Interception -BL-

"'I love you.'"

His heart skipped a beat, immediately averting his attention to the overly familiar three words.

"Say that in ten different languages," Kairi asked, an evil grin plastered on her face as a few other girls smirked along with her.

However, her question was not directed at Roxas. It was towards the bunch of other men who were behind the large wooden door that separated them from Roxas and the girls.

A sigh escaped his lips. What was he thinking? Roxas was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he had forgotten that he was in the middle of both his best friend's wedding. He was currently one of the grooms' tormentors by not letting the man and his buddies collect his wife for the real ceremony unless they had done everything the women on the brides' side told or asked.

"Awwww! C'mon, man! Ten's too much!" a voice belonging to the groom came from the other side of the door. "How 'bout just three?"

"What?! Three! Well, you obviously don't love Olette that much, huh?" Kairi retorted, "How about you don't marry Olette then?"

"Noooo!" the groom cried, but Kairi cut him off before he could say anything else.

"Ten and it's final! You don't give us ten different 'I love you's in foreign languages, you don't get Olette, Hayner!"

The women laughed as the men struggled. Roxas smiled a small smile. Perhaps the women had thought that the 'I love you's were inevitable since it was, afterall, Valentines Day.

'I love you.'

The smile on his face dimmed a little. How long has it been since he last heard it? And how long has it been since he last seen that man who had had always been unhesitant in saying it so many times?

Roxas remembered the very first time he heard it…way back during his third year in high school…

~*~Flashback 1~*~

"I love you."

Roxas's sentence stopped midway before it reached completion. He was in the middle of explaining to his less-intelligent cousin Sora on how to solve a mathematical problem using matrices when the confession came unexpectedly. The blonde turned his head towards his confessor.

Long, red hair spiked in no particular order and dark emerald green eyes with small black triangular tattoos below them greeted Roxas's sight. His confessor had a fairly lean built, considering the fact that the girl had thin arms and legs, and jutting hipbones. Before Roxas concluded that she was pretty normal other than the 'unique' hairstyle, he noted she had a very flat chest and a bobbing Adam's apple at her neck. She…was a he?

"Uh, okay. Thank you," Roxas replied, unsure of what to make of it. Last he checked, he was into women with breasts and not men armed with the same equipment as him.

Before he could resume teaching Sora, who was also distracted by the sudden confession from the red head, the red head spoke up again.

"Please go out with me."

Roxas choked on his own saliva. Through the corners of his eyes, he saw his brunet cousin smirking silently at him, as if taunting him about his male confessor. Sora's big brown eyes gleamed at him, as though urging the blonde to accept the invitation.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Roxas replied after throwing Sora a dirty look. "I don't swing that way."

Instead of seeing an absolutely crushed expression on every rejects, the thin lips belonging to the red head curled into a smile that left Roxas a very confused boy. Then he trotted off, a hand waving back at Roxas as though his cold rejection was nothing but a light swat on the arm.

It was not long after that that Roxas learnt of the strange boy's name; Axel.

~*~End of FB~*~

Roxas snorted. He remembered how horrified he had been when Sora and Riku told him that Axel had shared the same Physical Education, Biology, Chemistry and French periods with him. Despite the fact that Roxas was clueless of such odd, peculiar man coming into existence, Axel was a socialite in school and almost everyone knew of him. And the fact that he did have the pick of the litter and was not short of women, Roxas didn't know why Axel had confessed to him and asked him out.

Perhaps it was just male curiosity after all, nothing serious that sort. That is why Axel had looked so normal even after being rejected. Roxas had believed his deductions was right...And how very mistaken he was.

~*~Flashback 2~*~

"Roxas! Hey, Roxas!"

Just as the young blonde was stuffing his chemistry notes in his bag and slinging it across his shoulders, an unfamiliar voice called out his name. With a slight frown, he swiveled his head to the left; the source of the voice. The person better had a good reason to stop Roxas from going to his favourite ice-cream stall near his house. The ice-cream man only sold limited sea-salt ice creams per day, and if he did not get there soon, Roxas would have to go home with an empty stomach. And that would be really upsetting.

Green eyes met with blue eyes. Roxas suddenly took in a sharp intake of breath at the overly familiar eyes. It was none other than Axel.

Roxas had a sudden impulse of running, but then his conscious told him it was ridiculous. He had concluded the confession from the other teen nothing more but just mere words with no lingering attachments. Maybe he was here to be friends…?

"Yes?" a soft reply came from the blonde, his hand involuntarily held on tighter to his bag.

A smile grew onto the angular face of the red head, indicating that he meant no harm to the blonde.

