THE FIRST TIME

Axel kicked the door open to the Rogues shared apartment and stormed into the main room with an especially heavy footstep and a poisonous scowl across his bruised and cut face. To say that he'd had a pretty shitty day would be the understatement of the mother-fucking century. Once again all of his misfortune could be attributed to the meddling Scarlet Speedster that seemed to hound each and every little thing Axel and the rest of the Rogues got up to. The Flash's constant interference made sure that silly little things that used to be easy - robbing an armored van in this case - were now a total nightmare.

Sure Axel had given it back as good as he'd got it, - The horrifying crack that had echoed when he'd slammed the metal bar into the Flash's face almost made the aching pain wracking every inch of his body bearable - but it never changed the fact that Axel had managed to escape the scene of his botched heist with absolutely nothing but a crick in his neck, a loose tooth and what Axel was sure were 2 broken ribs. Normally on days like this Axel would have been tempted to say that things couldn't possibly get any worse, but if time had taught him anything it's that fate was indeed a cruel mistress and the young male didn't want to risk it fucking him over any harder than it already had today.

Squeezing his eyes shut and letting out the tiniest little moan of pain, Axel shrugged himself out of his heavy leather coat and let it fall to the floor of Lenny's apartment with a thump before he began trudging forward towards his room, feeling pretty damn sorry for himself as he forced himself forward through the living room and into the hallway that lead to each of the Rogues individual rooms. However, just as Axel was about to slink off into his room the males eyes widened when he felt someone clamp their hand around his wrist and pull him back towards the living room. Axel let out a cry of protest before his sounds were completely muffled as he was pulled into a warm embrace by Mark. Looking down towards his boyfriend with an infectious grin on his face, Mark continued to squeeze the smaller male in his iron-like grip showing no signs of letting go any time soon.

"Just seen you on the news babe! Does this mean i'm dating a celebrity now?" Mark teased and tightened his grip on Axel playfully, allowing the smaller male no room whatsoever to struggle in his grasp. Still wrapped up in the taller males arms, Axel sighed contently and continued to press his face into Marks chest as he felt his tired body begin to relax in the older males arms. The pain in his side would have to wait, Axel sure as hell wasn't breaking this hug apart for anything in the world.

THE SECOND TIME

Axel silently maneuvered himself from behind the couch and somehow managed to make it across the living room without a sound, skittering silently across Lenny's laminate flooring and on into the open-plan kitchen with as much grace as the short male could actually manage given the urgency of the situation. Who knew a game of hide-and-seek in the dark could be so damn terrifying? Axel felt like he was trapped in some horrific 70's slasher film just waiting for a 6 foot something creep in a mask and boiler suit to jump out of a cupboard and slice him to ribbons with a rusty blade or some twisted shit like that. Even thinking about it made Axel's chest feel tight, his breathing restricted and heart beating faster and faster as the thoughts insidious invaded his mind and ran rampant inside his head. This was like hiding from Professor Pyg all over again.

While his over-active imagination made planning his infamous pranks all the more interesting it was a double-edged sword in the sense that it also meant he was one for getting caught up in the moment in a pretty extreme way. This was one of those moments. Crouching down behind the counter in the dead center of the kitchen, Axel tried his best to steady his breathing before it got him caught although even he could tell he was failing miserably at it, you'd think he'd just run a marathon or something. While Axel continued his terrible attempts to try and steady his nerves, apparently the young male had failed to hear the kitchen cupboard behind him slipping open and a shadowy figure carefully stepping out into the kitchen.

Across the room, The Trickster almost felt his heart stop completely as he caught sight of a slender figure in the living room also slinking around without a sound. For the briefest moment Axel genuinely felt like he was going to faint before he noticed that the figure across the room was none other than Lisa, currently peeking up from her hiding place behind the little coffee table and looking over towards Axel in what he was sure was a mixture of both excitement and panic, although the all consuming darkness surrounding them made it hard to see what exactly he was looking at. Lisa seemed to be trying to tell him something, although Axel couldn't exactly be sure what she was trying to say. The brunette seemed to be either pointing over towards Axel or perhaps pointing behind him while nodding wildly. Dear god, Lisa had always been infamously terrible at charades and the darkness surrounding them was doing nothing to help her pathetic attempts right now. But what was she trying to say?

Did she want a drink? No, it couldn't be that. Surely she'd be doing a tilting motion towards her mouth if it were that.

Was she trying to summon him over to her? Hmm, nah. It didn't seem like it anyway.

Was there something behind hi... oh shit! THERE WAS SOMETHING BEHIND HIM!

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Axel let out a shrill sounding scream as from somewhere behind him none other than Mark himself pounced forward out of the darkness like a tiger and tackled his prey to the floor, letting out a vicious sounding roar as he did so. Wrapping the smaller male up in his arms despite the Tricksters attempts to wriggle free from his vice-like grip, Mark roughly kissed Axel on the cheek and then looked back up into the darkness, a wide smile present on his face as he did so.

