Archive of Our Own ^beta

Incessant knocking startled Roxas into wakefulness. A bleary glance at his phone revealed that it was nearly four in the morning, meaning that Roxas had only been asleep for about an hour before being rudely awakened. His upcoming calculus midterm was in a few days, meaning many (many, many, many, damn you calculus) late-night study sessions in the library, very little sleep, and an overall very irritable Roxas.

A quick glance across the room confirmed that Sora was still out at his dumb boyfriend’s place for the night, the lucky bastard. Roxas couldn’t imagine his twin leaving Riku’s in the middle of the night for anything short of the apocalypse, and even that was questionable. Besides, Sora should have his own damn key, and if he’d forgotten it, well, then, tough shit. That definitely wasn’t Roxas’ problem.

Just as the blond began to debate the feasibility of being able to drown the bothersome human on the other side of his door in the bathtub and claim it was an accident (more work than it was probably worth at this hour, but definitely a satisfying course of action, unless, of course, it was a werewolf or a witch, in which case, just ripping their throat out would be sufficient), the knocking ceased. Roxas heaved a sigh of relief into his once again dark and peaceful dorm room, closing his eyes and snuggling back into his blankets as the sweet tendrils of sleep began to wrap around his consciousness, beckoning him back into the land of dreams-

Roxas’ eyes flew open once more as the pounding on his door started up again. With a low growl and a hard glare, he ripped the blankets from his body with much more force than necessary. He leapt from his bed, coming up with as many creative ways to maim and murder someone as he could possibly think of (starting with removing the offending hands banging on the door and then possibly tearing out their heart all together, maybe throw in a little siren song while he was at it) as he and stormed toward the door. Wrenching it open with a strength that was inhuman, he leveled the unwelcome visitor with the fiercest glare he could muster, promising painful death and destruction to whoever was so foolish as to wake him at such an ungodly hour.

“What do you want,” Roxas seethed between clenched teeth. Standing before him, with one hand cradling a small fish tank to his chest and the other poised mid-knock, stood an absolute beanpole of a boy (man? boyman?) with a shock of messy red hair and bright green eyes widened in surprise, as if shocked to see Roxas. Which was stupid considering he’d been pounding on the door to Roxas’ dorm so hard that the blond was surprised the whole damn school hadn’t heard. So really, he shouldn’t look so surprised that Roxas had actually answered-

Wait a minute, a fish tank? The hell? Roxas’ glare weakened incrementally as the silence stretched between the pair, blue eyes instead alternating between staring incredulously at the fish tank and the awestruck look still plastered to the stranger’s face.

They smelled human, as far as Roxas could tell, the faint scents of campfire smoke and a tangy something that Roxas could only describe as magic hinting that the other may possibly be a witch. That and the man had two small diamonds tattooed on his face, one on each cheek. Witches were notorious for having weird ass tattoos.

Roxas internally rolled his eyes. Was this really happening? Maybe he had fallen asleep in the library again, and this was just some strange dream brought on by stress. Maybe he was dying. He could only hope.

“Well?” Roxas scowled impatiently at the man still frozen in place in front of him, one eyebrow arching toward his hairline. If someone was going to force him awake this ridiculously early, the least they could do was actually tell him why they were committing such a heinous crime. Roxas was just beginning to think about slowly closing the door and crawling back in bed when the stranger seemed to regain his senses, green eyes blinking rapidly as he finally lowered his fist from it’s poised-to-knock position.

“Oh! Right, um, hi. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to look so,” the man used his hand not holding the fish tank to gesture vaguely at all of Roxas before cutting himself off with a small cough, a light blush dancing across his cheeks.

Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked quickly down at his attire. His pajama pants were a bit tattered and rolled up at the bottom (damn his short human legs), and his shirt was old and a bit stretched at the neckline, exposing a bit of his collarbone, and he was sure he had a major case of bedhead, but he wasn’t sure how any of that translated at all to the reaction garnered by the other man.

He wondered briefly if maybe his eyebrow ring was sticking out at a weird angle as he frowned up at the taller man (seriously damn these short human legs). The redhead shook his head slightly and cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Sorry, let me start over. Hi, I’m Axel. You don’t know me, and I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I need your help,” he said, extending his free hand toward Roxas. The blond stared at the proffered appendage for a moment in confusion before slowly reaching out and shaking it.

“Roxas,” he replied cautiously, figuring that if this man was actually here to murder him, Roxas could still at least still drown him in the bathtub if needed. Before he could correct Axel that it was actually early, not late, or ask what he could possibly need Roxas’ help with, or question how the hell he found Roxas’ dorm if he didn’t know Roxas, the redhead was talking again.

“You’re a mermaid, right?” Axel asked intently, green eyes boring into Roxas’ blue ones with an unnerving amount of intensity. “Or do you prefer siren? What’s the difference, really? My roommate Demyx says that -” he trailed off sheepishly at the return of Roxas’ glare.

An awkward silence stretched between the pair as Roxas considered Axel with an icy stare, arms folded over his chest as he mentally calculated whether the lanky redhead would fit in his dorm bathtub. He figured he would.

“I am,” Roxas eventually replied without specifying. He was way too exhausted to be explaining the nuances of mermaids vs. sirens to the stranger standing outside his door holding a fish tank at four in the morning. Seriously what the hell was even happening, and why did it have to be happening to Roxas of all people? He cursed his stupid desire to attend university on land of all places.

“Oh good,” Axel said, a hint of relief ringing in his voice, “I need your help.” Roxas raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for the redhead to continue. “I hear you can talk to fish, and I’m really worried that Calcifer, my goldfish, is depressed.” With that he held the fish tank out towards Roxas, his voice soft with the earnest plea.

Roxas stared blankly at the fish tank that had practically been shoved into his face. He’d initially assumed the tank was empty (because that made much more sense to his sleep-addled brain, why would someone go barging into other people’s dorm rooms at four in the morning with an empty fish tank?), but upon closer inspection he could see a flash of orange scales within the little plastic castle nested amongst the aquarium rocks and plastic kelp. Roxas closed his eyes and brought his hands up to massage his temples, hoping in vain that it might help keep the headache that was beginning to form from getting any worse.

“Let me get this straight,” he sighed exasperatedly, leveling Axel with a look that would’ve had weaker men crying for their mothers. Axel, to his credit, didn’t even flinch. “You woke me up at four in the morning to ask me to talk to your goldfish because you’re worried he might be depressed?”

How was this even Roxas’ life?

“Please?” Axel implored, his eyes shining and lips turning down into a pout as he gave Roxas his best puppy dog face. Who the hell even was this guy? The earnest worry and concern evident in Axel’s voice made Roxas pause, though.

Additionally, the longer Roxas studied his visitor, the more he realized just how attractive Axel was. Tall, vivid green eyes, long red mane of hair, a smattering of piercings along each ear, even the dumb face tattoos worked for him, which was unfair really (what could he say, mermaids had a thing for flashy, and my, did Axel fit that description quite well). Roxas would have bet everything he owned that Axel had even more tattoos decorating his body, dark patterns swirling across pale skin hidden by long sleeves and pajamas.

Roxas felt his resolve crumble in the face of Axel’s pleading stare. Shoulders slumping, he heaved a sigh and stepped back, wordlessly inviting the redhead into his dorm. Shutting the door behind him, Roxas distractedly told Axel to “place the fish tank on the desk, no not that one, that one” as he began fiddling with the desk lamp.

“Aren’t you a witch?” Roxas asked as the room was abruptly flooded with soft light. “Shouldn’t you be able to talk to him yourself? Isn’t that part of your witchy skill set?” Roxas glanced at Axel, eyebrow raised and a faint smirk playing on his lips.

If he was going to be forced to be awake at such a ridiculous hour, he could at least have a little fun with his visitor, especially since he was so damn cute.

He chose to studiously ignore his mother’s voice in the back of his head reprimanding him not to play with his food.

The redhead looked momentarily shocked that Roxas was able to identify him as a witch without any indications from Axel, before remembering that his face tattoos and appearance in general were normally dead giveaways, and then realized that Roxas was teasing him, of all things, the faint undercurrent of a challenge lingering in his voice and the arch of his eyebrow.

Axel almost got whiplash from the abrupt change in mood, Roxas going from murderous glares to friendly taunting faster than the speed of light.

“My ‘witchy skill set’ is actually more… pyrotechnic based,” Axel replied, the corners of his lips quirking up as he used the appropriate air quotes, eyes still trained on Roxas. “Woodland creatures don’t usually take well to that, not even those of the fishy variety.” The redhead shrugged slightly, and Roxas got the feeling that Axel was speaking from experience.

“Hm,” Roxas hummed softly, eyes locked on Axel even as he took a seat at his desk in front of the fish tank. “What a shame, I wonder if that applies to mermaids, too?” He mused quietly, breaking eye contact and turning to the fish tank as Axel’s jaw dropped ever so slightly.

Roxas fought to contain his triumphant grin as he searched out the goldfish amongst the fish tank’s environment. That was the reason he was awake so early against his will, after all. Right, focus, attractive redheads muttering “you tell me” be damned.

“Calcifer, eh? You’re probably just looking for Howl and Sophie, aren’t you, buddy?” the mermaid cooed gently at the fish tank, finally spotting the goldfish in question as he darted into the tiny plastic castle.

A small laugh sounded to his right, and Roxas flashed a brief smile at the now grinning redhead who had taken up residence in Sora’s desk chair, shrugging with a “What? I was raised in the ocean, not under a rock,” before returning to the task at hand. (And if there was a small sparkle of something in Axel’s eyes, then that was neither here nor there.)

“How long have you had him?” Roxas asked after a moment of lapsed silence, sparing the witch a curious glance. Axel just shrugged in response.

“A few months, maybe? I dunno, Demyx, my roommate, got him for me as a kind of a gag gift,” Axel answered. At Roxas’ raised eyebrow, he continued, “He thought it would be funny to watch the, and I quote, ‘stupidest and most irresponsible person in the entire universe’ try to care for another living creature, even something as simple as a goldfish.”

Roxas gave a small huff of laughter, his lips quirking up into a smile.

Based on the redhead’s ever-present chaotic energy, not to mention the fact that he’d shown up at Roxas’ dorm at such an ungodly hour, Roxas had no trouble believing that Axel was an absolute firestorm of a human being who, no doubt, struggled to take care of himself, let alone a pet fish. Although, he did show up at Roxas’ dorm at four in the morning, chaotic energy and all, worried that said pet fish was depressed, so maybe his heart was in the right place after all.

A calming hush enveloped the dorm room, interrupted only intermittently by Roxas, who was softly humming and murmuring indistinctly to the goldfish slowly emerging from his hiding spot. So enthralled in his conversation with Calcifer, Roxas completely forgot about Axel sitting beside him.

Axel took his time enjoying the view in front of him. The soft lamp light gave Roxas an ethereal and otherworldly look, and the blond had such a joyously unfiltered look of contentment on his face where it was pressed close to the glass, running his fingers through the water at the surface of the tank as he whispered with the goldfish.

Axel had a hard time believing such an exquisite creature existed in the universe, let alone was willing enough to assist him in his hour of dire need.

Completely enamored with the blond before him, regardless of the fact that they had just met, and until a few minutes ago, Roxas had been very intent on killing him, Axel found himself subconsciously leaning forward in an attempt to discern what exactly Roxas and Calcifer were talking about. He found, however, that he couldn’t quite place the words, like they were spoken in a language he’d heard before but didn’t yet understand, like they were just outside his grasp.

The soft sound of Roxas’ voice washed over him like waves upon a sandy shore, and Axel felt something inside of him settle into place. He was once again immensely grateful that his fucked up sleep schedule and the chaotic energy imbued into his being thanks to his magic had him running out of his dorm room in panic, clutching Calcifer’s tank to his chest and thinking it was much later in the morning than it actually was.

He was even more grateful that he was able to vaguely remember Riku mentioning something about a mermaid living in the dorm building across campus (seriously, one of these days he was going to have to start listening when Riku was talking), and that the poor girl he had terrorized upon entering the building had pointed him in the direction of Roxas’ dorm. When the blond had answered the door, all five foot something and full of barely suppressed rage, Axel had been left breathless for a moment, drowning in blue eyes as deep as the ocean, even as Roxas attempted to tear his face off for interrupting his sleep.

Axel wasn’t sure exactly what he had been expecting when he’d knocked on the door to Room 1308, but it definitely was not Roxas. (And Roxas was so much better than anything Axel’s imagination could ever come up with, even with the added help of magic.)

“Well, it would seem that your diagnosis was at least partly correct,” Roxas said, breaking the silence as he turned back toward Axel, startling the other out of his silent reverie. “Calcifer here is a little lonely, so you might want to consider getting him a friend. He’s also just a teeny bit nervous about you in general. He can sense your magic and the nature of it, so he’s a little wary you might try to turn him into fish food, his words, not mine.” Roxas held his hands up in mock surrender at Axel’s downright offended look. “But honestly, you haven’t had him for that long, so this is pretty normal. Fish, like people, can take some time to warm up to new surroundings.”

“So, he’s not depressed?” Axel asked slowly, glancing between Calcifer and Roxas as if not quite believing the mermaid’s diagnosis.

“No, Axel, he’s not depressed,” Roxas sighed with a roll of his eyes, “he’s just a bit nervous, that’s all.” At the utterly forlorn expression on the redhead’s face, Roxas heaved a smaller, slightly fonder, sigh, fighting a losing battle with the smile forming on his face.

“Hey,” Roxas said softly, gently placing a hand on Axel’s forearm, drawing the witch’s attention away from the fish tank and back to Roxas. “He doesn’t hate you; he just doesn’t know you yet,” the blond reassured.

When Axel still didn’t say anything, Roxas continued, “just try talking to him more often. Tell him how your day went, what you had for lunch, when the last time you set something on fire was. Put those witchy skills of yours to use.” Roxas’ gentle teasing finally earned him a smile from Axel.

