Axel and Tom had never been friends, or at least that's what he told himself. That Tom never mattered to him, that he was just the spoiled little loser whose daddy owned the mine and thus the entire town, that he had only been nice to the other boy as a child out of pity; all were lies of course. He was obsessed with the Hanniger, and he hated it. Axel hated the other for making him feel this way, but he hated himself more. It was easier to be the bully, to make him bleed and even cry; he was beautiful either way, staring up at him with watery eyes and this betrayed expression as if Axel owed him something. It was bullshit. He hadn't enjoyed seeing the brunette isolate himself after the accident at the mines. Behind his back, Axel had even vehemently, and sometimes violently, defended him. After all, Tom never should've been down in those mines, where he wasn't trained properly because all the supervisors had it in for him. And the collapse didn't even kill the miners, they all would've been fine and rescued if not for Harry Warden going psycho and killing them all.
None the less, he made it his goal that Valentine's Day a year after the accident to ruin everything for Tom. It had nothing to do with the fact that Tom had nabbed Sarah, the best catch in their grade. Everyone knew Irene was just an easy lay, that she was all that the white trash like him could attain.
What he didn't expect was how easy it was to persuade Sarah to sleep with him. Saint Sarah, the perfect small town girl to Tom's small town boy. It disgusted him, to the point where he almost couldn't finish. She gave herself over to him, the girl of everyone's dreams, but all he could think about the entire time was her boyfriend. She didn't deserve him; no one did.
The Palmer wanted to take and take from the other high schooler, wanted to take until there was nothing left but Axel. He was sure his plans of Valentine's Day were ruined until Tom showed up, nervous but still smiling, hand in hand with his traitorous bitch. It was clear that he didn't want to be here, the very mine where everything happened. So as Irene dragged Sarah inward, he had the perfect opportunity to be alone with the other. They accepted whatever bullshit excuse he used, already on their way to wasted. Tom didn't even notice when Axel was directly behind him, busy hyperventilating. And he was yet again struck with that urge to take and take. The Hanniger was here, right in front of him, all for the taking. And maybe it was because he was drunk, or maybe it was because he had wanted to do this for such a long time, but he didn't hesitate before the spinning the other around and pinning him to his own vehicle. Tom's eyes were wide as he saw Axel, as he realized the position they were in. Either way, it made the traumatized teen come out of whatever funk he had been in. And looking into those shiny blue eyes, all he could do was smirk before crushing his lips to the pliant ones beneath him. It felt like heaven, and when the other didn't allow him entry, he had no qualms with biting harshly until those abused lips parted in a gasp of pain. There were hands trying to push him away, but with the adrenaline rush he was feeling, he was sure he could even take on his own father right now.
He didn't stop there of course, moving to bite and suck aggressively at every inch of exposed skin he could reach without freeing the teenager, desperate to leave his mark.
"A-Axel, what are you-" It was soft and whiny and desperate, and the sound went straight to his dick. The way his name sounded on those lips, it was so sinful from someone so innocent. He wanted to drag the other down to his level, take him down with him.
"Please-" Tom begged when Axel's hands began to roam, squeezing his waist until there were sure to be bruises tomorrow. And maybe even the other teen didn't know what he was asking for anymore, for him to stop or for him to do more.
"Sarah-" And like that, whatever feeling of warmth that was building in his chest was snuffed out by a wave of cold nothingness.
"Don't fucking mention her name, Tommy," he growled, moving a hand up to the other's neck threateningly, "You don't know how much I've wanted this. I even fucked your girl, just to imagine it was you. She was so easy; I didn't know you were into sluts."
And under him, Tom finally just admitted defeat, as if his will to fight had been broken. Axel couldn't help but moan at the feeling of his body going pliant under him, at how those lips answered reluctantly when he moved to them again.
