Halcyon Days

Chapter One - "The Kingfisher"

Halcyon Day Three, The End

"If you hadn't decided to just slither down his pants, this never would have happened!"

"Aw, c'mon, I just wanted to see it. Who knows, maybe your name really is on it."

"That's not even the point! At this point, he thinks I'm completely insane and whatever chances I've had with him are ruined!"

"That is, if he really is the one."

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

"You just don't know how to have fun."

"You tried to sneak into his boxers! That is, in no way, fun!"

"… says you."

Axel and Reno were fighting again. This wasn't anything new. In fact, the arguments between the two were very common-place in the third floor dwelling of Kichi Apartments, as they had been for a year now. The two engaged in squabbling activities so often, in fact, that it had become almost habit for the pair to raise their voices at each other. Nothing odd there. The only odd thing was that...

When the neighbors would roll their eyes and turn up their music or televisions louder, they heard only Axel arguing with himself.

Reno wasn't actually real.

Well, at least, to the average person, he wasn't. To Axel, he was completely genuine and happened to be sitting right on his desk, tail wiggling and his ferrety nose twitching right in front of his shiny, ferrety eyes.

At this point, the average person would probably slowly back away to eventually turn and run. Most people did, at least. They also said Axel was crazy, insane, a lunatic, on meds, on crack, on ecstasy, on drugs in general... or, Axel's two favorites, that he had hit his head when he was little and had afterwards also escaped from a mental institution.

Really, it all lay in the definition of the word "sane." The mass majority of people, as compared to Axel, possess a very different opinion on the word itself. If "sane" meant free from mental disorder, then Axel most definitely fit the bill. However, if "sane" also meant that you didn't have imaginary animals speak to you on a daily basis, and, in Reno's case, argue non-stop with you, then Axel unfortunately fell a little short. He didn't think so, though. In fact, in his mind, he was 100 percent perfectly normal. Everyone else was just a little weird because they didn't have muses in the form of animals chattering at him all day.

The only thing weird about the situation was that Reno's ferrety stripes were a dull crimson and not the usual black.

The topic of their conversation, or, really, quarrel, was bizarre in Axel's mind, as well; a blonde who had recently moved in down the hall in his apartment building. According to Reno, he was a "hottie." And Axel didn't want to admit it, but he agreed. To himself, at least. The blonde was a "hottie."

The only bad part was that said blonde "hottie" was a guy with a boyfriend. A guy with a boyfriend who already thought that he, Axel, the perfectly sane one, was crazy.

Axel tapped the tip of his pencil's eraser against his bottom lip as he stared down at the sketch pad. He was at a loss. Reno was lounging on the windowsill directly in front of him, his ferrety tail twitching in his sleep as the morning sun warmed his fur. And Axel just couldn't figure out how illustrate a particular expression for the dog he was going to paint in later. With a soft sigh, he put the pencil to paper again, about to start a doodle, when there was a loud, abrupt thud on his door.

Reno snorted himself awake and flopped to the desk as Axel looked up, the pencil tip snapping as his hand twitched in surprise.

There was giggling beyond the door. Axel stood, setting the writing utensil down. More snickering and sounds of thumps. Usually, one knocked to enter someone's apartment, not slammed their body into the door. Wary now, the red-head strode over to the exit of his apartment and cautiously opened it… to find two boys engaged into a firm lip-lock. As soon as the one who had his back to Axel lost the support of the door, he nearly fell over backwards, but his partner held up upright.

"Um… hi." The taller man said with a wide smirk, the one facing Axel. Axel only stared at him, taking in the silver hair with a blank expression. The other male turned in his boyfriend's arms and Axel was abruptly hit with a shock of blue eyes. All of the pissed off and reprimanding thoughts in his head were wiped out in an instant.

He, at least, had the decency of looking embarrassed. The blue-eyed blonde smiled sheepishly, wiping his lips hurriedly as a faint flush scattered over his cheeks. "Sorry about that."

Axel recovered quickly, quirking an eyebrow as he felt Reno begin to clamber up his leg. Before an awkward silence proceeded to fall over the group, the blonde extended a hand. "I'm Roxas."

The ferret settled on his friend's shoulder, a growl escaping his mouth as he regarded Roxas. "Oh, Roxas. I like that name. Rrroxas."

