas laughed heartily as Axel cracked a joke about eggs before dropping the carton on the ground, breaking all but one egg. The redhead decided that, fuck it, eggs are overrated anyway.

Unfortunately, during the chaos with the overrated eggs, Axel did, in fact, burn the bacon again, to which he decided that bacon was most definitely overrated too. His pancakes, however, were most definitely not overrated, and came out perfect, at least in his eyes. Sure, they were a little misshapen and more brown on one side than the other, but still perfect. He passed a plate of the perfect hotcakes to the blond, who proceeded to slather them in butter and drown them in syrup. The poor things never stood a chance.

Axel smiled the smallest of smiles as he took a bite of his own undressed pancake. The blond sighed happily, and Axel tried his hardest not to stare at him, but he kind of failed. He at least tried to make it inconspicuous, which he thought he succeeded at, due to the fact that Roxas' focus never left his plate. The redhead took another bite of his pancake, noting the puffy red skin around deep blue eyes that Roxas was currently sporting. It was the only evidence of the morning's happenings, and it alarmed him a bit at how Roxas could just jump back to... himself so quickly. Axel finished his pancake before chugging a bit of OJ, then cleared his throat.

"So, Rox…" he trailed off. The blond looked up and him, then back down at his plate, before his chewing slowed. He swallowed, took a sip of his own OJ, but he never looked back up. "Roxas," Axel continued. Roxas found his pancakes very interesting, eviscerating them with a fork rather than meeting the redhead's intense gaze. "Roxas," he said assertively. Finally blue met green, and honestly, the kid looked scared. But only for a second.

"What's up?" the blond said with a smile.

"Seriously?" Axel chuckled in disbelief. "You know what. What was that about this morning?"

To this, the boy before him sighed deeply. "Nothing, I guess. I don't know." Blue eyes shifted to the side and then down, and a cheek sank in slightly from Roxas biting the inside of it. "Do I have to have a reason?" Axel let out his own sigh.

"Rox, I've been sharing a thin ass wall with you for 8, almost 9 months, and not once have I heard anything like that. I hear you laugh. I hear one-sided conversations when you're on the phone. I hear your dad yell at you to do your homework, even though you're in damn college. I hear your TV when you play stupid Guitar Hero at 3 in the morning. Fuck, Roxas, I can pinpoint exactly when you're about to orgasm whenever Demyx goes over. I hear literally everything. Sure, you share my bed on shitty sleepless nights, but never, never, have I heard or seen anything like that. So yes, yes you do need a reason, because I'm fucking scared and worried, all right?"

Roxas moved from biting the inside of cheek to chewing on his lip now. He looked at Axel, and again, it was something new. Axel had never seen him look so… lost. The redhead sighed and ran a hand through his wild red mane.

"Okay," he said quietly, "Okay." He made his way around the breakfast bar, took Roxas' hand, and pulled him off the stool. In fact, he pulled him off the stool, away from the forgotten pancakes, into his bedroom, and into his bed. Axel pressed his long lanky frame against the wall, making sure that Roxas had enough room on the small mattress, before laying his legs haphazardly on and around the blond's short ones. He pulled the blanket up over their heads, and made sure that he was able to see Roxas without obstruction by said blanket. Roxas just stared at him with a questionable look.

"This," Axel whispered, "This is gonna be our safe place. That sounds lame… but still. Safe place. Anything said under here won't be brought up outside of here unless person who says it wants it to be. So I won't bring up whatever is going on with you once this blanket is pulled off, got it?" The blond took a few seconds to take that in before nodding.

"I'll start," the redhead continued. "When I was 8, I was at a sleepover and got dared to pee in a friend's water cup because they were the first to fall asleep, so I did. But I felt so bad that I stayed up until everyone else fell asleep, and I replaced it with normal water. The look on the other kids' faces when my friend drank the whole cup in the morning was priceless." The blond slowly grinned and laughed.

"Ax, that's freaking gross." There was more laughter before he added, "But that also makes you a good friend." They settled into a semi-comfortable silence, Axel waiting patiently, and Roxas fidgeting with his shirt. "I really don't want to talk about it right now," he said quietly.

"Then start with something else," Axel suggested.

Roxas released a small sigh before he said, "One time, I made my cousin beef stew, but I used canned dog food, and he ate the whole thing. I never told him." Axel's face turned from a smile to a look of disgust in about 2 seconds flat.

"And you think I'm gross? Poor kid! Remind me to never let you cook for me!" He play gagged before Roxas laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Your turn," the boy said.

"Okay, okay," Axel said, absentmindedly rubbing his shoulder. "You can't tell anyone this," he said very quietly, and scooted closer to whisper in the blond's ear. "I'm gay." The blond barked out a laugh.

"Everyone and their mom knows that, dumbass. You kind of scream homosexuality," the blond said, laughing a little bit harder.

