This whole thing was Sora's fault.

To be fair, if one were to actually assign blame, it would be both his and Sora's fault. But since Roxas was the one currently sitting and/or hanging sideways next to some strange red-headed man while their rollercoaster sat stuck on the track, and the aforementioned strange red-headed man's eyes were growing wider and wider as the realization that they were stuck on the track…

The red-headed man turned his head ever so slightly and met Roxas's eyes. He gripped the handles on seat tightly. "We're going to die."

Yeah, Roxas was going to blame Sora for this one.

It began like this:

There was this new rollercoaster at only the coolest theme park, The World That Never Was. And this rollercoaster had it all – back flips, front flips, you name it. Apparently, some guy had been flung out of his seat and landed just in time for the loop-de-loop but there were only rumors to back that.

Either way, this rollercoaster was apparently therollercoaster to top all rollercoasters, and rollercoaster expert Roxas and his sidekick/brother/lackey, Sora, were going to be the ones to test it out.

Well. They were going to, until Sora invited Riku along, and Riku had looked at the rollercoaster a little nervously and wrung his hands and looked at Sora.

Roxas could feel Sora's walls cracking. He could tell. Before he could let that happen, he grabbed his brother's arm and attempted to drag him into the line before—

"Roxas," Sora said, gently prying his arm out of Roxas's grip. Roxas's left eye twitched. "Maybe we don't have to go on the Superior's Kingdom Hearts' Elation today. Maybe next time we come?"

Roxas inhaled, exhaled. And then he tried to tighten his grip on Sora's arm again.

"This ride is the only reason we came, Sora," Roxas said. He had tried to lace his words with warmth and understanding, but he couldn't really hide his growl. Huh. Maybe he should work on that. "Besides. The line won't take too long. Riku can wait for us outside!"

Riku, aka the only reason why Sora hadn't beaten Roxas to the line of only the word's most awesome rollercoaster. Riku was one of those people who said they liked rollercoasters and then when they were faced with its awesome power, backed out at the last minute

Sora frowned and turned to Riku, who was still staring up at the rollercoaster with slight apprehension. "Will you be okay with that?"

"Didn't you hear about the guy who was flung off this ride a few months ago?" Riku said, shaking his head. "But you know what, if you guys really want to ride this coaster, that's fine. I'll…I'll join you."

Sora slipped out of Roxas's grip (which was a feat in itself because Roxas could tell that he had been squeezing Sora's bones) and gave Riku a tight hug. "Awesome!" He turned to Roxas, who was now grinning a little manically up at the ride. "You're cool with that, right?"

Grin still plastered on his face, Roxas turned back to the two of them. "Perfect," he said, though maybe he hissed, considered how slightly freaked out Riku and Sora reacted to it.

Or it had been perfect until they had waited the two hours in the line and finally got to the front where they were about to board the rollercoaster andsomeone (not to name any names but it was probably Riku), grimaced and groaned and wrung his hands again and gave that look to Sora.

Roxas knew it was all over then. Instead of waiting for Riku's immediate fall from awesome to lame, he jumped into one of the seats and buckled himself in.

"Guys, I think I'm going to sit this one out," Riku said, inching his way towards the exit. He glanced outside, looking at the ride again. His eyes grew wide. "I don't think I'm ready to put my body through that kind of pain."

Roxas shrugged. "Your loss. Come on, Sora."

But then, Sora shot Roxas a look. Roxas knew that look. He hated that look. The last time he'd seen that look, Sora walked back into the house with Roxas's skateboard in sixteen pieces and three bruises on his legs. It was a look of apology and a look that asked Roxas to forgive Sora for his misgivings, for he was weak.

"It's okay Riku," Sora said, moving to stand next to Riku at the exit. "I'll sit this one out with you."

Sora had crossed the point of no return. Sora had betrayed him. Roxas turned up his nose and looked away because like it or not, he was going to enjoy this rollercoaster if it was the last thing he did.

(Unfortunate choice of words. Very, very unfortunate choice of words).

Since this whole debacle had taking forever in theme park time (that is, about thirty seconds), the ride attendant ushered someone else in the spot next to Roxas. Roxas was too busy looking away from his betrayer of a brother to notice who was sitting next to him, but out of the corner of his eye he saw red hair. He might have heard the guy mumble something like, "I can't stand roller coasters…" but he was going to ignore it if he did because everyone, save Riku, liked rollercoasters. They were perfection.