“You may not speak fish exactly, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand you. Just… give him a chance.” Blue eyes bored into green, and Axel wondered if there was a double meaning in Roxas’ words or if he was just being hopeful.

Time seemed suspended as their staring contest stretched on, neither one daring to breath as they sat facing each other, faces impossibly close as they found themselves unable to tear their gazes away from each other. The moment was only ruined when an impossibly large yawn ripped through Roxas’ body, reminding Axel all at once of the incredibly late (or early, depending on who you asked) hour.

“Well,” Axel cleared his throat, straightening up as one hand came up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly, “I’ve taken up enough of your time, I should really get going.” Axel stood abruptly, just missing the blush dusting across Roxas’ cheeks.

Slightly worried that Axel’s sudden onset of nervous energy might result in his dorm room bursting into flames (because who needed sleep, really), Roxas watched as the redhead gathered the fish tank back into his arms, pausing a moment to fidget before turning back to Roxas.

“Thank you Roxas, for your help,” he said earnestly, and Roxas could only smile at the genuity ringing in Axel’s voice, ocean eyes once again connecting with emerald.

“No problem, Axel,” Roxas smiled, eyes shining and completely at odds with his earlier anger. “Just, maybe next time, check the clock first so we can do this at a more reasonable hour.” Axel laughed sheepishly, secretly floored at the implication of them doing this again. Well, maybe not this exactly.

Maybe something much better than this.

“Or, better yet,” the blond trailed off with a frown, looking over his desk before realizing with a sigh that his phone was most likely buried somewhere on his bed. Too tired to dig through the mound of blankets, Roxas grabbed a pen off his desk with one hand and one of the redhead’s arms with his other. Axel only protested slightly as Roxas began scribbling his phone number on the inside of his forearm, adjusting his hold of the fish tank in his other.

“There,” Roxas said with a grin, capping the pen with flourish, “now you can call in case of fishy emergencies.” He brandished the pen like a weapon, jabbing it harshly into Axel’s chest as his face suddenly became serious. “If you wake me up at 4 am again I will not hesitate to rip your throat out with my teeth,” Roxas threatened, his gaze turning into a withering glare, accentuated by a growl and a brief flash of razor-sharp teeth.

Axel, knowing very well that the blond was not kidding and would not hesitate to maim and dismember him, only grinned and gave a lazy mock salute.

“I make no promises, dear Roxy. You know I’d do anything for my darling Calcifer,” He cooed, a playful gleam ever present in his emerald eyes, even as Roxas scowled at the nickname.

In return, Roxas grumbled as he finally shooed the redhead from his dorm room, slamming the door even as Axel laughed out an entirely too cheerful goodnight given the horrendous hour.

And as he finally climbed back into his bed, Roxas once more wondered if perhaps this had all been some kind of weird dream brought about by the stress of studying for midterms. It certainly fit the bill for being one of the strangest encounters of his life, and he questioned briefly if his tired brain was even capable of conjuring up such a convoluted story line in its current state.

With dancing green eyes and the scent of campfire smoke plaguing his senses, Roxas once more drifted back to sleep, hoping that if this was in fact a dream, he’d at least remember it in the morning.

Something told him he’d never forget Axel.

Axel, of course, did not keep it to just fishy emergencies. He was only marginally better about texting at a decent hour.

Absolutely no one was surprised.

Roxas awoke the next morning to a text message from an unknown number saying Calcifer misses you already :( with an attached picture of said goldfish peeking out from behind a plastic plant.

He gave a small huff of laughter before replying Poor Calcifer and saving the redhead’s number in his phone. (And if Roxas added one too many flame and sparkly heart emojis after Axel’s name, then no one really needed to know.)

To be fair, it did start off with somewhat fish related questions, always random and always at inopportune times.

What’s Calcifer’s favorite food?

Is the water in his tank too bubbly?

Is this skull too scary for Calcifer’s tank?

What’s Calcifer’s fishy name?

Is Calcifer planning an epic escape like in Finding Nemo?

Did Calcifer say anything about me when you talked to him?

Roxas frequently rolled his eyes, but always responded, usually calling Axel a dumbass at least 6 times as he answered the redhead’s questions.

Eventually, though, the conversations began to stray to other topics, not that Roxas found he particularly minded.

Can you speak other languages, or just fish?

What is the difference between a mermaid and a siren?

Are all mermaids as cute and charming as you?

How accurate is The Little Mermaid?

Are fish friends or food?

Does the line where the sky meets the sea call you? Or does it prefer email?

Axel also added him on Snapchat, sending him random photos of Calcifer, as well as doodles of mermaids in the margins of class notes, the questionable food in the cafeteria, detailed sketches of what looked to be weapons of some kind, what seemed to be a blacksmiths anvil, ridiculous filters at ungodly hours, short videos of random Netflix shows, and fire. Lots and lots of things on fire. Some intentional, but most not.

Roxas found himself sending back artistic shots of his morning coffee, tilted photos of Sora drooling in his bed, mismatched socks with unicorns on them, late-night study sessions in the library, intricate diagrams of various sea creatures from his Creatures of the Deep class, and once, a blurry glimpse of the edge of his tail fins in the bathtub. All for the streak, of course. (That, and Axel had a pretty good reserve of memes, of course.)

Most days had Roxas glued to his phone, lips curling up into a smile whenever the screen flashed with a message or Snapchat from Axel. For all their conversations, though, Axel had yet to call Roxas with an actual fishy emergency. Which was why Roxas was surprised when his phone began to vibrate on his walk to the dining hall, the caller ID flashing Axel’s name.

“Hello?” Roxas answered curiously.

“Roxy, hey! Miss me yet?” came Axel’s loud greeting, making Roxas wince and pull his phone away from his ear slightly.

“Hardly,” Roxas snorted with a roll of his eyes, “to what do I owe this pleasure?”

There was a moment of rustling noises, followed by a thump that sounded suspiciously like someone falling out of bed. Roxas waited for a response, standing idly in the middle of the commons.

To his right a girl was focused on attempting to levitate the rather large textbook in her lap, the boy next to her chatting animatedly with a squirrel. A group of students were playing frisbee with a disk of crackling purple lightning.

Still Axel said nothing.

“Axel?” Roxas sighed impatiently, his stomach rumbling faintly. He was supposed to be meeting Sora for lunch, although he was probably too busy making out with Riku to notice Roxas’ late arrival. Axel gave a distracted hum over the phone line.

“Did you actually need something, or did you just call to rack up my minutes?” Roxas asked exasperatedly. That, at least, gained a loud laugh from the redhead. The girl to his right overestimated her powers, and her textbook went flying into the air, landing in the nearby fountain with an impressive splash. Roxas winced sympathetically, lord knew how expensive textbooks were.

“Don’t even, nobody even has minutes anymore. Anyways, I’m calling about Calcifer.” Roxas perked up at the mention of the goldfish. “I think he’s sick.” Roxas’ stomach grumbled again, but he had already turned on his heel, headed in the direction opposite the cafeteria as Axel named his dorm building.

Which was how Roxas found himself standing in front of Axel’s door, fist knocking against the wood loudly. A loud crash followed by a sharp yelp sounded from inside before the door swung open to reveal a flustered Axel.

“Roxas!” the witch crowed like he hadn’t just been on the phone with Roxas five minutes ago.

“The one and only,” Roxas replied with a mock bow, unable to help the small smile that spread across his face. Axel stepped back and let Roxas in the room before shutting the door behind them.

Roxas took a moment to observe the redhead’s room, which, frankly, was an absolute mess. At least, half of it was. The other half, while by no means neat or organized, was at least marginally more put together.

The bed that Roxas assumed belonged to Axel was unmade and the walls behind it were covered in a haphazard assortment of posters and pictures and what looked suspiciously looked like scorch marks. Clothes were everywhere, with messy papers and abandoned sketches littered across the desk. A sword of some type was propped up in a corner.

Mostly, though, Roxas was overwhelmed by the large assortment of, just, random objects that seemed to be strewn everywhere. Colorful gems and shiny marbles scattered across the floor, lighters and twigs and leaves? tangled in the bedspread, a collection of dried herbs in glass jars interspersed with shot glasses and empty ramen cups decorated the dresser, and sharpies and cigarettes and knives rolling off the desk chair. An ungodly, and most likely illegal, given the dorm rules, number of candles crowded the bedside table. A large black cauldron was half tucked underneath the bed.

Tucked in a corner of the desk, next to a stack of half-filled journals and worn spell books, was Calcifer’s tank.

“Damn, bitch, you live like this?” Roxas murmured with a raise of his eyebrows. Axel snorted before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about the mess,” Axel replied with a helpless shrug of his shoulders, and Roxas could tell he was more embarrassed than apologetic.

“It’s fitting, I think, a disaster room for a disaster human,” Roxas teased with a smirk, ignoring Axel’s sputters of outrage as he wandered over to greet Calcifer. “So, what seems to be the problem with our dear, fishy friend?” Axel gave up his weak attempts at coming up with a comeback at the mermaid’s question.

“Well, uh, he’s been blowing a lot of bubbles and he doesn’t seem to be eating quite as much.”

Roxas made a noncommittal sound, glancing at Axel from the corner of his eye as the redhead began repeatedly opening and closing a lighter. The redhead’s tone implied that he wasn’t being entirely truthful.

He focused on Calcifer, talking and humming softly in conversation with the goldfish. Calcifer seemed happy to see the mermaid again, darting around and nibbling gently on Roxas’ fingers when he dipped them in the tank.

“Well, what’s the diagnosis, doc? Is he gonna make it?” Axel asked, dropping the lighter in favor of twirling a knife between his fingers.

“Well, nurse,” Roxas replied with mock seriousness, “it was a bit touch and go for a moment there, but it looks like he’s going to pull through.” Axel laughed outright at that, and Roxas was a little worried the redhead might stab himself accidentally. He wouldn’t have even been surprised.

“Actually,” Roxas continued, straightening and turning to appraise Axel with a critical eye, “he seems very happy and healthy, not a problem in sight.”

“Oh, really? That’s odd,” Axel hedged, refusing to meet Roxas’ gaze. A blond eyebrow arched knowingly, but Axel didn’t say anything more, choosing to fiddle with his knives instead. Roxas half expected him to pick up a few of them and start juggling them for some reason. He certainly had the hair to be a clown.

“You know, Axel,” Roxas began conversationally, drawing the redhead’s name out deliciously, fingers tracing an abandoned doodle of some kind of weapon on the desk as his eyes flashed dangerously at the witch, “as much as I love talking shit with Calcifer about you, if you wanted to see me you could’ve just said so, no need to make up ailments for the poor fish.”

Axel once more began to stammer out an excuse, face heating up at being caught. Maybe he’d light on fire and then juggle. Now that would be a neat circus trick.

“I promise I don’t bite,” Roxas continued with soft, faux innocence, cutting off Axel’s sputtering attempt at a reply. The mermaid grinned wolfishly, allowing his teeth to elongate and sharpen, blue eyes easily trapping green, “hard.”

Tension grew between them as Axel fought in vain to regain his wits enough to say something, anything, even remotely coherent, but it felt like all his words had been carried away by the rising tide. Roxas just continued to grin knowingly as he took a step toward the redhead, eye contact never faltering.

Suddenly, the mood was shattered as the door swung open, an exuberant blond all but falling into the room. He was lanky with a weird mullet type situation going on with his hair, and Roxas recognized him as a classmate in his Marine Biology class.

“Axel! You’ll never believe - oh,” the newcomer began to say, but faltered when he saw Roxas.

“Oh, Demyx, this is Roxas,” Axel snapped to attention, finally drawing his eyes away from the mermaid, “and Roxas, this is my roommate, Demyx.” Roxas turned to the other blond with a polite smile, while Demyx practically beamed at him.

“Oh! So this is the infamous Roxas! I’ve heard-” Demyx exclaimed excitedly, only to be cut off as Axel’s hand was forcibly pressed across his mouth. The pair had a brief intense conversation, held entirely through glares and facial expressions, as Roxas raised an eyebrow in amusement. Eventually, Demyx pulled away from Axel and began to move toward his somewhat neater side of the room.

“I mean, it’s nice to meet you, Roxas,” Demyx said, his blinding smile returning to his face. As he passed Roxas, the mermaid caught whiffs of a thunderstorm, a cool mountain spring in the mountains with a hint of underlying electricity.

“Hm, water witch then,” Roxas appraised thoughtfully with a lifted eyebrow. That would explain why the boy got such exceptionally good marks in Marine Biology. Not better than Roxas, of course, but good enough for second place.

The boy in question froze, frowning at Roxas.

“Yeah,” Demyx drawled slowly, “but how did you know?” Roxas just shrugged noncommittally, drawing his finger around the top of the water in Calcifer’s tank in lazy circles.

But now Axel was frowning as well, eyebrows drawn together. “Yeah Roxy, how do you do that? You knew I was a witch when we first met, too,” the redhead pointed out.

“You forget that I’m a natural born predator, Ax,” Roxas replied with a smirk that just barely hinted at his unnaturally sharp teeth, tapping the side of his nose once, twice, three times. “A heightened sense of smell is one of the perks of the job.”

Axel’s expression shifted into one of light shock. It seemed that he had, in fact, forgotten that mermaids weren’t just giggly airheads who played with fish, sang songs, collected treasure, and longed to be human. That they still had teeth sharp enough to rip out a man’s throat, that they could drive a man to insanity with their voice alone. That they could still smell blood in the water.

“You’re a mermaid! That’s how you always get better grades than me in Marine Biology!” Demyx cried out as the realization dawned on him. Roxas shrugged again.

“That’s cheating!” Demyx protested indignantly. He didn’t stamp his foot, but it was a near thing.

Roxas’ finger stilled in Calcifer’s tank. “It’s not cheating, I’m just using my natural assets to my advantage.” His tone said innocent, but his eyes said something else entirely.

