Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Author's Note: Was reading over some of my old, fave fanfics featuring this couple (when I should've been doing my animations. Awwwriiiiight), and I just had to write about 'em (yes yes, I know I should be posting/writing that other multichap I was telling you guys about after completing "Compass", but, I really really really wanted to write this). This is what happens when you listen to a certain song/album and look at a friend's screen name for too long. That and when you suddenly want to write about one character giving another character a spiky plant.

I haven't written so much in one go for agesss x.x Not my longest, but definitely one of, so, props to you if you get through this all XD… It feels a bit weird to be honest, but I'm still pretty happy with it, I suppose. But errrrr, yeah, enjoy this AU.

SPIN SPIN SUGAR

There's two things that Axel's really bad at.

He can't talk to save his life. Put him up in front of a podium of awaiting polluted politicians and those media dogs, and he'd probably splutter over his words over and over again, recycling this phrase and that within five seconds of each other. There's a reason he didn't really succeed in English class all of those years ago, and there's a reason why he tends to keep away from large crowds, only sticking with this person here and that one over there, and the two at home who are ill and can't come to this awesome concert… even though he's honestly not all that close to any of them.

When the person next to him starts to collapse, he can't bring himself to care – the other thing he's atrocious at. There's people screaming around him as he looks up at their idols, and there's a few girls nearby trying to help get the falling figure over the barricade, asking for help; but he just looks at them with cold, jade eyes. He feels pity, yes. Sympathy, yes. But care doesn't eat his heart or inspire him to pick up the unconscious dirty-blonde who's almost at his feet and being trampled on by hundreds of people, as they jump in sync.

His metal head friend, Zexion, stays silent about the incident that he too witnessed, as he and Axel leave the premises when the show is over. He instead begins to softly speak about how it was a shame that both Demyx and Riku fell ill and were unable to come to the show. Somewhere from behind, the last and oldest member of their little troupe, Xigbar, begins screaming the lyrics to the last song that was played – and he's blind drunk, but they don't mind.

He lights up a cigarette at the corner, far behind the fans that are rushing to the side gate to maybe get a signature from their favourite member, or photos, or just some sort of evidence that they were five feet away from so and so, and that they were in the same breathing space as him. His friends continue to jabber amongst themselves – loud or not – and he looks across the road to where he sees that girl from earlier, limping and being assisted by five other friends of hers, all female. Her ankle's twisted from what he can see, there are bruises all over her body, and he can definitely see beer and blood and dirt all over her white dress.

One girl manages to catch his attention when his eyes wander. She's got crimson hair and bright blue eyes, and she's wearing some school uniform that's been altered repeatedly over the years to give what he assumes is a more visual kei style. She's let go of the wounded woman, leaving her in the care of the other four women as they walk her to the stupid, broken down car they all probably came from. She tucks some of her hair behind her ear and then turns and directly faces him, roads apart.

She swiftly crosses the road, ignoring beeping cars, until she's standing right in front of him, albeit still in the gutter. She's really short. Her hands are folded across her chest, unintentionally accentuating a certain part of her body, and she's glaring up at Axel, who does nothing for a few moments aside from take in another drag and then blow all of the smoke in her face.

"You're an asshole," she growls.

"Tell me something I don't know," he drawls.

She's silent for a few moments before reaching up and slapping him across the face viciously. Despite her short stature and obviously thin and frail appearance, she clearly packs a punch; and it takes him several moments to process that the strike actually hurt him. He doesn't let it show, though, and quirks an eyebrow, one hand still in his pocket, the other still spinning the cigarette around continuously in his fingers.

The assault, though, has his two friends stop talking and walking around the corner. They noticed how she's shaking with fury, and how he's not moved. They stand there, just watching and wondering what on earth's gonna happen next. She then hisses at him in a belittling and frustrated voice, "My friend was falling onto you and with the last of her strength, clinging onto your legs and asking for help. And you did nothing."

