Warnings: Sexxxxxx! Haha, well, not until later that is. And it's yaoi (mansex, in case you didn't know). And there's language, but Axel will be Axel. And I'll say this now: the rating is T for now, yes, but that might, and most likely will, change. I'll decide when I get there. :winks:
Disclaimer: If only I had come up with these guys. No bands mentioned, food stores, or anything else are mine unless I say otherwise. And I don't own the Price is right or Wheel of Fortune, either.
AN: Well, for those of you just joining us, welcome, and enjoy! For those of you who got through five of these chapters before I decided to rewrite those so I could change the story and characters up a bit, thanks for sticking with me, I really appreciate it. I didn't change much in this chapter, and won't in the next couple either, but I did add some scenes, so they are worth reading again (at least, I think so :grins:). Anywhoo, enjoy!
Chapter One
Sunshine Makes All the Difference
A tall blonde boy leaned wearily against one end of a beaten up couch. He stood for a moment just to enjoy the sun on his face, and the little yellow birds darting in and out of a tree across the street, thinking about nothing in particular, random notes and chords drifting through his head, a lovely backdrop to the spring after noon. His reverie came to quite an abrupt end however, when the couch moved out from under him and he fell over, his yelp of surprise masking the grunts coming from the other end.
"Demyx! Will you knock that off and help me get this thing inside?! We've gotta get it inside; what if it starts raining?" Emerald green eyes glared at him in mock frustration and panic, his flaming red hair sticking out from his skull at the most absurd and gravity-defying angles. Ironically enough, there was not even one small fluff of cloud in the sky, but the blonde knew well how Axel reacted to any small amount of water, and just chuckled at his asininity.
"Oh yeah, yeah...sorry about that. Daydreaming, you know. Not to mention it's freakin' hot out here." Demyx pretended to wipe sweat off his forehead before grinning sheepishly and lifting up his side of the couch, carrying it towards the porch of a small yellow house with white trim, and a green roof. Vines grew up one side of the house, and flower beds, sprouting myriad green shoots, surrounded the house and the large maple tree in the corner of the front yard. The lot was bigger than most in the neighborhood, because his mother's stipulation was that they buy a double lot, so they didn't have to live so close to their neighbor's, but, despite the size, the ancient maple towered over almost that entire half of the yard, branches majestically sweeping out over the house. She had always wanted a house in the country, but contented herself with this, and she loved it.
Demyx sighed. His mother had decided to redecorate their entire household, again, and he couldn't say that it matched one bit. She picked things she liked, with no care for how they would go together. Light walls in the living room clashed with the darker ones of the kitchen, and a mishmash of furniture rested against every wall. It was her in every way; comfortable, safe, understanding, but fun, willing to do things at a spur of the moment, and the house reflected this.
His father, on the other hand, only went long with this because it gave him an excuse to replace all of his stereo equipment. The blonde's dad was big into electronics, always wanting a new stereo system or speakers. Whereas his mother got cooking and decorating magazine, he got magazines like audiophile and other electronics catalogs. He also happened to be an electrician and something of a jack-of-all-trades, which was extremely handy, especially with his mother's habit of breaking things.
Demyx stopped thinking and concentrated on hoisting the heavy couch up the steps without running into the porch swing, and through the front door.
"Where's this one go again? The living room, right?" The redhead poked his head over the arm of the couch, pausing just inside the door.
"Yeah, we just have to get it there, mom'll put where she wants later."
"Excellent. And then cookies, right?" Demyx laughed at him. Axel could be a bottomless pit when it came to eating, and his mom had no problem complying.
After setting it down in the living room along with the rest of the furniture they went into the adjoining kitchen. A woman with blonde hair and light blue eyes, both of which her son had obviously inherited, stood at the counter, rolling dough into small balls and putting them on a cookie sheet. A delicious smell was already wafting from a cooling rack, where chocolate chip cookies sat, calling Axel's name quite loudly.
"Oh gosh mom, you didn't have too!" Axel gave her a big hug, promptly shoving an entire round of chocolaty goodness into his mouth. All of Demyx's friends called his mother mom. She refused to be called Mrs. Keyes, she said it made her feel like an old lady, and anyways, she had practically adopted all of her son's friends. She half expected to see at least two of them in the kitchen every morning, and she was always prepared to whip up a batch of chocolate chip pancakes for the surprise guests. Axel was over almost constantly, and she always said that if she hadn't been there herself, she would swear they were twins.
"Of course I did, Axel dear, it was so nice of you to come over and help us move the furniture back in." She looked over at Demyx, an amused twinkle in her bright blue eyes. "Your father's out at Best Buy again, fancy that." She rolled her eyes dramatically.