“What do we smell like then?” came Axel’s voice, effectively shifting Roxas’ focus from Demyx to himself.

“Like feet and dog shit,” Roxas said immediately with a sardonic roll of his eyes. Demyx barked out a laugh, making Roxas’ lips quirk slightly into a smirk.

“No, really,” Axel pressed despite the grin plastered across his own face, “you said you could smell that we’re witches, so what do we smell like?”

Roxas frowned at the hint of serious curiosity in the redhead's voice, drumming his fingers thoughtfully on the rim of Calcifer’s tank in a moment of contemplative silence. He stopped only when he noticed the goldfish’s glare, apologizing silently with a small smile.

“Well,” Roxas began slowly, drawing the word out, “you smell human first and foremost.” He said it slowly and softly, closing his eyes to Axel’s intense stare and breathing deeply. “Flesh, tissues, a beating heart, blood flowing through your veins,” Roxas trailed off as the scents overwhelmed his senses, his words taking on an almost soothing and captivating lilt, as if with a mind of their own, the barest hint of longing lingering beneath the surface. Man, he’d forgotten just how hungry he was.

He opened his eyes to look back at Axel, icy blue pinning down vibrant green. Axel, for his part, was staring at Roxas in utter fascination, hanging onto every word with eyes wide and open, mouth parted slightly as he breathed shallowly.

Roxas cursed internally. He hadn’t meant to enchant his words, even so slightly, but sometimes it just slipped out. He shook his head abruptly, effectively breaking eye contact with Axel and, thus, dispelling the beginnings of the trance.

A quick glance at Demyx showed the other witch in a similar state to Axel, so Roxas chose to once again focus on the water in the fish tank in front of him. He cleared his throat and did his best to continue in a normal, controlled voice.

“Mostly,” Roxas reiterated, his voice disturbing the eerie silence that had settled upon the room, “mostly human. Magic has a distinct… feeling to it. Like a short burst of electricity to the senses, or like swallowing a mouthful of Sprite and feeling the carbonation burn in your nose. Faintly lemon-lime and the zing of… something more.” He was rambling a bit now, he realized, but he couldn’t stop himself, still a little embarrassed about his earlier misstep.

He also realized that Axel and Demyx probably knew this already, being witches themselves and obviously being able to identify other witches and the magic they possessed, but the feeling of Axel’s intense green eyes boring into the side of his head made him squirm.

Feeling distinctly like a butterfly pinned in place, a feeling foreign and strange to him, the faint dusting of a blush danced across the mermaid’s cheeks. Roxas was much more used to making others feel that way, not to being made to feel that way himself.

“There’s more, though,” Roxas continued. “There’s a distinct... otherness to your scent that’s different from everyone else, unique.” He paused for a second, choosing first to look up at Demyx, the least intimidating of the two witches. “Like you, you kinda smell like home, like a rainstorm over the ocean, like waves upon a sandy shore and a rainy day in spring.” Roxas smiled a little at the wonder evident in Demyx’s pale blue eyes, stealing himself as he turned to address Axel.

Taking a deep breath, Roxas felt enveloped in the redhead’s warm and intoxicating scent, the intensity of Axel’s gaze sending a light zap of electricity down his spine. Sparks, he thought, like magic.

“You,” Roxas began, just this side of breathless as his tongue peaked out to wet his suddenly dry lips. Axel’s eyes tracked the movement with rapt attention. “You smell like a bonfire in the middle of the woods, like a hazy summer evening and a hot breath in the desert. Like the last drag of a cigarette and hot food on a cold evening. Like chain reactions and blistering heat.” His voice had dropped to a murmur, blue still locked on green as his feet carried him unconsciously to where the witch was now seated on the bed.

Roxas’ hand reached out of its own volition, fingers softly brushing a lock of red hair off Axel’s forehead before trailing over the witch’s cheek. “Like warmth, like safety.” The words barely above a whisper, Roxas felt them linger in the supercharged air between him and Axel, swirling lazily between them in a cloying cloud.

A hush fell over the room, the universe narrowing down to just this moment in time, just fire and water, just Roxas and Axel and nothing else. Just the feel of Roxas’ fingers on Axel’s cheek and every single molecule of air that separated the two. Just blue and green and the soft crackle of fire and lulling of an ocean wave. Just smoke and sea salt and two beating hearts.

Somewhere behind them someone awkwardly cleared their throat, and oh, right, Demyx. Just like that, the magic dissipated, the universe once again expanded, and time resumed as normal.

Roxas took a step backwards, eyes lowered and a faint scowl on his lips as he felt his face heat up for the second time in as many hours. Never before had he felt so vulnerable and worked up and, and nervous, like a young mermaid swooning in the face of their first crush. It was a bit unsettling, Roxas wasn’t sure what to fully make of it.

A brief glance at Axel showed a wide grin on the redhead’s face, a playful light dancing in his vibrant eyes, eyes that were still trained on Roxas’ face. Roxas felt his scowl lessen slightly against his will, choosing instead to study Calcifer swimming lazy circles in his tank.

"Well, I still think it counts as cheating,” Demyx grumbled sullenly, causing both Roxas and Axel to snicker quietly.

(Later on, when it’s late and Axel has walked Roxas back to his dorm but remained lingering in the doorway, the redhead will reach out to brush a stray strand of blond hair off of Roxas’ forehead, a gentle reversal of their positions from earlier.

Axel will tell Roxas that he has a distinct scent, too, like sunshine and sea salt ice cream, like the unfathomable depths of the ocean that are reflected in his blueblueblue eyes, like a deep and ancient magic, untouchable by man or witch. Like the sea breeze swaying in the palm trees, like towering waves and powerful currents. Like darkness and intrigue and mysterious fathoms below. Like a haunting song and perilous death. Like a yearning heart.

Roxas will be rendered breathless, eyes wide and unable to look anywhere but straight into Axel’s, allowing himself to be lost in their vast depths.

Later, Roxas will fall asleep wondering what fire tastes like.)

Axel did not want to be here.

He could think of a million and two places he’d rather be, all of them significantly more enjoyable than here. But, unfortunately, Demyx was a persuasive bitch, with puppy dog eyes to rival a professional, so here Axel was, cursing his roommate’s name.

Here he was, spending his Thursday afternoon at the rec center pool. Not just any pool, either, the pool specifically designed for otherworldly creatures. It was absolutely massive, nearly five times larger than the largest swimming pool Axel had ever seen and just as deep. In an effort to accommodate their mermaid population who weren’t able to return home to the ocean as often as they liked, the pool was designed to mimic a small part of that system, impossible depth and gentle turbulence a lackluster impersonation of the real thing.

As a witch with water in his veins, Demyx was in heaven.

As a witch with fire in his veins, Axel was in misery.

“Please Axel, it’ll be fun! I can even teach you to swim, I promise,” Demyx had pleaded, and Axel, like the fool he was, had caved immediately.

And, for some inane reason, Axel had actually assumed Demyx would follow through with his promise. He hadn’t expect that, after barely being in the water for twenty minutes (twenty minutes of some piss poor swim instruction, if you asked Axel), Demyx had spotted one of his partners for his Ancient Sigils project, the one he had a crush on, of course, and had hopped out with a promise of be back in like five minutes, promise, and Axel was too busy trying to survive Demyx’s last promise to protest his departure too heavily.

Axel should’ve known that Demyx would’ve gotten distracted. Honestly, that kid had a worse attention span than Calcifer, which was saying something, really. Which is how Axel found himself cursing Demyx’s name even more ferociously while trying to stay afloat in an enormous pool he had no desire to even be in in the first place. He was seriously gonna hex that jackass when he made it through this ordeal.

If he made it through this ordeal.

His mediocre treading held him afloat for a minute or two as Axel tried desperately to make it back to the edge of the pool to no avail. His legs quickly grew tired, not used to this level of strenuous activity, and the water began to lap at his chin.

His magic fizzled and shorted, unhappy about the dampening effects of being submerged in the water, which only added to his unease. Axel never imagined that this was the way he’d go (that’s a lie, he’d always been mistrustful of the water, figured that the minute he acquiesced he’d be sucked down to the bottom, and he was right), but as his body began to falter and he’d made it no closer to the edge of the pool, he quickly realized that he may need to expand his imagination.

Panic setting in, his body began to flail somewhat haphazardly, barely able to stay afloat long enough to take a breath. Vowing to cast increasingly severe curses on Demyx if he by chance lived through this, Axel felt the water close over his head, completely submerging him. Unable to push himself back to the surface, Axel’s lungs burned as his vision began to blur. I’m going to die like this, he thought distantly, in the school swimming pool, not even somewhere cool, as he reached toward the water’s surface helplessly.

Suddenly, just when he thought his lungs were going to give out completely, Axel was pulled sharply back to the surface, sputtering and flailing as he fought to take in air once more.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” a voice soothed, and it was only then that Axel realized that he wasn’t alone.

Apparently, he hadn’t magically become more buoyant and drifted to the top of the pool like he’d initially thought. In reality, he had a pair of toned arms wrapped tightly around his midsection and a disembodied voice to thank for that.

When Axel finally managed to regain some semblance of a normal breathing pattern (it was more wheezing than breathing, but it counted), he managed to turn his head and take stock of his rescuer.

The first thing he noticed was bright blue eyes, followed by sun-kissed skin and a million-watt smile. Those eyes, though, deep and endless like an ocean. They kind of reminded Axel of…

Something brushed his foot where he was half-heartedly treading water. Starting frantically, Axel pulled away from his savior and glanced down in a panic, only to see a hulking tail and iridescent scales flashing beneath the surface of the pool. The shock must have been evident on Axel’s face, because when he looked back up to the other boy’s face, his rescuer was grinning knowingly.

“I mean, who better to be a lifeguard than a mermaid, really?” the lifeguard said with a shrug, grin never faltering as he began to pull Axel toward the edge of the pool, “C’mon, let’s get you out of here before you decide to up and drown again. Can’t have you ruining my perfect save record.”

Just as they reached the ledge, the door near the lifeguard stand opened, the sound drawing both Axel’s and the lifeguard’s attention as two new voices joined the cacophony of noises echoing off the walls. The two figures stopped just short of where Axel and his mermaid rescuer were still treading water, conversation tapering off as the four of them stared at each other in shock.

“Axel?”

“Roxas?”

“Sora?”

“Riku?”

Sora looked between the redhead in the pool beside him and the blond towering above him, eyebrows raised in realization as a borderline manic grin spread across his face.

“Ohhhhh, you’re Roxas’ Axel! Even better that I saved you then, Roxas would’ve absolutely murdered me if I’d’ve let you drown.” Roxas wordlessly glared at Sora, but the brunet just smiled innocently in response.

Axel, in turn, looked confusedly between the pair of them, wondering if perhaps his brain had been deprived of air for too long because he was most definitely seeing double. Roxas, noticing the redhead’s bewildered expression, ceased his staring match with Sora to arch his eyebrow at Axel instead, a small smirk quirking at the corners of his lips.

“Axel, meet Sora, my twin brother,” Roxas said unceremoniously, heaving a put-upon sigh as Sora beamed and waved at Axel.

“Oh shit,” Axel breathed, understanding dawning on his face, “and here I thought one of you was bad enough.” Roxas snorted above him and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I got the brains of the family, and the good looks,” the blond smirked, ignoring Sora’s indignant “hey!”

A mocking “you wish,” above him startled Axel into belatedly remembering the other newcomer to the group.

“Riku! How the hell do you figure into this nonsense?” Axel questioned, causing the silver-haired teen to cock his eyebrow in disbelief.

“Seriously, Ax?” he questioned incredulously, but the redhead in question just shrugged his shoulders in bafflement, eyes wide. Riku face-palmed, sighing exasperatedly. “Dude, Sora and I have been dating since the beginning of the semester. I’ve only been talking about him, like, non-stop. Do you not listen to a word I say, or are you just that much of a dumbass?”

“Nah, I never listen to anything you say, Reeks, you know that. As a matter of fact, I’ve made it my life mission to actively ignore every word that comes out of your mouth,” Axel shot back immediately, smirking victoriously as Riku just rolled his eyes good naturedly in response.

“Anyways, what are you guys doing here?” Sora questioned, pulling himself out of the water to sit on the ledge of the pool in a surprisingly graceful feat of strength, blue tail making lazy waves on the surface of the water. Axel followed the brunet’s lead, although much less gracefully. 

“What, I need a reason to come see my beautiful boyfriend in action?” Riku questioned, leaning down to give Sora a proper hello kiss, which quickly turned into a proper hello make out session. Axel grinned and wolf whistled, the sound ricocheting off the walls and drawing several curious glances in their direction.

“So, is that what yours looks like?” Axel asked, turning back to Roxas, grin still on his face. Roxas raised an eyebrow in response.

“What? My demented werewolf boyfriend? Nah, don’t have one of those, I’m afraid. Although, if I did, he’d definitely be way more attractive than that heaping pile of trash. He’s like the human equivalent of a squeaky grocery cart wheel,” Roxas retorted with a smirk, rolling his eyes when Riku only flipped him off without even separating from Sora.

“Nah,” Axel laughed, raising his eyebrow slightly at the blond’s choice of insult as he flicked water in Roxas’ direction, “your tail, you shithead.”

Roxas dodged the droplets easily. “Hey, watch it, jackass” he warned with narrowed eyes, “I’ve got class soon, and I don’t have time to sit around and wait to shift back.” Despite his words, though, Roxas carefully sat down cross legged next to Axel on a relatively dry patch of ground.

“To answer your rather rude question, though, somewhat, but not quite,” Roxas eventually answered, picking absentmindedly at a loose thread on his shorts. Axel hummed, turning briefly to admire Sora’s tail while simultaneously blocking out the sight of him and Riku still sucking face. While that was not a pretty sight, not to mention the fact that Sora definitely was not the twin Axel was interested in, there was no denying that the shimmering, bright blue scales were absolutely stunning, even in the poor lighting of the rec center.

