Chapter four my lovely readers! I'm really happy where this is going, and that you all seem to love it so much. Here's some guest appearances for you.

Warnings: As usual, yaoi, language and a new one: underage drinking of a humourous nature.

The one where Roxas does the chasing

"ARGH!"

"ARGH! ARGH! Oh my god! Get it off! Get it off!" Sora was running around in circles in the living room, Riku was running after him with a rolled up newspaper.

"Keep still then!"

Sora was still squealing "!"

Roxas ran downstairs wondering what all the yelling was about. He entered the living room and desperately wished that he had a camera. Stopping himself from laughing he jumped in front of Sora and grabbed his shoulders whilst Riku managed to hit the offending insect away from Sora's neck. "There! Was it really so hard to stop?" Riku was out of breath and stalked off into the kitchen to get a drink.

Roxas shook his head "It was just a bug Sora"

"It was a big bug!" he shuddered remembering the crawling feeling on his neck. "What you up to today anyway?"

It was the weekend again. Roxas had spent the rest of the week trying to catch Axel alone. He wasn't very successful, as the older boy seemed to be glued to his friends. If it wasn't Cloud, it was Yuffie. The latter always waved whenever she saw Roxas and made Axel do the same, which caused the redhead to blush violently.

"I don't know" he replied

Sora suddenly perked up "Why don't you go visit Axel!"

"Visit him where?"

"At work" Sora shouted into the kitchen "Riku, you know where Axel works right?"

Riku reappeared, licking a sea salt ice cream. Roxas felt his eye twitch. "Yeah I know where it is. I'll take you there if you want"

"Er…" Roxas wasn't sure "You don't think it looks too desperate if I show up at his work?"

"Are you desperate?"

"Well I-"

"Well, are you?"

He sighed, defeated "Yeah, I guess I am"

"There you go then. I'll give you a ride once I've finished this" and he continued to devour the ice cream.

"But, I can't just show up!"

"Don't worry, I'll think of something"

A little while later Riku and Roxas were on the driveway, Sora was waving them off "Good luck!"

"I'm only going to see him!" Roxas yelled as he got onto the back of Riku's moped. Slightly uncomfortable, he shuffled forward and put his arms around his twin's boyfriend's waist. "So, is this like, your training wheels for a motorbike?"

Riku revved the engine "Hey, I like my moped… but yeah I'll get a bike one day."

"What is it with you three? You, Cloud and Axel, you're all obsessed with bikes"

Riku waved back to Sora as they set off down the road "Great minds think alike"

Roxas was rarely alone with Riku. He was at a loss at what to say. He never particularly liked him that much but he also didn't know very much about Riku "Riku…"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you date Sora?"

"Because I love him"

Roxas didn't know what he was expecting the answer to be, but it certainly wasn't that. "That's it?"

"Does there need to be anything else?"

"No… I guess not" He figured he might have misunderstood Riku a little. Roxas still wasn't going to forgive him for all the ice creams he ate though.

Riku pulled up to the garage and dismounted his moped. Cloud emerged from the garage, expecting a customer "Oh hey Riku."

Riku immediately went to action "Hey Cloud, my engine's been making a few funny noises. I wondered if you could take a look at it."

"Yeah sure I can"

Riku turned to Roxas "Don't worry Roxas, I shouldn't be too long. Sorry you had to come with me" he turned back to Cloud "I was picking him up from town, that's when the engine started to sound weird"

Cloud looked at Roxas' confused face "Uh… huh"

"Roxas, it looks like it's going to rain you better go inside the garage"

Cloud looked up, the sky was clear. Riku elbowed him, gave him a look and nodded his head towards the garage doors "Oh! Oh yeah. They said it would rain today. Go inside Roxas there's a couch and everything."

"O…kay" Roxas didn't know what was going on, but at least Riku had given him an excuse for being there. He opened the door and went inside. Suddenly he heard a voice from near the back.

"Hey! Have you seen the multi-speed drill?"

He tentatively stepped further inside "It's not Cloud. It's-It's me"

Axel walked out to see who 'me' was. He stopped as soon as he realised "Oh... oh... Hi"

"Hi"

They both shuffled on the spot "So, what are you doing here Roxas?"

His throat caught he hearing Axel say his name.

I'm such a girl

He quickly remembered Riku's excuse "Riku picked me up from town and his engine went funny"

Axel picked up a tool and started for the door "I better go see what-"

"Cloud's doing it!" Roxas winced at his eagerness.

"Oh, ok." Axel didn't really know what to say, "Why don't you have a seat. You want a drink or anything?"

