Chapter One
"Because nobody goes through life without a scar." – Carol Burnett
"Fucking hell." Axel muttered to himself as he walked down one of the few lit paths in the park. It was dark now, a couple of hours after sunset. Axel had hoped things would be better by now, but they weren't. He focused his gaze on one of the many loose fragments of sidewalk littering his path. He kicked it. "Fucking hell."
He couldn't believe his life had turned out this way. He thought it would be so easy to leave his world behind and forge ahead in a new one. He may have been scarred and ugly, but he was still a nymph. That sort of beauty, even marred, was a sight to behold. Or so he had naïvely believed.
Axel had gotten disgusted looks all day. He'd asked for help and had been turned away countless times. Humans didn't speak to him if they could help it, but gawked and pointed instead as if he was a circus attraction meant for their morbid entertainment. Axel was used to being the center of attention, but the constant negative vibes were unsettling. Perhaps, Axel mused sardonically, I make them feel that much better about themselves.
Axel hated their sick fascination. The fucking scar, as it was called in his head, had ruined his entire life. He'd left his home for this shithole of a city—he was a prince, damn it!
If it wasn't for the fucking scar, he was sure he'd still be able to reign. It was about beauty, after all, not power. Riku won the fight, but that was physical strength. The battle really should have been more like a show, but Riku twisted it like the little fucktard he was.
The human world was just as distasteful as he'd imagined it to be. It smelled like filth. It was covered in trash. Axel did not like it. The tall buildings were shoved together as if personal space was forbidden. Why was the place so densely populated? Was this normal to feel so suffocated by the endless rows of decrepit buildings? How could humans live in a world like this?
Axel wanted to go home.
He couldn't. The park was the closest thing he could find.
Axel sulked down the path until he found a wooden park bench. It will have to do, he decided.
He bunched his leather coat into a pillow and flopped onto the wood. It wasn't long enough. It wasn't very comfortable. But it would have to do.
Axel could picture Riku's smirking face in his mind.
"How the mighty have fallen." Riku snickered smugly. The little shit.
Axel fell asleep with a frown on his face.
The next day was not better.
He was again ignored when he asked for help.
"Worthless." One cruel man had hissed when he'd tripped over Axel's long legs sprawled out on the street. "Go back to where you came from."
Axel decided he wasn't going to stay with such fuckers. And so he stole a map and decided he was going to find his way to somewhere much nicer—and fucking warmer—than this shithole.
Twilight Town. Axel had decided he was leaving Hollow Bastion for the smaller community near the beach. Why the fuck not? What did Hollow Bastion have to offer besides mean fucks? Nothing.
Axel was taking the train. It was the cheapest form of transportation, and he'd found a person willing to buy him a ticket. An overweight, unattractive person with black hair sticking out from his head like a radish who apparently was willing to offer hot redheads free tickets.
This Pence was headed to Twilight Town as well. Why? Axel didn't ask. He didn't want to talk to the ugly motherfucker any more than he had to, regardless of the fact the guy had bought him a ticket.
Pence talked about insignificant things Axel could simply ignore. He mentioned a girlfriend and that was about all Axel got. The girl had to be hella ugly to go for a guy like Pence, Axel decided.
Twilight Town was much better than Hollow Bastion. Axel closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he got off the train. It was so much cleaner here.
Axel left Pence at the station in order to follow a cute blonde girl he'd seen leaving the train. He'd much rather stay with someone aesthetically pleasing.
Roxas wasn't very popular.
Roxas didn't think he'd ever be popular.
When he and Pluto went for walks, the normal volume of conversation dropped to muted whispers. Roxas didn't think of himself as egotistical, but he had a good feeling people were talking about him. You'd have to be an idiot to not notice the way people shifted away from him wherever he went. Not that he minded! Made walking so much easier and faster because Pluto didn't stop to sniff everyone's crotch/ass/smelly bits.
Today, however, Roxas was on a mission. He was out of food. Not just any food, dog food. And Pluto had not been pleased when they'd discovered it earlier that morning. Roxas didn't think he'd ever heard Pluto whine so loud.
He'd apologized, of course, but that didn't prevent the heat of Pluto's angry gaze. So Roxas had made some toast and donned a sweatshirt before grabbing his wallet and keys and Pluto's leash.
And that's where they were currently, on the way to the grocery store in order to buy whatever Pluto sat in front of today. Roxas let Pluto choose his own food. Why not? He was the one that had to eat it, not Roxas. It all smelled pretty repugnant, anyway. But for a dog that liked sniffing crotch and ass, Roxas decided it couldn't be too bad.
When they arrived at the store, Pluto immediately started pulling on the leash. Roxas chuckled.
"All right, all right! Let's go get some food."
Instead of heading into the building, Pluto tugged him towards the wall.
"Uh, Pluto?" Roxas asked. Then he heard something groan.
"What is it, boy?" Roxas bent down and heard another moan. Shit, a person! Pluto barked and yanked Roxas closer to the person on the ground. Maybe he'd been mugged? Maybe he was a druggie? It didn't matter, because Pluto had obviously decided they were adopting today. So Roxas bent down and pulled the person—heavy person—up into a standing position. Pluto then tugged Roxas back towards the store.
"Why didn't we get the food and then make friends, Pluto?" Roxas whined. Pluto ignored him.
After buying some Natural Balance Ultra Premium (Roxas knew just by the way the bag felt, as the brand was one of Pluto's favorites—even more than the beef and liver cans!), Roxas, Pluto, and their new friend ambled back towards Roxas' house.
The person—he was male, and he was taller than Roxas with long hair in a pony tail that stuck out everywhere and tickled Roxas' neck and cheek as he walked. He was wearing a leather coat, by the smell of it.
At least now his neighbors had a good reason to stare.