"GUESS WHO JUST FOUND AXEL EVERYBODY! Guess that means that you're 'It' then babe!" Mark cheered with a victorious sounding laugh, apparently refusing to let the other male free from his inescapable hug even though he'd successfully been caught.

"That it does Mark. You little shit..." Axel muttered in response, too content with Mark being pressed up against him to be all that concerned with much of anything else.

THE THIRD TIME

"You didn't have to do that y'know. I'm more than capable of sticking up for myself babe..." Mark started in a strict sounding tone as he walked along the silent sidewalk, piggy-backing Axel along with him as he carefully made his way back towards Lenny's apartment while making sure not to trip or fall as long as he was carrying the other male. Behind him, Axel made a dismissive sounding grunt and waved his hand from side to side to further emphasize his less-than-interested body language.

"They said that we were a, an i quote, 'couple of faggots' Mark. What do you want me to do in situations like that? Just sit back, do nothing and let them move on to harass someone else? Not fucking happening Cloudy, Not fucking happening..." Axel finished with a disgruntled sounding puff as he let his head flop forward to rest on Mark's shoulder. In front of him, Mark couldn't help but laugh at Axel's little nickname for him. It never failed to impress Mark how Axel could be bone-chillingly psychotic one minute and then heartwarming adorable the next. Mark wasn't sure he'd call it a talent, but it was certainly interesting.

"Yeah well, they won't be saying much now will they? Still can't believe you managed to rip his tongue out with your bare hands though, that was oddly impressive... and horrifying." Mark replied with a screwed up face, shaking his head even thinking about the guys reaction when he saw his tongue lying at his feet in a bloody puddle of fleshy gore. Behind him, Axel laughed lazily and nuzzled into Marks neck.

"Indeed they won't. They're gonna think twice before throwing that word around again, or any words around at all in Tongueless Joe's case." The smaller male sneered viciously as all of a sudden Mark came to a stop outside Lenny's apartment building and got down onto his knee's on the cold concrete sidewalk to allow Axel room to safely hop of his back.

Axel kissed Marks cheek as he slipped down from his perch on his boyfriends back and onto his feet, dusting his spiked leather jacket down as he straightened his back out to stand up properly. Slowly beginning to stretch his body back into shape, Axel gasped aloud as Mark pulled him forward and into a hug, forcing Axel tight into the other's chest as Mark held onto him.

"Dramatics aside though, it's always nice to have someone looking out for me. Thanks Axel." Mark said with a grin as he continued to squeeze Axel against him.

In his arms, Axel somehow managed to maneuver his arms free from Mark's impossibly strong grip and wrapped them both around his boyfriends back, pulling himself closer to Mark's body.

"Don't mention it big guy." Axel said, closing his eyes and letting his head rest against Mark's chest. "Don't mention it..."

THE FOURTH TIME

Axel was failing miserably to put on a brave face as he stepped out of the infamous Iron Heights Prison Facility and into it's monotonous grey parking lot. Axel looked up towards the sky and wrinkled his face as he felt the first few drops of a heavy rain dropping down from the heavens and onto the dusty dry land below.

Great, absolutely fucking great.

Muttering a flawless stream of obscene sounding curses, the tiny brunette slunk over towards a rather conveniently placed bench inside a glass Bus Shelter and sighed as he plopped down onto the uncomfortable wooden surface just moments before the rain began to properly pound down onto his surroundings. Leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees, Axel placed his head into his hands and sighed painfully, telling himself over and over and over again that he wasn't going to cry over what that psychopath had just said to him. Jesse didn't deserve his tears and he certainly wasn't going to get them if Axel had anything to say about it.

Axel had just come away from a visit with his occasional father-figure James Jesse that had went monumentally terribly. Some days, Jesse was everything Axel could want him to be and more and was an absolute joy to talk to, other days his toxic attitude and acid tongue had made Axel seriously question why he had even become the Trickster in the first place. They say you should never meet your heroes and Axel was quickly coming to the realization that maybe he should have payed more heed to that little saying all those months ago when he'd managed to summon up the courage to spring Jesse out of Prison in the first place.

Only just managing to hold back the tears that threatened to slip free from his inflamed looking eyes at any moment, Axel looked up from the safety of the hideaway in his hands and saw Mark hovering over him, his body tense and a concerned look on his face as he gazed down upon his boyfriend, clearly unsure of just what exactly to do in this situation. Edging around the male before sitting down next to Axel, Mark wrapped an arm around the other males shoulder and pulled him in closer to himself to try and comfort his clearly distraught lover. Inching closer towards Mark, Axel had only just managed to bury his face into Mark's shoulder before he felt the flood barriers being obliterated and a steady stream of tears begun pouring from his eyes, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed uncontrollably into Marks leather jacket.

Wrapping his arm tighter around his boyfriend's smaller frame and placing his free hand up into Axel's messy hair to gently massage his scalp as he held the other, Mark said nothing as he cradled the bawling male in his arms and lightly kissed his forehead. All he could do in that moment was let Axel cry it out and let him know that he was here for him whenever he needed him. Hopefully that would be enough.