"Axel." Axel grasped the hand, ignoring Reno completely. Roxas's hand was soft, but the handshake was firm. Eye-contact was established and Roxas grinned. Before he would caught staring or holding onto his hand too long, the red-head turned to the other man. "And you are…?"

The other immediately launched into another handshake. "Riku. We're your new neighbors."

"Now him, him I don't like." Reno muttered immediately. "Too cocky."

Reno's commentary was cut short as Axel casually brushed at his shoulder, appearing to be scratching there when he really purposely knocked the ferret to the ground. There was a satisfying thud.

"Oh?" Axel hadn't even been aware that there was an empty apartment on the third floor.

Roxas motioned farther down the corridor. "We're just going to be down the hall."

"Thanks for the early introduction, then." quipped Axel, trying not to smile as another flush came over Roxas. Riku, on the other hand, merely snorted and tucked his arm around Roxas's waist, choosing to ignore the subtle joke.

"No problem. We'll see you around, then?"

Axel leaned against the doorframe, meeting Riku's gaze evenly. "Sure. Why not?"

"It was good to meet you, Axel." Roxas waved briefly before he was led away by his boyfriend and the two walked away, engaging quickly into their own, quiet conversation. Axel remained in his doorway, watching as the pair disappeared into their own room. The image of a pair of bright, aqua eyes and the innocent smile were still trapped in his mind's eyes and left a dazed look on his face.

But the slam of a distant door made him twitch back into reality.

"Possessive bastard." He finally sighed, frowning slightly. Axel had not failed to notice the warning look in Riku's eyes, just before he had walked away. Something like "touch my man and you're dead." Subtle, but effective. He must've really been staring at Roxas a touch too long for comfort.

"Who, Riku?" Reno was back to curling up on Axel's shoulder. "I don't like him. I really don't." He quickly bared his tiny, sharp teeth. "Let's kill him."

With a roll of his eyes, Axel retreated back into the apartment and shut the door. He took a moment to gaze around the empty room, silent but filled with the autumn sun. He tucked his thumbs into his jean pockets. "As tempting as that is, murder is still illegal in this country."

Reno remained perfectly balanced on Axel's shoulder as they made their way back to the work room where Axel's drawing desk was set up by the window. "As your muse, I think that such brilliant ideas have no right to be restricted by petty things such as legalities and laws."

"Says the imaginary ferret." Axel's eyes rolled in his sockets again. He sat back down, returning to the doldrums of trying to figure out how to particularly illustrate the expression on the dog. A puppy, really. But Roxas's smile filtered back into his head again, almost on command. That was inspiration enough to finish the sketch.

With just one look, the Kingfisher sent shivers down his spine and vivid pictures across his imagination.

Halcyon Day Two

It seemed that the new neighbors were not going to settle in quietly.

Axel had not gotten much sleep the previous night. He had been haunted with images of birds who had deep blue eyes. And every single time Axel had tried to reach out to one, the creature would chirp and hop away, eventually taking flight to leave the red-head alone in a plain of darkness. That is, until a huge tempest waves finally rose from the black, threatening to extinguish his flame.

Needless to say, the illustrator had awoken in the morning with a choked gasp, covered in cold sweat.

BAM! "… SHIT!"

And proceeded to fall out of bed as loud thumps and curses echoed all the way through his apartment through the thin walls.

Axel opened one eye cautiously, seeing his ceiling past the array of blankets that had tangled around him on the floor. He thought briefly of the dream, then shoved it into the back of his mind. He would worry about that later. Impatiently shoving away the blanket material, he began to rub the sleep out of one eye while trying to take in the sounds that were coming from out in the hallway. It was a curse of his that his bedroom had only a layer of cinder blocks and wallpaper to shelter him from the main corridor of the third floor.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" THUD.

This was going to be one of those mornings. Axel could tell. Even if there was only about ten minutes left of morning for the day, Axel noted as he stood, glancing at the digital clock by his bed. And last time he checked, his alarm wasn't a loud bang and a stream of profanities. Impatiently shoving his bed-head into a pony-tail, the red-head hitched up his loose flannel pants afterward, taking the time to tug on a shirt, and headed out to investigate.

