Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

”You know, I bet you could think of something I’d like to see even more than my own food spread across that table and served to me.” Lea purred, setting down his silverware and leaning in over his still half-full plate. The petite blond standing across the table from Lea’s position licked his lips nervously, eyes unhelpfully trying to follow the line of Lea’s lean form past where it was hidden by the table. It was only his first week at-

Roxas paused, fingertips hovering over the keyboard, before tapping on the backspace rapidly and retrying the line.

It was only his second week working at the Michelin-starred restaurant Lea owned, but he couldn’t deny how incredibly attractive he found his new boss to be. Especially when saying things like THAT.

“C-chef, I-“ The blond paused, eyes returning to the lush green ones still fixed onto him above the sinfully smug smirk Lea wore, and gathered his nerve. “I’ll serve you whatever you want, if you’d just tell me what you’d like to have.” With a sudden, sweeping motion, Lea’s long arm swept across the-

Shit. He’d just said ‘a sweeping motion’; he couldn’t say ‘swept.’ Backspacing hastily, Roxas resumed the sentence.

With a sudden, sweeping motion, Lea’s long arm cleared the table of the plates and flatware, knocking it all to the floor in a clatter of breaking glass. He was on his feet a half second later, now looming over his much smaller sous chef.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” the redhead asked, voice buttery-smooth and-

“Hey, Roxas?”

A sudden knocking at his door had the blond scrambling to minimize his screen just in time; his roommate Hayner let himself in. The idiot.

“Hey are you going to class today? I was hoping I could catch a ride up to campus today,” Hayner asked, leaning against the doorframe oblivious to completely interrupting Roxas’s work. Trying to act casual, Roxas leaned an elbow up on his desk, hoping to conceal any part of his screen left visible.

“I didn’t plan on going until tonight,” Roxas muttered, leaning his chin on his hand. “I don’t have creative writing til seven.”

“A night class? Nah, I need to get up there before that,” Hayner sighed, walking right in like he’d been invited. He strolled over towards Roxas’s bedside table, picking up the notebook set to the side of the lamp and beginning to leaf through it. “Think you could just drive me up there really quick?” Roxas was now sweating; if Hayner was actually reading what was written on those pages, he’d probably never let Roxas live it down.

“Sure! Yeah, fine, we can go now if you want,” Roxas agreed hastily, slamming his laptop closed as he leapt to his feet and moved towards his roommate, hoping he’d drop the notebook and they could just leave. But of course, he wasn’t that lucky.

“Dude, what the fuck is this?” Hayner scoffed, holding the pages closer as he began to really read through what Roxas had written on the pages. Roxas winced; that was where he took notes while he watched, and rewatched, episodes of Charred. And wrote down the things he thought about Lea, things he’d want to potentially include in future fics, sometimes even a poorly-drawn sketch or two. “Who the fuck is ‘Lea’?”

“It’s nothing. Just notes I was taking on a show. For class. It’s just- nothing, okay?” Sure his face was absolutely scarlet, Roxas attempted to snatch the notebook out of Hayner’s hands, but his friend was faster- and taller.

“What the hell?” He was holding it at arm’s length above his head, reading from the pages as Roxas stretched onto his toes trying to knock it out of his fingers. “You are so fucking down for some…what the- dude.” He’d flipped to a half-page drawing of Lea, tugging open his chef coat to reveal the smooth, toned physique beneath, and was now making ridiculous expressions as he continued to flip through the pages. Now blushing and fuming, Roxas gave up on the attempt to grab for the notebook and lowered his gaze to Hayner’s shins. The fucker was dropping his notebook one way or the other.

“Give it back,” he snarled as the toe of his shoe connected solidly with Hayner’s leg, and his roommate yelped as he let go of the book, which landed straight on the crown of Roxas’s head. “Fuck!” Hand on his head, he snatched up the notebook and clutched it to his chest, glaring. “Fuck you, it’s just my notes, asshole.” Hayner smirked, straightening up and clasping his hands behind his head casually.

“Your ‘notes’ seem a little simp-ey, dude,” Hayner scoffed, eyebrow raising in an almost challenging way as he stared Roxas down. “What’s this for, exactly?”

“My car is driving away, now, if you’re coming,” Roxas seethed, stomping his way past Hayner and out the door. Hayner reading through his notes on Lea was really the last thing he would have wanted to have happen, and his embarrassment was painful, but it was better than him finding Roxas’s actual fan fiction account full of pages and pages and pages of extremely smutty content involving Lea, the star of the show, and a self-insert character who just happened to be a blond, blue-eyed, short guy like Roxas himself was. Not that it wasn’t obvious enough, he’d also gone ahead and called the character ‘Roxas’ in his fics, too… Initially because his name was unusual enough that people wouldn’t think it was really his name, and then later because his account and fics had gotten popular and his fan base knew the character by that. The notes, at least, had no mention of Roxas.

He grabbed his keys from the entryway table and stormed outside and to his car, leaving Hayner to lock up behind them. What a dick, especially right after asking for a ride; Roxas knew he was gonna be fuming about this all day now. And Hayner just strolled out like he didn’t have a care in the world, not locking the door behind him, but closing it at least. Roxas rolled his eyes as he watched his friend stroll towards the car, but didn’t think they’d end up being robbed in the few minutes it’d take to drop Hayner off and get back, so he left it. Hayner got in, and then he drove them away from the little block of small houses they resided in and towards the nearby campus. They’d picked the house because it was close enough to walk, but now that the winter weather was starting to roll in, what had been a nice long walk turned into one that would leave their fingers frozen by the time they made it to class. Hayner didn’t have a car, but seemed to have decided that since they lived together, he was for some reason entitled to Roxas’s. It was always phrased in a way that made it feel like Roxas would be a shitty friend for saying no, but honestly, it was starting to wear on his nerves. And since meeting some new friends around campus, he’d started hanging out with Roxas less and less unless it benefited him in some way.

It really sucked, growing apart from someone he’d been so close with, but Roxas had been filling the gaps with things like his writing and his obsession with Charred. He was fine with how things were; if Hayner preferred spending time with other people, Roxas was glad his own time wasn’t being wasted, at least. When he let Hayner out, his roommate had barely given a halfhearted wave before he was calling out to a blond guy with a weird, sleeveless longcoat and a beanie who Roxas didn’t recognize. The entire drive back, all Roxas did was fume to himself about the situation, and about agreeing to drop Hayner off at all.

Back at home, now safely alone, Roxas re-opened his laptop and decided to check his FictionForum account. When he logged on, he found himself met with several new hearts, two subscriptions, and a nice, long comment from a familiar username, FlurryOfDancingFlames.

’this last chapter was SOOOOO great!! The way you characterize Lea always feels especially true to character to me, especially when you’re imagining scenarios that aren’t in canon (despite how much I wish they were! lol) I especially loved Lea’s part in the chapter where he had Roxas pinned up against the walk-in freezer while the critic was reviewing the food in the main dining room, the balance of the tension and the super steamy moments is just ~chef’s kiss~ perfect. Please keep up the awesome work, it’s always such a bright spot in my day every time I see a new notification from you!’

Roxas smiled to himself, internally glowing over the praise. It always felt good whenever he got interaction on his works, but FlurryOFDancingFlames was an especially wonderful reader; they always left long, positive and encouraging comments on every fic he posted, and was usually one of the first people to engage with anything Roxas posted. He clicked to reply, fingers tapping across the keys as he typed out an answer.

’thank you so much! It’s always so great to hear from you! I’m really hopeful that I’ll have the next chapter up later this week, but as usual, I’m working on another short one in the meantime that I hope will be a nice little piece for you to enjoy while you wait! :)’

Then he sent the comment off and pulled back up his Documents app, rereading the last few lines to get back into his flow. He drummed his fingers against the keys lightly, not typing anything as he put his thoughts in order, and then he began writing once more.

”You haven’t figured it out yet?” the redhead asked, voice buttery-smooth yet rough with urgency as he reached over the tabletop to grab a fistful of Roxas’s chef coat, hauling him forward until the blond’s hips against the rough wood stopped him. “The only thing I want served in my restaurant tonight is YOU.” Lea surged forward to close the distance between them, urgently pressing their lips together in a fiery kiss that left Roxas clinging to the table for support. It wasn’t long before the smaller blond found himself being pulled directly onto the sturdy surface, securely beneath the lanky redhead as Lea molded his pliant mouth as desired.

A few hours later, Roxas glanced over at his phone and realized he was running out of time before he’d need to get himself up to campus. He quickly saved his progress and closed his laptop, then got up with a groan and a long stretch. He needed to get himself something to eat before he left, and if he was gonna eat, he knew what he’d be doing while he did. Scooping up his phone, he cycled to his Mickey+ app and logged into his profile. Charred was the first show that populated, obviously; it was not only the last thing he had watched, but was easily what he found himself turning on most often. Roxas clicked into it and then to the last, most recent episode, which had only aired a few days prior. He’d watched it the least out of all of the current episodes and still had another half-week to go until the new one released, so it was really all he was realistically going to end up turning on anyways; he restarted the episode and then hit play.

Immediately, the catchy tune of the intro began playing as different scenes of a restaurant kitchen during peak hours cycled across the screen. Then Lea arrived on screen, passion burning in his vivid green eyes as silent video of him shouting at a group of people played, and after dramatic print of the title of the show flashed above him.

“Last episode, on Charred,” an announcer’s voice came onto the screen as clips from the previous few episodes began to roll. “Chef Lea, after firing his sous-chef due to an incident with a customer allergy, has been working from open to close every day since. Still searching for a replacement, he’s left relying heavily on the front of house manager and his childhood best friend Isa, and his underqualified and lackadaisical shift lead Demyx.” The transition credits played, and then the show truly began. Despite knowing every word and every note of the intro, Roxas never skipped it; the way Lea’s eyes burned through the intro always made him feel like swooning. The episode started with a shot of Lea from behind as he sat at the restaurant’s bar, with Isa standing opposite his chair on the other side.

“How many hours are you at now?” Isa asked, his tone cold and almost accusing rather than sympathetic. Lea groaned, slumping down onto the bar top and resting his head on one of his arms.

