Catalyst
by yukisyo
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I don't know the age difference (if any) between Axel and Roxas, so I'm just making them both 17 'cause I'm a lazy ass.
Warnings: There will be shonen-ai/yaoi (male x male), drugs, and language (mostly from Axel.)
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chapter one
"Err..." the blonde boy started awkwardly.
Axel stared, seeming rather apathetic, "What're you doing here?" he asked bluntly.
Roxas studied his face. The bright, red, spiky hair not only struck 'memorable' at him, but the contrasting, vibrant green eyes were familiar, too. He knew who he was, yet the name escaped him.
Axel, on the other hand, already recognized him as one of the obscenely rich kids attending his high school. Axel's group was especially foul to his lot, since one of their families could buy an entire city and a half – while the red head and his friends would sometimes barely be able to pay off their debts.
"I saved up money and rented this apartment out," said Roxas, a little bit louder.
"Awe, you're shittin' me," his arms folded across his chest, sneering," I'm living here."
No way was he going to let some little, snobby kid cheat him out of his well earned home. The numerous jobs he had done had been so extremely tiring: burning himself countless times at the local fast-food restaurant, holding a sign loaded with advertisements while dressed in appalling, attention-grabbing suits, and scraping change from underneath random couches.
They lapsed in silence.
"I'm going to sort this out," said Roxas. He started towards the door.
"...first day of the school year and it's already fucked up. Fuck fuck fuck," muttered Axel, following him.
Roxas turned his head slightly, raised his eyebrows and his lips parted, as if about to reply but decided against it. He continued walking.
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"We are very sorry, but one of the apartments you have rented out has been, uh," the clerk fumbled for words," Is currently unusable." He gave both Roxas and Axel a meaningful look.
Pfft. Whatever that meant.
Roxas glanced to his left, wondering if Axel knew what exactly the employee was babbling on about. Axel turned to him, letting their eyes meet briefly.
Roxas spoke up, shifting away, "Isn't there another one available?" His features were pushing. Eyes firm.
"Erm, since the school year is starting again, many students are renting out apartments…" the man explained, eying Axel anxiously. It was quite intimidating the way he cracked his knuckles like that…
"And you decided to make us share." Axel said gruffly, narrowing his eyes. They had been reduced to menacing slits now.
"I assure you, it was an unintentional mistake – it'll only be temporary. I can try and get you a room at the hotel a few blocks down, if you want, or you two could split the costs of boarding..."
Axel's face immediately lit up, being the money-griping, minimum wage person he was.
" In that case," the red head pulled Roxas under his arm, ruffling his hair affectionately," We'll be leaving now!"
His voice was creepily pleasant, high-pitched, and cheerful.
That hotel sounded pretty good to Roxas right about now…
When they were out of sight the clerk sighed, relieved. For a second there, that tall red one looked a tad homicidal.
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Roxas squirmed in Axel's grip. During the walk back the green-eyed student had kept him in the locked position, merrily dragging him along.
He steadied his uneven footing," Axel."
He looked down, staring blankly at him. It took him a moment or two for him to realize he was nearly choking the poor boy. His eyes slowly switched from the shorter youth, then to his own arm locked around Roxas's neck as the wheels in his head began to turn.
"Oh."
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The sun was slowly setting, and Roxas estimated it was at least 6 o'clock in the evening.
On the walk up the stairs and to the apartment complexes, Roxas, who was trudging behind Axel, vaguely noticed the sharp outline of his body through his plain black coat. That guy looked like a friggin' skeleton, and, in Roxas's opinion, was a bit gross. In sheer boredom, he entertained himself with the thought of Axel getting blown away in a breeze of stiff wind.
His small grin widened.
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The green-eyed high school junior immediately made his way to the tiny cramped balcony when they came back.
In pure curiosity Roxas followed. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyways.
Axel fumbled through his pockets, pulling out a tattered cigarette. He stuck it between his teeth, and his hand once again dove into his pant's pocket in search of a lighter.
Finally he pulled out a small translucent lighter, frowning after hearing the absence of naphtha as he shook the object experimentally.
It was actually quite amusing; watching Axel repeatedly try to successfully light the cigarette. His face was contorted in frustration – similar to a small child's as he, or she, tried to pronounce an especially hard, difficult word.
Eventually a spark flickered on the lighter's top. Axel hastily shoved his cigarette's tip into the flame before it would even have a chance to die out.
Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet, sweet nicotine.
"Can I have a drag?"
Tiredly he opened his eyes, looking at Roxas dully.
"What?"
The blonde's lips pulled into a slight frown, "Can I have a drag?" he repeated, slowly in a, perhaps mocking (Axel was too zoned out to notice) way.
The taller of the two snorted. "You?" he laughed." Sure."
Axel watched him, with a small smile of anticipation; waiting for Roxas to gag and cough his lungs out.
Roxas ignored him, instead snatched it from between Axel's fingers and took a long drag. To be honest the boy didn't care much for the taste and smell, which was what kept him from becoming a total pothead.
In fact, he just did it for the satisfaction of seeing Axel's grin slide dramatically off his face, when he finally acknowledged Roxas as someone other than a stuck-up kid who was spoiled senseless.
Well... it didn't. Much to Roxas's disappointment.
Rather, Axel remained blank with a seemingly stoned look on his face.
A cough was itching at the back of the blonde's throat now. But he had his pride, and took another slightly more dysfunctional drag.
That only made matters worse though.
The whole time Axel had been staring at him, arms crossed with an annoyingly smug smirk.
"Wha…What," he wheezed faintly. He was giving him a deadly glare now.
"Nothin'," replied Axel, that damned, annoying grin still plastered to his face. He reclaimed the tobacco and stuck it between his lips once more.
"I-I'm going.. in-shi..side," the blonde wheezed once again, this time with an added nasally effect.
"Off you go." He smiled sweetly, the perfect picture of innocence.
Moments after the shorter boy disappeared inside, Axel heard a loud string of violent coughs, hacks and curses.
The red head turned back to face the rest of the city, tossing the cigarette to the ground then smashing it beneath his foot. And then he smiled, for at least the hundredth time today.
Man, this kid was weird…
In a sexy kind of way.
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I want to make their relationship escalate slowly instead of full out lovey-dovey, and I don't want Roxas to be a 'goody-goody', though I'd prefer not to write him as a badass!Roxas... So I would love comments on how good or bad a job I'm doing throughout the story.
Feedback's greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.