Never Mix Fire With Water
Or, Never Mix Keys and Gravity
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic.

The day was beautiful and calm, the sky blue, the sun bright, the hallways of Organization XIII cool, and the surrounding area quiet as as a mouse. That is, until an ear splitting screech from none other than everyone's favorite blue-eyed blond rent the air.

"AAAAAXXXXEEEEEELLLLLL!!!!!"

Axel winced at the all-too-familiar accusing voice, one that usually meant trouble for him. "Y...yes Roxie?" he called.

"WHY DO MY KEYBLADES HAVE WET PAINT ON THEM?!"

The door slammed open to reveal a very angry XIII, palms completely soaked and dripping with black paint. Well, black paint on one, the other was more a muddy gray from where Roxas has gotten white paint on it and had unconciously tried to wipe it off with the hand with black paint on it. "WELL?!" he shouted.

"Stop shouting Roxie," Axel winced, bringing a hand up to his ear. "It hurts my ears."

"Your ears, or your ego?"

"That too. But mostly my ears," Axel said as he lowered his hand, before brightening up. "Hey, you stopped shouting!"

"Yes, I did. NOW TELL ME WHERE THE PAINT CAME FROM?!"

"You're shouting again," Axel said in a slight dog like whine.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!!"

"Stop shouting, and maybe I will."

"Fine," Roxas scowled. "There, I stopped shouting."

"You have to promise not to shout again."

Roxas' closed his eyes and growled to himself. "Fine, I promise," he said through clenched teeth. "Now tell me."

"Well, it's something like this..." Axel leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "I was....wandering...don't you dare say I was sneaking!" Axel glared as Roxas opened his mouth to speak. "Anyways, while I was wandering through Demyx's room, I kinda sorta found this paint kit...I think you're the one who gave it to him, isn't that right Roxie?"

"Let me guess," Roxas growled. "You thought that after all the fighting I've been doing lately you should take the liberty to 'touch up' my keyblades."

"Great minds think alike, eh? There were so many scratches on it Roxie! Also, paint is fun to play with."

"Stop calling me Roxie! And it's more like, 'great minds struggle to comphrehend the twisted mind of an idiotic pyromaniac'."

".....what?"

"It means you're an idiot and fire obsessed," Roxas growled.

"Ooo, burn," Axel grinned. "But wait a minute! Me? Burn? I don't think so. 'Cause I-"

"NO FIRE PUNS!!!" Roxas shouted.

Axel blinked and stared at him. "You lied to me!" he glared, pointing his finger accusingly. "You promised you wouldn't shout!"

"I'M NOT SHOUTING!!!"

"Fine whatever," Axel scowled, crossing his arms and settling down in his chair sulkingly. "And it was a good pun too."

"No pun is a good one."

"Ha. Next you're going to be saying, 'The only good pun is a dead one'."

"Actually, more like 'The only good Axel is a dead Axel'," Roxas said with a slight smirk.

"....why are you grinning?" Axel asked suspiciously.

"That's your cue to run."

"Oh, okay then," Axel said placidly, calmly standing up and brushing himself off, before dashing off down the hallway.

"Hey! No head starts!" Roxas exclaimed as he ran after him.

"Ha! I don't need a head start! I could outrun you blindfolded with both legs tied together!" Axel called back with his trademark grin.

"Oh....oh REALLY?" Roxas growled, thinking rather bitterly as he did that he would probably come up with a better comeback while lying in bed tonight. That was the thing about Axel. He always had a comeback, but his cocky personality always made it hard to think up your own comeback. Then again, it was rather fun to watch when he went up against those considered Organization XIII's enemies...

"Oh, yes really." Axel's taunting voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, well....well..." Darnit! There he went with the cockiness again! "Well.....NOT REALLY!" he exclaimed, flustered.

"Do you know how lame that sounded?" Axel smirked.

"Grrr..." Roxas sped up, then lunged foreward and tackled the smirking red head.

"Oh oh! Roxie! You're getting paint all over me!" Axel squirmed underneath the blond, who was now the one smirking.  "Leggo of me!"

"Aw, what's the matter, afraid of a little paint?" Roxas smirked as he reached out with the hand that dripped with grey paint and smeared it across Axel's fire red hair.

"No! Not my perfect hair!" Axel moaned.

Roxas smirked. "Apparently, you are."

"No, I'm not afraid of paint idiot! It just so happens that I don't like looking like seventy times my age," he glared as he put a hand up to touch the grey streaks in his hair. He pushed Roxas off, scowling, then stood up and started storming off back the way they'd come.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Roxas exclaimed.

"To dye my hair black," Axel growled.

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad," Roxas encouraged. "Hey, I know! Why don't we go to the beach? The paint would wash right out. Come to think of it, you haven't been to the beach before, have you Axel?"

"No. And I don't want to," Axel growled, crossing his arms and turning his back on Roxas.

"Aw, c'mon, it'd be fun!"

"Fun is for kids."

"Are you calling me a kid?" Roxas asked slightly threateningly.

Axel looked back behind him  to look down at his blond friend. "Yeah, well, your size does speak for yourself."

"I AM NOT SMALL!!!"

"I never said you were. But, since you brought it up...."

"Just....just...just shut up, okay?!" Roxas put a hand to his head and sighed a bit. "Look, are you going to come or not?"

