Axel awoke to the throb of thunder in his chest and rain pattering at the edge of his conscious. The world was blurry and dark and full of white noise, but nothing to be afraid of. Warm beneath the blankets, he almost fell back to sleep.
Then the sound of strangled breathing cut through the peace and made his heart stop.
He shot up, eyes barely managing to find Roxas' form in the enveloping darkness. The trembling was easy to notice when he focused, and Axel knew the boy well enough to know he was trying not to have an asthma attack, all on his own, simply because he didn't want to wake his lover. Not that he'd ever admit it.
There wasn't any time to try to find the inhaler – who knew how long this had been going on for – so Axel scrambled to find something in his fogged mind.
"Roxas!" The name fell from his lips without thinking, and maybe the other twitched, but he was too busy rolling the blond onto his back to care much.
Their eyes locked and it was easy to see, even at whatever ungodly hour it was, the panic in those eyes. Axel swallowed; he had to try to get Roxas to calm down. So, straddling his boyfriend, he shifted his weight onto his forearms and pressed the rest of his form down, settling the familiar weight and warmth down as something to try to ground the smaller boy. He brushed their noses together and started to sing.
It wasn't a song that'd be easily distracting, or even one that Axel had a connection to. He'd heard it a few times and liked it enough to download it, that was it. But in this situation, the soft words and soothing flow of the verses seemed proper.
Holding eye contact, Axel watched as the panic receded. He felt Roxas' breathing calm, the desperate heaving beneath him slowing to controlled panting as his lungs filled and his throat opened. A smile passed over those lips, and he knew Roxas would be okay.
"Did you learn that just for me?" The question was breathless and filled with mirth.
Axel grinned. "No." He leaned down and kissed that smile. "But I'm glad I did anyways."
AN: Clearly I need a reset button, because I've been doing nothing but be an asshole for the few short days of this week. This is the first in a line-up of apology fics to Reiver, that I'm writing instead of the paper I have due Thursday. Hopefully it's not awful.
Also, if anyone cares, the song he's singing is Lullaby for a Stormy Night by Vienna Teng
-Sable
