Wha-bam. I actually started writing something. All information about what 'interactive fic' means will be below. I know most people dislike long ANs so I'll end it here.
... Oh yeah, I don't own anything either.
Tranquility is a hard thing to find. Still, the redhead felt nothing less as he watched tobacco smoke swirl lazily into the air and out the open window. The sight fascinated him, nearly tearing his attention away from the bare highway which stretched out before him, hazy and misty from last night's rain. For a moment, Axel just drifted and let himself feel.
The air outside was still cool and clammy, rushing in his ears and blowing his wild crimson hair this way and that. The muggy felling clung to his skin and contrasted with the warmth of the spark against his hand and the smoke filling the van. Underneath his other hand the leathery steering wheel felt almost sticky.
He was never sure what smoking did that relaxed his taut muscles, made him feel like a weight was removed. Of course in high school they taught him that it released chemicals and...- whatever, he hadn't been paying attention (drawing a stick-man teacher set ablaze was a much more productive use of his time) - but he didn't think that was it. It might have been the smell of the musty smoke mixed with damp air. It was comforting, it could have reminded him of a campfire, had he ever been camping. It probably wasn't the flavour, his preferred brand had mild taste at best, it had never been his priority. Maybe it was that sleepy sensation, being aware of each breath in and out, the world slowing around him. It was rhythmic. It was peaceful. It made it much easier to focus and forget the bullshit of the real world.
Each puff of deliciously cancer-inducing smoke was like breathing in for the first time after surfacing from water. It gave him what he was searching for whenever he didn't have it. Smoking was completion, a reward for whatever went wrong-
'Man, I'm fucking poetic today...'
His eyes opened, realising that it was probably a stupid idea to close them. Immediately he was aware of the things dulling his perfection. His elbow was bumping constantly against the open window and the gears of the ancient van creaked ceaselessly. Ah fuck it, he could still ignore those nuisances.
There was little in the world that gave Axel the satisfaction he received from the death stick that hung lazily between the knuckles of his middle and index fingers. Sex was one thing. And fire. And the refreshing thrill of freedom he was getting finally being out on his own.
He glanced out at the greenish blurs whipping past his window, grinning. Yeah, this felt good.
Through his entire life, Axel made it quite apparent that he wasn't one for ordinary expectations. Fine, understatement, he was a bit of a freak of nature. Openly gay since he could remember, though he couldn't stand those sob stories of being abused for sexual orientation. Yells of "Fag!" from moronic teenage boys were easy to brush off and if they continued to get in his face about it he could fight them. He never felt any shame about it, women were clingy and squishy, much too soft for his tastes and-.. ugh... He didn't know what anyone found appealing about them.
'Get off that train of thought...'
He was also completely obsessed with burning things – dangerously so. It was lucky he'd taken up smoking to give him something (comparatively) safer to light fire to. On top of that was his personality – crass, unabashed, and with a general disregard for what would be better for others. He ate possibly once a day, sometimes less. Not for any particular reason, but at any rate it accounted for him being so unnaturally thin for his height. But his figure was not – and god help anyone who would even imply that it was – feminine-looking. His hair was untamed and almost garishly red, but he would never divulge whether it was dyed or not. The tattoos on his cheeks had seemingly no reason or meaning, and he'd had them since middle school (about the time he'd lost his virginity, in a completely unrelated story).
He'd been through his high school years coasting on just-passing grades that weren't achieved by honest means. Even in his final year, the time people usually realise holy shit, I actually have to work to achieve the goals I have for my future, Axel laughed at the students cramming for their exams while he flashed his fake ID to whatever bars would take him.
Of course, he never made it into any universities, which was perfectly reasonable since he never applied. Up until graduation he let his parents believe all the lies he told them about how he was doing in school, and what he planned to do in life. As soon as that diploma was in his hand, though, he officially stopped taking shit from anyone. While his classmates cried and said their goodbyes, Axel emptied his university fund and swiped the keys to the old family car.
