Silly Axel. He really thought he had figured Blondie out. He had done all the work, recorded the results of every test, and had been absolutely, posi-fucking-tively certain that he had been right in every single way possible. So why, then, did the boy continue to puzzle him? It was the silliest of things; how the kid could shoot him one single look with those impossible oceans he called eyes, and make him melt. Make /Fire/ fucking melt. How? How did the kid do it? He had asked so many times, in so many different ways, that it was getting to be a daily routine.
He would wake up next to the kid, arms wrapped tightly around the silky shell that he KNEW held nothing inside. Every morning, the same thing. Blondie would open his eyes, look up at Axel questioningly, and then remember, and wait.
Five seconds would pass.
Ten.
At the count of twenty, Axel would run a hand through his hair and sigh, letting his voice do all the work for him. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" Blondie would ask, head cocked ever so lightly to the side, though he knew what Axel would say next.
Except, this time, Axel wouldn't say it. The 'feel' that had been so ready to echo around the room died on his lips. His expression, which had been so confused before, hardened into something else- somethin' more.
"How do you make me feel like I exist?"
It was a new question this time. One that had been on Axel's mind, but had never been voiced. Blondie had to think about it, had to seriously sit up, run a hand through his hair, and think. Blankets that had covered his bare chest before now pooled around his waist, enough to keep things decent should one of the others decide to barge in. It was another thing Axel could not fathom- how one so beautiful could hide his body in such a way... Nevertheless, he digressed, his mind was getting off topic, and if he forgot all about it, he might never get an answer.
Fire stared intently into Blondie's eyes. Waited. Waited more. Kept on waitin' until finally he was sick of it, and sick of Blondie's silence. Feet were about to hit the ground, pants were about to slide on, when he felt that familiar sensation of shell touching shell, Blondie's silky hand resting just so lightly on his skin, his arm, the only thing that, at the moment, honestly felt real.
The words started up in a blaze of faux-emotion. "I don't know and I can't understand it, but I think I might have an idea, and I think that's all I'll really have, and I think, and think, but I never know, and everything that you ever put me through, and all this- this that we have, I don't get it, and I can't get it, and it confuses me, but I can't stop talking or I'm afraid I'll never see you again, and I need you, like I don't think I've ever needed anyone before, so I won't stop talking, not ever, if it means keeping you here just a little longer, and this is all that we have, and maybe all we'll ever have, until one of us dies or disappears, or maybe we both will, and even this thing we might chance to call life will vacate these shells, and still I think I love you, and maybe you can feel it, but we can't feel, we never feel, and-"
Axel lifted a hand to wipe away the tears from those porcelain cheeks, and maybe try just a little harder to make those impossible ocean eyes shine just a little bit brighter. "Hey, it's okay. I don't need to feel. I just need you."
"Oh..." Blondie's eyes seemed to brighten a little. "Well, that's okay then."
"Yeah," replied Axel, reaching up to brush a lock of hair from Blondie's face, "I guess it is."
Axel never asked Roxas again.