"So?"

"She could've died in there!"

"Not my problem, kid."

"I'm nineteen."

"Doesn't show. You have the tits of a fourteen year old."

She narrows her eyes and then covers the aforementioned area. Her arm then shoots out again, hoping for a repeat performance of last time, but Axel grabs her wrist before she has the chance. The jingle of her black and silver bracelets has him cock a slight smirk. He places the cigarette between his lips just as she throws up her other hand to slap him again, but he grabs the other one too, and, with a seemingly gentle strength, pushes her back and away from him, into the middle of the road.

He scratches his red hair before turning from the girl, giving a lazy wave as he walked down the road he walked down a million and one times already. He didn't see her flip the bird at him or seethe or murmur how much of an arrogant pig he was; and he certainly didn't see her turn away and head back to her friends, who are just as annoyed as she is.

He's tired and quite confused when he encounters her again the very next week at his place of work, a shitty, rundown and filthy 7-Eleven shop – and he only works here to get away from his pothead Mother. Axel is so not trying to light up a cigarette behind his boss' back when she slams her hands on the counter, causing him to jump and swiftly place both the cigarette and lighter back into his pocket before lame old Luxord turns around and berates him again in his boring British accent. He quirks an eyebrow and feigns good workmanship, speaking slowly, "Can I help you?"

"I uh… I certainly didn't think I'd find you here. I came to buy these."

He blinks for a few moments before looking down, seeing a few ice creams and magazines about how Justin Bieber got hit with a shoe when going for a jog a week ago, echoing a similar sediment involving a water bottle and a concert a few years back. His gaze drifts to the side for a moment, where he sees the same five girls standing far away at the corner. The dirty-blonde's in crutches, and he really, truly, honestly doesn't feel a pang of guilt somewhere inside of his stitched heart when he sees her that way. He looks back to the girl, noting at how her light blue and white tie is entirely untied and even partially drawn on, with little ninja stars everywhere, "You like Justin Beiber?"

She snorts as though offended, "No. My friends and I are buying these magazines because it's got Miyavi in them."

He snatches one up and quickly flicks through the magazine, looking for the artist, who he does like and listen to a fair bit. He's surprised to see him in this magazine, posing with his daughter, and after a quick scan over, he shrugs, closes it back up, and gathers the rest of the items, scanning and getting ready to bag them. As he does, he catches a glimpse of the dirty-blonde again, who is rubbing her ankle, and her face is contorting with pain. He then hears the girl clear her throat in front of him, money protruding out – and he shoots a quick glance at Luxord, who's heading into the backroom – and he shakes his head, extending his hand and pushing the money back, "You keep it."

"Huh?"

She raises both eyebrows as he closes the cash register and hands her the plastic bag. Her eyes, smudged with some black eyeliner, widen a little when he grabs a giant lollipop from the stand on his left and hastily stuffs it in her hand, gesturing to the wounded woman with his thumb. As he speaks, he's busy trying to grab his cigarette and lighter again, leaning forward on the counter once more, spiky red hair falling forward in bunches, "Give it to Crutch Girl."

It's him trying to say sorry, but he doesn't know how to, so he guesses that this is the best way – at least that's what she deduces within the span of a minute, even as he creases his eyebrows when the flame finally ignites the end of the stick. She was sure that to the random customers elsewhere in the store, she looked like an idiot – one arm with a plastic bag, and in the other hand, a giant, rainbow lollipop; and a foreign grin on her face, something she hadn't felt for a very long time. She knows her friends will probably comment on it outside, because she can vaguely hear Aqua tell her to hurry up because they're going to miss the bus soon.

He looks up, noticing that she's still there, and he comments, blowing cigarette smoke into her face again, "Either get moving, or die faster."

