Title: Young Dudes
Genre: Romance/ General
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I no own
Summary: AU. - I gulped as I felt his fingers slowly going up my shirt. I turned my head to look up at him, only to have his mouth descend upon mine in a fierce kiss.
Main Akuroku. Background Soriku. All characters will be a bit OOC.
"Blah" means talking
"Blah" means phone conversations
IV. Hysteria – Muse
The moon hung heavy, creeping over the passing woods with an eerie darkness, bathing everything in an off-gray light. The city lights were a few dozen miles ahead of us, but I didn't really care to go back. With the windows down and the summer heat flying through me, I felt like I was flying. Axel looked strangely demonic in the drivers' seat, an oldies song playing on low through the speakers; it was just a background noise more than anything else.
We hadn't spoken since we left the neighboring town. I was too busy getting down from my adrenaline rush and Axel seemed to be thinking about something. These last few hours have been jam-packed with so much different crap that it felt like an eternity ago when I was at work saying goodbye to my coworker rather than that just happening earlier today.
Axel suddenly pulled over to the shoulder of the highway. Frowning at me and getting out of the car.
"Dude, what gives?" I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt and crawling so that I could look out of the drivers' side window.
"C'mon, we're gonna look at the stars," Axel stated, opening the trunk and grabbing a blanket out to put on the dirt covered ground.
I looked up at the star littered sky before glancing to the foreboding woods. There were probably all sorts of wild animals in there that were up and about just waiting for prey. I then shook those thoughts out of my head, they were just stupid.
Sighing, I drew myself back to my seat and hopped out of the car, walking to where Axel was spread himself across the blanket. "Scoot over man," I nudged him with a foot and he rolled to his side, grinning up at me.
"Ya gonna lie down with me?" He asked suggestively, I could feel my face burn and heat up at his tone, and I could do little else than scoff at him.
"I'd like to look at the stars, thanks." I stated, plopping down next to him. We were both silent as we looked up at the infinite sky; with the exception of the occasional airplane it was a beautiful sight, especially since we were out of the city, so there was no light pollution to cloud it up. "We take sights like these for granted, hm?" I asked Axel, looking up at the white face of the moon.
"Yeah," He replied, I could feel the vibration of his voice from my spot next to him, and the realized just how close we were laying next to each other. I turned my head and realized he was watching me. It reminded me of that cliché romance movie that we had caught a glimpse of earlier.
"Hey," He smiled serenely at me.
My insides were a quivering mess, butterflies fluttered throughout me and my nerves were on fire. I licked my lips to moisten them, managing a shaky smile back. "Hey yourself."
I forced my eyes to move away from his. Did we just have a moment? It felt as if we did. I then felt Axel grip my hand, intertwining our fingers, my face heated up again as I continued to look up at the sky, fingers curling around his knuckles.
"Ya know any constellations?" He asked in a quiet murmur. It felt nice out tonight; it didn't matter to me that we were on an old blanket on the lumpy ground with our hands touching in a way that boys supposedly shouldn't allow with other boys.
"Yeah," I pointed towards a row of stars. "That's Orion's Belt. Over there is the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, and that's all I know. Do you know any?"
He did what I had done, pointing up at the sky, "That's Gemini, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion's Belt, and that right there is Sirius." I listened to his voice, relishing in his words, the way he said thur instead of there, and how they all just dripped from his mouth so smoothly.
"Tell me about yourself?" I asked, staring up at Sirius.
"What d'ya want ta know?"
"Everything."
To this Axel chuckled. "Alright. My name's Axel, it's a pleasure ta meet ya. I'm the youngest outta three. My older sister's name's Ariel, she's married ta a nice guy, and I've got me a niece named Melody from her. My brother's name is Reno, and works for Shinra just like you. Only he does different work. I grew up in New Mexico, near Texas, lived with my Ma while my Dad was off making somethin' of himself.
"My favorite color's blue. My favorite food is brigadeiros. I'm fond of the number eight. I love takin' photos and am sorely upset at myself fer not brinin' my camera out with me tanight. Let's see, what else can I tell ya? I'm a Leo, so I have pyromaniac tendencies sometimes, and since we were talkin' 'bout stars, my favorite one is the sun.
"I work for my Dad, and for the most part am an all around good boy who never get's into no trouble whatsoever. What 'bout you Rox?"
I took in his information. He told me a bit, but he didn't tell me really anything about him, only things that I could've found out through Demyx or Zexion. Nothing meaty or important. I closed my eyes and thought, what did he want to know about me exactly?
When I opened my eyes again I felt Axel's gaze on me.
"You already know that I'm Roxas, I'm the oldest of two, my sister's name is Garnet and she's a high school kid. I work for Shinra as part of customer service, grew up here and still live with my parents since I can't afford otherwise.