Roxas sat down on the shabby looking couch "No, I'm fine, Thanks"

"'kay" After a minute or so Axel joined him. "So… what kind of music do you like?"

Roxas was sitting there ready for a nice dose of awkward silence and so he was startled "Oh. I like most things. I'm into skatepunk at the minute"

He smiled as Axel replied, "Yeah, I've heard some of that stuff. It's quite cool" At that moment one of the springs in the base of the couch gave out, causing both teens to dip into each other at the middle. Roxas blushed, and turned an even deeper shade of crimson when he noticed Axel was too.

The redhead cleared his throat and stood up "Should probably check how Cloud and Riku are doing" Roxas noticed a hand being held out in front of him. He took it and found himself eased upwards from the couch. He managed a small "Thanks" and the two exited the garage.

They found Cloud and Riku were standing by the moped talking.

"You finished?" Axel asked walking over to the blonde

"What...? Yeah, yeah I'm done"

Axel moved closer to Cloud and growled, "You two have trashed that couch" Cloud simply grinned. Roxas decided he was better off not knowing. They said their goodbyes; Riku thanked Cloud for his imaginary repairs and Roxas found himself on the back of the moped clinging to the silver-haired boy again.

"How'd it go?"

"Nothing really happened"

"Did you talk?"

"Yeah, but only a little. I wasn't in there long" Roxas clung onto Riku for his life as he took a sharp corner at substantial speed.

"That's all he needs"

"What?"

Traffic lights gave Riku the chance to turn and face his passenger "Now that you've gone and spoke to him, he'll be thinking about you. The more he thinks about you, the more chance of him liking you"

He was dumbfounded "You planned that from the start didn't you?"

"Yeah, a little" Revving up they set off again

"You manipulated me!"

"I gave you a push"

"And Sora did!" He realised that his twin must have been in on it too

"Aren't you happy we did?"

All witty retorts failed "Yeah… thanks"

Roxas was happy to make it home all in one piece. Walking up the driveway he thought to ask Riku something "Did you have to do all this, making him think of you stuff, with Sora?"

Riku opened the door to the house and laughed, "No, your brother was easy to get!"

Sora, coming to greet them, stumbled across the conversation at the wrong point "I was not easy to get into bed Riku!"

"Sora, that's not what he asked me"

"Oh." At this Sora escaped to the kitchen mumbling that 'dinner needed something doing to it or something'

Meanwhile, Cloud was standing in the courtyard of his work and edging ever closer to his bike.

"You ass!" Axel yelled at him

Cloud shrugged "What? What did I do?"

"You know what you did"

Just a bit further "I didn't do anything. Riku and Roxas just showed up"

"You sent him into the garage, I had nothing to say!"

Cloud faltered. Just… a few… more… steps "Riku did it not me!"

"Then you're both asses!"

Cloud made it to his bike and jumped on. When Axel was mad the blonde was quite scared of him "Well, it's the end of my shift, see you later Axel!" at that he sped off to the safety of his home. Axel grumbled in frustration and stomped back into the garage.

Later, he closed up the garage after it started to rain; it was almost closing time so he went home. He opened the door and noticed the newspaper and post still on the floor. His brother wasn't home yet. Axel had some issues with his parents and after one particularly bad fight he stayed with his older brother. Somehow, along the way it had become somewhat of a permanent thing as more and more of Axel's belongings found their way into the spare room. Axel had started to work at the garage to give something towards the rent. He wasn't asked for it, he just never wanted to feel like a dependant leech.

Axel was still peeved at Cloud and Riku. As he searched for a cup to make tea he pondered on his friends actions. He knew that they were only trying to help him and so he shouldn't be so angry. It was all just a bit sudden, having Roxas suddenly there talking to him. Axel felt like a dork after their last encounter, Roxas' little hair stunt had shocked him. The redhead didn't know where he stood with the younger boy, it was obvious that Roxas liked him but Axel was desperately unsure of his own feelings. He thought on his feeling whilst pouring hot water for his tea and concluded that Roxas made him feel strange, lightheaded and ever so slightly nervous.

"Oh my god! That's so cheesy!" Axel smacked himself in the forehead

"What is?" Axel turned and saw his brother coming in through the doorway. The rain had caused his usually spiky black hair to deflate a little.

"Hey Zack"

"Hey. So what's so cheesy?"

Axel began setting out a cup for his drenched brother "Don't worry about it. How was your day?"

"It was fine, nothing exciting. Thanks Ax" Zack took the cup of hot tea "So, my dearest little brother"

Alarm bells instantly went off in Axel's head. Zack only spoke like that when he wanted something "..yes?"