The transformation started at Sora’s hips, soft skin giving way to a sleek, powerful tail encased in captivating shades of blue. His long tail fins trailed lazily in the water, betraying their true capability for unmatched speed and agility as ripples radiated outward in the water. It was almost easy to forget the mermaid was a natural born predator, infamous for luring unexpecting sailors to their watery graves, agonizing and deadly strength wrapped up in delicate and hypnotizing scales.

That is, until Axel caught sight of gills along Sora’s neck, pointed ears, and sharper-than-normal teeth (and Riku’s tongue, ew ew ew). Axel shivered involuntarily, feeling mesmerized and slightly terrified, all at once. Even so, he couldn’t help but wonder just what color Roxas’ tail was, and how the scales would feel beneath his fingertips, and how the sharp points of those teeth would feel against Axel’s tongue-

A light blush dusting his cheeks, Axel shook himself from his thoughts and turned back to Roxas, remembering the blond’s response to his previous question. Roxas was peering innocently back at him, trying in vain to cover up the fact that while Axel had been looking at Sora, Roxas had been looking at Axel.

While Axel had been admiring Sora’s tail, Roxas had taken the moment to appreciate the fact that he was seeing the redhead shirtless for the first time. He had been right in guessing that the tattoos weren’t confined to Axel’s face, deep swirls of ink painting dreamy patterns over both the young witch’s arms. Flowers danced across one forearm, red buds blooming lazily across his skin. An intricate design stretched up across half his chest, while another wrapped around his side and disappeared under the waistband of his swim shorts.

An ear littered with metal glinted in the artificial overhead light, and while Roxas normally found the outright excessiveness of witches’ appearances to be gaudy and, well, excessive, he found himself appreciating how well it all worked for Axel. Absently fiddling with his own eyebrow piercing, he took in the hard planes of Axel’s chest and abs, mouth going slightly dry at the rippling of toned arms and a muscled back.

Small rivers of water made their way down the redhead’s body, blue eyes following their paths with rapt attention as Roxas faintly imagined how it would taste to run his tongue along similar avenues, to trace it over dark tattooed patterns and feel the soft skin and hard muscles and ripples of warm energy with his own two hands. But then Axel was turning back to him, and Roxas had about two seconds to rearrange his face into an expression that didn’t broadcast the fact that he’d just been ogling the redhead.

“I bet yours is bright pink,” Axel teased with a grin, and Roxas was confused for a split second before remembering their conversation. Right, his tail. Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes, but Axel didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “Or maybe you’re actually part dolphin! That would explain your sunny disposition. Oh, or octopus!”

Roxas opened his mouth to tell Axel where exactly he was going to shove an octopus if the redhead didn’t shut up, when a voice cried out from across the pool, the loud shriek causing Sora and Riku to finally break apart as the group collectively winced.

“AXEL!”

A tidal wave ensued as someone made their way frantically across the pool with a speed that left even Roxas begrudgingly impressed.

“I came back and you weren’t over there and I thought maybe you’d drowned but you’re actually over here, are you okay?” Demyx rushed out breathlessly as he finally came to a halt in front of them.

“Demyx,” Axel drawled, “I see you’ve finally stopped sucking face with Zexion long enough to remember little ol’ me.” Demyx flushed.

“Shut up, nothing even happened,” Demyx grumbled. “He just wanted to talk about our sigils project, that’s all.”

“Hm, of course. What else could he possibly want to talk to you about, here and now in the middle of the pool?” Axel grinned knowingly, wiggling his eyebrows at Demyx suggestively.

Demyx flushed even deeper at that, splashing Axel with a glare in an attempt to shut him up. He nearly drenched Roxas, though, who hissed in response, scrambling backward to avoid the spray of water. After a quick apology, Demyx turned back to his leering roommate.

“Now I wish you had drowned, you dickhead,” Demyx muttered.

“You’ve got Sora to thank for ruining that for ya,” Axel laughed, gesturing to the still shifted lifeguard sitting next to him. Horror dawned on Demyx’s face at the realization that Axel may have actually nearly drowned in his absence. The redhead was known for his ability to spout bullshit, though, so maybe not.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Sora grinned with a wave before Demyx could descend into a full-blown panic, “I’ll try harder next time.” Axel gave an indignant squawk, much to everyone’s amusement.

Demyx took a few deep, calming breaths before finally registering that the figure sitting next to Axel was, in fact, a fully transformed mermaid, eyes widening comically as he took in the similarities between Sora and Roxas.

“Twins,” Roxas said boredly as a way of explanation.

“Besides,” Riku began, interrupting Demyx’s gawking, “Axel’s been sitting here for about 20 minutes, so you’d be a little late to save him if he was still drowning. He’d already be a ghost by now,” Riku pointed out, causing Demyx’s blush to intensify at being called out.

“I’d haunt the shit out of your ass, if that was the case, that’s for sure. At the very least, I’m definitely gonna curse you, consider yourself warned,” Axel promised darkly.

Once he’d managed to somewhat regain his composure, Demyx asked the first question he could fully grasp. “Are you a lifeguard, too, Roxas?”

Roxas shook his head. “Nah, Sora’s always been the more social one. I don’t like people nearly as much; I’d probably end up just letting them all drown.”

“Wow. Suddenly I’m glad that you’re not the one teaching me how to swim,” Axel muttered with a slight wince.

“Um, excuse you, Blair Witch, I’d be an excellent swim teacher,” Roxas scoffed, his put-upon attitude somewhat belied by a sharp grin. “Better than Demyx at any rate.”

“Hey!” came Demyx’s offended cry, but Roxas ignored him entirely, focused only on Axel.

“C’mon, it’s what, your first, maybe second swim lesson? And he brings you here of all places? To the largest and deepest pool on campus? The one designed specifically for mermaids, to mimic the ocean so we can have a halfway decent place to stretch our fins? And then he just leaves you to fend for yourself and doesn’t even notice when you nearly drown?” Roxas questioned knowingly, quirking an eyebrow when Axel’s only response was to huff and cross his arms over his chest.

“He’s got a point, you know,” Sora offered, rather unhelpfully in Axel’s opinion. He knew Demyx was a terrible instructor, it’s not his fault he couldn’t say no to the dumbass. (It was totally his own fault.)

“... Oops? I just, I mean, I didn’t mean to-” Demyx sputtered, attempting to come up with a viable explanation that went beyond I’m an airhead and got distracted by a cute boy, sorry I didn’t mean to let my best friend almost drown. Roxas took pity on him.

“It’s alright, Sora’s here for a reason, and, contrary to popular belief, it’s not to make out with Riku all the damn time. You’ve just gotta realize that not everyone is as keen on water as you are. You can’t force him to love it as much as you do right off the bat, and you can’t magically change his feelings overnight. You’ve gotta work at it, you know, baby steps. Maybe don’t try to drown him first thing.” Roxas said matter-of-factly, if not a little wistfully, shrugging off the curious looks Riku and Sora gave him.

Axel, however, was regarding him thoughtfully, an indescribable emotion shining in his eyes. It made Roxas squirm. “You teach me then,” dared the witch, a grin taking over his face. Roxas was briefly taken aback, not expecting that reaction, but recovered quickly.

“I thought you said you didn’t want me as a teacher?” Roxas teased with a smirk.

“What, scared of a little challenge?” Axel taunted, although he felt distinctly like prey caught in the open ocean as sharks began to circle (sharp teeth, sharp sharp teeth, beautiful and dangerous), blue eyes intense and thoughtful. Beside him Sora muttered this is definitely not a good idea, to which Riku responded 50 bucks says Roxas drowns him before their first lesson is up.

“Fine, I’ll teach you,” Roxas relented with a shrug of his shoulders. Axel’s grin widened, eyebrows rising at the thought of finally being able to see Roxas in the water, shirtless and wet and powerful- “Just not here.” Damn.

Axel knew what was coming before the words had even left Roxas’ mouth, and he was both excited and terrified at the thought of them.

“Let’s go to the beach.”

“So how exactly does it work? The enchanting? Like, can you do it while speaking or is it just singing?”

Roxas and Axel laid together in the redhead’s tiny bed, pale slivers of moonlight streaming through the window. The lamp on the desk cast faint shadows against the walls. It was late but neither felt the pull of sleep, choosing instead to whisper in the darkness.

When Roxas had returned to his dorm earlier that evening only to walk in on Sora and Riku in compromising positions he really could’ve gone his entire life without seeing, he’d promptly covered his eyes and turned around without a word. After spending a while wandering without thought of destination, he wasn’t completely surprised to eventually find himself standing in front of Axel’s door.

Axel had only looked slightly surprised to see Roxas unprompted and at such an odd hour. Silently, he’d opened the door wide and let the blond in, falling into easy conversation as Roxas flopped on the bed, Demyx nowhere to be seen.

“Roxas?” Axel prompted, impossibly soft and rumpled looking. Roxas hummed in thought for a moment before finally responding.

“We can kinda do it while speaking, but it’s less powerful,” he began slowly, fiddling with a ring on Axel’s finger. “We can put a certain emphasis on our words, can make you listen, make you obey, make you desire, make you beg.” The words were quiet and lilting, but Roxas fought to keep them even and normal. A quick glance at Axel showed a look of awe on the other’s face, and Roxas wondered briefly if he was successful. “But the real power comes from singing, the siren song. It’s said to drive men wild, so insane with lust and desire that they’d rip their own heart out of their chest and offer it to us, still beating.”

The room was quiet, only the sound of their hushed breathing and the hum of Calcifer’s water filter filling the air. Roxas waited for Axel’s reaction with bated breath, unable to meet his eyes. 

“Have you,” Axel began, pausing to wet his lips, “have you ever? Enchanted someone?”

Roxas closed his eyes at the question. Axel’s bed was comfortable, and the redhead’s weight pressed up against him was warm and pleasant. The spiced, smokey scent Roxas had come to associate with Axel was amplified here, and Roxas found himself utterly overtaken with it. His presence was familiar and reassuring, and when they were together Roxas felt something unnamable in his chest soothe from a wild torrent to a gentle hum. He enjoyed his time with Axel, basked in the other’s attention.

For once in his life, Roxas found that he didn’t want to scare someone away, that he actually cared what the redhead thought of him. He could see where this conversation was going, and after a brief mental debate he decided to opt for honesty and wherever that path took them.

“No. There have been a few times where I’ve wanted to, but I never have. We can’t turn it off, it’s always present when we sing, so I try to avoid singing, mostly. I’ve slipped up a few times, mostly when I was younger, let out a few bars here or there when I thought no one was around, but never intentionally,” was Roxas’ eventual reply, fingers nervously tracing over Axel’s hand, before adding on somewhat jokingly, “Besides, it’s really hard to get away with killing people nowadays, what with the Accords in place and all. Imagine murdering anyone, the international incident that would cause.”

Axel froze, a shocked expression on his face as his eyebrows rose worryingly high. Roxas stole himself, defenses and heartbeat spiking erratically like an out of control drumline. “What? Isn’t that what you were trying to get at? What you’re trying to ask without outright doing so? Trying to see if I’ve ever killed anyone?”

“Wh-what?” Axel gasped. He sounded surprised and slightly appalled, like that question hadn’t even crossed his mind, how dare Roxas insulate such a thing. Something loosened in Roxas’ chest at that, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, a small smile dancing across his face.

“It’s okay, Axel,” Roxas insisted softly, finding he truly meant it. The witch hadn’t meant any ill will, was just curious about mermaid abilities. “I get that question more than you think.” It was another few minutes before Axel broke the silence again.

“What did you mean? About the Accords?”

Roxas sighed. He hadn’t realized he was going to be roped into giving history lessons this evening, but he realized there was a distinct difference between learning something in school and hearing the lore as it had been passed down from the source.

“Someone obviously wasn’t paying attention in Magical History 101,” Roxas teased lightly, before schooling his voice to an even tone, ever careful of his intent. “Long ago, it was pretty commonplace for mermaids to sing and enchant unsuspecting sailors, lure them to their death with a sweet melody and a promise of a watery grave, especially those with less than pure intentions. But as time went on, it became more acceptable for mermaids to venture on land, to use their legs and interact and mingle with humans without eating them for lunch.

“So, eventually after a few too many disputes, everyone sat down, and the Accords were put in place. You know, mermaids can’t kill people for pleasure, humans can’t hunt or capture mermaids for sport, that kind of thing. There are a few remote clans who don’t necessarily accept this, so be careful if you’re ever in their territory.”

Roxas realized his explanation was a little vague and left some (somewhat important) details out, but he hoped it would be sufficient enough for Axel’s curiosity at the present time. “This was all in place long before Sora and I were born, though, so while the instinct is still there, we’ve never really had need to put it into practice. Mostly.”

Roxas couldn’t help but fidget as Axel contemplated this new information. He struggled to tamp down the rising need to open his heart to Axel, to pour his soul into the redhead’s outstretched hands, hoping against all hope that the jagged icy edges wouldn’t cut too deeply, that Axel wouldn’t be frightened if the droplets began to seep through his fingers and engulf him entirely.

He’d never wanted to give everything so freely to another person before. The feeling left him reeling.

“You should know, though-” Roxas began, unable to take the pressing silence, before trailing off as rain began to hit the windowpane, swearing softly under his breath. He pulled away from Axel and scrambled to the window, worries forgotten, only to see the rain pick up, dark clouds obscuring the moon as lightning flashed across the sky.

A quick glance at his phone told Roxas that it was nearly midnight. He should’ve been headed back to his dorm soon, Sora and Riku hopefully finished with their activities, but there was no way that was happening now.

Axel shifted, popping up beside him to look out the window. “What’s wrong?”

Roxas sighed. “It’s raining.”

“Well no shit, Sherlock. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It means I can’t go back to my dorm.”

“Why, will you melt?”