After grabbing a few more cookies, Axel and Demyx went to go to his room, most likely to play video games or something. His mom caught him as they were halfway up the stairs, and asked him if they wouldn't mind feeding the chickens before they went up. Yes, they had chickens, and no, it wasn't allowed where they lived, but no one seemed to mind, and it was his mother's compromise for not having a country house. Axel complied immediately; he loved the little feathery things.
They went out the back kitchen door, not even bothering to put their shoes on, their socks getting slightly wet from the damp ground. They walked back to the shed, were the chickens were walking around free range, picking at the grass. Four of the little things raced up to them, wings held out for balance, when they noticed the scoop Axel was carrying. He walked into the middle of them and let the food fall to the grass, watching them scrabble for the pieces, pushing the bigger ones away from the small, making sure they all got an equal share.
They weren't your average white or brown chickens, and they were less than half the size. They were all bantams, and were all brightly colored. Demyx's favorite was the little silver polish, with its top hat of feathers and beautiful silver and black plumage. He always got a laugh when he told people that the little bird had copied his hair. Axel's favorite was the little rooster. The bird was a Dutch, of some mixed variety, and was even smaller than the hens, but made up for his height in attitude. He had tried to smuggle the little bird inside the house and had succeeded more than once, but Demyx suspected his success was due more to his mom not caring more than her not noticing. She just had to watch them around their enormous Irish wolfhound, who would probably lick them to death, given the chance. The massive beast wouldn't hurt anything on purpose, but was so big sometimes he didn't notice them underfoot.
Axel sat on the balls of his feet, legs bent under him, peering down at the birds like a child before pulling out a cigarette. "You better watch that Ax, mom doesn't know you smoke."
"Your dad smokes, why should she care?" Smoke curled out of the corners of his mouth as he grinned, the cigarette held in his teeth.
"You're seventeen Ax, that's why." Demyx rolled his eyes. "Otherwise she wouldn't."
"Aw, only for another month. And she knows I smoke, I was smoking in front of her last week. She just told me not to smoke in the house."
"What?! If I even mentioned smoking, she'd eat my face off!"
Axel pushed off the ground, stepping carefully over the little bodies still pushing to get at the food. "Yeah well, maybe she loves me more." He blew smoke into the blonde's frowning face.
"Yeah, maybe, or less."
"Nah, it's more. I'm here favorite."
They walked back inside chatting easily, stomping up the stairs to Demyx's room. Axel plopped on the bed, leaned against the blue wall, and watched Demyx search his messy room for a video game. Axel loved Demyx's room. It was calming, despite the mess. On the far wall there were 4 guitars, Demyx's pride and joy, and a large amp next to a comfortable black loveseat. On another was the bed, covered in a dark blue down comforter and a few pillows. A large piece of abstract artwork hung above, music notes and stars and a cityscape blending together to make a whorl of color. It was actually one of Demyx's own pieces, and the lanky redhead lounging on the blonde's bed knew he was proud of it, even if he wouldn't say so. On the wall opposite from the bed was a window looking out to the backyard. A massive, not to mention expensive, looking stereo system sat in the corner, surround sound speakers jutting out of all the walls. CD's covered almost the rest of the wall. His music collection is amazing, thought Axel. I bet he's got every band ever. And probably more besides. And on the last wall was the door, which stood out because it was the only thing in the room that was red. Demyx had painted it a bright poppy red when his mother had gone out of town to visit his aunt, not that she had cared when she came back and discovered the paint brushes and half empty paint can in a dark corner of the garage. There were also large squares of corkboard stuck to the wall, with everything from pictures to quotes to poems to music sheets tacked up. Musical instruments took up every wall, including an old upright piano, a violin, a few kinds of flutes, and a saxophone. Demyx could play almost any musical instrument; he was probably the most musical person Axel knew. He had so many that his parents had opted to give him the bigger of the two bedrooms, just so he could have a place for all of his precious instruments.
It was utterly Demyx in every way, and calming despite its chaos.
"Axel, I can't find Guitar Hero," said Demyx, the words only slightly mumbled around another cookie, holding up the game itself, but not the plastic guitar.
"That's okay; we'll just do something else." Axel shrugged.
The mulleted boy sat down next to his friend on the bed, stretching out and humming under his breath. Demyx always seemed to be humming or whistling or singing, and it seemed that two things were most important to him; swimming, and music.
Axel got up and picked his favorite guitar of the blonde's, a 1966 vintage Pelham blue Gibson Melody Maker, which Demyx had spent just about forever saving up for, off the wall, carrying it back over to the bed and handing it to the blonde.