"My favorite color's green. My favorite food is peanut butter. I like the number thirteen, but eight's okay too. I enjoy quiet things, like reading, which I think is honestly a dying art. Um…I'm a Capricorn, but I have some Sagittarius traits due to being born right there in-between them. And I love the sun."
Silence again between us, from somewhere in the woods an owl hooted and other creatures made night noises. It wasn't as eerie anymore though, more relaxing than before, although I still half expected for there to be some kind of serial ax murder to come out and chop us into bits.
"Do you think that information is enough to know someone by?" I asked him after hearing another owl respond to the first one.
"Nah, but it's a start."
My phone began to buzz in my pocket, causing me to jump and arch up a bit to get it out of my front pocket. I tried to ignore the fact that Axel's eyes were on my form the entire time. I could only guess what he expected by the end of the night, not to say that I'd be totally against it.
There was a new text in my message box.
From: Sora
Where the fk are you!
I frowned at the message for a moment, it would make sense that he'd be freaking out at my sudden disappearance. I honestly hadn't wanted to go out, so Sora would probably take all the blame if I don't get home before he visits in the morning. Because I knew my cousin well enough to know he'd stop by my house and beat the crap out of me for scaring him like this.
I'm fine, I replied, idk when I'll be home tho.
"Who're ya textin'?" Axel asked lazily. His eyes were closed and his free hand was underneath his head, acting as a half-assed cushion.
Pressing the send button, I sat up, not bothering to let go of Axel's hand. "My cousin. We should at least get going back to the city before he calls the cops and files a missing persons report."
Snickering, the tall redhead stood and pulled me up with him. He let go of me a moment later. Our linked hands were finally broken and I felt cold and lonely as I watched him fold up the blanket and throw it back into his trunk.
My phone buzzed again.
From: Sora
Who're you with?
I rolled my eyes. Still with Axel, I typed, I thought I told you to leave me alone lol. I'll call you when I get home. l8r.
We ended up back at the diner, Yuffie smiling tiredly at us as we entered the place. She looked how I felt. I was exhausted and ready to just hit the hay.
"Hey guys!" She greeted happily from behind the bar, it looked as if we had just missed the post-clubbing rush that must've hit this place every weekend. "How was your night so far?"
"Interesting," I stifled a yawn, hopping on one of the stools. Axel sat down next to me and gave me an amused look.
"Tired already?" He mused, ordering water with a lemon slice. I didn't want anything, it was nearing four in the morning and I was in no way hungry or thirsty. I was entering a level of sleepy that I had never entered before, and I was pretty sure that within the hour my brain was just going to shut my body down and I was going to pass out.
I put my head in my arms, which were folded on top of the counter. "I've been up since six this morning, so I'm exhausted," I refused to acknowledge my nap as any sort of real sleep.
Axel looked me over for a moment before getting off of the stool, placing some money on the counter even though water was free, "Ya wanna go to my place?"
I was suddenly very much awake and my heart was beating a mile a minute. A part of me doubted that he meant it in a sexual way, but another part of me hoped for that. I licked my dry lips and nodded, surprised with myself that I was able to answer so nonchalantly.
"Yeah, sure."
Axel lived in the center of downtown, in one of those high rise condos which go up to almost twenty stories. The building had a brick face, there were iron rod double doors that led through a small hallway before entering glass double doors where there was a small lobby with a security desk and a guard watching the cameras to the left and two elevators to the right.
"Mornin' Pete!" The redhead grinned, nodding at the man. Pete, a large black security guard who looked pretty intimidating, waved back, not looking up from the cameras.
The elevator was an old fashioned type, the type that one saw in an old Hollywood film, with gold and chrome swirl designs on the double doors. Axel pressed the number 8 and up we went, classical music wafted through the air around us, making things even more awkward than before. Maybe I was just looking too much into this.
Zexion was waiting right outside of Axel's apartment door, looking defeated and depressed, as well as slightly drunk.
"The fuck are ya doin' here Zex?" Axel asked, not moving to unlock his door. I stood a little ways behind him, wondering the exact same thing.
"I need to stay here, I can't go home and face Dem," Zexion stated with a little slur, he looked like a mess. His hair, which was usually meticulously groomed, was sticking up at awkward angles, and his skin was flushed with a light sheen of sweat.
Axel sighed and shook his head, "Nah, ya can't stay here tanight Zex, ya'll gonna have ta go home."
"I think he might be a bit too drunk to get home by himself," I found myself saying before I could stop it. There was nothing more that I wanted to do aside from go into Axel's apartment and stay there for the rest of tonight and maybe even some of tomorrow. But Zexion did look like he needed help, and I, unfortunately, was not the type to turn my back on someone, even if he were just an acquaintance.
