Butterscotch
“If you’re going to live with me, we’re going to need a bigger place.”
Axel glanced up from his phone. “Who says I’m going to live with you?”
Roxas crossed his arms, giving Axel his best deadpan stare. “You’re already living here.”
“I am?”
“You might as well be. Your stuff is everywhere.” He pointed at the entertainment stand, overflowing with video game consoles. “Yours.” He nudged the bean bag Axel was nestled in. “Yours. And half the food in the kitchen. You’re here more than you aren’t. Not that I mind,” he amended. “It’s just, you know, a little cramped. For two people.”
Axel tilted his head, surveying the little studio apartment. “It’s comfortable. Cozy.” He pretended not to notice the stacks of stuff that lined the walls, threatening to trip a misplaced step.
“Axel, ‘cozy’ is a euphemism that realtors use to sell places that are too small. Look, my lease is up soon. If we live together, really, as in, you paying half the rent—”
Axel cut him off. “Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“Okay, let’s pick out a place together.” He stood up abruptly, picking up his bag on the way to the sofa, before plopping next to Roxas. “I’ve got a few places in mind already.” Axel grinned.
Roxas stared as Axel unpacked his laptop and opened the browser—already filled with open tabs that boasted apartments for rent. “Wait…wait, Axel…”
Axel winked at him. “It was all part of my evil plan.” He kissed a wide-eyed Roxas on the cheek.
Apartment hunting, never a pleasant task, turned out to be both a blessing and a curse to do with two people, rather than one. It was harder to please two people than just one, when choosing a living space, but Roxas had to admit, Axel’s enthusiasm for moving together was infectious, and really, Roxas was the pickier of the two.
They had, finally, agreed on a one-bedroom apartment, larger than Roxas’s studio, complete with all the amenities that Roxas insisted on. They sat in the leasing office, waiting for the agent to return from filing their papers.
Axel had a brochure for the building open in his lap. “I don’t really need all of this. I mean, the place Dem and I are at is fine with just a window AC unit.”
Roxas sent him a sidelong look. “You say that, but I’m pretty sure you’re more in love with my central air than you are with me.”
Axel pouted and turned his attention back to a bowl of candy sitting on the desk. He scooped up a few pieces, dropping them in a pocket. Roxas leaned forward, inspecting the bowl.
“What’s the point of putting a bowl of candy out if it’s all crappy candy?”
Axel gave him a look of affront. “Butterscotch is not crappy candy.” Any retort Roxas had was interrupted by the leasing agent’s return.
They returned to Roxas’s, toting cardboard boxes. “A place for the two of us, finally!” Axel stretched, and Roxas poked him in the stomach.
“Don’t act like you haven’t been living with me for over a year already.”
Axel grinned. “You found me out!” He fished a candy from his pocket. “A reward for your heard work!”
Roxas batted him away. “I don’t like butterscotch, I told you.”
“Hmm.” There was a rustle of plastic as Axel unwrapped the candy, and then an audible ‘pop’ when he put it in his mouth. “I could change your mind.”
Roxas sent him a challenging look. “I dare you.” Of course, Roxas should’ve known better than to challenge him. Roxas let out an indignant squeak when Axel slung an arm around his waist and dragged them both down on the sofa.
Axel squeezed him in a hug, nuzzling his face into Roxas’s neck—and really, Roxas thought that was unfair, because his neck was his weakness—which inevitably turned into a kiss. Just lips, at first, but Axel’s fingers quickly worked their way under Roxas’s shirt, finding bare skin, and making Roxas gasp in pleasure, and then it was tongues, and Axel, somehow, managed the kiss even with the hard candy in his mouth.
Roxas recoiled a little at the buttery flavor, but a hand on the back of his neck pulled him back, Axel’s mouth insistent against his own.
And, really, he liked kissing Axel more than he disliked the taste.
He felt, rather than saw, the triumphant grin stretching Axel’s lips when Roxas deepened the kiss, and then Axel thrust the drop of butterscotch into his mouth and pulled away.
Roxas sputtered and spat the thing out, glaring. “You sneaky bastard!”
Axel cackled and turned to run.
Except, there was nowhere to run in the tiny studio apartment, and it was only a matter of seconds before Roxas tackled him, and they fell into a laughing, flailing pile on the bed. “Finish what you start.” Roxas’s breath was buttery sweet against Axel’s lips.
Axel was more than happy to oblige.