Chapter Summary:

Axel tries to enjoy his hard-earned ice cream, but a certain Heartless has different ideas.


Axel had just finished his mission of the day. It was the same old routine as usual: scout an area, mark down what was noteworthy, take care of some random Heartless (and try to avoid killing any without Roxas or Xion around), yada yada yada.

Ugh, why Saïx kept assigning him the icky jobs, he'll never understand.

Anyway, he wasn't ready to RTC yet, so Axel made his over to the ice cream lady, purchased a popsicle of seas-salt ice cream (a flavor that Lea had had been very fond of when he was still human), then opened a Dark Corridor straight to the top of the Clocktower, where he intended to enjoy his snack while admiring the sunset. Or something like that.

Just as Axel was about to bite down on his ice-cream, he froze and tensed up. He had the feeling that something was watching him. Warily, he turned around to confront whoever it was that was interrupting his break—

Only to relax when he came face-to face with a very familiar Heartless. "Oh, it's just you, Sora."

Sora tilted his head in a way that some might consider cute. Axel knew for a fact that if he still had a Heart, Lea definitely would have considered the little Shadow cute.

But he didn't, so he merely raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be in Roxas's room?"

The Superior had forbidden Sora from leaving the Castle (his one condition to letting Roxas keep Sora in the first place). Not that Sora seemed to pay much attention to the rule in the first place; he always somehow managed to find a way out of the castle. He mostly did this by hiding in the hood of— "Wait, is Roxas with you?"

Sora shook his head, the only sign that Sora actually understood what he said. Axel couldn't exactly speak Heartless, and Sora definitely couldn't talk (could Heartless even talk in the first place?).

Honestly, most of the time, it was up to Roxas to interpret what Sora said; it was like he had an uncanny gift for understanding the small Shadow. Sometimes Xion understood what he said, but only partially. Lately though, it seems like her ability to communicate with Sora was improving, being better than Roxas at times.

(You know why, a small voice in his mind whispered. You know perfectly well why Xion can understand Sora, and why she's getting better at it every day.)

(Shut up, he told that voice.)

It was at that moment that Axel realized he was alone with Sora for the first time since Roxas first RTC'd with Sora hiding in his hood.

"Well, don't expect me to entertain you, little guy." And with that, Axel turned back to his melting ice cream, and proceeded to enjoy it.

…or at least he would have if he hadn't felt Sora's burning gaze on him again. "What?" he asked, irritatedly.

Sora said nothing, but continued to stare at Axel. No, not at him, Axel realized belatedly, but at his hand. Or rather, what was in his hand. His—

"Aw, heck no!' Axel exclaimed as he tried to hide his ice cream. "This is my ice cream—got it memorized? You want your own ice cream, go get your own."

Sora squinted his eyes up at Axel (almost like he was pouting, Axel observed). Sheesh, for a Heartless, the Shadow sure was expressive with his body gestures.

Axel glared—he was not going to give away his hard-earned popsicle.

Then Sora tilted his head.

Axel paused. What the heck was he up to? Axel shook his head (Focus!) and glared some more.

Then Sora widened his eyes. Wait a minute…!

"If you think you can cute me into giving you my ice cream—!" Axel sputtered. You have another thing coming, he wanted to say. But he couldn't. Because all he could see was Sora's big eyes.

His enormous yellow eyes. His strangely shaped eyes that looked like a puppy being kicked for saying no to some ice cream—

"Okay, okay!" Axel jerked away from Sora's gaze. "Here, take the ice cream, see if I care."

And with that, he thrust the still melting ice cream towards the little Shadow, who proceeded to jump up and snatch the popsicle right before shoving the entire thing into his mouth.

Little gremlin, Axel grimaced. It was annoying to see Sora so thoroughly enjoy the ice cream that Axel had been looking forward to eating. Memorizing the taste wasn't the same as actually eating it, after all.

Why did it have to be him anyway? If Xion and Roxas had been here, Sora could have just taken their ice cream and those two would have just let him get away with it—

Wait, no, Xion might have.

Roxas wouldn't.

And with that, Axel had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Sora." Sora looked up at him; at some point, the little shadow had finished the ice cream and was now playing with the stick (which, Axel observed, was not a winner).

"You still feeling hungry? Cause Roxas is paying— ice cream is on him next time."

There, now he can go bother Roxas for ice cream next time. It's going to be a hoot seeing a Nobody and Heartless fight over ice cream. Axel couldn't wait to see it.


"Hey, Axel!"

Lea groaned and turned around to meet the sky-blue eyes of a certain Keyblade wielder. "Sora, I told you, the name is Lea now, get it memorized!"

"Sorry, Axel—Lea," Sora corrected himself. "I'm just used to calling you Axel in my head." He grinned cheerfully. "It just feels right."

Lea sighed. "Eh, I guess it can't be helped. I'm still trying to get used to the idea of you walking around like a human."

It was weird talking to Sora like this. It wasn't that long ago that Lea had been Nobody, and Sora was still a tiny Heartless who followed Roxas around like his shadow.

Roxas…

Lea's Heart (his Heart!) started aching the way it did everytime he thought about Roxas. "You know what, I don't mind hearing you call me Axel. Someone's got to." Especially since it reminds me of Roxas, went unsaid but Sora seemed to hear it, from the way his mouth drooped a bit.

Lea shook his head in exasperation. "Man, memorizing all this name identity thing is giving me a headache! Lucky I have just the perfect thing to perk me up," he said as he took out a bar of sea-salt ice cream from his pouch, and tore off the wrapping.

Lea started to bite down—then paused as he felt a familiar gaze burn into him. Groaning, Lea turned around to Sora who, sure enough, was staring at his melting popsicle.

"Uh-uh, you're human now. You want some ice cream, go get your own. Got it memorized?" Lea shook his popsicle at Sora.

Sora pouted up at him. Lea smirked in triumph.

Then Sora did a weird thing—he tilted his head.

No. Lea's blood ran cold. "Uh-uh, that is not going to work. You're not a Heartless—you're not as cute as you were before!" Lea clutched at his ice cream protectively. "Stop that!"

Unfortunately, Sora did not stop. No, he merely widened his eyes even more. Lea shook his head in denial, "It's not going to work…!" It couldn't!

Except Lea couldn't stop staring at Sora's eyes.

His big baby-blue eyes. Eyes the color of the sky. Eyes that were reminiscent of a puppy being said no to eating some ice cream—

"Gah!" Lea tore his eyes away from the sight, but it was too late; the damage had been done.

Lea had been defeated by the Cute Eyes™ once again.

(If Isa had been here, he'd most likely have died laughing.)

"Alright, fine!" Lea thrusted the ice cream into Sora's waiting hands. "Here, take it before I change my mind, you greedy gremlin!"

Sora let out a whoop in victory as he gleefully bit into the popsicle. Lea was sure Merlin could hear Sora's noisy slurpings all the way from Radiant Garden, if not Twilight Town.

"Sheesh, you haven't changed at all; you're still the same, Heartless or not." Lea complained. "The only difference is that I can't give you head scratches anymore without looking like a creep to Kairi and company."

Sora made a brief half-hearted muffled protest as he continued to devour Lea's hard-earned ice cream. Man, Sora really reminded him (Lea) of Roxas sometimes; the two of them tended to get so absorbed in eating sea salt ice cream that nothing else mattered to them at the moment.

Wait, that just reminded him of something.

"Hey, Sora!" Lea called out.

Sora glanced back at Lea with a clean popsicle stick in his hand. Winner.

"Next time you feel hungry, you're paying—ice cream is on you and Roxas next time."

He could already imagine the fight.