I love how when I go out for a vacation in the country, the middle-of-nowhere Vermont, I write something like this. Discounting the AN and title, this one-shot word count crawled up to over 7,300 as I wrote this over the course of about two days and rewatched Escaflowne and listened to obscure music on my mp3 player while I did so. Mainly T.M.Revolution.
Sub Dio
The sun never sets in this city. This city under the open sky.
On the contrary, it sinks like a slug over the horizon, leaving behind a brief smear of color across the gray, tiresome sky before finally allowing all of the light to appropriately die out and be cleared away. But a sunset? No, this city has never and certainly will never witness one of nature's wonders. Nature is dead here.
Not that it's not lively. Of course not. It's almost festering with cold life. People, like bugs, swell in number by the day, filling the street and polluting the atmosphere. There is an aura of dirtied distrust constantly surrounding the jagged teeth of this metropolis's dull sky-scratchers while the haze of dusty yellow disillusionment and selfishness never lifts. And always, every other tiny nook and cranny that hasn't been filled with humanity's residue has residents of disease and filth wallowing there and taking up space.
You grow to live in this city so long that the city eventually lives in you.
You become one of the faceless, the mass of the populace. Egotistical and absorbed, the idea of securing your own lot in life is the only occupation for your mind. Brainless robots, really. What more could the higher-ups ask for?
Hell must be better than this. At least in the lower levels of the Inferno, you get a chance to live a life of agony and regret. Here, this city has been dealt a lethal dose of Novocain and its spirit is going through the final struggle of living without the actual struggle. You can already see that this place is crumbling and dying. Silently, painlessly, and effectively, like a poor animal whose spinal cord was ruptured. Death is a well-oiled machine. We couldn't bear to let it rust, after all.
Monotony is the spice of life here.
People wake up, get their coffee-fix, walk to work, earn their appropriate work-hours, and then go home. Rinse and repeat, do not pass go if necessary. Even the walk to your respected slaving area lost its appeal. No one looks up in the street. Why look around? Taking in a better look at this heap of nothing is only a waste of your time. You bump into someone, no one will apologize. If fifty people see a sorry sap get thrown half-way down the street thanks to the impact of a speeding truck, he'll be lucky if anyone even considers calling an ambulance. Most will expect him to do it himself, anyway.
Keep your head down and your mouth shut and you'll just get to work quicker than if you indulged in meeting another one's gaze. The rest of the crowd is merely an obstacle, a slow, hulking mass of tiresome life, gasping wordlessly for breath. Our city works that way.
You're an individual, right? You're unique, you're special? Right. Shut up and get back to work.
There's no place for your kind here; we don't need nay-sayers or individualists. We just need ourselves and this city to keep on eating away at us. That is our purpose.
Or, at least, that's what they like us to think. That's what I thought. I look down at my shoes as I walk, just like everyone else. There's no pre-set destination, no particular place I want to go. Just walking. Just not for the fresh air. For business. You'll see.
I knew this particular sidewalk like the back of my hand, even without looking up. There was the jagged crack in the cement; I was just passing by the local coffee shop. Another few steps and a skip across the street will get you to the flower shop, the post-office, and the travel agency for those crazy ones who just have to get away. No matter. They always come back, anyway. Those sorry bastards.
It was meant to be like any other day. Just a stroll down the dreary boulevard to stretch my legs and take a break from absorbing the television like a sponge.
But soon enough, a new little obstacle came walking my way right in-between 4th and 5th Street and directly in front of Cid's TV and VCR Rentals, judging by the loud commercials ringing in my ears from the working sets on display, as well as the familiar little pothole that I had tripped over more than once. A man approached who must have really been having a bad day. Our shoulders slammed together and in any other case, it would've been that and we would have walked our separate ways.
But I was surprised to find that the taller man's hand had darted out briefly to wrap around my wrist, either to keep me from falling or to keep his own balance, but he just as soon let go. That was contact. A sensation that few of us indulge in anymore. Startled, I could barely control myself, but my eyes lifted up of their own accord to meet a pair of blazing green ones, staring at me past a slick mane of red hair. It was a blast of color, blazing at me past the lifeless crowd still swirling around us.
