Axel

Vanilla

Axel parked the car near the back of the lot, which led me to believe that maybe he didn't want this to be over either. I sighed as he shut the engine off, leaving us in silence. It hung over us like a blanket, a warm blanket.

I looked over at him only to find him staring right back at me, a small smile dancing across his pink lips. "We should go before you're late."

"Yeah." I agreed quietly, not wanting to look away.

Reluctantly I did, wrapping my hand around my purse as I opened the car door and slipped out into the cool air. Axel repeated my every move, matching down to my steps. I closed the door behind me and as I started walking, I felt it.

My stomach began to twist in pain, leaving me breathless. I stopped walking as I felt my head start to go fuzzy. Just as my legs started to give out, I willed myself to call his name.

"Axel-"

Then I fell, my purse first, then my legs, then my arms, and finally, the rest of my body sunk to the ground like an anchor weighing down a ship.

Instead of the world going black, everything was highlighted, but I couldn't move. It was like I was paralyzed. I saw Axel's face hovering over me, he was lifting me off the ground, his arms wrapping around my weak frame in a matter of seconds. I knew this wouldn't last long, the paralysis would disappear momentarily, but until then I just had to wait and watch Axel panic.

That made me more sick then this stupid disease.

His hair blew wildly in the wind as he ran back in the direction of his car, and then I felt my limbs starting to tingle. I could move them again. It took a minute for my words to form, but I hurried them to let him know I was okay.

"Axel," I reached my hand up slowly, "I'm okay, I'm okay." I assured him, my fingers touching his cheek lightly. His features were worried, his eyes wide with fear.

"What happened?" He laid me down in the passenger seat of his car. His hands never leaving me.

"It's a disease, it's called Gamstorp." I looked at him, watching as his eyes switched from fear to confusion.

"What is it? I feel stupid for asking, but I've never-" I interrupted him.

"Don't feel stupid, most people have never heard of it. It's rare. It's an inherited disease, my mom had it. Some people that have the gene never devolve symptoms, I was just one of the unlucky ones."

"And what exactly does it do?" He stood up and signaled for me to wait, closing the door as he did so.

He went around to the other side of the car and opened his door, sliding his body inside the confines of my current warmth. Closing the door behind him, he turned the car on and started the heater. Finally landing his attention back on me, his eyes waiting for an answer.

"In my case, it's not as bad as it could be. I just have episodes randomly, my muscles cramp up really bad and I'm temporarily paralyzed. It goes away, it just takes a minute. They usually come and go every month or two, that's the first one I've had in about 7 weeks. I have mild myotonia-" I paused once I saw that he didn't understand. "It means that some of your muscles can become rigid and hard to move, it's extremely painful. Sometimes I don't feel anything, other times it's excruciating."

I let him take it all in, his eyebrows furrowing. "Okay.." he started slowly. "You're okay now? I mean, you don't feel any more pain?" The worry lacing his tone made me feel so grateful towards him.

"My body still hurts, but it's not as bad. My limbs will be sore for the rest of the day and probably tomorrow as well. It's harder to move, but I'll survive." I licked my lips, adjusting my body to a more comfortable position.

"You're not working today." He spoke matter-of-factly, putting his seatbelt on as he started to drive.

"Axel, I can work today. I'll just have to be more careful, really, I'm fine." I went to put my belt on as well and when I moaned in pain he stared at me with a mix of emotions. I lowered my arm back down to its resting place, trying not to nudge it anymore.

"I should not like the noise that just came out of your mouth." His voice was hoarse as he spoke.

I was about to speak, then I realized I probably shouldn't. I didn't want to dig myself into a deeper hole.

There was a moment of silence before he said, "we're getting ice cream."

******
"You mean to tell me you've never tried chocolate ice cream?" I stared at Axel in shock as we looked at the selection of ice cream in front of us. I decided on my usual play dough flavor.

"Nope, I'm more of a vanilla guy." He looked at me and winked, although I'm sure he didn't mean that. Something tells me that the man standing in front of me is anything but vanilla.

"You need to try it," I begged him with puppy dog eyes as the man behind the counter scooped my frozen treat into a chocolate dipped waffle cone. He looked at me, his hand reaching over the counter to hand me my ice cream.

"Can I get you anything else?" He smirked, licking his lips.

"She's fine." Axel cut in, his tone biting the air. His eyes held a hint of warning in them, letting the guy behind the counter know that he needed to back off.

"Axel, he's just being friendly, it's okay." I interrupted, my hand squeezing his bicep.

"That's not a friendly smile Ares, he wants to fuck you." He growled back at me, staring the man behind the station down. He was suddenly cowering behind Axel's glare.

I froze at his sudden bluntness, the words Ares and fuck you in the same sentence coming from him made my mouth run dry.

"But we both know he's not the one I want." I looked up to meet his eyes, my ice cream dripping on my hand. Keeping eye contact with him I bent down and licked the remaining sweetness off of my skin.

"I'll take a double scoop vanilla ice cream, no chocolate on the cone." He kept his eyes glued on me.