Roxas wasn't popular, but he hadn't been banished from everyone's sight because he was nice. He got the total stranger into his house and then arranged him into what he hoped was a comfortable seated position. (Roxas only had squishy big chairs in his living room, okay? They'd been cheap on craigslist and they were comfy and squishy and smelled awesome after he'd febreezed the shit out of them. And Pluto liked them, too. So there.) Then Roxas and Pluto bustled about trying to find things to help their friend.
Roxas figured he would have a bad headache, and assembled an array of medicine. He grabbed a glass from his kitchen cabinet and filled it with ice water. Then he began to run a bath. (New friend or not, the stranger stank. Rancid. What was it with Pluto and smells?) Roxas grabbed some of his largest clothes and stopped the water when it was almost full. (Scalding hot! Roxas loved baths that tried to burn his skin off. He was a masochist like that.) He also set out a first-aid kit in case the guy really had been mugged.
Pluto helped by bringing the man things: old newspapers, a couple of Roxas' shoes, squeaky toys, chewed-up tennis balls, and other assorted dog treasures. Then he sat on the stranger's feet for awhile. Then he wanted to play, but he knew Roxas was busy in the bathroom, so instead decided to lick stranger's face so he'd get up and play.
Unsurprisingly, Pluto was successful.
"Huh… what…WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?"
Roxas jumped three feet in the air.
Axel hadn't been doing so well in Twilight Town. The blonde girl's boyfriend had not been kind. Axel had a few bruises to show for that.
Axel had been stuck another night outside the only grocery store in the town. He'd been hungry and had decided to beg. He wasn't successful.
He was so sure he'd be fucking stuck in the fucking cold outside of this fucking store that sold fucking food that no one was willing to fucking buy for him for the rest of his fucking life. Fuck. He was doomed to die a miserable, cold death.
So it was a surprise when he woke up to a big, goofy-looking dog licking his face.
"PLUTO! Leave him alone! You'd better be off him before I get down there!" A voice echoed from up the stairs—stairs? He was in a house? In a chair! It was warm!
The dog was off him now, wagging its tail happily and chewing on a squeaky orange blob thing.
And then a blonde kid came down the stairs and approached him.
"Hey." Axel said.
"I'm glad you're awake…?"
"Axel."
"Axel. I'm Roxas."
Hello Roxas, indeed. The blonde was pretty smoking, in Axel's opinion. He had these beautiful blue eyes. Gorgeous blue. He didn't think he'd ever seen the color before.
"Were you out there all night? It can get pretty cold, so I ran a bath for you. It should warm you up. I also have a glass of water and some advil up there for you. Just head up the stairs." Roxas didn't make eye contact with Axel, and Axel assumed it was due to the fucking scar.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Axel leisurely climbed up the steps and walked into the bathroom. Axel was a nymph with a certain penchant for fire, and appreciated the scalding water. And it was fucking hot and wonderful.
After a nice bath, Axel decided that he liked the kid, even if he was a runt and his clothes were much too small.
Roxas had never had a house guest before. It was usually just him and Pluto. Roxas was stressing because he didn't know what to do. Was Axel going to stay? Should he make up a bed?
Roxas lived in a small two-story townhome in Twilight Town. He could walk or take the tram anywhere he needed to go, which was nice because he'd never be able to get his license.
Most of the townhomes in his area were identical. When you entered the front door, you could immediately head back into the kitchen. His kitchen island sort of stuck out in the middle of the living room, but it didn't really bother him. His pantry was too friggin' small, though. The stairs were immediately to the right after entering through the front door. They lead directly to the second floor, which was the bedroom. There was a bathroom on that floor. It was some kind of mutant loft floorplan.
Roxas was pretty smug to note that his mutant loft was entirely paid off.
He did have a small back yard that was fenced in and a very nice size. He had a swing set back there (Roxas loved feeling weightless), as well as an outdoor doghouse for Pluto. The two spent a lot of time outdoors.
Anyway, Roxas decided on smashing his two comfy chairs together and covering them with sheets and a blanket to make some weird hybrid chair-bed. He wasn't really satisfied with it, and neither was Pluto because the dog kept jumping on the chairs and messing up the sheets even when Roxas tried to explain what they were for. Roxas huffed and went upstairs to get a pillow.
Axel decided to suffer in the teeny tiny clothes. They were too small and uncomfortable, but probably all the kid had available.
Roxas didn't look up from his task of collecting pillows.
"Do you feel better?"
"Much. Do you have any other clothes?" The redhead gestured to himself, implying the tightness of the outfit.
"I'm afraid not. Your clothes are in the wash. They'll be out in maybe an hour." Axel made a noise of appreciation, and then smirked.
"You just wanted to see me naked, didn't you?" He said flirtatiously.
"What?"
Axel chuckled. "Sneaking into the bathroom and stealing my clothes! You little sexual deviant. Do you like what you see?" Axel did a little dance and laughed at the blonde's blushing face.
"I was just trying to be helpful!" Axel noted that Roxas still wouldn't make eye contact. Was he really so disgusting?
"What do you think about my hair? It's gorgeous, ain't it? My favorite part of me."
"It is very long."
"And beautiful!"
"You have a lot of it."
"Don't you love the color!"
There was no response. Axel looked over at Roxas and noted him scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Um, maybe I should introduce myself a little more thoroughly?"
Axel was confused. "Uh, what do you mean—"
"Hi, my name is Roxas Strife. And I'm blind."
Axel had to bite back his comment. How could someone so beautiful be so hideously deformed?
"I can't stay here."
Roxas' brow furrowed. "What are you—"
"I can't."
And Axel was gone.
A/N: Updates are fast because this story is fun to write. Don't worry, Axel's not too much of an asshole.
And I don't really like Pence. He reminds me of a radish. Is it just me?