“No, but I will transform, and it’s a little hard to make it across campus when your legs have been replaced with a tail,” Roxas huffed, rolling his eyes as he flopped back on the bed. He was not pouting, definitely not pouting (secretly he was a little pleased at the prospect of being stuck in Axel’s room, but he wasn’t about to admit that).

Axel was thoughtful for a moment. Roxas was about to tell the idiot to not hurt himself when he finally made a suggestion.

“Well, I could always carry you back to your dorm?”

“No.” Roxas’ tone held no room for argument. Over his dead body.

If there was one thing Axel excelled at, however, it was arguing.

“Why not? I really wouldn’t mind,” Axel insisted. Roxas glared obstinately.

“No.”

“C’mon, it’s not a big deal, really,” Axel needled, unsure of what the big deal was or why Roxas was so adamant. It really wasn’t a big deal, Axel would have an excuse to hold Roxas close to his chest, soaking wet and without Roxas attacking him or being able to run away. Plus, he’d get to see and feel Roxas’ tail, which was a heavenly fantasy Axel had been waiting to play out since he’d met the mermaid.

“No, definitely not,” Roxas rejected vehemently. “I refuse to be a damsel in distress who needs help getting home after midnight. I refuse to be carried.”

“Definitely not a damsel, that’s for sure,” Axel snorted, “but there’s nothing wrong with needing help every now and then.” He relented, though, as he laid back down beside Roxas on the bed. Silence settled back around them, a hint of tension lingering as Roxas continued to glower at the ceiling.

Rain hit the window in a soothing staccato beat, soft breathing creating a melody as shadows danced along the walls. Slowly, by degrees, the stress eased out of Roxas, leached from his bones by the quiet of the room and Axel’s calm and steady presence beside him.

When he once again felt it was safe to talk without getting his head ripped off, Axel’s voice rang softly in the nonexistent space between them. “Well, you’re more than welcome to stay here until the rain stops, if it ever does.”

Roxas nodded gratefully, his hands coming up to tangle with Axel’s once more. Part of him faintly hoped that the rain would never stop, the heavens opening until the world as they knew it was washed away, only Roxas and Axel on this tiny lifeboat of a bed left behind.

The rain stopped a few hours later.

Roxas fell asleep with his face pressed to Axel’s chest, the redhead’s arm snug around his waist as his hand fisted tightly in the Axel’s shirt.

He was late to class the next morning.

He didn’t care. 

They finally made it out to the beach a few weeks later. It had taken some time to match up schedules and find a day when everyone was free, and a day where the weather agreed, too. They piled into Riku’s beat up car early one morning and drove for what felt like forever but was really only a few hours, until city gave way to countryside and countryside gave way to sand dunes.

Roxas was grumpy at first, to say the least, ignoring everyone with middle fingers raised and choosing to sleep the majority of the way with his face smushed against the window. But as the beach and the call of the ocean drew nearer and louder, the blond found himself sitting up straighter, fingers drumming anxiously against his knees.

Finally, finally, finally they pulled up and unloaded in a tangle of limbs and beach towels. All at once everyone was moving, a feeling of excitement palpable in the air, yet as soon as Roxas’ toes touched the sand, it was all he could to just stand there and take it all in. Blue eyes closed as the blond took a moment to deeply breathe in the sea salt air and feel the soft sand beneath his feet. A whispering breeze rustled his hair as the sound of crashing waves brought a sense of calm to Roxas, eagerly welcoming him back with open arms.

In that moment, he felt grounded after being adrift for so long, like a piece of himself was finally righted.

A gentle hand touched his arm, drawing him out of his reverie. He opened his eyes to see Axel looking intently back at him.

“You okay, Roxas?” Axel asked softly, and Roxas could hear the concern clearly in his voice. Roxas thought for a moment, blue searching green as if Axel held the answer in his eyes.

“Yeah, this is perfect,” Roxas smiled genuinely, acutely aware of Axel’s hand still on his arm. Here, with Axel, he felt his aching bones settle beneath his skin, his body aligning with the ocean and the enchanting boy standing before him and the whispered promise of home. That feeling probably should have scared him, since he’d only known the redhead for a short while, but Roxas found himself not even caring, like his heart was being swept away with the tide and he was powerless to resist.

Mermaids were not known for their small emotions.

Voices drew the pair’s attention away from each other and toward the dock where their friends had gathered. Roxas grabbed Axel’s hand as the two walked the length of the beach, lacing their fingers together and not letting go until they reached the end of the pier. It was obvious that everyone was waiting for Sora and Roxas to enter the water first, those who hadn’t witnessed the transformations yet eager to finally see them, Axel probably most of all.

“Ready?” Sora asked his twin, face alight and practically vibrating out of his skin with excitement. At Roxas’ nod, he gave a whoop before running and cannonballing off the end of the dock and into the water with a great splash. The brunet eventually resurfaced, laughing and sputtering water, his long blue tail nearly camouflaged with the colors of the surrounding waves.

“C’mon Roxas!” Sora called from below. Roxas took his time walking to the edge of the dock, turning around at the end so his back was to the water. He paused a moment, eyes roaming over each of his friends' faces before finally landing on Axel. Emerald met ocean readily, easily, and held them for a minute longer.

Then, with a wink and a grin, Roxas allowed himself to fall backward into the waiting arms of the sea, water encapsulating him wholly as he sank into her watery embrace. The change was instantaneous, tail replacing legs as gills reopened and ears elongated. For the first time in a long time, Roxas felt like he could breathe again. He couldn’t remember his last visit to his birthplace.

He debated staying submerged for a little while longer, enjoying the idea of making his friends, of making Axel, wait just that much longer to see him in his true form. But eagerness to see the redhead’s reaction took precedence, and Roxas found himself swimming to the surface. Heads peeking over the edge of wooden planks recoiled as Roxas shook his hair out, leisurely floating backwards so his tail was on display.

No one ever said mermaids weren’t at least a little vain.

Roxas hadn’t been lying when he said his tail looked similar to Sora’s, they were twins after all. Where Sora’s scales were a kaleidoscope of lighter blues, reminiscent of tropical shallow waters and the sky on a bright summer day, Roxas’ were much darker in comparison, like the dark depths of the ocean and the deep blue fringes of a sunset. Flecks of iridescent gold shimmered in the sunlight.

The blond mermaid suddenly found himself nervous to see Axel’s reaction, worried momentarily that this may be too sobering of a reminder of what Roxas truly was. Or perhaps, maybe Axel would deem him entirely repulsive and ugly and refuse to ever speak to him again. Feeling a bit exposed and vulnerable, Roxas ignored the others and sought Axel’s gaze.

Immediately any anxiety or nervousness was banished from Roxas’ head as the redhead’s expression nearly rendered the mermaid breathless. For there, painted on Axel’s face for everyone to easily see, was so much sheer wonder and amazement and longing that Roxas felt himself begin to blush from the intensity of it. He looked as though he’d never seen anything more precious in the world than Roxas, right there and now.

The rest of the group peeled away, Demyx and Kairi laughing and jumping into the water as Riku and Naminé returned to the beach to set up the umbrella before wading in as well.

Demyx immediately began to show off, manipulating the water into giant tidal waves that doused the others, causing many shrieks and retaliating splashes. Only Axel remained on the dock, green eyes still locked on Roxas, unwavering in their adoration.

“So,” Roxas began slowly, “what do you think?” Axel’s head snapped to Roxas’ face as if coming out of a trance, mouth soundlessly opening and closing as he tried to formulate an intelligible response.

“I think,” he finally managed to reply, licking his lips unconsciously, “that you are simply the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” Roxas’ face flushed so intensely at the utter honesty that rang in those words that the blond was forced to dip his head beneath the water for a few moments to collect himself.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments, letting the soothing feel of the water around him calm his overheating face and racing heart. When he finally felt in control of himself once more, Roxas reopened his eyes to see Sora staring at him from a little ways away. His twin cocked his head as a knowing smile danced across his face. Roxas flipped him off and pushed back to the surface.

Axel had moved to sit at the edge of the dock in Roxas’ brief absence, feet dangling above the water. Roxas tilted his head curiously at the witch.

“Aren’t you going to get in?”

“Nah, not just yet. I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy the view for a moment,” Axel replied with a smirk and a wink. Roxas rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. Without another word he ducked back underwater and took the opportunity to really stretch his fins.

Roxas took off toward the horizon, his only focus the wonderful and exhilarating feeling of the ocean surrounding him as he cut through the water. He spiraled as he swam, arms outstretched, and eyes closed in utter contentment.

No purpose or direction, Roxas lost track of how far or long he swam for, only stopping when he realized that he could no longer see land in any direction, could only discern what direction the beach and his friends were with the help of his mermaid senses.

Sighing somewhat forlornly, Roxas allowed himself to simply float for a moment, quieting the small part of his heart that was trying in vain to convince him to swim forever and not look back. But a flashing image of bright green eyes and obnoxiously red hair had him banking back toward the shore at a much slower pace than the one he’d taken off at.

Roxas could feel the presence of his friends long before he could see them, their splashing and shrieking alerting the predator in him that there was vulnerable prey nearby. He began to sneak along as he got closer to the beach, swimming stealthily as he pinpointed his target.

When he was close enough, he charged, springing out of the water in a flurry of sharp nails and bared teeth. Sora hadn’t noticed his approach, much too focused on laughing at whatever game the group was playing, but he was quick to become defensive as Roxas tackled him.

They squared off, and Roxas was reminded of when they used to wrestle as kids, all sharp teeth and flashes of blue scales as they grappled for dominance. The panicked yelling of their friends diminished amidst the hissing and churning water as they realized who the attacker was.

Roxas had always been the better fighter between the two of them, but Sora was determined and scrappy and had many years of defending himself against his twin. Eventually, though, the entangled pair resurfaced, Roxas with his arm around Sora’s neck in a headlock. Sora struggled feebly for a few moments before going limp.

“Gotcha,” Roxas gloated, releasing a pouting Sora.

“No fair, you snuck up on me,” Sora whined.

“Oh shut up Sora, you lost fair and square, no need to make up excuses,” Roxas smirked, dodging the splash Sora sent his way with a laugh. Sora’s only response was to cross his arms over his chest and stick out his tongue. If he had feet, Roxas knew his brother would be stomping them in defiance right about now, just a teenage toddler throwing a tantrum.

The group slowly returned to their game they’d been playing before the interruption, only slightly nervous about a round two in the mermaid showdown arena.

Satisfied in his pursuit to annoy Sora, Roxas found his gaze drawn to the dock and the redheaded barnacle that was still resolutely attached to it. Blue eyes found green easily, Axel’s gaze having barely left Roxas since they’d arrived at the beach.

“You know, it’s really hard to teach someone to swim when they refuse to even get in the water,” Roxas said conversationally as he made his way back over to the end of the pier.

“Now Roxy, no one ever said I’d be that easy,” Axel grinned, raising his eyebrows as he drew out a pause, “to teach, of course.”

Roxas felt a knowing grin of his own begin to form, showing a hint of sharp teeth. He never was one to back down from a challenge. “Oh, of course not. Where would the fun be in that?”

Axel laughed outright at that, and Roxas found himself smiling at the beautiful sound. Here, amongst the melodies of the ocean, that one was definitely his favorite.

“Just get in the water you weenie,” Roxas teased. Axel shook his head, nervously tapping the flowers tattooed on his forearm, changing the colors from pink to blue to yellow.

Axel’s grin diminishing slightly as he regarded the water below him with barely concealed unease. Roxas observed the witch thoughtfully for a moment.

“What are you so afraid of?”

Looking briefly startled at the soft question, like no one had ever bothered to ask him that before, Axel carefully arranged his features into a look of cool nonchalance, only missing the mark by a mile.

“Afraid? Who said anything about being afraid?” he demanded, trying to brush the question off with a casual laugh but falling quite short.

“Axel,” Roxas said flatly, eyebrows raised and face unimpressed.

“It’s normal to be afraid, okay?! Do you know what’s out there? No, you don’t, because nobody does really. There is nothing wrong with having a perfectly healthy fear of the ocean and its creepy crawly inhabitants,” Axel rushed, flipping the switch from calm to defensive almost instantaneously.

“Hey,” Roxas exclaimed with a huff of laughter, “I’m one of those creepy crawly inhabitants, you jackass.” He swatted playfully at Axel’s dangling feet, but the redhead just leveled him with a look.

“Exactly my point,” he sniffed matter-of-factly, causing Roxas to roll his eyes.

“You’re lucky I haven’t taken my final form yet, then,” Roxas teased with a sharp grin, Axel’s eyes going wide in horror. “Yeah, I grow to the size of a boat, and I’ve got three heads and 12 million eyeballs that glow in the dark.” Axel scowled, aiming a kick at a laughing Roxas that the mermaid dodged easily.

Axel was quiet for a minute, frowning as he twisted his hands in his lap. While the situation hardly called for it, Roxas couldn’t help but take a moment to admire Axel’s shirtless state. Sunshine shone brightly off his well-defined chest, and dark ink stood out in stark contrast to the golden sand and shimmering blue waters. Roxas wondered idly how it would feel to trace a particular swirling pattern on Axel’s shoulder with his tongue.

“Besides, fire and water don’t exactly mix,” Axel sighed with a shrug.

“Ah, that explains the smell then,” Roxas retaliated sarcastically, rubbing his chin in mock thought. Axel just huffed and glared at the surface of the ocean below him. Face softening, Roxas regarded the redhead in a moment of silence, only the laughter of the others and the sound of waves hitting the shore playing in the background.

Roxas didn’t need to analyze the witch’s tone to be able to tell that he really truly was nervous, and something deep in his heart hurt at the thought of Axel being so afraid of something so fundamentally important to Roxas’ being. Moreover, Roxas felt an inexplicable need to soothe Axel’s fears, to erase that pinch around his eyes and protect him from harm.

“Seriously, though, Axel, it’s okay to be afraid, but I just ask that you think about what you’re missing out on. I want you to experience my home, with me.” Please be part of my home.