"I slept through the entire period just now, so I was wondering whether I could borrow your notes for today?" he asked, a hand entangling itself in his thick mass of hair. "I promise to return it to you tomorrow, so please?"

The young blonde hesitated for a moment, but a vague memory of 'sea-salt ice cream', 'limited stocks' and 'running out of time' made his hand reach into his bag and pulled out his slightly crumpled notes, only to push it into Axel's hands.

"Tomorrow," Roxas told him, immediately rushing out of class after zipping his bag sloppily, missing the wave goodbye from the red head.

~*~End of FB~*~

A sigh was exhaled from his lips. Roxas had regretted not thinking over the matter twice before letting Axel use his notes. Why? Because the very next day, when he had checked over his notes that Axel had so heartily left on his table and disappeared, his eyeballs had nearly popped out from its sockets at the horrible revelation. No, his notes had looked the same way it had the day before, nothing crumpled and everything looked perfect. Until he had looked at the last page. Somewhere in the middle of his equations and chemical formulae, cramped in the small amount of space in between his writings, was a hand drawn 'humongous' heart with multitudes of miniature hearts surrounding it. And right in the middle of the big heart were cursive writings forming the words 'I love you'</b> with 'Go out with me'</b> right under it. On the far left of the elaborately drawn picture, the culprit had written; 'Got it memorized? '</b>

What had happened next, Roxas could not really remember the details. But he was sure it had involved a close murder of a certain red head for writing nonsense on his notes with a red ink pen.

Since that day onwards, Axel had been persistent and unrelenting. There were times when Axel would just pop out of nowhere to confess, no matter whether Roxas had been in the midst of doing something or not. There were also times that he had found pieces of papers wedged into his locker or under his normally empty desk. But there were also times Roxas was just given a smile or a wave without a single utterance from the red head whenever met upfront. Nevertheless, the number of times Roxas had to hear the confession and repeat 'No's were much more than the times he had not. Life then was not easy. And the fact that his bunch of pals then was the same bunch of pals Axel had did Roxas no good.

That was when they were still in high school. Roxas had thought that once he had graduated from high school, his encounter with the strange, deluded man a.k.a. Axel would also cease. He would be able to start his university life without ever having to tolerate the red head anymore. And everything did go normal. Only for the first few weeks.

~*~Flashback 3~*~

Seated comfortably in one of the seats in the middle row of the lecture hall, Roxas stifled a contented yawn. Life had been lovely so far. The lecturers are nice, the students there are friendly and were quick to become acquaintances, food are decent and though some of his high school friends had gone to other universities, he still had a handful of close buddies that are studying here, for example Sora, who is studying law; a different field from Roxas. The best thing of all, there was no Axel in view AND he had gotten himself a girlfriend!

Neat, short black hair and eyes the colour of serene blue, Roxas was glad he had met her on orientation day and had been asked to be her boyfriend the next few days later. Her name was even cute; Xion.

He let out a content sigh before straightening his seating posture when the lecturer came. Roxas turned to his left, only to see Xion smiling back at him from her group of friends. He smiled back abashedly. Life has been good.

"Ding, Dong."

As his lecturer started his lessons, the notice for morning announcements came, interrupting him. Every once in a while, they had morning announcements for any important news or anything.

"Attention to all members from – Hey! What are you doing?! Let me g – Mmph!"

All the students present in the lecture hall started muttering about the sudden commotion in the announcement room. Even Roxas was straining his ears to hear what was going to happen next. Not that it mattered to him.

"Hello, hello?" a new voice came over the speakers. Somehow, Roxas felt as though he had heard this voice before…where had he heard it…it was all-too-familiar to not recognize it…

"Roxas? You listening to this?" the same voice called for him, and that was when it all clicked.

"AHH!" Roxas exclaimed, getting out of his seat all of a sudden, not aware that more than two thirds of the students present had their eyes on him.

