HOME | DD

Description
11:50 AM, Thursday January 30th

Roxas sat in the coffee shop, elbows on the tall table he was seated at, head resting on his palms. He blew the loose strands of hair from his eyes, sighing. He was ten minutes early, but he still hated waiting.

Axel was just leaving the hotel he was staying at. It was a very short distance from the coffee shop. He was asked to stay at a hotel for the night, not before surrendering his bloodied clothes to the investigation however. And so he had packed a very limited wardrobe with him before getting booted off to a nearby hotel. Maybe he should have shot Demyx somewhere away from home.

As he hopped outside of the hotel, he pulled the crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of his skin-tight jeans, just to be sure of the location of his date.

Date, he called it.

As he approached the café, he noticed the young blonde man sitting at one of the tables, extremely bored. He shook his head, getting into the mournful lover character before stepping into the café slowly, looking around as if he hadn’t already spotted the blonde.

“Mr. Kasai, over here,” Roxas called, relieved the man had finally showed up.

“Oh, lieutenant, hope I didn’t make you wait too long,” Axel said as he scurried over, taking a seat across from Roxas.

“It’s fine, I was just early… A caramel frappachino will be fine, please,” Roxas mentioned to the waiter that was now standing next to their table.

Axel looked over at the waiter as well. “Umm… How about just a cup of coffee for me,” Axel said softly. The waiter nodded at the two of them and went on his way.

“So, care to tell me more today?” Roxas mumbled, pulling out his notepad as he leaned back in his chair.

“Oh… Right… Well, what’s there to say?” Axel sighed, resting his head in his hands.

“Let’s start with this… What was your relationship to our victim, Demyx McGinnis?” Roxas questioned, slipping a pen out of his coat pocket.

“Lover. Roommate. Best Friend. We’d been going out since a little after college… So, how many years has it been? 5 or so?” Axel looked up, trying to recall these small facts. “Started living together 2 years ago. We share the rent on that house where Demyx was… Well, you know…” Axel trailed off near the end, lowering his head.

“Uh-huh… I see. Anyone you know that might have wanted to… Harm Demyx in anyway?” Roxas asked further, placing his pen against his lip.

“Mmmm… Not really. Everyone loved Dem. In fact, there were several people who would have loved to snatch Demyx away from me. Who knows… Maybe they thought they were shooting at me when they shot Demy…” Axel looked up into Roxas’ blue orbs once again, green eyes moist with sorrow.

“Okay… And these people you’re talking about…?” Roxas looked straight back into Axel’s eyes.

“Xigbar Jackson and Zexion Camelot… They were crazy over Dem. They were always going to his performances and giving him flowers and shit, trying to win him over. They hated me because Demyx would always come running to my arms, rather than theirs. Pissed them off,” Axel stated, pulling a box out of his pocket. He shook it to reveal a single cigarette, which he seized and brought to his lips. “Got a light, kid?”

Roxas rolled his eyes, digging through his coat pocket, soon producing a lighter. Axel leaned in as Roxas lit his cigarette for him. “Who the hell you calling kid?” Roxas muttered as Axel pulled back to look at him, leaning back in his own chair.

“You, Kiddo. You’re what, 20? Can’t even get into a bar by yourself… To drink at least,’ Axel chuckled to himself, flicking the younger’s forehead.

“Shut up… You’re only… Seven years older,” Roxas mumbled, crossing his arms across his chest, face turning a light pink color.

“Seven’s a lot, kid,” Axel grinned.

“Just stop calling me kid, okay?” Roxas hissed, sitting up straighter. At that time, the waiter came back, placing their coffee’s gently on the table. They both muttered their ‘thank you’s, Axel blowing softly on his piping hot coffee, Roxas twiddling with the straw of his cold beverage.

Without even taking a sip of his drink, Roxas grabbed his notes again, eyes traveling back up to look at Axel. “So… Tell me more about last night… where were you between the hours of…” he glanced down at his notes, “7 to 10 PM?”

