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Thirteen

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It had been about a week since Luxord had knocked some sense into Axel, and ever since then Axel and I had developed a sort of nightly routine together. Mind you, I hadn't actually physically seen him all week, but every single night at around seven he would call me and we would battle our Pokemon and chat on the phone for hours. One night we'd actually stayed up until like two in the morning just playing our individual games while on the line with each other. Towards the end we weren't even talking, but something about just hearing him breathing over the reciever was oddly comforting. Of course staying up that late was beginning to take it's toll on our morning routines as well, but neither of us seemed to care too much.

As for Luxord... I'd forgiven him for his idiocy, but we'd definitely cooled it a lot on the dating front. I'd been with a guy who had a short fuse like that before and it did not end up being a healthy relationship.

"Hey loser, you ready to get owned?"

I rolled my eyes at Axel's typical greeting when I picked up the phone right on cue at seven o'clock. "Might I remind you who ultimately won last night?"

"Yeah, well... I caught a new secret Pokemon after we hung up and got his level way up," he bragged. I could literally see the smug look on his face in the back of my mind.

"I'm still going to beat the hell out of it," I taunted him, settling down in my bed with a snack and my 3DS.

We'd been talking for quite some time when suddenly he got really quiet. I didn't think much of it; we usually reached the point where we didn't talk at all anyways. I could still hear him on the other line, but it started to get kind of fuzzy and weird for a minute. I honestly didn't even hear him open the front door and when he appeared in the doorway of my bedroom I didn't even notice him at first.

When I finally looked up, I jumped a little. I really hadn't expected him to be in my house ...ever? But there he was, holding his 3DS with Charlie at his heels. He didn't say a word, just walked over to my bed and motioned for me to scoot over and make room for him as he hung up his phone and left it ontop of my dressed. I hung up mine and threw it aside, letting him sit down next to me. Charlie, of course, heaved his big ass up onto the bed and wormed his way between us promptly.

We were silent for awhile, his presence going unquestioned until I literally couldn't take it anymore, "Get lonely?"

He nodded, glancing over at me with surprisingly soft eyes.

"Okay," I said simply, smiling softly as I turned back to my game.

Another long period of silence passed between us before he started to shift uncomfortably, probably from sitting in one place for too long. My heart nearly stopped as he suddenly moved to lean against me, resting his head on my shoulder and putting his own game down, watching me play my own for awhile.

"Wanna see another game?" I spoke up after a few minutes, figuring that he might be interested in the world outside of Pokemon as well.

He nodded against my shoulder, "Sure."

I reached over and grabbed my game case, finding another one that he might like, "Okay, so this one is called Fantasy Life. It's super fun and it has a ton of options for who your character can be."

I could tell immediately that he was interested because once I started up a quest he moved even closer to me, shoving Charlie to the end of the bed so he could see better.

"So... I went out to dinner with Luxord again," I tentatively brought up the subject, wondering what he would say.

"Did he punch anyone?" his voice tinged with irritation.

I sighed, "No... but he still won't admit that what he did was wrong either."

"I don't get it. What do you see in him?"

"I'm not sure anymore... Ever since that night I just don't see him the same way as I did before," I admitted, setting my DS down and shifting to look at him. Was this what girls did on sleepovers? Lay in bed and talk about boys?

He fell silent for a minute, "...So how's work on the farm coming? I saw you outside earlier."

"I actually got some seeds in the ground today," I smiled, so happy that I was starting to get things in order. "I won't be able to raise animals until Sora and Van help me fix up the barn and coop, but I can at least be half a farmer until then. Hayner has been taking up all their time with his fencing project."

"Can I make a suggestion? Because I think you're overwatering your crops. If you drown the seeds they might end up gettign washed away and grow in strange places," he told me, reaching down to pet Charlie.

I smirked, "Have you been watching me, Axel?"

I swear the dark red blush that hit his cheeks was the cutest thing ever, "N...no... I just noticed."

"I think you were," I sang, grinning at him as he got all flustered.

"Shut up," he grumbled, turning his attention down to Charlie and trying to ignore my teasing.

Suddenly a question flickered through my mind and out of my mouth before I could stop it, "Axel, are you gay?"

That caught his attention again and he looked up at me with wide eyes, "What?"

"Whoa, I'm sorry... That was not cool. You don't have to answer that," I quickly rescinded, trying to laugh it off.

"I'm bisexual," he chuckled, nudging me in the side. "How long have you been waiting to ask that?"

It was my turn to blush, "Since you kissed me last week..."