"No." Axel crossed his arms again and gave Roxas a defiant look.

"But....pleeeeeease?" Roxas asked in a very child like way, gazing up at the pyro with big blue bambi eyes.

"Agh!" Axel slapped a hand to his face. "Fine! Fine! But when we get back, I am going to viciously murder whoever came up with bambi eyes."

"That would be Disney. Y'know, the creators of Bambi?"

"Daaaang."

Two hours and seventeen ice creams eaten by Axel later...

Axel offhandedly rummaged around inside the basket with a gloved hand, not really looking at what he was doing, his attention fixed on the blond boy out in the waves. He reached for another ice cream, when his hand slid into something wet and cold. "Ah!" He quickly jerked his hand back, his glove now dripping with freezing cold soda water.

"Axel, aren't you gonna come in?" Roxas called from over by the ocean itself.

"What, y'think I'm crazy like you?"

"Who're you calling crazy?!"

"Hey, am I the one getting his clothes soaking wet?"

"No, you're the sitting in the hot sun and wearing black."

"....and your point is?"

"Black attracts heat!"

"Good thing for me I'm heat central, eh?" Axel smirked, flicking his wrist and making a small flicker of flame appear in the palm of his hand.

"Oh, I get it. You're afraid of water."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Repeat for about thirty seven more times and you have the rest of their conversation, which ended in Axel throwing a flame ball towards Roxas, who ducked just in time, letting it sizzle out in the ocean waves.

"Now shut the flippin' heck up."

"Aw, c'mon Axel," Roxas said coaxingly as he walked up and sat down next to him. "It's okay to be afraid of water. I mean, you are Flurry of the Dancing Flames. Emphasis on the flames."

"I'm not afraid of water okay?!" Axel shouted. "It's just that I....I...." He stared at the ground and mumbled the rest under his breath.

"What? I can't hear you." Roxas leaned closer.

"I SAID I CAN'T SWIM OKAY?!" Axel shouted, jumping up and glaring down at Roxas, who was currently in a state of shock, staring up at the hot tempered pyro with the  same big blue eyes that had gotten them to come here in the first place.

"You....can't...swim?" Roxas blinked up at his red haired best friend with a look of confusion, shock, and slight amusement.

"No!" Axel threw his hands up in the air. "I can't! I can't swim! It's just one of those things I never thought worth learning! Like English! What's wrong with Japanese anyhow? Why do we have to learn English too?! Agh!"

An amused grin twitched its way onto Roxas' face. "And the others don't know about it, I presume?"

"Yeah..." Axel said in a slightly embarrased way, calming down some.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno," Axel shrugged. "Just one of those things I never thought of mentioning. Like English."

"You have this 'thing' against English, don't you?" Roxas grinned.

"Yep. Commit it to memory."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You and that phrase. That and 'Got it memorized?'," he said in a 'you're hopeless' kind of way, as he rummaged through the basket for a salt water ice cream. "Hey.....Axel?"

"Mm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Fire away Roxie."

"WHERE IS MY SEA SALT ICE CREAM?"

Two hours and seventeen slaps to Axel's cheek- plus one more for good measure- later...

Roxas strolled down the hallway with a rather contented look on his face. He had slapped Axel once for each ice cream, plus shouting at him the whole time. Fortunately for the blond, Axel was rather fond of him and didn't say a word through the whole thing. Although, he did give him a few nasty glares between the times his face was getting thrown back and forth. Which led Roxas to think that though they were best friends, Axel was prone to swift and unnverving mood swings. Wait, he already knew that...

"Yo." A familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him, giving him a bit of shock, making him jump slightly. "What'cha doing?"

"Axel?" Roxas' looked up to find himself staring at an all too familiar smirk, though something was different. He tilted his head slightly. "Axel...your hair...."

For Axel's hair was no longer in the familiar flame like spikes. It was hanging down around his shoulders, actually longer than Roxas had originally thought. It also happened to be dripping wet, and was also getting Roxas wetter than he cared for. He stepped forward a bit, then turned around and looked quizzically at Axel.

"What, this?" Axel touched a lock of his hair. "Just washed the paint out that's all. What, you didn't think that a gravity-defying hairstyle like that would fall apart under the weight of that nasty water?"

"You really don't like water, do you Axel?"

"Well duh! I can't swim!" Axel exclaimed throwing his arms wide. "Of course I hate water! Just like I hate English!"

"Stop it with the whole English thing, why don't you?" Roxas sighed, putting a hand to his forehead.

"What? I have the right to express my opinion!" Axel crossed his arms and glared at the blond. "Oh...and...by the way...you didn't....tell anybody? Did you?" he asked, turning slightly red in the face.

"About how you can't swim? Nah. We're best friends, remember?" Roxas titled his head and grinned at Axel.

"Right," Axel grinned back.

"So....up for some sea salt ice cream?" Roxas asked. "As long as you don't eat it all that is. You won't eat it all, will you?" he glared.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"But Axel we don't-" Roxas began, then stopped and sighed sighed. He then started walking past Axel, when the pyro grinned, and gave the blond a quick and sudden playful shove, making him fall flat on his face.

"Wha?" Roxas said dizzily. "What just happened?"

Axel leaned over and grinned at the confused Roxas. "Gravity is always on, Roxas. Got it memorized?"