Axel whistled to himself as he typed away on a laptop.
It was a very old laptop and Roxas said he'd traded a goat for it. That worked for him. Now when his hands were too sore to work on the loop anymore he could write his stories. That was an activity guaranteed to keep him occupied for a long, long time.
Axel had always enjoyed writing. He wrote about almost everything but tended to prefer heavy sci-fi with a homoerotic slant. He doubted he'd ever get published but that wasn't why he wrote anyway. He did it to amuse himself. And right now his own amusement was more important than ever.
Axel frowned and glanced up as thunder slowly rolled. The weather had been threatening to go bad all day and as he looked at the window he could see fat droplets finally falling. He hoped Roxas would have the sense to come in out of it. Axel couldn't be sure but it seemed like the blonde was driving himself far too hard trying to keep the farm going. Sure, keeping a herd of goats was a lot of work but Roxas was overdoing it. Of course, there were the hay fields and the rabbits. Maybe Roxas had just bitten off more than one person could expect to chew. Axel grimaced a bit at the thought. If that was the case he was going to kill himself trying. Roxas was not the kind of person to give up.
Axel glanced up again, concerned, as he realized the rain was really going at it. Surely Roxas had come inside? Then the door to the basement opened and he looked up with relief. Roxas was there, his clothing damp but not quite soaked and carrying a tray of food.
"Lunch." He said quietly and Axel nodded, closing his document and setting the laptop to the side. Lunch turned out to be chicken soup with crackers and Axel dug in with good cheer.
"Thanks. Got driven in by the rain?" It was a bit early for lunch. Roxas smiled as he glanced at the window.
"Yes. Fortunately the weather reports warned there would probably be thunderstorms today. The animals are all provided for." Roxas was pleased with the amount of work he'd gotten done today. The goats and rabbits would have nothing to complain of. "Axel, have you ever thought about death?" Roxas suddenly asked and Axel stopped chewing for a moment.
"Since you brought me here? Ye-ess…" That was a pretty disturbing question. Axel had been worried since the moment he was brought here that he'd be killed when Roxas got tired of him or someone started to get a bit too close. Roxas couldn't just let him go, he knew far too much. But Roxas shook his head impatiently.
"Not specifically, I mean in general. What comes after you die." Roxas clarified and Axel frowned, thinking about it.
"Sometimes but… see, the problem with thinking about that is that we can never know what comes after death. So all worrying about it does is give you ulcers for no good reason. Personally, I think either we're going to heaven and everything will be okay or there will be nothing when we die in which case we won't be worrying about it." He ate a spoonful of the chicken soup. "Although I try not to think about non-existance. That's creepy." Roxas frowned as he thought about that then sighed.
"You're probably right. It's probably better to just not think about it but I can't seem to help myself. I sometimes hope reincarnation exists but then I wonder what I did to deserve this life?" Roxas stared into his soup morosely. "Maybe I was a mass murderer in a previous incarnation."
"Well you're a kidnapper in this one, that has to have cost you a few brownie points." Axel observed, making Roxas blink then laugh.
"You always cheer me up." Roxas murmured, looking at him affectionately. "It's why I love you." Axel frowned at the blonde. He knew it was probably a stupid thing to fight with him about but he couldn't help but be offended by that.
"If you were in love with me you wouldn't be keeping me locked up here." He snapped back and Roxas eyes dropped down to the table. "If you loved me you would be thinking more about me than about yourself!" Axel felt that that was the crux of the matter. Roxas was keeping him here without any regard for his feelings or eventual fate.
"I know." Roxas was speaking so softly Axel had to strain to hear. "But if it's not love it's the closest thing I've ever felt. Watching you all those years… it kept me going… just worshipping you from afar. I – I knew you'd probably be going soon and I was trying to say goodbye when I saw you at the bar looking so sad. You were hardly ever sad and I wondered why and when I found out you were lonely too I just had to bring you here. You see?" Roxas looked up at him, big blue eyes wide and a bit wet. Axel stared into those eyes and felt his anger melting away.
"Not really." He said with a sigh. "But I guess it doesn't matter. You're really fucked up in the head Roxas." The blonde smiled then, a touch sadly.
"I know." Roxas ate some of his soup before changing the subject. "What have you been writing? Can I see?" He knew about Axel's stories although he'd never gotten the chance to look at them before and was quite curious. He knew that Axel's friends had liked to read his work but that was as close as he'd gotten to finding out anything about it.
