"Hey Roxy, wake up." Roxas started as he felt a hand on him again, but this time he knew it was Axel's immediately. Although he really wished the redhead wouldn't call him that. "I got us some breakfast." That chased away any worries about nicknames as his stomach growled, and Roxas sat up, licking his lips. Axel offered him a leaf bowl filled with coconut pieces, and Roxas took it with a smile.
"Thanks." Axel smiled and went back to what he'd been doing, which seemed to be trying to build a shelter. Roxas blinked at that. "How long have you been awake?" It seemed like Axel had gotten a lot done. The redhead glanced over with a grin.
"Oh, I dunno, a couple hours. Don't worry about me, I don't need that much sleep. Five hours and I'm fresh as a daisy." Roxas had to admit that Axel looked pretty good, despite the dirt, bright and chipper. "Besides, I can always take a nap later."
"Hmm. Do you think that's going to work?" Axel was trying to use the ruined walls along with poles he'd fashioned out of fallen trees to make a shelter. It looked really odd and Roxas wasn't sure it was going to stay up. Axel grimaced.
"I have no idea. If only we had some rope… but I might as well wish for scantily clad young women, while I'm at it. Or men." Axel added thoughtfully, and Roxas laughed as he got up to help, still chewing on a piece of coconut.
"You have one of those, although I'm not scantily clad yet." Roxas said teasingly and Axel grinned as he held a pole in place while Axel tried to lash it together with a vine.
"Let me rephrase, scantily clad young men of legal age… blast!" Axel glowered as the pole fell over, and Roxas couldn't help but laugh. "Let's try that again." This time it actually seemed to work, and Axel cheerfully began layering leaves over the crude shelter. It would keep the rain off, as long as the wind didn't come strongly towards the open side. But if it did that they were probably in for a miserable night anyway.
"How old are you, Axel?" Roxas asked curiously, realizing he didn't know. The redhead didn't look very old at all, but he had a successful career so he couldn't be that young.
"Nineteen. Just graduated last year." Roxas eyed him, surprised, and Axel grinned. "I've been doing weddings part time for years while I was in school, to earn a few bucks. I just had to expand it a bit."
"Oh. Nice." Strangely, Roxas was pleased to find out that Axel wasn't really that much older than him. They could have gone to school together, although they certainly wouldn't have been friends with that kind of age gap. Roxas thoughtfully fed some more wood into the fire. Fortunately, there was plenty of wood on the island. There was no way the two of them were even going to make a dent in the supply. They were only half-done the shelter when Axel called a halt to it.
"We should go to the beach, set up a fire there. And see if we can catch some fish." Axel was feeling the need for some meat. The fruit was good, but they would be better off with fish or goat if they could catch it.
"We don't have any hooks." Roxas pointed out and Axel shook his head.
"Spear fishing. I should be able to sharpen some sticks with my pocket knife." Although he thought that his poor, abused knife was going to be getting pretty dull and sharpening it wouldn't be easy. On the other hand, it would work dull, it would just be harder. "And maybe there will be oysters." Axel actually thought that was a pretty good bet. Oysters were almost everywhere. There might be a bit of danger if they ate them raw, but Axel wasn't going to worry about that. They would be very fresh so the danger would be minimal anyway. "My pocket knife will be perfect to open those. Have you ever eaten raw oysters before?"
"Uh, no." Roxas looked a bit taken aback at the though, and Axel grinned.
"They're a delicacy. You'll like them, I promise." Roxas just shrugged. He was willing to eat anything edible, really, and oysters beat bugs. He'd read a book once where the characters survived on tropical insects and he really didn't want to do that. They both went to the well and drank as much water as they could hold. Axel pulled a flaming stick out of the fire and carried it carefully as they walked down to the beach. Soon they had a new bonfire set up in the middle of the sand, sending smoke up towards the sky. But the ocean was completely empty. "Huh. I wonder if they know where the plane crashed." Axel frowned, scratching his head as Roxas bit his lip. "There should be those reconstruction teams and stuff, right?"
"Uh, right." Roxas suddenly felt sick and gripped Axel's arm tightly. "A-Axel." Axel looked at him curiously then blinked as the blonde buried his face in Axel's bare chest, and Axel ran a hand through blonde spikes as he felt hot tears against his skin.