His parents knew he did it. He got one hell of an earful from his dad on his cell the next day. Both of them were notorious for being all talk and never following through on their threats, so he predictably wasn't given any kind of punishment for it. Ah, the benefits of having pushover parents, not like his piss-scary uncle, Sephiroth. He seriously didn't envy his cousins.
Still, his first few attempts failed by means of the few people he still had some ties to. It had taken him a few years of bargaining with his parents not to disown him and making 'valid' attempts to hold down a real job before they finally gave up and let him go. A small waste of his life, but a necessary one. Now at twenty-one, holding no job, people, or property to his name – excluding the car – Axel set off on the life he really wanted.
Axel never planned to do anything normal with his life. In fact, he would rather have been away from people with their herd-thinking ways of how things "should" be. School, specialty school, job, marriage, kids, midlife crisis, retirement, death. Yeah, that was not his style, and he'd be damned if he let himself get controlled by it. So as soon as he had the means to, he broke away from it. Of course, once he ran out of the money had he would have to find some other way of living.
'Cross that bridge when I come to it, I've got bigger problems right now.'
Like the fact that his cigarette was burning low...
Even if he had always longed for that nomadic life away from pointless social conventions, he wasn't about to give up the perks of modern life either. Cigarettes, accessible food, climate control, vehicles, bars, and one night stands were just too sweet to abandon, even if he was trying to prove a point. He figured getting away from his structured life and hitting the highway as a free man was a close enough compromise. He wasn't prepared to be a gypsy or some outdoorsy survivor freak from the discovery channel. Too much fucking work.
But this... This was a way of life he could get used to.
He glanced again at his cigarette, scowling a bit and crushing it against the side of the car before carelessly flicking it out the window. Great, he was running low on them as it was. He groaned, reluctantly turning his attention on the road again.
'I should quit these... or at least cut down. Way too expensive and I've only got so much money. Hell if I'm working to get more. I'll need to pay for food and gas and whatever too...'
… Eh, he barely ate as it was. His cancer sticks were infinitely more vital to him than food.
Screw survival skills. Axel knew what he wanted and more than that... he knew there was always a way to get what he wanted – even if that was by underhanded and legally questionable means. He had vowed to start living his life for his own personal enjoyment.
So what if he was stuck in his dad's shitty old van? It didn't matter that it was cramped; old leather seats closing in around him. It didn't matter that it rattled enough to give him a pounding headache. Now it could be just him and the open road.
The very open, very empty road...
In fact, where the hell was he?
Distractedly, he fumbled for the glove compartment, throwing it open and scattering a few pens and the car's outdated manual on the floor. Maybe he wasn't doing so well at the on-his-own thing-... no, no thinking like that. Before he could get any further into arguing with himself the sought-after map found its way into his searching hand.
It really wasn't a good idea to lift the map in front of his face while he was driving, but come on it was like six in the morning, no one in their right mind would be out driving now.
Axel was, quite pointedly, not in his right mind.
'Uhh... I'm on some highway now... I remember passing that street three... maybe four hours ago. So that puts me... about twenty degrees north of fucking Nowhere's-Ville. Huh... Maybe I should pull over for a bit and just sleep, I'm not seeing right...'
Clearly, as his car had managed to end up on the wrong side of the road and a tree had apparently jumped out in front of him.
"Shit-...!"
Axel swerved, very narrowly escaping a painful, bloody, messy death... likely with blood splattered ten feet in every direction and the van catching fire as it flipped over him, crushing every bone and organ in his body and effectively dashing any hope or miracle of survival, then gradually catching on his remains and burning those into oblivion. That would be a show for the early morning drivers...
And this was only the start of how strange Axel's thoughts turned when left unattended.
He pulled back onto the proper side of the road, grudgingly deciding to pull over and think through what he was doing. It took him a while to find a spot that didn't look like an ax murderer was about to pop out of the bushes the moment he stepped out of his car, but eventually he stopped, nearly all sound on the highway ceasing as he turned the car off.