Finally, finally, the ride slowly began to move. Roxas kicked his legs when the bottom dropped out and allowed their legs to dangle. Roxas might have seen Sora wave at him but Roxas was still a little (read: very) miffed and frowned at him before turning back towards the ride.

Rollercoasters were his happy place, and there was nothing, not even Sora and his desire to please Riku, that was going to ruin it.

As his car (if you could call it that, with a group of people in seats and dangling legs) began to move up the hill, Roxas vaguely noticed the guy next to him taking much deeper breaths than he should but oh well. This was apparently therollercoaster of rollercoasters. If you couldn't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and what not.

Poised at the top of the hill, Roxas grinned widely as the rollercoaster dropped them.

"Considering we're stuck up here, you might as well give me your name."

Roxas couldn't tell if it was the lack of blood going to his brain, or the weird way the rollercoaster had stopped suddenly that made him finally give up and talk. Considering that some of the riders upside down, the others turned between 90 - 45 degrees about the turn upside down, him being awkwardly turned to the side wasn't so bad. But even so, after twenty minutes of this and no end in sight, he knew it was going to be a long, long day.

"Why should I?" Roxas finally shot back, and his red-headed companion gave a laugh. That laugh had been tinged with nervousness and fear and maybe Roxas thought that maybe he should give the guy a break. But just as he considered that, he saw Sora and Riku watching him from the ground and scowled.

"Well," the guy said, turning to face him. How could he even fit in the seat in the first place, with his hair spiked up like that? "Considering your friends are down there, my friends are seated in front of us, and we could die at any second, I thought it might be nice to talk to someone as attractive as you before we plummet to our imminent doom."

Roxas turned to face the guy - or tried to, as well as he could from his limited seating. If he ignored the attractive line, then the guy might get through this alive. Maybe. "How do you know my friends are down there?"

The guy grinned. Roxas noticed he was sweating far more than necessary for such a nice day like it was. "Most of the line saw them leave you on the ride."

Roxas scowled again. "Well. Who are you?" And because Roxas had been trapped for twenty minutes - oh wait, make that twenty-five minutes, according to his watch – on a rollercoaster that should have been the best time of his life, he added, "And why do you look so awful?"

The guy snorted and looked up at the sky. Or, well, he tried, but considering the way the coaster was set up, he was more than likely looking at the top of his seat. "Name's Axel. And I hate rollercoasters."

"No one hates rollercoasters," Roxas shot back. "No one in their right mind hates rollercoasters."

"I do!" some random guy shouted from the seats behind them. Because of how the seats were set up, Roxas couldn't see the guy, but he turned around as much as he could and glared anyway.

Red-headed guy – Axel – laughed nervously. "I was dragged on here by a couple of friends who said I was being lame for not wanting to go on," he said, before cupping his hands and shouting, "but at least we're all stuck here together!"

"Fuck off, Axel!" a female voice from the front of Axel shouted, and the guy in front of Roxas laughed loudly.

After a quick glance to his watch (twenty-seven minutes), Roxas sighed. "I'm Roxas," he said. "It's nice to meet you."

It really wasn't, but even if Sora was a betrayer and Roxas had been stuck on a ride for almost a half hour, he was polite. Could be polite. Could attempt at being polite.

Axel turned back to look at him, and now that Roxas had a clearly view of his face, he noticed some odd, teardrop tattoos under his eyes. Weird. He looked like he was about to say something when the rollercoaster car moved like half an inch. Everyone on the ride screamed, half in fear and half in excitement that they might actually be moving, but when the ride proceeded to not move again, there was a unanimous groan.

Roxas rolled his eyes and turned back to Axel to see if he was about to talk, but noticed something was wrong. Now, Axel was a fairly pale guy, but currently looked as white as a sheet. The way his hands were gripping the handles on the seat harness were probably tighter than healthy and his eyes were way, way too wide to be of someone calmly sitting on a stuck rollercoaster.

After a moment of watching Axel look like he was about to fling himself out of the seat in fear, Roxas waved his hands in the general direction of Axel. Axel jerk his head in Roxas's direction, who grimaced.

