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Warnings: Underage drinking! Axel continues to be a pedo! And a few bad words. EXTRA DISCLAIMER: I do not in any way codone nor encourage underage age drinking or purchasing alcohol for the purpose of underage children to drink. YES THAT WAS NECESSARY. Summary: AU. Axel/Roxas. He doesn't believe in ghosts, but that doesn't keep him from being haunted. On Roxas' sixteenth birthday, he got both his first taste of alcohol and his first real kiss. Both were presents from Axel, though Roxas only really treasured one of them and it wasn't the one that gave him a hangover. Axel had moved to Twilight Town shortly after his twenty-first birthday, and lived in an apartment within walking distance from Roxas' house. He told everyone that he'd moved there because it was so completely different from the city that he'd grown up in that he figured it would be the best place to get away from the memory of his recently-deceased parents, though Roxas thought the real reason had something to do with him. He pretty much lived off all the money his parents had left him and the money he'd gained from selling his house and his car. But Axel wasn't the type to sit around his house all day, so he was always out doing odd jobs for whoever needed an extra hand. When he wasn't working and Roxas wasn't in school, the two of them were nearly inseparable. So it was really no surprise to anyone when, after the party was over, Axel demanded to take the birthday boy home with him. Roxas' mother was only too happy to agree, charmed by the young man like everyone else despite the ink in his face and the fire in his hand. They walked to Axel's apartment together, pretending to argue the entire way. Every so often they would bump into each other or break out in laughter, and it was all perfectly normal until they got inside. Axel told him to find the bedroom and make himself at home because he was about to get a surprise. Roxas did as he was told, and wondered if Axel had gotten him a stripper or something. Roxas didn't know what he would do with a stripper, and the concept of watching a woman undress for his pleasure scared him. He really wasn't interested. When Axel sauntered in, he was thankfully alone, though carrying two bottles in his hand. Roxas stared at them, unaccountably nervous. "Have you ever drank before?" Axel asked, smirking like he already knew the answer. He sat beside Roxas, so close that their thighs pressed against each other, and shoved a bottle into his uncertain hands. Roxas shook his head slowly, and wondered if most kids his age knew the taste of alcohol already. Even Sora had come home drunk once, an equally drunk Riku holding him up until they'd crashed into Sora's bedroom. "Start with small sips," Axel instructed him as he twisted off the top of his own bottle before reaching over and removing Roxas' when his friend didn't move. "You'll be choking if you gulp it. It burns like hell until you get used to it." Roxas nodded uncertainly and lifted his bottle, hesitating when it reached his lips and he could smell the alcohol. He glared at Axel out of the corner of his eye when the redhead snickered, and resisted the urge to gulp just to spite him. Axel might be laughing at him now, but at least he'd given him a warning before he made a fool of himself. He sipped slowly and winced as the liquid burned its way down his throat, and then breathed in the cool air in an attempt to relieve the pain. It didn't work very well. Axel patted his back soothingly and took a practiced swig out of his own bottle. Roxas glared at him for making it look so easy, like the older man made everything seem easy. Axel chuckled. "We don't have to drink if you don't want to," he said softly, rubbing the back of his head in a way that would have been sheepish if it had been anyone else. "Some people don't really get into it. Thought I'd get the embarrassing first time over for you, but if you don't like it...." Roxas gave Axel an exasperated smile, feeling touched and annoyed all at once, and braved another sip. It wasn't quite as bad this time, and he tried to focus more on the taste than the burn. At least that was good. "That's it!" Axel crowed, punching a fist in the air excitedly. "I'll make an alcoholic out of you yet!" Roxas rolled his eyes and laughed, knocking back another sip of alcohol. He could feel Axel's eyes on him while he tried to adjust to the burn, and when he looked over Axel raised his bottle for a toast. "To peer pressure!" he smirked. Roxas kicked him. "To friendship," he corrected, giving Axel a gentle smile. Axel smiled back, a truer smile than his usual wild grin, and they clunked their bottles together, mirroring each other perfectly as they drank. It wasn't long before Roxas was drunk, though Axel only remained rather tipsy. They were leaning on each other comfortably, and eventually fell into a content silence. Axel had an arm around Roxas' shoulders, and was staring down at the shorter boy. "Do you remember the day we met?" Axel asked almost wistfully. "When we were sitting on the top of Sunset Hill, waiting for the sun to disappear?" "Yeah," Roxas responded, staring blearily up at him. "You scared the fuck out of me." "Oh?" Axel's voice was softer than Roxas had ever heard it before. "I guess I did come on to you pretty strongly, especially considering how young you were. Are." "S'okay. I wanted you to kiss me." Axel's grip on his shoulder was suddenly too strong, and Roxas shifted uncomfortably. He could feel Axel gulp as Roxas put a hand on his thigh to brace himself, and then he was suddenly on his back with Axel's face hovering inches above his own. The look in his eyes was back, the same indefinable one from three years and a lifetime ago. "Do you still want me to kiss you?" His voice sounded strained, as if he was holding back something painful. "Yes," Roxas said firmly, not needing to consider the question because he'd thought of that almost-kiss every day since. With uncertain movements, he buried his hands in Axel's gravity-defying spikes and tugged gently. Axel made a strangled noise and practically dove for his mouth, hands running down his body. Roxas gasped and arched upwards instinctually; Axel moaned and pressed him into the bed, hands finding a home with fingertips digging into Roxas' hips, and there was something desperate in the way Axel's tongue pushed against his own, and something even more desperate in the way Axel pulled harshly away from him a moment later and stared down at him with wide, almost frightened eyes. "What the fuck have you done to me, Roxas?" he whispered hoarsely, and bolted out of the room. Roxas had no idea what the man was talking about, too dazed by the alcohol and the intensity of that all-to-brief moment, and all he could do was whimper pitifully at the lack of Axel's touch. When Axel calmly walked back in a little bit later, Roxas was asleep. The boy almost woke up when Axel slid in next to him, but the redhead didn't talk and he was soon asleep again, laying half on top of Axel and half on the bed. When they got up the next morning, both of them acted like nothing had happened. Axel laughed as Roxas experienced his first hangover; Roxas threw something at him as soon as he had the ability to lift his arm again. It was blessedly normal, neither of them willing or able to let anything get in the way of their friendship. But Roxas couldn't help but replay the scene through his head over and over again, and wonder if it was really so bad that it had felt so right for them to be lost in each other.  Chapter Five
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