A/N: I've always loved The Rogues. I mean, what's not to love about them? They're just fun. In general two of my favorite rogues has always been Pied Piper and Trickster, and I've always enjoyed reading fanfiction that address their relationship to each other, so I decided to have a go at it myself. Of course, this one will be a bit different, because the Trickster in this one won't be James Jesse, but Axel Walker. So, uh, yeah, I hope I do these characters justice, because I really love these two.
Hartley Rathaway took a sip of his espresso and glanced around the overly crowded coffee shop disdainfully. There really was way too many people here for Hartley's tastes, which was strange, considering the hour. Then again, CC Jitters was a warm, cosy building, and many of the people had probably just come in to get out of the unexpected downpour that had started a short time ago.
Hartley though was there for a reason. He had made plans with somebody. Somebody who clearly didn't care as much about punctuation or common courtesy as he did.
Harley let out a huff of irritation and took a look at his watch. The time read 8:47, which meant that his date was now seventeen-no, wait. Eighteen-minutes late. Deciding to give this guy the benefit of the doubt Hartley checked his phone. Just as he thought though, he had no new voice messages or texts.
It was official, Hartley decided. He had been stood up. How disappointing. He wasn't all that shook up about it though. It wasn't as if the guy had meant all that much to him anyways. He had just been a guy who had asked Hartley out, and since the other man had seemed nice enough and certainly didn't look half bad, Hartley had decided to give him a chance.
And just look where that got him.
Sadly, this wasn't the first time that Hartley had been stood up on a date, and it probably wouldn't be the last. So either he had a lousy taste in men (which was entirely possible) or all the guys who showed any interest in him were just homophobic idiots who thought it would be funny to mess with the gay kid's feelings (Again, entirely possible).
Sighing in annoyance Hartley packed up his things and left the popular coffee shop. The minute he stepped outside though he almost considered going back into the warm building, because it was raining pretty hard. That would make walking home a bit of a pain. Especially since Hartley hadn't thought to bring his umbrella when he left the house. He only lived about a fifteen minute walk away from Jitters, but without something to keep him dry he would be soaked by the time he got home.
This was not going to be fun.
Hartley briefly considered getting a taxi or taking the bus home, but decided against it. The Central City buses didn't run as often at night, so by the time the bus came he would have already been home. It didn't look like there were any taxis around, and Hartley wasn't much in the mood for hunting one down or calling for one.
So, walking it was.
Hartley scowled and flipped up the hood of his jacket so he would have at least a little protection from the rain a chill. He put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm and forced himself to step away from the building, which had been providing little protection anyways.
"Hey, wait!" A voice called out, but Hartley ignored whoever it was. He didn't recognize the voice, so it probably wasn't somebody that he knew, so he wasn't interested. Besides, who was to say that they were addressing him anyways? Though with the streets as empty as they were, Hartley knew that there weren't many other options. Still, he kept walking.
He had only gone a few more steps when somebody grabbed at his arm, stopping him. Hartley turned and glared harshly at the stranger, who beamed back at him. He looked about Hartley's age, if not a little younger.
"What do you want?" Hartley asked coldly, not even bothering to hide his annoyance.
"Uh, to offer you my umbrella?" The kid almost sounded amused by Hartley's rudeness, rather than put off like people usually were. Hartley eyes the stranger cautiously.
"Why would you do that?" Hartley asked. He doubted this guy was just doing it out of the goodness of his heart, because people just weren't like that. There had to be a catch or something.
"Because you don't look like you want to get wet." The stranger said matter of factly as held out his umbrella. Hartley didn't take it though. First off, because he had no idea who this guy was or what he really wanted. Second off...well, the umbrella wasn't something that Hartley would be caught dead holding. It was small and much too colorful, and looked like it was meant for a child.
"Well, why aren't you using it?" Hartley crossed his arms. Despite the fact that he was carrying around an umbrella, the kid was soaking wet. It looked as if he had just climbed out of a swimming pool or something.
"Because I like getting wet." The guy grinned, spread his arms wide and tilted his head towards the clouds, letting the raindrops fall on his face.
"You're just going to get yourself sick if you stay wet like this." Hartley couldn't help but point out. "And if you're such a fan of being wet, why are you carrying around an umbrella in the first place?"
"Because it's fun." He said simply, as if that were the only reason that anybody would ever have an umbrella. Hartley scoffed at this strange kid and his childish ways, though it was kind of amusing.
"So, do you want it?" The stranger held out the umbrella and Hartley looked at it for a moment, contemplating his decision.
"I'm not going to hold it." He said finally. The kid grinned.
"That's fine." He moved closer so he could hold the umbrella over Hartley's head, shielding him from the rain. "I'll just do this."
You're weird." Hartley said bluntly, because that was exactly what this stranger was. He didn't say it to be insulting, he was just making an observation. He often times did this with people, though nobody seemed to appreciate his observations. They just saw it as him being a jerk.
This strange kid though didn't seem to take it that way. He simply laughed and said "I know."
Hartley grinned and decided that he liked this kid, at least enough to introduce himself. "My name is Hartley." Well, kinda introduce himself. Hartley wasn't exactly in the mood for telling somebody that he just met that he was the disowned Rathaway kid. He got enough attention for that as it was.
"I'm Axel." The guy also supplied just his first name, which Hartley accepted. Sure, it was a bit informal, but if he himself didn't feel like sharing his family name, then he should respect the same decision from Axel. It was only fair.
"So, do you always offer your umbrella holding services out to everybody, or am I just special?" Hartley asked as he began walking again, Axel right at his side, keeping him dry.
"It's not usually my thing." Axel admitted. "You just looked like you were having a rough enough night already, and I didn't think it would be fair for it to get any worse just because of a bit of rain." Axel looked at him with a curious expression on his face. "Mind telling me why you were so upset at the coffee shop?"