"I take it you reallydon't like rollercoasters?" Roxas asked, and Axel gave off this laugh that wouldn't sound out of place in a slasher film.

"Me? Afraid of roller coasters?" Axel replied, his voice maybe an octave higher than before the coaster movement. "I never said that!"

"I never asked that."

They stared at each other for a moment before Axel laughed again and proceeded to look down. It wasn't that far to the ground, just a mere thirty or forty feet, but from the way Axel kept laughing at the ground, Roxas didn't really think it was a good idea for him to do that.

Roxas kicked his feet slightly, and after realizing that it made their row shake and Axel look he was going to die right then, he quickly stopped. "Stop looking at the ground, okay?" Roxas said, sounding a lot more annoyed than he should be. "Looking at the ground only makes it worse. I mean, if the coaster does snap and we go crashing to the ground, I'm sure the two or three tons of machinery attached to us will crush us before the actual fall, okay?"

When Axel started to hyperventilate, Roxas realized that might have been a poor choice of words. Even if it was the truth.

Frowning at himself, he racked his brain, trying to think of some better topic. "Where to you go to school?" he finally asked, glancing over to Axel again.

"What?!" Axel asked, his voice far too breathy to be normal.

Roxas tilted his head, not that one could tell, considering how tilted they already were on the ride. "I need you to talk to me. Because I am a master at rollercoasters and if some asshole next to me dies while I'm strapped in one, it will make me seem weak. So. Where do you go to school?"

Axel paused his mild freak out and glanced over. After taking a few deep breaths, he said, "You're kind of an asshole, you know that, right?"

Roxas frowned at him. "That's a rude way to talk to the person trying to help you."

They locked eyes for a bit before Axel brought his hands up to his face and laughed. Finally, it wasn't the crazed, maniacal laugh of someone waiting to plummet to their doom.

Roxas may have even quirked a smile at him. Or maybe the wind changed slightly. Who knew?

Roxas blinked. "You go to Radiant Garden University? I'm going to Radiant Garden University. "

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Freshman?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes, noting that Axel's grip on the handles were slightly looser. "Transfer from Twilight Town U."

"Ah." Axel gestured to the row in front of them without actually moving a single body part. Roxas was vaguely impressed. "The two assholes in front of us go there with me. They thought it would be funny to drag me along."

"And it still is very funny," the female voice called back. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Thanks Larxene. Thanks so very much."

"You never did mention why you hate rollercoasters so much?"

Axel grimaced and made a point of not looking down again. "Last time I was on one, we were trapped upside down for three hours."

Roxas blinked, suddenly very grateful that their car was still upright, unlike the poor people who were halfway upside down. "I don't think I ever want to ride a rollercoaster with you again. You're bad luck."

Axel rolled his eyes.

"I spy with my little eye, something that is blue."

"Axel, if you say the sky one more time, I will unbuckle my seat and slap you across the face."

"Well, Roxas, if you hadn't forbade me from looking down, then this game could be a lot more interesting."

"You know what? Look down. Just do it. …Oh my god, I'm sorry, don't look down. Don't. Oh god. I promise we're not going to die. Please stop clawing at the air like that."

Considering how close Roxas and Axel were seated next to each other, they thought it would be possible to see if they could reach each other.

"This is not going to work," Roxas grimaced, waving his arm blindly. "Unless we manage to wiggle through the harness."

Axel paused his arm flailing. "You mean, the harness that is the only thing keeping us up and not falling to our deaths?"

"Yep."

Axel brought his arm back to his side and didn't move.

"Ew."

"Don't be rude, Roxas."

"I'm not being rude, but you're stupid. No one likes Reeses more than Sour Patch Kids. What's wrong with you?"

"Um, everyone likes peanut butter. Do you know who doesn't like peanut butter? Freaks."

"I could be deathly allergic to peanut butter. How would you feel about that, Axel? How would you feel about that?"

"Roxas. I apologize. Are you deathly allergic to peanut butter?"

"..."

"My point exactly."

"Hufflepuffs are not the worst house. The only reason you think that is because you're a Slytherin."

Axel rolled his eyes. "I would not at all be a Slytherin."