"Uh? Sure." Axel doubted he'd like it but it wasn't like his work was a secret. He passed Roxas the laptop and the blonde looked over the story curiously as he ate. Then he almost choked as he reached one particular part of the story.
"He's yelling 'warp core breach imminent' during sex?!?" Axel coughed as Roxas kept reading. "Is this space smut?"
"Hey, sex sells." Axel said serenely as Roxas laughed. "Wait 'till you get to the alien sex part."
"I'm scared now. Is it all gay sex?" Roxas flipped through the rest of the story and laughed again. "It's easy to tell you're gay!" Axel knew what he meant. There were plenty of straight couples in the story but the main character definitely wasn't and all the detailed sex was very gay.
"Nah, I write straight sex too. It's just that the main character in that one is gay as gay can be." Axel said with good humor. "Although I'm not sure if alien tentacle sex counts as gay."
"Ewww. Damn, I might have to see about getting a printer so I can take this with me. I hate reading stories on a computer screen." It tended to give him a headache. Roxas passed back the laptop as he finished off his soup. "Want to play some Yahtzee?"
"Sure, why not?" Axel agreed as Roxas went to pull out the Yahtzee box. There was a very good assortment of board games in the basement and Roxas seemed to love them. Axel didn't mind playing them, they were all rather fun. Although he refused to play Monopoly anymore. With only two people playing that game could go on for over two hours and still not be done. There were only so many Boardwalks he could take. Soon they were both rolling the dice as Roxas kept the score.
Axel won handily the first time, but Roxas quickly staged a comeback and trounced him the next two. They went on to play Clue, then Risk before watching the TV a while. Finally they made love as the rain fell, making a pleasant counterpoint to their soft moans and gasps. When it was over and Roxas was stroking his hair, Axel reflected that if Roxas had only been his boyfriend in a normal relationship this would have been a great way to spend the day.
But he wasn't and it wasn't. He needed to be free.
"Yes." Axel muttered to himself as he felt the loop give a bit. It had been weeks, weeks he'd spent working on the loop until he just couldn't anymore and finally his dedication was bearing fruit. It felt like the loop could come out anytime now. He'd just have to keep at it and soon –
He heard the door to the basement opening and hurriedly went back to his laptop, typing in a few nonsense words as Roxas walked down the stairs. The blonde looked tired but his eyes were very bright and he was carrying a tray of food.
"I have a treat for supper." Axel looked over with a frown and blinked as he saw the steaming dishes. It smelled very familiar.
"Is that curry?" Curry had always been his favorite dish. Roxas smiled.
"Yes, goat curry." Axel was sure he knew where the meat had come from but he didn't care in the least. He was managing to eat the rabbit and he had no compunctions at all about goats. "Also some good wine to go with it."
"Wine with curry?" Axel was a bit dubious but Roxas nodded and poured him a glass of white wine. "You're sure about that?"
"Oh yes. Dry wine is what's recommended with curry." Roxas poured the rest of the wine into a decanter. "It'll help the wine to breath a bit." Axel thought nothing of it and missed Roxas' hand passing quickly over the spout of the decanter.
The meal went very pleasantly but Axel felt incredibly tired after he poured himself another glass of wine. He barely managed to finish it before he was passing out and Roxas helped him to his bed. Axel was vaguely aware of the blonde giving him a chaste, gentle kiss before he dropped off into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning he woke up with another headache and a grim certainty about what had happened the previous day.
"You drugged me again you little asshole!" Axel snarled as Roxas walked down the steps into the basement. The blonde only laughed at his anger. "Why?"
"Look at the wall." Roxas suggested, amused, and Axel turned his head to see… A brand new loop, freshly drilled into the wall.
"You FUCKER! You knew what I was doing the whole time! Why didn't you say anything?" All that effort, wasted. Roxas smiled.
"It kept you busy." Axel took a deep, hitching breath and Roxas blinked as he saw… "Axel? Are you crying?" That wasn't the reaction he'd expected and Axel tried to jerk away as he felt Roxas' hands on his shoulders.
"Go away!" He wiped his eyes furiously. Roxas looked a bit bewildered and almost guilty. "You know, it's not fucking funny to let someone get their hopes up then just smash them." Axel felt angry, despairing and more than a little sick. How was he supposed to get out of this now? "How… am I going to be down here for the rest of my life? Or are you going to get bored of me and shoot me? Fuck it Roxas!" Axel felt warm arms around him and almost pushed Roxas away before he realized the blonde was crying too.
