Joe smiled, and he tried to hide the fond roll of his eyes. Roxas and Xion always managed to make the ice cream thing sound so very important, the most important part of the day spent together.

He'd fallen into the ritual, and liked bragging about the flavors they made with the machine, but it meant something deeper, something magical, something that happened in that year before he was ever a part of their friendship.

"Sort of sounds like he's like Axel to Teito, right?" Joe added offhandedly, as if it needed any further underlining of resemblances.