...

Seventeen

...

"How is it that you can go to bed with freshly brushed teeth and wake up smelling like you just crawled from the depths of hell?"

My eyes fluttered open in irritation and I glared at Axel, "Good morning to you too..."

"You're lucky I didn't wake you up by placing a breath mint ever so gently on your tongue," he smirked, pulling the blankets up over his nose.

"Oh sure, why not let me choke and die? Maybe then the smell would make sense..." I grumbled, dragging myself out of bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

That definitely wasn't how I expected to wake up after a pretty wonderful, albeit akward, night with Axel. But I suppose I shouldn't have expected too much. Axel didn't seem to have a filter on what came out of his mouth.

I flopped back down in bed with fresh minty breath and blew air in his face, "Better?"

"Much better," he grinned, "Now I can do this!"

I squeaked as he yanked me into a deep kiss, "Axel!"

"Hush, you love it."

Suddenly I glanced over at the clock, "Axel, it's almost noon... don't you need to go take care of your farm?"

"Okay, so here's the thing... You sleep like a fucking rock. I snuck out at six to go finish my chores and then snuck back in without you ever noticing."

"But... We were cuddling earlier. I remember!" I pouted.

He glanced down at Charlie, "I think you may have been mistaken there, Rox. But that's okay. I think it's cute that you can sleep like you're dead."

"Axel, did you put pajamas on...?" I asked him, scanning his body up and down.

"Maybe," he grinned like a cat, "I figured we could just spend the day in bed together, so why not be comfortable?"

I smirked, "There are quite a few things I can think of that involve us in this bed all day, but none of them involve wearing any kind of clothing."

"No, dork... I mean, why don't we just talk for awhile? I still feel like there's so much I don't know about you."

"Okay... so we'll talk then. But breakfast first, okay? Otherwise all of our talking is going to be drowned out by my stomach."

He chuckled, "I think it's well past breakfast time, but I suppose I could make you one of my killer omelets."

"I like the sound of that," I smiled, leaning forward to give him a kiss.

...

"So... what did you want to talk about?" I asked as we settled back under the blankets in our pajamas, Charlie faithfully wedged between us.

He shrugged, "I dunno... tell me more about your life before you came here. I feel like we've never talked about it before."

"You know pretty much all there is to know, I think. I was a shitty student in high school and I dropped out of college after one semester. I was doing... nothing until I came here."

He snorted in disbelief, "C'mon, you had to have been doing something."

"Actually, I was..." I started, but stopped before I continued. I didn't know if I wanted to tell him about it so soon. "But that doesn't matter. Tell me about you! I know practically nothing about you."

"Oh..." he looked a bit startled by my sudden change of subject, "Well, I moved up here about ten years ago. I just... needed to get out of the city, I guess."

I cleared my throat, "Because of your brother...?"

His eyes snapped up to meet mine, "How did you...?"

"There's all kinds of rumors going around..." I admitted, "All I know for sure is that he passed away."

"He was murdered..." he whispered, his face distorting slightly, "By some drug addict moron who got high and decided he needed Reno's wallet. ...Probably to buy more drugs."

My heart nearly stopped in my chest. How could I tell Axel now...? "Addicts can do some fucked up things..."

"He stabbed him in the stomach... He bled out for hours in the alley before anybody found him. He probably suffered the entire time..."

"Axel..."

His jaw tightened, "No... I'm okay. I just wish he was still here. We were twins, you know. We had a special bond. But anyways-"

"No, Axel, I need to tell you something," I stopped him from changing the subject.

"...What?"

I paused for a moment, trying to psych myself up enough to tell him, "The reason I dropped out of college... was because I was a drug addict. Heroin. I had been all through high school, but my parents didn't know until my senior year. They sent me to a boarding school in London thinking that it would help me get clean, but I found the drugs there too. Ater the fiasco with college, they finally had an intervention and forced me into rehab. It took awhile... but I'm clean now. I have been for about four years."

He stared at me for a long time and I could tell that he was trying to process everything before he spoke. "...I'm really trying not to judge you right now, but it's very, very hard."

"I'm well aware that my addiction was a horrible and selfish thing. But I couldn't keep it from you... especially knowing about what happened to Reno. I never let myself get that low, though I did start stealing money from my mom at one point. But I've reconciled with my family, I've made my amends. I worked until I could pay back all the money I took from her, and when this opportunity came up to take over my grandfather's farm, I couldn't turn it down. It's really a new beginning for me."

"So you're really clean now?" he asked hesitantly, finally meeting my eyes again.

I nodded, "I promise. And I'm really sorry about what happened to your brother. Nothing justifies murder... But when you're high, you could care less about the consequences of your actions. I know it all too well..."

"I... really don't know what to say, Roxas... I never thought... I..." I could tell he was completely torn between whether he wanted to hate me or not.

"I understand if you can't be with me anymore, Axel... It wouldn't be the first relationship my addiction has ruined. But I really hope you can understand that it's all in my past. I'm a completely different person now. I've finally found myself."

He let out a low sigh, "I suppose it wouldn't be fair of me to hold your past against you. I do like who you are now... and it's not as if you had anything to do with Reno's death. I'm sorry for how I reacted, I'm just... kind of shocked that someone like you could have ever been an addict."

"I get that a lot..." I chuckled, "My own parents can hardly believe I'm the same person."

"I was a journalist, by the way," he switched gears on me, seeming ready to drop the subject, "I wrote for a pretty major newspaper."

I cocked my head to the side curiously, trying to picture him as a writer, "Really...? What column did you write?"

"I wrote a lot of small articles here and there, but my best work was the advice column I hosted. I wrote under the penname 'Lea'."

"So why haven't you started a newspaper out here yet? I bet everybody would love one."

He smirked, "I haven't exactly made friends out here... I was so depressed when I first moved that I shut everyone out of my life. I fear that I've burned all my bridges... I don't think I'll ever win them back."

"But you have me now, and everyone loves me!" I chirped happily, "We can work together and pitch it to the mayor. I'll even help you write! I'm not too shabby myself."

"Right, Mr. Drop Out."

I scoffed, "English was my best subject!"

He poked me in the side, grinning, "That could actually be pretty fun... You really think people would go for it?"

"Why not give it a try? Maybe we've found your place in town, where you fit in," I smiled warmly, leaning across Charlie to give him a kiss.

"It would be nice not to be hated by everyone... I know I can be a jerk sometimes, but I don't always mean it. Maybe I can get through to everyone with my writing, let them know that I'm ready to make my own amends with the town."

"I'm really glad to hear that, Axel."

...

A/N: First of all, sorry it took me so long to update! Life got in the way, sadly... I always hate when that happens.

So this chapter was mainly filler and background... I know it wasn't the best, but I promise more drama to come soon! Also, sorry if it doesn't flow well. I wrote half of it like a month ago and half of it just now. XD

Love you!

Simply Rexene