He hurried down the alley, feet not quite shuffling but making scratch noises none the less.
When he reached the end of the tunnel, he turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey! Axel!"
A distant voice, almost lazy, answered back a little quicker then he imagined.
He grinned in the circle of his hands, then yelled as loud as he could on the deserted street in the middle of the night.
"What I said before? Forget it!"
Then he ran along with the wind and the words he had thrown.
-O
First day of summer vacation and he was bored. Everyone was gone. His dog had died two years ago. He was alone.
Utterly and completely alone.
He didn't feel depressed, no, not at all- he was feeling utter contentment.
Utter…
Foot steps sounded from behind him and he raised his eyes up, seeing red hair and a new face.
"Nice tattoos."
The skinny boy grinned. "Mind if I sit here?"
-O
"Hey, Axel. What's the meaning of life?"
Green eyes looked over. They were hazy. Sleepy. "How sh'ld I know?"
He scowled at his paper. "Life Trans sucks."
Axel laughed and lit a fire cracker, throwing it up in the air and being almost burned from the lack of strength he put in the throw. It made a pretty 'pop' before it became smoke and drifted up towards the sun. Axel smiled at it.
"Life, as you know it, means moment."
Roxas looked over at him. Grinned. "Poet?"
Axel grinned back. "Never knew I was one."
-O
Same time as always, but a new place.
His clock had stopped and he wished time stopped with it. He was late. Late late late- two hours late.
Damn, Axel was gonna laugh at him for this.
When he arrived there, it was hard to see- midnight made alleys suck and rats come out.
Axel had laughed at him for hours straight when he found out about Roxas' fear of anything small and furry. Laughed harder when he heard that he'd killed his pet mouse Mickey when the little fuck shit on him when he was eight.
He moved through the alley, trying to walk quietly in case some unsuspecting hobo showed up.
When he finally made it to the other side, Axel wasn't there.
He took off his watch and threw it to the ground, then ran as fast as he could towards his bed.
-O
"Hey, Roxas, buddy, you decided to show up?"
He snapped his head back and scowled. "Says the one who was four hours late. God damn it, Axel, wh-"
Axel frowned and he was silenced. Axel looked away and he was struck dumb.
"At least I showed up for the grand fucking entrance. Two hours later and you come. I'm SO flattered."
His arms were placed akimbo and his head had moved to look up at the cheap blanket covering the ceiling of the alley, courtesy of a homeless man who had died two months ago.
"At least I care."
Roxas scowled and walked passed him.
"I'm leaving."
It was only half an hour after the blond boy left that Axel looked down and whispered something unheard to the ground.
-O
Two months passed before he sat in his desk and stared up at the flaring green eyes and flaming red hair.
Axel was too absorbed in his expression to make one of his own, leaning down onto the wood and mere inches from Roxas' nose. They were close, but not close enough to cross their eyes so they couldn't see each other.
The class watched them silently. The teacher seemed to be busy with silent roll call to see what was happening.
And, just like that, a pencil snapped and the red head walked away as if he hadn't been watching the blond intently.
Roxas' eyes didn't stray one bit from where they had been before until the bell rang and the teacher asked him politely to leave.
-O
Firsts always sucked. They were slow and made you look stupid, and last of all, they hurt.
He stuck a finger in his eyes to wipe away some of the gunk that had gotten in it. The alley was always sandy and windy, and it made everything hurt.
Footsteps, of course. So he tried to leave, sneak pass the red headed devil.
His wrist was caught and when he looked up, they were close enough to cross each others eyes .
He was being kissed with his eyes wide open. Axel stared back at him equally hard, unblinking, not even as he bit Roxas' lower lip and Roxas cried out at it.
His eyes slipped shut before Axel's, and he wasn't even sure if the red headed boy was staring at him anymore, but he reached up a hand and clutched at the black fabric of his coat anyways.
They parted only two seconds later, clutching each other oddly, and Axel grinned.
"Is it ok if I'm in adoration with you?"
-O
Five months passed. Nothing changed except the sex, where his first time was in a hospital bed, riding Axel's cock like a pony as the other boy practically cried because he'd broken both of his arms trying to bungee jump. He'd bounced up a second time before the cord snapped and he was sent hurtling to the ground 48 feet in the air.
He was lucky. Roxas wasn't so lucky because he'd managed to poke his eye out while jumping off his house while drunk and landing on the deck near a pile of mismatched and broken tools.
His left eye was missing, but that was OK. He only needed one eye to see the way Axel always looked at him.
-O
"I… uhh…" Roxas had a hard time wrapping his tongue around the words. The consonants were too hard, and required him to move his jaw too much. Tension was causing it to lock sometimes.
The words tumbled out so suddenly that Roxas was surprised, and it showed on his face.
"I want to give this up."
Axel was surprised too. "Why?"
"You…" No, I'm about to lie. Don't believe me, Axel! "Don't like me anymore, so I kind of recoiled and I don't… love you anymore either."
Axel still looked surprised, but shrugged and said "Ok."
Roxas passed him again.
He was getting sick of passing people.
-O
He was at the alley when Axel showed up, drawing on the bricks with a paint brush.
It was a white sign, a little spiky cross that rounded into two part-circles at the bottom. He looked back, and grinned widely.
"Hi."
Axel stared at him, chewing on a fire cracker. "Hey."
"Wait one second."
Then he ran down the alley, grinning.