Roxas shot him a look. "Didn't you say that if we could get off this faster, you'd drop your friends… uh…"

"Marluxia and Larxene!" a male voice from in front of Roxas said helpfully.

Roxas nodded. "Right. Them. You'd drop them and leave them to die?"

Axel shrugged. "No problem being resourceful."

"Yeah. For a Slytherin."

"Ugh."

"We've been on this for over an hour and a half, Roxas. What are you complaining about now?"

"Oh, besides the fact that we've been trapped on a rollercoaster sideways for more than an hour and a half? Well. My brother and his friend haven't been diligently waiting for me at the end of the ride. They left like twenty minutes ago and haven't come back since."

Axel smirked. "Maybe they're off buying food. Or they're on other rides."

"Or making out," Roxas snipped, scowling at the ground. "This was supposed to be our big rollercoaster day and Riku just had to show up."

Axel shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they went on another ride and they're trapped upside down and all the blood has rushed to their heads and they deeply regret not being trapped on this ride with us, where we are slightly tilted to the right."

When Roxas didn't answer for a moment, Axel glanced over to him, only to see him smirking. "Oh. That'd be grand.

Axel rolled his eyes, but smiled slightly. He opened his mouth to say something else when the ride jolted again. He immediately gripped the handles of his seat tightly, but the ride was moving through the course slowly, bringing them in.

Around them, the entire car of passengers was cheering loudly.

One hour, twenty five minutes, and four seconds later, the rollercoaster pulled into the starting position. The line for the ride had cleared out, and the attendants who had been watching the stranded riders quickly moved to get them out of their seats.

When Roxas unsnapped his belt, he moved to go check on Axel. Even with his belt unsnapped, he was still in the seat, not moving much.

Before Roxas could reach him, a large, pink-haired man and a blonde woman moved from the seats in front of them, and shook Axel's shoulders.

"Come on!" the blonde woman said, smiling a bit. "At least we didn't completely fly out of this thing!"

The pink-haired man nodded solemnly. "True. We could have all died."

After a moment, Axel exhaled and unlatched his belt. He climbed out of the seat, and after looking a little unsteady for a moment, straightened up. "But then how would I have met my new best friend?" he asked, reaching an arm out and wrapping it around Roxas's shoulders.

Roxas rolled his eyes and shrugged him off. Before he could say another word, the blonde woman grabbed Roxas by the shoulders and hugged him close. "I'm Larxene. Thank you for not letting our poor baby Axel fall to is death on the big scary ride," she said, smiling toothily. Roxas inched away.

"And I'm Marluxia," the pink-haired man said, prying Larxene off of Roxas. "As great as this was, let us never do it again. Food awaits."

Marluxia and Larxene strolled down the exit ramp of the ride, leaving Axel and Roxas awkwardly standing there. "Well," Axel said, plastering on a grin. "That was fun. As he said, let's never do this again."

Roxas watched as Axel walked down the ramp and frowned slightly before following him down the ramp and outside the ride.

Outside the ride, Sora and Riku were waiting on a bench. Sora jumped up as Roxas exited the ride and gripped him tight. "You're not dead!" he exclaimed, smiling widely.

Roxas allowed himself to be hugged for a moment before pulling away. "But you're dead to me for not going on the ride."

Sora moved back and grinned and Roxas pointedly ignored the dark marks on Sora's neck and shoulders. His young, innocent mind didn't really want to know what he and Riku had done while he was off talking to crazed people on rollercoasters.

Before Sora could drag him off, someone tapped Roxas's shoulder. Roxas turned around to see Axel holding out a phone to him. Roxas blinked and Axel rolled his eyes, gesturing at the device. "You know what? You don't spend that long talking to someone and just forget about them. Besides," he grinned, "who else am I going to call when I'm stranded on a rollercoaster again?"

"No one, because you can't have your phone out," Roxas muttered, resisting the urge to grin and snatched Axel's phone, typing in his number. "I'll see you around campus?"

Axel grinned and winked when he took the phone back. "That you will."

As he walked away, both Sora and Riku stared at him. Roxas only smirked.

"Come on," he said, heading in the opposite direction from where Axel went. "I can already taste some Dippin' Dots. And since I was trapped for so long, I think someone else should pay for mine."