And just like that, she's angry and frustrated once again. With the lollipop hand, she sticks up her middle finger, one which he returns quite quickly and very lazily, and storms out of the 7-Eleven, not hearing something fall out of the pocket of her skirt and crash all over the tiled ground, most parts sliding into the corner right by the automatic doors. She rejoins her friends and gives the lollipop to Naminé, as the retarded fool asked, and springs to the bus with her friends.

It's when Axel's sweeping the place later near the end of closing hours, chewing on the end of a pen to keep his mouth occupied – because yes, Luxord caught him with the cigarette and gave another huge lecture on how smoking gives one cancer and how it is prohibited within his 'beautiful' store – does he notice exactly what fell out of her pocket. He gets on his knees and pulls out the phone and its various parts, smirking a little at how it's almost completely destroyed. The sim card is over here, the battery is on the other side of the magazine rack, the screen is lightly cracked, and the back of the phone's snapped in half. He gathers the pieces and stuffs them in his pocket before resuming his cleaning.

Somewhere upstairs, his Mother's having sex with some random man she doesn't even know.

Downstairs, he's got his headphones on, trying to drown out his Mother's euphoria, and he's got a lamp on beside him. His inhaling and exhaling cigarette smoke at random intervals, their puffs parading around the poisoned paradise without a care in the world. Axel's just managed to slide in the sim card into the red phone, and he's picking up the battery next, putting it into place also. He's got sticky-tape by his side, ready and waiting to be used to hold the back piece together, if possible. He soon realises it's not at all possible, and switches the phone on.

He ignores the sudden, loud thump and gasp and groan for more from above and watches as the screen comes alive, not at all affected by the crack. He's then immediately on the background picture, and it's those five girls – one of whom he recognises to be Larxene, some idiot girl from high school way back when. He guessed he didn't pick up on it when he was looking at them all in the black night yesterday. He admits that they're all kinda cute in a way – he definitely likes the eyes on that blue-haired woman, and her fashion sense is pretty damn pleasing to him, like most of the other girls – and then he finds himself inconspicuously scrolling through the long contact list and seemingly endless inbox and sentbox messages.

He's learnt quite a bit about this girl in his two hours or so of harmless and innocent snooping. Her name's Kairi, she's nineteen, she goes to Destiny College – which is about half an hour away from his own house – and she lives there on the campus, and she's doing some nursing course. She's got a boyfriend, and it somewhat shocks him to find that its one of his friends, Riku. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he vaguely recalls him stating that he had a new girlfriend – it was about three or four ago, really – but it just goes to show how much attention he paid, really. That and Riku rarely even mentions her.

Her friends all attend the same school. There's Larxene the blonde with short hair, who he remembers having a fierce temper, even when not on her periods; there's Aqua the blue-haired one, who is doing some science course; there's Xion with black hair, who seems to be rather silent; and there's Naminé the Crutch Girl, who's an art student. He assumes that they're fairly tight, because that's how girls are – and then all thoughts about everything Kairi-related are thrown out the window when he excitedly finds out that she's got Sonic The Hedgehog on her phone, with a really low score, one that he topples easily within the next few hours, even after the man upstairs is long gone, zipping his pants up.

When morning breaks, his legs are half-tucked underneath his body, hidden by tattered black jeans, and the sunlight's streaking across his face. He's still listening to his punk and his metal, but he's long since fallen asleep on the broken couch. It's his Mother's sudden presence that awakens him and almost has him drop Kairi's phone onto the glass table. She's stuffing pancakes down her throat and giving him a small glare, to which he returns, albeit it's sleepy. Somewhere in the background, the television's making that shitty fuzzy noise again – it really needs to get fixed – and the ripped, polka-dotted curtains are billowing lightly in the wind.

Axel rubs his face and hops to his feet, ignoring his Mother's grumbles. He downs the leftover carton of milk before running upstairs to his room, having a quick shower in the process, and he's already out the door before his Mother's even finished her pancakes and got a proper chance to verbally abuse him, like she always does because she has no life and nothing better to do. He doesn't see her shake her brown hair, or see her lean forward and bash the television in a vain attempt to get it to work properly for the first time in months, because she desperately wants to see the next episode of Doctor Phil sometime soon.

