Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.

Chapter 7 Stale Cigarettes and Sea-Salt Ice Cream

"Roxas?!" Axel called out into the darkness of the beach, looking for the small cloaked form belonging to Roxas. His eyes drifted over the pale, sandy dunes hiding under the inky sky that seemed to envelope the edges of the small world while holding up the moon-like sun. Catching nothing worthwhile with eyesight alone, Axel ran down the white hills, closing in on the slow-rising tide and yelled out again, "Roxas?!"

Scanning the horizon again, Axel found a small lump of black on the pristine white sands. Knowing just exactly what it was, he ran towards it, calling out as he did so, "Roxas!!"

Upon hearing Axel's voice, the lump-presumed-to-be-Roxas, jumped up and began to run away, the hood flopping away to reveal a head full of blonde spikes. Looking back to Axel, the lump-now-known-to-be-Roxas, tripped on the end of his duster and fell, yelping as he did so.

"Roxas!" Axel cried out, diving towards Roxas and grabbing his hands. The blonde boy, obviously not content with the pyro holding onto him, flailed and kicked, trying to get away from him in an extremely childish manner. "Roxas, Wait! Just listen to me!"

"Why?!" Roxas screamed, tears staining his face. "Why should I listen to you?! Nothing you can say is gonna change what happened!!"

"How do you know?!" Axel shot back, pushing the younger boy into the sand. He had been about to respond when the realization hit him. Nothing he could say would make any difference. But something he did, could...

Roxas, who had been ranting through his tears the entire time, tried to continue, saying something about what he felt versus Axel's actions. Ignoring that Roxas had been confessing nearly everything to him, Axel pinned his arms above his head and kissed the younger boy. A few seconds later, the pyromaniac broke the kiss and sat up, leaving the blonde boy lying stunned in the sand.

"Why...?" Roxas mumbled from his sandy bed, his tears no longer falling. "Why'd you do that...?"

"Because words don't mean much," Axel replied, shifting his position so that he might watch the incoming waves.

"Mmmm..." Roxas hummed, licking his lips slowly. He tried to find Axel's taste, but the brief kiss hadn't left any trace of it behind. Deciding that he wanted to find out just what the redhead tasted like, the younger boy sat up and moved himself behind Axel, touching his shoulder lightly. "Axel...?"

"Hmmm?" Axel turned around, looking genuinely curious, and faced Roxas completely. "Can I help you?"

"No," Roxas whispered, pushing himself towards Axel's face with every ounce of courage he had. "I can help myself."

"Okay, then," Axel began, closing his eyes with a smile and a small laugh. Before he could continued, however, Roxas took his face and pressed their lips together. By briefly licking the older boy's lower lip, Roxas found that Axel tasted of stale cigarettes and sea-salt ice cream, an interesting, but less than delectable, mixture.

While Roxas was enjoying his findings, Axel was freaking out. Under normal circumstances, the redhead would have reacted in kind with his young friend's advances, perhaps deepening the kiss and laying him down in the sand to make love. Under the circumstances of the moment, however, Axel found his eyes wide open and his jaw slack with confusion.

"Mmmm!" The older boy whined, squirming out of Roxas' grasp, his face contorted in befuddlement, "What're you doin'?!"

"Tasting you," Roxas said plainly, looking the redhead directly in the eye. "Is there something wrong with that...?"

"N-no, no, not at all," Axel said, shaking his head and looking away. After contemplating just what was going on, Axel decided to take the opportunity before him and embrace, egging the younger boy on. "So, um, whaddo I taste like...?"

"Something along the lines of old tobacco and those ice cream bars you like so much..."

"Oh...That's sorta gross, huh?"

"Yeah, just sorta."

"Can I, um, taste you...?"

"I don't see why not..."

A kiss was planted. Tongues wrestled.

"So, whaddo I taste like?"

"Strawberries and toothpaste."

"Oh, that's not very -"

"It's exceptional."

AN: The End. Review, please.