Aqua breathes new life into the phrase 'stormed out', as she tears through the black archway, out of Hot Topic, dragging Vanitas with her like an empty black trash bag caught in a windstorm.
It takes Roxas a long moment to process this sudden departure and another to think to turn back to Axel, still leaning in the back door frame and looking vaguely whiplashed, like he ought to be picking stray leaves out of his hair.
Roxas finds himself moving toward him, dodging Clearance fixtures like a skier dodges flags. "Are you okay?" Concern wears down his voice, but he doesn't think Axel will mind. His feet halt a few feet apart from the man, still staring out the entryway and frowning hard. "What was that about?"
Axel glances down at Roxas, silver pierced, red brows arching like it hadn't occurred to him he might actually have to explain what's just transpired. "I think I mighta broke Aqua."
Axel tries to smile, but it's a weak little twitch, and it makes Roxas a little sad that Axel feels like he needs to smile for him when he's clearly no longer in the jovial mood he had been not fifteen minutes ago. (Even after Roxas had made the stupid mistake of telling him about pushing Sora off a pier and into the ocean. Which, okay. Sounded much worse than it was. Sora has a waterproof phone case. So, no harm done, really.)
Axel's arms cross and he looks up, toward the top of the door frame where the paint's started to scrape off.
"Had to...uh, send someone home early," he rubs at his arm, "low numbers and all that."
Another person angry with Axel for just doing his job? It doesn't seem fair...
"Aqua drew the short straw," Axel continues with a shrug. "I'm sure she's just pretending to be angry with me."
"Sure, Axel."
It feels too simple, like a lie. It certainly hadn't looked that way to Roxas. Although, he supposes he hasn't known them all long enough to really judge. Still something in his stomach tightens. He realizes Aqua getting upset could have been easily prevented. Still could be, but…
"I really, really need the hours," Roxas argues with his conscience aloud, Seifer's quick sneer and upturned nose back on his mind. (It should be impossible for anyone to look as stuck up as Seifer always did while also wearing a super dumb beanie, but he'd always managed it.)
Roxas backsteps, the echoes of Aqua's 'Fuck you, Axel,' ringing in his ears, as he watches regret play across Axel's face.
"But I guess, if she's that upset, I'll go after her..."
"You'll…?" Axel shakes his head swiftly, pacing forward to set hands on Roxas' shoulders. "It's like day two for you, right? Stay." Axel's voice smooths out to a gentle salve. Between that and his hands—warmer than human hands are supposed to be, Roxas is pretty sure—Axel effectively stills Roxas' entire being. "She's fine. Really. She didn't want me to tell you guys this, but she asked me if she could go."
Roxas takes a slower breath. "Oh."
So, her anger had been an act to cover up her calling first dibs to leave after Roxas and Vanitas duked it out earlier. Smart.
Also, kind of… offensive, right? Roxas hadn't hurt Vanitas that bad. He'd just been milking it.
Chicken wuss, dismisses the Seifer in Roxas' brain. Seifer, who Roxas had once seen bounce back to his feet, swaying, with his pretty nose broken, a couple displaced teeth in one fist and his Struggle bat poised to strike in the other. Always ready to go another round. The idiot.
Axel reads Roxas' mind, or the frown lines etching into his face at least.
"As for Vanitas, he'll be back after Aqua tells him to behave himself." Axel leans his elbow into Roxas' shoulder to get closer to eye level. Amused overbright green halts his thoughts and Axel's elbow digs a bit near his neck. Roxas can't bring himself to mind. "You know. Probably."
Roxas tilts his head in turn, eyes narrowing, tracing the silver constellation of piercings highlighting Axel's sharp features. Lip ring, nose ring, brow studs, earrings, plugs… "Probably. So, you're saying it's just you and me?"
"Actually." Axel takes two fingers and presses Roxas' cheek, turning his face to face the register. "It's just you. Time to show me your stuff, check out boy." He taps Roxas' cheek in emphasis, and starts to strut toward the counter, the stained-glass window designed plugs Roxas gave him earlier waving in the air at him behind Axel's back.
Roxas mouth opens a bit at this light-hearted shift, but he trails after, taking up his post behind the register and arming himself with a hand-held price scanner. He nods solemnly and reaches out a palm. "Right."
Axel returns the soldierly nod and drops the plugs into Roxas' hand, along with a packet of Pop Rocks—the green ones. "Did I find everything alright?" Axel prompts sportingly.
"Yeah, yeah, you did, thank you," Roxas mumbles back dryly, scanning the first tag. Axel scoffs, the hard edge starting to melt off his grin.
Axel starts to type away on his phone. Not leaving Roxas all alone after all then, the newbie realizes.
Even missing his winged eyeliner today, Axel's jade gaze is striking. Roxas can feel it burning the back of his neck as he turns to tap at the computer screen. He's trying to find the stupid employee discount option Demyx had shown him so he won't seem completely incompetent when he screws up something else later on.
Axel starts clicking his tongue the second Roxas gets it right, and Roxas pauses, unable to withhold a flash of confusion.
