HI THERE haha

Um.. just a little thing written for 411 day, since I have some crazy sort of art block and..didn't..have the time to finish the art that this had actually been written for for today, because I suck.
And uhh... I'm not a very established writer, just putting that out there right now :D;

Disclaimer: I don't own Marlu or Vexen, as much as I wish that I do, baww

Vexen looked up from the notes he was taking as he heard the faint swishing sound of fabric brushing against the door of the lab. Shifting his gaze to the source, he saw Marluxia standing there, a small smile gracing the botanist's lips.

"What do you want, XI?" he asked, returning his attention to back to the work strewn across the table's surface.

Vexen missed the ghost of a pout as the pink-haired man answered him with, "Come with me, I want to show you something."

"Marluxia, I hardly have the time. All of these reports need to be finished before the end of this evening, not to mention the theories I need to test out…"

"Please? It'll only take a minute, and then you can come back here to finish right after, I promise."

Vexen sighed and looked back at the botanist as he adjusted his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Just think of all the time you're wasting arguing with me when you could've gone and come back by now," he added.

Well, he has a point, the scientist thought. Getting up and placing his glasses next to his pen on the desk he grumbled, "Fine, but you only get five minutes." The other nobody smiled again, grabbing his hand as he started to lead him out of the laboratory and down the hallway.

They rounded the corner towards Marluxia's garden. Vexen had personally only been inside a couple of times himself, considering it a bit of a privilege. As they entered, the scents of many different types of flora hit the blonde all at one time. The garden was as alluring as ever, the blooms and foliage spread out into an array of displays and sections; some were hanging, others creeping up walls and windowsills, as well as those damned flytraps the Chilly Academic swore were going to try to devour him if he so much as looked at them wrong. But nothing seemed any different or amiss.

"Out of curiosity," he began, "what did you need? Everything seems the same as the last time you asked me here." Marluxia only kept that same little smile plastered across his face.

Vexen, flustered by the fact that his question had gone by ignored and unanswered, went to ask a second time before the Graceful Assassin stopped in front of a door that was almost hidden by the ivy and overgrown shrubs surrounding it. XI obviously hadn't had much spare time lately to prune back the plants, something quite unusual for him.

The scientist was shaken out of his thoughts as Marluxia spoke, "well, this is it." When he was faced with that usual stoic expression, he sighed softly and pushed open the now unlocked door.

Vexen's eyes widened at the sight before him. All around were vibrant rows of free growing blossoms of many colors, an artificial lake contoured by stone, all set with lush, green grass. How the assassin had gotten something as astonishing as this to grow within the walls of Castle Oblivion was beyond him.

Marluxia stared fondly at the private little garden ahead of them. "Do you like it?" The blonde nodded as his eyes kept darting about the large room as he took in all the sights and sounds assaulting his senses.

"This way," the younger motioned, as he led the other over to one particular spot, obviously set aside purposefully as an area maybe to sit and think, or to converse. With whom, Vexen hadn't any idea.

As the pair sat on the patch of grass lined with mixes of colorful flowers, the pink-haired nobody began to speak again. "All of these flowers, they all have meanings, you know?" They weren't just selecting because I thought they looked nice together." Number IV watched as he picked and placed a red rose into his hair behind his ear. "Do you know what any of their meanings are? You're so smart and all…" Vexen assumed he was just trying to push it, but he answered anyways.

"The roses, they are for love, right?" He glanced down at Marluxia's hand as he ran it over a row of carnations. "I don't know about the others."

"'My heart aches for you'…that is what a carnation of this color stands for," the botanist said, then touching the bud of a tulip waiting for its turn to bloom. "For the 'declaration of love.'" IV eyed Marluxia as he shifted his gaze towards a small tree peppered with yellow camellia flowers hidden amongst lilacs. "'Longing' and 'the first emotion of love,' in that order." He continued on for quite some time, carefully pointing out every different plant and what it stood for.

Vexen interrupted the other in his speech. "What exactly did you need me for? You didn't answer me before." He couldn't help but notice that at some point, Marluxia had moved closer to him.

Marluxia reached behind himself, picking a forget-me-not from the small cluster and cradling it in his bare palm. He then reached up, brushing tresses of long, blonde hair behind Vexen's ear, some pieces still freeing themselves and falling into his face.

He felt his face heat up as Marluxia placed the small flower in his hair. "Do you know what forget-me-nots are for?" he asked softly, and Vexen could feel his warm breath against his own lips. Just how close had they gotten?

"To…remember?" he guessed, trying to conceal the stammer trying to take over his voice as XI placed a hand against his cheek gently. "Yes, but they also mean something else." "And that is?" "The same as red roses; true love," he answered, before closing the distance between himself and the academic with a soft kiss.

Vexen assumed he wouldn't actually get his work done for his deadline after all. But he'd forgotten what he'd needed to do that was so much more important than this, and suddenly realized that he'd indirectly gotten the answer to what he was needed for.