THE FIFTH TIME

Almost in perfect unison, both Axel and Mark let out a deep throaty grunt as Mark carefully slipped out of the other male, his breathing shaky and body taut as he rolled off of Axel and over onto his back with a chuckle and a light sounding thud. Mark's chest was heaving up and down as he lay next to his boyfriend on their shared bed, desperately trying to catch his breath before he even thought about doing anything else. With the much taller male now off of him, Axel too let out a small chuckle before instantly going limp and collapsing back down onto the bed too, looking over to his left and watching as the other made himself quite comfortable. Resting one hand on his chest and letting the other hang haphazardly off the bed, the Trickster finally let himself relax as the mattress behind him seemed to grow more comfortable by the second. Axel always felt pretty tired after sex, but after their latest romp it was safe to say that the brunette was completely exhausted, that and he wouldn't be walking around for the next few hours at least. Mark - if his heavy eyelids and quickly softening breathing were anything to go on - looked to be in the same boat as his boyfriend.

Axel looked up towards the roof of his room and couldn't shake the cheeky smirk that had cemented itself onto his face. Things couldn't get more perfect he thought, but it was almost as if Mark had read his mind because at that point his boyfriend begun to shimmy over across the bed so that he was laying right beside the other, looking into Axel's eyes with a content looking smirk on his face and pure adoration in his deep brown eyes. Not saying a word, Mark draped one of his large arms over Axel's chest and begun pulling the other male closer to him and into a somewhat lazy hug, too tired to really be concerned with technicalities, all he knew was that he needed Axel close to him now and he was certainly going to see to it that he got what he wanted.

"Oh god, i love you so much..." Mark mumbled lazily, pulling the other male ever closer to himself as he finally begun to surrender his body to sleeps sweet embrace. Pushing himself further into the other's arms and then resting his head on Mark's chest, Axel let his eyes close over as he too begun to slip into unconsciousness, a happy smile still planted firmly onto his face as he made himself comfortable.

"I love you too..." Axel replied softly with a yawn as he without another word he fell asleep, wrapped up in the inescapable comfort of Marks arms.

ONE TIME THE ROLES REVERSED.

Axel awoke from his deep slumber with a jump as the sound of torrential rain battering down onto the windows with violent fervor shook his senses back into an almost delirious form of consciousness. Sitting up properly in his bed, Axel raised his palms of his hands up to his weary eyes and rubbed them lightly, trying to shake the awful grogginess from his system before trying to do much of anything else. Axel looked over towards the digital clock on the nightstand. 4:16am. Shit. Laying back down onto the mattress and bundling himself up in the still toasty blanket, Axel turned his body around to snuggle up with his beau only to find that Mark's side of the bed was empty, and cold at that. How long had he been sleeping alone?

Sitting back up once more with a tired sounding yawn, Axel looked back towards the clock and noticed the date. October 7th. Great, just fucking great. How could he possibly forget that today was October 7th? Cursing as he started preparing for the worst, Axel hopped out of bed and begun to throw on whatever clothes he could actually find scattered around the room in a pinch, eventually settling on one of Marks oversized 'Superman' T-Shirts and a pair of baggy black basketball shorts.

Stepping out into the hallway as delicately as possible, Axel carefully closed the door behind him and begun looking around the apartment for any sign of Mark. Lenny, Mick and Lisa were all away through to Starling City this weekend on business and had left Axel and Mark themselves in the apartment, so finding Mark before anything drastic happened shouldn't be too much of an issue, at least Axel had hoped it wouldn't be. As he contemplated how exactly to find Mark, the sound of not too distant rainfall and a gust of vicious wind breezed through the empty apartment past the male in his loose fitting clothes, sending a spine-tingling shiver rippling through his skinny frame. Axel let out a little mewl of discomfort and wrapped his arms around himself to try and muster up some heat. The sudden flux in weather told Axel that Mark was still relatively close by, but how close by was the question.

Inching forward away from his room and towards the main living area, Axel let out a silent relived sigh as within a few seconds he spotted the large Living Room doors leading out onto the balcony swinging back and forward in the wind and Mark standing out on the balcony staring off into the distance, apparently unfazed by the torrential rain smashing into his body as it tore down towards the ground from the pitch black sky above, leaving him completely drenched from head to toe. In that moment Axel could feel his heart break for Mark, he just hoped that he wasn't too late to stop whatever Mark had set into motion.

Silently drawing closer and closer to the doorway of the balcony, Axel bit his lip and somehow managed to steady his nerves. He really was the worst boyfriend on the planet for forgetting just what exactly today represented to Mark, hopefully he could make it up to him somehow. Stepping out in the rain, Axel never said a word as he walked up behind Mark and wrapped his arms tightly around the taller males abdomen and just stood there, the rain now battering off of him too as he silently held onto Mark as tightly as he possibly could. Infront of him, Axel felt the taller males shoulders begin to shake and could swear he heard a sob escape Marks lips as he held onto him, the storm around them slowly beginning to grow weaker and weaker the longer Axel squeezed his arms around his heartbroken lover.

Today was October 7th 2016. Exactly two years on from the day that Clyde Mardon had been killed