The moment was ruined when a blood curdling scream echoed at them from within the mines. He still didn't release Tom at first as he turned to look, but the other used his moment of distraction to break his hold, running into the mines blindly. Axel followed of course, trusting the heir to know his way through the maze of tunnels. When they came across the first dead body, he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. There was so much red, and it didn't even look human anymore. Tom began to throw up next to him, and he aimlessly patted the brunette's back as he stared the gore in front of them. They continued further in cautiously, hiding when they heard rapid footsteps approaching. When they recognized the girls running at them, they began to reveal themselves, only to catch sight of what they were fleeing from. It was a man in a miner's suit with the gas mask on, bloody pickaxe in hand. He broke every lightbulb that he passed, leaving his headlamp as the sole light source.
"Harry Warden," Tom whispered, horrified. Axel began to move, but it seemed like the other was frozen, staring at their incoming doom.
"Run!" he yelled right into the Hanniger's ear, and it finally seemed to get him in motion. The girls were right behind them, but he couldn't have cared less at the moment. At least until they fully caught up, Irene grabbing onto him in a death grip that was surely breaking the skin with her nails.
"He killed everyone!" one of them screamed, and as much as he wanted to yell back 'no shit', now didn't seem to be the time nor place.
When Sarah fell down, Tom didn't even hesitate to pick her up and push her in front of himself. It left him tailing the rest of them, but with Irene dragging him along, Axel couldn't exactly slow down. Which was why he didn't notice that Tom wasn't with them as they exited the mine. Instead, when he looked back, the other boy was on the ground, helplessly shuffling backwards, trying to avoid the pickaxe being swung at him. Eventually his arms gave out, sending him flat on his back, the miner standing over him. Axel watched in slow motion as that weapon raised above his head, intent clear, unable to look away. But instead, three shots rang out from directly next to where he was staring in horror. The miner's body jolted, falling backwards.
He ran forwards, sliding in the dirt as he reached Tom, dragging the other away in case Harry Warden wasn't dead, again. And he wasn't, the inhuman murderer getting up and staggering back into the pitch black abyss of the tunnels. The sheriff, who he hadn't even noticed even when he was right next to him, followed with a strict warning to stay back.
"Tom?" he muttered, holding the boy's head still carefully. But those eyes wouldn't focus on anything, let alone him. Axel wiped the blood gently off his face, murmuring comforting words the entire time.
"He's in shock," the first responder explained calmly, visually looking them over for injuries as they draped them in those ugly grey blankets that smelled mustier than the fucking mine. And he refused to leave Tom's side, at least until his bitch of a girlfriend began to approach them.
"You left him," Axel hissed, making her back away until they were far enough away to not be heard, "He saved you, and you left him to die!"
"We all left him to die! Better him than all of us," Sarah claimed, waving her hand at the boy she was supposed to love. He was beyond pissed, especially as someone who was so mentally and emotionally dependent on the other teen.
"How could you say that? He's your fucking boyfriend! Don't you love him or some shit!"
"Don't you dare question my feelings for him!"
The EMS loading Tom into an ambulance was the last Axel saw of him. No one knew where he went after he disappeared from the hospital, not even his own father. It hurt more than he thought it would, than it should. When he finally sobered up, all he could feel was an intense self-loathing. Surely his actions that night had a part in the boy running away. Maybe if he hadn't been so fucking stupid, he wouldn't have left. Sarah was heart broken, or at least she acted like she was. She came crying to him, the trash that she had cheated on her beloved boyfriend with. And he let her, because she was the last thing he had left of Tom. That hole remained, even as time passed; even as they graduated high school, even as his dad died, even as he married Sarah, even as they had a kid. Time passed and nothing mattered to him. When he became sheriff, something he never would've dreamed about as a teenager, he was finally let into the secret of Harry Warden. He had escaped the mines through a hatch, only to be found by the crew of local dads, lead by Tom's father. And they had killed him, burying him in an unmarked grave in the woods. Axel had always wondered what had happened to the serial killer, a detached sense of fear remaining that he would return. But what did he have to truly fear? He didn't value this life, not even his wife's or son's. He had almost felt excited when old man Hanniger had died, but even that didn't draw Tom back. Or at least not immediately, as he would later come to realize.
