Note: This is the MS Word editted version of the first chapter. All wording is original, however. Only spelling mistakes were corrected, so there is no need to worry about my request to check.

While talking to my friend about KHII, we started talking about yaoi. First it started off RikuSora chat, then I happened to mention that AkuRoku is a cute pairing. She agreed... and much chaos ensued. Don't ask, seriously. xD From that, I guess, my sudden need to write some Axel and Roxas luff came about. So here is an AU AkuRoku for all you fans out there!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts... yo...

Rated for later chapters.

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Firecrackers

Chapter 1: Freak or Otherwise

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The sun shone brightly through the window, making all the desks near it hot to the touch. Those unlucky enough to be sat near the window seemed to sit back much more in their seats than the other teens. Of course, they weren't the only ones in the room with the notion that it was too early to be back in school. Everyone felt that way. It was still warm out, still practically summer! But now with all the homework they would be getting, it wouldn't feel like it.

Roxas had been late that morning, but not as late as some of the others. He'd been lucky enough to snag a seat just out of the sun's reach. Staring at the empty desk next to him, one of the heated ones, he was forced to squint at the bright reflection.

"Hey, Roxas. Hey!" A hand waved idly in front of his face, startling him from his thoughts.

"Mm..." Roxas mumbled, directing his gaze to the boy the hand was attached to.

"What's up with you this morning? You look out of it." Hayner set his hand back at his side.

"Nothin'," Roxas lied. In truth, he felt something weird was going to happen today. Removing his gaze from his childhood friend, he glanced at the other two occupying the desks near him. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had been his best friends for longer than he could remember.

"Whatever you-" Before Hayner could finish, the teacher walked in. She looked about as excited to be here as the students themselves did. That's what was so great about Ms. Ammna. Not only did she have a personality similar to many of the teens, but she didn't mind people poking a little fun at her last name, which many found at least interesting to say.

Hayner made his way back to his seat next to Roxas, just as the rest of the students, previously milling about and visiting friends they'd just seen the day before, did. Twilight Town was such a small, close community. Everyone knew everyone, whether they liked them or not. And most people were friendly.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," Ms. Ammna announced. Normally, one wouldn't expect a new student to actually be introduced, especially on the first day. In Twilight Town, however, the classes were just like the town itself. Each class stayed together. Hardly anyone ever moved to Twilight Town, so having a new student was quite the strange occurrence.

"I hope you'll make him feel welcome," Ms. Ammna continued, pulling the class from the low murmur that had begun. "Come on in," she said loudly, looking at the door.

It took a little while, but eventually the door opened. In sauntered a tall, thin boy. He looked around lazily, hardly seeming interested in his new classmates.

"Everyone, this is Axel."

The class remained silent. They had never before seen anyone with such strange features. The boy's hair was a bright red and spiked, seeming to stick back without the aid of any sort of hair product. And under his eyes were little markings. Everyone found themselves wondering if they were painted on or natural.

"Axel, you can take a seat next to Roxas. Roxas, raise your hand."

Even though the only empty seat in the room happened to be next to Roxas, he did as he was told. Piercing green eyes locked with blue as Axel stared back at the other teen. After what seemed like an eternity to the boy with his hand raised, Axel wandered back to his seat.

Surprising enough, Axel didn't look like he was the least bit bothered by the seat in the sun. He actually leaned forward, arms resting on the scorching surface. His classmates watched him like he was suddenly weirder than they'd originally thought. Even Ms. Ammna had a curious expression.

………

Later that day, Roxas and his friends sat around in the usual spot, eating sea-salt ice cream and chatting. Luckily enough, Ms. Ammna hadn't given any homework on the first day, so the boys wouldn't have to worry about any nagging from Olette.

"What do y'guys think is up with that kid?" Hayner asked. Each of them had been waiting for this to come up. It was only a matter of time and who finally decided to just go for it and ask.

"He doesn't seem too bad," Olette said, automatically jumping to his defense. She was too kindhearted to let anything really mean be said about the new student without a fight.

"No, not too bad, worse!"

"Hayner!" Olette stood from the couch, her hands immediately flying to her hips.

"What? Everyone was thinking it." Hayner looked bored, as if he hadn't said anything wrong.

"No, I wasn't! Why don't you just give him a chance?"

"Yeah. You always jump to conclusions," Pence added before Hayner was able to answer. From the look the "leader" had on his face, it was obvious he was going to say something nasty. With a growl, he turned to Roxas, who had chosen to stay quiet up until now.

"What do you think, Roxas? You agree with me, right?"

Roxas looked trapped. He didn't really know what to think. Sure, Hayner was probably his best-best friend, but Roxas had to agree with Pence. Hayner did tend to jump to quick conclusions, usually wrong ones.

"I dunno," Roxas answered after a while, trying to throw attention off of himself. That wasn't good enough for Hayner, however.

"C'mon! You sit right next to him!"

Roxas really looked defeated now.

"Well, he didn't do anything... out of the ordinary..."

"Geez!" Hayner threw up his hands. "Fine, I see you all are against me!" Turning on his heels, he stormed away, pushing the curtain with such force that it folded on itself over and over before finally coming to a rest again.

The group barely had time to chance a glance at each other before they heard a strange popping sound and the pounding of Hayner's feet as he came running back. He dealt the same punishment to the defenseless curtain as he re-entered, looking like he'd just struck oil.

"Come look!" Hayner called, his voice laced with obvious excitement. "I'll prove to you what a freak he is!"

