A hooker's liner

CHAPTER THREE

The bond.

"Why can't you send in some-," he pressed the phone against his cheek and elbow, rapidly skimming through both his pockets to retrieve some coins, "I need it- ugh, now." he pushed one ¥100* coin ($0.91) inside the rusted vending machine's coinage slit, the billboard's vaporware illuminance made his eyes narrow. He futilely awaited for his purchased brew.

He coughed, "I'm out of cash alright?" Out of patience, Aksel kicked the machine's bottom side with his left foot, causing it to impel an oxidized cracking noise and soon after, a pop beverage fell down the metallic compartment. Though it advertised as 'Only ¥54' ($0.49) No change was ever given, not even after he asserted three punches on the side of it.

"… yeah they paid me, around eight days maybe- 'aight, I know okay? I fucking know but what am I suppo-"

Aksel reached down to grab the soda, "mhm, go ahead…" he sighed as he turned away from the machine. The can's fizzing sound went unheard as he opened the pop's top; he sipped on his soda and sighed a second time, "…Yeah, sure, I'll wait here."

"…Yeah, tell her that it's for food and stuff aha."

"…thank you by the way." Although it was an hour past midnight, with the corner of his eye, Aksel could devise a hooded man heading towards his direction, he determined to step away from the machine and head towards his apartment; not that it was difficult to see through the neon floodlit alleys. Looking down to the wet patches on the concrete, Aksel wondered if that night would also rain as in the past several days.

He grabbed his phone more firmly, not needing to use both his hands aside from holding the soda, "Yeah, uh, hi again ….and? what did she tell you?"

He sighed in bitter acquiescence, "…what? …just how much did you say?" He moved his head in negative, his eyes rolled up acerbically, "I see…"

"No, nothing… it's fine, I mean, we will both agree that it's not much and I could rant the fuck out of why ¥4,300.00 ($39.19) isn't shit but I guess that it is something you know-"

"No- I didn't mean to say you weren't helpful…. Ah no, I still want those 4300¥… all I'm saying is-" He snarled, "You know what? Forget about it. Yes, it is fine… I'll wait for the deposit."

"Yeah, I'll do my best to start saving. Thank yo- goodnight to you too, mhm bye."

He hung up and realized his cousin's words would ring up louder than he wanted them too.

'Aksel this time they are not fucking around. Start saving from payday to payday because this is the last time I help you.'

He frowned, "Son of a bitch; all that crap over so little money." He walked over to a street's trashcan and he threw the empty can inside, "Now what options do I have now."

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Eyes sore from all the urban fliers' distorting lights; the blue, red, pink and purple effect-templates throughout the city and each alleyway that strobed insistently through his clear eyes, the worsened stench of the deteriorated streets and the never-ending smoke and smolder combined with the rain's vapor that surrounded him into a dampened mess of coldness and awkward humidity, almost to the extent of suffocation had him close to hindrance, Aksel fumbled with the keys outside his apartment, needlessly throwing the door open as well as slamming it back shut.

He sighed in relief as he yanked the damp black hoodie from his waist to the nearest perch. Everything was pitch black, except for the TV on the living room that was on, the noise was so faint that it was almost muted, his roommate was sleeping across the couch, the commercial's flashes dimly revealing his frame up to clear recognition. Aksel walked in closer.

One forearm tucked as a pillow, a dainty sheet wrapped around his hip and Aksel couldn't deny it gave him a tender vulnerability despite the scowl that Aksel recalled it being ever-present on his face. Aksel couldn't even understand why they even bickered so often, but they did and sometimes it progressed in worseness. It had been two months since Jazz moved in and each day was hell printed on their skins. It crawled, it screeched and it prevailed.

Jazz seemed to be deafened to casual conversations, he always hissed, yelled obscenities and flipped his middle finger at him, other days he just mocked his accent and the way he spoke, sometimes he punched him one or two times if Aksel accidentally stepped in 'too close'.

'Fuck you' was the most used sentence in that house and nobody got to fool around besides their massive egos. They couldn't get along. Not one bit. Not after all the insults, all the dirty looks they gave to each other, all the scornful words and infinite disdain. The maddening amount of sarcasm and derisiveness made their interactions dense hostility.

Unnecessarily aggressive; those were two words that could describe Jazz almost faultlessly. Aksel didn't like the stress their broken relationship conveyed, true. They couldn't get along not even if they got paid, true. They didn't like each other, true. But sometimes… just sometimes, Aksel could admit he liked their wicked game. Sometimes… he liked Jazz' games and some very few others, he liked Jazz.

He wearily walked over to where his roommate slept, hovering over and projecting his shadow above his pale frame.

"Iaas." Tiredly, his fingertips glided delicately over the uncovered skin of Jazz' shoulder. Sparing intruding thoughts about the softness of the skin beneath his palm, Aksel's eyes narrowed in acerbic covetousness and his voice became louder "Wake up rat."

Eyes that immediately slit open as astringent venomous coils of danger, a hand that aggressively slapped his fingers off of his skin and a voice that emerged curtly irate from sleep, Jazz' consciousness emerged from slumber as he stared up at Aksel's towering figure upfront.

"Fucking-" Jazz growled as he seated on top of the various sheets he was lying on, his hair unarranged yet too cynically pretty to make Aksel lose his temper, "It's almost fucking two in the morning," Jazz snarled as he glanced at the clock across the living room, "are you fucking stoned or what?"

Aksel snickered impishly, despite his tiredness, only his playful cheekiness would let him earn a positive response "I have a deal for you."

