Title: Domino
Pairing: Axel/f!Roxas
Warnings: genderswap, piercings and blood, language, epic snark, Axel being a dick, sex, slightly kinky sex
Rating: R/NC-17
Beta: alovelysilence
A/N: written with the lovely Pia/rotersternxx/letsfuckitupboys. Started out as a roleplay, and as we approached 100,000 words we figured why the hell not post it.
Disclaimer: We don't own Kingdom Hearts (or else KH3 would have been out by now), but we do get a kick out of writing for the fandom.
Summary: This is the story of a boy and a girl, who by all rights would never have met if the boy hadn't had a spontaneous desire to get a piercing at stupid o'clock on a Saturday morning. This is a story about falling in love and the mistakes that we make during the fall – about the boy you drenched in beer and the girl you never saw coming.
Chapter Summary: The victim: Axel. The culprit: Roxas in the parlor with the piercing needles.
1
Axel pulled the headphones out of his ears as he left the escalators on the fourth floor, surveying thoroughly from left to right, scanning for a shop called "Paine's Piercings," which Demyx had recommended to him. It was supposed to be a clean shop with trustworthy piercers and reasonable prices. Seeing it almost immediately – and pleased with himself that he'd found it, Axel allowed himself a grin as he walked towards it. Eyeing the flashy green neon sign appreciatively, he thought that yeah, this store was neat. The interior was generously large as he entered, various glass displays with different piercing jewelry catching his eyes easily. That there was no one else in the store didn't bother him - not many customers came in at 8:30 Saturday morning with the itch to get a piercing (least of all when they've never even had a single one) and surely a clerk would be around here somewhere, keen on decorating his skin with a bit of pretty metal. Last-minute ideas were the most fun there were to be had, and Axel, ever impulsive, wouldn't deny himself a piercing or perhaps two.
A security video in the back alerted the only employee to Axel's presence soon after he entered the shop. Roxas watched the video for a moment while she sipped her freshly brewed coffee; what sort of crazy ass came in at 8:30 in the fucking morning? Half the time she wondered why Paine insisted on opening so damn early when the boss never came in until at least one in the afternoon - the honors of opening the shop always went to Roxas or Hayner. Still, at least the newcomer looked interesting; he was looking at all the displays curiously, like he wasn't sure what exactly he wanted, but Roxas didn't think she'd mind if he took forever deciding – judging by the black and white security tape he looked pretty hot.
Finally Roxas decided to go out and talk with him, see what the early bird out for metal wanted; she checked in the mirror to make sure she looked at least mostly awake before heading out. Eight of eleven piercings glinted back at her in the mirror, the majority of them in her ears aside from the bar in her eyebrow and the ring in her lip. Her short blonde hair wasn't even really styled yet, and hung across her forehead; eventually she'd put gel in it or something, but 8:30 in the morning was way too early for that. She'd always been told she looked like a boy, and never really felt like going out of her way to disprove that idea with really girly clothes or anything - she always felt like it made her small chest and narrow hips look a bit ridiculous. So Roxas went out into the main area to meet her prospective customer in slightly baggy jeans and her favorite shirt (from her first Sugarcult concert ages ago) and sat down behind the desk. "Good morning, early bird," she said, putting her coffee cup down on the counter. "What can I help you with?"
Axel's eyes were glued to a certain red piercing, shaped like a swirling flame. It was sorta extraordinary between all the normal star-, circle- or diamond-shaped ones; just the right sort of special - or flaming - for him. When there was a girl's voice behind him, he replied without turning around. "Dunno yet what I wanna get but I was thinking, perhaps my eyebrow," he said, still eyeing the flame-shaped piercing. He turned towards the desk, to where the voice seemed to come from. "But whatever it is, I don't want some boring..."
He trailed off when he saw who was sitting there. /Who/ was sitting there? He couldn't really tell and kept staring discreetly for a moment. It was certainly a human being (a tiny one at that) but when he tried to attribute the voice he'd just heard to this boy, he frowned. It didn't fit /at all/. Either someone was trying to mess with him by letting a kid watch the shop, or God really hated the person at that desk, putting them into an unfortunate body like that, whatever gender it was. Axel did feel kind of stupid for staring - he wasn't a superficial jackass, after all - but he wouldn't be Axel if he wasn't known for his asshole charm.
"...helix. Don't want some boring helix," he finished at last. Blue eyes only watched him calmly, and before Axel realised he'd opened his mouth, he was already speaking. "Say, I know kids making fun of you because your voice didn't break yet sure /sucks/, but skipping school to hang at a piercing studio's not really bright, is it?"
"Wow, you're a charmer," Roxas snorted. "That's a pretty dickish thing to say to the person who'll be holding the piercing gun, you know." Roxas put her coffee aside, raising her pierced eyebrow at the asshole in her shop now. "And I'm twenty-six, I haven't needed to skip school for four years, man."