"Roxas, what's wrong?" Roxas shook his head and mutely pointed further down the beach, feeling Axel suddenly stiffen. "Oh gods!" Pulling away from Roxas, he ran over to what the blonde had spotted. Roxas coughed and started to cry as Axel turned over the body.
The woman was clearly deceased, her eyes open and skin cold to the touch. Axel swallowed and shook his head. She'd been alive when the plane crashed, he thought, but had drowned in the storm. From the Hawaiian print shirt and the glasses still hanging from a beaded chain on her throat, he thought she'd been a tourist going home after a trip to Hawaii.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to the woman, although he didn't know what he was sorry for. Being alive while she was dead? Then he felt warm arms around him and could feel Roxas quietly crying. Swallowing, he turned and hugged the blonde, cradling the younger boy against his chest. This was probably the first time he'd seen a dead body. Axel patted him on the back and whispered soothing nonsense into his ear until the boy hiccupped and sniffed, eyes tightly closed. "Roxy." Axel didn't want to say it, but it had to be done. "I need to… to carry her to the woods. We should put stones on her, bury her, something." Stones would be easier. Roxas shivered but let go of him, rubbing his eyes.
"I – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out like that. It just brought everything home to me." Roxas was suddenly so glad he was alive, and grabbed Axel's hand, giving him a tight squeeze as he looked into bright green eyes. "Thank you Axel." Axel smiled briefly, giving him a comforting squeeze back.
"It was nothing." Axel pulled his hand away and carefully picked up the woman, flinching a bit at her cold skin and having a bit of difficulty with the stiffness of the body. Rigor mortis was well set in, and Roxas shuddered, looking away and following as Axel carried the body into the woods. He started gathering rocks as Axel set down the corpse, and then the older boy wordlessly joined him. It took some time for them to find enough rocks, but they finally piled enough on the body to make a decent cairn. "I hope nothing else like this washes up." Roxas looked up, appalled by the thought, and saw that Axel was dead serious. "If there's too many we might need to build a pyre."
"Oh god, I hope not." Roxas was suddenly forcibly reminded of the movie War of the Worlds, and the scene where dozens of dead bodies floated down the river. That couldn't happen on the beach. Could it? From Axel's grim expression, he thought it could. "That couldn't really happen, could it?"
"If the current is going this way and this wasn't just a fluke, it could." Axel said heavily and Roxas swallowed convulsively, shaking his head. He wasn't sure he could handle that. Then he felt an arm around his shoulders and sniffed as the redhead cuddled him. "If you can't handle it, Roxy, I'll take care of it." Axel wasn't really that much more familiar with death than Roxas, but he'd stumbled over a decomposing body once, and it had actually been much worse than this. He thought he could handle it. Or at least, he hoped he could. "C'mon, let's go try to find some oysters." Axel didn't feel particularly hungry now, but they needed to keep their strength up. Roxas nodded, rubbing his eyes and following Axel back to the beach.
It turned out that Axel was right about the oysters. There were huge oyster beds and they were almost pristine, attacked by nothing but starfish. Soon Axel was opening oysters and swallowing them down. Roxas didn't like them as much, they were huge and very chewy, but he worked on it. They were nourishing and easy to catch, that was the important part. They ate in silence for a while, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Then Axel picked up a branch and started whittling it, making it into a spear. Roxas watched him work for a while before finally clearing his throat.
"Uh, Axel." The redhead glanced up and Roxas saw he was looking a bit flushed. Probably already getting a burn, he was very fair skinned. "I was wondering… do you have any hobbies?"
"Hm? Oh." Distracted from his work, Axel ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "Well, dad loved hunting and got me into it. I also like nature hikes, fishing and I'm into karate." Roxas winced, looking away. "Roxy, what's wrong?"
"Don't call me that." Roxas said half-heartedly, then sighed. "I just – I just feel so useless compared to you. I play video games and play basketball." Although he wasn't really any good at it. He was far too short. Axel shook his head, reaching out to squeeze the blonde's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it Roxas. My dad was an outdoorsy kind of guy and he taught me to be the same. I bet your parents weren't like that, were they?" Roxas shook his head. His dad was slightly like that, but they hadn't bonded much at all. And his mother and step-father certainly weren't outdoors types. Even if he'd wanted to spend more time in their presence, which he hadn't. "I'm just glad you're here with me." Roxas couldn't help but smile at that.