"Just wanted to tell you that I love you and would like to ask you to go out with me some time soon," the same voice said before letting out a chuckle. "Bye and have a nice day~"

~*~End of FB~*~

Life had decided to screw him upside down at that exact moment. The look Xion had on her face was indescribable; but Roxas was sure most of it was utter disgust. And he was right. The very next day, he had found himself to be once more eligible. Apparently, the whole set up about Axel confessing his love over the speakers on that day had involved almost every single one of his own buddies and the mastermind for this was no other than his useless bratty cousin, Sora. Axel, whom Roxas had thought he had gotten rid off, had been in the same university as Roxas since day one and was in the same course as his cousin. Reason to why Sora had not told of him earlier and let his cousin suffer embarrassment due to the sudden 'interruption' in the middle of lesson was;

"Xion had black hair. I don't like it. Red heads are better for you."</b>

One good thing about his university life was that there were lesser sudden 'I love you's and date invitations from the red head compared to his schooling days. There were, of course, still his sudden pop-ins and random love declarations. But the horrible thing was; it no longer kept to upfront confrontations only. It grew more brazen and audacious. Like that one time…

~*~Flashback 4~*~

SongLy FM. It was Roxas's favourite music station. Whenever he had the time, he would always have his radio switched on to SongLy FM. The songs they played were great and there were little DJ talks interrupting his music time. Right now, they had one of his favourite songs up, setting Roxas off in an ecstatic mood. Even when it ended and had some DJ talking, Roxas still kept that bright smile on his face.

"Congratulations! You are the ninth caller through this evening and have successfully won yourself two VIP tickets to 'Maybe's Tour Concert' on this upcoming lovely Valentines Day! May I know who the lucky caller on the line is?"

"Wait, wait. Is this broadcasted live?" the caller asked, causing the DJ to hesitate for a short moment.

"Uh, yeah. Why? But before we give you these two precious tickets, you'll have to give us the password that we mentioned during the cue-to-call."

"No, it's nothing. Lemme…lemme try and think…I kinda forgot it, so uh…," the caller told the DJ, but Roxas somehow sensed that the person who had called through did not call to win those concert tickets. He had a different motive. And that voice…why had the voice sounded so familiar? It was just like back then, when the poor announcer for his university ran into bad karma…and was tied up…

Roxas immediately increased the volume of his radio, his face turning pale white. That guy wasn't going to do anything stupid like a love call broadcast across the nation, right?! There was a silent pause on the radio with exception of a very soft voice counting…

"Roxas! This one's for you!" Axel shouted through the phone before breaking out into a song with a whole band backing him up.

"I love you, baby!
And if it's quite alright!
I need you, baby!
To warm a lonely night!
I –"

His singing along with the electric guitar and all that was suddenly cut off and silence took over the entire radio. Time seemed to have stopped at the sudden silence. Roxas sat frozen at his spot. The blood in his veins had seemed to have been drained out of his body. If anyone had came in to check up on the young adolescent blonde, he would probably be mistaken for some accurately carved statue. Roxas could not register what had just happened over the radio. The fact that the crazy perverted red head had just sang a song that blatantly declared his love for Roxas on a nationwide voted top favourite radio station could not seem to sink into his brain.

Then a sound from the radio broke the still silence,

"We apologize for the earlier inconveniences. Back to where we were, two VIP tickets to 'Maybe's Tour Concert' are still up for grabs! …"

What the poor DJ said next, Roxas never did find out as his finger jammed itself at the 'off' button.

~*~End of FB~*~

Roxas remembered not wanting to attend classes that day, but his parents had forced him to. They didn't listen to the same radio station as he did, so of course they didn't know a man had just literally shouted 'I love you' to Roxas for everyone to hear. The teasing, the evil chuckles, the random prods in the back and that useless brunet cousin of his asking Roxas to start worshipping Axel for such a romantic. Everyone was against him then. Even Demyx; the usually happy-go-lucky, carefree, unbiased and naïve person, had partaken in the love confession through the radio. [He was the guitarist.]

The idea was so sweet, I couldn't help but to lend a hand!"</b> Demyx had protested when Roxas came with a knuckle sandwich.

It became the talk of the whole university that time. Axel was lucky, as no one knew who the caller was, but Roxas was less lucky as the culprit had cried out his name during the call. To bear with the embarrassment, Roxas had to congratulate his adolescent self of that time to have survived then.

But ever since then, he did not hear much or see much of Axel. There were still, no doubt, the confessions, but it had reduced to a bare minimal. Well, it could not be helped. Both of them were in their final years of their course. Roxas in Business and Axel in Law; both courses needed them to enter the field to gain experience and the amount of work had doubled of that in their first year. There was little time for some relaxation. But still, it had felt a tad bit odd then…

The last Roxas had heard from the red head was some time during his last semester. Well, the term 'heard' was not exactly accurate.  Because he hadn't really heard Axel's usual confession. He had 'seen' it.

During one of the days, when Roxas had to slash off his free period just to complete his assignment at home, Sora had been gracious enough to crash in on him with his face flushed from running and arms flailing about.

~*~Flashback 5~*~

"Look at this, Roxas! You must absolutely see this!!" Sora wheezed, flipping open the newspaper he had in his hands, almost tearing it.