He kicked the door forcefully open – it always stuck, to his chagrin – and made his way around the car to the passenger's side. He grabbed the map and slid to sit on the ground. Hm, gravel. Lovely. He tilted the map in every direction scientifically possible, attempting to make sense of the labyrinth of routes.
'At least streets have names, goddamn...'
Through all his decoding of the highway system, Axel was far from noticing that he wasn't alone - which was only fair, as the one other person out was not aware of him either. To Roxas, it simply looked like an abandoned van on the side of the road... absolutely perfect for him. He sprung out of the trees and dashed across the bare freeway – an entirely new sight for him – towards the battered vehicle. His weathered, dirtied black Chucks made only the dullest thuds on the pavement as he crossed, not alerting the car's hidden owner in the slightest.
The – not at all small, shut up – blond flung himself at the door. It was unlocked, he could not believe his luck, and climbed inside – keys in the ignition and everything!
'The fuck?' Axel sprang to his feet, quite clearly hearing that. Wrenching the passenger door open, he found himself face to face with small, blond and cute (Not that it was going to affect him at all, he had some self control, but he couldn't help but notice – he was only human, male, young and gay).
"What the hell are you doing in my car? You're puny for a thief."
Roxas jumped back, paling. He fumbled for an excuse, too panicked to even notice the jab at his stature. "I-... I'm not trying to steal-... I just... needed a place to sleep." Sure, that worked. As long as this guy wasn't a pedophile-slash-abductor-slash-rapist-slash-serial-killer, he could probably get by safely on pity as a homeless teenager.
The redheaded flamer merely raised an eyebrow. "Right. So you were standing on the side of a highway with no city around for miles just hoping you'd find a place to sleep? Get out." Wrapping a hand around the strangers bicep, he aggressively pulled him towards his side of the vehicle.
"Ah, hey! I can get out by myself." Roxas swore under his breath, careful not to seem too pissed off, just in case he would have to fall back on those tactics. He yanked his arm out of the clearly older man's grip and made his way out on his own.
Axel's eyes remained narrowed, unable to believe this half-pint brat might have made off with his one chance at freedom. "What were you thinking? What's a kid like you going to do with a stolen car? I might as well just call the fucking police, get them to take you home."
Yep, he was going to have to be like that. He really hated doing this.
'God, this guy had better be gay or sympathetic at least.'
Stormy blue eyes took on a glassy, almost shimmering appearance, gripping his sleeve and becoming desperate. "Oh god, please don't call the police...! I just... all I wanted-... I need to get out of here. Just don't let them take me back. You... you don't understand, I need- and quickly! I'll go with you, anywhere you're going as long as it's away from here!" He finally gave himself a moment to breathe, still clinging tightly and not taking his eyes off of him. That look couldn't be resisted. As much as he despised being... totally not cute, it had its uses when it came to getting him what he wanted.
Axel stared at the teenager, dumbfounded. That wasn't the attitude he'd been getting a minute ago...
'But he looks harmless, maybe-...'
Wait a second, who did this kid think he was? He had some balls trying to break into his car one minute and asking for a ride once he was caught.
'He could just be that desperate... And hey, if I help him, I'd be like the kid's hero... That could end in benefits for me... preferably those without any clothes-...'
Back on topic. Sure the blond was a lot smaller than him... he could definitely take him if he tried to pull something. But if he did while he was driving, that would get them both killed. And what was he trying to get away from? He had neglected to think of that. At least he should find some way to make sure that kid wasn't a threat to him.
… Strip search?
'Great. Thanks, brain. So helpful.' Axel was practically staring Roxas down, his gaze dipping shamelessly low more than once.
But what about his freedom? Solidarity? Only answering to himself and not taking bullshit from anyone else?
Apparently unimportant right now...
'And I thought I was over teenage hormones...'
Roxas stepped back, unnerved by the eyes on him. This might have been the wrong one after all. "L-Look, this is taking a while... if you're not going to let me-..."
"Argh-eh-blah-...!" A mindless noise simply to cut him off, give him more time. "Wait. What is it you want from me if I let you stay?"