“I just hit 72… That’s since Monday, though.” He didn’t lift his head even when Isa set the mug he’d been wiping out down less than an inch from the tip of his nose.

“You’re going to run yourself into the ground like this, until it causes you to slip up and do something we don’t have the time or money to deal with. How are you helpful to this restaurant when you can barely stay on your feet?” Isa’s demanding questions made Roxas scowl, like they did every time, and he took the opportunity to head to his kitchen while the blue-haired costar continued to berate his business partner. “You can’t do it all yourself, no matter how much you might want to believe you can,” Isa finally spat before turning and walking through a set of swinging doors and into the kitchen, leaving Lea alone at the bar.

“What am I gonna do…” Lea sighed to himself, reaching over the bar back and helping himself to one of the bottles of liquor stashed on the other side. “Maybe this is all too much for me to handle alone… Sure would be nice if I could find someone I felt comfortable- safe relying on. Someone I know would put just as much heart into this place as I do.”

Roxas paused, partway through the motion of opening the fridge, as he thought over the familiar-feeling line. Roxas had initially thought it sounded like something he knew he’d seen somewhere, but he couldn’t imagine where he might have heard something like that if it wasn’t a fic, and there was no way the show would be pulling from fics. Right? But something about hearing it today… Roxas could have sworn he knew that line. He grabbed himself a soda from the fridge and a bag of chips from the pantry and then strolled his way over to the couch, plopping himself down and trying to refocus on the episode. Lea was finishing his drink and then looking over a stack of papers before him, looking stressed, and Roxas especially loved how expressive he was in this scene, but… That other line was really nagging at the back of his mind, demanding recognition. Where had he heard that…?

With a huff of irritation at himself for starting what was surely going to be a futile mission, Roxas closed out of the show and opened up his internet browser. He initially opened it up to his FictionForum tab, but he had no idea where to start looking on there; he’d probably read thousands of fics over the years, not even counting what he’d written himself, and Roxas had no idea of how to start looking without any other point of reference. Then, in a sudden burst of inspiration, Roxas opened up a new tab and went to ScroogeSearch to try his luck with the broader internet. He typed in the line in the search bar, but even that gave him such a sense of deja-vu that he couldn’t help but feeling even more certain the line came from somewhere. When he hit enter, the search was flooded with results of blog posts, articles, and recaps of the latest episode, but Roxas was sure it wasn’t from something like that. They were all too recent. He hummed to himself, thinking it over, then put the whole line in quotes and added ‘fanfic.’

Immediately, the results were more promising; there were several pages of results that linked to FictionForum posts mixed in amongst the other media articles. The first two were from new fics that had been written and posted after the release of the episode, but the third fic he stumbled across said it had been posted eight months ago and had the entire quote highlighted as a selected match. Perfect, until Roxas clicked into the fic and got the absolute shock of his life. The author was TheLuckyStick.

That was his handle.

How could he have forgotten?? As soon as he scrolled down, of course he remembered the line - that he had written - as what he had Lea say just before he introduced his self-insert character and had Roxas walk in the restaurant doors. Word for word, exactly as he’d written it. But… how could that have…

Roxas couldn’t believe it. He simply could not accept the facts, despite them being clear as day. Had he missed someone from the show reaching out? Could it possibly have been a coincidence? Roxas scrolled all the way to the bottom, looking through the comments that had been left, but there was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. There was a long, especially nice comment from FlurryOfDancingFlames that had initiated a small series of exchanges between them, as well as a handful of comments from other readers, but most of those handles he vaguely recognized as well. Honestly, he wouldn’t have missed a new comment anyways, with how regularly he checked his own page, but… Roxas still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that it was his words that Lea had poignantly spoken aloud on screen. How many times had Roxas watched this episode and just brushed aside that sense of familiarity? Had this happened before? Now starting to sweat, Roxas tried to think.

Surely he would have recognized other lines… but as he hadn’t recognized that one with certainty, he didn’t feel confident in that assessment. Really, he’d need to reread all of his own fics and then rewatch the show from the start… and there was definitely not time for that before his class. But how was he supposed to focus on class knowing somewhere out there, someone on the staff of his favorite show was potentially reading his fanfiction? Just the idea had him feeling ready to crawl out of his own skin with excitement. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t even really have anyone to talk to about the connection he’d made; Hayner, clearly, had no taste, and he didn’t really spend much time with anyone else outside of class. But maybe, when he was done for the day, he could finish up the piece he’d been working on and then get it posted with a big author’s note shouting it out to his readers. They, at least, could tell him if he was wrong here or if the show really had quoted him in the episode. Feeling a little bit more settled now that he had a plan, Roxas pulled Mickey+ back up and resumed the episode, letting himself get distracted by Lea’s on-screen charisma and the way the apron hugged his slender hips, accentuating his lean figure as he rushed around the kitchen, trying to encourage his staff to stay on-point despite receiving a huge rush for lunch after opening the restaurant to customers.

“Come on! We’ve got a twenty minute ticket time on table seven and table twelve! I need the beef medallions on a plate and up in this window now!” Lea was yelling heatedly, leaning in amidst steam coming from a workstation to read the printed tickets hung up above him. The camera panned back, but all that meant was Roxas’s gaze stayed glued to the back of Lea’s figure and his snugly fitted black slacks while the audience was supposed to be taking in how hard Lea was working with next to no support from the rest of his staff.

Chapter Text

“Alright, that’s it, Lea. You’re just gonna have to hire the next person who gives us an application; this has gone on long enough.” Axel blinked his eyes open, lifting his head slowly to convey the disorientation he was supposed to be feeling.

“Wha- but… No, I can’t-“ Axel stammered desperately, looking up at Saix with his brow furrowed. “They have to be-“

“Awake,” Saix countered, glaring down at the redhead with disdain. “That’s all they’d need to be to outperform you. Something needs to be done now, while you’re still present enough to be able to do it.” Axel let his lip curl reflexively; his longtime friend and fellow actor sure knew how to piss Axel off with just his delivery alone. It was always easy to hate his characters, and that was one of the many reasons Axel could never really understand the fans who shipped their characters together. That was beside the point, though; he needed to focus.

“Are you fucking kidding?” he growled, leaping to his feet with such force that the barstool he’d been seated in clattered to the floor behind him. “I’ve put in more hours in the last few weeks that anyone, and I’m still up here every single-“

“CUT!” a loud voice called from behind them, and all at once the overhead lights of the set flicked on. Axel blinked around at Xigbar, frustrated that he’d called an end to the scene again.

“Really, Xig?” he demanded, hands on his hips as he glared over at the man. “What was it this time?” Xigbar just smirked at him, while Saix huffed loudly.

“Missed your mark,” Xigbar pointed out almost gleefully, and sure enough, when Axel looked down, he was a good two feet away from his place marker for the scene. Axel threw up his hands with a loud groan, pissed it was his mistake that had derailed them this time. They were gonna be stuck here all night at this rate.

“Could we take a break?” Saix drawled, coming out from around the bar to stand closer to his avenue of escape off the set. “If we’re going to take it again from the top, I’d like a moment to have a drink and look over my script again.” He paused, glancing at Axel before adding in a low murmur, “Not that I’ve been missing my lines.” Seething, Axel bared his teeth in a snarl, but Xigbar was agreeing before the redhead had a chance to voice his displeasure.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s be back here in… fifteen sound good?” Xigbar barely spared them a look before hopping out of his own chair with a huge stretch. “Gives me a chance to grab another cup of coffee, too.” Saix was off almost as soon as the words left Xigbar’s mouth, heading towards the side of the building where their dressing rooms were. Axel was pissed, but not enough to chase after the blue-haired man. Instead, Axel lazily headed to his own dressing room, closing the door behind him to shut them all out until he absolutely had to be back on set. Really, he needed something to distract himself from how irritated he was at the pair of them. And when looking for a distraction, there was one method in particular he favored.

Digging his phone out of his bag, Axel pulled up his internet browser and went straight to his FictionForum page, planning to see if any of the fics he followed had updated while he’d been filming. Instead of new updates, however, to his surprise and delight Axel saw that he’d received a reply to the last comment he’d made on TheLuckyStick’s most recent chapter.

’thank you so much! It’s always so great to hear from you! I’m really hopeful that I’ll have the next chapter up later this week, but as usual, I’m working on another short one in the meantime that I hope will be a nice little piece for you to enjoy while you wait! :)’

Grinning broadly, Axel clicked to reply back. TheLuckyStick was easily and by far Axel’s favorite author, and it was always such a pleasure to hear from them, whether it be new fics to read or the absolutely wonderful exchanges they had when Axel would leave his usual long-winded comments praising the work.

’oh, ANOTHER one? You’re spoiling us omg, especially me it always feels like; it’s always JUST what I wanna read 😏 MORE PLEASE!!! 😍😍 I will be waiting, ready to drop everything to be here to read it!! Ahh that’s all I’m gonna be thinking about for the rest of my day, honestly thank you for that lol, my day was so shitty before. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next!’

Axel hit enter, but his grin didn’t fade. He hadn’t been exaggerating; the idea of ending this stupid day of filming with a brand new fic from his favorite author sounded perfect. He still had about ten minutes left… Deciding to make it quick, he pulled up one of his all-time favorites from TheLuckyStick for a reread.

‘Playing With Fire.’ Lea absolutely destroying the blond character ‘Roxas’ that TheLuckyStick always wrote into his fics while they were inside the walk-in freezer. The temperature play aspect had been just as hot as the risk of them getting caught had been, and Axel probably re-read it at least once a week. It was only about ten thousand words and he knew the whole story by heart, he could probably get through it before they called for ‘Lea’ to get his ass back on set. Axel settled back in his chair, making himself comfortable as he began to read.

The beginning of this one started with Roxas as an established back of house worker that Lea was trying to train up to be the expediter, and had several cute scenes of Lea coaching Roxas on how to properly dice vegetables and getting a little handsy while ‘demonstrating correct form.’ It always subtly impressed Axel how much research TheLuckyStick had clearly done, or how much firsthand practical cooking knowledge they possessed if not, because even Axel with all of his scripts and stage work still found himself learning new things from the fics. In ‘Playing With Fire,’ it had been how vastly different that different cuts of meat should be treated while being cooked, and why the fat content was not only important but also how it rendered during the cooking process. The little, realistic details truly made the story come to life for Axel, and that was before he even got to the always thoroughly enjoyable steamy scenes.