He bypassed the slumbering Reno by the entrance to his bedroom and instead went straight to the front door, unlocking it to poke his head out, still idly wondering what could possibly be going on so early (well, early for him) on a Wednesday.

At first, Axel couldn't completely comprehend what exactly it was that was wiggling in front of him. Granted, the wiggling thing had legs, so common sense supplied, after a few seconds, that it was someone's butt wobbling to and fro before him. And after even a bit more deliberation, it came to him that it was Roxas.

"Need any help there?"

"Ohshitfuck!"

There was a clatter as the blonde dropped the box he had been struggling with. Undoubtedly, it wasn't the first time. Which explained the noisy thuds from before. The cardboard container had held books that were now scattered across the hall. Axel immediately moved to help, crouching. Roxas flushed and began picking up the books well. "Shit, you don't have to do that."

"It's no problem." Axel starting stacking the books back into the box as he tipped his head in intrigue. Roxas, the innocent boyfriend? He had been the one with the mouth fit to shame a sailor?

"You woke me up, anyway. Roxas, right?"

"That's me." The blonde sighed, glancing up briefly at Axel. The red-head was treated to yet another spine-tingling shock of azure eyes and almost missed what Roxas said next.

"And you're Axel."

"I'm Axel." He nodded affirmatively, picking up a picture book with a reassuring smile, only to see his work and illustrations being flashed back at him from the cover. "Huh. You read Sora Hazuru's stuff?"

Roxas looked curiously at the volume in Axel's hands. "Which one is that? Oh yeah. I love his books." The blonde continued to pick up his possessions. "I love how he's got this unique thing where he has illustrations for some of the bigger scenes. Not many authors do that anymore."

The red-head stared down at the cover of a book a moment longer before deciding to test the waters. He couldn't help himself, he had a weakness for praise. "So, uh, you like the illustrations?"

"Well, yeah." Roxas blinked in surprise, piling the last box-set back into his container. "They're amazing! It's a like a mix of water colors and just light sketching and they're really well done. Why?"

"No reason." Axel handed the book to the blonde, who took it and, instead of packing it in with the rest of his collection, opened it.

"I think this is my favorites. Second volume, y'know." Roxas began flicking through the pages as Axel watched with a blank expression, catching a glimpse of familiar images every so often. "Have you read Hazuru's books?"

"Um… some." Axel answered casually, watching Roxas's face as his eyes flicked across the pages of the book. He was beautiful. The illustrator hadn't had a chance to notice it yesterday, but now he noticed. He most definitely noticed. In fact, it was unavoidable. Roxas's long eyelashes stood out too much, his lips were too pink and soft, his eyes too blue. His skin looked much too soft to be real, and his blonde hair shone like gold, even under the cheap lights of the hallway.

He was perfect. Perfect but unattainable, thanks to that boyfriend of his.

And the epitome of perfection was also speaking and Axel wasn't even paying attention. Fool!

"Speaking of which, I never actually bothered to check who was the illustrator…" Roxas proceeded to flick to the back of the cover, where the credits were always printed. His lower lip slipped beneath his front teeth as he chewed at the delicate skin. A bad habit, Axel supposed, caught in rapture with the image of the white teeth nipping at the chapped lip.

Damnit, snap out of it!

"Axel Kohler. Damn, Axel must be a more popular name than I thought! That's two Axel's I know now." laughed the blonde, finally standing and tossing the book in with the rest in the box. "Anyway, thanks for your help."

"Eh, it's nothing." Axel barely managed a smile, rising to his feet as well. Without even asking, the red-head doubled over to pick up the heavy box. "Let's get this back to your room."

"I feel bad." Roxas smirked, not bothering to complain and instead starting to walk back to his own apartment.

"Why's that?"

"Well, I don't even know you a day and I'm already making you do shit for me."

Axel chuckled at that, shifting the box into a more comfortable position in his grip. "I'm just too nice. Here I thought you were the innocent little blonde, and the next thing I know, you're riling up a vulgar little storm right outside my apartment."

That made Roxas laugh harder than his light chuckles from before. Axel smiled to himself at the pleasant sound. He hoped to hear that more often.