What a freak, I automatically told myself. Of course he was. What was the idiot thinking, touching me and looking at me like that?
Finally, after a few more seconds, the suit-clad man straightened and shrugged, continuing to stare at me expectedly.
"What?" I frowned, holding my arm closer to myself in case he wanted to touch me again. The strange look in his eyes carried an emotion I couldn't exactly identify.
The red-head almost smiled before merely letting out a snort and turning away with a shake of his head. "Whatever, kid. Sorry."
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry."
And that was it. With a last glance in my direction, the taller man who seemed to be just a tad older than I turned on his heel and resumed his stroll. I didn't move from my own spot a moment, watching him stride away. There was something interesting about him.
He didn't keep his head down as he walked.
Much later, as I returned home to my quiet and reasonably tiny apartment, I tugged out the object that had been sitting on my brain for most of the evening as I had been trudging through the swamp of people.
The man's wallet: the red-head. Out of all the similar items nestled in my wide coat's pockets, his was the one I had been most eager to explore.
After all, that jostle of ours had not been by chance. I told you he was unlucky. He should have been more careful. Pickpockets are wily characters.
But we have to earn our bread somehow, right?
It wasn't anything personal, anyway.
With a click of my tongue, I settled down on my bed, right by the window that opened out to a lovely view of the city, and flicked open the leather wallet. By habit, I immediately tugged out the dollar bills first and chuckled at the results. The man wasn't a poor idiot, at least. Two hundred dollars in twenties. Next, I needed to double-check that I hadn't dug my own grave and picked a CEO or other prominent moron to rob. The last thing I needed was actual authorities or the like on my tail. I liked to be quiet and unknown.
He wasn't a CEO. He was a regular businessman, just as I had hoped. I flicked through his driver's license and work card. Axel Prospero. His name was Axel. Freaky name, freaky hair, and freaky eyes. It fit. I sighed and tossed the wallet into the trash bin after perusing the rest of the man's various pockets. Aside from some gift-cards and a bit of spare change, nothing.
I kept both cards, though. Apparently, he worked at the business building not to far from my own apartment complex. Right on the corner, actually. Axel had probably been walking back to work from his lunch/dinner break when I had bumped into him. I smirked to myself. At least I hadn't cheated him out of a meal.
Still, I couldn't shake the sight of his eyes staring at me. They had been such a bright green, standing out through the dry and dreary passer-bys. It was strange. My first time in ages in making such a firm lock of gazes with another one, and a stranger, no less. It was unlike me, to be sure. I usually just spared them a glance, at most.
As cliché as it may be, I didn't enjoy actually looking at my victims, as necessary as it was for me to remember their faces so I could avoid them at a later time.
Axel. My lips pushed out in a pursed state, I thought back to the moment we had jostled each other. His hand had grabbed my arm, had stopped it just as I had snatched his wallet from his pants-pocket, but had let go at the final moment.
Strange. Had he known? And if so, why had he let go? Surely, he hadn't wanted his wallet stolen? Unless his wallet carried a very-thin time bomb in one of his credit cards, which, even with my heightened paranoia, still sounded unlikely. I scratched the back of my hair thoughtfully before sliding my fingers into the smooth yellow spikes that I took pride in.
This man continued to intrigue me. I would have to tail him later.
Destatum Inc. That was where this Axel Prospero earned his keep. I perched carefully on one of the many small columns around the huge building. Luckily, all of the granite blocks were host to huge stone pots full of dying plants, so I hid myself fairly well.
A safe week had passed and I had finally given in to my curiosity to take a peek at this Axel and make sure he wasn't some double-dealing terrorist who tricked innocent pick-pockets into snatching away his wallet and then falling victim to having his lowly schemes to be pinned on the young hooligans. Hooligans like me, for example. So this is where I was left, sitting on a huge stone block with Axel's wallet, freshly dug out of the trash, now safely pinned down beneath me while I waited for the red-head to show his face.