”Dont make me beg,” Lea murmured persuasively, their lips so close together that his brushed against Roxas’s with every word. “I think you ~know~ you belong here. See how well we…work together?” As he spoke, Lea’s grip on Roxas tightened, and he began stroking over the blond’s heated length once more. The petite man beneath him groaned, clinging to the lanky redhead as if his own feet could not support him, and Lea smirked. “You already know just how dedicated and…” Lea paused, thumbing over the bead of moisture gathering at the slit and enjoying the way it made Roxas’s hips buck jerkily against his palm, “How ~thorough~ I can be.” The smaller blonde mewled weakly, head tipping back and eyes slipping closed as Lea’s hand picked up the pace. “Let me-“

A sudden knocking at the dressing room door had Axel’s heart hammering in his chest as he immediately hit the lock button on his phone and hopped to his feet.

“Come on, time’s up,” he heard Xigbar grumble from the other side of the door, and Axel rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah,” he called back, glancing at his mirror to make sure his hair still looked alright and that his apron was still lying properly over his lap after that. “I’m coming out.”

Xigbar kept them at it for hours, but damnit, Axel knew the scenes between himself and Saix were gonna be spectacular. The animosity between their characters was at a peak stage for the show, and next episode, they were finally gonna be introducing the new character Axel had been personally pushing for them to add for months. Honestly, it was probably the most excited he’d been during the whole production process… despite how irritated he currently was at Xigbar and Saix both. But when he got his things and began checking his phone on the walk to his car, Axel was met with something to brighten his evening; a notification email that TheLuckyStick had just posted a new work. The drive home passed by in a blur, because all Axel had on his mind was what he had waiting for him to relax to when he got there.

The second he closed his penthouse apartment door behind him, Axel had the fic pulled up on his phone. And oh, it was a good one. Axel’s eyes were glued to the screen as he poured himself a drink and then grabbed a frozen takeout meal to pop in the microwave, and could not tear his eyes away from it after that. It quickly got hot, too, and Axel walked away while the machine was still whirring to take a seat on his couch, getting into the scene.

It wasn’t long before the smaller blond found himself being pulled directly onto the sturdy surface, securely beneath the lanky redhead as Lea molded his pliant mouth as desired.

Now sandwiched between the table and the long, lean body of his chef, Roxas was pressed tightly enough under the line of Lea’s body to feel the redhead’s thick cock hard against where their hips met. The realization made him moan into the kiss, a sound that caused Lea to let out an approving purr.

“I’m not sure I… taste good enough… to meet your standards,” Roxas hummed cheekily between kisses, trying to mask his insecurity and nerves by playing along with Lea’s banter. “I know how seriously you take that sort of thing.”

Axel’s lips twisted up into a smirk as he shifted his hips, adjusting for the way his pants seemed to have grown uncomfortably tight. He let his hand wander, unhurriedly thumbing open the button on his slacks as he read onward.

”All the more reason for me to be the judge of that, if you’ll let me have a taste,” Lea purred back in a low, throaty rumble that made Roxas’ stomach flip at more than the implications behind the phrase. “If the rest of you is anywhere near as sweet as this,” he paused to capture Roxas’ lips with his own before tracing the blond’s bottom lip with his tongue in a sensuously slow manner, like he really was savoring the taste. By the time he leaned back to continue, Roxas was shivering. “I don’t think you’ll have anything to be worried about.”

Fuck, this one was exactly the kind of shit Axel wanted to read more of. His hand pushed beneath the waistband of his underwear to stroke over his rapidly hardening length, eagerly reacting to the way TheLuckyStick’s words always seemed to cater to his tastes perfectly.

It was too much for the blond to keep from reacting to, and when Lea felt the way Roxas’s body responded to the words, his grip on the smaller man’s upper thighs tightened as he rolled his hips down hard; Roxas gasped and eagerly rocked his own up to meet Lea’s.

“~Roxas~,” Lea groaned roughly, green eyes dark with arousal. One last claiming kiss, nearly hard enough to bruise, pressed Roxas’s head firmly enough into the table to completely flatten his short spikes of hair against the surface. Roxas’s eyes fluttered open abruptly when Lea’s pressing heat briefly disappeared, but quickly understood the redhead’s intent when his hands pulled at the waistband of Roxas’ pants. This was everything Roxas had been hoping for since he first laid eyes on the gorgeous chef, and all the hot kisses Lea was peppering along his neck and the curve of his shoulder further fueled his urgency as he obligingly lifted his hips when Lea tugged. He bit his lip as the redhead pulled down both his pants and boxers in the same motion, exposing his clear arousal to the crisp air as his freshly freed length bobbed up between them.

By now, Axel had increased the speed at which he was palming over his cock, body feeling tense as pleasant warmth pooled beneath his belly. God, this was so fucking good, and TheLuckyStick seemed to always know how to make every single work they posted somehow even more suited for his preferences than the previous ones had been.

Roxas wasn’t expecting Lea to skip over his dick entirely; he dragged the blond to the very edge of the table and then spread Roxas’s cheeks with his thumbs and sucking several hot, biting kisses onto the blond’s inner thighs before sealing his lips over the ring of muscle between them with a breathless mutter of, “Fuck, you’re so ~small~.”

And Axel could picture it perfectly. TheLuckyStick was always so efficient at describing his Roxas character, he’d had a really strong mental image of him even before finding the actor they’d had reading for the new character’s part. If the guy hadn’t ever opened his mouth, Axel might have found himself with a little crush, but as it was, his face was close enough to what Axel envisioned for ‘Roxas’ that he’d insisted they hire him immediately. Ventus might annoy the shit out of him, but it had been awesome to find someone so closely resembling the fictional character as Axel pictured him. Xigbar didn’t need to know why Axel had been so determined to add Ven to the cast. And Ven didn’t need to know he could be a body-double for an original character in someone’s fanfic. Or that Axel was picturing his body in that moment.

It was fortunate that both customers and staff were long gone for the day, and that the door was securely locked by the blond himself, because Roxas couldn’t control the barely recognizable, desperate sounds that escaped his lips. Lea wasn’t just tasting him, he was ~devouring~ him, and Roxas wasn’t at all prepared for someone he looked up to so much to be doing the things that Lea’s wickedly unrelenting mouth was doing to him. The way his tongue pressed into him, licking and teasing and nibbling until Roxas let out some sort of plea, to which Lea would only start all over again. Every time it felt like it was getting to be too much, his hips would arch up off the table – or try to, at least - but every time, Lea‘s grip on his hips or thighs would haul him back down against the hard surface before sucking a firm lovebite onto the crook of his thigh in punishment for trying. Roxas was nearly in tears by the time Lea’s lips sealed over his aching, neglected cock, and Lea got his ‘taste’ of Roxas within moments of working his mouth over the blond's leaking length.

Fuck, fuck, fuck - Axel’s closed fist pumped over his aching cock vigorously as his eyes squeezed shut, letting his imagination take him the rest of the way there. Because just a taste of the little blond sous-chef would never be enough for Lea. He’d want to make sure he left the kind of impression Roxas wouldn’t easily be able to forget. And who would be able to resist taking their turn to receive the same sort of release from such a very willing partner? Lea would pull the disheveled blond’s hips even closer, just past the edge of the table, before sinking into the tight, trembling body beneath his. Axel’s cock pulsed within his hand as he thought of how warm, how tight Roxas would be, still damp from the work Lea’s tongue had done earlier. Thought of the sound Roxas would make at the sudden intrusion, and then the motions of their bodies meeting as Lea began to thrust into him in earnest. Christ, he was so close; his mind filled with thoughts of Roxas, encouraging Lea to move faster, to fuck him harder, to give him more-

With a low, stilted groan, Axel came in spurts of sticky fluid against his fingers and the underwear he hadn’t bothered to get rid of. Fucking hell- he needed to change, and he still hadn’t even taken his food out of the microwave. Easing his hand free with a grimace, the lanky man let his head fall back onto the couch cushions behind him, body feeling limp and buzzing with the orgasm still fraying his every nerve. God, TheLuckyStick was an absolute fucking genius. Before he got himself up, he should probably finish reading the fic. And leave a comment, obviously; whoever they were, they definitely deserved every bit of appreciation and praise they got. Wiping his hand clean on the pants he was already gonna have to wash, Axel looked back down at his abandoned phone screen to read the scene as TheLuckyStick had planned for it to go.

Deliciously enough, the author had clearly had the same sort of ideas that Axel had, only so much more well-executed than the redhead had managed to come up with. Not only did Lea fuck him on the table, but after that he’d kissed the blonde while coaxing him into accepting a position as his partner, firing Isa in the process. Axel smirked, chuckling to himself over how much TheLuckyStick seemed to hate Saix’s character, and began typing up another grateful comment to leave for the greatest ‘Lea’ writer he’d ever come across.

Chapter Text

’how does it feel to always have the absolute BEST ideas? Because HOLY SHIT that was just… wow. WOOOOW. I do not have words for how good that was. The steamy buildup! The ~SMUT~!!! Them running the place together!! 😍😍You have just personally made my whole day, I hope you know that. If I could leave a hundred hearts on this, I WOULD, but since I can’t I will just go and re-read this again LOL! Anyways, thank you for this absolute GIFT of a fic 😍’

Roxas was beaming at the first in a series of comments waiting in his inbox that morning when he woke up, and of course it was from FlurryOfDancingFlames. Clearly, they’d enjoyed the fic, and it was nice to know he had someone else in the fandom that he exchanged messages with regularly, now that he had something he wanted to share.