And then it happened. A decade later, exactly on Valentine's Day, he's called out to the local motel for a grisly scene. And who does he see? None other than Tom Hanniger, in the flesh. He doesn't even acknowledge his deputy or the three dead bodies, because he only had eyes for Tom. He looks good, like he's aged well. He looks warm in his trench coat, watching morbidly as the police scatter around the crime scenes. And then his eyes meet Axel's when he sees he's being approached. There's something unreadable in his expression as he takes him in, because he clearly recognized him on sight. He wants to do so many things; he wants to cry, he wants to beg for forgiveness, he wants to push the man into his motel room and kiss him until they run out of air, he wants to arrest him so he can never leave again. But Tom speaks up first.
"What has the world come to if they made Axel Palmer sheriff?" And he accepts the barb for what it is, an ice breaker. So instead of doing what he wants to do, he smirks. Because this is safer, ignoring everything that had happened between them that night. He wasn't even sure if Tom remembered, given the more traumatizing event that followed.
"Leave it to you to be in town one day before the bodies start falling." Because it is suspicious, in a way that Axel wished he could ignore. And maybe he could, if it meant Tom being in his life again. It was like he'd been living on autopilot, in a world without color. But then there's Tom, back from wherever he ran away to, and everything is so so blue (and blood red), blinding him.
Tom doesn't seem to have the energy to be bothered by Axel's thinly veiled accusation, merely shrugging. There were bags under his eyes that spoke of long nights, and the sheriff could relate. Maybe he still had a problem with his drinking, but with the object of his every waking thought back, he doubted that being sober would be an issue.
"Leave it to you to marry my high school girlfriend. Sarah looked good by the way." Axel's jealous, but not for the reasons that Tom was clearly thinking. Sarah, the girl who had cheated on him, the girl who had left him for dead in the mines; she was all he could think about, even now apparently. It wasn't fair. And he knew that his bitch of a wife had surely swooned with the new owner of the mines in her sights. It made his blood boil, and he didn't hesitate to grab the other man by the collar, backing him up until his back forcefully met the wall of the motel. It reminded him of when they were teenagers, when he would use any chance to manhandle Tom, to be close to him in whatever way he could. It made him heated in a whole different way now, remembering the events of that fateful Valentine's Day, specifically when he had finally gotten a taste of the Hanniger. And there was a fire the other's eyes, but not the kind that Axel wanted. There was only a burning determination, maybe a bit of hate, but no recollection of the last time they had been pressed together like this.
"Don't go anywhere near my wife. We have a family together, a son. And I don't want you anywhere near them."
Axel released the brunette then, hoping against odds that his deputies hadn't seen anything, or that they looked the other way if they did. Tom went into his motel room as the Palmer finally approached the crime scene. It was fascinating, in a detached sort of way. Irene, who he hadn't thought about in years, was missing her heart. Everything was so familiar, and he knew instantly that this was a Harry Warden copycat. The organ would probably turn up in a Valentine's Day chocolates box at some point, just to be true to the story.
He goes home that night and ignores Sarah completely, even as she pretends to moon over her ex being back in town. But he doesn't drink, although the idea is tempting. Axel goes over the crime scene photos again and again, looking for anything he might have missed. He looked at them until the images were ingrained into his head, which was probably better than picturing the look on Tommy's face when he kissed him like he did most nights.
It's only the next day when he's called down to the old mines for another murder. He finds Tom stuck in a metal electrical station with a pickaxe locking him in, only feet from the dead miner.
"Can you let me out of here now?" the man asks him the moment he sees the sheriff, clearly tired of being locked in. And even like this, he's a sight for sore eyes.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" Axel sighed, before he moved to let the other out. He wondered why the miners hadn't freed him, but given their general hatred for the new mine owner, it was probably lucky that they didn't take a shot at him themselves. From there, he escorts the Hanniger out, leaving the crime scene to his deputies.
"It was Harry Warden, Axel. He attacked me, but I managed to lock myself in here," Tom insisted once they were out in the open air, something frantic or maybe manic to his voice, "The other guy wasn't so lucky." And that was the understatement of the year, given that the poor sap was dead via a rather violent end. And Axel isn't sure what to say until the brunette begins to approach his own vehicle, the same fucking Jeep that took him out of town the first time.