"You obviously got the wrong expression. Which is mostly Riku's fault, he can be a little too protective sometimes. But I can handle myself perfectly. I'm not a girl or anything."

Axel nudged Roxas's shoulder with his in a tease. "Except when it comes to carrying heavy boxes."

The red-head received a grin for his trouble. "There are always exceptions. I'm not big on hefting stuff around." He slowed his walk. They had arrived at Roxas and Riku's apartment. "That's why Riku was supposed to be the one to do the heavier boxes. But he got called into work for some reason."

"Oh?" Axel watched as Roxas tugged out his key. "Where does he work?"

He asked merely to continue the conversation, not out of curiosity's sake. Riku could have worked in a garbage dump, for all he cared. In fact, he hoped he did. Maybe Roxas would be turned off by his odor over time and he'd dump him.

"He's got this internship at a modeling agency."

Axel's heart proceeded to drop into his stomach and sizzle in the digestive acid. Model? Axel had no chance. Crazy illustrators didn't even compare to models. Swallowing the bile that was probably a result of his thoroughly broken-down heart, the illustrator spoke, "Oh."

He had been planning on saying more than just "oh," but that was all he could manage. Model? Seriously? Damn. His now empty chest ached.

Roxas, oblivious to the deadly consequences his words had had on Axel, proceeded to open his front door and usher Axel inside. "It's not anything serious. He's just trying out for it. I think he's throwing his brains away. Seriously, that's four years of majoring in Biology that he's tossing in the garbage, and I'm the one who has to have an actual job, because he doesn't have time for one. Anyway, just set that down there with the other ones."

Axel walked carefully into the chaotically neat apartment room. It was mostly bare, but the multiple boxes on the floor made up for the lack of decoration. He placed the container of boxes by another one filled to the brim with newspaper wrapped dishes and porcelain. He straightened. "So where do you work?"

The blonde smiled shrewdly, propped up against the doorway as he looked down thoughtfully at the floor. "The local coffee shop. It's not minimum wage or anything, though. It's enough to get by. Granted, my parents bought us this apartment. As a kind of graduating present." Roxas's eyes grew foggy for just a moment and Axel saw the beginnings of the frown on the blonde's lips, but the moment passed and Roxas was already smiling again, looking up with a clear gaze.

"What about you, Axel? What do you do for a living?"

I sit in my living room for days on end and draw pictures while talking to my muse ferret.

"Oh, I work at home." Axel shrugged nonchalantly, returning the smile. "Y'know, this and that. Nothing really specific."

Then came silence. The silence that Axel had feared from the very beginning, the one that always came with strangers. You would run out of things to say because the conversation had dug itself into an uninteresting little hole. He wanted to talk more to Roxas, get to know him better, maybe find out the name of the café where he worked or something. But the time for bonding was over.

And damnit, he still hadn't had breakfast. Good thing he had his heart stewing in his belly.

Axel cleared his throat, scratching a few fingers over his messy red spikes. "I should probably get going. You don't need any more of my help or anything?"

Please say yes. Say yes, say yes.

"No." Roxas pushed himself away from the doorframe to hold the door open for the red-head. "That's it. Thanks for your help, though."

"You're welcome." Resigned, Axel pulled himself out of his disappointment and chuckled, moving forward to walk out of the room. "Anyway, I'll see you around, yeah?"

Roxas stopped him just as he was about to pass by. He had reached out his hand, wrapping his fingers lightly over Axel's upper bicep. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

Axel only stared, startled and somewhat paralyzed from the pads of the fingertips that were eliciting little shocks of electricity through his skin. Roxas took his silence correctly for confusion and elaborated.

"It's just that… I'm not working tomorrow and I'm a little new in this neighborhood, so I was wondering if maybe you could show me around? I mean, if it's good for you."

Axel didn't know what made him do it. He honestly didn't. But before could even comprehend it, his big, dumbass mouth was opening and he was speaking words that he would punch himself for much later in the day. "I might be a little busy tomorrow, actually."

Roxas's hand immediately fell from Axel's arm. He didn't look disappointed, but his front lips darted out to snatch onto his bottom lip anyway. "Oh. Um. Ok, sorry. I was probably imposing it on you, anyway. Maybe sometime later, then?"