Startled at Roxas’ words and the earnest honesty in his eyes, Axel thought for a minute. He turned his gaze from Roxas to the water, staring at the offending liquid with obvious distrust.

“It’s okay, I asked her to take care of you,” Roxas volunteered with a smile. A red eyebrow arched skeptically toward the sky.

“You asked the ocean to make sure I don’t die a horrible watery death?” Axel asked incredulously, looking a bit concerned for Roxas’ sanity.

A hum, a wink, and a smile. “We’ll have to wait and see what she says, but I’ve got a good feeling. She likes me.” Axel gave a small smile but still didn’t look entirely convinced.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you, I promise.” Roxas held a hand out, sincerity burning deep in his eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Green eyes met a blue so bright they rivaled the marvelous deep waters of the ocean surrounding them, soft and insistent. While Axel may have been nervous to give swimming another try, he would gladly drown in Roxas’ eyes if it meant the other would never stop staring at him like that, with so much light and hope and promise and sincerity and wonder and-

Axel took the proffered hand and allowed himself to be pulled off the dock and into the water without another thought.

The water was cool as it engulfed him, and Axel only struggled to tread water briefly before strong arms helped to steady him. Sputtering, green eyes opened to see a world of blue: blue ocean, iridescent blue scales, and beautiful blue eyes. Axel felt the slight panic that was welling in his chest begin to subside at the look of pure joy on Roxas’ face.

Soft hands came up to frame his face, and Axel barely had time to react as a pair of lips pressed against his forehead in a brief kiss. Roxas said something in a sharp language Axel didn’t understand, and suddenly, he didn’t feel quite so nervous.

A warm feeling embraced the redhead, causing him to feel light and buoyant, less like gravity was trying to drag him underwater and more like the water was pushing to keep him afloat. Axel looked at Roxas with absolute wonder in his eyes.

“See? I told you she liked me,” Roxas said smugly, pulling Axel to shallower water where the redhead could stand comfortably. “And it looks like she likes you, too,” the mermaid all but whispered, face impossibly close to Axel’s. Axel, in turn, could only continue to stare in awe at this strange turn of events.

Maybe he wouldn’t end up drowning a miserable death in the middle of the ocean.

Or, more importantly: maybe Roxas really was a good swim teacher.  

(Maybe he was drowning in an entirely different expanse of blue, soft and sharp and so achingly beautiful. Maybe he didn’t care.)

Here, in the water with Roxas, their friends laughing and splashing around them, Axel felt profoundly safe and secure, like the mermaid had spoken his promise into existence. Shit, Axel didn’t know a lot about mermaid magic, so maybe he actually had. Axel definitely wasn’t going to question it.

The day passed in a haze of sunshine and sea salt, laughter and races and games of chicken. Demyx was overly enthusiastic in showing off, walking across the top of the water like a blond and mulleted Jesus while contorting the water into weird and fantastic shapes.

Kairi and Naminé found an octopus hiding amongst the rocks, and Sora was more than happy to introduce everyone by name, curious tentacles wrapping around fingers and legs and hair as they got acquainted. (Axel teased Roxas about actually being part octopus when the creature latched onto his arm and refused to let go.)

Conversations were held with schools of brightly colored fish by way of bubbles, and games of tag were played with passing stingrays. Racetracks were constructed out of shiny pebbles, and hermit crabs were coerced into racing against each other to much yelling and cheering.

Throughout it all, Roxas stayed close to Axel, sometimes leaving the redhead to chase after Sora or to try to (unsuccessfully) drown Riku but always returning to Axel’s side with a breathless smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

Axel grew to be oddly comfortable in the water, the ocean smooth and gentle in her caresses as he worked to find his footing amongst the waves. Roxas was excellent at slowly coaxing him deeper into the water and showing him how to tread water and do more than doggy paddle to get around.

It didn’t hurt that Axel felt drawn to Roxas like a moth to a flame, uncaring of his previous fears and doubts in the face of the mermaid’s rare unbridled joy at being in the ocean once again. Axel had never seen him more open and carefree, laughing and joking and teasing without reservation. He was enchanting.

At one point, in the middle of a rousing game of Marco Polo (Roxas and Sora were both viciously competitive, to absolutely no one’s surprise), Roxas froze, eyes trained on the distant horizon. At the blond’s sudden change, everyone slowly stopped as well, staring at each other and the mermaid in confusion.

“Roxas?” Kairi asked softly, but Roxas paid her no mind. His brow furrowed in concentration as his head tilted slightly to the side, like a puppy trying to make sense of a far-off noise.

Roxas’ head snapped abruptly to his twin. “Sora!”

Sora, however, was busy trying to avoid being tickled by his boyfriend, paying no attention to Roxas’ odd behavior. Roxas huffed an aggravated sigh before shouting something in that same harsh, otherworldly language. Like a soldier in battle, Sora snapped to attention, eyes intent and questioning on his brother. Roxas just tilted his head back toward the horizon expectantly, and Sora quietly mirrored his actions.

Then, Sora’s face lit up like a kid being gifted a puppy on Christmas morning. He and Roxas shared delighted smiles before they simultaneously disappeared beneath the water, racing away from the beach at frightening speeds.

Everyone else shared a look of utter bewilderment, wondering aloud as to what exactly had just happened. Just as quickly as they’d left, though, Sora and Roxas popped back up, excitement radiating in little whirlpools around them.

“C’mon we have to show you guys something,” Sora said breathlessly, grabbing Riku and tugging him incessantly in the direction he’d just come back from. Demyx used his magic to propel himself, Kairi, and Naminé after the exuberant brunet, leaving only Roxas and Axel behind.

Roxas turned to Axel, eyes warm and expectant. “Well, what do you say Flameo Hotman? Wanna go on an adventure?” Axel nodded without hesitation. Roxas turned around and sank down until water covered his shoulders. With startling clarity, Axel realized that Roxas was waiting for him to grab hold, ready to whisk him off into the great unknown with a piggyback ride.

Pale arms wrapped slowly around tan shoulders, tattooed flowers twisting and writhing at the skin to skin contact in a mad attempt to abandon their creator in favor of the object of his affections. It seemed every part of Axel was just as enchanted with the mermaid as his heart was. Figures.

Roxas took no notice of the shifting ink, turning instead to grin sharply at his passenger, faces so close Axel nearly went cross-eyed trying to keep the blond in focus.

Axel attempted to tamp down the blush furiously attempting to take over his face, too distracted to fully absorb Roxas’ whisper of “hold on” before they took off in the direction the others had headed.

Arms tightening around Roxas’ neck on panicked instinct, Axel was all too grateful the ocean had chosen to bless him with the gift of being able to hold his breath underwater for extended periods of time because Roxas was fast, long muscled tail cutting through the water with little effort. And he seemed to forget quite quickly that he had a human glued to his back like a handsy octopus, which was rather impressive considering how tightly Axel was gripping his shoulders. A passenger who was terrified of the water, at that.

After the first few blindingly frightening moments where Axel was sure that Roxas and the ocean had lied and he actually was going to die a horrible and watery death, the fire witch finally managed to pry his eyes open enough to observe their journey. Death grip relaxing fractionally, green eyes stared in awed wonder as Roxas moved them through the deep salty water with an incredible amount of power and grace, easy movements evidence of the powerful predator that lurked under the shimmering scales.

Axel relished in the feeling of Roxas’ back pressed against his chest, astounded to find himself feeling so peaceful in an environment so ready to mercilessly kill humans. For one breathtaking moment, Axel got the faintest taste of what it must be like to be a mermaid.

It was intoxicating.

They swam for some time, water encapsulating them in a silent tomb. Axel could only wonder at where they were going, where the others were, what had captured Sora and Roxas’ attention so suddenly, when he noticed a collection of dark blobs in the distance steadily growing larger as they approached.

Axel’s jaw dropped open in shock as he realized what the blobs were, his arms going so slack around Roxas’ shoulders that he nearly let go completely. Roxas only laughed at the redhead’s reaction, the sound a melodic chime as it floated through the water, his hands coming up to hold Axel securely in place.

There, looming in front of them, were two humpback whales, massive and elegant as they lingered near the surface.

Approaching the figures, Axel could make out the shapes of his friends hovering around the creatures. In awe of the incredible magnificence in front of him, Axel was rendered absolutely breathless as Roxas gently unwrapped the redhead’s arms from around his neck, depositing him gently in the water next to one of the whales.

Axel couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, could only reach his hand out reverently to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him before faltering. He glanced at Roxas as if asking for permission, and the blond smiled and gave a small nod of his head in return.

Closing the distance, Axel let his fingers run gingerly over scarred skin, feeling the wet rubber beneath his hands but unable to fully comprehend it. A head big enough to crush a car bumped playfully against Axel as the whale dipped below the surface once more. Without a thought Axel followed it, blinking back at an eye nearly the size of his head.

Wonderstruck, Axel froze as he felt the whale all but peer deeply into the essence of his soul, secrets and insecurities on full display, unable to fathom how something so enormous yet gentle could exist in a world full of such darkness and turmoil. The whale blinked before gently nudging Axel with its fin. Its fin that was larger than he was, the redhead dizzily realized.

He wondered idly if the whale could tell that he’d been blessed by a mermaid, by the ocean herself, but the sparkle of something in their eye that Axel could almost identify gave him all the answers he needed. 

He vaguely registered Roxas as he swam lazy laps around the creature, hands gently pressed to smooth skin as he hummed gently. The laugh he gave when the whale trapped him with its fin made Axel’s heart squeeze in his chest.

Axel floated alongside, happy to simply be with the whale as long as it would have him for company. Eventually, the whale pushed back to the surface, blowing a stream of air into the sky as Roxas and Axel also resurfaced. A hand grazed his shoulder, and Axel turned to look at Roxas questioningly.

“It’s time for them to go.”

Axel’s heart fell ever so slightly, but he and the rest of the group understood. Grateful the whales had tolerated their presence, Axel pressed a final farewell kiss above the seam of the whale’s mouth, silently wishing them a safe and happy journey wherever the ocean currents led them.

Next to him Roxas pressed his forehead to the skin next to the whale’s eye, closing his own as he hummed deeply. The whale closed its eyes in return, and the pair stayed pressed together for a few moments. A quick glance over his shoulder showed Axel that Sora was in a similar position with the other whale.

All too soon, though, Roxas pulled away, saying something softly in that harsh language before tugging Axel away. They watched the whales sink below the surface one final time before turning and making their way back toward the shore.

The desire to bask in the sunlight was strong, to stay forever in the salty waves and build a house from sand on the beach, but eventually fingers became pruny and yawns split through smiles as the sun began to sink lower in the sky. The ocean was not their home, and as much as they wanted to, they could not stay forever.

Well.

It wasn’t everyone’s home.

“Do you miss it?”

Blue eyes turned from the picturesque sunset in front of them to the stunning redhead sitting beside him. Golden light bounced off smooth, damp skin, dying rays shone in bright green eyes, and hues of red and orange made his hair even more vibrant, a feat Roxas didn’t even know was possible. Axel looked as if he was on fire.

Roxas couldn’t look away, he wanted to live in this moment forever.

They were on the dock together, sitting back far enough so that Roxas’ tail dangled limply above the water, waiting to shift back into his human form. The last rays of sunlight danced over them as the rest of their friends packed their belongings back into the car.

“Do I miss the ocean?” Roxas scoffed with a raised eyebrow, his piercing glinting sharply. Axel only nodded, green eyes keen and serious as they bore unflinchingly into blue. Roxas felt his face flush inexplicably, and turned his gaze back to the far-off horizon, hoping the light of the sunset might conceal his blushing cheeks from the witch.

“Of course I miss it,” Roxas softly replied after a moment of tranquil silence. The blond could still feel Axel’s eyes on him but couldn’t muster the courage to face him in this moment of sudden vulnerability.  “It’s my home, it’s part of who I am. It’s like if someone took away your magic for long periods of time, and you’re just left with an empty, hollow feeling in your chest. But you’re still expected to go about your day, to live and adapt and act like this major part of your life isn’t missing.”

Axel didn’t say anything, just shifted a bit closer to the blond sitting next to him on the dock. Roxas’ tail twitched absentmindedly, yearning for the ocean despite having been submerged in the water nearly all day.

“A piece of me is a piece of the sea, and it always will be,” Roxas finished, finally turning back to look at Axel. Green eyes were sympathetic as Axel’s mouth turned down in a small frown. He gave a small hum, one that rang with a bit too much pity for Roxas’ liking.

He hadn’t said all that to make Axel feel bad, it had all just, kind of, come out. Seriously, Roxas hadn’t even known Axel existed when he’d made his decision to attend school on land. And, despite everything, all the setbacks and adjustments and restlessness and unquenchable yearning that never seemed to go away, Roxas had never once regretted his decision.

In fact, in recent months, he’d encountered quite a few reasons to be incredibly thankful for his choice in schooling.

Or, really, one specific reason in particular. One chaotic, redheaded, witchy mess of a reason.

Roxas felt the sudden need to explain all this to Axel, much to his silent, abject horror.

“But I don’t regret it, not even for a moment,” is what ended up slipping out of the blond’s mouth, causing Axel’s eyebrows to shoot up, an unreadable look in his eyes. Axel opened his mouth to say something in response, but a voice from the shore cut him off.

“Roxas!” Riku called out, Roxas and Axel turned simultaneously to look at him. “We’re just about all packed up. Sora’s just shifted back. You almost ready?” Roxas sighed, something inside of him told him that it was almost time, that his hour of waiting was almost up.

“Yeah,” he called back, voice carrying over on the wind, “Just a few more minutes and I’ll be good to go.” The silver-haired werewolf just nodded before turning back to the group of people milling about the beach.

Whatever Axel had been about to say before the interruption was forgotten, and Roxas lamented the loss of words he hadn’t even heard. Silence enveloped the pair once more, only the gentle sound of waves crashing on the shore playing as their soundtrack as the sun dipped beneath the horizon and out of sight.

