Anything But the Ordinary Ch.7

     Roxas stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, silently listening to the rain falling outside.  It had been a little over a week since he’d last talked to Axel.  Normally he’d go to Riku for advice, but he was still holed up with Sora in the hospital.  Kairi was always willing to help her brother out, but this just didn’t seem like the kind of thing she could help with.  Having no one else to turn to, Roxas had moped around for the last week and had eventually found himself here contemplating calling his best friend.  That was until the doorbell rang.
     Sighing, Roxas crawled off his bed and out into the living room.  As he opened the front door, he suddenly realized just how fickle fate really is.
     “Axel?”
     “H-hey.”  Axel stood soaking wet, shivering on Roxas’s doorstep.  He wasn’t exactly fond of the cold or water.
     “What the Hell are you doing?  You’re gonna freeze to death.”
     “M-my uh, car died ab-bout th-three blocks back.  Y-you were the closest p-p-person I knew.”
     The blonde shook his head and groaned, “Alright, well get in here before you catch pneumonia.”  Roxas stepped aside and Axel rushed in without a moment's hesitation.
     “Thanks.”  He shuddered.
     “Uh, look, I’ll get you a towel and something to put on.  My things are probably all too small, but I’ll see what I got.”
     Axel simply nodded and clenched his arms tightly around his chest in a futile attempt to stay warm.
     Roxas returned shortly with a towel, some boxers and pajama bottoms.  “Uh, here.  Um, the pants are a little big on me, so they might not be so bad.”
     The redhead smiled appreciatively and took the items from Roxas.  Desperate to get warm, he began to strip off his wet clothes right at the front door.
     “Uh!  Whoa!  Hey!  Um, use the bathroom.  Er, ya know… neighbors… might see.”  Roxas fought to keep his composure.
     Axel paused mid way through removing his pants.  “Oh… uh, sorry.”  He scurried off to the bathroom; closing the door behind him.
     Roxas slumped down on his couch, smacking himself repeatedly in the head.  “Stupid, stupid, stupid.  Ugh!  Why’d he have to show up?!  This is not good.  Not good.”  He took a steadying breath.  “No, no.  It’s ok.  Everything’s ok.  We just need to get a hold of someone to tow his car and I’ll give him a ride home.  Everything’s fine.”
     “Man, thanks Rox.  I owe ya one.”
     The blonde looked up from his ramblings to see a very toned, very shirtless, Axel.  His usual fiery red spikes were now a velvety scarlet sea that accentuated his neck and collarbones.  Little droplets of water rain down his abdomen and disappeared beneath the waistband of his borrowed pajama bottoms, which happened to be riding dangerously low on his hips.
     “Rox?  Ya hear me?”
     The other boy, suddenly very aware that he was gawking, attempted to play it off.  “Oh uh yeah.  Sorry, just uh… never seen ya with your hair down.  It’s weird.”  Roxas mentally smacked himself.
     Axel frowned.  “Oh, uh… kay.  I mean, I kind of like it like this when no one else is around, but whatever.”
     “Uh!  No!  I didn’t mean weird!  You’re not weird!  I just meant unusual.  Like as in I’ve never seen it before.”
     The redhead perked an eyebrow.  “You’ve never seen me with my hair down?”
     “Well, not like this.  I mean, usually you tie it back in a ponytail.”
     “Oh.”  Axel took a seat in the armchair near the couch.
     A sudden awkward silence filled the room.
     Determined not to let the situation get uncomfortable, Roxas spoke up.  “Um, so, the pants’ll work?”
     “Oh, yeah.  The boxers were too small though.  I had to go without.  Hope that’s ok.”
     Roxas’s eyes widened and he swallowed hard as the realization that a thin layer of fabric was all that was keeping Axel from being completely nude.
     “Rox, were you asleep or something when I knocked, ‘cause you’re really out of it.  Look, why don’t you head back to bed and we’ll take care of all this in the morning.”
     The blonde began to nod slowly, but froze.  “Wait, what?  Aren’t you going home?”
     “Well, I figure it’s late and my clothes are soaked, so why not crash here.”
     “B-but I can just throw your clothes in the dryer.  And what if someone steals your car?”
     Axel chuckled.  “Who’s gonna steal that old beater?  Especially in this neighborhood.”  He had a point, Axel’s car was no Porsche and their neighborhood was far from being crime central.  “I’ll just crash here on your couch.  That’s cool, right?”
     “Uh… yeah.  Sure.”  Roxas had a few choice words for this fate bitch if she ever happened to cross his path.  The man of his dreams was sitting right in front of him, practically naked and looking more desirable than he ever had before and there was nothing Roxas could do.
     “So, Rox, look.  I’m sorry about that little fight or whatever it was.  We’re cool now though, right?”
     The blonde hesitated.
     “Rox?  We are cool, aren’t we?”
     “Axel?  I just… how can you say you don’t like something you’ve never tried?”
     The redhead sighed.  “Roxy, look.  I’ve never once asked you to try and be straight, so why do you keep asking me to try and be gay?”
     “Because I love you!”  Roxas slapped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late.
     Axel sat wide eyed, not sure what to say.
     The younger boy let his hands slide from his mouth and flop by his sides.  “I… I love you Axel.  I realized it the other day, and I wanted to tell you, but then we got in a fight and I just.  It’s like pie.”
     “Pie?”  Axel was suddenly lost.
     “Yes.  Pie.  There’s cherry pie and apple pie.  Women and men.  I tried the cherry pie, it was ok.  Then I tried the apple pie and whoa!  I loved the apple pie.  But you.  You’ve tried the cherry pie, and you like it and that’s fine, but then you say you hate the apple pie when you’ve never even tried it.  How do you know you hate it?”
     “B-because.  I’m not aroused when I see other men.  Isn’t that enough?” Axel shifted uncomfortably.
     Roxas frowned.  “Well, maybe love's not all about outer beauty.  I mean… it’s kind of like judging a book by its cover.  You look at me, and you see I’m a man, so you instantly assume you can’t be attracted to me.  But what if I wasn’t a man?  Or even a woman?  What if I was a book with its cover ripped off?  If all you had to go on was my personality, could you love me?”
     “Roxas, this is ridiculous.  You’re tired.”
     “No, I’m being honest.  Could you love me?”
     Axel sighed and sat back in his chair.  “Roxas… I… I already love you, you know that.  But, because you’re a man, and I’m straight, it can’t ever be more than platonic.”
     “How do you know?”
     “I just know, alright?”
     “…can I kiss you?”
     Axel stood up.  “Roxas, no.  Ya know what, I’m just gonna walk home.  It’s not too far, and the rain sounds like it’s let up.”
     Roxas quickly ran after him.  “Wait.  Wait.  I’m sorry.  I know I’m being really blunt and I know it’s freaking you out, but I just needed you to know.  I’ll, I’ll go to bed now.  Honest.  You can sleep on the couch.  I won’t bother you.  I swear.  It’s too cold out to walk home.  Kay?”
     Axel ran a hand through his slowly drying hair.  “Alright, I won’t go.  But you gotta let this drop Rox.”
     The blonde sighed.  “I’ll try.”
     Roxas gathered up a spare pillow and blanket for Axel to use and turned out the lights.  “Night Axel.  See you in the morning.”
     “Night Roxas.”
     Roxas crawled back into his bed and listened as the rain slowly dissipated outside his window.
     Axel pulled the blanket up to his chin and stared into the darkness.  “A book without a cover… a story without a title… love without conditions…”