The red-head pulled himself together with a silent curse, already feeling an empty space filter over his arm where Roxas had touched him. It was so obvious that he was still somewhat sleepy, the way he was blundering this. He would have made the first move any other time. "How about you come stop by tomorrow, anyway? I might be able to spare an hour or two."

"Sure." Roxas shrugged, lips tilting up again. "Any specific time?"

"Whenever is good for you, as long as it's after 12:00." Axel moved to stand outside in the corridor and Roxas shifted to fill the doorway. They stared at each other and Axel suddenly wished that he was wearing something actually appealing, rather than his pajamas. "I usually don't wake up before then."

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow, then?"

Axel took a step back, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Alright. See ya."

Roxas smiled one last time, waving goodbye, before immediately shutting the door and solidifying the wall between himself and Axel.

He had smiled at him. Axel grinned stupidly as his digested heart speedily solidified and flew back up into his chest. One of his hands slowly came up to rub the spot where he could still imagine a shadow of Roxas's fingers.

Axel didn't remember what he did the rest of that day.

With just one touch, the Kingfisher eased the winds, settled the waves, and spread tranquility.

Halcyon Day Three, The Beginning

"You should have told me that you were Axel Kohler!" Roxas said, playfully angry as he was led into Axel's living room. His eyes were swiveling in their sockets. "Although I probably could have figured that out without Wikipedia if I had seen this yesterday."

It was 2:30. And Roxas had arrived. Unfortunately, he had also caught Axel off guard, because the red-head had been in the process of a brain surge, doodling out a working image of the main character of Sora's book that was still in the works. Axel had first been about to disregard the knocks completely, Roxas's visit not coming to mind, but when the blonde started screaming "Axel, I know your deepest secret!", the illustrator realized with a start who exactly it was that was smashing down his door and had hurried to let his neighbor in.

Axel found himself standing in his living room while Roxas wandered from one framed painting to another, taking in some of the red-head's favorite works that he had taken from Sora's books, blown them up, and hung them on his walls.

He might as well have put a sign that said "HELLO, AXEL KOHLER, ILLUSTRATOR FOR SORA HAZURU IN THE HOUSE!"

Preferably with flashing lights and neon accents.

"So are you busy?" Roxas stopped by the couch, Axel's second bed, and motioned with his head to the writing desk in the adjoining room where Axel had been in full force only minutes before.

"Um…" Axel sighed, wishing that he could just drop his work and go with Roxas, but he had a deadline in four days and if he didn't meet it, Sora would be pissy. "I actually am. A little."

Reno spoke up from the couch, only a meter or so away from Roxas. "Oh, please. The only thing you're busy with is jerking off to Roxas."

Axel's eye twitched. The damnable ferret had the worst timing to show up and start sticking in his bothersome comments. Taking in a deep breath to keep himself from punting the crimson animal out of the apartment, Axel merely scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously. "I was just having a rare brain surge, that's all."

"Oh!" Roxas's eyes went from being marginally disappointed to widened with… could that be excitement? "Could you maybe show me a little of your work? Or is that not allowed?"

"No, I guess I can show you some of my stuff." Axel replied hesitantly, glancing at Reno once before leading the way to his drawing table, snatching an extra bench on the way for the blonde to sit on. The red-head rolled his eyes as he heard Reno laugh and follow after them.

"Yeah, I know what you want to show him."

Biting back a snappish response to the pesky muse, Axel sat down, Roxas soon following afterwards. "I don't have much actually done yet…"

But Roxas was too busy drinking in the partially sketched and painted illustrations. One was of an otter, fur sleek and body streamlined as he propelled himself along a riverbed. The next one depicted a pair of mice, crouched beneath the foliage of a bush, their faces etched with worry and fear. Axel smiled to himself as he watched Roxas, but his eyes eventually wandered to a small doodle he had done on a scrap.

Any logical person would not have left doodles of Roxas lying around in the open, but Axel's brain obviously wasn't functioning properly. Wincing, the red-head offhandedly stretched his hand over the desk, covering the paper with his hand and folding his fingers inward toward his palm, simultaneously crushing the paper inside his fist. Roxas didn't notice, already sifting through more of Axel's works-in-progress.

