"I'm not sure if I'm okay with this…" an uneasy voice sounded through the darkness, rustling audible among the blankets. "I-I'm just a kid, and y-you're.."

"…about to kiss you." The voice of the older male replied softly, connecting with the youth's unsure, trembling lips. "There's nothing to be afraid of." He extended an arm to rub the younger man's shoulder, easing him closer to his side.

"I'm scared of what I feel for you, and I barely even know you…" the youth stammered, hesitating to meet the older teen's gaze in the darkness.

"Embrace your feelings." the older man urged, grabbing hold of the younger man's hand, fingers clasping the youth's warm skin. "They're all you have to hold onto in this corrupt Organization. Here with me."

"B-but…"

"Shhh." the older teen reassured, coaxing the youth to lie atop his chest, their breathing syncing to the deafening silence of sensual tension. "Trust in me, and I'll keep you safe."

8 months later:

"Roxas?" The redhead spoke softly, absolute darkness shading the room with a tender aura, as it always did around nighttime.

The younger male looked up, resting his chin on the older man's abdomen. "Axel?"

"Intimacy. It's a fleeting impulse of the heart to seek contact of another. Isn't that what Xemnas tells us?"

"That's right." Roxas nodded, stifling a yawn with his palm.

"And…we don't have hearts…right?"

"Mhmm." Roxas replied, feeling fatigue purge his consciousness. He nestled into Axel's warmth, a familiar comfort.

"Then why do we lay together like this every night?"

Roxas's body stiffened at this question, unsure of its nature. So very reluctant to answer.

"I really don't know. We just do."

"Like, we need to be close to eachother?"

"I guess."

Roxas shifted himself off Axel's body, sheathing his bare skin in cotton sheets, his head sinking into a nearby pillow.

"Roxas."

"Mhmm?"

"I'm afraid of losing you."

The younger male sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes, turning to the older teen, staring forlornly into space.

"That's a weird thing to say, Axel."

"That's just it, it really isn't a weird thing to say at all." Axel retorted, feeling his nerves tense at Roxas's thoughtless comment.

"Why do you pick tonight to have an existential crisis…" Roxas groaned, burying his head underneath his pillow.

"We've had this routine, laying in bed together, falling asleep, comforted by eachother's constant presence for awhile now. And yet, we can't even explain what makes us do this."

"Can't you just let it happen?" Roxas begged, exasperated with his partner's unsettling behavior.

"What I feel in this room with you..I don't feel on missions, or anywhere else." Axel murmured, turning to face the blonde. "We don't have hearts though, so how can we feel things, Roxas? "

"And if so.." Axel continued, running his fingers through his hair in subconscious calculation-"Why is it only with you that I feel?"

"If my thought-provoking presence disturbs you so much, I'll just go in my room then…" Roxas murmured quietly, lifting himself from the bed, dragging his blanket with him.

"No-" Axel shouted a little louder than he'd intended as the door closed behind the blonde.

Roxas shuffled down the dark hallway to his room, labeled "Number XIII". Upon entering, he looked around the room, instantly saddened by the sight.

The room was as it was when it was created for him. Plain white, with a stocky bed and eggshell white furniture to match. But Roxas had never bothered to enter it in the first place. Upon his arrival to the Organization, he'd fell into the care of Number VIII, or Axel. And ever since, they fell in step with eachother, arm in arm as one.

But now, Axel fears the bond we have will fall into ashes.

When did everything become so vulnerable?

Roxas sighed, throwing the blanket atop the mattress. Climbing into the bed, he buried his face in the coarse pillow beneath him, tears running down his cheeks.

"Damn you, Axel…" Roxas cried, gripping the blanket tightly, pulling it close to his body. His smell even remained in the blanket, the calming aroma of delicate cologne.

"You told me to trust my feelings..." Roxas whispered to the depths of darkness. "You promised to keep me safe."

And here I am, alone without you.

Roxas closed his eyes tightly as fatigue swept over his body.

You deny a heart's existence with such fervor, Axel.

Yet..

I loved you as if I had one to begin with.