"You little shit," Axel said, adding his own laughter to the mix. After it all died down, he whispered, "Okay, your turn." Roxas' smile faltered, and to Axel's surprise, his eyes teared up just the tiniest bit. Roxas blinked the liquid away expertly, and he took a deep breath.

"He is cheating."

Three words, those three little words made Axel's heart sink into his stomach. He would throw it up if he could. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. The blond boy in his bed closed his eyes, a small frown gracing his face. You know the frown that you get when you're trying not to cry? Yeah, that one.

His long arms reached out and pulled the small, shaking frame to his own chest, petting the blond locks gently. The boy in his arms took a few deep breaths, obviously trying to prevent himself from crying, but he was failing miserably.

"Just let it out, Rox," Axel whispered, hoping that the boy would hear him. Luckily he did, and let it out, he did too.

"I-I-I-I," Roxas tried to speak between deep breaths and sobs, but failed miserably at this too. Axel instructed him to count backward from 10 and breathe deep, which he did, and it helped marginally. At least enough for Roxas to speak.

"I didn't hear from him at all yesterday, which is weird ya know, because he's always messaging me, except when he's at work, but he didn't work yesterday," the boy rambled before taking one, two, three more deep breaths. "So I decided to go over at like 9:30 last night, but no one answered. So I sat next to the door and waited for him to get home. He never answered his phone, so I was worried, ya know?" By this point, Roxas calmed considerably, drawing circles in the fabric of Axel's shirt.

"His door opened and... someone else stumbled out. Some older guy with an eye patch. He gave him a goodbye kiss before they noticed me. I booked it." Roxas stopped. He stopped talking and stopped his relaxing circles. Axel took this opportunity to start his own circles in the fabric on Roxas' back. They lay there in the quiet, safety under the blanket. Axel was at a loss for words, wracking his brain for anything supportive, but coming up blank. Luckily, the blond soon filled the silence.

"I threw my phone in a ditch," he said. "It wouldn't stop ringing, so I tossed it. I wandered my way back here. I laid in bed until I couldn't fucking stand it anymore. And here I am. Pathetic, right?" The blond shook his head, and sighed. Axel could feel the other boy's deflation. He had never felt another person crumble before today, and he'd now experienced it twice. He definitely didn't want to feel it again.

"Rox…" he started. Actually, he didn't know where to start. Instead, he just kissed the head beneath his chin and rested his cheek on fluffy spikes. It was a lot to take in, even as an outsider. Well, mostly an outsider, he supposed. He had heard the last 9 months of the 4 year relationship, and it seemed normal through that thin barrier of drywall and plaster. Roxas sighed another deep sigh before clearing his throat.

"Your turn," he said, his voice a little hoarse from crying.

To this, the redhead smiled. He wracked his brain, trying to think of something deeply profound.

"I like the smell of my own farts," Axel said, instead. He was joking, of course. Well, half joking, he decided. He didn't like the smell, but he did like farting... What? The relieve of pressure was great. Don't judge. Roxas froze.

"Axel, you are fucking weird, oh my god. You better not fart while I'm under here, I swear to god," he said, squirming his way out of the redhead's grasp. Said redhead was busy laughing his skinny ass off, but managed to keep his catch in his arms.

"Chill Rox, I was kidding!" Axel blurted out when he was finally able to pull air into his lungs again. Roxas looked at him warily, but settled back to his rightful place on the bed. "For real though," he said, swirling little circles on the boy's back again. "Can we just stay here all day?"

The blond stared at him thoughtfully. Axel honestly couldn't tell what Roxas was thinking. His face was blank, usually expressive eyes unreadable, mouth pulled into a thin line. It slightly scared the redhead after the morning they'd had, and he pulled back a little further to see the blond a little better.

"Only if you don't fart," Roxas blurted out, a grin taking over his face. It was Axel's turn to be unreadable before he broke down in laughter. In fact, they both broke down in laughter. Axel threw the blanket down off their faces to get some finally get some fresh air that they both didn't realize they needed. Axel's laughing slowed as Roxas continued giggling, saying something about Axel moving the blanket was proof that he had to fart, or something like that. Axel decided that right then, everything would be okay.

Roxas's laughter finally slowed and he sighed happily.

"I have a different idea," he said, clearing his throat of that gross phlegm that builds up when you laugh too hard. You know the kind. "Let's go get some overpriced coffee from that place down the street, and go buy me a new damn phone. Because I'm a dumbass who could've just turned the damn thing off, but no, I'm a fucking drama queen."

Axel grinned. "You got it, doll. Meet you outside in 20?"

"Yeah," Roxas grinned back before he jumped out of bed. He grabbed his blanket, made his way to the patio door before flashing another smile to Axel. "I'll race ya," he said before quickly heading out the door, and disappearing into his own patio. Axel heard the door open on the other side of the wall, and drawers opening and slamming shut. He chuckled to himself a bit. Yeah, Roxas would be okay. He'd make sure of it.