"So you've been thinking about it a lot...?"

"It might have been the best kiss I've ever experienced," I admitted, staring down at Charlie to avoid looking him in the eye.

I could hear his breath catch up in his throat, "Yeah... So you felt that too?"

"Makes me kind of sad that we don't like each other," I told him, "Chemistry like that isn't found often."

There was an insane amount of sexual tension rising between us at that point, but he didn't seem to want to change the topic or anything. He was just kind of quiet.

"Because we don't like each other, right?"

"...Right," he nodded slowly, though he didn't exactly seem convinced of that.

I could feel my heart start to beat faster at his hesitation and I dared myself to meet his eyes.

"Roxas..." my name slid off his tongue as I caught his gaze. If you'd asked me what I thought of him just a week ago, I would have said that he was the biggest jerk on the planet and that I would never hang out with him. Now I actually found myself wondering if I did have feelings for him. It was amazing what a few late night phone conversations could change.

For awhile we just stared at each other. I wasn't sure what to say or do, but I didn't want to look away. It was weird... I felt like we were connecting even though we weren't saying anything.

This time it was me who couldn't help myself. I leaned in to kiss him, but what my mouth hit was definitely not Axel. It was a lot of fur and a little slobber. "Charlie..." I let out an exasperated sigh as he started to attack my face with his tongue.

Axel blinked a few times before he figured out what had happened. I feel like he'd been fully expecting me to kiss him before Charlie totally ruined the moment. "Charlie, get off!" he grumbled, pulling him away from us and banishing him to the end of the bed.

I wiped my face off and looked around uncomfortably. The moment had definitely been absolutely destroyed, and now I didn't know what to do.

"So..." I mumbled, "Did you want to play more Pokemon? Or-"

Apparently Axel didn't need a moment, because he cut me off with literally the most amazing kiss ever. It was sweet and passionate and he smelled like cinnamon and tasted like bubble gum and God damn if those weren't my two favorite things all in one. I just let myself melt into my bed as he eased me onto my back with his hand cradled behind my head in a strangely intimate way. When I say that my heart jumped up into my throat, I mean it. I felt my entire nervous system light up like a fucking Christmas tree. It was even better than the first one, and I had not thought that was possible.

Words weren't necessary, but continuing that kiss was. We kissed each other like it was our last ten minutes on Earth, yet something about it stayed oddly sweet and caring. I don't know why, but I'd always pictured him getting really dominant and like... intense with kissing. But that wasn't what was happening at all, and I liked that. (Don't get me wrong, there was a time and place for some intense kissing.)

After what felt like hours but yet somehow only seconds, he finally pulled back. We shared that moment of eye connection that made my heart flip and then he cracked the biggest smile ever, "That was fucking adorable."

A huge blush hit my cheeks, "What was...?"

"You moan when you kiss... like a lot," he stared down at me, biting his lower lip as he continued to grin.

"I do?" I grimaced. I had honestly never noticed.

He chuckled softly, "Not loudly... It's really cute."

"Stop..." I tried to hide my face under my hands in embarassment, but he grabbed my wrists and stopped me.

"Don't. Don't be embarassed. You don't have to be afraid around me, okay?"

I eyed him carefully, "Says the man who broke one of my ribs..."

"Okay, well... Not like this," he laughed, his amazing emerald eyes sparkling as he gazed down at me.

"Axel... What does all of this mean?" I didn't want to ask, but I had to.

He frowned slightly, shifting onto his side next to me, "I don't know..."

"Do I need to talk to Luxord...?" I was trying to dance around the major issue; aka 'are we fucking together or not?'

"Do you want to...?"

Neither of us wanted to say what was on our minds, apparently. "I mean... I don't know?"

"He's not going to be happy."

"I don't give a fuck," the sentence came out more viciously than I had intended.

He smiled, "So you do want to break up with him."

"I guess I do," I laughed, "But we don't have to... I mean..."

The awkwardness was fucking real. "Right, we don't have to be ...together or anything."

"But I do want to kiss you again."

"I think I can handle that," he grinned, his eyes lighting up a little.

"So... Is this like a friends with benefits thing?"

He raised an eyebrow, "For now. I wouldn't count out something more in the future."

...

A/N: AWWWWWWW! :3 *squee!* I was like exploding when I was writing this. So. Fucking. CUTE!

Thank you sooo so much for all of the wonderous reviews! I do so appreciate it muchly! Omg and it's just going to keep getting better too. So excite.

Love you guys! I'll be back with more soon!

Simply Rexene