Thankfully, I had nothing better to do, but it didn't improve my moods much to plant my sorry butt on some cold marble and wait around for an idiot whose pocket I picked and got clean away with his money. However, luck was with me, as it usually was. Not twenty minutes had passed and there he was, Axel Prospero. He wasn't by himself, though. Another man was keeping right in step with him and the two were deep in conversation. The silver-haired stranger was calmer and his face was almost too serious compared to Axel's expressive face and over-emphasized gestures.
I chuckled to myself. It was so sad that I could take in so much of the man's personality just by observing him walking half a block up the street. It was a surprise that the man hadn't been robbed before; he stood out way too much in this city of grey souls.
I scampered behind the stone basin just in time; after a few sharp intakes of breath on my part as I tried to appear as casual as possible, the two businessmen passed by.
"Thank for buying lunch, Riku, seriously. I owe you. Er, again."
"It's been a week, Axel. You think you could've filed a report already for your wallet."
"Ah, c'mon, you know how much trouble that is. Really, for now, it's fine. I'm sure I'll get it back eventually. Maybe I really did just lose it, Kairi seems to be quite convinced about that."
"That's because Kairi knows how trusting you are. You're ridiculous."
Axel laughed and I could see his hand slide into his hair as they walked away. So he hadn't even filed a missing report. That meant that either Axel was as much of a brainless twit as he came off to be, or he was hiding something. I would have really preferred the first possibility; I didn't like clever victims. They often found intricate ways of getting back at me.
Axel and the man named Riku disappeared into the building, leaving me alone with the rest of the granite pillars and the populace passing by on the sidewalk; all of the other businessmen and stay-at-home mothers with their whimpering babes. A pleasant crowd. With a sigh, I allowed my chin to drop to my hand and a leg to dangle off the edge of my seat as I settled in to think.
Not that I had anything in particular to think about. I could either continue to stalk down this Axel and make sure he wasn't plotting anything, or just let it go and hope for the best.
I was usually quite good at decision making, but here, I was torn. There were too many pros and cons to consider. As the minutes passed and the surrounding passer-bys varied, I fell into thought, my vision blurring as my attention was lost on the rest of the world.
To my ultimate surprise, my decision was quickly made for me.
"I thought I'd see you again, kid. Can I have my wallet back now?"
My body immediately froze but I had to force myself to stay in one place. My instinctive flee response was making my feet twitch. I needed to run. If I knew what was better for me, I would run. This man was only going to be trouble.
This was obviously why I continued to sit.
"Don't know what you're talking about." I said slowly, turning my head just to the side. I saw a stray spike of red hair, as well as an elbow. Axel was tall enough to merely fold his arms over the top of the pillar and rest his chin on them.
Axel laughed softly; a sound that was quite different from the sound I had heard before. This was quieter and carried little actual amusement. He was trying to stay gentle; like a man attempting to calm a spooked animal. So he knew I wanted to run. Good. Then he wouldn't be surprised when I actually did so.
"You can drop the act, blondie. Most pick-pockets like you are just the same. Paranoid and twitchy."
"Because you're obviously an expert." I snorted, rolling my eyes and finally turning my whole body to face him. There was a wide smirk on Axel's face as he regarded me over his folded arms. His hair had been pulled into a pony-tail this time, and a thin set of plastic-rim glasses were perched over his nose. It was the piercing glint in his eyes that set my hairs on end, though. So much for keeping calm.
"Hmm." Axel's eyes swept over me before finally returned to my irritated glare, "I really was hoping you'd wander back, though. It's hard to see people like you in a city like this, even if we did meet through a rather unorthodox method."
A realization wriggled its way into my panicking brain. Axel had already known from the get-go that I had snatched his wallet. When he had grabbed my wrist…
"You almost stopped me last week. Why did you let go?" I demanded, keeping my voice low in case of being overheard.
"Blondie, I said I had been hoping you'd drift back, didn't I? I wanted to see you again. Both to get my wallet back and to find out who you are." I had never really witnessed one before, but I still felt that Axel's smile was almost honest, of all things. The situation was getter stranger by the minute and Axel's eyes had frozen me into place. It wasn't my fault that there was just so much green.
In silence, I eventually relented and, for the first time in my life, I returned a stolen good to a victim. Axel took it and, without bothering to open it, slid it back into his pocket. I couldn't help but frown. "Aren't you going to check that everything's inside?"