"Go on," she growls, "Leave again, like you always fucking do. Piece of shit!"

Just like any other day.

"You dropped this when you ran out of the store yesterday," he says nonchalantly, arm fully extended, phone at the end.

Kairi's head is confusedly and warily sticking out of her dorm room – he vaguely remembers commenting to himself on how much of an idiot she was for writing her own dorm number down on her phone for any unsuspecting person to see – and he can see her bare shoulders. She's got a purple towel around her body and her hair's wet, indicating that she'd just come out of the shower to see what the commotion was all about – because Axel never knocks, he kicks at the bottom of the door for attention or for when he wants his presence known to somebody.

She quickly plucks it from her hands and looks at it – she doesn't like how his hands feel against hers, not at all, honest – and she notes the damage with extreme distaste. She makes a sour face, furrows her thin eyebrows and turns the back of the object to face him, pointing at the absence of the back and how both her battery and sim card are easy pickings for unusual, random thieves, "Where's the back gone?"

He makes a slight 'oh!' noise, bites his lip and fiddles around with his tongue piercing; and fumbles around his pocket and pulls it out – and she sees how he's tried to sticky-tape it. He scratches his throat, sliding a few fingers underneath the black choker to get at that annoying itchy spot, and speaks, still holding out the item, waving it from side to side, "I tried fixing it, but it wouldn't go back on the phone, so I left it. You can have it back if you want."

She tilts her head a little before shaking her head slowly, because there's absolutely no use for something broken like that. He shrugs and slips it back into his pocket for whatever reason, and then he's looking at her, eyes slightly narrowed, like he's thinking or expecting her to say or do something extraordinary. Its when his stare starts to get under her skin does Kairi finally speak again, eyes like slits because his very presence irritates the shit out of her – and he knows, which is why he's still here, tattooed cheeks and all, "Yeah well, thanks, I guess. You can kindly fuck off and die now."

"See you later then, Kaaairi," he singsongs, turning on his heel and leaves; and she's not wondering where the hell the obnoxious and overbearing dick got her name from. She takes a few steps back and closes the door, looking down at the phone, thinking for a few fleeting moments that maybe, just maybe, he'd gone through her phone and found out her name and a few other random facts about her.

She backtracks to the kitchen counter, leaning against it as she turns the phone on. She's relieved to find that the screen's damage hasn't really affected the item itself. What shocks her, though, is that there's a picture of him from a top-right angle, like a default MySpace picture, and in this photo, she hates to admit that he looks quite attractive. Well, he's attractive anyway, but there's something about his sculpted shoulders and sardonic smirk in this shot that's made her eyebrows raise and her cheeks heat up a little – and it shouldn't, it really shouldn't.

She pauses for a moment, though, when she accidentally hits the phonebook button – and right at the top is a name she's never seen before, accompanied by the picture that was now her phone's background. She didn't have any family members or friends or acquaintances whose names started with the letter 'a' – when she had the phone yesterday, there was nobody with the name 'Axel' in her contact list – and she gives a lopsided, smirking smile when she realises that he's put his name into her phone.

It's four in the morning when Axel's phone rings. His hand shoots out from the messy bed, gripping the vibrating and singing device from his bedside table. Without checking who called, he puts it to his ear and sleepily grumbles, expecting it to be Demyx for no apparent reason at all, because he's just like that and he's done that before for the fun of it, "Hello…?"

"Good morning, Axel!"

The cheeriness… the womanliness… This isn't Demyx.

"How are you?"

He pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at the number, unable to identify it regardless as it's withheld. He speaks into it, trying to clear sleep from his throat and trying to listen to her voice, trying to work out who the fuck it is, "I'm fucking tired, and its four am and I want to go back to sleep. The hell is this?"