“Seven? Geez… um… Okay, I got off work early at around 6:30, I believe. Yeah, after that, I drove around some… I didn’t really want to go home just yet. Demyx didn’t usually get home until around 7:30 ish, so there would have been nothing to do at home. So I went to my regular bar, did some gambling, the usual,” Axel muttered, scratching his head, trying to recall the details. He took a swig of his steaming coffee.

“Then I decided I’d go buy Demyx a present or something. I dunno, it was a random gesture, but I decided to get him something from one of those beach gift shops… Dem likes a lot of nautical stuff. But I ended up not getting him anything… Everything just seemed to cheesy. So then I drove home, arriving at home to see… Well, you know…” Axel trailed off, looking down into his lap where he was twiddling his thumbs, coffee left abandoned on the table.

Perfect. Just as he had practiced all last night.

Roxas slowly nodded, looking down at the notes he jotted down while Axel was rambling off his alibi.

“Where do you work, Axel?” Roxas questioned calmly, pen ready to write whatever Axel was about to voice.

“Xemnas Fireworks Inc… I work at a desk, but I really want to work with the fire,” Axel grinned, eyes sparkling.

“Uh-huh… Why’d you get off early yesterday?” asked Roxas.

“Xem said I could. I was feeling a bit off, so he told me to go home and get some rest—”

“But you didn’t. You stayed out for an additional three and a half hours before returning home,” Roxas interrupted quickly.

“Hey, whoa, I just felt a lot better once I was out of that cramped office, so I decided to chill on the town… There’s nothing to do at home, after all,” Axel said, pointing at his head.

“Okay, and the bar you went to?”

“Luxord’s, of course. Best damn bar in the whole city,” Axel laughed, bringing his temporarily ignored cigarette up to his slender lips.

“Uh-huh… One last question,” Roxas mumbled as he wrote down the name of the bar. One thing was troubling him about Axel’s alibi.

“Why didn’t you buy Demyx anything?”

“Huh? Everything just seemed really stupid… Nothing Dem would like,” Axel answered calmly, exhaling a wave of smoke.

“So you drove all the way out to the coast… But didn’t even bother buying Demyx anything at all? Not even something small, just because you went all the way there?” Roxas raised a brow, eyes aiming up toward Axel, who was now leaning back in his chair, the front two legs suspended in the air.

“What? I told you, I thought of buying him something all spur-of-the-moment. When I got there and saw what was available, I realized just how stupid that idea was. Nothing more,” Axel breathed, jerking at the end of his speech, all four chair legs coming to rest on the ground once again.

“Really…” Roxas droned, staring at Axel for a bit. “Alright. I guess I’m done here. Thanks for your time, Mr. Kasai.” Roxas stood from his chair abruptly, causing the redhead to jump slightly. He placed a few bills next to his untouched coffee. “I may be contacting you soon to talk to you again.”

“You think I can see you soon… Just to hang out… No police business involved?” Axel quickly asked, standing from his own chair, grabbing Roxas’ hand gently.

“Excuse me?” Roxas cocked a brow, looking at the older man.

“I don’t know, after all this… with Demyx and everything… I really need a friend to talk to,” Axel murmured, looked down at his feet. Roxas blinked a few times, looking at Axel curiously.

“Why don’t you just go to your bar or something? You have other friends, right?” Roxas offered, shrugging.

“It’s different with you. You’re like a shrink… You don’t really know me yet, so I can assume you’re not going to assume things about me… Or something, I don’t know,” Axel strained to find the right words, gripping Roxas’ wrist tighter.

“Okay, maybe, if I have time… I’m kind of busy… Finding your lover’s murderer and all.” Roxas shifted, regaining possession of his wrist.

“Well, see you later then, lieutenant,” Axel smirked, taking another drag of his cigarette, sitting back down and grabbing his mug of coffee again.

“Uh-huh. Good-bye, Mr. Kasai,” Roxas uttered, calmly turning his back to Axel. He had some new info to look into.

Xigbar Jackson… Zexion Camelot… Xemnas Fireworks Inc… Luxord’s Bar…

Oh, and he needed to make a trip to the beach.