"Thanks Axel." That made him feel better, although he was fairly sure that Axel would have been glad to have anyone to talk to. But that was good, really. He didn't want Axel getting really attached to him… didn't he? Roxas suddenly frowned as he thought about it, then looked at Axel. The redhead was bent over a bit, carefully whittling at his stick and Roxas licked his lips as he saw how the sweat was beading on his bare shoulders, how well defined his muscles were. He hesitated, reaching out –
"Ah!" Roxas pulled his hand back as Axel suddenly stood, brushing sand off his pants. What had he been thinking? He wasn't even sure Axel was interested in guys! Oh, wait, given that joke about pretty girls or boys he was probably bi. "This should do it. I'm going to go try my luck. Can you look away for a sec? I don't want to get my clothes wet." Axel hoisted his rough fishing spear, completely oblivious to Roxas' confusion. The blonde blushed as Axel stripped off his pants, then sighed wistfully as he watched the redhead walk into the ocean. Axel had wonderful buns. Then he frowned as he saw Axel swimming out into the ocean.
"Axel, where are you going?" Suddenly uneasy, Roxas hesitated, then stripped off his clothing and followed. Axel treaded water for a moment, glancing back.
"I think there might be a reef here. There would be a lot of fish in it!" Roxas swam out as Axel ducked under the water. He knew he wasn't going to be much help, but he suddenly had a horrible image in his mind of Axel getting bitten by a shark. It was probably very unlikely, but Roxas really didn't want anything to happen to the redhead. He had no idea what he would do without him, really. Axel surfaced and grinned at him as he swam up to the older boy. "A reef for certain. Check it out!" Axel took a deep breath and dove again, and Roxas followed.
It was hard to see underwater, of course, but he could make out the brilliant reef. Axel kicked vigorously then suddenly stopped, letting himself slowly descend. Roxas stayed back, not wanting to get in the way, and he was amazed by how long Axel could hold his breath. He was straining when Axel tossed a bit of sand into the water, trying to lure a rather large fish closer. The redhead succeeded in spearing the fish but almost lost his spear as it thrashed and tried to get away. Roxas had to go to the surface then, but Axel followed only a few moments later, gasping for air as he broke the water.
"First try!" He wheezed out. "Can't believe it. It's big too!" Axel was gripping the struggling fish tightly and Roxas moved to help, getting smacked with a tail. "Not very wary, bet they haven't seen people forever. Let's get it to shore." Roxas nodded and the two of them dragged in the mortally wounded, fighting fish to shore. They were both gasping and winded when they heaved it onto the shore.
"It's the size of a small child Axel!" Roxas was very impressed with the catch, and Axel nodded, finding a rock and using it to finally put the fish out of its misery.
"I… think it's a goliath grouper. I've never seen one before." Axel ran a hand over the skin of the fish. The was yellow underneath and heavily specked with darker dots. The mouth was a huge thing. "A juvenile one."
"Wh-what?!? Juvenile?" Roxas stared at the fish. He thought it was a good seventy-five pounds. Axel grinned at him, amused.
"These suckers can weigh up to eight hundred pounds, Roxas." Roxas stared at him, not sure if he believed that claim. An eight hundred pound fish? "Four hundred pounds is mature. This isn't a baby but it's not grown either." Axel heaved up the fish and admired it. "First time I've actually seen one." Then he frowned. "Where you find fish like this, you typically also find sharks. We'll have to watch out for that." Roxas shivered at the thought and glanced at the sea, remembering his earlier fears. "Don't worry, most sharks aren't human aggressive anyway. C'mon, let's cook this thing." Axel cheerfully carried the fish back to the fire, which was under the shade of a few trees. Roxas was glad for that. He was sure Axel was getting a sunburn, and he had a flushed feeling that seemed to hint that he was going to have one too. On the plus side, once he'd burned and peeled once Roxas knew he would develop a tan, and he hoped Axel would too. "Ow! Goddamn mosquitoes." Axel swatted himself and Roxas swallowed as he was suddenly reminded of the fact that they were both naked. Axel hadn't seemed to notice, too preoccupied with the catch of the day, but Roxas suddenly blushed and searched desperately for their clothes. He quickly pulled on his pants and shirt, bringing Axel's pants over to him.