"Tsk, tsk, Roxas," Axel drags out, amusement growing at Roxas' immediate, doe-eyed look of disappointment, "week one and you're already sharing your employee discount with tall, handsome strangers? I'm not sure if I'm scandalized or impressed."
"Tall, handsome...?" Roxas' mind immediately jumps to Axel. His better judgment rejects that idea and his tongue stills, eyes flicking between Axel and the nonexistent checkout line. "You mean you?"
Axel feigns indignance, sweeping a fatigued looking wallet toward his chest and offering a dry, "Thanks for noticing."
"Oh, no, I wasn't saying you're not—" Roxas fumbles too quickly, words tangling, "I mean, I didn't mean to say—Wait." Roxas blinks as Axel leans back to watch his meltdown with an unwavering smirk. "You. You're saying you're not an employee?"
Axel sighs, nods, tugging at his tight black tee. "Just dress like one."
Roxas watches the cotton snap back against Axel's lean chest, and then shakes his head, trying to understand. "But you're always here."
He'd helped with Roxas' training, logged him into the register, known every single employee's name and personality flaws and amusing anecdotes…
"Right next door, technically." Axel flicks a thumb. "Like I said, I just swing by to help Saïx keep his life in order."
Wait, Axel had already told him this? Puzzle pieces begin to click. Why people get pissed at him for taking charge, for example. "And that's why you never stay long."
"Bingo. Gold star."
Roxas sets the scanner down, arms crossing. Axel hadn't needed to be so fucking cryptic about it. "So, what do you do?"
Axel pauses to consider, an arm stretching behind his neck. Roxas wishes the guy didn't flex so much, as he gets distracted by a flash of the tattooed tongue of flame above Axel's wrist and the edges of black etchings further up, wrapping lean muscle.
"Stab people with needles, mainly."
Roxas tongue goes dry. What the fuck?"You're… some kind of nurse?"
Axel laughs, short and bright, leaning his arms on the counter. "That's flattering." His head shakes like he's trying to picture himself in jet black scrubs. "Jesus, no. Here." He flips open the billfold in his hands. "Remember when I told you knowing about piercings was my only job?"
He slides a business card across the table, featuring a complex glossy black and white geometric design that reminds Roxas of a mansion gate. Apparently cryptic is Axel's forte.
"I thought you meant knowing everything was your only job." Roxas' teasing lacks gravity as he squints at the card, unsure what to make of it.
Axel smiles. "That's more a hobby." He glances down at the card and then, with a 'Whoops' flips it over. "Friend and I own a little tattoo and piercing place down on the boardwalk."
"Never," Roxas reads from the simple, seriffed, gold font overtop the black and white design, feeling incredibly stupid. He imagines a neat little shop, all weathered boards and open glass, hung with elaborate posters, the smell of salt on the air, and punk rock thrumming through the speakers, gently vibrating the floorboards.
Roxas glances back up to the attractive man, reconsidering the inverted violet teardrop tattooed below each eye. "Kind of perfect for you."
"Yup." Axel taps the counter. "We're not wildly popular yet, but we've made a name and we do better than alright."
"I'd love to see your work sometime."
"Oh?" Axel stills, lip quirking, and Roxas stomach chills at his latest misstep, though he honestly has no idea what it was.
"Well, if you show me yours…" Axel prompts, flicking up an eyebrow and pinching the collar of his tee, like he's ten seconds from pulling it off.
"Ah…" Roxas raises both hands, blue eyes widening, words too fast again, as his heart rate reaches a rate more appropriate for a jack hammer. "I meant your designs, that you drew…"
Axel's freckled nose crinkles, and he covers his mouth like he's trying harder to fight another smirk. "I know what you meant, Roxas." And Axel has apparently had second thoughts on the whole stripping in public concept, because he just nods, as if to say 'Later, then' and folds his wrists on the counter, head tilting in thought. "Y'know, I tell everyone they'd love the place, but I think maybe you actually would."
"Yeah, I …" Roxas nods, voice quieting, sliding the business card over to his side of the counter, "I think so too."
Never, Tattoo and Piercing Parlor, Xigbar Thornton & Axel Flynn
This all makes such an incredible amount of sense, Roxas isn't sure how it didn't occur to him before. Oh right.
"But you said earlier you work next door…"
"Uh-huh." Axel shrugs a shoulder, sliding his credit card out of his wallet. "More of a side gig."
Setting his card down, Axel dips a couple fingers into his shirt pocket and fishes out a small silver name plate. He clips the tag near his breast bone with a magnet, and then tugs it forward for Roxas' viewing pleasure. "claire's" is embossed across the top in crisp, bubbly, purple letters. Below this, printed in some cousin to Comic Sans, "AXEL" in vibrant magenta.
Roxas' brain back-fires again in a way better suited to an old pickup truck engine.
Roxas tries to super-impose the man in front of him over an image of Claire's. Claire's, a cheap children's fashion boutique with the overwhelming assortment of low-quality, cutesy micro-accessories: hair, jewelry, plushies, the whole nine yards. Claire's with the pink, purple, and glitter color scheme that looks like something a unicorn vomited up. Claire's which always smells vaguely of plastic and vanilla bean.
