A.N - Heh, a title change and an epilogue later, I'm finished with this random fic. It all started with me wondering what kind of relationship Marly and Nami would have, you know, if Marluxia wasn't the bad guy. lol.
Disclaimer - I don't own anything except my convoluted little brain and the ideas it spews forth!
Two years later, Naminé was adding some more metallic paint over the flames in Axel's room, they'd faded slightly. The redhead leant against the doorframe, watching her quietly for a while. "You know Naminé; I could have done it myself." He drawled. The young woman smirked over her shoulder at the man.
"Axel, if I'd let you do it, you'd have painted all of it in red mixed with gold." The redhead pouted before laughing and shrugging in acquiesce.
"Yeah, probably. So, how's you and Marly?" Naminé paused in her work for a second.
"He asked me to move back here. He says that more and more people are interested in horticultural and art therapy. He thinks we'll be able to help more patients if I don't have to travel so far."
"Wait...did he ask you to move here, or in with him?" Naminé shrugged and continued to paint quietly. Axel scowled. "I'll be back in a bit Nami."
"Kay." She responded, saluting with her paint brush as Axel smiled and left. The redhead was not best impressed with his friend. When he had been discharged from Destiny Islands, Axel had asked if he could be trained as a carer so he could stay. Although it was an unusual request, Axel had been put through his year's intensive training and had even convinced Riku to let him stay in the apartment he'd had as a patient. Naminé had left a few weeks after presenting Axel with his prized possession, the painting still kept in immaculate condition above his bed. She had trained in horticultural and art therapy and returned every day to Destiny Islands to hold classes with Marluxia in the morning, gardening with the patients and spent the afternoon teaching art as a coping mechanism. Axel knew that Marluxia had grown very fond of the petite blonde and had been under the impression that the pink haired man was going to ask Naminé to move into his apartment with him. The staff apartments had two double bedrooms so that they could have a family if they so wished. Not many of the staff members did, their work became their lives, their patients their family. But Axel had been certain that Marluxia had been talking about readying his spare bedroom for Naminé. Knocking at his friend's door, Axel was greeted by a paint spattered Marluxia who grinned amiably at his friend.
"Axel! You've gotta see Lux, I've got him painting clouds on Nami ceiling! He looks so cute concentrating and with white speckles in his hair!" Axel found himself dragged into the apartment, shaking his head.
"Marly, you sounded distinctly gay say that Luxord is cute right there. But, that's not why I'm here." He pulled his friend to a halt. "Have you asked Naminé to move in with you?" Marluxia frowned back at Axel.
"Of course I have! She said yes, otherwise I wouldn't be painting her room! Why do you ask?"
"She...I asked her about it earlier, and she didn't seem to know what was going on. I mean, she told me that you'd asked her to move here but didn't know if you wanted her to live with you or just here in general." Marluxia gawked at the redhead.
"But, we've been going out for months...and I, I asked her...Axel! What am I going to do?" Patting his friend's back soothingly, Axel thought rapidly before coming up with a perfect solution.
"Look, we get her room finished and tonight, you take her out to dinner and give her a key to your apartment and ask her to move in with you. Then, if she says yes, you can bring her back and show her the room! It'll be super romantic." Axel was beaming, but Marluxia looked horrified.
"Axel, I can't have the room finished by tonight!" he screeched, tugging his friend to the door of the spare bedroom.
"Why ever not? It'll take two hours at the very most; it's not a big bedroo...oh." Axel had been propelled into the room and was greeted by an amusing if daunting sight. The redhead hadn't really registered what Marluxia had said Luxord was painting, other than the fact it was the ceiling. The blond nurse was indeed painting fluffy white clouds on the ceiling that showed the sky progressing from dawn to night from one corner to the one diagonally opposite. Riku was crouched on the floor painting the grass on the 'dawn' side of the room with hundreds of the tiny flower that Naminé loved. Forget-me-nots. It was clear that Marluxia had been painting sunflowers and roses in the main 'daytime' part of the room. The part of the room was painted with the outline of a large tree standing against the dark sky. Axel frowned. "Okay boys. We've gotta get this room finished by the time Marly and Nami get back from dinner. He'll draw it out as long as he can. I'll get changed into some better clothes for painting and I gotta do something real quick, but I'll be back and I'll paint the tree and possibly bring some help!" with that parting speech, Axel spun about and dashed out of the apartment.
When Axel returned he was carrying two shopping bags and followed by a man and a woman. Cid was an awesome handyman and quite willing to do the redhead a favour, even if it meant painting. Aerith loved flowers and was talented at making unique jewellery. Axel grinned, introduced his two 'littler helpers' and passed one of his bags to Aerith who smiled and started to set up a peculiar set of tools and contraptions on Marluxia's dining table. The pink haired man quirked an eyebrow but got shuffled back into the spare room by a grinning Axel. "It's a surprise." Was all he said before handing his second shopping bag to Cid. The older man smiled contentedly and immediately started drilling tiny pinprick holes into the ceiling. Marluxia gaped but got shoved back to his painting by an insistent Axel who then turned to painting the tree. By the time Marluxia needed to get ready to go out to collect Naminé from her art class, the majority of the block painting had been completed. Marluxia had painted the daytime flowers and Riku was currently painting more forget-me-nots across the daytime part of the room. Axel was adding tiny details to the tree and Cid was sticking glow in the dark star stickers amongst the tiny fibre-optic lights in the 'night sky' that was also meant to imitate stars. Just before Marluxia left, Axel went to check on Aerith who was adding the finishing touches to a self made necklace. Axel had taken the time to pluck the most perfect blooms from one of Marluxia's forget-me-not plants and had asked Aerith if she could make them into jewellery. The flowers meant a lot to Naminé, having been Roxas' favourite and reminding her of his eyes. Aerith had spent the afternoon drying and preserving the little flowers and then forming them into a matching set of earrings, bracelet and necklace. The earrings and bracelet were made up of little rounded glass cubes which contained the little flowers. They were connected by silver links and the earrings also had little silver bells attached. The necklace had a large glass heart shaped pendant filled with smaller silver wire hearts which in turn framed gathered forget-me-nots. Marluxia's eyes fogged over. He whispered his thanks and clasped the jewellery box in his hands, looking down at the jewellery and the key which Aerith had painted white with tiny forget-me-nots.