"Erm, Axel?" Roxas offered the clothing to the redhead, who looked up the fish, startled.
"Oh!" Dropping the pocket knife, Axel flushed slightly and took his pants, pulling them on. "Ah, sorry."
"It's no problem." Roxas said hurriedly, wishing that a deep, dark, treacherous part of him weren't wishing Axel was still naked. Although he looked wonderful without a shirt too.
"Still. I don't want to embarrass you." Axel murmured and Roxas looked up, blue eyes meeting concerned green. Roxas swallowed hard, feeling a blush spreading across his cheeks and cursing it. He was no stranger to the feeling, really, he'd known he was gay for years. But no one had attracted him this strongly.
"It's fine." He said more strongly, as much to himself as to Axel. "How do we cook this thing?" Axel accepted the change of subject and went back to his work on the grouper. It wasn't easy, gutting and cleaning it with a pocket knife, but he was managing.
"Well, this is going to take a while I think. Could you feed the fire a bit?" Roxas took care of that, putting a few branches into the fire. "And could you find some sticks? We'll probably have to cut off pieces, spear them and roast them. Or we could just eat it raw, like sashimi. Although that might give us parasites." Axel was a bit vague on it but he seemed to recall that sushi grade fish were flash frozen to prevent that. Roxas shook his head.
"Let's cook it." He wasn't a big fan of sushi at all. It wasn't a big thing in Baton Rouge, or at least not with his mother and step-father. Roxas started looking for likely sticks and came back with a couple well before Axel was done with the fish. Although the redhead was making a bit of a mess of it, really. Finally he managed to cut off a few good chunks of meat for them to roast. Sticking the sticks through it wasn't easy either, but they managed.
"So what's it like living in Baton Rouge?" Axel asked conversationally as they held their sticks over the fire, waiting for the fish to cook a bit. Roxas frowned, thinking about it.
"About like living anywhere, I guess." Roxas shrugged. "It's really hot in the summer, as hot as Hawaii. It's super mild in the winter. The neighborhood I live in and the school I go to suck." Roxas' eyes darkened as he thought about it. "I'm going to drop out as soon as I can." What was the point, really, in even graduating with his grades like they were? Axel hesitated, and shook his head. "I know, I know, I should graduate. But I'm tired of getting beat up all the time." Roxas took a deep breath, then decided not to say anymore. He was in a bad neighborhood and his very blonde, very white looks made him stand out. Not to mention how short and small he was.
"Have you tried getting karate lessons?" Axel believed firmly in the value of being able to protect yourself. Roxas shook his head.
"I tried. I got a paper route to pay for it, but someone stole my money. And only mom and step-dad were in the house." Roxas added sourly. He wasn't sure which one of them had taken it, but it could have been either. They both had an alcohol problem. Axel winced.
"Well, if you want, I can teach you a bit while we're here." Axel offered and Roxas blinked at him. "Once we get our shelter done there won't be a lot to do."
"Oh." Roxas considered that and decided it was a good idea. Axel was right, there wasn't going to be a whole lot to do on the island soon so why not? It might be useful, although if they were found quickly he wouldn't be able to learn too much. "Sure, why not." Axel nodded and pulled his fish out of the fire, testing it with his fingers.
"Eh. This will do." And he started to eat the still slightly raw fish. Roxas frowned, then shrugged and pulled his own. Even if they did get some parasites, it probably wasn't going to kill them. Roxas was a little surprised by the taste of the fish. It was firm, slightly sweet and not very fishy.
"This is pretty good." He said thoughtfully. "Although it'd be better with seasonings." Axel grinned at that.
"Yeah, too bad we don't have any of those. Too bad we don't have any pots and pans, either. If we found some breadfruit and got more papaya, along with a pan, I bet I could make a real meal out of this." Axel sighed and shook his head. "Might as well wish for those scantily clad young women."
"And men." Roxas added, making Axel laugh. He smiled to himself as he watched Axel eat. The redhead was really incredibly sexy, and Roxas bit his lip for a moment before going back to his fish.
He had no idea what to do about his attraction to Axel, if anything. It would require some thinking on it.