Roxas can't help but imagine that upon walking in, Axel, in his punk-goth-hipster glory with his unquantifiable number of tattoos and piercings, would be immediately escorted out again.
"They let you work at Claire's."
"Hey," Axel argues, with a hurt pout about as real as a Claire's cotton candy blue hair extension. "I'm good with kids." His eyes narrow with amusement as Roxas' brows rise. "It's the parents you gotta watch out for. And okay so," his hands lift in a gesture of admission, "maybe I mainly just sit around, piercing ears and looking pretty. And maybe Marluxia likes for me to stay out of the way. And technically," his fingers steeple, "I got the job as a personal favor, and not through an interview, but that's just because I violate most of the dress code standards any given day of the week."
Roxas laughs outright. "God, sorry. I just feel like such a dumbass." He shakes his head and at an angry beep from the register, returns his attention to his computer screen, responding to a prompt on the screen that asked if their transaction was still ongoing and another regarding Axel's method of payment. "I thought you were, like, my manager," he mumbles, thinking of the grief he'd given himself over his crush.
"'S alright," Axel straightens up, pocketing one hand, "You wouldn't be the first to give me a discount. Especially on account of me n' Saïx."
Axel plugs his card in the reader, keys in his code.
"Huh?" Roxas watches him out of the corner of his eye as he taps another button on screen. "What about you and Saïx?"
Axel smirks again, and this one he doesn't bother to hide, his voice reaching a new level of patronizing, "Your parents'll tell you when you're older."
The reader beeps, and Axel tugs out his card and taps it back in his wallet against the counter. Roxas is happy to turn his miffed expression away from the man's striking eyes and mocking smile as he retrieves a bag for the earrings.
"What?" Roxas coughs. Axel had said he had a boyfriend, but… "You and Saïx?"
No. Fucking. Way.
Then laughter comes, quick and easy, imagining the playful, flirtatious red-head wrapping his arms around the neck of Roxas' sharp, stoic boss. "Right, okay, sure."
"Well," Axel's smile drops off as he waves away the bag in Roxas' hand, "they say opposites attract. And he is smart... successful... built like a fucking tank..."
Roxas laughs again, remembering Axel and Demyx's serious discussion about checking out Saix's ass in sweatpants. Maybe this is a long running joke of theirs.
"Warm, charming, sympathetic," Roxas mimics and rolls his eyes, tearing Axel's receipt off the printer.
Axel looks mock affronted, fingers to his chest again. "Don't believe me, huh?"
"Yeah, no. Maybe when hell freezes over."
"Is that right?" Axel chuckles softly at Roxas' adamance, eyes terribly amused. "I'll let him know you said so."
Hm. Maybe they really are good friends. Roxas remembers Axel draping a scarf around Saix's neck in the training video. Saïx hadn't seemed to enjoy it, but he also hadn't stopped him.
"Yeah," Roxas says with slightly less certainty, forking over the receipt. "You do that."
"Thanks, Roxas." Axel wraps the plugs in the receipt and tucks them back in his pocket. Roxas slides the Pop Rocks, forward as well, but Axel covers Roxas' hand with his own to stop its progress. "Those were for you."
Axel slides their hands back toward the cashier side, letting go only when Roxas wraps his fingers around the packet of candy.
"Thanks," Roxas mumbles, glancing down at the candy and wondering what to make of it.
When Axel captures Roxas' eyes again, he winks. "Hey, come by sometime. I'll give you a free piercing or something."
"I'm pretty sure all piercings at Claire's are free." Roxas wishes he could rewind his mouth. He doesn't know what it is about Axel that makes him blurt the first thing that comes to his mind.
Axel chuckles. "And the equipment is shit, too." He turns lazily to go. "But that's not really what I had in mind."
"Oh. You meant..." Roxas slides the card on the counter closer still. "Pierce my… what, exactly?" That doesn't sound the way he means it to, either, but this time Axel doesn't call him out on it.
"Whatever you want." Axel nods over his shoulder, smirk both condescending and endearing. "My treat."
"I've never really thought about…" He has, actually, but after his tattoo, it's safe to say his parents would murder him in cold blood.
"So, think about it," Axel replies, facing away from him again, walking off, "I've got a few suggestions." He laughs lightly at some stray thought. "I'm sure Xigbar will too."
Maybe Roxas will just die now on the spot and save his parents the trouble.
Sora would probably give the eulogy and get all blubbery and incoherent halfway though. Maybe he could tell the 'my brother knocked me off a dock' anecdote. Classic Roxas. So tragic.
Axel saunters toward the door, and how had Roxas not noticed Vanitas coming in and getting back to work? How much of this conversation had he heard?
Axel stops at the door and turns one more time, smile quick, "Never say never, Roxas."
Roxas leans his arms into the counter so he will not melt into a puddle on the floor. "That's cheesy as hell, Axel."
"See you later, Roxas."