"Play me something," demanded Axel, grinning broadly. Demyx was better than any cd; Axel swore he could play any song you asked him too, and if he didn't know it, which was a very rare thing, he would learn it note perfect within the hour.
"Nah, my fingers hurt."
"From what? Pleeeease play me something? My only one true loooove?" The redhead fluttered his lashes in an attempt to be seductive, and kissed the stubborn blonde on the cheek.
"No, really, maybe later…" Axel's face fell into full pout mode as he crossed his arms over his chest. Not that he was very good at pulling it off, especially when he was close to breaking out into a grin.
Demyx sighed, defeated, and grabbed the guitar and broke into one of his favorite upbeat Counting Crows songs, "I was down at the New Amsterdam staring at this yellow-haired girl..."
Axel, listening to the lyrics, started to laugh, causing the blonde bending over the guitar to scowl a bit, but he didn't stop. He finished the song and looked over at Axel, who was still chuckling.
"What was so funny about that, eh?" The corners of the blonde's mouth twitched, like he was trying not to smile, despite being a little peeved at being interrupted. Demyx found it very hard not to laugh when someone else was.
"The... lyrics..." Axel choked out, trying to curb his laughter. Demyx thought he knew where this was going. "Since when do you...stare at beautiful...women?! I'm hurt! I thought I was your one and only!" Demyx blushed a little, he couldn't help it, but joined along in Axel's infectious laughter.
It had been quite a while since Demyx had come out of the closet, although all of his friends had known since, well, forever. He had never made a secret of it to them, but he had never seen a reason to let everyone else know, that is, until a few girls got fed up with waiting and took to asking him out themselves. He didn't have a problem with his sexuality, and neither did his mom. She could care less who he liked, and, after he told her, asked when he and Axel were getting married and speculated jokingly what their babies would look like, despite his hasty reassurances that they were just friends.
They were like brothers, and although Axel was gay too, as severely homosexual as a guy could get, they both seemed to have unconsciously agreed not to take their relationship further. They had practically grown up together, and it would just be too weird.
Demyx put the guitar away and threw a cd in, stretching out again on the bed next to Axel. They talked for a while about this and that, homework, teachers, boys, and lay there, enjoying each other's company, relaxing after the hard work of moving furniture. When the light from the setting sun shone through the window, Axel got up and stretched, saying he had to go home. He still had some homework to do, Axel being one to put such things off as long as possible, and the two walked downstairs. Mrs. Keyes was sitting on the couch, a fire cracking in the grate, reading a book with a cup of tea. Tagus, the wolfhound, lounged on the carpet, stretching to both ends of the couch.
"Bye mom! I gotta get home, homework to do, cat to feed, you know." Axel explained as he gave her a hug, careful not to spill the tea, scratched Tagus between the ears, and pecked Demyx on the cheek, which was their usual greeting and goodbye. He waved as he walked out the door, shutting it behind him, and pulled on his jacket. Once the sun started setting, it was still a little chilly.
He walked down the side walk, pulling the box of cigarettes out of his pocket and sticking another into his mouth. He pulled a lighter out and flicked it open, cupping his other hand around his mouth while the cigarette lit. He puffed on it a few times, and then pulled sunglasses out of
his other pocket, shoving them on his face against the glare of the setting sun. He kept walking, not paying attention, when a shout and a purple ball arrested his forward movement.
"Hey, you mind throwing that back over here?"
He picked the ball up, ready to throw it back, but held on to it when he noticed two figures coming towards him. They must have just moved in, he thought, since he didn't recognize them. The realtor sign was still stuck haphazardly into the grass of the front lawn. He looked back down and, to his surprise, two pairs of extremely bright blue eyes looked back at him. The two boys were almost exactly alike, except one had chocolate brown hair and softer features than the other, while the other had amazingly blonde hair, almost glowing in the light of the setting sun. In fact, it was so bright, it looked like he was the source of the light. Ah, thought Axel, twins. Just a little strange…
"Hi, my name's Sora. We just moved in." The one with the chocolate hair held out his hand, grinning from ear to ear like introducing himself to the much taller redheaded boy would make his entire week perfect. Which is rather unnerving, thought Axel. I wonder if he smiles like that all the time? It sure looks like he does.
Axel waited for the blonde to introduce himself, but he didn't. He just stared, right at Axel. And the tall redhead couldn't help but stare back. He couldn't look away from those blue, blue eyes, and that gorgeous blonde hair.
"... and that's my twin brother, Roxas," finished Sora, when he noticed that Roxas wasn't going to say anything. Axel broke out of his, for lack of a better word, trance, realizing he should probably introduce himself.