She feigns offence and pain, "It's Kairi, and that's no way to talk to a woman."

"Sorry to break it to you, princess, but I'm still struggling to find anything feminine about you."

"Hmm, then you must've put your number into my phone because you were looking for a man," he hisses in annoyance and doesn't miss that amused chuckle on the other side, followed by an airy, breathy sigh, "So sorry to have woken you up from your slumber, but I just felt like talking to you. Guess what I'm doing?"

"Masturbating," he jests, rubbing his temples. Too early for this shit.

She chuckles, and it sounds almost teasing, "No. I'm talking. Weren't you listening?"

"What type of mind game is that?" he snits, words half muffled by the duvet covering his face.

"Who cares."

"Well, it was shit."

"Thanks for your honesty. I'm flattered."

He grins, "So you should be."

"How was your evening?"

"I don't remember."

"Too drunk?"

He rolls onto his back, "Something like that, I suppose. Why're you calling me again?"

"Because I feel like it," Oh, he knows she's shrugging as she speaks.

"Well I feeeeel like going back to sleep," And with that, he hangs up and turns his phone off.

He, of course, leaves his phone on again the following night, and she rings again at exactly four in the morning. The cycle repeats numerous times, until he learns his grudgingly lesson and shuts off his phone so that she can't call him. Hell, he doesn't even know her, or visa versa, so why the hell is she calling him? Is it to piss him off? Is it to make him feel bad about Naminé all of those weeks ago? Or in some sick way, is this her trying to become his friend?

Well whatever it was, he'd sort it out in a few hours.

Whatever it was, he wasn't really sure if he wanted it to stop at all.

Axel's still stunned all over when he wakes up and find a naked picture of Kairi – as clearly taken by her – awaiting him in his phone's inbox.

It takes him several long, drawn out and utterly, utterly confused moments to comprehend what he was seeing, before he closed up the phone, washed his face in the bathroom, threw on his black wifebeater, his faded red and black and partially-torn-at-one-sleeve-but-still-held-together-by-a-pin-because-pins-are-the-shit-according-to-Xigbar jacket, his black jeans and his black boots, and charged out of his bedroom.

It took him several moments to realise, when he was at Kairi's doorstep, that he left his cigarettes at home. If he didn't have his cigarettes, he'd become increasingly bitchy. A bitchy Axel was an Axel that was best left alone – but dammit, he was going to get to the bottom of this, whether it was the last thing he did today or not – and if only so he understood what was going on in that fucked up little head of hers. And, as always, he kicks the bottom of the door, and she rushes out, all decked up in chequered gear. And he likes it, and she notices.

He whips out his phone and shows off the image to her, "Explain."

"I was bored," she chimes, looking at her nails.

"You have a boyfriend," he snits, shaking his head, trying to make sense of the strange situation, "who happens to be one of my friends. His name is Riku. Last I checked, 'a' is nowhere near 'r' in the alphabet, so you deliberately sent this to me. How come? Is this some kind of sick and twisted game you're playing on the both of us or something?"

"I was bored," she repeats, smirking at him.

"And the calls at night? Are you bored then too?"

"Yeeep."

He growls something in frustration, but even he doesn't know what because it sounds so scarily inhumane. He slips his phone back into his pocket and pulls at his broken sleeve with one hand, and his wristband with the other as he leans forward against the wall, glaring at her with narrowed eyes, "Kairi Kairi Kairi, I don't know what game you're playing, but I think it needs to stop before some people are hurt, don't you?"

"It's far too late for that. People are already hurt."

"Well I still think you should stop being Little Miss Flirty, because Riku's gonna find out, and it's gonna hurt."

Kairi laughs heartlessly, "He doesn't care."

"Well, he does a much better job at caring than I do."