"Well I can't help my natural charm, I guess." Axel had his eyebrows raised at the kid's back, still a little flabbergasted on the inside that he was supposed to be 26, an entire year older than him. For a moment, Axel imagined the kid at 18, fucking some faceless girl. He almost winced at the imagination; the girl must've felt like a pedophile for all he knew. Really, a 26-year-old body and a face looking like, what, mostly 18? Damn, that guy must've got it hard. But from what Axel could tell, he made up for it with his attitude. An attitude that made Axel grin.
Roxas got up out of her chair and stalked over to the case he was examining, opening it up. "So, Mr. No Boring Helix, these here are some of our more interesting ones for eyebrows, not that you really have much in the way of those," she said flippantly. "Any in particular you like?"
"As I'd like to keep my pretty face intact, I'll tone down on the charm a bit," he continued casually, following the guy to the case. "Yeah, actually there was one I thought was pretty hot." Kneeling before the display, he pointed to the middle. "This spiky flame-thing is legit."
Roxas nodded and plucked the preferred piercing from the box, examining it briefly. At least the guy had the good sense to back off when his face was in danger of unnecessary bruising. With a scrutinizing glance he decided that the piercing would suit him well. "Alright," Roxas said. "If you're sure about this one, we can get started. Sit down right over here," she said, indicating to a padded chair off to the side. When the redhead sat down, Roxas brought her equipment over. She cleaned the skin around his eyebrow and drew on a target point for the piercing, showing it to him in a small mirror. With his nod, Roxas set her tools on the table beside them. Then she realized something. "Are you a piercing virgin?"
"I'm sure as hell." Axel leaned back in the chair, surprised at how comfortable it was. He eyed the needles critically and with some distaste, not that he'd ever admit that. Piercing might be painful, but it was nothing against tattooing. Tattoos, now, were the real bitches. /That/ shit hurt. Still, he wasn't gonna admit that the piercing gun made him a little fidgety. First times and all that – and one of those needles looked awfully big.
"Hymen's all intact, buddy. All yours." Probably the first cherry that guy ever got to pop, Axel thought, being the jackass he was. He'd better keep that to himself, too. Smirking, he crossed his arms behind his head. "I'm not some nervous virgin concerning needles and shit, though, so I do have standards. Hope you'll fulfill 'em."
Roxas smirked at that. "I'll do my best. Glad you're not some nervous virgin though, those are the worst. Don't need to be cleaning up vomit this early in the morning, thanks."
"Can't possibly be worse than my first tattoo," Axel said. It was easy to imagine some nervous virgins puking but fortunately he was out of that league, so blondie had nothing to worry about. There was something in his stomach tightening – a little nervousness, but just a tiny bit – and whenever Axel got nervous, his mouth did all the work for him so he talked right up to the countdown. "That was pain, man. I mean I'm sure piercing can hurt like a bitch too, especially that weird shit some guys pull off when they've got their dicks pierced."
Roxas pinched the skin of Axel's eyebrow with a clamp to line up the markers she'd drawn, all while he was still chattering. She picked up the biggest needle and lined it up against the lower marker, ignoring his widened eyes and silent curse at the size. "On the count of three. One, two!" and on two she pushed the needle right through his skin, piercing the redhead's eyebrow quickly and efficiently.
The building tension was broken for Axel carelessly with a flash of surprise as the piercing spike of pain as the needle was being shoved through his flesh hit him full force. Axel tried his damnedest not to flinch but didn't quite succeed.
"Ow, fuck, you fucking dick, warn a man, would ya?" he muttered, cursing under his breath, ever the gentleman.
Roxas ignored him and left the needle in his eyebrow, watching carefully for blood. Some people didn't bleed at all when they got their eyebrow done, while others bled like they'd been stabbed. Sure enough, not two seconds later blood bloomed from behind the needle and Roxas gently pressed a cloth around the fresh wound to stop the bleeding. "Hold that for me, alright?"
When the initial shock wore off and he pressed the cloth to his eyebrow as instructed, there was an interesting, almost pleasant feeling flitting through his veins, something quick and hot, and uncontrollable. He lived for that feeling. With the cloth pressed to his eyebrow, Axel couldn't help his grin, hyped up on adrenaline. He grinned goofily at the blond, his temper changing with the blink of an eye. His brow hurt like a motherfucker but he couldn't care less; he felt like he'd just won the jackpot. Fuck, that was way more intense than any tattooing he'd done. "Is it always like this?"