"Axel. Axel King." He gripped Sora's still outstretched hand, and went to shake Roxas's, but the shorter boy still stood there, gaping. Axel dropped his hand, more than a little disappointed and Roxas's seeming lack of enthusiasm, but then grinned, pulling his glasses down his nose to wink over them. "Maybe next time, Sunshine," said Axel, thinking of the way his hair was glowing like the sun itself, which snapped the blonde out of his, also for lack of a better word, trance, and he blushed scarlet. Axel thought it was just about the cutest fucking thing he had ever seen. "I'll see you later then, I live over there a bit, and now that I know where you live..." He let the sentence hang and gestured vaguely in the general direction of his house, knowing full well that what he said was a little creepy, but Sora just grinned happily and Roxas had gone back to gaping.
Axel walked away whistling, leaving a stunned boy gasping in his wake as though he hadn't been able to breathe properly for the last two minutes. Axel, although he had a little more self control, seemed almost just as affected. His whistling died off when he thought of the boy he had just met, and he found himself wishing he could kiss those lips that had looked so soft, wishing he could pull the boy close, and sink his fingers into that amazingly blonde hair, and let his lips wander along the gentle curve of his jaw, on down his neck...
He turned back, not having gotten very far, and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, shouting to the two boys still standing in their driveway, "Remember, the name's Axel. Got it memorized?"
oOoOoOoOo
It was dark Axel climbed the stairs of the apartment building he lived in with his brother and father. The light in the stairwell was flickering on and off, like it had been for the past month, and moths fluttered around the sconces set in the walls. Ignoring the seriously drunk man leaning on the wall next to what Axel assumed was his room, or more likely his 'girlfriends', he walked down to the end of the hall, pausing in front of the last door on the left to jiggle the key in the broken lock before the door opened.
The TV blared loudly to drown out the shouting from the next room over, the bluish flashes lighting the otherwise unlit room for seconds at a time, revealing a small room with a kitchen attached, and an even smaller hallway with two rooms off of it, the door of one wide open to reveal a pile of laundry and two small beds, the other closed.
Axel threw his keys on the counter where they slid to a halt against a half empty beer can while he kicked another out of the way as he walked into the room. "Could you try to not throw your shit everywhere Reno? It smells like pot in here. You didn't go into my stash, did you?"
"Hell no, little bro, I got my own fucking stash. And I'll put my shit wherever the goddamn I want." A head poked over the top of the dilapidated couch in front of the TV. "Now shut up man, I'm watching The Price Is Right." The head disappeared.
"That's Wheel Of Fortune, moron." Continuing to speak over his brother's cry of 'Shut up man, I know my fucking game shows!' Axel asked, "Is dad coming home tonight?"
"Nah, bro, he got arrested."
Axel just sighed. This wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last. "What for?"
"Dunno, now leave me alone."
Axel grabbed his keys of the counter and a beer out of the fridge, wishing they had something to eat as his stomach growled hungrily. "Yeah, no chocolate chip cookies here," he muttered under his breath as he combed through the cabinets for even a little food. Not finding any he walked down the hallway and opened the second door. This was his father's room, but as he clearly wasn't home, the redhead was taking the opportunity to have his own room for a while. Usually, when Reno didn't fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV, he and Axel would have to share a room.
He plopped down on the bed, listening to the creak of springs in the mattress. He sat for a while before opening his beer and taking a large gulp, and then decided it was nice enough to open the window, so he sat the can down on the ground and got up with another furious groan of the mattress and walked over the single window. It looked over a small, overgrown lot across the street. He pushed upward as hard as he could, the window squealing in protest, but finally managing to get it open. He stepped back to the bed and laid out across it, his long legs hanging over the edge.
The redhead stared up at the ceiling, a light breeze from the open window playing across his face. He sighed and closed his eyes, the image of the blonde he had met earlier appearing behind his closed eyes. Roxas. He would remember that name.
This one was different. He had to be.
AN: Sooo, not too much different for those of you that read the old version, except for the little scene at the end. I wanted to bring Reno in, and whether he turns out being a little more or a major character than I thought remains to be seen. You'll meet a few more characters that weren't there the first time around in the next chapter as well. Now, I wanted to add this scene with Axel at the end just to contrast his living conditions and Demyx's. Axel grew up poor, never knew his mother, and had Reno as a substitute father of sorts because dad is in jail most of the time. And I can tell you, Axel did more of looking after Reno than the other way around. There's also the matter of the last line. Axel thinks this for because of things that happened in the past, but we'll get to that later in the story. For now, I'll try to update the next couple chapters as soon as possible so we can get to the new stuff! Yay!
Don't forget to review, my lovely readers. Criticism and comments are always welcome and much appreciated. :)
-demyyyxkun