I had shoved the cards back into their appropriate places, but the money I hadn't returned. Axel shrugged his shoulders without much interest. "I know the money's gone, and you don't need anything else. Credit cards are traceable and you've already used my business card for all its worth."
I blinked. This guy was good. I had to be cautious. Slowly, I crossed my arms across my chest. "Fine. You have your wallet. Are we done, or do you want your money back or something?"
Axel abruptly leaned in and I instantly found myself tilting away from him to avoid his amused stare. I definitely didn't want him invading my personal bubble. "I want your name. Don't you want to take credit as someone who managed to snatch my wallet?"
"Not especially. I prefer to remain anonymous, if you please." There was a set of five chimes somewhere down the street. 5:00 PM. Anxiety curled up around the bottom of my stomach. "I need to get going. Are we even or what?"
As I was pulling away, Axel's deft fingers darted out to clasp around my wrist. He was almost as fast I was. Faster, maybe, considering the previous week's incident. The man's lips stretched out into a sneaky grin. "We're not even until I get your name."
I was already getting impatient, but Axel's stubborn insistence on learning the one thing I wasn't willing to tell him was fraying on my nerves. I attempted to tug away my arm but the red-head held fast. I almost wished that the crowd walking about in the area of front of the building would notice, but, naturally, no one paid us any attention whatsoever. I turned back to the businessman.
"What the hell do you need my name for? You have your wallet, just let me go."
"Ah ah ah…" Axel waggled the index finger of his free hand at me mockingly. "That's hardly fair, blondie. You know my name and where I work. It's a perfectly reasonable exchange of information now that you tell me your name, at least."
"So you can track me down and have me arrested?" I quirked an eyebrow, knowing full well that the innocent appearance was just an act. Right? "That's a bad trick, really. I'm not gullible."
"Just a name, kid, I swear." Axel took a moment to push up his glasses that had already slipped a tad down his nose. I watched the action, taking in the man's thin, slender fingers, not unlike my own, before his next words dragged my gaze right back to his face. "If I track you down, it'll be for my own personal benefit."
So that's what it was. I should've known. The guy was as low as they got around here. My upper lip curled in disgust. "That is so very convincing, Mr. Prospero, but while I'm not yet a part of the middle-class and I resort to stealing from others for a living, I'm not 'for sale,' as it were. You can find a perfectly fine girl…" I paused for a moment, "or guy… downtown, who are more than willing to satisfy your little libido there.
Axel's eyes widened at my words and his mouth opened to reply, but I cut him off abruptly, my ego still bruised a bit. "But if you were planning on blackmailing me with this, I'll assure you now that I'd much rather spend a few days in jail than a single night fulfilling your sick sexual desires in your lovely Prospero estate or what have you. Now let go of me before I punch you in the nose and break your designer glasses."
"Not one for subtlety, I see." Axel muttered, but released my arm anyway. I immediately slid away and hopped down from the granite column, planning on heading up the street and around the block once or twice before heading home to make sure no one followed me.
Then again, it was hard to shake someone off your tail if they start chasing you from two meters away. As soon as I took a step towards the sidewalk, Axel joined me in an instant, tucking his hands into his pockets and falling into step beside me.
"What the hell are you-"
Axel smiled, keeping his gaze straight ahead as he replied in a sing-song voice, "All I want, my stubborn little pick-pocket, is a name. And I'm just as hard-headed as you are, so I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me. Trust me, I can be quite annoying when I wish to be."
"You're a perverted asshole who should burn in hell." I growled back, regretting with all of the fibers in my body now that I had fallen prey to my own paranoia and hunted this man down. I should have let sleeping dogs lie, but, as the other ridiculous sayings go, I had opened up a whole new can of worms.
"Gladly." Axel replied with a grin, "But not until you tell me your name."
"And what are you going to do after you find out my name?" I lowered my head, not wanting to see the man's cheerful face amidst the dull, humdrum crowd around us. His face stood out too much. "What do you need it for?"
