“Don’t you have any more cotton-candy?”

“Negative.”

“Orange? Peach? Popcorn? Bubblegum? Tutti-fruiti?”

“Oh, for the love of…” Roxas rolled his eyes and shoved the box of candy in the other man’s direction. “Just pick whatever the hell you want of what’s left.”

Axel looked down at the container, “But it doesn’t have anything I like.”

“Because you ate the rest of them!”

Roxas and Axel were sitting along-side each other in a bench in their local park, as they usually did after a long day of lectures at the college a few blocks away. And they were arguing, as they usually did. They had established this as tradition; the park-going, that is. The squabbles that occurred everyday were mere coincidence.

Another practice they had set up recently was purchasing candy at a nearby drug-store on their way to the local area. Last week had been gummy worms, this week was… jelly beans. Little bite-size delights with hard shells and gummy insides that came in a variety of different flavors. Roxas had gone so far as to buy a whole box with 25 different flavors and Axel had gone so far as to eat at least 20 and a half of them, finding toasted marshmallow to be only slightly delectable. The ungrateful idiot.

“But…” Axel rooted through the tray with 25 little divisions for the different flavors, “Maybe I missed some?”

“I doubt it.” Roxas sighed, propping his chin in his hands as he watched the regular park-strollers walk past. He and Axel were good friends, and had been since middle school, but sometimes, the red-head was too incorrigible. Like when it came to holding open doors for other people or remembering to do homework… or bothering to notice that your best friend was in love with you. And it was especially bad when he left only the nastier flavors in the damn box, like jalapeno and licorice. That wasn’t even annoying, it was inconsiderate!

“Here, they don’t have my favorite flavor, anyway.” The red-head muttered, handing the box back with a rattle.

“Which one’s that?” Roxas bent over the candy, trying to pick out something for himself while half-heartedly listening to the red-head chatter. There was still coconut and plum left, so that was alright…

Axel waited a moment, then made a soft noise as he thought about it, “Well, I dunno, there’s no real name to it, it’s a bit of a mix of flavors. I’ve never even tasted it properly before.”

“Yeah?” Maybe he could mix margarita with the jalapeno one to make it taste better…

“I imagine it’s a bit of vanilla and pineapple and…” The other man paused, then chuckled, “And kiwis. I actually wouldn’t mind some of that right now.”

Axel had already eaten the pineapple jelly beans. Roxas picked up the very last kiwi flavored bean then and, with a smirk, popped it into his mouth to spite the other man, “Well, you’re out of luck.”

“No…” Roxas saw Axel lean forward out of the corner of his eye, probably to peer into the box to reaffirm that, indeed, there were almost no jelly beans left at all. “No, I think that there’s still some left.”

“What do you mean?” The blond finally looked up, confused as he was by Axel’s statement. He had no time to speak further, as Axel chose that moment to pounce and push his lips over his and slip a tongue inside his mouth. Roxas was so taken aback by the sudden but gentle action that without thinking, he actually began responding to the kiss as the box of candy fell to the ground with a dull clatter.

When Axel was finally satisfied with completely exploring and tasting Roxas’s tongue, teeth, and anything else he could reach, he pulled back, licking his lips with a content, pleased look as he chewed on the kiwi flavored jelly bean he had just stolen from Roxas’s mouth. “God, I love that flavor.”

Roxas blinked, holding up a hand to his numb lips, tasting red apple. There was another bothersome trait Axel had; he was unpredictable. “Well, uh, that’s all gone now.”

“Really?” Axel raised an eyebrow, “That’s too bad, I wouldn’t mind sampling that for hours on end. Days, even. Just tasting it, rolling it around on my tongue…”

Roxas swallowed, feeling his still-reeling mind calming down. Axel continued to speak, eyeing Roxas with a strange glint in his eye, “But I actually know this one place that has an endless supply of that flavor. I’ve been trying to coax it into sharing for a while now, but it’s just so stubborn sometimes.”

“Yeah? What about now?” Roxas asked, flushing slightly.

“I kind of convinced it to give me this free sample, but I was hoping to get more… You see, now that I’ve tasted it once, I’m completely addicted.” Axel teased a hand around the blond’s waist, lowering his voice to a husky murmur. Roxas smirked slightly, “The bigger package might cost you something hefty.”

“I don’t mind. They can name their price, I can handle anything.”

Roxas propped a finger over Axel’s slowly descending lips, matching the man’s sneaky smile as he put the man on pause, “A lifetime supply of red apple jelly beans.”

“Hmm.” Axel kissed briefly at the finger over his lips, “I’m pretty sure I have just the thing.”

“Will you share?” Roxas breathed out, moving to lace his arms around the red-head’s neck to pull him closer, “Mind you, I might get a little greedy.”

“Take all you want, Roxas, if you can handle it.” With a final chuckle, Axel pulled the blond back in for another kiss.

Yes, Axel was bothersome, annoying, and a plethora of other unappealing traits he could barely stand. He ate all the tasty candy in an assorted flavors box, he always copied Roxas’s homework just before class, and he allowed doors to slam into the blond’s face instead of holding it for him. Things like that made Roxas scream. But Axel was also Roxas’s favorite flavor and newest addiction, and that was something he could deal with.