The comment has her hiss. She doesn't want to hear that. Not at all. Her friends had long since told her to accept the fact that Riku had slept with Selphie on more than one occasion – that's why they weren't friends anymore, because once upon a time, she used to be in their group – and that he still does, even though they've been together for almost a few months now. But she'd take him back anyway, because she knows that somewhere down the line, she'll find somebody to use to make herself feel better and to make her smile, because nobody can make her smile anymore.

The man for both of those things is standing in front of her, jade eyes wordlessly analysing her current silence.

"I'm sure you have more self-respect and more morals than he does, because I'm sure that if you were mine, you wouldn't run off with some brunette bitch and fuck her repeatedly, even after being forgiven for every time. You don't think you're the Jesus of Suburbia."

He's blinking when he realises that she's crying when she shuts the door.

Axel's still standing at the door when his mind wires things together. The reason Riku never talks about Kairi is because, to her, she's unimportant. Just a thing. Just a flimsy thing that's attached to his arm whenever he deems it necessary – and he's always much too busy screwing somebody else behind this poor girl's back. Why? He doesn't know. Is it any of his business? Not at all. Did he expect that of Riku? Not really. Did his perception of Riku change for the worse since learning that information? Hell yes. Did he like seeing Kairi cry? Fuck no. When did he even remotely feel sympathy? No idea.

But there's something foreign slowly undoing the stitches of his heart, and he hadn't noticed it until now. The few months or so that passed by, the occasional visit by her at his stupid 7-Eleven shop, or running into her by accident in the movies on more than five occasions, or hanging out in the mall those few times in the last few months, or those random calls – and he admits some of them were fun and humorous, because they were, and he didn't know why he felt ashamed to admit that back then…

When he hears something break on the other side of the door followed by an anguished and angry scream, it's then he decides to leave her be and maybe come back some other time when she's not as distressed, and when he's not without his cigarettes.

He's tagging the public bathroom in white spray paint.

Symbols of anger and hate and love are scrawled all over the mirror. By his side is a small plastic bag holding a very important item, and he's careful not to knock it over or trip over it as he creates the skinny, shiny lettering on the reflective surface. Axel doesn't care that there's one guy in the fact cubicle reading a magazine and listening to the hissing can – he's not all that artistic, but he's pretty good at typography he guesses – and that's why he's doing this. To let out his frustration.

He's frustrated that Riku could've done something like this to someone who was obviously worth the time. He's hung around Kairi for long enough to know that she's worth something and that she even means something to him right now. He's frustrated that he can't really do anything because he's so fucking meticulous when it comes to these types of things. He's frustrated at his friends because they're just 'there' instead of there like they should be. He's frustrated at his Mother, who'd been yelling all sorts of shit at him again – and he's frustrated at the job he never really liked anyway, because Luxord is a prude and his job is dull and boring and almost entirely lifeless.

He arcs the writing he's only just started, making it move upward.

'We're fucked up and we're not the same.'

And then he moves down, thereafter throwing the can into the garbage disposal, just as the man leaves the cubical.

'Nobody cares like they should in fear of breaking down.'

She's pressing buttons at four in the morning again, hoping to call the one person who makes her feel alive in this disfigured world. Somewhere down the hall, there's pop music playing, and it feels like poison to her ears. Kairi places the phone to her ear, listening to it ring, waiting for it to trail on to the predictable voicemail. Even if that's all she ever hears of him, it's enough to bring a little comfort.

She doesn't even get to hear the 'Yeah so uh, this is Axel, just leave a quick message or something and I might get back to you' sound, because there's a familiar sound of a boot tapping at the bottom, right-hand side of her door, and the faint, melodious rock tune slips in through the cracks and slightly soothes her. She hangs up the call – which causes the music to cease, bounds out of her bed, smoothes out her light red nightdress, and opens the door, sticking her head out.

And there he is.

He who makes her alive.

"What're you doing here?" she asks incredulously, and her bitter attitude is lowered slightly due to her curiosity.

Axel scratches his cheek for a moment before speaking uncertainly, his voice wavering, "Can I come in?"