"That's really nothing for you to be concerned about. I'm just curious. I want to look back on this happy little moment and not think, 'I remember once upon a time that this cute little blonde decided to steal my wallet and I let him so that I could see him again and find out his name, which I never actually did because he's a stubborn git,' but instead, I can remember this moment instead as 'I remember this cute blonde with the bright blue eyes that stand out in this city like an orange among apples who stole my wallet and I let him to find out later that his name was…'"
Axel held a hopeful pause and I could feel his eyes on me. I flushed slightly from discomfort at the man's lack of restraint or inhibition; the red-head's behavior bordered on the bizarre. Shoving my hands into my jacket pockets to hide the way that my palms had gotten sweaty, I gave in, praying that it would be enough to get the man to leave me alone.
"… Roxas."
"What's that?" Axel peered around my usually flawless shield of bangs over my eyes. "You really must speak up; my hearing has been failing me in my old age."
"It's Roxas." I angrily looked up again to face the man and found that Axel was smiling that damn honest smile again. It sent shakes down my spine. "Just Roxas, alright? Will you leave me alone now?"
"No last name, Roxas?"
"None that I wish I divulge to you, no. You just said my name and that's my name. Roxas."
Axel chuckled, nodding. "Fair enough."
I felt relief loosen my muscles slightly as I picked up my walking speed in hopes that Axel would get the hint, turn around, and leave. A block later, I had to eventually admit to myself that Axel wasn't planning on getting shaken off so easily. He continued to walk just beside me, looking blissfully calm and only irritating me further.
And one could only take this treatment for so long. I snapped as I paused on a red-light. "Is there any way for you to just fuck off? Seriously, what could you possibly want from me at this point?"
"I want you to watch the sunset with me."
I stared. I blinked. And, finally, I rolled my eyes and turned away. "You have got to be kidding me. You do realize how messed up in the head you are, right?"
"Certainly." We started walking again as soon as the green light blinked on. "But I'm really not asking for much. Just five minutes out of your time to sit somewhere with me and watch the sun set."
I thought he knew. I thought everyone knew. It was a common fact.
The sun doesn't set here. Not in this city.
But that was hardly a reasonable excuse.
"It's only 5:00 right now. We still have about two and a half hours to go, and I'm hardly going to go out of my way to meet you somewhere." I scowled at the idea of being caught in some trap. I would never get done in by someone like Axel.
The red-head remained annoyingly cheerful. "So come drink some coffee with me. You probably don't have anything better to do, anyway."
"I don't want to drink coffee with you for two and a half hours." I growled, keeping my eyes straight ahead as we walked, determined not to back down for the man. Where the hell did this guy get his unrelenting spirit?
"Why not? You hardly have a reason not to like or dislike me right now, we hardly know each other." Axel argued softly, "Just humor me, kid."
Obviously, a simple 'no' for an answer was not going to work for this man. I set my shoulders and slowed my walk to make sure Axel heard my every word. "Mr. Prospero, I stole your wallet last week. It was an act of robbery. I wasn't trying to make friends; I was stealing your cash. Why you decided to stop me is still quite beyond my understanding, but in any case, you have your wallet, I have your money. As a bonus, you got to learn my name. There's nothing more for us to do here and if I could have helped it, we wouldn't have even gotten this far in the first place."
I stopped right in front of an alley and Axel did as well, patiently listening. I grit my teeth at how calm the red-head appeared and continued, "What more could you possibly want from me? I'm just this broke pick-pocket and I have nothing else to offer you. What do I need to do for you to leave me alone and let me move on with my life and forget this moronic incident?"
Axel chewed briefly on his lip, looking me over, before speaking. "Well, for one, drop the 'mister' bit and call me Axel. But I won't explain myself until you have coffee with me and because you and I are both quite insistent... you will listen to what I have to say."
I would be damned if I missed that underlying threat in his words. My eyes immediately narrowed. "Or what?"
Axel leered at me. "Or else I make your worst nightmares a living reality."
The danger of a threat was gone. This man hardly even knew what he was talking about. I'd humor him for a few more minutes then leave. "I doubt you can even wrap your mind around half of what my worst nightmares are, Miste-… Axel."
"I warn you." Axel's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose to match. "I can make you suffer a pain beyond your wildest dreams."