"Another time, okay?" Roxas told him, his eyes still focused on his assignment at hand.

But Sora had not listened and had pushed away his assignment, only to replace it with the newspaper he had flipped open. The brunet then pointed his finger to the corner right of a section, a smug look on his face.

At the exact moment when he landed his eyes upon the article, his stomach did numerous flip flops, threatening Roxas to spill its contents. There at a small corner of the page was a box, and inside the box was exactly the same picture he had seen crammed up in his chemistry notes when he was a high school student: A heart surrounded by multiples of smaller-sized hearts. But the words were entirely different from back then. There was still that unmistakable "I love you" written in the middle, but instead of the usual 'Go out with me' was another sentence; 'Commit it to memory." and signed under that was the name 'Axel'.

"See? I told you that Axel's a sweet romantic! Redheads are definitely good for you!" Sora had proclaimed with a smug look, his hands on his hips.

But somehow, Roxas felt something was off. Somehow, it had almost seemed as though he was not going to see the red head for quite some time. Roxas frowned before shaking off his thoughts. That red head had always been a clingy prat and for him to detach was near impossible. He had never missed the chance to pop out of nowhere, so why would he ever?

However, for that one second, he felt a sudden tug at his heartstrings and a surge of despair washed over him.

~*~End of FB~*~

That was the last interception he had from Axel in his life. There were few talks about it but they never lasted long. Axel, who had been around and about had stopped his random appearances and bold confession in front of the blonde entirely, leaving the blonde in a state of confusion. Then it hit him. Maybe Axel had finally given up hope. Five years of pursuing someone you loved…who could have lasted that long? Especially when every single proclamation was met with negative answers. To be rejected every time, honestly, it was a feat that someone could even last for a year! And to think that stupid brainless bastard had done it for five years…

"Roxas."

Deep in thoughts, Roxas just heaved a sigh, not noticing the fact that someone was trying to get his attention.

"ROXAS!!"

The blonde-haired man awoke from his thought with a start. He was busy reminiscing his past that he did not notice that he was already at the church, right before the big wooden doors with the bride standing next to him. Someone must have dragged him here and he had just followed involuntarily.

Olette gave him a worrying look as she asked in an anxious tone,

"Are you alright? You've been staring into the air for quite some time."

Roxas managed a weak smile, not wanting the bride to worry. He had gotten back his life, spent a year or two in getting a Masters and had gotten a job with decent salary pay immediately after that, everything was smooth sailing.  So why was there something tugging at his heartstrings at the recall of that goddamned red head?

"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded. What was he doing, making such a beautiful bride worry on her happy day?

Olette took his hand in hers, her worried look now replaced with another sad look.

"…Must you really go after the wedding?" she asked, looking into Roxas's blue eyes. "I mean, why not stay for another day? Afterall, we're having the wedding dinner tomorrow. We can always save a space for you. You don't have to – "

Roxas shushed her before she could continue her pleas. A sad smile engraved itself upon his face. After the wedding, he would board the airplane to Russia. His old company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but lucky for him, his superior Xemnas had took a liking to Roxas as he was usually the best employee of the month and had decided to bring him along to a new company located in Russia. The pay was better and he did not need to search for a new job, so he agreed on the spot. And by leaving here, he would probably be able to forget everything…him especially. To leave on Valentines day and becoming witness to a wedding…what irony.

"I'll write so don't worry. Now get those cheeks working 'cause we want to see you smiling today," Roxas told her, puling at Olette's cheeks teasingly. "When I escort you down the aisle with you looking all down, Hayner's gonna come after my head."

The brunette chuckled, but to depart from the man whom she had thought off as a big brother for several years was depressing. He had been the only person she had relied on the most ever since her parents had passed away two years ago before Hayner came.

"Promise, k?" she sniffed, her lips curving into a smile. "Hayner's been waiting long enough."

Roxas gave her a pat on the head and offered his arm to her. Once she had held onto his arm, the wooden oak doors swung open and the long walk down the aisle began.

Cheers erupted from the audience at the arrival of the bride, bridal music accompanied their footsteps, pastor ready behind the podium, under the sunlight streaming through the coloured glass windows. Right at the end of the walkway was a flushed and fidgety Hayner, his best man Pence grinning right next to him. At that moment, everything had seemed so beautiful.

A strange thought came to Roxas's mind. Had Axel had this in mind when he was pursuing Roxas? Holding his hand, grasping it ever so tightly, sealing a wedding vow with an 'I do'</b> and a kiss that meant an eternal 'I love you'.</b>

Roxas snorted.