Already large cerulean eyes widened, nothing but innocence sparkling in their depths. "Nothing, all I'd ask you for is a ride. I'll be quiet if you want..." Calculating each move, Roxas stepped a little closer, craning his neck a fraction higher to keep his eyes locked with the redhead.
'Heh, if you want a ride I can give you that... but I definitely don't want you being quiet' Ugh fuck, brain! He didn't like this kid, but then again, when had he ever thought with his head? The one on his shoulders, at any rate.
He shook his head, clearing it. This was not going his way. He would have to make a decision now, before his already overactive imagination got out of control and he'd have to excuse himself to rub one out in the bushes or something. "You give me one reason I should trust you, kid. After you broke into my car."
Roxas shifted his weight, considering his answer. Damn, maybe this one wasn't gay, though he certainly looked the definition of 'flaming homosexual'. Slowly, he removed the hooded sweater over his clothes and turned out his pockets, trying to show that he wasn't carrying anything dangerous. He didn't have time for this.
"Please, just drive me as far as the state limits at least." Spark of inspiration. "I'll give you money. My parents gave me more than enough." He reached into his back pocket, withdrawing a hefty wad of bills. Hook, line, sinker. If nothing would work, money would not fail him.
Now, this was interesting. The kid must have been rich, so therefore he must have been one of those hard done-by brats who wanted to "escape" his parents rigid way of life.
'Uh, you wanted to escape your parent's rigid way of life, smart one.'
No, no way did this thief kid have as good a reason as he did to want to leave – and besides that was completely different. So clearly if had to be something other than that, something more interesting or tragic. He would definitely have to figure him out...
But moreover, he would need more money eventually. And he was just offering...
'Yeah, there'll be some way to use this to my advantage.'
"... Alright, fine. You can stay as long as you're behaving like a good little boy and whatnot. But you start with any funny business I'll have my phone in hand and I'll get the police to drag you off so fast."
That was a bluff. His phone was long dead after it had gone uncharged for days. Without outlets there was no hope of reviving it. By a very lucky chance – or much more likely, his own laziness – he hadn't just thrown it out the window yet and let the thing get run over into a flat, silver-red spot on the asphalt.
Nevertheless, Shorty seemed to buy it. He looked pale and a bit nervous, but that didn't last long. "I'm not planning to do anything. I wouldn't hurt the person helping me out, I'm not an ignoramus."
Oh, now the runt was breaking out the big words and everything, probably trying to intimidate him or like so many others, give him the message to back off because they weren't that naïve. Truly, Axel was shaking in his (stylish, knee-length, black leather and covered in far too many buckles) boots. He let the kid keep his money for now, but rest assured it would be his the moment he needed it or whenever he dropped him off.
Axel saw no problem with being friendly – by the unfortunate definition, not his much-preferred version – as long as he was playing chauffeur. He opened the passenger door again for the blond, who climbed inside without a word. His mannerisms seemed rather hardened compared to the needy soul who had just been begging him for help. As long as the brat didn't walk on his ideal life, he didn't take much notice of the way he acted.
He shut the door, sealing it with a – not girly - bump of his hip and got back behind the wheel, shoving the door shut again with difficulty. The van coughed itself to life after a few baleful cranks of the key and some praying to gods he didn't believe in. He pulled back onto the road, noticing some cars emerging lethargically around them as the road sloped into a slight hill. Axel turned his neck from side to side, producing a few oh-so-gratifying popping sounds as his bones creaked back into place. He didn't fail to notice the slight shudder running through the teen in his passenger seat as he did so.
'Note to self: Do that again whenever he gets tense.'
Malachite eyes ran slowly down his body again. He had a lot of things he wanted to ask, almost entirely for the sake of his amusement. The kid hunched over, crossing his arms and stared directly out the front window. Everything about his body language screamed quit-now-because-there-is-no-fucking-way-I'm-speaking-to-you-while-I'm-in-this-petulant-mood.
Changeable brat, he had to hand it to him. If he couldn't be pleasant or endearing or grateful, at least he wasn't too easy to figure out.