’oh my gosh you are too kind 😭 I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it!!!
Okay so this is so random but I know you’ve read my other fics…are you current on the show?? I have a super weird question for someone who’s up to date on both. 👀’

Roxas sent off the comment before he could second-guess himself; FlurryOfDancingFlames always seemed so nice and so eager to comment, so hopefully they wouldn’t think Roxas reaching out was weird. And with any luck, they’d see the comment and reply, though Roxas knew from his own FictionForum account that the notifications had a terrible delay. It could be a day - or more! - before he saw a reply, though he hoped it wouldn’t take that long. To keep himself from agonizing over it, Roxas took his time responding to other comments he’d received, and once he’d run out of those, double-checked his emails to make sure he hadn’t missed an update on one of the fics he followed. He hadn’t, though, which meant that he’d run out of things to occupy himself with on his browser; Roxas decided that meant it was time to write a little, instead. He opened up another one of his works in progress, jumping in mid-scene.

Lea had to admit; he hadn’t ever thought of using butcher’s twine the way Roxas had. He’d never considered how strong it would be, even when looped fairly loosely around his arms. Would never have imagined how hot it would be to watch the petite blond’s nimble fingers constructing intricate loops and knots over Lea’s chest, shoulders, until Lea was all but woven in place. He could move; nothing felt tight, or even very restrictive - until Lea tried to bring his arms around from behind his back, which he found to be impossible.

“How’s that, chef?” Roxas asked, a single eyebrow cocked roguishly as he circled the kneeling redhead, testing his own work with a few gentle tugs and his fingers slipping beneath looped strings to ensure nothing had slipped. “Think that’ll keep the shape?” Lea smirked up at him from his rare position of lower height, heart thrumming eagerly.

“I think -

A sudden, subtle chime from his phone that indicated an email alert sounded, and Roxas’s heart rate spiked excitedly as he hurried to open his email on the laptop, not even bothering to retrieve the other device. To his disappointment, it was just junk e-mail for car tires at a reduced price; after he’d deleted it, he sighed poutily, clicking into his browser anyways. It was a deep, impulsive need to refresh his page just to see if-

There was a new message in his FictionForum inbox.

’im most certainly up to date on the show AND every one of your wonderful fics!
What’s up? 👀’

FlurryOfDancingFlames had answered; they were clearly online. Roxas leaned in over his keyboard, typing hastily amidst his eagerness.

’okay, so, like…
In the most recent episode, when Lea is talking to himself after Isa yells at him…doesn’t that sound like the part in my ‘Can’t Eat Without You’ fic right before Roxas comes in? Am I crazy?? I’m kinda freaking out lol I need someone to tell me I’m not imagining this’

He sent it off, and then sat there bouncing his leg impatiently, barely able to contain himself as he tried to wait a reasonable amount of time before refreshing the page. He wasn’t about to wait for his emails; he still hadn’t even received one about the first comment. If only FictionForum was a messenger of some sort, or had a chat feature, or something-! Roxas refreshed the page, but nothing changed.

Back to the smut for another paragraph or two, he supposed.

”I think you’ve got me right where you want me,” Lea purred, wetting his lips subtly as he fixed Roxas with a hungry stare. “Is there a reason I’m being treated like a cut of meat?” A quick laughed slipped from the blond as Roxas sidled closer, threading his fingers through Lea’s thick red locks.

“Yeah,” he hummed, petting through Lea’s hair in a way that had the lanky man leaning up into the touch. “You’re always working so hard, taking care of everything and everyone but yourself. You never take time to rest, or relax, and so…” Roxas paused, the hand in Lea’s hair guiding his head to tip back while the blond leaned down, bringing their faces close enough to share a kiss with the slightest shift forward. His smirk was so near, Lea could feel the breath each of his words were carried on gently puffing against the redhead’s own lips when Roxas continued speaking. “Today, I’m going to be the one to take care of you, and you’re not going to be able to so much as lift a finger.”

Unable to help himself, Roxas tabbed back over to his browser and refreshed the page again. He hadn’t realistically been expecting anything different, and adrenaline spiked his heartrate when he saw the little number in parentheses next to his inbox actually had changed.

’you’re definitely not crazy 😉 I have it on good authority that at least one cast member is familiar with your fics. And you know what they say; imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. 🤭 please keep churning out these amazing works, and maybe they’ll keep imitating you, too!’

Roxas sat there, reading and rereading the comment, until his brain finally processed everything he’d just read. And the first thing he could say was-

’ok I’m sorry, before anything else…DID YOU JUST CALL CHARRED ‘MEDIOCRE’??? I see your handle in the ‘hearts’ of like every good fic on here, and I know you READ them because of the comments you leave. how could you be calling the source material mediocre??? Smh I thought I knew you better than that…’

Roxas paused, biting his lip as he really did reconsider what he knew about the vague online presence. Including-

’also, we are NOT skipping over the part about you knowing that a cast member reads my fics???!?!!? OMFG!!!!! WHO????!??!?? PLEASE I MUST KNOW HOLY SHIT. My mind is blown. I am in shock. Like…how am I supposed to go about living my life now?? Ahhhhhh’

With that, Roxas hit enter, stared at the screen for a long, long moment, and then pushed away from the desk sharply, flinging himself and his rolling chair backwards with a loud shout of confusion and excitement and nervous energy so that he fell onto his bed and the chair fell to the floor with a loud clatter. He grabbed his pillow, smashing it over his face to muffle the sound as he yelled into it again and kicked his heels against the side of the mattress in gleeful panic, and tried to accept the fact that someone on his favorite show was reading the fics he wrote about it. He didn’t know what to do with himself; he was so flustered and nervous and excited. Would FlurryOfDancingFlames tell him? And how did they know?! Were they friends with a cast member? He finally sat back up as he thought of his loyal commenter and scooted back to his computer to refresh the page again, and then when it was unchanged, back into his writing.

”Really?” Lea asked, thoughtless with surprise. “You wanna- but why?” His earnest confusion drew a soft smile from the blond, who closed the distance between them to leave a swift, cute peck on the redhead’s cheek before he straightened back up.

“Because you deserve it,” his petite sous-chef stated confidently, circling Lea and doing one more check-over of the cording keeping Lea in place as he purred, “and because I want to see the faces you make when you’re finally not the one in control.” Lea swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry and pants suddenly far too tight.

Had they responded yet?! Roxas could barely stand it; he couldn’t think about anything else. He tabbed right back over, and found a new message waiting in his inbox, which had him bouncing in his seat with excitement even before he’d opened the comment.

’that’s not a secret I’m gonna share publicly on FictionForum. 🤫😉 Suffice it to say, I’m close enough to production that I’m far more impressed by works like yours than I am by the actual acting. Tbh I wish YOU were on the writing team, to bring some of your ~incredible~ headcanons to life!’

Oh. GOD. Roxas laid one of his burning cheeks onto his desktop, trying to cool it down as his mind raced. Holy shit. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know what to say, or to think, other than; who the hell was FlurryOfDancingFlames?! Just how close were they to production? Who from the cast was his reader, that FlurryOfDancingFlames wouldn’t say?

Roxas took a steadying breath, flipping his face to the other side, as he tried to rein himself in. It could be anyone. An extra. Demyx’s actor, or one of the other background kitchen staff. Maybe FlurryOfDancingFlames was a set designer. Or a makeup artist. What if they were makeup for the whole cast?! Maybe FlurryOfDancingFlames could tell him if Lea’s really were that deep absinthe color naturally, or if he smelled as good as he looked, or-

Groaning, Roxas forced himself to sit back upright, face buried in his hands. Okay, he needed to stop thinking. If he wanted to know anything, he needed to get himself together enough to come up with a reply that didn’t make him sound fanatic, or unhinged.

‘oh my god, I’m literally just alskfshsk 😳🤩🫣 I can’t believe it. There’s no way I could even ~think~ of writing for that show, it is my Holy Grail of content and I am not worthy of messing with their masterpiece; I’m happy just adding some extra embellishments 😌 if you can, would you pass along my gratitude to whoever my reader is for reading at all? I’d appreciate it so much!’

Roxas hesitated before pressing enter; it felt like too much for the comments section on a chapter of his fic. But… if he had the chance to convey even part of the gleeful, excited feelings threatening to bubble up and explode from him at any moment to the cast member who inspired them, he needed to. His life would be complete if he could do it himself. Imagine if it was Le-

Roxas smashed the enter button and then hastily clicked away from his inbox, needing to derail that train of thought immediately. He could barely function as it was; if he even considered Lea’s real-life actor to be reading his fics, his brain would short circuit immediately. Besides, that would be unrealistically hopeful. Maybe it was Isa. With a snort of poorly contained laughter, Roxas clicked back over to his story.

”Mm, who says I can’t still be in control, even with all this on me?” Lea purred cockily, but Roxas only smirked at him, and for some reason, it made Lea’s stomach flutter with nervous anticipation.

“Me,” the blond hummed, using the hand that had been holding Lea close to gently push the man away as he straightened up. “Do you think you can stand on your own?” Lea shifted his weight experimentally on the balls of his feet, then nodded obediently, more than willing to play along while it was Roxas who was bossing him around.

Roxas kept at it for a while, until his alarms began to go off for him to start getting ready for his afternoon classes. He’d refreshed his FictionForum page probably a hundred times, but there were no further responses from FlurryOfDancingFlames. They probably had things to do in the real world, though; there was no way Roxas could ever hold it against them for not replying. He just hoped his thanks would somehow reach their intended target, and reluctantly shut everything down before he went to take a shower.

Even if he didn’t hold it against them for leaving, though, FlurryOfDancingFlames and their messages were all he could think about. In the shower. Getting ready. Driving to campus with Hayner. In his class, instead of hearing the professor’s voice droning on as he lectured the seated students, Roxas rethought every word of his earlier exchange with them. Did he sound stupid? Like an obsessed, creepy weirdo? Was their line about wanting Roxas’s ideas for the writing a joke, or did they really think that? Maybe he’d have a new comment by the time he got home; every time he’d checked between classes and on breaks, there had been nothing new. With an inward sigh, Roxas slumped forward across the small half-desk attached to his seat, willing time to move faster, and for the number beside his inbox to change.

Chapter Text

Axel frowned to himself as he pulled out his phone the second the set had been wrapped for the day and found no new messages in his email inbox. He sighed, thrusting the phone back into his pocket, and headed to his trailer to get his things. He knew people had jobs and lives and responsibilities, and that he shouldn’t expect anyone to feel obligated to answer him, but the radio silence following his rapid-fire exchanges five days ago with TheLuckyStick felt very pointed, moreso with every day that passed. Half of him wanted to message again, but the other half reminded him that TheLuckyStick could have just gotten really busy. Had something serious come up. There were any number of reasons they might have stepped away and not come back to check their messages. Axel couldn’t help the way he watched his own inbox like a hawk, though, or how disappointed he was every time he checked and found nothing.