Roxas snickered. "The rush? Hell yeah. And don't call me a dick," Roxas warned, flicking Axel's temple on the pierced side with her fingers. "Better to surprise you and get it over with. I know what you're feeling though, I have eleven piercings and three tattoos – just don't use that adrenaline and go do something stupid." Roxas turned back to her very chatty customer and pulled the cloth away for a moment. "Ah fuck, you're bleeding like a stuck pig. Hang on." Roxas got a fresh gauze pad and held it to the redhead's brow, trying to clot the wound. Once it had stopped bleeding, Roxas exchanged the needle for the jewelry he'd picked out, causing him to cringe. "That'll heal up soon though, I'd just need you to come back so I can make sure it's healing well. You ok with that?"
"My circulation is pretty damn awesome, just like my general fine self." Axel grinned up at blondie from the chair, squeezing the eye of the unconcerned side closed in an attempt to calm the throbbing waves of pain through his brow. "Sure, sure, I'm gonna come back. Hell, I am gonna come back. You popped my cherry, you think I'm gonna scram that quickly? Firsts are something special," Axel rambled, feeling the need to get air off his lungs. He inhaled, allowed himself to close his eyes. The tingling, light feeling in his chest just didn't want to stop. "For someone who threatened to butcher me, you sure know how to make another guy feel good. Almost better than sex, damn," he muttered.
"Almost," Roxas allowed, weighing the pros and cons of that comparison, "but not quite better than sex," she snickered, rising from her seat and stripping off her sterile gloves. "What, have I gotten you hooked on the adrenaline rush?" she asked. He was actually pretty cute, aside from his dickishness and attitude, and his talkative nature amused Roxas quite a bit. She imagined that he could talk forever and a day and never get tired of hearing his own voice - not even in a conceited way, just to fill the silence and amuse others. Roxas figured she could probably listen to him read the phone book and be satisfied listening to him speak. "Alright, well as long as you take care of that piercing and come back for me to check on it, you'll be just fine." She told the redhead the price for the piercing and her compliance, and beckoned him over to the cash register to pay up.
"Told ya, I'll definitely be back. You've had the honor of being my first, so I've memorized the piercing gun in your hand, and only in yours," Axel said. Then he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, vaguely thinking a second or two about what he was going to say next, but he hoped blondie was up for this kind of fun anyway; Axel liked his fun and, dick or no dick, blondie was amusing so far. "So only you can penetrate me, bud."
He was fully aware of the gayness he exuded but he didn't dwell on it too much. Leave it to other people to worry about tact or appropriateness; Axel wasn't the one for it.
"So anyway, what do I owe you for this fantastic foreplay?"
"Thirty dollars," Roxas said, snickering to herself and choosing to ignore the suggestiveness in his tone. He was probably just fucking around, and Roxas wasn't that impressed with him yet. Let him come back, she thought, and see if he really is hooked.
"I'm honored," she snickered, taking the cash he offered her for the piercing. "Though I generally don't agree to foreplay unless I know the person's name, so what's yours?"
Axel raised an eyebrow at the snickering; seemed like his openness had been interpreted the wrong way. The guy was fun and amusing, but that was it. As far as Axel was concerned, the problem lay in an obvious shortage of breasts and a vagina. But he'd started it, so he'd go along with it, even if it was only being friendly. The guy had just asked his name and Axel figured there was nothing bad about it. Also, he couldn't go around throwing suggestive remarks at people and expect no one to be interested. He'd brought it on, so he had to deal with the consequences.
"Well my policy isn't as strict as yours, but a first-name basis is good so I can moan your name the next time." He grinned. This was getting more and more fun; mostly, people would tell him to fuck off or to shut up. It wasn't often that anyone went along with his stupidity (except Demyx perhaps). "You'd be my first, by the way." He didn't add my first boy. "Well, whatever. It's Axel, as in the axe with an L. What's yours?"
"Roxas," she offered, taking a sip of her now lukewarm coffee and making a face at it. "Though if you start moaning my name the next time I have the piercing gun at your face I might think you have a problem. Try to keep your masochism to yourself, right Axel?" Roxas quipped. She didn't quite know what to make of 'you'd be my first,' other than his first piercer or whatever. "You're all set then," she said, getting a card with care instructions for the piercing out and handing it to him. "Try not to bleed out before you get home."
"Thanks," he said, taking the card and instructions from her. He flipped the instructions open to page through them briefly and then looked back to Roxas. "All right then, see you soon." He turned around and walked towards the entrance with a bit of a swagger in his step.
Roxas rolled her eyes and decided make herself a fresh pot of coffee since her first one was already cold. She definitely felt like she'd need it today, her head was pounding with the amount of snark that idiot was throwing.
Then Axel poked his head around the door and shouted, "Boring holes into people as profession doesn't exactly make you innocent either, sadist!" in what was probably the most good-natured way Roxas had ever been called that word.
She still chucked a stress ball from the counter at his head, which missed him as he proudly strutted away. Jackass.