He wanted to ask his name...
In all the confusion, he'd forgotten to check the map for just which way he was headed.
It had to have been at least an hour before either of them said anything. Nothing of intrigue had happened in that time; Just the same old scenery with a nice helping of awkward silence to make the trip that much more thrilling. Roxas had his expression set in a permanent scowl, watching what appeared to be an endless series of trees, farms and the occasional middle-of-nowhere diner-gas-station hybrid.
'We must be far enough now that he wouldn't just kick me out, right...' Unless this guy was just that much of an ass.
The voice was so sudden, it sounded almost detached from him, cutting through the quite palpable tension. "My name's Roxas." He sounded reluctant to say it.
Axel's eyes snapped open wider. Right, sleeping at the wheel was a bad idea. And what'dya know, the kid said something. "Roxas? That's a weird name."
Roxas bristled, "My mom came up with it, don't blame me."
"Who said I was blaming you?"
"Whatever, tell me yours."
He raised an eyebrow. Roxas was pretty demanding for a guy he was doing a favour for. "Axel."
Roxas almost laughed, "Axel. And you call me weird."
"Think that's bad? My parents called me Lea for the first three months of my life" Axel didn't often admit that, it bruised his dignity. But what did he care, he was only going to be around the blond for a few days to give him a ride to wherever he was going.
"That's just painful." Roxas hoped Axel didn't plan on talking too him much more than that. Conversation was a skill that Roxas would never – and never wanted to – gain in his life. Giving his name just seemed like common courtesy. And... if Axel had asked him first he would have just been stubborn and automatically refused. It was his nature.
Apparently Axel didn't feel like doing what he wanted, "While you're giving me such valuable stalking information, how old are you? If I end up getting charged as a pedophile, I'm hunting you down."
"Eighteen," He nearly spat, accompanied by a nice, personable eye roll, "And you wouldn't be charged unless you tried to molest me."
"Twenty-one, and who says I won't?"
"What?" Roxas sat up very straight, leaning as far from him as possible. Axel promptly burst out laughing.
"You think I'm serious? Chill the fuck out, Roxas."
"Ugh, don't joke about it. That's disgusting."
Were Axel the kind of person who gave a damn, he might have been offended by that. So Roxas was going to be just another defensive teenager. Or... adult, he supposed, but he sure didn't look it. He was still so short and boyish, Axel had to wonder if something went wrong with him during puberty.
Changing the subject seemed safer. "So what were you doing out there? What's so important that you have to get away from?"
"Nothing." That desperation that had been on his face was utterly, utterly absent.
"Come on, I'm giving you a ride. You have to tell me."
"Why? I don't know you."
"Seriously, what was it? Your parents are rich-..."
"Who said that?"
"You've got at least two hundred just in your pocket, it doesn't take a rocket scientist."
Roxas considered, "Fine, my parents have money."
"So let's see. I can see you being that rich kid standing around his parents' mansion in a little monkey suit. And... hm, I bet you finally realised that all the money in the world couldn't make you happy because you had no real friends."
Roxas's eyes narrowed, replying flatly, "That sounds like an after-school special."
"Is it true?"
"No."
Hm, that had been his best guess. Axel rethought his scenario, "Ah! I bet your parents were workaholics. They bought you everything you wanted, but they were never home. One day you decided, 'Hey, fuck you, mom and dad! We'll see how much you miss me when I'm gone!'"
Roxas was giving him a very flat look...
"Not that one either? Give me a minute, I'll get this..."
"What if you stop asking me instead?"
That was either not heard or ignored. "Maybe it was the opposite of that. When your mom wasn't home did your dad love you too much? Yeah, you put up with it in secret for years then finally you couldn't take the abuse anymore and crept away while he was gone-... or even better, you fought your way out from under him and there was an award-winning chase scene, but you finally escaped because you were the only one small enough to-"
"You're really sensitive about these things, aren't you?"
Small shrug. "Was I right?"
"No." Glaring out the window seemed like a much better pass time than listening to this presumed lunatic.