He hoped nothing bad had happened to them.

After he changed and grabbed his things, Axel headed back to his apartment, ready to settle in and veg out mindlessly scrolling through his phone. He let himself in, dumped his things on the counter, and grabbed a beer before drifting towards the couch and flopping down on it. His phone was barely unlocked before he was pulling up his email again, just to double check.

He didn’t have a response from TheLuckyStick, but did see a new fic notification for them. Which…meant they were alive, at least. And writing. Axel didn’t waste a second thought before clicking right into the newly shared story. And god, it was good. It had Lea, tied up and on his knees before a Roxas determined to make his chef relax in all the best ways possible. And fuck, did he ever.

”Keep your eyes… on me,” Roxas ordered breathlessly, rolling his hips off and then down onto the mindlessly groaning redhead lying beneath him. “I don’t want you…thinking about anything else.”

“M’not,” Lea promised in a growl, but his liquid emerald eyes blinked open, watching the blond above with an unfocused stare. Roxas hummed, breath hitching sharply as he drove himself down onto Lea in a particularly satisfying way. “Roxas,” the man hissed between tightly clenched teeth, looking almost pained as he ineffectually tried to thrust up into Roxas as his own pace… and was thwarted by the blond lifting himself higher while pushing the lanky man’s hips down.

“Stop trying to do everything yourself,” the smaller man smirked, purposefully holding himself higher off of Lea, and waited til the man’s eyes were trained needfully up on him before asking, “Why is it so hard for you to let me take care of you?”

Lea groaned, squirming and shifting his hips, but Roxas wouldn’t relent, wouldn’t drop back down over the redhead, until finally Lea managed to string together enough coherence to grit out-

“Because! I’m the one who’s supposed to take care of you! Of this place, and the food, and- oh, fuck!” His words broke on a grateful hiss as Roxas finally sank back down onto his lap, but when Roxas didn’t rise again, he growled, “Everyone’s countin’ on me, and I don’t want to slip up and let you all down.”

That part had really hit Axel hard. Not only did it perfectly capture Lea’s character and his struggles, but it felt personally applicable to Axel, too. How many family events had he avoided in the last few years for the sake of work? How much of his life had he spent trying to please others, to impress them, to make himself liked… It felt like TheLuckyStick could see him, found his flaws and the weak links in his armor and called them out, and then soothed him with the words Roxas gave to Lea before washing away the last shreds of his need for control with some intense smut. Fuck. Axel most certainly didn’t tear up while reading it… his third time through. That was when he felt like he had himself together again enough to scroll further down to the comment bar.

’this…may be one of the most meaningful and moving fics I’ve ever read. Seriously, I can’t even tell you how much I love this, and how deeply touching it was. Are you a therapist?? Don’t answer that. But you should be. Oh my ~GOD~ I’m actually speechless. Anyways, another absolutely STUNNING MASTERPIECE from you, and you’ve outdone yourself once again! Hope my constant comments aren’t too much of a bother. 🤗’

Axel hesitated, his finger hovering over the button to send. That seemed too needy, didn’t it? TheLuckyStick hadn’t said he was a bother; they’d ghosted him entirely. He backspaced through the last sentence, mulling it over. He supposed TheLuckyStick had only neglected his email.

What if…he hadn’t seen it? Maybe he’d typed the address wrong, or…maybe it had been an old address? A faint flicker of hope ignited in his heart as he typed out a different final line.

’and hey, is that email address in your profile one you check?’

Axel winced, worrying it now came across as too pushy, but after wrestling with the idea for a few minutes, couldn’t come up with anything better and hit submit.

Shit, he regretted it immediately. If they had ignored his email by choice, then calling it out into the open like that would be so rude. Ah, fuck, they were gonna hate him. He was gonna piss off his favorite author of all time. If he hadn’t already with the email. Maybe he should have just let it go… Crap. To soothe his anxiety over it, he reread the fic from the top once more, and by the time he finished and refreshed the page, he found he’d gotten a comment back.

’omg youre too kind, it wasn’t anything too special, just a little something I’ve been working on! And 👀 My listed email is one I get notifications from! If you ever want to reach out, that’s the best way to do so!’

Clearly not, Axel thought to himself, but it was with amusement; TheLuckyStick hadn’t blown him off, it seemed, at least not intentionally. Rather than replying to the comment, he clicked on TheLuckyStick’s name and navigated to his profile page, to double check he’d typed the address in correctly. He pulled up his email as well, going into his sent messages to compare the two. Yep; he’d sent his message to the right address. Maybe TheLuckyStick was one of those people who received a ton of emails, and Axel’s had been lost amongst the masses. Maybe it was an email he didn’t check regularly, but would now. Maybe-

A new e-mail populated in his inbox, the phone vibrating in his hand as it did. He had it open and was reading it within two of his racing heartbeats. His original message hadn’t been much; just a tentative greeting, a brief introduction identifying himself as FlurryOfDancingFlames, but the response he received was far more animated.

’oh my god noooo I am SO SORRY, your message went to my junk folder and I didn’t see it until your comment made me think to check. Ahhh I feel SO bad, I’d been worried I came off wrong in my replies to you… tuns out i STILL managed to fumble the conversation smh

I’m literally so glad to hear from you! You’re always so nice in your messages and I always see you on my stuff… is it weird that I almost feel like we’re friends already? That’s probably weird, I’m sorry if I’m coming on a little strong… I’m just excited to really talk to someone else in the fandom. My roommate definitely doesn’t get it lol. Anyways, I hope my tardiness in replying doesn’t make you think less of me or that I’m not excited to talk outside of FictionForum! Sooooo sorry again 🙈’

At the bottom, it was signed with ’TheLuckyStick (Roxas),’ which seemed a little strange, but he was probably trying to ensure that Axel could identify him; Axel really didn’t care. TheLuckyStick felt like they were already friends?! He felt starstruck. Way more starstruck than he’d been at last year’s Primetime Mickey Awards, way more than meeting his castmembers for Charred. This was someone Axel appreciated for their abilities in a way he didn’t for other actors; TheLuckyStick had talents Axel would never possess, and their work meant so much to the redhead. And now, to have the opportunity to connect with them personally… it was such an awesome opportunity. He had so many questions. The secret about the new character itched at him, but Axel didn’t want to spoil it. He DID want to get their reaction, though, and here was his foot in the door.

’Hey! Don’t worry about it at all, I was a bit worried I’d crossed a line in reaching out so I’m just glad you don’t hate me, honestly. I hope you don’t mind. I have sooo many things I want to pick your brain over- your fics are AMAZING. They have literally gotten me through so many rough days, you have no idea. Would it bother you if I threw some questions at you? There are a few details I’ve been dying to know. Hope you’re having a good day! The fic you posted today was definitely the highlight of mine, OMG. 😳’ Axel deliberated with himself, then signed it with, ‘Thanks again, FlurryOfDancingFlames.’ He didn’t want a quick google search giving away the most interesting of his secrets.

Satisfied, Axel sent off the message, then leaned back into his couch cushions with a smile he couldn’t keep off his face despite how dumb he felt grinning to himself. He was just about to flip back over to the browser tab with the new fic in question when his phone buzzed with the sound of a new text message.

Saix: are we still on for reading scripts over coffee in the morning?
Saix: you need to work on hitting your marks more, but we’ll do what we can for now

Axel rolled his eyes as his lip curled reflexively; Saix was such an asshole sometimes. He typed out the most passive-aggressive ‘ya’ he could will into existence and fired it off, even though he would have preferred doing just about anything else. He and Saix had a good thing going with their working relationship, the man’s abrasiveness aside, and they were finally really seeing the payoff for working with each other so diligently for so long. Fans, critics, and casual viewers all raved over the way their characters seemed to be each other’s perfect foil and how naturally both Axel and Saix brought their codependent animosity to the screen. So he’d tolerate the coffee meetup - but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

His phone buzzed again, and Axel didn’t think he’d ever found himself quite as excited by the sight of an email notification; it felt like such an outdated form of communication somehow, yet he was practically giddy as he clicked into it.

’omg NO NEVER!! I could never hate you, I feel like I’m writing specifically for you sometimes bc you’re always the first person I see on there and the one who’s opinion I value the most 😌

And you can absolutely ask me anything! But I have questions for you too lol, my mind is still BLOWN about you knowing that someone on cast is reading my stuff!! Maybe we can swap, question for question? Even if you don’t want to, though, I’ll still tell you whatever you wanna know about my stuff 🤗

-Roxas’

Was ‘Roxas’ the pen name the TheLuckyStick preferred? He’d put it enough that Axel figured he might as well update his own mental Rolodex, though it felt strange, considering the things he’d read about ‘Roxas’ doing to ‘Lea.’ Made him feel even more off-balance, somehow, which was not what he was used to. Axel hummed to himself, a single slender finger tapping lightly against his lips in thought, before he began writing out his reply.

’Alright, deal. Question for question sounds good to me, and I’ll go first if you don’t mind.

In ‘Playing With Fire’ (which is one of my top comfort fics) they don’t get caught hooking up in the walk-in, but I’ve always wondered how you would have written it if they had been. Would they have been shut down, or would Roxas have talked them out of it? I’m so curious!

I’ll do my best to answer whatever you ask, but I may keep some things under wraps for now, I hope you understand!

-FlurryOfDancingFlames’

After that, replies between the two of them were exchanged faster and faster; clearly, they were both sitting in front of their respective screens with their full attention on the conversation. Axel barely had to wait a full minute before there was a new message in his inbox.