Description
11:50 AM, Thursday January 30th

Roxas sat in the coffee shop, elbows on the tall table he was seated at, head resting on his palms. He blew the loose strands of hair from his eyes, sighing. He was ten minutes early, but he still hated waiting.

Axel was just leaving the hotel he was staying at. It was a very short distance from the coffee shop. He was asked to stay at a hotel for the night, not before surrendering his bloodied clothes to the investigation however. And so he had packed a very limited wardrobe with him before getting booted off to a nearby hotel. Maybe he should have shot Demyx somewhere away from home.

As he hopped outside of the hotel, he pulled the crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of his skin-tight jeans, just to be sure of the location of his date.

Date, he called it.

As he approached the café, he noticed the young blonde man sitting at one of the tables, extremely bored. He shook his head, getting into the mournful lover character before stepping into the café slowly, looking around as if he hadn’t already spotted the blonde.

“Mr. Kasai, over here,” Roxas called, relieved the man had finally showed up.

“Oh, lieutenant, hope I didn’t make you wait too long,” Axel said as he scurried over, taking a seat across from Roxas.

“It’s fine, I was just early… A caramel frappachino will be fine, please,” Roxas mentioned to the waiter that was now standing next to their table.

Axel looked over at the waiter as well. “Umm… How about just a cup of coffee for me,” Axel said softly. The waiter nodded at the two of them and went on his way.

“So, care to tell me more today?” Roxas mumbled, pulling out his notepad as he leaned back in his chair.

“Oh… Right… Well, what’s there to say?” Axel sighed, resting his head in his hands.

“Let’s start with this… What was your relationship to our victim, Demyx McGinnis?” Roxas questioned, slipping a pen out of his coat pocket.

“Lover. Roommate. Best Friend. We’d been going out since a little after college… So, how many years has it been? 5 or so?” Axel looked up, trying to recall these small facts. “Started living together 2 years ago. We share the rent on that house where Demyx was… Well, you know…” Axel trailed off near the end, lowering his head.

“Uh-huh… I see. Anyone you know that might have wanted to… Harm Demyx in anyway?” Roxas asked further, placing his pen against his lip.

“Mmmm… Not really. Everyone loved Dem. In fact, there were several people who would have loved to snatch Demyx away from me. Who knows… Maybe they thought they were shooting at me when they shot Demy…” Axel looked up into Roxas’ blue orbs once again, green eyes moist with sorrow.

“Okay… And these people you’re talking about…?” Roxas looked straight back into Axel’s eyes.

“Xigbar Jackson and Zexion Camelot… They were crazy over Dem. They were always going to his performances and giving him flowers and shit, trying to win him over. They hated me because Demyx would always come running to my arms, rather than theirs. Pissed them off,” Axel stated, pulling a box out of his pocket. He shook it to reveal a single cigarette, which he seized and brought to his lips. “Got a light, kid?”

Roxas rolled his eyes, digging through his coat pocket, soon producing a lighter. Axel leaned in as Roxas lit his cigarette for him. “Who the hell you calling kid?” Roxas muttered as Axel pulled back to look at him, leaning back in his own chair.

“You, Kiddo. You’re what, 20? Can’t even get into a bar by yourself… To drink at least,’ Axel chuckled to himself, flicking the younger’s forehead.

“Shut up… You’re only… Seven years older,” Roxas mumbled, crossing his arms across his chest, face turning a light pink color.

“Seven’s a lot, kid,” Axel grinned.

“Just stop calling me kid, okay?” Roxas hissed, sitting up straighter. At that time, the waiter came back, placing their coffee’s gently on the table. They both muttered their ‘thank you’s, Axel blowing softly on his piping hot coffee, Roxas twiddling with the straw of his cold beverage.

Without even taking a sip of his drink, Roxas grabbed his notes again, eyes traveling back up to look at Axel. “So… Tell me more about last night… where were you between the hours of…” he glanced down at his notes, “7 to 10 PM?”