What a ridiculous thought.'</b>

If that red head did, he would not have disappeared without notice and never shown his face for this entire time.

Once reaching their destination, he left the brunette bride next to her prospective husband and stood next to the still grinning best man. The bridal music slowed down to a halt as the pastor prepared to start the nuptial vows.

Roxas glanced at his wristwatch. Two more hours till his flight. Maybe he would take his leave after the group picture was taken. And all that would be left back here would be just memories.

"Before God and these witnesses, do you, Hayner – "

The sentence was cut off by a sudden loud slam from the back. The pastor came to an abrupt halt as many heads turned to source of the loud noise. Roxas leaned forward with a frown, wondering who had been so daring as to cause a ruckus in the middle of such sacramental occasion. And his blue eyes widened at the sight of the perpetrator.

"ROXAS!!"

That unmistakable voice. The usual long red spikes tied into a small ponytail. The small black triangular tattoos under those dark emerald green eyes. There was no doubt. He was the same man who had eradicated himself from Roxas's life for the past few years.

Loud footsteps echoed against the white church halls as the red head ran towards the blonde, the noise accompanied by soft murmurs of confusion due to the sudden commotion. An unreadable expression was plastered on his face.

Roxas involuntarily took a step backwards. Blood rushed in his veins, adrenaline pumped throughout his body continuously without fail, his heart began to beat erratically and his stomach began its unusual flip flops. Roxas's mind went blank. Upon reaching to where Roxas was standing, he grabbed hold of Roxas's hands in a tight manner.

"I-I know it's a…a very selfish thing of me to say but…" Axel began to talk as he panted, his grip not relenting in the slightest bit. "Can you…Can you please…don't go?"

But Roxas remained silent, his blue eyes blankly staring into Axel's green ones. There were so many things he had wanted to say; to ask, but the words were caught up in his throat. He just stood there, a small frown slowly formulating itself on his face.

Axel kept quiet for a moment as he regained his breathing control. Somehow catching onto what the blonde had wanted to say, he spoke,

"…I thought I wasn't good enough." A dark shadow shrouded his eyes, his voice dropped a tone lower. "It was always no, so I took a good look at myself. First, I thought maybe I was not convincing enough; perhaps I had looked like someone who would joke around with stuff like that. So I stepped up my game, doing all those crazy stuffs, thinking that maybe you would realize that I wasn't fooling around with you. But then it was still 'No.' So I…I rethought about it..."

He hesitated for a moment, his grip loosening a little bit. There were soft murmurs of what was going on and several motions of going over to their side to stop them, but those who knew better, for example Olette and Pence, had told them off. It was time for old knots to come undone and mistakes to be corrected.

"Then I realized. I was a nobody; having nothing in me that held any appeal to you despite my persistence. I was just one of those people you would cast off as someone you see in school and nothing more. There wasn't anything special about me that could make you look at me. I wasn't good enough. That newspaper article…it was my last attempt before I reconstructed myself. Before I had become a 'Somebody' in this world; before I had engraved my name in the world, I had to abstain myself from seeing you. I wanted to return as a person worthy enough for you so I could once more confess…and finally receive a different answer then."

Numerous insults went through his mind. Bastard.' 'Asshole.' But none came out of his mouth. Axel had always appear as someone proud and confident of himself. To think that Roxas had so much influence over him…

Just like those scribbles he made in his chemistry notes during his schooling years, he had forcibly squeezed himself through every nook and cranny of Roxas's life, not leaving a single space of it empty for others to fill. Always appearing at the wrong place and the wrong time, not hesitating to call out to Roxas even when he was occupied, confessing at every interrupted session of his life, disrupting his pace every time he had intercepted…it was no wonder his disappearance had an impact on Roxas. Just like a leech, when forcible pulled off, it takes along with it a part of the victim. Axel was always there all the times that he had somehow blended himself to be a part of his life and when he had detached himself from Roxas, he had left a big gaping hole that couldn't be healed simply with just time alone.

Somewhere along the line when Axel was pursuing him, Roxas had already accepted him unknowingly.

"But before I could even achieve anything, you were already going to leave for somewhere else! I couldn't let you go without having told you anything. So I – "

"Ask me."

Axel stopped his sentence midway, taken aback at the sudden question. A short moment of silence was granted upon them. Roxas did not repeat his question, but Axel seemed to have caught on to what Roxas had wanted to hear.

"I love you. Would you go out with me?"

A small smile litted on Roxas's face, his blue eyes slightly damp. A slight tint of red coloured his cheeks as he opened his mouth,

"Sure."