"I like this one." The blonde eventually pointed out a painting of a ferret. It wasn't even for Sora, it had been something that Axel had completed on a whim. A spitting image of Reno, but Roxas didn't need to know that. He didn't need to know about Axel's unique little habits. Not at all. Casting Reno a warning glare, Axel stood.

"You can keep it."

Roxas frowned. "I can't take this. Isn't it for Hazuru's books?"

Reno hopped onto the seat Axel had just vacated. "Oh, is that me in my sexy goodness?"

"Not that one, no. Besides, if I miss it, I'll just paint another one." Axel shook his head as Roxas tried to hand back the painting. "Consider it my welcoming present for you and Riku."

Reno immediately protested, angrily flailing his body. "Like hell, for Riku! If you're going to be giving away my jaw-droppingly hot images to people, give them away to people I actually like."

Axel paid the ferret no mind. And Roxas, of course, didn't hear a thing. The blonde looked down at the work. "Thanks. Heh, I guess you were right, you really are too nice."

"Oh, kid, you should see how nice he can get." Reno immediately changed attitudes, going back to commentary.

"See? You need to believe me more often." Axel's laugh came out more forced than usual as he flashed his muse another threatening glower over Roxas's shoulder. Luckily, the blonde had chosen to look back at the painting at that exact moment.

"I guess so." Roxas chuckled himself, shaking his head suddenly and looking back up exactly as Axel calmed his features again. "I always wanted to know, where do you get your inspiration for all this stuff? I mean, really. I've never seen anyone else with the same style as you."

"It's all me, baby. All Reno, doing his muse thing."

Axel coughed. "Some of it comes to me. Other times, when my muse isn't being an ass, he helps, too."

"Your muse, huh?"

"Yeah." Axel pointed at the painting with a grin. "That's him right there."

"I look sexy!"

"I've never heard of people having ferret muses." Roxas tiled his head, searching Axel's face to see if he was joking or not. Axel tried to keep smiling, but was finding it more and more difficult when he saw that Reno had disappeared from the chair. Where is he?!

"People have told me I'm unique before." Axel replied, trying not to panic. Reno had disappeared when Axel had had company over before. The last time, the red-head had been forced to remain stock-still as his muse crawled over the landlady's hair while singing "Singing in the Rain" to himself. This wasn't good. Not at all. Damnit, Reno! You're an imaginary ferret, you're not allowed to do this shit to me! You're supposed to do ferrety thing and help me with my paintings!

"Well, with hair and tattoos likes that, you certainly stand out, even in appearance, let alone mentally." Roxas noted curiously, gaze going up to Axel's spiky red hair. "Is that natural?"

"Hmm?" Axel's palms grew sweaty as he already began to imagine how this could end if Reno went too far. "My hair? No. It's actually dyed. Permanently, but you can just see the black roots beneath all that fire-engine red."

"I was wondering about that." Roxas suddenly laughed, leaning in to inspect for himself the situation with Axel's dye-job. The faux red-head's breath caught in his throat as the blonde closed the distance between them. He noted vaguely that he was a head taller than Roxas.

As his own green eyes searched his neighbor's face, Axel realized that Roxas's eyes weren't just blue. They were oceans of cobalt with tiny flashes of deep indigo circling around the iris.

And as Axel's eyes traveled down the blonde's cute nose and his pouty lips, his stare continued to drop just to see Reno clambering up Roxas's jeans.

"I wanna see his penis!"

Those five words were the end of it. Axel's control snapped. He choked, eyes bulging out of his head as he grabbed Roxas's shoulders and shoved him away from himself. "Don't you dare go in his pants!"

The blonde stumbled backwards, numb to the sensations of a critter attempting to make his way down his trousers. "What?"

"I want to see it!" Reno replied angrily, scrambling away as Axel swatted at him. He fled around Roxas's hip to try and clamber from the blonde's bottom to his back. But Axel tactlessly continued to try and smack his muse off of his neighbor.

"No! Damnit, get the hell off of him!" Axel spun around Roxas to keep up with the ferret. Target in sight, he swung his hand out in anger to hit Reno.

The smack of a hand connecting with the flesh of Roxas's ass echoed throughout the apartment. Roxas remained frozen in place, his eyes expanding to reveal his horror, while Axel barely even registered anything. It didn't even matter. He had missed. Reno flew to the floor in an attempt to escape.