"What's been up with you?" he sipped his tea and found it too hot. Axel looked at him, bemused as Zack fanned his tongue.

"Nothing"

"You've been acting weird the past few days"

"No I haven't" Axel hid behind his own cup. Zack was awfully good at cornering him into 'kitchen talks'

"Yes you have. You know you can't lie to me"

"I haven't been feeling well"

Zack shook his head, sending droplets of water over the kitchen counter "Nope, it's not that kind of weird"

"Dad called and we had another fight" He was grasping at straws.

"Nope it's not that kind of weird either. This one's a new one. Come on, tell your big brother what's wrong"

"Nothing's wrong"

Zack stood up, put down his tea and squished Axel's cheeks together with the palms of his hands. He thoroughly enjoyed doing this as a child, when he made the younger boy smile he swore he looked like a hamster "You've definitely told Cloud about it, you always do. So you may as well tell me because you know I can make Blondie talk"

Axel swatted his brother's hands away and sighed "Ok fine" he then recounted to Zack his various encounters with Roxas. Zack just smiled at him, which caused him to falter "Don't… don't you think it's weird?"

The black-haired man shrugged "So you like a boy, big deal"

"…Wow, you're ..blunt. It's not that… I mean, I'm not-"

Zack returned to his cheek squishing "Axel, you're crushing so hard it's like… ok, that one ran away from me. But it's big!"

"Would you pleash shtop that"

"Aw, but you look so cute. You're even blushing" another hand swat caused Zack to stop.

Axel sighed "Zack, I really don't know what to do…" Zack looked at his forlorn sibling and then gave him a hug.

"Don't you worry, you just leave it all to your big brother"

Roxas had been quite pleased with himself since Saturday. He had started to be nicer to Riku. He'd eaten three of his sea salt ice creams and Roxas hadn't said a thing, or even gone and hidden the box in the freezer in their garage like he usually did when Riku was stealing too many. Even school had gone well that day, he'd done well in his classes, Seifer was no where to be seen so he didn't have to stop Hayner from trying to get in a fight with him and he got the last pudding at lunch. Everything was coming up Roxas.

He walked towards the school gates at the end of the day, his jacket lazily slung over his shoulder. Roxas then saw something quite peculiar. There was a tall man with black hair standing in the middle of the gates. He seemed to be in his twenties and was scanning the area, looking down at a piece of card in front of him and then back up again. The man caught sight of Roxas, looked down at the card and then back at Roxas again, grinning.

The boy's mind went into overdrive as the tall man began to walk towards him.

Do I run away?

Do I say hi?

Who the hell stands at school gates looking for people… except paedophiles… oh my god is he one of them? But he looks so nice.

By the time Roxas' mind had finished its spasm Zack was standing right in front of him "Hi!"

"Argh!"

"Huh?"

"Sorry… erm… Hello"

Zack grabbed his arm and started to lead him out "I'm Zack and you're coming with me" he wasn't sure which to be more scared of, the fact he was being lead away by a stranger or that said stranger was smiling happily.

Halfway down the street Roxas snapped out of his daze "Hold on a minute, who are you?"

"I'm Zack"

"Yeah but…."

"I'm an interested party" Zack stopped and thought for a second, mumbling to himself "No, that sounded creepy… erm…" he then returned to talking to Roxas "I'm here to check you out"

Roxas thought that answer was just as creepy as the first.

"Where are you taking me… Zack? You don't even know my name" he had succumbed to being slightly dragged along

"I know your name, Roxas. See?" Zack showed him the card he had been looking at earlier. It was a picture of Roxas from the class book. "You changed your hair though… but it's ok because I knew about that"

The younger boy stared at the photograph stunned "Where did you get that?"

Placing the picture back in his pocket Zack said offhandedly "I can get Cloud to do anything, 'til Leon steps in. But then I get Riku to do it"

It's official. I'm either dead, high or in the twilight zone.

He decided to go with it "Where are we going?"

"My cousin's bar. It's not far from here"

"I'm too young to go to a bar… and my brother will be looking for me"

Zack laughed and waved his hand dismissing the statement "Don't worry, it's my cousin, he'll let you in. Riku's distracting your brother" This caused Roxas to roll his eyes.

They rounded a corner and were suddenly in front of a bar with two large Rs above the door in ornate writing "We're here!" Zack proclaimed.

The doors were flung open and Roxas was thrown in. A large hand was immediately placed on his chest "I don't think so, kid" Roxas looked up, and up some more to see a large bald man wearing sunglasses.

"Rude, it's ok I told Reno it's fine" Zack patted the man on the shoulder.