"I'm putting you in protective custody; I don't know if it's a coincidence that you were at both crime scenes, but I'm not taking any chances. You were supposed to be Warden's last victim, so maybe our copycat is zeroed in on you."
"I'm telling you, it was the miner himself. I would recognize him anywhere. And you know he made it out of the mines all those years ago, don't tell me he didn't," he all but pleaded, wanting so badly for the sheriff to believe him. And Axel probably would've told him the truth about the original if not for all the people; cops, medics, miners, reporters, etc. They were in the open, where anyone could listen in.
"Get in the truck, Tommy," he ordered, hoping that the man would be able to read the look in his eyes to not argue, that it was for a reason. And maybe he did, or maybe he just didn't want to get arrested, because Tom climbed into his police vehicle all the same. They were silent for awhile, only passing one other car on their journey out of town. He was distracted, thinking everything over in his head, that it startled him when the Hanniger spoke up.
"Are you sure you're not the killer? Where are you taking me?" There was a certain level of distrust that Axel wasn't sure he deserved, but to be fair, he hadn't bothered to tell the other their destination yet.
"A hunting cabin, it used to be my old man's so no one knows about it." Which wasn't exactly true, given that every girl that he's ever fucked has been to it at least once. But it was safer than somewhere in town.
"Except for the girl you've been cheating on Sarah with, you mean." How Tommy already knew the town gossip when he's only been back a few days, he wasn't sure, but the Palmer wasn't surprised either. It wasn't exactly a secret, how he was unfaithful, how he always had been. It was just frustrating, how the man still cared about his ex, despite her being married and a piece of shit.
"Megan? Yeah, she's a good fuck I guess." Axel shrugged, nonplussed about the turn in the conversation. He simply didn't care whether the other knew or not, he didn't care about his wife, and he didn't care about his latest squeeze. Her only purpose had been to maximize the amount it would hurt Sarah, given that Megan was her favorite employee.
He was saved from more uncomfortable questions by their arrival at the cabin, though it was more of a glorified shack. He heated them up some canned soup, the only thing other than beer he bothered to keep stocked. But Tom didn't complain, let alone mention the state of the place.
"Why are you with her if you clearly hate her so much?" he asked once they had finished their meal, and there was nothing left but awkward silence as they sat together on the shitty couch. The sheriff was almost grateful for the other starting the conversation, but he was less excited about the topic. It took him a moment to respond, as he weighed how honest he wanted to be. And then Axel decided; fuck it.
"Because when you ran away, she was the last thing left of you in this fucking town." And rather than call him out on how that sounded, Tom instead looked guilty at the implied accusation.
"I needed to get away," the Hanniger explained, as if he needed to, as if the Palmer didn't know that.
"I don't blame you. But you should've taken me with you," he sighed, leaning back until he was staring up at the ceiling. But even like this, all he could focus on was Tom; the sound of his breathing, how he smelled, how close they were.
"Why? Axel, we weren't even friends; if anything, all you did was bully me," he chortled, as if there was a joke that he was missing. And despite already knowing that the man didn't know what he was talking about, it still rubbed the sheriff the wrong way.
"You don't remember, do you?" Axel asked it quietly, like he was afraid to bring it up. And given the blank look on Tom's face when he finally gave in and glanced at the other, it wasn't really necessary.
"What?"
"What happened before we went into the mines that night; you don't remember." He hoped it would jog the memory by now, but no dice.
"Tell me then." And surely the other didn't mean to sound coy, but that's how it sounded. Any excuse he had disappeared without a trace when faced with the temptation, unknowingly as it was.
"I think it's be best if I showed you," he explained deviously, which Tom picked up on immediately, widening his eyes when Axel began to crowd into his space, reaching for him.
"A-Axel?" And then their lips finally connect. It's just as good as he recalled, maybe even better now that he was sober. Tom's lips were a bit chapped, but that didn't matter. The only thing that meant anything was that it was Tom Hanniger he was kissing.
"You taste the same, even after all these years," he groaned lowly when he finally pulled away, taking in the other's expression; those now wet lips, the intense blush that spread all the way to his ears, the way his pupils were dilated.