"Get away from me!"

"You are so dead, you mangy ferret!" howled Axel, dashing away to give chase.

Leaving Roxas alone with a sore ass and a mystified expression. He could only watch as Axel sprinted from one side of the apartment to the other, arguing loudly with himself whilst clambering over the couch and under the table as he chased after… well, something.

"You went too far, you hunk of useless fur!"

"I was just a little curious! He wouldn't have felt anything, anyway!"

"That's not the point, I won't have you molesting people in my house!"

"Well, sorry that I'm invading your property! I didn't know his cock had your name on it!"

"Say that again, Reno! I fucking dare you!"

"I didn't know his cock had your name on it!"

"I WILL BURN YOU ALIVE, FERRET! YOU HEAR ME?"

Unfortunately, Roxas heard only Axel's ravings, and as the argument increased both in volume and threats, he couldn't help but feel that he was missing something here. Shifting the painting to one hand, he gingerly rubbed his bottom as he witnessed Axel's attempt to push his whole body under the couch to reach something.

"Um… Axel?"

"BURN!" Axel scrambled from the floor to grab a lamp and begin his chase again.

"Axel?"

"Get back here!" Axel came to a stop right at a closed door, at which he, infuriated, chucked the lamp. It thudded into the wood and exploded into a multiple pieces of glass. Chest heaving, the red-head stared at the broken lamp, eyes livid.

"Axel, I think I'm gonna get going now."

Axel instantly froze in place, a look of horror crossing over his features. If Roxas hadn't been so bewildered and rather disturbed, he would have thought it funny.

"Uh, uh… about that, Roxas…"

"I'll talk to you later." The blonde gave Axel one last stare before turning on his heel and hurrying out to the front door. He grappled briefly with the doorknob, but, finally, he turned it and scurried out. Axel twisted around just in time to see the blonde's retreating back and… a bird.

"You really need to be more careful, you know."

Axel frowned as the yellow, white, and blue creature hovered briefly in his doorway, giving him a pitying look before flicking its wings and sailing after Roxas. The door finally snapped shut of its own accord.

A certain ferret chose to re-enter the living room at that point, but whatever he said went in one of Axel's ear and immediately exited through the other one.

"Reno…" Axel spoke slowly, for fear of making a mistake. He never tore his eyes away from the door that had just shut. "When did we meet Roxas? Three days ago, right?"

The ferret sniffed thoughtfully, not catching on to Axel's growing excitement as he fearfully approached. "I'd say so, yeah."

All of the anger and fury and bundles of mixed emotions flushed out of the red-head's system, leaving a blank, nervous little lump. Axel swallowed, hands shaking as he brushed his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit of his. "I think I found my Kingfisher."

That got Reno's attention. He immediately stiffened, bead eyes marginally widening as much as they could. "Really?"

"Really." Axel moved away to look out the window, brow creasing. The view of the autumn weather outside, murky and dark, did nothing to soothe his nerves.

He was almost certain. Almost. But Axel had been wrong before. In the 25 years that he had spent on earth, he had made so many mistakes. More than the average man, certainly. His life was just chockfull of wrong decisions, incorrect answers, and responses that were too early or too late. He had even thought, a year beforehand, that he had found his true kingfisher then. But Sora hadn't been the one. Considering the fact that he had ended up in the hospital the day after the two had met, that was proof enough that the brunette had not carried fourteen days of tranquility for Axel.

But he had just seen it! Roxas was the one! He was positive! Well, roughly positive. Kinda. Axel groaned to himself, moving to collapse onto the couch and shove a pillow over his face. He continued to speak though the material. "Since he's moved in, I've been able to just draw whatever came to mind. I've been at peace. Things have been moving smoothly than before. You notice, we haven't fought at all in the past three days. Until five minutes ago, but regardless."

"Yes, but c'mon, Axel." Reno slithered up onto the sofa and further up onto Axel's stomach. It seemed that for now, their argument was forgotten. "That's just a myth. Fourteen days of calm and tranquility and shit don't actually happen. And they're brought on by birds. And Roxas isn't a bird."