"I wasn't upset." Hartley snapped irritably. "I was just irritated because I got stood up."
"That sucks." Axel winced sympathetically. "Was it just because of the weather?"
"No. If that were the case, he would have called me or something." Hartley pointed out. "I suspect he's just the kind of person who likes to get peoples hopes up just so he can shatter them later."
"Oh. I hate guys like that." Axel frowned and his eyes went dark for a moment. "So he was just being a jerk."
"Probably." Hartley looked at Axel, impressed. He had practically just revealed that he was gay, and Axel had hardly batted an eye about it. He hadn't become all disgusted, and he hadn't gone all weird either and proclaimed how 'cool' it was that Hartley was gay (those people really weirded him out sometimes). No, Axel had just...accepted it. As if it were as normal a thing as Hartley pointing out that he wore glasses.
It was rather refreshing, actually.
Hartley was beginning to like Axel more and more.
"So, you know why I'm out at this hour, but what about you? It's a little late for an evening stroll, don't you think?" Hartley raised an eyebrow. Axel shrugged.
"I just needed to get out of the house for a bit. I hate being cooped up in one place for too long." Axel said. "And when it's raining is the perfect time to get out, because nobody else is around."
"Ah, I see." Hartley nodded in understanding. "So you're not a fan of being around others?"
"Not really." Axel frowned and looked at the ground, thinking. "I mean, I like the idea of being around people, because it's not really all that fun to be alone all the time. But, people don't really get me."
"Trust me, I know the feeling." Hartley said empathetically. He understood very well what it was like to be shunned by society, simply because he didn't fit into the mold of what a 'normal' person was.
And, Hartley thought as Axel hummed happily next to him, this kid wasn't exactly 'normal' either. And that was okay...well, mostly okay. Hartley scowled in irritation when Axel ran ahead to jump in a large puddle that was in the sidewalk, and since Axel was the one holding the umbrella, Hartley temporarily lost his protection from the elements.
"Axel, if you're not going to use the umbrella right than just hand it over to me." Hartley said somewhat snappishly. He hadn't meant for his tone to be so harsh, but he was getting wet, and wasn't happy about that at all.
Axel turned around and looked sheepishly at him. "Right. Here." Axel walked back over to Hartley and passed the umbrella to him, then went right back to jumping in puddles like a child. Hartley rolled his eyes and continued walking, though he made sure to stay far enough behind Axel to not get splashed.
"You're going to get sick if you keep this up, and you'd better not come crying to me when you do." Hartley pointed out to Axel, who was absolutely soaked. Axel stopped and looked back at him.
"Don't worry. I won't." He said. When Hartley had gotten a little closer Axel grinned wickedly and splashed into a particularly large puddle that was just in front of Hartley. Luckily, Hartley had anticipated Axel doing that and had moved out of the way just in time that not much of the water reached him. Still he was annoyed.
"Yeah, that was mature." Hartley glared at Axel who stuck his tongue out at him in return. To Hartley's pleasure Axel seemed to have enough with splashing around like a bored, attention seeking child and had gone back to just walking normally next to him. Axel only ran ahead of Hartley again when they began to near an intersection, and that was just because Axel wanted to be the one to push the button so they could cross.
The two of them stood in silence while they waited for the stoplights to change so they could get their chance to cross. As he waited Hartley could hear two young women who were waiting out the storm under the cover of a nearby building gossiping. Normally Hartley couldn't care less about what other people said or talked about, but when he caught a few of the women's words he grew slightly nervous.
"I swear it's him. He's the guy from the news." One of the women whispered loudly, as if she was trying to keep her voice down, but was failing badly.
"Should we call somebody?" Her friend asked worriedly.
Hartley looked away from the two of them and stared straight ahead, ignoring the paranoid feeling that they were talking about him. He was, after all, the son of two of the richest people in the city, and there had been plenty of instances when Hartley had been recognized by absolute strangers.
The women continued talking, and the more they said the less they bothered to keep their voices down. Soon it became hard to ignore their words, and now Axel could hear them too. For some reason Axel seemed even more uncomfortable with what the girls were saying than Hartley was. In fact, he seemed more than just uncomfortable. Axel looked downright anxious.
Axel tapped his foot on the ground and kept switching his gaze between the women and the sign across the street. He also kept looking at the ground, hiding his face. It was as if he wanted to see what the girls were doing, while at the same time not draw any attention to himself. His plan wasn't working out very well though, because Hartley was sure that the harder he tried to not be noticed, the more noticeable he was making himself.
Hartley nudged Axel with his elbow. "What are you doing?" He hissed. Axel looked at him somewhat nervously.
"I-" Axel froze when he saw that one of the girls had brought out her phone and was anxiously making a call on it. "I-I gotta go." Axel stammered. Without supplying any more explanation than that Axel just ran off, leaving Hartley to wonder just what had happened.
"Axel, wait." Hartley called out as Axel turned into an alleyway. Hartley ran after him, but by the time he reached the alley Axel was already gone, and there was no way for Hartley to know where. Sighing in frustration and annoyance Hartley made his way back to the intersection where the light had finally changed, meaning he could now cross. Hartley glared harshly at the two women who had somehow scared Axel off before crossing the street and continuing on his way home.
As Hartley walked he clutched tightly at the stupid umbrella and thought about Axel. Why had he run off like that? And, more importantly, would Hartley ever see him again? Hartley certainly hoped that he did, sooner rather than later.
After all, this was a really ugly umbrella, and Hartley had no intention of keeping it whatsoever. The sooner he could give it back to Axel, the better.
A/N: And that was chapter one. Don't worry, I've got much more planned for these two. I hope you enjoyed reading what I have so far, and hope to see you back for more.