"Stop!" Tom shouted, voice cracking, when he made an indication of continuing, pushing him back forcefully. And Axel was sure that if he really wanted to, he could get out of the hold. But the other seemed more fragile than the last time, and he didn't want to be the reason the Hanniger left again.
"I think it started when we were kids," the Palmer began, moving back slightly to give the brunette his personal space back, "My dad had given me one hell of a beating that day, and you found me, hiding in the forest behind the old mines. We were so little, back then. You didn't understand why my own father would hurt me, because your dad was an asshole, but he never laid a hand on you. You tried to bandage me up, and I just kept crying and screaming at you. It's always been you, Tommy. No one else ever mattered, not Irene, not Sarah, not even Harry fucking Warden."
"You didn't deserve it, Axel." And it may as well have been a decree, if it came from Tom Hanniger. Because the sheriff hadn't ever really believed it before, that it wasn't normal, that it hadn't been his fault.
"How can you say shit like that, and not expect me to want to either kiss or strangle you?"
"I'm sorry," Tom apologized unsurely, awkwardly, as if that was the appropriate response, before he changed the topic, "But we should be out there, looking for him."
"I'm going to let you in on a secret; Harry Warden died that same night. When he emerged from the mines, a group of men led by your dad put him down like a rabid dog, buried him in those same woods."
"That's impossible," the other man muttered, with some level of disbelief. Axel wasn't sure if it was because of the knowledge that the miner was dead or at the reveal of who had put him in the dirt.
"I've seen the grave, Tommy."
"Then who-"
"I don't know." And it was meant to a be a reassurance, that Harry Warden couldn't hurt him anymore. Instead, it just reminded the sheriff that the killer's identity was still a mystery, and that they were still at large.
He doesn't go home that night after they're done talking, instead he crashed on the couch in the cabin, letting his guest have the bed like a gentleman. When he wakes up, the Hanniger isn't anywhere to be found, but he'd expected it, in a disappointed kind of way.
There's another body once the sun goes down, of course. Old man Foley, killed in his own house. Axel hadn't even finished logging the scene before there's an emergency call from the local grocery store, the one Sarah and Megan worked at. By the time he gets there, Sarah is locked in the office and Megan's insides are on the outside in the alley below the office window.
"Be mine," he reads aloud, the message crudely written in blood on the wall. There's even a heart drawn alongside it, also in gore. When the EMT takes Sarah to the hospital, he doesn't even bother visiting, not that his bitch of a wife was expecting him to.
Axel wishes that he cared more about the girl he was having an affair with, but none of them mattered aside from Tom, who was still no where to be found.
The bodies keep dropping; the previous sheriff and even his own maid are murdered, bloody Valentine's Day messages left at each. It's targeted, but he's not sure towards who, much less who from.
And then everything gets fucked up.
He learns two disturbing facts at once; that Tom ended up spending years after the mine incident in a psychiatric facility, meaning he hadn't meant to leave town like he did. And that said Hanniger had picked Sarah up from the hospital only minutes earlier.
The evidence and the timing of everything is painting a picture that Axel isn't willing to accept; that Tommy was the copycat. But the man had seemed so genuinely scared the last time they were together, enough so that the sheriff was doubting himself.
When he calls his wife, he tries to sound as calm as possible. Telling her to stay away from Tom, about where the object of his obsession had spent his time; she takes this info and decides to run them off the road, of course. Finding the Hanniger's jeep is easy, given that they didn't make it far before running directly into a pine tree. But no one is left in the car.
Only then does he realize how close they are to the hunting cabin. Had Tom been taking her there?
There's a lot of catching up, ending with the three of them in the old mine, like it was always meant to be. Sarah, who had taken his gun. Tom, trying to convince her to shoot Axel. And Axel, pissed beyond belief that his wife was considering shooting either of them. To be fair, none of them had alibies for any of the murders. All of them had been present the day of the massacre, all of them had faced Harry Warden and his deadlights. They were all broken people, trying to pick up the pieces of their lives, disrupted by tragedy when they were only teenagers.
But only Sarah was waving around a gun.