Axel looked at me with his acidic green eyes, giving me a once over before huffing a sigh, "Fine."
Somehow we managed to wrangled Zexion out of the building, taking the elevator back down to the street level and pushing the drunken guy into the car.
The drive back to Demyx's apartment wasn't a long one, in fact he lived closer to Axel then I had thought he did.
"He's going to hate me and never speak to me again." Something that I had learned about this night was that a drunk Zexion was an insecure one; and slightly annoying to boot.
"That's yer fault fer dickin' 'round," Axel snorted, turning onto the block that Zexion and Demyx lived on, stopping in front of their building.
"I'll help him out," I sighed, "Keep the car running?"
The redhead gave me an appreciative look which caused shivers to go up and down my spine, but then he nodded.
Zexion leaned on me heavily as we walked into his building. He grabbed his keys out of his pocket and handed them to me to open the door, obviously knowing when he was done. Demyx was still out on the couch where we had left him, curled up with a throw blanket over his form.
"I think I can manage from here," Zexion stated blurrily, rubbing his face with his hands. I gave him back his keys and he turned to look at me, "You know, I might be somewhat of a prick, but I do love him. I just don't know how to stop myself from hurting him."
"This is getting way too deep for me," I said, wanting to get out of the apartment and away from their problems. All I wanted was to hang out some more with Axel, and not worry about other things in life.
"Sorry." The man shrugged, looking at Demyx once more, "You can go now, I'll lock up and everything. Thanks for bringing me back here." He sighed.
"No problem, good luck with everything," I said over my shoulder before leaving for good that night, hopefully. One thing for sure was that I didn't envy how things were going to be when they faced each other later.
I got back to the car in record time, not wanting to even think about the drama that was about to unfold between the two men that we were leaving behind. "Are we still going back to your place?" I asked a bit breathlessly, having nearly ran to the car.
Axel nodded slowly, "If ya want ta." Somehow it seemed like he was purposely trying to seem cool and calm. He contradicted himself however when he sped all the way back to his condo. The second time through the lobby neither of us bothered to greet Pete and the elevator couldn't have gone fast enough.
The moment Axel managed to open his home's door I felt my nerves flutter and flare. I had never done this type of thing before, going home with someone I had just recently met. He turned on the lights and it felt as if I were at home.
When one enters Axel's place the foyer is a short hallway which opens up to a large living room where there were burgundy red colored sofas and huge 72" flat screen TV which was on a nice dark oak stand. The flooring was a natural oak, everything seemed very earthy, and the walls were a neutral beige color and random photos littering them in cherry oak frames.
Behind the living room was an open kitchen, the bar facing the back of the plush sofas. The appliances were all black, and the counters were of nice red granite, with the exception of the island that had a chop block top. What really caught my eye, however, was the farthest wall from the entryway; it was nothing but glass, showing off the night's skyline.
Everything was very chic, it was evident that Axel came from money, but the place didn't feel snobby upper class. And though it was comfortable, it didn't scream bachelor pad like Demyx and Zexion's place had either. It felt like a home should feel.
"Wow," I said, taking everything in, "This is a really nice place." I looked up at the redhead, only to be caught in his heated gaze. "Will you give me a tour?" I asked shyly.
"Sure," Axel nodded, leading passed the living room and into a hallway that was blocked off by the massive TV.
The first door to the left was a guest bathroom, done in earth tones and looking luxurious. The second door was what looked like an office slash guest room. The room at the end of the hallway was his bedroom. Where all the magic is about to happen, I thought nervously.
His bed was a California king sized one with a black headboard, black bureau, and a single black bedside table. There was no TV in his room, and I remember reading somewhere that couples without a TV in their bedroom had a better sex life.
This room also had a wall that was nothing but window, no curtains covering it.
"What do ya think?" Axel's voice came from behind me and I turned to face him, trying not to let it show that he had startled me. His breath hit the back of my neck and I shivered against him as his hands came around and rested on my hips.
"It's a really nice place," I said, my own voice low. I gulped as I felt his fingers slowly going up my shirt. I turned my head to look up at him, only to have his mouth descend upon mine in a fierce kiss.
TBC
MLL: I've never actually talked to someone from Texas or New Mexico, so honestly I'm basing Axel's accent on movie stereotypes, no offense to anyone from there. This is the shortest chapter so far, and I'm really nervous about the lemon. Ugh, they always make me nervous! Damn gay sex scenes.
I'm surprised that I was able to get this chapter up, I've been running on very little sleep and haven't been able to do much of anything other than work. It'd really appreciate it if you were to review, it'd make my week