’oh my gosh, THATS your favorite?! I wrote that in one weekend when our power went out and I had nothing else to do but write. And huh, I probably would have had it happen right as Lea was getting Roxas out of his clothes, and then let the critic actually open the door to the walk-in instead of being called away. When they catch Lea and Roxas, I’d have them give a whole lecture on how they’d come looking for a reason to find a problem with the place and how many violations they could give, and then stop and say that the food had been so good, they were just going to leave so they could still come back and enjoy it again. Then back out of the walk-in, leaving Lea and Roxas to finish what they’d been doing. 😈🤭 I’m a sucker for giving those two a happy ending, in every way possible 😂

My turn! If you’ll tell me; WHO IS IT WHO READS MY FICS?? Please?? Or will you at least tell me if it’s one of the main cast?? I know you said you wouldnt tell me publicly, but now it’s strictly between you and me, and I PROMISE I won’t tell anyone!!! Swear on my life.

But if you don’t wanna tell me still, I totally get it, and I have a backup question, just let me know!

-Roxas’

And what was Axel supposed to do, lie? He couldn’t do that. But he didn’t want to give himself away quite yet, either. So he bit his lip and settled for the middle ground, where he didn’t tell Roxas everything, but would still get to see his honest reaction.

’so first, OMG YES!! Ahaha that would have been GREAT (ok it was already great tbf) and LOL I’m a sucker for them getting what they want, too 😌🤭

As for your reader… well. I guess since we ARE in private messages, I’ll tell you, but you gotta promise it stays just between us, okay? I don’t wanna get in trouble for letting it slip, because your biggest fan is the show front runner… prob why one of your lines ended up in the show. 😉

My question for you is; does that bother you? I’ve been wondering how you’d react knowing that, but I was also a little worried it might make you nervous, and I just wanted to throw out there that, knowing him, if you stopped writing he would LITERALLY cry.

-FlurryOfDancingFlames’

After he’d sent it off, all Axel could bring himself to do was refresh his inbox endlessly. He was too keyed up to even tab back to read again; this was really the biggest question he had, the one he MOST wanted to know the answer to. He’d thought himself capable of dragging out how long it was until he broke down and asked, but… he needed to know. Needed to make sure it wouldn’t stop TheLuckyStick from writing his amazing stories. Axel hadn’t been exaggerating; he absolutely would cry if his presence put off his favorite author. When the reply came in, a few moments that felt like lifetimes later, Axel nearly dropped his phone scrambling to click into it.

’AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YOURE JOKING. Tell me ur joking my heart can’t take it.

LEA IS READING THESE?!? Or his actor, ykwim. That’s…no way. There’s no way. And he LIKES THEM???!?!?? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH omfg time to go hide in a hole and die of embarrassment. How do you know?? Like, you KNOW-know he is?? Alsnfjfidns im literally losing it rn how could you do this to meeeee (totally joking though, you’re actually my favorite person ever rn, I hope you know. I’m just freaking out alsndjfjfnf)

Holy shit

Okay. Okay, um. No, it definitely doesn’t BOTHER me, I’m just so aodnfjfis!! I’m so awestruck and I feel so inadequate and embarrassed lol. (Does he think I’m like, super cringe for writing all of these fics? Omg) and yes, definitely a bit nervous too, but if HE likes them… tbh I’ll probably end up writing MORE, knowing me, bc that’s all I’m gonna be able to think about.

And ok, I realized I’ve asked too many questions, but disregard those; what I REALLY wanna ask (if you’re okay telling me) is; HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW LEA’S ACTOR are you guys like FRIENDS? Where you know what he’s like off-screen?? 🤩🫣 lol I wanna ask so many thing but I also wanna make sure you know I’m okay if you don’t wanna tell me something! Internet safety and all that, I won’t be upset if you tell me that I’m getting too personal!

OMG IM STILL FREAKING OUT THOUGH

-roxas’

Axel exhaled a huge breath of relief past lips already shifting into a smug smirk. No one had ever claimed the redheaded actor was humble, but the way TheLuckyStick’s nervous excitement was stroking his ego had him reaching new levels of self-satisfaction. His favorite writer was reacting to just the idea of him reading like it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to them, was making Axel feel dangerously cocky as he considered the ways he could continue to earn more of their adorably excited reactions.

Chapter Text

’within reason, I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know about him. I know the guy better than anyone.’

Roxas’s brain still couldn’t wrap itself around what he’d read. Here he was, wasting time where he could ask any of the BILLION questions he had, because he simply could not believe he’d managed to become connected to someone so close to the man himself. He re-read the latest email over from the start, as if that would get his thoughts to start moving again.

’I don’t mind getting personal! lol, I don’t want you to think I’m a weirdo or anything, but I feel prettymuch as overwhelmed as you do about Lea just getting to talk to YOU - I’m absolutely obsessed with your fics, I hope you know. 😉 You’re like, legitimately my favorite author.

But… within reason, I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know about him. I know the guy better than anyone. May not be able to answer some things, I guess, but it won’t hurt to ask, right? And if it was something really important, I could just ask and get back to you about it. I wouldn’t mind 🤗 I bet he’d think it was super cute, seeing you flipping out about him.

My question for you, then, before I tell you all about him, is…what is it about him or the show or whatever that’s gotten this many AMAZING fics out of you? Do you just really like his character or something? (I do too lol, don’t feel bad if that’s your answer) I’m just so curious.

-FlurryOfDancingFlames’

Nope, it didn’t help; Roxas was still completely blown away. But it did start him wondering about the implications of some of the things that had been said, though, and that started making him worry.

He was amazed at finding someone so close to Lea’s actor, but… how close were they, if FlurryOfDancingFlames read fics about them? What if he was talking to the actor’s partner or something? Did Lea’s actor have a partner? Oh god, what if he did and Roxas had written all these fics about Lea fucking a guy named Roxas only to then start talking to that Roxas because he was an idiot who had written about himself and- Fuck! What if this was weird?? Was it weird? He didn’t feel weird talking to them, but maybe they were just incredibly kind and naturally charismatic and amazing? They’d kinda have to be, if Lea was into them, Roxas imagined.

Besides that, this was his top reader. It was so cool to get to really be talking to them, but…what if he made things weird and they stopped reading and leaving him comments altogether? Or told Lea’s actor that Roxas was weird, and he stopped reading, too? The email thing already felt a little weird, because he never found himself desperately waiting on emails to come in, and the reply chain in the message header was already stretching to comical proportions. Should he suggest they talk somewhere else, or would that be too forward and crossing boundaries? Shit, he didn’t know what to do about that, either.

He knew that FlurryOfDancingFlames was waiting on him, though; they’d been going back and forth so rapidly, it was more than clear. So Roxas started typing, trying to figure out what to say as he went.

’Being told I’m someone’s favorite author….that might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me 😂🥹 are you just being charming?? You need some better reading, if I’m the best you’ve got 🤭 have you ever read the Union Cross series? It may not be to your tastes, it’s like contemporary fantasy, but that’s probably my favorite author if you’re ever interested!

as for your question, hmmmm. There are a LOT of things that really make me wanna write for the fandom but especially Lea in particular.

For starters and the most obvious; he’s soo hot. (But please don’t tell him I said that lol I think my fics are bad enough in giving that away😅) but for real, he is EXACTLY my type. I’m swooning just thinking about how his apron fits him in the opening credits. Annnd that’s probably weird, especially since you know him - sorry about that lol 🙈 I really hope it doesn’t make you uncomfortable or anything, please tell me if I do and I’ll stop!!

But I also REALLY like his character, and the personal motivations and his inner strength. The man is always struggling against all the odds doing his best for everyone, and half the time I wish I could reach through the screen and shake one of the other characters while yelling at them to HELP HIM. Lea needs and DESERVES the help, and I think the Roxas I write in my fics directly comes from my desire to give Lea someone he could depend on. It was really stupid of me to maybe be AS DIRECT as I have been rofl, but it’s too late to turn back now 😅🤭

Plus, I love how world-immersive the show is. It makes it easy for me to picture myself right there alongside the cast, especially so since I actually grew up in the town where it’s filmed!! When I went back to visit my family last time, my brother and I went to check out the set and the part of town they’re filming in, it was sooo cool. I used to skateboard around there when I was a teen, so the whole area is like, burned into my brain.

But yeah, I could go on and on about charred and Lea all day lol. 🤭 that’s why I write for it; it’s ALWAYS on my mind.

I guess my first question for you, though it’s probably the most basic thing I could ask, is; what’s Lea like off-screen?’

Roxas paused his typing, thinking it over. He probably shouldn’t keep saying ‘Lea,’ especially if FlurryOfDancingFlames knew the actual actor, but despite his obsession with the show, he’d never really looked too deeply into the actual actors themselves. Maybe…he should rectify that. Tabbing out of his email, he opened ScroogeSearch and typed in a basic ‘charred lea actor,’ and was immediately flooded with hundreds of results for ‘Axel Duncan’ and his professional career, interviews, and photos of a man somehow even more gorgeous than the character Roxas had been watching in the show. Shit, this was dangerous; he didn’t need his obsession over Lea turning to focus onto something - someone - real. But fuckkk, the man was absolutely stunning. Hastening to peel himself away from the image search previews, Roxas tabbed back over and corrected himself in his email draft.

’what’s Axel like off-screen?’

That was probably better; now, at least, he could differentiate between the actor and the man himself in their conversation. Nodding to himself, Roxas quickly signed his name and sent off the email, hoping he hadn’t allowed too much time to pass and caused himself to lose their quick back-and-forth exchange. Nervous, excited energy buzzed through him, but he didn’t flip back over to writing in between messages like he usually did to deal with his turbulent emotions; hadn’t during their whole exchange, actually. He was too excited, and having his new friend - maybe that was rushing things, acquaintance - replying so fast. Like they were exchanging texts, or were on HeartLink, the popular messaging service for a lot of gamers. It was nice to feel so connected to them. He stared at his email inbox, willing the number to tick higher, unable to look away.

And after a few long moments of impatient waiting, it finally did.

’Despite how charming I may or may not be, you absolutely ARE my favorite… though I’ll probably be looking into those books, too, just to see what sort of things you like besides Charred. 🤭

I don’t think it’s weird you think he’s hot - I’m pretty sure half the fandom does haha. And you don’t make me uncomfortable at all 🤗 the opposite, actually… It’s really fun talking to you, please don’t stop. I’m kind of amazed how awesome you are in person (so to speak) as WELL as being an incredible writer.