I quirked a single eyebrow in retaliation. Simple intimidation methods had no effect on me; I had heard worse. "Try me, tough guy."
Axel sighed woefully and shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
I had been ready to lock my knees together to protect myself from a kick to the groin and my hands were in the best possible position to stave off any simple punches or headlocks. But I hadn't ever practiced any defense tactics for blocking a person from lunging at my face with both hands to crush his lips to mine. My brain couldn't even grasp the strange feeling at first and I could only stare up blankly at the determined green irises above me as Axel's hands moved to support me, one by my neck and the other sliding gently down to my waist.
Something did manage to click when the red-head shifted from a simple kiss to moving his lips against mine softly. His fingers were in my hair and the soft pads of his other hand's fingers were pressing into my hip. And his lips were on mine. Never mind the fact that we were standing in front of an alleyway for all the world to see, a businessman attacking a short blonde with his mouth.
I grunted, punching Axel in the chest as best I could when my body recovered from the initial shock. Axel immediately groaned in pain and backed away, rubbing at his wounded area as I furiously wiped away at my lips and spit his taste out. What had that been?
"Now, I don't know where your lips have been as of late…" Axel said slowly, licking his lips and grinning at my obvious show of revulsion. "But I do hope that was enough of an attack to convince you to come get some coffee. Don't make me do that again, kid."
Before I could choke out a death threat, Axel had already grabbed my hand and dragged me right back out into the open where I couldn't really start a riot. I had no choice but to follow and the vice-like grip that the red-head had around me didn't help. Lucky that there was a café near by.
"You're not even going to pretend to drink it?" Axel smiled around his own coffee cup, watching me from across the table. I merely frowned.
"You said you were going to explain. Terms for a kidnapping, perhaps?"
Axel set his cup down with a snigger, looking quite in his element in the little chic coffee shop. It was vaguely lit with candles and natural sunlight and the jazzy tune playing from the nearby speakers set the mood quite perfectly. With my sweatshirt and worn sneakers, I couldn't have stood out more. It did nothing to lift my spirits. But at least he was paying for the coffee, even if I wasn't drinking it.
The red-head planted his elbow on the table, and his chin on his hand. "Refresh my memory. What do you want to know?"
"Do you often treat people who attempt to rob you like this?" I kept my actions obvious for now so that Axel wouldn't suspect anything. Unable to keep the displeased scowl from my lips, I leaned back in my seat and glared at the man through the light steam rising from my untouched cappuccino.
Axel chuckled. "Only if they have manners like yours."
"And is paying for their coffee one of your regular activities?" I shot back, keeping up my lightning session of interrogation while the man was still willing to answer questions.
"If they're frisky enough, yes."
"After kissing them into submission, too?"
"Ah, that's reserved only for frisky and blonde, blue-eyed pick-pockets." Axel grinned, picking up his coffee leisurely to sip at it again.
"And out of those, how many do you insist on dragging off to watch the sunset?"
Axel abruptly smiled around the rim of his cup, green eyes gleaming. "Only you."
"Hmph." I angrily took a huge gulp of my coffee, grimaced at the bitter taste, then got back to squeezing him for answers. I was getting nowhere at the moment, so I would have to go for a more blunt approach. "And why didn't you stop me before? Why didn't you stop me from taking your wallet?"
"Good question." Axel finished off his own drink and promptly called a waitress over for a refill. After wasting my time even further by making small-talk and leaving the poor girl to skip off flustered and blushing, Axel finally deemed it appropriate to answer. "I didn't stop you because I could tell you were different."
"Different? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Hmm." Axel took a contemplative sip, swirling the dark liquid on his tongue a moment before sighing and planting his cup down once more. "How should I put this? When I grabbed your wrist and wondered if I should possibly break your arm for your trouble, you'll recall that you looked up at me at that moment."
At my annoyed silence, Axel continued, "I could tell then, by the look in your eyes. You're not like the rest of this godforsaken populace. It's hard to meet people like you here."
"You're spouting romantic nonsense now." I rolled my eyes. His answers were getting vaguer with every damn sip of coffee. "Not stopping me because I had a pretty look in my eyes is not a reason to let me take your money, and don't tell me you were trying to make friends."
