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Roxas looked up at Axel as he heard him get near him. He pushed himself upright int he water and looked at him curiously. As soon as his hands touched Roxas's face, the blond's eyes fluttered closed. He felt his stomach flutter as Axel basically pressed his cheek against Roxas's to whisper in his ear. He felt himself relax as Axel's hands slid down his neck and rested on his shoulders. Roxas barely recognized the touch of Axel's skin beneath his hands as he unconsciously rested them on the redhead's upper arms as they stayed like that for a few more moments.

As Axel pulled back, Roxas had to take a few more seconds before his eyes fluttered back open to look back into Axel's beautiful greens, his own eyes calm paired with a smile on his lips. He looked him over for a second then leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek in thanks for showing him this wonderful place. Then he slowly slid his arms from his skin as he floated away, diving beneath the water once more as he swam away.

He resurfaced by the edge of the lake and walked onto the land, slowly making his way back up onto the small cliff and plopping down on the edge, dangling his legs off of the side of it just above the water. He allowed himself to lay back on the grass and stared up at the bright blue sky, feeling the sun kissing his skin.

Roxas sat up on that cliff basically for the rest of the time he was there. He had a nice view of the area, and the breeze hit him just right. He could even see the sun begin to set, colors bursting through the sky.

Eventually, Roxas heard Axel call his name, and he looked up. He had no idea how much time had gone by, but he was sure his dad Watkins of worrying about him. He began to stand as Axel mentioned leavong, and then he heard a large splash. Standing straight, he laughed a little at Zexion's appearance...and then realized something was wrong. Where was Axel? Eyes wide, he began hauling a** to the pier before Zexion even realized Axel wasn't coming up.

He dove surprisingly gracefully off of the pier and into the water, looking around to see what was going on. He spotted Axel trying feebly to get his shorts uncooked from a piece of wood that had splintered off of the leg of the pier. He quickly swam down, grabbed the fabric and yanked, successfully ripping the pants free. Then he shoved the redhead upwards, forcing him to the surface as he supported himself and a dazed Axel.

"Help! Get him up there!" He called to Zexion as he resurfaced, gasping for breath. With a struggle, they got the knocked-silly Axel on tge pier, Roxas dragging himself up there not long after. He immediately checked Axel's breathing and pulse before pushing him over onto his side slightly so he could cough up any water in his lungs. Then Roxas forced himself to relax.

"He hit his head when he fell, I think. And he was dazed from that so he couldnt get his shorts unhooked from a piece of wood sticking out of the pier. He should be fine, but you should probably drive, Zexion. I have a feeling he's going to be napping on the way back," he explained, feeling Axel's back muscles relaxing beneath his hand. "Luckily, I worked as a lifeguard over the summer, so I knew how to respond instead of freezing up like I used to," he said with a sigh, looking over Axel's form.

Roxas grimaced as Axel sat up and they all saw the injuries. He began rubbing his back gently with Zexion, fingers ghosting over the lotus carved into his back.

"I'll be right back," Roxas said softly as he carefully stood and walked back down the pier to the grass. He located his shirt and picked it up, bringing it back over to them. He squatted down and glanced over Axel's wounds once more before gripping his shirt, ripping a strip of fabric off. "Hey, be still for a second," he instructed Axel and wrapped the strip of cloth around his head, covering the wound as gently as he could before tying it tight. Then he looked at his hip. "Damn. Well, that's not bleeding, but you scraped a good few layers of skin off. It'll probably be a nice scar for a few years, but it should fade away. Unfortunately, I don't think your shorts are going to make it. Though, I'd rather the shorts die than you, " he told him softly, rubbing his back again.

"I say we hang out and dry out for like thirty minutes," he suggested as he stood and stretched. "I'm gonna go grab my phone to check it real quick and let my dad know I'll be home in about an hour so he's not worrying as much. I'll be right back," he told them and headed towards the car. He figured Zexion wanted some time with Axel anyway to truly make sure he was alright, anyway.

So he got to the car and dug around in his bag, successfully locating his phone. He pulled it out and winced. Three missed calls and four texts. From his dad. "Sssshiiiiiit," he groaned and plopped down on the hood of the car, calling him back and taking a deep breath. He had a feeling he was about to get an earful.

Roxas grimaced at his dad's yelling, pulling the phone away from his ear slightly until he quieted down a bit. He gave a silent sigh then began speaking. "Dad, calm down, okay? I'm fine. I'm with Axel and Zexion at a lake, and we're heading home soon. I should be home in, like, an hour. Then I"ll give you a big hug for thirty minutes, and you can ground me for however long I need to be grounded. I promise I'm alright. I actually saved Axel's life a few minutes ago. Just...calm down until I get home, and don't have a heart attack. You're not even forty yet," he said with a small laugh. "So, if I'm not home in an hour, thenyou can start really freaking out. But, are you gonna be okay until I get there? Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?" he asked as a legitimate question, quieting his voice as Zexion came near the car. "I really didn't mean to make you freak out. I'm sorry. I didn't think about it," he told him gently.

Roxas frowned deeply at the distress in his dad's voice. He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared down at the dimmed screen dully. Great. He upset him. But he just wanted to go do something spontaneous for one day. And it wasn't like he hadn't texted his dad beforehand so he at least knew why he wasn't home. He gave a sigh then tossed his phone back into the back seat.