"His muse is a Kingfisher." Axel replied softly, opening his eyes to look into the pillow that was still pressed over his face. He could see the bird in his mind clearly, including the long beak, the tuft of feathers on its head, the light blue and yellow of the feathers themselves, the white belts along its body. A belted kingfisher.

"I saw it."

Reno perked up again. Axel could feel his tiny claws digging into his shirt and getting caught in the material. "You saw his muse?"

"Yeah." The red-head tugged off the cushion to see Reno sitting on his chest, looking curious. "Is that not a good thing?"

"I dunno, kid, you might be on to something. Usually, with those who don't acknowledge their muses in some form like you did with me, don't have visible muses. That's why you haven't seen any other little animals scampering about and talking to their subjects."

Axel raised an eyebrow of surprise. "Why haven't you told me this before?"

"It never came up."

Reno rolled off of Axel's chest as the red-head sat up. "In any case, that's proof enough that Roxas is my Kingfisher. And that means that three of my fourteen halcyon days have gone by."

"And what an unfortunate thing that you just scared him off." Reno noted, tail wiggling.

"What do you mean, I scared him off!?" Axel shrieked. The aforementioned argument thus began.

With just one word, the Kingfisher shifted the storms and awoke the slumbering sun to spread its rays of joy.

Halcyon Day Four

Axel was always a fan of the olden times. Not Civil War, French Revolution times. More like Greek and Roman times. He had been particularly attracted to one certain legend. About the Kingfisher, Alcyone, and the halcyon days.

In short, the Kingfisher was a small bird that built its nests on the ocean's surface or on the beach. According to legend, the bird brought on exactly fourteen days of peaceful water and calm, taming the ocean and the winds, for its nesting season. And afterwards, the winter would begin.

Myths were myths. There was no doubt about that. But muses were also muses, and not solid ferrets trying to sneak out people's pants. The halcyon days had attracted Axel and stuck in his mind ever since, only fueling the fire for his final, big, very important goal.

The ultimate Halcyon day. Which also had to be on a Saturday, because that was Axel's favorite day of the week.

And to get to that, Axel would need his Kingfisher. And all evidence pointed to Roxas.

Unfortunately, his Kingfisher had probably been scarred for life and would never make contact with Axel ever again. And that, in itself, was problematic.

"I can't draw anymore." Axel said bluntly, throwing a pillow over his head for the second time in two days as he threw himself onto the couch. Life, as he knew it, was over. "Roxas thinks that I'm out of my mind, his boyfriend is probably after my head at this point, my deadline for Sora is in three days, I only have ten halcyon days left, only two of them being Saturdays, and my muse is a fucking perverted ferret."

The truth had obviously hit home the next day after the entire fiasco with Roxas's pants and Reno. And it hit rather hard.

"I wish I was a fucking ferret," grumbled Reno from the top of the couch. "I don't fuck anything. Can't you conjure me up some hot ferret chicks?"

Axel ignored him. "I might as well just give up now. This is hopeless."

"Hey, c'mon…" As his muse, Reno had the obligation of cheering Axel up. And now was the exact time to do it. "We still have time. Who knows, he might come back."

"Reno, I chased you around the room right in front of him. I slapped his ass."

"… true."

The pair fell into silence, staring off into space.

Then, there came a series of taps at the door. There was a faint flutter of wings and a clacking. A nice change from the thuds and thumps, but curious, nevertheless. A soft voice proceeded to speak.

"I wouldn't give up just yet, you two. No matter how hopeless you are."

With just a flick of her wings, the Kingfisher planted the seeds of a new life.

Blue Funk decided to bite off a little more than she could chew. Sadly, she bit off some loopy bread and this was the result.

What is this, RikuRoku? What? Barrel roll? Cake is a lie? Sparta?

I realize that I have a lot on my plate and adding another multi-chapter-- yes, multi-chapter, you heard it right -- is the last thing I need. But I couldn't help myself. I wrote this more for pure enjoyment than anything, because it's been sitting in my mind for months now. It should be under 10 chapters. Some of you may be confused… but all will be clear later. xD So we'll see. And yes, I realize that I still need to update SINthetic, reply to reviews, etc. And I'll get to that. Eventually.

Many thanks to Wikipedia for the halcyon days info.

Lemme know what you guys think. Review! :3