Also, about your desire for a character to help him…. 😈😈😈 all I’m gonna say is, please message me your immediate reaction to the episode that’s about to come out next.

Why do you think youve been stupid, though??? Excuse me, your fics are TREASURES, thank you very much. I love how direct your Roxas is! It’s my favorite, actually. Please don’t turn back 😭

And oh how cool that you went to the set!! Were you there while it was filming??? Now I can’t help but wonder if I’ve seen you, even accidentally; 🤩 how crazy would that be??

What’s Axel like… Hmm. He’s kind of full of himself, people say, and that he’s cocky and smug. but the biggest secret about him? He’s a total loser lol. I already told you he’s into your fics, but he’s ALWAYS reading. Or drinking; he’s a lot like Lea in that 😂 I dunno, I think he’s a pretty decent guy all around. He’s got his problems, but who doesn’t, ya know?

Okay so here’s my question: is the email thing weird to you? This is the first time I’ve wanted to check my inbox in ages rofl. It’d probably be weird or something to exchange numbers when we just started talking, but do you have a messaging app you use? If you want to keep chatting, I mean… less delay between messages and all that. Anyways, I’m gonna head out to grab some dinner, so if I reply a little slower, don’t think I’ve stopped talking!

-FlurryOfDancingFlames’

Roxas was smiling to himself by the time he got to the end, feeling warm and fluttery over the things that had been sent. They really considered him their favorite author? Wanted to check out Roxas’s interests just to get to know him better? Fuck, they were so nice; he really hoped he didn’t end up bothering them with his obsessive fanboying and annoying questions. He really liked talking to FlurryOfDancingFlames, too. And the fact they felt the same way he did about the emailing made him feel even more of a kinship with them, how they understood him without the need for Roxas to be the one to mention it. He leaned in, typing out a reply as quickly as his fingers could move across the keyboard.

’oh my gosh you are TOO KIND ❤️😭❤️ i love getting to talk to you like this, too, outside the comments which were already nice enough to brighten my whole day each time!

BUT WHAT DO YOU MEAN ABOUT THE NEXT EPISODE??? Oh my GOD???? AHHHHH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT UNTIL FRIDAY NOWWWWW!!!!! I am TOO excited rofl

And lol, well, I do APPRECIATE that you like my fic version of Roxas, but I just meant with his name in general lol. It’s my name, so sometimes I feel like it was a REALLY dumb decision to make him my character, but…what could I do about it NOW, you know? 😅 that wouldn’t completely throw off every single thing I’ve written up til now, at least.

Yeah the set was so cool!! and OMG THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AMAZING, but we went on an off-day, so the actual restaurant was open; we had lunch there, but missed getting to see any of the cast and crew. Kinda regret it now, knowing we COULD HAVE seen each other even if we wouldnt have known about it then.

Omg you’re totally fucking with me, though, right?? I can NOT picture Lea OR Axel as a closet nerd - he’s too gorgeous to be like me 😭😂🤭 lol it’s nice to hear he’s a good guy outside of the show, though… it always sucks, finding out that a character you love is actually an asshole to the fans, so it’s really cool to hear he’s not like that 🥰

And LOL YES OMG I’m so glad you said something about the emails because I was about to 😂😂😂 I wouldn’t mind exchanging numbers, but I totally get it being too soon. Do you have a HeartLink? Or MoogleMessenger? Tbh I’ll use whatever is convenient for you. I really don’t talk to many people outside of my roommate and our mutual friends lol. Just let me know and I’ll send you my screenname!

Hope you have a good dinner!! I’m not going anywhere, but I might’-

The sound of his door opening made Roxas jump and whirl around to find Hayner barging into his space.

“Hey, me and a few guys are going out tonight, gonna check out that new bar, Heartless Headquarters? You wanna come with?” He raised an eyebrow expectantly at Roxas, fiddling with a keychain hanging off of the lampshade on the bedside table. Roxas tried not to grimace; going out sounded like the LEAST fun thing he could think of right at that moment.

“Nah, I’m kinda in the middle of something, but you guys have fun,” Roxas hummed, forcing a smile, but it fell away sharply when Hayner flashed him a chagrined look.

“Ah, that’s cool, but… could you give me a ride out there, then? I kinda already told the guys we were on our way,” Hayner chuckled, flashing a winning smile; it immediately made Roxas’s mood take a nosedive.

“I really am kinda in the middle of this-“ he started, but was cut off as Hayner let out a huge huff, flicking the keychain charm hard enough that the lampshade rattled against the base.

“I mean, would you rather I just borrow the car?” Hayner asked, offhandedly but with a heavily sarcastic tone. “I didn’t wanna drive back drunk, but if that’s the only option, then I guess I can.” Roxas had to bit his lip to keep from pointing out that it was his car and instead sighed heavily; even if he said Hayner couldn’t take his car, he didn’t want his roommate doing something even stupider instead. Fuck, he was getting tired of Hayner’s shit, though.

“Fine,” he grumbled, turning back to his computer with a heavy scowl. “Let me finish this email and then I’ll take you.” He backspaced and then began typing again, doing his best to ignore his roommate’s presence entirely.

’Hope you have a good dinner!! I’m about to have to give someone a ride real quick anyways, but I’ll be right back!! I don’t wanna stop talking either 🤭 I’-

“Email? Are you doing an assignment or something?” Fuck! Roxas jumped; Hayner was now right behind him, looking over his shoulder at the screen. Roxas’s fingers flew over the keys, adding a hasty ‘I’ll return soon!’ before signing it and sending it off. When he rounded on Hayner, his roommate was standing there with a self-satisfied smirk and arms crossed. “Who was tha~at?” he simpered, batting his eyes at Roxas mockingly. The shorter blond bristled, pushing away from his desk and getting to his feet.

“No one, lay off,” he growled, which made Hayner laugh and pushed at Roxas’s already fraying patience.

“Dude, why don’t you just get the Kinger app like every other single person does. Then maybe your love life wouldn’t be so Begging-Online-Prince-like.” Hayner snickered, and Roxas’s fury spiked.

“Seriously, fuck off. I’m just talking to a friend, not trying to hook up with someone.” The subtle meanness of Hayner’s words, unintentional or not, rubbed him the wrong way and made it so he didn’t know how to respond properly. “Besides, I don’t wanna just hook up with some random person!”

“Might do you some good,” Hayner hummed, turning and walking out the door ahead of him as Roxas began to follow. “All you do is school and sitting around in front of your computer. Maybe you need to add a little spice to your life.” Roxas rolled his eyes; what did Hayner know?? Roxas probably spent more time thinking about and writing smutty fanfics than Hayner had ever spent hooking up with- wait.

“Is that what you’re doing?” he asked the back of Hayner’s head as he tailed his roommate to the front door, scooping his keys up off the table where he’d left them as they walked past. “Going out to try to find someone willing to sleep with you?” Hayner half-turned his head to throw Roxas a too-knowing look while he tugged open the front door.

“Uh, yeah?” he scoffed, walking out and leaving it for Roxas to close behind them. “That’s why I’m only asking for a ride there. Don’t wait up for me.” Hayner puffed out his chest as he sauntered around to the passenger side of the car; Roxas couldn’t help his involuntary lip curl. Gross. Who the fuck had Hayner become in the past few months hanging out with those jerks from campus? As if Roxas needed more of a reason not to go out with them.

“Definitely won’t be,” Roxas grumbled as he slid into the driver’s seat and started it up. Hayner shrugged as he got in and then turned his stupid smirk away as he stared out the window.

They didn’t talk the entire way there after that. By the time he pulled up in front of the bar, he was absolutely fuming, feeling like more of a chauffeur than a friend, which was made worse when, rather than saying a proper goodbye, Hayner simply patted the roof of the car after he got out before slamming the door shut behind him. Roxas ground his teeth together, pulling away from the curb but only making it to the end of the street before slamming a palm against the wheel in frustration. Now he had to turn around and drive the twenty minutes back to their home, alone and apparently completely friend-less, with nothing to show for it besides probably missing out on the chance to continue talking to FlurryOfDancingFlames, unless they’d decided to stay up waiting for him, which was probably unlikely with how long this was gonna take. Ugh, he was so pissed! Lights from a gas station to his right caught his attention, and Roxas veered sharply into the parking lot, deciding impulsively to grab a snack for the drive home and give himself a chance to check his email from there. If FlurryOfDancingFlames had responded, Roxas could at least tell them it was gonna take a little bit longer than expected.

After parking, he pulled the keys from the ignition and dropped them into his lap while he opened up his emails and checked to see if there was anything new, which there was, but… It gave him a new problem to deal with.

’ooh, I’ve got HeartLink! I’m RedAndSpicy on there - send me a message whenever and I’ll respond to all the rest there!’

A thrill of excitement buzzed through him, tempered with impatience; even though he’d suggested it, he hadn’t actually used his own HeartLink account in a few years, and needed to redownload the app. He found it and started the process, then pushed open his car door and headed inside while it was running.

The door dinged, and Roxas stepped into the cool air and soft hum of fluorescent lights, nodding to the bored-looking cashier who greeted him. It was quiet, and Roxas beelined towards the refrigerator area in the back, knowing exactly why he was looking for. The low case where they kept the ice cream was easy enough to find, as were the teal-wrapped sea-salt ice cream bars he usually sought. He grabbed one and headed towards where the clerk was now exchanging unenthusiastic conversation with an extremely tall figure in a black pullover with the hood up.

“-need today?” the cashier was asking, and the figure tugged a wallet out of a pocket while shaking their head.

“The forties are enough for me, thanks,” they chuckled in a smooth baritone, paying for their goods while the cashier bagged them, then the two exchanged farewells and the goods and Roxas stepped forward to take the newly-vacated space in front of the register.

“Just this,” he preemptively stated, handing over the frozen treat, and the cashier hummed dispassionately in acknowledgment as he took it and rang it up. Roxas already had a few bills in hand, already expecting the usual price, and handed them over before needing to be asked.

“Actually, you’re short a quarter, my dude,” the guy informed him blandly, thumbing over the bills. “Boss raised the prices on all the frozen stuff a few weeks ago - there was a sign on the side of the case.” Roxas frowned to himself; he hadn’t even looked in his hurry. He dug in his pockets, hoping to find someone to change so he didn’t have to break the twenty he had - which was all he had - when a black-clad arm reached over from his side and dropped a few coins onto the counter.