He looked up at Zexion as he spoke to him. He looked down at the shirt held out to him and nodded. "Thanks," he told him with a small smile, taking the shirt into his hands. He looked down at it for a moment then back up at Zexion. "Look, I...I just want to be clear that I'm not trying to use you guys or anything. I legitimately do think you guys are cool, and I want to be your friend. I mean, I'm sure you're not as completely oblivious as that doofus and can see that I have a thing for him, and that obviously started this whole venture, but I'm not treating him like prey or anything. I'm not that person. I may be questionable sometimes, and you can blame my love for horror movies for that mostly, but I try not to be a bad person," he told him. "I wanted to tell you that earlier, but you kind of dramatically exited the vehicle before I could get the chance to form words."

His attention then shifted to Axel quickly as he heard the yelp. He stared at him for a moment then laughed softly. "You're kind of hopeless, you know that?" he teased the redhead loudly as he walked over to him. He bent down and carefully hoisted him up, letting the redhead lean on him. "Come on, you oaf," he said with a chuckle as he walked with him back towards the car with him slowly.

"Hmm?" Roxas hummed as Zexion asked if he was cool with going home. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, my dad wants me home as soon as possible anyway. I think I really freaked him out. I never really do anything spontaneous like this, so it threw him off. I have to say, though, it was nice being invited to something. That doesn't usually happen, and it was hella fun even if I almost gave my dad a heartattack. And, ya know, even if you did almost die," he told them, looking back at Axel with a small grin. "However, if you had actually died, I would definitely not be this happy. No one dies on my watch, no matter what's happening," he told them with a nod and ran his fingers through his hair. "Lemme go grab my shorts, and I'll be good," he told them both, trotting off to grab the piece of clothing from the ground. He glanced back at them before hiding behind a tree and stripping his underwear off, pulling on his dry shorts and Axel's tank top. He wadded up his underwear in his fist and wrung it out before making his way back to the two of them. "Alright. I'm good," he told them with a smile, adjusting the waistband of his shorts briefly.

Roxas hopped into the backseat of the car and buckled himself in. He heard the rumble of the engine starting before they were taking off down the road. Roxas directed them towards his house as they began to reach civilization once more, and found himself getting more and more anxious the closer they got to it. He had really freaked his dad out, and he really didn't want to get into a fight with him about it.

Roxas usually didn't get to go anywhere because both of his groups of friends kind of left him out of everything. Occassionally, one of them would invite him to hang out, but that was basically the end of it. He didn't know why it was like that, but there was nothing he could do to really help it, so he just got used to being left out. But finally someone wanted to include him in something, and it was someone he had just met. It didn't matter to him that it was out of the blue, just that he was having fun with other people for once. He guessed he should have thought about how his dad would feel before he just ran off with two practically-strangers to somewhere he didn't know about or how to get to.

He sighed softly as he saw his house coming nearer. He was trying to mentally prepare himself for the lashing he was about to get from his dad, but it wasn't really working. He pulled his bookbag to him and gripped his skateboard as Zexion pulled up in front of the house. Roxas plastered on a smile before leaning forward and patting Zexion on the shoulder. "Thanks. I'd thank him, too, but he's obviously knocked out," he said with a soft laugh then opened the door. He slid out and slung his bag over his shoulder, picking up his skateboard. "I wouldn't object to another hanging-out sometime. Just saying," he told Zexion with a slightly forced grin then shut the door. He walked around the back of the car and started up his lawn, waving back to Zexion as the guy started pulling away.

As soon as Roxas reached the door, he took a steeling breath, and then pushed the thing open, hand on the knob. "I'm--Oh. Um, I'm home," he said a little nervously as he saw his dad waiting for him on the couch. He shut the door quietly and dropped his bag to the floor, leaning his skateboard up against the wall. He stood there a little awkwardly before mumbling a, "'M sorry..," and looking down at his fiddling fingers.

Roxas gave a soft sigh as Cloud spoke. He could deal with telling him about the whole "coming out" thing and hanging out unexpectedly with Axel and Zexion...it was the fighting he was worried about. Because he never started anything. It was never actually his fault, not to mention the fact that he found out that Seifer had a huge crush on him, apparently.

Grudgingly, he shuffled over to the armchair that was perpendicular to the couch and held his face in his hands briefly before looking up at his dad. "Okay," he started with a small huff. "I guess I should take this one step at a time... First, the gay thing. I'm not... I don't know. I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you, Dad, and you may be a little appaled to hear about it, but I haven't exactly...experimented with many people, you know? I don't want to put a label on it... I just...I'm really attracted to this guy I've seen around school and actually just started talking to yesterday on the bus. I don't know what to call it," he told him then glanced around the room briefly.

"And...I really didn't mean to run off like that today. I just... Someone finally invited me to go hang out with them and do something for once, and I couldn't resist, Dad. And I really had a lot of fun," he said with a little laugh, looking down at the floor with a little smile. "We literally just went out to this little lake right outside of town and swam and hung out for a few hours. We didn't even really talk all that much. Well...I did, until Axel told me to shut up in the nicest way," he told the older blond man with a smile and a light blush on his cheeks from the memory of being so close to Axel. "His friend Zexion I don't think liked me all too much at first...but he warmed up after I saved Axel from drowning with my lifeguard training. Thank God for that summer job. He slipped off of the pier, dragged Zexion with him and got his shorts caught on a jagged piece of the pier. I had to dive in, and we got him up back up on the pier. I ripped my shirt up and even bandaged his head because it was bleeding. I feel awesome about it," he said with a bright smile. "And then Axel gave me a spare tank top he had, which is what I'm wearing now," he explained, eyes shining. "And when Zexion dropped me off, he said that they might invite me to hang out again sometime. Isn't that awesome? I found better friends in two people I met a day ago, well, actually one I met today, than I feel like I have in people I've known for years," he told him happily. "They're real people. Real, relatable people that don't fake it in front of a big crowd like everyone else does. It's exhiliarating."