“Seven? Geez… um… Okay, I got off work early at around 6:30, I believe. Yeah, after that, I drove around some… I didn’t really want to go home just yet. Demyx didn’t usually get home until around 7:30 ish, so there would have been nothing to do at home. So I went to my regular bar, did some gambling, the usual,” Axel muttered, scratching his head, trying to recall the details. He took a swig of his steaming coffee.

“Then I decided I’d go buy Demyx a present or something. I dunno, it was a random gesture, but I decided to get him something from one of those beach gift shops… Dem likes a lot of nautical stuff. But I ended up not getting him anything… Everything just seemed to cheesy. So then I drove home, arriving at home to see… Well, you know…” Axel trailed off, looking down into his lap where he was twiddling his thumbs, coffee left abandoned on the table.

Perfect. Just as he had practiced all last night.

Roxas slowly nodded, looking down at the notes he jotted down while Axel was rambling off his alibi.

“Where do you work, Axel?” Roxas questioned calmly, pen ready to write whatever Axel was about to voice.

“Xemnas Fireworks Inc… I work at a desk, but I really want to work with the fire,” Axel grinned, eyes sparkling.

“Uh-huh… Why’d you get off early yesterday?” asked Roxas.

“Xem said I could. I was feeling a bit off, so he told me to go home and get some rest—”

“But you didn’t. You stayed out for an additional three and a half hours before returning home,” Roxas interrupted quickly.

“Hey, whoa, I just felt a lot better once I was out of that cramped office, so I decided to chill on the town… There’s nothing to do at home, after all,” Axel said, pointing at his head.

“Okay, and the bar you went to?”

“Luxord’s, of course. Best damn bar in the whole city,” Axel laughed, bringing his temporarily ignored cigarette up to his slender lips.

“Uh-huh… One last question,” Roxas mumbled as he wrote down the name of the bar. One thing was troubling him about Axel’s alibi.

“Why didn’t you buy Demyx anything?”

“Huh? Everything just seemed really stupid… Nothing Dem would like,” Axel answered calmly, exhaling a wave of smoke.

“So you drove all the way out to the coast… But didn’t even bother buying Demyx anything at all? Not even something small, just because you went all the way there?” Roxas raised a brow, eyes aiming up toward Axel, who was now leaning back in his chair, the front two legs suspended in the air.

“What? I told you, I thought of buying him something all spur-of-the-moment. When I got there and saw what was available, I realized just how stupid that idea was. Nothing more,” Axel breathed, jerking at the end of his speech, all four chair legs coming to rest on the ground once again.

“Really…” Roxas droned, staring at Axel for a bit. “Alright. I guess I’m done here. Thanks for your time, Mr. Kasai.” Roxas stood from his chair abruptly, causing the redhead to jump slightly. He placed a few bills next to his untouched coffee. “I may be contacting you soon to talk to you again.”

“You think I can see you soon… Just to hang out… No police business involved?” Axel quickly asked, standing from his own chair, grabbing Roxas’ hand gently.

“Excuse me?” Roxas cocked a brow, looking at the older man.

“I don’t know, after all this… with Demyx and everything… I really need a friend to talk to,” Axel murmured, looked down at his feet. Roxas blinked a few times, looking at Axel curiously.

“Why don’t you just go to your bar or something? You have other friends, right?” Roxas offered, shrugging.

“It’s different with you. You’re like a shrink… You don’t really know me yet, so I can assume you’re not going to assume things about me… Or something, I don’t know,” Axel strained to find the right words, gripping Roxas’ wrist tighter.

“Okay, maybe, if I have time… I’m kind of busy… Finding your lover’s murderer and all.” Roxas shifted, regaining possession of his wrist.

“Well, see you later then, lieutenant,” Axel smirked, taking another drag of his cigarette, sitting back down and grabbing his mug of coffee again.

“Uh-huh. Good-bye, Mr. Kasai,” Roxas uttered, calmly turning his back to Axel. He had some new info to look into.

Xigbar Jackson… Zexion Camelot… Xemnas Fireworks Inc… Luxord’s Bar…

Oh, and he needed to make a trip to the beach.