It would begin with a bottle of whiskey.
They'd sit around the wolf's study, a handsome and rather cramped hole in the wall apartment. Ais kept things simple, stacked neatly in shelves save for the scattered sheets of paper from whatever novel he was in the midst of writing. Lea would settle in the little nook and pry open a fresh bottle of alcohol, pouring two tall glasses for he and his companion before mixing in a generous amount of whatever dark carbonation suited their fancy that evening. This was always how it started.
Then it would degenerate into mindless discussion of whatever happened to cross their minds. The idle banter would continue for hours about nothing and everything. They would vent and scheme and laugh, the gypsy listening intent to the latest plot motivations driving the were-novelist's mind. It amazed Lea how Ais could make this images and wild tales of love, betrayal, and murder come out of thin air, fueled by a face he'd seen on the street or a stray song lyric that refused to depart from his mind. They were a most unlikely pair of friends but it was the vast differences in personality that fueled their unpredictable friendship.
It was just like old times.
Curled up on the Diviner's chest there no longer throbbed a heart beneath the muscle but the same husky scent of blood and power still lingered on his skin. Both were shirtless, pants undone and nearly off their hips. Their bodies ached, sore and tired from the rigorous training session planned that day and neither had any desire to move. It was times like this the old pair would set aside the differences wrought between them and bridge the ever-growing chasm to bring them back together for another round of shameless drinking. The conversation had grown uneasy and tense in their familiarity with the parties involved but the sweet bite of alcohol only got better with age.
"Could you believe that skirt Marlu was in today?" Axel sucked hard on the long neck.
Saix eyes the man's smooth, skillful lips. "Mnn... Yes I did. Xemnas was none too pleased but I had no complaints."
Axel pulled the bottle away with a satisfying 'plop.' He sloshed the liquid about the container boredly, letting his mind wander back to the fine assassin. Yes, he had looked rather nice in that skirt despite the rather masculine figure. Finally he couldn't deny it. It wasn't the same. It would never be the same. Saix was something else now. Some invisible ranking above neophyte yet still below the elders. He was the first of the 'lower' ranking numbers. He was special to the Superior and Axel hated it. Hated it with a flaming passion. That was his best friend and Xemnas took him away.
Or had nothing changed at all? Saix moved from below the redhead, coming to climb atop the slender body as he had done so many times before. Buzzed from the booze their morals, their boundaries, disappated. Axel wanted to push him off all the while wishing to pull him closer. Saix could feel his tension and he was bound and determined to take it away from his only friend. Stray kisses became touches, touches grow hotter, mroe fevered and needy until voices begged for sweet oblivion. Call it friends with benefits if one wished, it suited them just fine. That was how it had always began.
Just like old times.