"You were tired of being dressed up in stuffy suits and shown off like a prize poodle."
"No."
"You wanted to escape because your parents were sending you off to boarding school."
"No."
"Oh, arranged marriage?"
"God, no. No one does those here anymore."
"Touché. Okay, you came out to your parents and you left because they wouldn't accept you. Or they disowned you."
Roxas sat up sharply, turning towards him. "Fucking no! All those situations are ridiculous."
Axel scowled a bit. Just wonderful, he was definitely homophobic. He should really start messing with him more in that case. "You sound pretty defensive about that."
"There's nothing to be defensive about." That sounded as legitimate as a second-grader's response. "Would you quit asking stupid questions?"
"Depends, will you tell me if I guess right?"
"No."
"That's one rich vocabulary you've got there."
"I've got a nice long list of choice words I could call you, if you want."
"Really? Name some."
"Ugh!" Roxas turned towards the window, quite pointedly staring at the frustratingly repetitive scenery.
Well. Talking to Roxas had all the excitement of a conversation with a brick wall, plus an attitude. "Well what is your tragic backstory then?"
"What's yours?" His tone was definitely getting more dangerous. How cute.
"Don't have one, just didn't want to live the way everyone in the world does."
'By taking a road trip, how original.' But Roxas kept that thought to himself. "... Exactly."
That nearly stopped Axel dead in his tracks,"Say what?"
"That's just what I wanted."
"Oh, so that's it. So you're also the little social scientist."
"That's right."
"You observed the behaviour of everyone around you your whole life and you realised what mindless sheep they are. You knew that if you kept following that path, even if you rebelled in small ways, you would end up just as miserable and deluded as them."
"Yeah."
"And your plan, like mine, was to get into some car and just take off to who-knows where?"
"Yeah, that's it..."
"I guess that makes us kindred spirits or something."
"I guess."
The redhead grinned, "Yeah, I don't believe you."
Roxas sat up sharply. "Wh-... But it's true!"
That was simply too good not to laugh at. Axel settled back in to his seat, by all appearances putting his attention to the road again. They weren't far from an actual city now. "Sure it is. So really, was it like a coup d-état thing? Did underlings kill off your mob-boss dad and then come after his entire family to wipe out the line?"
"Axel, just shut up."
"On the run from the government?"
Click.
The car filled with loud rock music, which was sharply turned up to blasting. Roxas was so finished with this conversation. Who cared that he didn't even know what he was listening to, as long as is wasn't him. His arm – which made such an oh-so comfortable pillow, in case anyone was wondering - was bent awkwardly between his head and the window. He'd been out all night, he needed a serious nap.
Ah, everything Roxas did was amusing.
'Man, but what happened to that cute, innocent kid who was in such a panic?'
It was an act. Obviously.
'Great, so he's a con artist.'
He probably should have figured that out with Roxas trying to steal his van and all, but come on. No one with his libido would be able to turn down a face like that.
'I really need to stop thinking with my dick, it's going to get me into serious trouble...' He gave his body another quick once-over. 'Eh, but he's still weak-looking. He'd better not try to take my cash or anything. I just need to get him wherever he's going...'
Either way, he'd be sleeping with one eye open. The music was starting to give him a headache now, too. Fantastic. Roxas sure had a lot of nerve.
Were he not so headstrong, Axel might have regretted picking him up.
Please tell me everyone liked that? :3
Okay, my friends, this is how it goes. Over the next few days I'll be posting chapters two and three. These will be the base so everyone knows the general structure of the story. After that I open up the lines for suggestions. Sometimes I'll ask for specific things, but most of the time I would just like to hear people's crazy ideas. This is meant to ward off writer's block (no disappointing hiatuses, let's pray) and give my readers a chance to see something they want actually happen in the fic. Of course I have an idea of the direction things are going, but as much clue of how things will end as any of you. It's a collaboration... sort of! I hope things will happen that I never could have thought of!
Here's hoping some people actually go for this and I don't just look like a desperate loser. I see it in my nightmares.