She steps aside and allows him in, closing the door thereafter. She makes no move to approach him, even as he looks around the area with his back to the kitchen window. He's analysing every piece of information he can. He can see some pictures of her and her friends – and there's a photograph of a girl who's been stabbed repeatedly with various sharp objects on the wall – and then there's one of Riku at a younger age, and then one of Riku now, that of which also suffers the same treatment as the girl in the yellow dress.

He quirks his eyebrow at her curtains, because they are exactly the same as his ripped ones at home. He peers out the window, noting how if necessary, he could actually climb into the room and sneak inside, because there's no glass there to stop him. There's a two-seated black leather couch in the corner, and there's a chair of the same material sitting a few feet away from him. He then looks to Kairi, who is still clearly wondering why he's here and why there's a tiny plastic bag hanging from his fingers behind him.

And so, he allows an arm to come forward, holding the dusty, orangey brown pot that'd been inside the bag.

Kairi approaches and raises both of her eyebrows in surprise, but now she's smiling, "What's this?"

"A cactus."

She takes the plant with both hands and marvels at it, and then she looks at him oddly, "A cactus?"

He shrugs, carelessly drops the bag on the floor, and takes a seat on the black leather chair, scratching the back of his head, "Yeah, I'm not very good with words – or even gifts – so I bought you this cactus because I feel sorry for you. You're right, I'm not a fan of cheating and all that, and it surprises me more so that a fucking friend is engaging in the very thing he detests. Like shit, I'm not really close with Riku, or any of the others for that matter, but that was enough to make me de-friend him in my mind… and on Facebook. He hasn't noticed yet.

"But, um," he's getting the jitters now – this is why he hardly says more than a few words, this is why he hates speeches and can't do them very well and will avoid them at all costs, but here and now, she needs it. She needs words to comfort her, if only a little – and he's not very good at that, because remember, he's not supposed to and is unable to care – so why's he here? "You're a friend to me, I guess, so I thought I'd try and do something nice… so I bought you a cactus."

There's a clunk behind him – she's put the plant down on the kitchen countertop. He lights a cigarette and brings it to his lips, feeling relieved as the nicotine rushes through him and calms him. He then digs his hands into the armrests unknowingly and for no real reason at all; and he hears her approach, her bare feet sliding over the carpet, until she's nearby – directly in front of him – directly over him – straddling him. She tilts her head to the side and smiles – something he doesn't know that she does only for him, "You care?"

"A little."

She kisses him on the lips and then pulls away.

He's as emotionless as ever, to both her and himself, "A lot."

She kisses his neck, tongue lightly draping over the skin, before pulling away again – and she didn't miss him shudder.

He still holds his mask close to his face, "More than I should."

Kairi suddenly hops off of him – and not a moment too soon, either – and she smoothes out her hair, walking to the window. She looks down at the dirty street below, seeing the streetlights pop out from the otherwise grey and grim ground. She's fiddling with the ends of her crimson locks now, leaning against the wall, "Would you wait?"

She wants him to wait because she doesn't want to fall to Riku's level. She wants him to wait for her so she can get rid of the oaf and then be with somebody who treats her like she's worth something, anything at all. So she can be with somebody who doesn't depress her or drag her down – someone who makes her smile and makes her happy and makes her feel more alive than she's ever been. And that someone was him.

She turns to look at him, her fingers still curling over and over again around her hair. Axel's merely staring straight ahead himself, glaring into the broken television that reminds him so much of the one that's at his broken home. He understands, because, in the end, she makes him feel alive too – and he didn't even realise it, not even when she slapped him and he felt an unusual smirk tug at his lips, both in the past and the now, "Yeah."

When he speaks, she finally breathes again.

He's suddenly standing nearby and offering her a hand. She takes it and is suddenly spun in some small circles, making her smile and laugh, because she feels liberated and free – and she doesn't miss his smile, even as he lets go, heads to the door and shows himself out, waving goodbye in that lazy, carefree manner he did the very first time they met, "Spin spin, sugar. You're alive."