A soft pop sounded as darkness descended, and Roxas heaved a dejected sigh as he looked down and saw distinctly human toes wiggling where his tail fins had just been. Not looking to get any splinters in his bare ass, the blond got to his feet and wrapped a towel around his hips, securing it tightly before looking back to Axel. The redhead was looking anywhere but at the now naked blond, the hint of a faint blush dusting his cheeks all but lost in the twilight.

“C’mon, let’s go before Riku loses his mind and goes all wolfy on us,” Roxas said with a small smile, extending his hand to help Axel up. The witch took it gratefully, standing and dusting himself off.

He briefly mourned the loss of Roxas’ hand in his own, before realizing that the blond had pressed something small and hard into his hand with the gesture. Closer inspection revealed it to be a small rock, smooth from endless impacts of waves upon the shore and a beautiful white color that shone in the moonlight. Most notable, however, was the fact that it had been rounded into the shape of a heart.

Axel looked up questioningly at Roxas, but the blond was already walking leisurely back to the beach and their awaiting friends.

“If you don’t hurry, you’ll end up getting stuck sitting in the middle!”

But Axel could only stare dumbfoundedly between the heart-shaped rock in his hand and the beautiful boy slowly walking away from him, wondering what this could all possibly mean.

(He definitely ended up sitting in the middle, but he found he didn’t care when Roxas fell asleep against his shoulder, snoring lightly the entire way back to campus.)

The library was quiet, the ambient lull of pages turning, keyboards clacking, and shuffling footsteps creating a soothing atmosphere for frazzled students as they worked diligently on their schoolwork.

Well, most of them were working diligently.

Roxas was not.

He had been in the zone, making significant progress on the upcoming project due for his Ocean Mythology class. That is, until Sora and Riku happened upon him and invited themselves to join him at his table, effectively throwing Roxas out of his productive groove.

Now, Sora and Riku sat across from Roxas, talking and laughing and decidedly not doing any work of any kind, much to Roxas’ annoyance. There was a reason he had run away to the farthest corner of the library without telling Sora where he was going in an attempt to work on his project. A reason that Sora had ungraciously destroyed the moment he walked into the library with his boyfriend and opened his big mouth.

Roxas briefly debated the merits and consequences of fratricide as he glanced between his pencil and his brother’s throat, and he wasn’t the only one if the glares being shot their way were any indication. Ultimately, though, the bloodstain would be a bitch to get out of his textbook, and he really needed the full resale value on that thing come the end of the semester.

Plus, if judging by the way the keys on his keyboard were still a tad sticky from the one time he’d accidentally spilled soda on his laptop, Roxas figured adding blood to the mix probably wasn’t the best idea.

So, productive mood ruined and murder plans shelved for later, he turned to his phone in a desperate attempt to escape Sora and Riku’s distracting and sickening display of affection happening in front of him.

Roxas stifled a laugh as he watched yet another Vine compilation video, his Ocean Mythology project all but forgotten on the table in front of him, when Axel suddenly appeared. Roxas may have summoned him with a Snapchat photo of Sora and Riku making out with a captioned plea of please come save me before I decapitate someone, I’m begging you, but that was neither here nor there.

“Wow, what model, hard-working students you lot are,” Axel laughed as he flopped down in the seat next to Roxas, drawing glares and shushes from a number of already irate students around them. Maybe inviting the redhead had been a bad idea, but it was a little late for that now. Roxas began a mental countdown of just how long it would take them to get kicked out of the library.

There went any remaining hope of finishing his project.

Axel’s arrival did achieve its intended purpose of startling Sora and Riku apart, though, so Roxas counted it as at least a partial win.

“Wow, I’m surprised they let you in here, with all this kindling just sitting around,” Roxas fired back immediately, dropping his phone back on the table.

“Excuse you, I’ll have you know that I used to have a work study job here at the library freshman year.” Axel squawked indignantly, much too loud for the ambiance of the library. The countdown in Roxas’ head moved a few ticks lower, but his interest was admittedly piqued.

“And?” Riku drawled with a knowing smirk as he wrapped an arm around the back of Sora’s chair. “Go on, tell ‘em what happened, Ax.”

“Well, I may or may not have accidentally started a small fire in the rare tomes section, completely harmless, honestly, but they didn’t seem to think so, so they fired me,” came Axel’s sheepish admission, voice noticeably a few decibels lower as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Two pairs of blue eyes widened slightly, eyebrows skyrocketing, before Sora and Roxas burst into surprised peals of laughter, Riku joining in in the face of Axel’s mounting embarrassment. The death glares sent their way went unheeded in the face of the group’s - minus Axel’s - amusement, until a stern librarian furiously shushed them. The countdown timer inched ever lower.

Giggling intermittently at the thought of Axel the disaster human literally burning down a portion of the library, Roxas fought to regain his composure. Axel was blushing furiously at being so vigorously laughed at, his face nearly as red as his hair.

“Where do you work now? Somewhere equally as flammable?” Sora eventually managed to ask, wiping tears from his eyes. Riku, ever the chivalrous boyfriend, leaned over to help, causing Roxas to roll his eyes.

“I’m actually a TA for my Weapons Making professor,” Axel sniffed, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. Roxas was definitely not staring at the way the muscles in the redhead’s arms rippled, dark ink shifting as flowers began to bloom and change color.

“Wow,” Roxas replied with an arched eyebrow and appreciative nod, sounding faintly impressed.

“Thanks, I know, pretty impressive, right?” smirked Axel, chest puffing as his earlier embarrassment was all but forgotten. It’s about time Roxas took note of his awesomeness.

“No, I’m just surprised they willingly let a massive idiot like you around all the pointy knives and shit, given your propensity to injure yourself and others.”

Axel deflated slightly. Damn, so close.

“Hey!” he cried sullenly as Riku and Sora broke out in barely muffled snickers. The countdown timer was almost at its end, surely.

“Is it just a natural inclination for you to light everything you touch on fire?” Roxas continued as if Axel hadn’t said anything, adopting a look of faux seriousness and even going so far as to stroke his chin in mock thought. Axel smirked at the teasing, leaning forward with his eyes narrowed in a challenge.

“Not everything,” he whispered, green eyes bright. Fingers brushed Roxas’ arm and he suddenly felt a very different type of fire burn in his veins. Yes everything.

Doing his best to appear unphased, Roxas cleared his throat and forced his gaze away from Axel and back to his abandoned laptop.

“I’m thinking yes, everything,” he murmured sarcastically. Axel snorted.

“Whatever you say, Mermaid Man.”

Roxas couldn’t help the smile that slid across his face at that. “Does that make you Barnacle Boy?”

“Nah, that makes Sora Barnacle Boy,” Axel responded with a sharp grin.

Roxas paused and took a moment to think that over before giving a small shrug. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Sora was currently trying to balance a pencil on his nose, having lost interest in Roxas and Axel’s conversation a while ago. Riku was cheering him on.

“I’d hate to be anyone who depended on us to fight any bad guys,” Roxas added wryly, sharing a look and a smile with Axel.

“Hey, I heard that!”

The countdown timer finally went off.

It was dark by the time Roxas and Axel had left the dining hall. Life had kept them busy in the recent weeks, classes and exams and projects demanding all their time and attention. While their Snapchat streak was alive and thriving, this was the first time they’d been able to actually spend time with each other in a while without the pressure of imminent deadlines looming on the horizon.

The walkways and commons were mostly deserted as they unhurriedly made their way back to Roxas’ dorm, only undead students hurrying on their way to night class and the occasional mortal student hurrying to the library for some last-minute studying.

The night was warm and calm, and Roxas felt something loosen and settle in his chest the longer he lingered in Axel’s presence, something that he hadn’t even noticed had tightened uncomfortably as they’d been apart. He felt at ease, comfortable, happy.

He was in the middle of laughing at something Axel had said, something dumb about a raccoon and some bells and, inevitably, accidentally lighting something on fire, when a clicking sound began in the grass next to the walkway. Roxas only had about a half of a second to ponder the noise before he was pressed back solidly into a stone column.

Stunned, all of Roxas’ senses were suddenly overtaken by Axel, bodies pressed together from chest to toe as Axel’s arms came up to bracket his head. Axel’s sweet smokey scent flooded Roxas’ nose, and green eyes were so close he could count all the gold flecks, the deep forests, the endless universes trapped within them. Roxas could’ve given a TED talk about the exact color of Axel’s eyes right then, but for all the languages he knew, he suddenly found he couldn’t remember how to form even a single word as Axel stared down at him.

The clicking noise persisted, and Roxas distantly realized the automatic sprinklers had turned on to water the common area. Except the sprinklers were poorly aligned and were watering more concrete walkway than grass. The only thing stopping Roxas from getting wet and undergoing an unplanned outdoor transformation was Axel’s body pressing him out of harm’s way.

“You’re being watered,” Roxas found himself saying dumbly, eyes wide as he stared at Axel, unable to look away. Or breath, even. Axel just laughed, completely unbothered. At this distance, Roxas could feel the witch’s breath on his face. If he just reached up ever so slightly, he could-

“What can I say, I’m quite the delicate flower,” Axel teased, the shrug of his shoulders more pronounced due to their proximity. Roxas couldn’t help but smile, cheeks pinkening as his heart thundered desperately in his chest. For all his ancient power and supernatural strength, Roxas couldn’t move, powerless in the face of the redhead’s intoxicating warmth and energy.

“You didn’t have to do this, you know,” Roxas said quietly, feeling the need to whisper lest he talk too loudly and scare Axel away. He tore his gaze away from captivating green eyes to look at Axel’s chest, which wasn’t much better for his sanity really because wow, that was quite a nice chest. Roxas could picture it wet and glistening, could trace the tattoos that cover it with his eyes closed. He could see Axel’s pulse humming in his throat, could smell the sweet scent of the blood as it pumped through his heart. His hands came up to idly play with the material of Axel’s shirt.

“I know,” Axel said simply, Roxas’ eyes jumping back up to meet his gaze. “Couldn’t have you getting wet, though. I know how prissy his royal highness gets when it comes to being carried.” Roxas glared, face darkening. If there had been even an inch of space between them, he’d have crossed his arms over his chest.

“Awe, don’t pout, Roxy” Axel cooed. “There’s no need to get all huffy about my nice and selfless good deed.” The words rushed over Roxas’ face, and it took everything in him to suppress the shudder that threatened to overtake his body.

“‘M not pouting,” Roxas definitely pouted, much to Axel’s amusement, which Roxas got to experience up close. At this point, Roxas was convinced his face would never return to a normal color. He simultaneously wanted to murder the maintenance workers who programed the sprinklers and praise them endlessly.

“C’mon, Rox,” Axel murmured softly, shifting slightly, and Roxas was reminded all at once just how much of their bodies were touching. “Just say it, it’s simple really. I know you want to.”

Roxas’ heart rate went into overdrive, eyes widening at Axel’s implication. Roxas felt overwhelmed, like he’d just swam 20 laps around the planet. Did Axel really want-

“Just say it: thank you.”

Oh.

Roxas could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating.

He wanted to die.

Of course that’s what he meant.

“Thank you,” Roxas managed to whisper as the sprinklers finally stopped, hoping with every fiber of his being that Axel heard the undercurrent, the words Roxas desperately wanted to say but didn’t. Judging by the twinkle in his eye as he slowly pulled away, it was a safe bet that Axel heard them loud and clear.

“I could totally be a firebender.”

“Yeah, sure, you wish you were that cool.”

“I can literally conjure fire, you dickhead.”

“Yeah, and half the time it’s an accident, and the other half you just light dumb shit on fire. You’re like a literal walking disaster. You’d be a terrible firebender.”

“Wow, rude, I’d be a kick ass firebender, and you know it. Man, imagine, that would be so lit.”

“Oh god, please don’t get a bad haircut and start talking about restoring your honor.”

There was a loud bark at the door, followed by a long and low whine.

Suddenly awake, Roxas blearily looked at his phone only to see that it was nearly two in the morning.

Roxas was going to kill Sora.

Another bark, some more whining, and what sounded like scratching at the door.

“Sora go get your damn boyfriend,” Roxas all but growled across the room.

Silence.

More whining and scratching at the door.

“Sora!” Roxas yelled, taking one of his pillows and whipping it at his twin. It hit Sora with a surprising amount of force, causing him to shoot up in bed as he was startled awake.

“Hm, wha?” Sora mumbled confusedly.

“Go get your goddamn boyfriend before I rip out his vocal cords,” Roxas seethed as he attempted to snuggle back into his warm cocoon of blankets, silently lamenting the loss of one of his pillows. His words were punctuated by yet another bark outside the door.

Sora stumbled out of bed and haphazardly made his way across the room, throwing the door open and wincing at the sudden flood of light. Roxas narrowed his eyes as a large and fluffy white wolf forced his way into the dorm.

“Riku?” Sora asked around a yawn, rubbing at his eyes tiredly, “what’s goin’ on?” The door to their dorm swung shut, enclosing the room in blissful darkness once again. Riku stood in between Roxas and Sora’s beds and whined once again.

Sora shuffled back over to the oversized wolf, eerily reminiscent of a sleepy toddler, and threaded his fingers into the soft white fur. Riku looked up at Sora and barked again before gently bumping his head into Sora’s stomach. When Sora didn’t move or say anything more, Riku continued to bark and whine.

“What is it Lassie? Is Timmy stuck in a well?” Roxas muttered mockingly. Luminescent aquamarine eyes glared at him through the darkness as Riku growled at the blond. Roxas, in turn, just shrugged in response, unperturbed. “Sorry, dude, my wolf is a little rusty. That’s Sora’s department.”

At the sound of his name, said brunet seemed to snap out of his daze somewhat. “Wha?” Sora mumbled intelligently.

Heaving an agitated sigh, Roxas said a mental mournful goodbye to the idea of being able to go back to sleep any time soon and sat up in bed. He glared at his twin and briefly debated braining him with another pillow, before deciding he didn’t want to sacrifice another piece of bedding, no matter how badly he wanted to strangle Sora.