Jazz jeered acrimoniously "A fucking deal?" his challenging frown crossed off almost in fustian disbelief, "I was fucking sleeping you know? Besides, do you really think you have something that I could want? How fucking cute."

"I'm sure I do."

Jazz seated properly and bent his arms across his chest, he asked almost in mockery "You already woke me up so now go the fuck on. What the fuck do you want?"

"First off, is that my shirt?" Aksel's eyes focused on the slack black shirt that hung loosely down one of his shoulders.

"It's dark in here to say so but it might be," Jazz smirked, raising an eyebrow in mindfulness "Now, what is it that is so fucking important that couldn't fucking wait for tomorrow?"

"I'm broke."

Jazz snorted after a while, "Are you?"

"Pretty much-"

Jazz rolled up his eyes, "let me fucking sleep, okay? Go feed that shit to someone else."

"Funny of you to say that," Aksel smiled mischievously, "what happens is that I'm an underground chef."

"Huh?" Why the fuck didn't I know that about him? "Are you?" his yellow bellicose eyes narrowed, "Is that the reason why your paycheck is sheer garbage?"

"Pretty much." Aksel nodded, "But I love what I do."

"…m'kay but why do you think I care?"

Aksel smugly explained, "Well, I'm known to serve the best red-meats from the entire district… if you want to taste them then that's my deal."

"hm," Jazz scorned, "Really? How do I know that's a worthy deal to me?" he raised an eyebrow, mildly interested.

Aksel scoffed, "Well… Tourists come all the way through the recondite place where I work in the search for the 'white man's cook', so you tell me."

Jazz nodded seemingly impressed, "What do you want from me then?"

"I cook for us and you buy the groceries for both of us. And yes, it is that simple. That doesn't mean we have to get along. That's unassuming convenience since I've noticed you only eat…" he accentuated, "garbage."

Son of a…

Jazz stood silent. Aksel continued, "Although you might have noticed that I have a graveyard shift, people only eat my food past 7 pm. But I will make sure that I leave yours ready through every meal, including dinner."

Jazz sighed and stood up from where he was seating, "Yeah, whatever," he nodded "That'd be fine for me."

"Hold up." Aksel pursed his lips, "You will buy what groceries I tell you, alright? I don't consume whatever shit that's on promotion."

"No wonder why you are broke."

"Do we have a deal then?" Aksel extended his hand, receiving a much smaller one in a solid grip of having sealed an agreement.

"I think we do."

"Good. Now go back to sleep."

"Yeah hold on now," Jazz sneered before letting Aksel leave, "In the first month we had to share in here, I think I remember you mentioning of how you had a 'family business' in which you had- what you called- a 'steady' job."

"I still do," Aksel nodded, "I don't mind it though personally. I don't get too much involvement there because I have a passion where I work now."

It's never that easy to disengage from that bloodline, Aksel Naess.

"mph," Jazz sighed, "Was your family okay with that?"

"Well… they let me have a paycheck so, we can say that they reluctantly agreed so I think they are fine with that, yes."

They aren't.

They truly aren't.

"What kind of job do you have with your family?"

Aksel stuck out his tongue, "Eek, I don't even know. I just organize some of their papers."

Not yet willing to spill, huh?

"Oh, I see." Jazz nodded, "So tell me, in this underground culinary job of yours, how is the payment?"

"Non-existent right now." Aksel chuckled, just then is that Jazz noticed how attractive that sound actually was "My friend Kai and I just started it not long ago. He is still paying the credits he used to make it work. Hopefully… I'll get to see something soon."

"Yeah… and hopefully, he isn't fooling you."

"Nah, I trust him." Aksel shrugged jovially, "What about you Iaas?" Aksel witnessed his alluring cat-eyes brighten in apprehension, "I barely know anything about you and today seems to be a peaceful day between us."

"Huh? Me?" Jazz inquired, "What do you want to know about me?"

"Hmm, let me think. You…" Aksel started, "…do not have a steady job, now do you?"

"Oh… I do." Jazz moved his head in an assenting motion. "I certainly do."

"Really?" Aksel placed both his hands inside his pockets, "I mean, it was hard to tell because sometimes you are late, sometimes you are not. Let's me thinking… What do you do for a living?"

Jazz stood silent for a minute.

"I'm a hooker."

Aksel's cheeks tainted, a slight toll of jealousy left his mouth tasting bitter. "You are?"

"Indeed." Jazz shrugged and then he turned to walk back to his bedroom, he stopped before crossing the wooden frame's threshold and he turned to look behind his shoulder "do you want to know about my tariffs or…"

"Though you are probably just messing around with me," Aksel's tongue clicked, he lightheartedly grinned "I'm broke."

"I figured." Jazz leered coquettishly, "start saving." With those words playfully tossed, Jazz stepped inside his bedroom and then leisurely closed the door.

Aksel laughed quietly, "…Yeah… I think I will."

After a while in silence, the door softly clicked and Aksel's attention snapped back at it, his heart caught up in his throat but not without it skipping a beat "…Do you want to come in?"

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AN/

I decided to remove the story from Jazz' perspective because I don't want to tire out his thoughts. I also want to focus a little more on Aksel and to make you see through a third person's POV for it to be less anguishing or upsetting lol. Also, I don't mind skipping two months of bickers since I don't think that including those scenes will affect positively the flow of the story. Also, we may assume Aksel's speech improved a lot in that time-frame. I mean, let's say he tries, especially since someone pointed it out a lot in a negative manner lol No grammar check this time, I'll trust my hand on this one.

Till next time

Batya000

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BONUS SCENE! Next chapter (It takes place in between those two months of fights between them, it is one of the scenes I wrote that I then decided to take out/off. You'll see why lol)