Now there's only the smell of his cigarettes and a crafty cactus left in her room.

Demyx is fiddling with his hair when he spots an obviously agitated Axel at work. He goes in and pays for what petrol he bought, and buys one dark chocolate before speaking, his teeth chattering almost nervously, "How come you don't hang with us anymore? Don't you like us? First Xigbar starts drifting away, and then Riku, and now you! Zexion and I don't really –"

"Riku's gone?"

He shrugs, "May as well be."

"Why'd he go?"

"Problems with family and people, last I heard. He's actually left town."

"Hmm."

"But can you please, please drop by my house sometime soon or something?" he presses his fingers together and looks at the mat below his chocolate and his receipt, noting at how Axel's drawn all sorts of things on top of the plastic, like fire and chakrams – and Luxord's not bothered by this at all, "So you know, we can hang out like good times. Zexion's bored of his studies, and I am too – ever since you dropped out of college a few years back, you kept us sane during these exam times, and n-now…"

Axel nods a little, "Soon."

His eyes brighten, "Soon?"

"Yeah," he smirks, blowing out more smoke from his cigarette, "Soon."

He claps his hands together excitedly and collects his chocolate, "Hooray! Just drop by whenever. Maybe we could all go and see The Offspring sometime soon, because I hear they're touring again," When the redhead nods again, he emits a harsh 'yeees!', "Okay, I'll start grabbing tickets! It's in about two weeks time or so. Anyone you wanna bring? Maybe you can convince that Vanitas guy that used to work here to drop by?"

"Do you mind if I bring a girl?"

He doesn't know why he's suddenly said that, but he figures that she'd need it, if only to distract herself.

Maybe he's dreaming too much.

"Girl?" Demyx's eyes widen, "Is that what's been keeping you?"

He shrugs, "I guess."

"Well, yes, you can, of course! But I'd better let you get back to work now. See you later!"

Its as he leaves does his phone vibrate, indicating a text message. He pulls his out and cracks another large smile – but then he's hit up the back of the head by Luxord, and his cigarette is stolen from him and put out; and a broom is shoved into his chest. Harsh demands to sweep up the place again and to 'stop bloody smoking before I shove the butt up your arse' following thereafter.

'He's gone, Axel. Run away with me.'

Axel's somehow stuffed everything he owns that's of any importance into his briefcase and stormed out of his Mother's house, throwing the keys into the garbage bin by the side because he's all too happy to leave this stupid life behind. He's ignoring his Mother's screaming, insulting protests, even as he throws his suitcase into his car and hops inside, slamming the door shut thereafter. She's banging on the hood of the olive-green vehicle, but he ignores her anyway as he reverse out of the driveway and speeds off.

He's weaving in and out of traffic without a care until he came to the back carpark of Kairi's area. He hops out of the car and leaves it running, before fishing around in his pocket and pulling out the broken phone piece from many months ago. Looking over it and looking at the always open window, he takes aim and throws it in – and then he hears something shatter on the other side, but he knows that she won't care. At all.

And then Kairi's jumped out the window and landed on her feet. She's got a backpack and a briefcase, both of which she throws into the backseat of the car. She then hops into the passenger's seat and quickly kisses him, holding his jaw in place again and again and again, and his hand comes to go through her hair – and there's this unidentifiable feeling pumping through her body. Axel mutters to her its adrenaline – at least, that's what he thinks it is.

And then he pulls away, face entirely serious, "You sure about this?"

She nods, "Yeah. I hate this place. Let's leave it behind."

"You okay to come back here in two weeks to see a concert with my friends?"

"Will Riku be there?"

"No."

"Then yes."

"Good."

"Mhm."

"Where to?" he asks, pulling down his sunglasses from his hairline and checking his mirrors.

"Anywhere but here."

Axel nods, spins his cigarette around in between his fingers, and starts to drive.