Rude's eyebrow twitched "Whatever, but you better behave Zack"

"Promise" Zack sang. Roxas was pushed forward into the bar. It was dully lit, with low music playing in the background. It was empty except for a few men playing pool near the back and the man standing behind the bar.

"Hey kid" he said as Roxas was put onto a bar stool "What'll it be?" Now, even though Roxas was Sora's twin, he liked to think that he put things together a fair bit quicker than his brother. 'This barman must be Zack's cousin' he thought, he looked at the man, green eyes, red hair and facial tattoos. That meant only one thing in Roxas' mind, which of course he immediately blurted out like an idiot.

"Axel! You're related to Axel?"

Zack sat next to Roxas and patted him on the back "Bright one aren't ya! I'm Axel's big brother. And this is our cousin Reno"

Reno shook his head "Honestly Zack, getting minors drunk in my bar"

"He's not drunk yet…" the two men laughed and Roxas started to plan his escape route.

"Reno, this is Roxas"

Reno lent forward on the bar and looked into Roxas's face, causing the boy to squirm "I see. So you're him huh? Zack told me all about you. Don't worry, we'll look after you here, Roxy"

Blue eyes narrowed "It's Roxas" but he was ignored as Reno began to prepare drinks.

"I'm guessing you want the usual Zack. Wish you'd drink a proper drink, like vodka"

A brightly coloured drink with fruit in the top was placed in front of Zack. One equally as fluorescent was put in front of Roxas with a cocktail umbrella in the top. "Hey!" Zack complained, "Where's my umbrella?" Reno tutted and a small umbrella immediately appeared.

"There, you big kid. So Roxy, how did you meet our little Axel? And drink up"

Roxas took a sip of his drink; it tasted like a mix of fruit juices so he sipped some more "I saw him in an arcade. Why do you want to know?"

Zack's drink was already half empty "We just want to find some things out about the person who has my little brother in such a… twizzle"

"Twizzle?" Roxas took a big gulp of his drink. He liked juice.

Zack realised that he didn't want to give away something that Axel didn't want known "Nevermind. Why did you change your hair?"

Roxas was starting to feel uncomfortable "I… just felt like a change, that's all"

Reno and Zack exchanged glances and said no more. Reno returned to fussing about the bar area and occasionally serving the pool players. Zack kept Roxas talking for an hour or so, about little things of no importance, he was beginning to like Zack, he was a nice person. What Roxas didn't notice was that he was drinking his drinks quite quickly, and that every time Roxas emptied his glass, Reno put another in front of him.

Zack was a little tipsy "So Roxas, why do you like my brother?"

Roxas didn't know why, but he felt like he could tell Zack anything in the world. "Initially, I didn't know. But now I've seen him more. He's a nice person; he's really good with his friends and younger students. There's… something about him that I don't know yet but I know I like it." Roxas lent his elbow on the bar and put his chin in his hands "Plus he's got a damn good ass"

At which Reno suddenly appeared "I'll drink to that!"

"Reno, you can't drink, you're working"

"Aw Rude! You ruin all my fun"

With a smile on his face Zack thought he'd try once more "Why did you dye your hair?"

Roxas' eyes were half-lidded and in a wistful voice he said, "I wanted him to notice me." He toyed with the umbrella in the top of another empty glass "There are so many people that like Axel. He could have any one of them, there was a little hopeful part of me that thought if I could make him notice, he might pick me"

Zack slid off his stool and put his arms around Roxas' shoulders "Tell me. Tell me that this isn't just a hormonal crush and that you wont hurt him"

The younger boy looked up into the taller man's eyes, tears appearing at the side of his own "I think… I think I love him"

The older brother smiled and hugged Roxas "Then you're okay by me kid." Throwing some munny down on the bar he turned to Reno "I think we're done"

Reno stopped cleaning glasses "What? I missed it? Shit."

"Zack?" Roxas had stood up from his stool and was clinging onto the bar; his legs didn't seem to be working "I feel icky"

Zack looked down at Roxas, hopeless "Er… Reno? What do you do with a drunk minor?"

Reno shrugged "I love you Cuz, but he's your problem. That's what you get for telling me to make him fruit liqueur drinks"

"You gave him too many!"

"Not my problem! Take him home"

"You're the worst barman ever Reno! And I don't know where he lives"

Reno walked off shaking his head. Zack pulled out his phone and dialled a number "Hey, I need a hand…" he heard a thud "oh shit!" picking Roxas up off the floor he took him outside.

Standing out in the fresh air for a while sobered Roxas up a little. Although Zack was still holding onto him he could stand on his own. Suddenly a moped rounded the corner and an angry looking Riku jumped off "Zack, what did you think you were doing!"