Olette looked steamed at the 'freak' comment, but followed anyway as she saw the others rise. It took only seconds, with Hayner in the lead, for the group to come across the same person they had just been talking about.

Axel was sitting on the ground, back leaned against the brick. Everything seemed normal, except for the fact that he had something hanging out of his mouth. From the distance they were, slightly hidden around the corner, it was difficult to tell just what it happened to be.

"He smokes!" Olette exclaimed, earning her a 'shut up' from Hayner. She quickly covered her mouth.

"No, he doesn't smoke!" Hayner said in a hushed whisper after checking to make sure Axel hadn't noticed them. "That's a firecracker!"

"A firecracker?" Roxas found himself asking before he could hold in the question.

"Yep, he's chewing on it, see?"

When the others watched Axel's mouth closely, they found that he was, in fact, chewing on the firework. After a while more of silent watching, the redhead pulled the firecracker from his mouth and a lighter from his pants pocket. Clicking the lighter to life, he lit the little firework, tossing it off in front of him. It landed, exploding with a small pop after the wick had run out.

"So that's the sound we heard..." Pence said quietly.

"Sure was," Hayner said, as if he were proud of his discovery. Now he had proved the new kid was a freak. Or so he thought.

"So what?" Olette said angrily, causing the smile to fade from Hayner's lips. "He's a little different, so what?" With that, she stormed away from her friends and right up to the redhead further down the wall.

"Yo." The group could hear Axel mutter in greeting.

"Hello, Axel." It seemed as if Olette said his name just to make sure he knew she remembered it. "I'm Olette. We're in the same class."

"Yeah." A slight grin slipped to the tall boy's lips as he patted the ground next to him. Olette beamed, quickly taking the seat beside him.

"So..." She had noticed the large pack of firecrackers Axel had at his side as she sat. "You like fireworks?"

"For the most part, I guess," Axel answered.

Away from the two conversing, Hayner looked like he was about to murder someone. Without offer a word to his two remaining friends, he marched off towards the sandlot. It was obvious, at least to Roxas as he watched his friend leave, that Hayner and Axel weren't going to get along at all.

………

It was another semi-normal day at school. Ever since Axel's arrival, nothing had been normal. Olette had taken to visiting with her new redhead friend almost as much as she did with her old friends. Roxas didn't mind, Pence didn't seem to either, but Hayner was always complaining about it.

Currently, Olette was leaning over Axel's shoulder, trying to see what he was writing on the piece of paper he'd pulled from his backpack. There had been writing on it before he had begun that day. In fact, it was the same piece, or pieces rather, he wrote on everyday. Olette always tried to see, but he never let her. He would always laugh it off as she pouted.

Besides Olette, it didn't seem like anyone else was keen on making friends with the 'freak.' The other girls in the class always gave her dirty looks and they were always talking behind her back. She obviously did her best to ignore them, even when they called her horrible names. One of her more popular titles was 'the freak's bitch.'

Roxas and Pence talked a lot now, while Hayner usually sulked out in town somewhere. The two boys felt bad that they knew these things were being said about Olette, but did nothing. What could they do? Olette was making herself an enemy to everyone by siding with the enemy outsider.

"C'mon, Axel! Just one peek?" Olette's voice rang as she tried harder than usual to see.

"Mm... no." Axel stuck his pencil behind his ear and stuffed the papers into his pack just as the teacher entered. Olette looked annoyed, but not defeated, as she wandered back to her seat. She would merely try again tomorrow.

"Okay, class," Ms. Ammna's voice seemed strained. "I don't feel well today and while the town council has ruled that I'm supposed to teach you things during school, I don't much feel like teaching things today." The class could see what was coming. "Free day."

As soon as those last words left Ms. Ammna's mouth, a little cheer erupted.

"Quiet," the teacher warned, but as soon as she sat down at her desk and allowed her head to rest on the wooden surface, she was out, leaving the class to their devices.

All the students made bee-lines to their designated friend's desk. The groups in this class were pretty obvious. While normally the three friends would crowd around Roxas's desk, today Olette went straight to Axel's without a word. Hayner looked quite upset, suddenly turning to Pence and letting out a stream of angry complaints. Pence looked at Roxas, silently telling his friend he could handle Hayner alone. Pence had always been mellow like that.

Roxas turned his attention from the two boys, glancing at Olette and Axel. As soon as his eyes fell on the back of Axel's head, the redhead turned to look at him. Surprised that he'd been discovered so suddenly, he looked away. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Axel still staring at him.

"Why don't you join us?" Roxas could hear Olette say. Looking up from the spot on the floor he had chosen to watch, Roxas glanced at Hayner and Pence. Pence still seemed perfectly fine while Hayner still rambled on. Turning his attention back to the one who had invited him, Roxas found himself smiling. Though he would never admit it, he'd been watching Axel for a while. Every time Olette went to his desk, talking with him like they'd been friends for life, even while Axel never said too much, Roxas wanted to talk to the redhead, too.

"Alright, if it's-"

"Okay with me?" Axel cut Roxas off with a grin. "It's fine."

Roxas looked sheepish as he rose from his seat. Joining Olette at Axel's desk, he looked over to Hayner once more, then concentrated on the two he was with now.

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There, how was that for the first chapter? If anyone is curious, I don't hate Hayner, his rashness just kinda annoys me. And I'm not gonna leave poor Pence behind. ;D Anyway, reviews are loved! And by the way, if you're also wondering if I take pleasure in having everyone hate Axel... yes, yes I do. I'm weird like that.