"Why do you pick-pocket for a living?"
Axel's abrupt question made me pause and the glare fell away from my gaze. "What… what do you mean by that?"
"I mean, why do you go out every day and decide to steal something that's not yours?"
My shoulders twitched in response. "It's a living."
"But why?" Axel grinned knowingly, leaning back in a pleased sort of way as if he had expected my answer. "You're obviously old enough now to be living on your own. If you wanted, you could get your act together and apply for a job somewhere and earn respectable money instead of risking your life everyday to shove your hands down people's pockets. So why keep stealing?"
I couldn't understand how the topic of the conversation had turned around to be about me instead, but it seemed that Axel was possibly getting to the point of his own explanation with this particular line of questioning. I relented, looking away briefly to think. Not a soul had asked me before why I did what I did, but I had asked myself hundreds of times before.
"Because having an ordinary job is something that the rest of the masses do to fall into a rhythm and set themselves a constant schedule. Day in and day out, they do the same goddamn thing, like everyone else. Nothing different, ever. They even get the same type of breakfast everyday, just to keep with the pace of their hum-drum lives. I can't do that. I can't sink into that grey matter of life that seems to be a tradition in this place."
Axel took another gulp of his hot drink, a part of his bangs falling away from his ear to fall over one side of glasses. "And pick-pocketing helps you avoid that?"
"It does." I laughed ruefully, reaching out to swirl a finger absently around the rim of my own, partially full cup. "I wake up whenever I want to, eat what I can. Every day is a little different. I don't tell myself every morning, 'Oh, I hope my paper's already on my desk at work. It was five minutes late yesterday and that totally screwed up my pace of the day.'"
Axel laughed at that, the same kind of laugh that he had let out with Riku. I smiled to myself, unable to keep it off my face. "Instead, I can ask myself, 'I wonder who'll get unlucky today, and will I get enough cash to get me by another day?"
"I see. Well, I've never heard that one before." Axel grinned, tucking his hair back again with a smooth flick of his fingers.
"I want a life of possibilities and questions, not a set fate of determined results." I shrugged.
"And see, now you've answered your own question." Axel beamed at me in triumph. "You're different. You're looking beyond the tiny little picture to see something bigger. And I could see that right away with you. Plus, your pretty blue eyes helped."
I frowned at the man's sudden wink and busied myself with a brief sulk. The man really lacked any lack of control, now that his personality was coming out into the open. "And what makes you different from everyone else?"
"I, my dear Roxas…" Axel finished off his coffee with a flourish. "Am the man who kisses frisky blonde pick-pockets into submission to having coffee with me. I think that makes me special enough."
I would have snorted my coffee if I had actually been drinking it. "Oh, that's catchy."
There was a distant toll of bells and the two of us froze for a moment, as did the rest of the café. The city had taken to tolling bells every half-hour over the past few years. It made the idea of keeping to a set schedule so much easier. It was 6:30. I couldn't help but twitch at the six long tolls and the brief short one afterwards. Had the time gone by so quickly already?
Axel was already standing, dropping a twenty onto the table then proceeding to extend a polite hand to me. I sighed and completely ignored the bold maneuver, rising from my seat myself and tucking my hands into my sweatshirt pocket. "So? Just about an hour to go until your little sunset. Should we go?"
The taller man pulled back his hand without any emotion, sliding his chair back beneath the table and leading the way out. "Sure, blondie."
"Roxas. If you're going to insist on learning my name, then you should at least use it." I muttered, shifting to walk behind him so that we could make it out of the doorway. As soon as we had emerged from the shop, it was like returning back to the grim reality that we were so used to. People were still crowding the street and sidewalks, marching along, as usual. I craned my neck upward to take in the sky, but it was still the same steely blue it always was. Not a cloud to add freckles to its face.
Axel was already on the move, his back to me. He didn't even bother to look back to check if I was following. The man was giving me a chance to run. Either that or he was really as clueless as I had suspected. But as I watched Axel make his way down the street, I witnessed a sight truly to behold. The man didn't walk, but strut, and as he maneuvered through the crowd, he smiled at those that wouldn't spare him even a second's glance. He carefully side-stepped the particularly ignorant and self-absorbed ones, never missing a beat.