"Thank you. They're beautiful. Naminé will love them. Oh, thank you so much!" Marluxia hugged everyone in turn, careful to keep paint from his clothes, before leaving to collect Naminé for dinner.
"Don't forget to phone when you're on your way back!" Axel called after him and then returned to the room to finish the painting.
Naminé looked adorable in her little white sundress and she seemed happy as they sat and chatted over dinner. But she obviously knew something was bothering Marluxia and by the time their dessert arrived she found she couldn't remain silent about it any longer. "Marly? Are you ok?" she asked hesitantly. The man looked up at her and smiled nervously.
"Ye-eah, I just...wanted to ask you something." Naminé blinked.
"Okay. What's up?" she asked, oblivious to the small collection of waiters standing nearby placing bets on whether the man was about to propose or inform the girl that he was gay.
"Well, you know I asked you to move back to the Islands?" he started warily, receiving a nod in response. "Well, when I said that...urgh, I feel so stupid. I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear at the time...but Nami, I want to know...um." Marluxia was nervous, causing Naminé to worry since the confident man was never nervous. He sucked down a deep breath before smiling at her waveringly. "Naminé, I would like it very much if you would move in with me." He finally managed to explain, glancing up at the girl opposite him from under his hair. Across the room the waiters had all lost the bet, but stood waiting to hear the response.
"You...want me to move into your apartment?" she asked slowly, receiving a tiny nod from Marluxia.
"Uhm, yes. You can have the...the spare bedroom. And, like, bring your things from your parent's house and...I'll make room for you...and I'll stop leaving the toilet seat up and stuff." The poor man was wringing his hands anxiously but was distracted by Naminé's giggles.
"I'd like to move in with you very much." She said softly and smiled as Marluxia looked at her with a brilliant, beaming grin and slid the jewellery box across to her. The waiters all drew in a collective breath in anticipation; maybe this was a marriage proposal after all! Naminé opened the box, which was far too large to contain an engagement ring. She sucked in a surprised gasp at the contents and scuttled around the table to hug Marluxia and plant a soft kiss on his lips. "Marly, they're lovely! I'll wear them always. Thank you so much!"
When they arrived back at the apartment, Naminé was wearing her new jewellery and appreciating the pure tones of the tiny bells in her earrings. She happily used her new key to unlock the door and stepped inside the dark room, nose crinkling at the faint scent of paint. She turned to Marluxia with a small frown and quirked an eyebrow at the responding smile. The man led Naminé to the white bedroom door which now had her name painted on it in swirling dark blue print, surrounded by little forget-me-nots. Upon opening the door and flicking the switch, the couple let out a simultaneous gasp. Since Marluxia had left, the room had been transformed. Cid had installed up lighting at the dawn side of the room which projected the watery colours of early sunrise up the wall with no visible source. The main light of the room was a paper globe with a distinctly cheerful yellow light emitting from it. The most striking part of the room, however, was the night time side. The sky was filled with pinprick lights twinkling like stars and interspersed with stylized glow in the dark star stickers. The tree stretched across the wall surrounded by glowing fireflies and sparkling fairies dancing about the branches. Cid had somehow installed little LED lights to create the dancing fae and more fibre-optics for the lightning bugs. They were a part of the wall, not simply stuck to it. Naminé didn't know what to say. She turned to Marluxia with an astonished 'o' shaped mouth and asked, "How?"
"I had a little, well, a LOT of help." Marluxia explained. As if on cue, Axel, Riku, Luxord, Cid and Aerith spilled out of Marluxia's bedroom and bestowed hugs and kisses and exclamations of how wonderful everything was before leaving the couple to themselves. Naminé couldn't stay that night, the paint in the room still wet and not having any furniture. However, the next day, Marluxia and Axel would arrive at her parent's house to help her pack and then go shopping for new furniture.
Naminé had come a long way in about three years. She still missed Roxas, but she knew she'd never forget him. No longer did she rely on her brother to be there for her. She'd made new friends, had a job that let her help people and do two of the things she loved most. And now she was moving out of her parents' house and in with her boyfriend. Life was full of twists and turns, hardships and bumps in the road. But it could also be filled with light and laughter, joy and love. She'd grown as a person if the years since Roxas had died; she'd learnt a lot and was now facing the world as an adult. Maybe all things did happen for a reason. Roxas' death was the thing Naminé needed to stop living in her brother's shadow and come into her own. She thought it was cruel that her brother had possibly had to die for her to learn to live, but she also had no doubts that Roxas was happy where he was, watching over his friends and family, simply asking that they never forget him. And Naminé didn't intend to.
A.N - I know it started out a bit rocky, but I am actually rather pleased with the ending of this story. I might read over it tomorrow and decide I hate it, but right now I'm happy with it! Let me know your thoughts, I'm not actually certain if anyone's read this story yet, but if you do, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Dreamy xxx