"No Axel I'd never hurt you, never. I thought you would be mad at me not… not…" Roxas had been prepared for Axel's anger and had actually looked forward to it. He thought Axel looked so cute when he was mad. But not this, not tears and pain. "I'm sorry. Please, don't hate me." He whispered, face pressed against Axel's neck. Axel blinked as he felt warm tears against his skin. He ran a hand through soft gold hair and lifted Roxas face for a kiss before pressing the smaller boy down onto the bed. As Roxas began to panic Axel spoke in his ear.
"If you're sorry, let me love you the way I want to." Then he kissed Roxas' throat, but gently, like he would with his past lovers and for a moment Axel marveled at himself. What was he doing? Roxas stayed stiff, breathing too quickly but not trying to get away as Axel explored him gently, giving him feather light kisses and tender touches. Gradually the blonde seemed to relax although he sniffed occasionally. Axel glanced up and saw that Roxas was staring at him intently. The blonde smiled shakily and Axel smiled back before kissing him. He made it sweet and lingering, just the way it should be as he started to slowly slide off Roxas clothes. The blonde gasped then buried his face against Axel's neck and he could feel Roxas trembling. "Can you do this?" He was worried now that Roxas was going to break. And while he knew he shouldn't really care, Axel still didn't want that to happen.
"Yes." Roxas whispered but it sounded like he might start crying. Axel reached up to touch his face, concerned and Roxas managed a small smile. "I'm just used to it hurting. A lot." Axel blinked at that but decided not to ask.
"It won't hurt." He promised then set out to fulfill that promise. It took a lot of work and a lot of gentle kisses on Roxas face, neck and clavicles but he finally had the blonde relaxed and watching him with warm blue eyes. Roxas gasped and started to tense again as he reached behind to blonde to open him but more soothing kisses helped. The blonde gripped Axel's shoulders tightly, moaning as the redhead found his prostate and gently pressed that sensitive spot. "See? Feels good, doesn't it?" Axel whispered and Roxas took a shaky breath before nodding, still looking at him intently.
"S'alright." Roxas managed to say back, his voice soft and shaking. "Just… scared…" Axel could see the fear coming and going on the blonde's face and wondered what had happened in his past to traumatize him so much. It had to be something ugly. Pushing that aside, Axel spread the blonde's leg a bit more, positioning himself and carefully easing inside. He paused at every hint of pain on Roxas' face, stroking his length to keep the smaller boy hard. Finally he was completely sheathed in the blonde and Axel paused a moment, waiting for the pain to fade before he made a slow, smooth thrust into the tight heat beneath him. "Ah!" Roxas gasped harshly as Axel hit his pleasure spot again, then moaned as the redhead kissed him. "No… no…" Axel bit his lip as he realized Roxas was staring at the ceiling, his blue eyes wide and unfocused.
"Shhhh. It's me. Focus on me Roxas." Axel said softly and the blonde blinked, looking at him again. "I'm here, stay focused on me." Axel began to slowly take Roxas, as gently as he could. His own body had needs but he just couldn't traumatize the blonde. Roxas reached up to run his hands through red spikes, moaning softly as Axel kissed him gently again.
"Axel." He murmured softly and Axel groaned as he speeded up his thrusts, nuzzling the blonde's neck and gently kissing the soft, tender skin. "Axel, oh god…" Roxas whimpered as Axel stroked him with every thrust, pleasure tightening in his cock and stomach. Axel gasped as velvety walls suddenly tightened around him and couldn't help but pound into the blonde, several quick thrusts that made jolts of pleasure flow through them both. "Axel!" Axel caught Roxas lips and felt the vibration as the blonde cried out with his release, creamy liquid splattering them both. Axel followed a moment later with a low cry, filling Roxas with his seed. They lay together like that for a long moment, exhausted and tangled together before Roxas finally wiggled. "You're… heavy." He muttered and Axel laughed before pulling back and lying down beside him.
"Sorry." Axel murmured softly as he gently stroked sweaty blonde hair. Roxas settled beside him, content to just be held and Axel wondered for a moment. What was he doing? There had been nothing even vaguely rapish about what they'd just done. It had been consensual and… loving. Why? Unable to find an answer, Axel let himself doze off as he held his blonde lover close.
Roxas might be crazy, but he seemed to be growing on him.