Out of all the dulled bodies, Axel seemed to shine.
Without even thinking, I jogged after him to follow.
"Is this your rooftop?"
"It's the roof of my apartment, yeah."
"You would get the best damn view of the horizon from your apartment. Ass."
Axel chuckled to himself, tucking an arm behind his head as he glanced over at me. "Hey, now, that's uncalled for."
I smirked to myself. We were settled on a set of lawn chairs on the roof of Axel's apartments. Definitely not as classy as I would have expected, but comfortable nonetheless. A swimming pool was settled tranquilly behind us and the city's horizon was stretched out before us. Already, the sun was approaching the distant edge of the world and leaving behind a lazy orange streak. We were simply waiting now. Another fifteen minutes or so and we would witness the city's infamous slug-show.
"When's the last time you watched the sunset?" I asked on a whim, not taking my eyes away from the view before us. I could hear a low hum from Axel and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him cross his legs lazily.
"I haven't in ages, actually. Too dreary, since I watch it alone most of the time." Axel finally sighed and I could hear by his rustle of clothes that he had turned towards me. "And you, my dear Roxas?"
My mouth was moving before I could process my thoughts and my answer was echoing in my ears before I could even realize what I had said.
"Every day."
Then I was quickly feeling the heat spread over my cheeks, a feeling that I despised. When Axel didn't immediately reply, however, I only found myself more embarrassed. What a thing to admit in front of a stranger, honestly. Eager to change the conversation topic, I slowly extended my hand out towards the sky, palm upward. "But only because I have nothing to do, y'know? I can just see it from my window every evening so I don't mind pausing for a bit… it's nothing."
I watched the few little clouds in the sky slip past my spread fingers above me, waiting for the blush to recede, but as soon as I had safely tucked away my awkwardness, Axel moved. My view of the heavens was quickly blocked and another hand threaded its fingers through mine, trapping them there; Axel's.
"Five minutes to showtime, blondie." I could just see his smile through the dark shadow of his face, a result of the contrast in the sun glow behind him. His hair had a red flame to it that seemed to be the only color around him. I marveled at how he had moved so quickly to kneel above me and poke himself into my personal space. With a soft grunt under my breath, I shook off my initial surprise and shoved him away again, using our clasped hands as an extra leverage to push him back to his own seat.
"Well, I certainly can't see it with you towering over me like that." I sat up with a grumble, but Axel still hadn't released me.
"Then we'll just have to get a better view." Axel replied cheerily, pulling me up as he stood. I squawked briefly in protest, but still managed to stumble up and keep my balance as we moved. With hardly a pause, he dragged me over to the high parapet of the roof, only releasing my hand when I joined him. Already, the sun had gently touched its rim to the line of the horizon and a soft spread of colors was smearing itself over the darkening sky.
"See? It's started. We could've missed it with all your grumblings." Axel nudged my shoulder gently before turning away to watch the day give way to night.
I chuckled once, watching a slow smile spread over the red-head's face. It was such a blissful expression that I couldn't help but stare at him a moment longer, ignoring the sunset before me that I had seen hundreds of times before.
This man… he was smiling at the sunset. This city's sunset. The man who I had met a week ago, had stolen his wallet, and then met again seven days later. The man who had proven to be a completely different person from the rest of the populace.
Because this city is on the brink of death. Its foundations are crumbling around us as we go about our daily lives. The skies are graying and the rainbow here has lost its color completely.
And yet here before me was a sunset to rival those you can find in picture books.
I smiled shortly, looking from Axel's peaceful face back out to the horizon of red, orange, and yellow, splashing its watercolors over the city's buildings and painting over the dreary sky.
It was beautiful. And it was fake.
Because everyone around here knows perfectly well. It's a common, accepted fact.
The sun never sets in this city.
"Aren't you glad now that you stayed here to watch the sunset with me?" Axel nudged me again.
"Yeah. Thanks."
And in the distance, just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, the bells for the time chimed out the 7:30 mark for the rest of the city and the people who still hadn't looked from their feet as they walked the streets, self-absorbed and ignorant.
And Axel and I… we had our sunset.