“C’mon Sora, you’re the language major. This is literally your realm of expertise, so please get your head out of your ass and figure out what the fuck your boyfriend wants so that I can fucking go back to sleep!”

Roxas’ shouting seemed to finally do the magic trick as Sora’s eyes snapped back into focus. He absentmindedly stroked Riku’s head, concentrating as the wolf once again began whining, aquamarine eyes staring beseechingly up at Sora in an excellent rendition of a puppy dog expression that Roxas would definitely be making fun of Riku for for a long time.

“He wants us to go with him,” Sora eventually translated, more of a confused question than a statement. Roxas arched a questioning eyebrow.

“Go where, exactly?”

Sora frowned as his eyebrows drew together in concentration. “He won’t say. He just keeps saying that we need to go with him, and that it’s important,” Sora replied, looking at Roxas in confusion as if the blond could provide any clarification.

“Don’t look at me, he’s your weird ass boyfriend,” Roxas snorted, a level of judgement evident in his gaze as he eyed his twin incredulously. Riku gave a soft growl in response, which Roxas ignored entirely, choosing instead to flop back down on his bed with an exasperated sigh. Sora hummed softly at Riku, scratching behind his ears as the wolf preened under the attention.

Silence momentarily enveloped the room, but it was short lived when Riku began whining once again. Honestly, it was a wonder the neighbors hadn’t gotten fed up and tried to murder Roxas and Sora in their sleep at this point, what with the number of late-night supernatural visitors they got.

“He’s not going to stop, is he?” Roxas eventually groaned, hands coming up to scrub tiredly over his face. The look Riku leveled him with was enough of an answer. “Fine,” the blond sighed defeatedly as he slowly began to climb out of bed, “let’s go get murdered, courtesy of one dumbass werewolf.”

Riku’s ears picked up and he practically began to wag his tail as the twins began to gather keys, jackets, phones, and shoes (Roxas was so making fun of him for all this later, he vowed to be even more relentless than normal). “This is so cutting into my plans to get murdered next week, though.” Roxas muttered. The wolf barked once more.

“He says to bring blankets and pillows,” Sora said, reaching to grab the bedding off his bed. Roxas froze momentarily in putting his shoes on.

“The fuck?” Roxas asked, eyeing his brother and the large wolf in the middle of the room skeptically. But Sora only shrugged his shoulders, offering no further explanation. Roxas’ aggravated sigh bordered on a growl as he turned and grabbed his pillow and a blanket off his bed.

Once they had everything they trailed after Riku on a trek across campus, Roxas grumbling under his breath the entire way. Across the commons, a group of vampire students chattered on their way to their night classes. Roxas idly wondered at the likelihood of one of them putting him out of his misery if he asked them nicely enough.

His confusion only continued to mount as they approached a familiar dorm building, confirming Roxas’ suspicions as they stopped in front of an even more familiar door. In a move reminiscent of their first meeting, Roxas didn’t hesitate to start pounding on the door in front of him relentlessly, only stepping back when it swung open suddenly.

“What the fuck?” Axel all but growled, his scowl transforming into a slight smirk when he fully registered who was at the door. The redhead arched an eyebrow, rubbing at his eyes and yawning. “Sorry, I don’t remember ordering room service.”

“Like you could afford us,” Roxas muttered, rolling his eyes as he pushed past Axel, Sora and Riku following behind him. Axel froze for a moment before numbly shutting the door.

Roxas immediately dropped his armful of bedding on the ground and proceeded to faceplant on Axel’s bed. The sheets were still warm as he snuggled in, sighing in contentment. Demyx was blinking owlishly on the other bed, obviously displeased at being awoken.

“Not that I don’t love seeing you guys, especially given the hour,” Axel began after collecting himself, ignoring the middle finger Roxas gave him, “what the fuck are you guys doing here?”

Riku gave a sharp bark followed by a low whine, effectively startling a dozing Demyx into full wakefulness. The wolf looked up at Sora expectantly as the mermaid stroked his head thoughtfully.

“He says that it’s the full moon, and we all need to be together for the full moon,” Sora translated. Eyebrows arched all over the room.

“And why, pray tell, is that, Sora?” Axel asked tiredly. Riku barked again, his whining continuing as he rubbed his face against Sora’s side. Sora, in turn, gave a soft, incredulous laugh.

“Seriously, Riku?” Sora questioned softly, a small smile spreading across his face. Riku’s whines were approaching painfully high frequencies.

“What?” Axel huffed with mild irritation. Sure, he was always happy to see Roxas, but he didn’t necessarily appreciate being woken up just to play 20 questions.

And no, the irony of the situation was not lost on him.

“He says that we’re pack, and that’s what pack does,” Sora explained fondly, his voice ringing in the ensuing silence. Roxas sat up, eyebrows raised high as everyone in the room, save Sora, stared at the wolf in shock. Sora pressed a kiss to Riku’s furry forehead. A beat more of silence encapsulated the room.

“You consider us pack?” Demyx asked, surprise coloring his voice. Roxas didn’t need to be fluent in wolf to understand that the look Riku leveled each of them with was a resounding yes.

“Um, but don’t we have to be werewolves to be a pack?” Axel questioned uncertainly after a moment.

“Not necessarily,” Roxas surprised everyone by responding, all eyes in the room turning to stare at him as he shrugged his shoulders. “Pack is more of a guideline than a hard rule. It can be composed of anyone, really. Pack is the family you find.” A stunned silence fell over the room once more, interrupted only by the soft hum of the filter on Calcifer’s fish tank and Riku making soft chuffing noises as Sora stroked his ears.

“Well,” Axel said, startling everyone with a clap of his hands, “not that this isn’t incredibly heartwarming and touching, truly, and I’m sure we’re all over the moon about it and dying to kiss and hug each other in celebration, but it’s early and I’m thinking we could all use some sleep.” Grumbled agreement filled the air as pillows and blankets were arranged into a massive heap on the floor.

A gentle knock at the door revealed a sleepy Naminé next to an auburn colored wolf, both joining the impromptu sleepover on the floor without comment. A tangle of limbs, fur, and unruly hair, it was difficult to tell where one person ended and another began.

Roxas found himself practically draped across Axel’s chest, hand entwined with his brother’s and feet trapped between Naminé’s as something furry settled solidly behind him. He pressed his face into Axel’s neck, inhaling the sharp smokiness of the redhead’s scent and feeling safe, protected, and warm as he began to drift back off to sleep.

Except, Axel’s hand was rubbing soothing circles on Roxas’ lower back, and while that by itself was absolutely heavenly, Roxas could practically hear the witch’s heartbeat and thoughts racing double-time, which was more than a little distracting.

The last thing he needed right now was for Axel to set the dorm on fire. Again.

“Less chaos, more sleep, Lava Girl,” Roxas mumbled gently, patting Axel’s chest as he placed a quick sleepy kiss on his collar bone. Axel froze for a moment before breathing a small huff of laughter.

“Sure thing, Shark Boy,” Axel murmured, the soft kiss he placed on Roxas’ forehead the last thing the blond registered before his dreams finally reclaimed him.

“I wish I could see your magic,” Roxas sighed wistfully from where he was sprawled across Axel’s bed. Axel raised an eyebrow in question. “I mean, like, fully, you know?” Roxas continued, gesticulating wildly with his hands as he studied patterns in the ceiling, “Like see it, see it, in all its glory. You’ve seen me in my element, I just wish I could see you in yours.” He sat up finally, considering Axel thoughtfully, almost wistfully.

“Besides, fire isn’t a super common thing at the bottom of the ocean,” he continued wryly. Axel could only gape like an awestruck guppy, unable to form even a single coherent thought at the blond’s nonchalant admission. “I assume it’s probably against the rules, though, since you’re literally a walking fire hazard and they don’t want you to burn down the dorms like you did the library, not that that’s ever stopped you before.”

For as long as they’d been spending time together, and even though it was Roxas’ favorite thing to tease Axel about, Roxas had never actually seen Axel light anything on fire. At least, not substantially or intentionally. And judging by the look dawning on Axel’s face, Roxas could tell that the witch was just now realizing this, too.

Roxas fidgeted in the silence that followed his confession, inexplicably nervous. He fiddled with a pair of hematite gemstones, watching as Calcifer swam between the artificial plants his tank. Just when he couldn’t bear it anymore, couldn’t handle the tension, he opened his mouth to apologize, to take it back, to say something, anything -

Axel looked at him, fire bright in his eyes and mouth set in a determined line. Roxas’ jaw snapped shut. Suddenly, Axel was up and across the room, tugging Roxas off the bed with tight fingers around his wrist and leading them out the door.

Going willingly, Roxas was shocked at the redhead’s uncharacteristically quiet resolve and immensely curious about their intended destination. Roxas allowed Axel to march them across the commons without question, campus all but deserted for the weekend.

They stopped eventually in front of one of the oldest buildings on the university’s property, and Roxas could feel the magic running deep in the stone foundation, curling through the bricks and skittering across the floor like broken shafts of sunlight. Roxas shuddered at the raw power that emanated from it.

It was the witchcraft building, home to nearly every class a witch could want to take, deeply imbued with the magic of witch students from bygone generations. Roxas watched in wonder as Axel swiped his student ID to unlock the door before tugging them both inside, fingers firm and insistent against Roxas’ skin.

They wound through a maze of hallways and classrooms, passing storage closets full of cauldrons and broomsticks, shelves of dusty textbooks and dried flowers, and wide, empty rooms that Roxas could only guess the purposes of. Axel paid no attention to any of it, clearly familiar with the building’s layout and on a mission to get to their destination.

They abruptly stopped in front of a large door, its age evident in the weathered wood and rough metal. Axel, who still had yet to utter a single word to Roxas, let go of the blond’s wrist as he dug through his pockets to produce a set of equally aged keys. Roxas missed the warmth and contact immediately.

He didn’t have long to mourn, though, as Axel pushed the door open and grabbed Roxas’ arm once more, leading them into a room that looked strikingly like a blacksmith’s shop. Great forges and anvils crowded the room, and the strong scent of smoky metal flooded Roxas’ senses. This must be the weapons making room where Axel spent so much of his time as a TA.

That would explain the smell then.

Roxas didn’t have much time to take anything in, however, as Axel persistently tugged him to a small, innocuous door in the back of the room. He opened it easily, and Roxas had to squint at the sudden sunlight that assaulted his eyes.

They were in a large, grassy clearing with a raised stone platform in the middle, surrounded on all sides by the building’s tall rocky walls. It seemed to be a courtyard of sorts, protected from the outside world except for the bright blue expanse of sky stretching above them.

Axel released Roxas once more and stepped up to the center of the platform. Roxas followed a beat later, gazing at the witch before him curiously but hesitant to break the silence that had settled around them. 

“Do you trust me?” Green eyes bored into blue, and Roxas found himself nodding without a second thought. A grin broke out across the redhead’s face as he held his hand out to the blond in a silent invitation. Roxas barely glanced at it for a second before returning his gaze back to Axel’s mesmerizing eyes, reaching out to take the witch’s hand without a moment of hesitation. It was laughable. Axel had not hesitated to grab Roxas and drag him across campus, but this he asked permission for. 

The moment their skin connected, flames erupted around the two of them, dancing around them in a storm of sparks and heat. Roxas was absolutely spellbound, mouth open in wonder as he tore his gaze away from Axel’s, watching transfixed as the fire seemed to engulf them. Flames brushed across Roxas’ cheek, nipped at his heels, licked at their entwined fingers, all without ever leaving a mark.

Axel’s eyes never strayed from Roxas’ face, captivated by the look of fascination and adoration shining there. It made the witch’s heartbeat stutter, feeding into the intensity of the magical firestorm whipping around them.

Even though Axel hadn’t moved from his position in front of Roxas, the blond felt like his entire being was utterly engulfed in the redhead’s presence, like he was drowning in a sea of fire and ash and electricity and heat and Axel was his only hope of salvation. Inexplicably breathless, Roxas finally drew his eyes back to Axel’s face, unable to resist the intensity of the witch’s gaze for long.

“This is absolutely incredible,” Roxas breathed, unsure if his voice would be heard over the magic crackling between them. The heat flashing across Axel’s face had nothing to do with the flames swirling around them, so Roxas suspected the other heard him loud and clear. “You’re incredible,” he continued, moving closer until he stood toe to toe with Axel, their faces inches apart and their chests practically touching.

In the back of his mind, Roxas was once again reminded of just how tall Axel was as he was forced to crane his head back to maintain eye contact with the redhead.

Roxas brought his free hand up to cup Axel’s cheek, flames sparking from his fingertips as they trailed delicately across the witch’s skin. Axel opened his mouth to respond, to say something witty and stupid, surely, but was cut off when Roxas surged up onto his tiptoes, pulling Axel down and connecting their lips in a fiery kiss.

After overcoming a brief moment of shock, Axel kissed Roxas back with a matched level of passion and fervor, free arm wrapping around the blond’s waist to hold him impossibly closer as the intensity of the maelstrom of fire around them increased tenfold, whipping at their clothes and hair with renewed intensity.

They kissed like the world was ending, like they had all the time in the world.

Pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against Axel’s when the need to breathe became too much, Roxas couldn’t help the grin that overtook his face, the warmth spreading through his body having both nothing and everything to do with the enchanting witch standing before him. Opening eyes he hadn’t even realized he’d closed, Roxas could only laugh to see the exact same expression mirrored on Axel’s face.

As it turns out, fire tasted a lot like lemon-lime soda, like fireflies in the heat of summer and marshmallows burnt to a crisp. Like blood in the water and kisses over scraped knees. Like molten metal being forged into weaponry. Like a sunset bursting through Roxas’ veins and saturating all of his senses. Like heat and warmth and smokey ash.

Fire tasted like Axel, and, inexplicably, like home.