He handed Roxas over to Riku "Reno did it!"

"Hi Riku!"

Riku growled with frustration "Hey Roxas. Look Zack, I told you it was ok to take him and talk to him about Axel. Not to get him off his face! It's barely dark!"

Zack started to back away "He wouldn't talk otherwise! And Reno wasn't supposed to give him that many drinks"

Placing Roxas on the back of the moped Riku turned on Zack "You could have stopped him, you're both terrible adults!"

Black-haired head hung low, shuffling his feet he mumbled "Sorry Riku. I wont get him drunk next time"

Riku sighed and mounted his moped "You're lucky I don't tell Axel. How the hell am I going to explain this to Sora?" after scolding Zack a little more he said goodbye and drove Roxas home.

Said Roxas was almost asleep on Riku's shoulder "Hey, hey! Roxas, come on don't fall asleep you'll fall off"

Roxas mumbled something that sounded like "ok" and held onto Riku's midriff tighter.

At the bottom of their driveway Riku stopped the moped and helped Roxas get off "Riku, why did Zack want to talk to me?"

The silver-haired boy sighed "Because you make Axel act strange"

"I do?" He fumbled around in his pocket and found his house keys

"Yes, you do. I wish you'd hurry up and deal with it already" Riku wasn't in a very good mood that night. Sora had kept wondering where Roxas was and Riku had to stop him from calling the police numerous times. Then when Zack had called begging Riku to come and help him, he had to make some form of excuse to Sora so he could leave. He didn't like lying to his boyfriend.

Roxas swivelled on the spot and faced Riku "What the hell does that mean?" it seems Roxas was more volatile when drunk.

"It means Axel is my friend. If you really like him so much then stop screwing around and do something about it. You've confused the hell out of him; he's never been like this before. If he likes you he has no idea what the feelings mean and you're not helping him at all just sitting there doing nothing. Why do you think Sora and I stepped in and made you go to the garage? Otherwise you'd still be here, bitching about how you like him so much and he doesn't feel the same way. Grow up Roxas!" He hadn't meant to explode like that, but it obtained the desired effect.

"What the hell Riku!" Roxas started to flail his key about at Riku as he spoke "First you're just annoying being around all the time and screwing my brother, then you're my friend and now you're yelling at me for not making a move? Well… screw you!"

"Why are you trying to hit me with that key?"

Roxas' anger melted away "I… I'm sorry" he held his head "I don't feel well"

Riku calmed down "Me too, come on, let's get you inside"

As soon as they stepped over the threshold Sora began to fuss over them. Riku, begrudgingly lying to his boyfriend again, told Sora that Roxas had eaten something that had made him sick. After making sure everything was ok he left Sora to it. Later in the night Roxas took a turn for the worst, it had taken a long time for the rest of the alcohol to hit him. In the bathroom Sora held back his hair until Roxas felt better.

Sitting on the bathroom floor, Sora had brought him a glass of water "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks Sora"

Sora sat next to him and rubbed his head "Don't worry about it"

Roxas smiled the best he could in his weakened state. "Sora," he said seriously "Do you think I'm doing this right?"

"Getting sick?"

"No, this whole Axel thing?"

"That's not for me to say Roxas. Why do you ask?"

"Riku made me think of something. I've been so concerned about my feelings for Axel, I didn't think about how I was making him feel"

Sora simply pulled Roxas' head to rest on his shoulder, Roxas continued, "You're with him a fair bit right? Is he, different from usual?"

"Yeah, a little"

"…oh"

Sora smiled "I'm sure it'll all work out though. Maybe you just need to show him you care again?"

"What do you mean?"

Sora played with Roxas' black hair, it was starting to grow out and blonde was appearing at the roots "Your hair shocked him. It's like; you threw your feelings right in front of his face when he didn't even know they existed. It may be time for something a little more subtle"

"You're having a big-brother-I-know-how-to-fix-this moment aren't you?"

"I don't get them very often, let me bask in my glory"

"You're only twenty minutes older than me. It doesn't count for much"

"Shush you."

Roxas felt well enough to leave the bathroom and Sora put him to bed. His head was far too fuzzy to coherently think on his actions so he left them until morning. Slowly drifting into sleep Axel's face appeared behind his eyes and he smiled.

Little did he know that he was going to have the mother of all hangovers when he woke up.

Finished! Reviews are love and cookies and shiny things but I also thank all the people who have story alerted this fic as well. I hope I did well with this one and you like the character additions. Anyhoos, til the fifth!