“I got it,” the customer from before was back, edging Roxas out of his place at the counter as he caught the attendant’s attention. “Hey, I forgot to ask, I also need to grab a pack of-“

Roxas moved aside as the pair began another transaction, grateful enough for the quick assistance to avoid being irritated by the dismissal, and unwrapped his treat as he headed back to his car. He got in and began nibbling at the end of it while he took out his phone and opened the now-finished download. HeartLink forced him to confirm his login attempt, it had been so long, and then he had to click through a bunch of agreements and notifications, but finally he was in. He took a second to update his profile and name to reflect the time that had passed, deciding to change his handle to TheLuckyStick just like on FictionForum so it would be abundantly clear who he was, and then finally looked up the account FlurryOfDancingFlames had provided.

TheLuckyStick: hey! sorry for the delay, i won’t be back home for another like 20 mins, but I wanted to go ahead and make sure I found you before you had to go for the night 🤗

Feeling satisfied he’d at least done all he could, Roxas locked his phone and started up his car.

Chapter Text

Axel knew as soon as he’d gotten the first message on HeartLink; he’d set his notification volume for the app to high as soon as he’d re-downloaded it. He was a bit nervous; had been since he’d seen TheLuck- Roxas, that was his actual name - use Axel’s actual name right back at him unexpectedly. He knew there was a good chance that Roxas would know who Lea’s actor was - that’s why Axel hadn’t been signing his emails with his name, after all - but since he’d used ‘Lea’ or ‘Lea’s actor’ previously, Axel had been lulled into a false sense of security that Roxas hadn’t made the connection. Still, he probably didn’t know that FlurryOfDancingFlames was Axel himself, which was good; Axel wanted them to be something closer to friends before he gave away that detail. It was so much harder to make genuine friends when they were fans, because they didn’t treat him the same as they would any other stranger, and it made it nearly impossible to determine what they were like when they weren’t trying to be impressive. And talking to Roxas was like a breath of fresh air.

He checked the new alert while he was still in the parking lot of the gas station he’d stopped at after picking up his takeout, and there he was, going by TheLuckyStick like he did on FictionForum.

TheLuckyStick: hey! sorry for the delay, i won’t be back home for another like 20 mins, but I wanted to go ahead and make sure I found you before you had to go for the night 🤗

Axel smiled to himself, typing out a quick reply before he even started up his car.

RedAndSpicy: hey! It’s no worries, I’ll be around for a while. Besides, it gave me time to stop for a drink. 🤭 drive safe! I’ll reply to the rest of your email in just a few minutes, hopefully it’ll all be here waiting for you by the time you get back

Feeling good about not needing to rush to get back, Axel lit up one of his newly-purchased cigarettes and then rolled the window down before starting up the car and pulling out of his spot. The drive back took no time at all - he’d stopped at the convenience store at the end of his street on his way back, right at the edge of the heart of the city - so he pulled back up his HeartLink while he sat in his car to finish his smoke.

RedAndSpicy: I’d like to first say: OMFG youre Roxas?? Like fr? Please, please, please tell me; do you look like how you described him??? I have SUCH a strong mental image for him after reading your beautifully descriptive works, I kinda wanna know how right/wrong I am 😮👀
RedAndSpicy: I can’t - and more importantly, wont - tell you about the next episode bc I really don’t wanna spoil it for you, but all I will say is that you’re probably either gonna LOVE it, or be super pissed 😅
RedAndSpicy: but yeah, Axel’s a total nerd. He’s not usually an asshole, if that makes you feel better. Maybe a bit self-centered at times, but he’s got a good heart, deep down lol
RedAndSpicy: let me know when you get back, I’m gonna eat rq, but I’ll hear the ping!

Axel pushed open his car door and pocketed his device, dropping the cigarette butt on the ground and stamping it out as he exited the vehicle, then scooped up his takeout and booze before heading upstairs. It only took him a few minutes of unloading and getting what he needed before he was lounging on his couch, hoodie still on and the container of shrimp fried rice sitting across his knees as he cracked open one of his forties. Perfect. Well… soon to be perfect. He glanced over at his still-dark phone to confirm he hadn’t missed anything, then flipped on the TV before settling back and starting in on his dinner.

He’d finished his first beer and enough of his meal to be considering changing into some sweatpants when his phone let off a loud ping, and then two more before Axel could relocate the takeout to his coffee table and open up the app.

TheLuckyStick: I’m back!
TheLuckyStick: and OMG 😆
TheLuckyStick: yeah basically my Roxas = just me 😅😳
RedAndSpicy: 👀👀👀
RedAndSpicy: my mind is absolutely blown rn
RedAndSpicy: also welcome back lol
TheLuckyStick: hiiii hahaha
TheLuckyStick: okay I WANNA ask you a million things about the new episode, but since I cant…
TheLuckyStick: I literally can’t believe you about Axel being a nerd. My brain literally will not accept that as the same gorgeous god among men im watching on screen
TheLuckyStick: are you just saying that bc he reads fics - my fics?? Or is there more?? 👀

Axel smirked, not even hesitating to out himself on his dorkiness. Sure, it was a closely guarded secret to the public, but talking to Roxas didn’t feel like that; for whatever reason, Axel didn’t feel like the messages between them were gonna end up on some forum or tabloid. And it made it much easier to share the more private side of himself - especially when he wasn’t even telling on ‘himself.’

RedAndSpicy: oh my gosh, there’s so much more
RedAndSpicy: do you know that game, First Fairytale? He’s absolutely obsessed. you probably won’t see it in photos, but he has a tattoo of one of the little chicken spawns. When people ask him about it, he says it’s a chicken for cooking bc of charred, but i know the truth 😂

And Roxas didn’t make him feel judged, not even despite the fact that they were supposed to be talking about someone else. That was refreshing, too.

TheLuckyStick: OMG NO WAY??!?
TheLuckyStick: [ image sent! ]

Axel blinked in surprise as the picture loaded; it was a small plushie of the same rotund chicken character, nearly a ball but with the same distinctive marking as Axel’s tattoo, laying on an unmade bed near the pillows. Of course, Axel didn’t stop his inspection with the plushie - the shelf half-visible at the top of the frame was a treasure-trove of information in itself.

RedAndSpicy: okay, the Cluckers plushie is absolutely amazing, but IS THAT THE LIMITED PRINT MANGA OF ‘I was isekaied into the body of a turtle and now the whole kingdom wants to marry me’??!?!? WHAT THE HELL IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT FOR AGES
RedAndSpicy: how did you get it??? There are only like, 50 copies in print????

Then, belatedly, Axel remembered to correct himself:

RedAndSpicy: He may be a big gamer but i am super into obscure but amazing reading 😌😂

Roxas seemed to accept the lapse without pause; god, it was just so easy to talk to the guy. Well - Axel assumed they were a guy, if they were supposed to be the same ‘Roxas’ that he’d written into his stories.

TheLuckyStick: YOU KNOW TURDOM???OMG NO ONE EVER DOES!!!!
TheLuckyStick: yeah my brother went to a convention right after the first print and bought me a set because I’d been obsessing over it since the creator started posting it online!! Can you believe they wrote AND drew the whole thing?? 🤯
RedAndSpicy: I can’t believe you’re a Turdite too haha omg ok who do you ship Turtle-kun with?? (I know you ship him with SOMEONE you can’t read those and NOT roflll)
TheLuckyStick: okay, the whole arc with the turtle only being willing to be carried around by the White Knight Derek? And sleeping in the little bed Derek made??? He should have stayed with him after he began transforming into a human omfg I wish it was still being written so I could hope they’d end up official
TheLuckyStick: but alas
TheLuckyStick: it was not to be 😔
RedAndSpicy: okay so many things
RedAndSpicy: your brother sounds cool as hell to know you well enough to grab you a GEM like that
RedAndSpicy: also, turtle-kun belonged to King Aquaeous what do you even mean Derek the king treasured his little turtle boyfriend ❤️🥰❤️
RedAndSpicy: the creator is so talented though I switched ships so many times during the story. One of my OTHER favorite writers 😉
RedAndSpicy: and I’m sorry to keep going back to it but is that a derek standee next to them holy shit
RedAndSpicy: I need you to connect me to your merch plug. Stat.
TheLuckyStick: LOL no it was a lucky Artsy find!! You can get some of the BEST fan made merch from there I stg, if you want the artist link I’ll look through my stuff to see if I can find their card!
RedAndSpicy: PLEASEEEEE

And so the banter between them continued, flowing easily and so rapidly that sometimes it felt like they were holding three or four separate conversations simultaneously. They discovered they shared a clear taste in manga styles after the third or fourth one they’d brought up happened to be one of the others’ favorites as well. Occasionally, Roxas would ask another question about ‘Axel,’ the actor, but after a while they were just talking about themselves; their likes and dislikes, favorite fandoms and characters, what they liked to do in their spare time. He found out that Roxas mostly wrote - which wasn’t a surprise, considering the number of fics he pumped out - but also that he was attending university classes and had a shitty roommate. Axel told him about feeling lonely despite always seeming to be around people, but was careful to keep it vague enough not to clue in his new friend that he and ‘Lea’s actor’ were one and the same. It was almost four in the morning when the pace of their conversation began to slow as Axel started nodding off against the back of the couch. That was when Axel took a risk he probably wouldn’t have if he’d been thinking clearly.

RedAndSpicy: you know, I still wonder how close my imagined Roxas is to the real thing 👀😏

He shouldn’t have asked; they’d only really been talking for a day, and what would he do if Roxas asked for one back?? But perhaps due to the late hour and not thinking clearly himself, Roxas gave Axel his answer without a second’s pause.

TheLuckyStick: it’s really pretty much exactly how i described… the pic doesn’t show it, but I’m like, 5’8”
TheLuckyStick: [ image sent! ]

Axel’s eyes bulged and then his hands flew across his phone keyboard, all but button-smashing in his haste to demand answers with every single word.

RedAndSpicy: WHAT THE FUCK, VENTUS??????