Game of Cat & Mouse
Chapter Two; Just like Romeo & Juliet

Roxas stared blearily at the tall man standing in front of him. Comprehension to what the stranger had just said was clearly having difficulty sinking in, and while it slowly did, Axel's bright smile began to falter.
After a nice awkward silence, the words suddenly had meaning and the sleepy Roxas snapped to attention and narrowed his eyes. He drew himself up (which wasn't very impressive – Axel had a full two or three feet on him) and grasped the door frame to steady himself. Axel lifted his eyebrows in expectation.
"It's my cat now," Roxas retorted flatly.

Clearly Axel had assumed he was much more charming than to receive a reply like that, and his smile fell off altogether. "Uh, no," He started, carefully, as if he well explaining this to a six year old. "It's my cat. I just..." He trailed off.

Roxas stared at him, and Axel finally finished, "... Forgot about him."

"For a month?" Roxas snapped back, leaning forward grumpily. Grumpy because this strange person had woken him up too damn early and now had the balls to try and steal his cat away. If he'd been more awake and observant he would've noticed the faint flush of shame on Axel's cheeks as the red-head averted his eyes from Roxas' own baby blue pair.

Since Axel appeared to be shamed into silence, Roxas continued angrily. "Who the fuck leaves their cat behind at their old apartment when they move out and forgets about it?" Axel opened his mouth to reply, thin eyebrows scrunched down into a frown, but Roxas didn't give him the chance to defend himself. "Uh uh, mister. You don't get the fucking cat." And then he slammed the door in the man's face.

There was silence on the other side of the door for a few seconds, then Axel's yelled, "I will get my cat back!" through the door.
Roxas didn't bother replying, instead choosing to flip the deadbolt lock on his front door and shut his kitchen blinds. Out of paranoia that Spaghetti might have gotten outside and was being stolen by that punk rocker, Roxas quickly ducks his head into his bathroom, living room, and bedroom until he finds the fat cat sleeping on one of his pillows.

"As if I'd just give you away," Roxas muttered to himself as he turned back to the kitchen. He leaned over the sink and peeked through the blinds only to find that Axel had apparently given up and is nowhere in sight.

----

It's Thursday and Roxas is sitting in the three foot long hallway that connects his front door to his kitchen, and those to his living room. He was sitting on the floor with his back up against the wall and school-work spread out on the floor around him. A copy of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was spread open in his lap, though his attention was clearly on his cellphone that he'd been speaking into and not the book.

Roxas leaned his head back against the wall, holding the phone up to his ear, and retorted to the other person, "Anyone who considers Romeo and Juliet to be a great romance is ridiculous and delusional. It's not romantic, it's just a story about two overly dramatic teenagers who spontaneously fall in love and then kill themselves when mommy and daddy don't approve."

As Roxas paused, Namine giggled from the phone. "I mean," Roxas continued, waving a hand for emphasis. "Romeo clearly doesn't know what love is. He loved that other chick, Rosaline, sooo much, then immediately dumps her and decides he loves Juliet soooo much, regardless of the fact that he's never actually spoken to her and she could be a stupid bitch."

"Jeeze, Roxas. Remind me to never make you watch a chick flick with me," Namine laughed.

Roxas chuckled, but was cut short from amusement when there came a loud rapping at his front door. He tilted his head to look up at it, perplexed. Quickly he went through a mental list of who could possibly be showing up at this house; Hayner was at a struggle match with Olette cheering him on, Pence was locked in his room studying, Namine was on the phone with him, and if it had been Sora he would've heard that he was coming by now because Sora was incapable of keeping a secret.

Determining that it couldn't be anyone worth-while, Roxas stayed put on the floor and continued his train of thought. "And don't even get me started on the stupidity of their deaths. Clearly they wouldn't have worked as a couple if they couldn't even communicate to one another their plans. If Juliet had just-"

The knocking came again, louder and hurried. It was followed with a, "I know you're in there, I can hear you." that Roxas didn't quite recognize. He frowned and pushed himself to stand up, murmuring for Namine to hold on a second while he pulled open the front door.

He should've have at least suspected Axel to be standing there, but he hadn't thought of the man until the moment the door swung open and revealed the red-head. He was dressed in a similar fashion today, except with a tight fitting black and gray striped hoodie to make up for the slight autumn chill. There was a cigarette clutched in-between his fingers, and judging by the expression on his face he did not look pleased to be here again.

Well, Roxas thought, that goes for both of us.
He set his lips into a firm line and held his cellphone against his shoulder, staring at Axel.

"I'm here for my cat," Axel said when it appeared that Roxas had nothing witty to start the conversation with.

Roxas must've been looking at him a bit too apathetically at that statement, because Axel's eyes narrowed when he didn't immediately reply.

Roxas shrugged. "I already told you, it's not your cat anymore – it's mine."

From the phone, Namine's small voice can be heard asking, "What's going on? Roxas?"

Axel noticed the noise, his bright green eyes flicking from the phone to Roxas' face, and he shifts his weight to his other foot. "Roxas, is it?" He asked, and when Roxas didn't reply, continued on regardless, "Well, Roxas, what can I do to get my cat back?"

"Nothing," Roxas replied shortly. He leaned against the door-frame comfortably, cradling the cellphone against his shoulder. He gave Axel a pointed look. "I have a paper to write, so I'm closing the door now." He nodded once, and without giving the other man a chance to interrupt, he stepped back into his house and once again shut the door in his face.

On the other side of the door he can hear Axel swear colorfully and stomp off in his combat boots.

Roxas laughed to himself, amused at his victory once again, and lifted his cellphone back up to his ear just in time to hear Namine ask, "What was that all about?"

Roxas shrugged even though Namine couldn't see him doing it, and leaned down to scoop up his discarded book from the floor. "Some guy showed up asking for his cat back a few days ago, and that was him again."

Namine paused on the other end for a moment, before asking, "...Sooo, what's the problem? Why don't you give him the cat back?"

Roxas frowned at the cover of Romeo and Juliet, vaguely caught off guard because he'd thought Namine would side with him on this. Abruptly he felt a surge of anger at nothing in particular. "Because he abandoned it! You can't just go giving cats to people who forget them in apartments! He's probably the type of person who forgets to feed animals and stuff too. Just think of all the fish he's probably killed!"

"...Riight."

The conversation went stale after another minute or so, and Roxas hung up the phone, feeling annoyed and bitchy. He ran and hand through his blonde hair, glanced around his apartment and then went to make himself some coffee.

A/N: I'd say sorry for taking so long, but I'm sure that's probably getting old. SO I'll just say how much I adore all of you and reviews! There's only one chapter left in this baby, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be up soon. I have problems balancing my boyfriend, apartment, bill, car, job hunting & writing, but I'll do my best.
OH ALSO, I haven't written anything at all in the past year or however long it's been, and I've found I have an amazingly difficult time staying in one tense while writing. So if you catch any jumping between past and present, I apologize! 3