A/N: Alright, so change of plans with this story. I had originally planned on having another chapter after this, but I decided to combine the two together. So, yeah, it turns out this is the final chapter. So, uh, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you've enjoyed my story, because I've certainly loved writing it.

Axel was running away...again. It seemed to be the only thing he was actually good at. He was always running away from his foster homes. Away from his problems. Away from the judgmental stares that may or may not actually exist. Away from his own stupid, damn mind. And now he was trying to run away from his emotions and thoughts about what he had done.

Stupid Hartley. This was all his fault. If he hadn't been so...so...Hartley, than none of this would have happened.

Right?

No, of course right. Of course this was Hartley's fault. Hartley was the one that was gay, not Axel. Hartley was a smart guy. He must've manipulated the situation or did something to influence Axel's subconscious, because there was no way he would have ever ki...he wouldn't have kiss…

It just wouldn't have happened, and there was a very simple explanation as to why not. Because Axel was not gay! He knew he wasn't. He couldn't be...he really didn't want to be.

Everything was just so messed up, and even though Axel was a fan of chaos (too much order kinda freaked him out. It just wasn't natural), even he thought that this was all too much. He couldn't handle these feelings of whatever. He didn't even know what the feelings were. Sure, they might be feelings feelings, but they also might not be...but they also might be.

Gah! Not for the first time Axel found himself agreeing with Hartley. Feelings were stupid. People were stupid. And feelings about people were the worst thing in the world.

Axel didn't want to think or feel anything about this, so he ran, figuratively and literally. He wasn't even paying attention to where he was going. Axel just let his feet take him wherever they wanted to take him. Axel just ran, and he kept on running until he couldn't anymore. Only then did he stop, and when he did he realized that he knew this place.

It was a nice looking neighborhood. Quiet. The type of neighborhood that Axel had always hated, even as a kid, because it seemed like if you dared to set foot on the streets than you needed to be a nice person. Because, of course, only good people deserved to live in good, safe neighborhoods and homes.

Axel didn't exactly have an issue with this neighborhood though because he knew that Wally lived around here. Axel didn't know the guy all that well, but they hung out sometimes, and enjoyed each other's company decently enough. Wally just seemed to be relieved that there was somebody else around who was his age and not super serious all the time. Axel was just glad to have a friend other than Hartley who didn't judge him for his past.

Wally...he was good at feelings and relationships and stuff. Or, at the very least, he had to be better at them than Axel was. Maybe he would know what to do about this.

Axel approached the house that he remembered was Wally's. Only now that he had stopped running did he realize just how out of breath and tired he was. Oh, and his nose was hurting too. Really badly, actually. Like, ow, how had he not noticed that before?

Axel pounded loudly on the door and just kept on knocking. He needed to talk to Wally, to just see a friendly non-kissable face. A few moments passed and Axel was just beginning to think that nobody really was home when he heard somebody on the other side of the door.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." An annoyed voice that definitely didn't belong to Wally said. The door was opened and Axel's eyes widened in surprise. For some reason he hadn't even considered that Barry might be here, but he was...fantastic.

Barry looked just as shocked to see him there, though he didn't exactly look angry, which was definitely a first. Axel could count on one hand the number of times that Barry hadn't looked at him as if he was the scum of the earth. Although, maybe Barry was just so surprised to see Axel that he hadn't fully processed it yet.

"Axel, what are you doing here?" Barry asked.

"I...Hartley...kiss." Was all that Axel could get out. Note to self. Out of breath plus flustered equaled an inability to talk. That was good to know.

"Hartley kissed you?" Barry's voice sounded kinda surprised, but not completely shocked.

Axel wanted to say 'yes, Hartley kissed me and was trying to make a move on me', but his mouth just wasn't working. The only thing he could do was shake his head, which was not what he meant. Sure, technically Hartley hadn't kissed him, but Axel was still in denial of it having happened the other way around.

"Uh, okay." Barry frowned slightly in hesitation. "...Did you kiss Hartley?"

'No!' was what Axel really, really wanted to say. But, once again, his head acted without his consent. He found himself nodding, which meant that he was telling Barry 'yes, I did kiss Hartley', which was the last thing that Axel had wanted to say.

"Oh." Barry nodded. "I get it." Seriously? Because Axel was the one who had done this, and he didn't get any of it. "So, uh, you wanna come inside and talk about it?" That sounded like a horrible idea.

"Not with you." Axel scowled. Barry had made it very clear from the second they had met each other that he didn't like Axel, and the feeling was more than mutual.

"Yeah, I probably should have expected that." Barry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Look, I...I'm sorry."

"What?" Axel blinked. That wasn't what he had been expecting.

Barry looked him in the eyes. "I judged your unfairly. I mean, I'll be honest, I still don't really like you, but I'm willing to admit that I was wrong about you still being a threat to society."

"Huh." Axel frowned and tilted his head slightly. "What changed your mind?"

"Well, the fact that you've been out of prison for about a year now and haven't done anything was kinda a wake up call." Barry admitted. "And when I saw the way you interacted with James Jesse…"

Axel's stomach twisted up like a pretzel. He really didn't want to be thinking about his father right now. "Got it." Axel said, because he didn't need to hear any more. "So, uh, is Wally around?" Axel would definitely rather talk to him than Barry.

"Afraid not." Barry shrugged. "You wanna come in anyways? We have some leftover pizza." Okay, now Barry was just playing unfairly.

"Sure." Axel said, because how could he turn down pizza? He followed Barry into the house and towards the kitchen. Axel made himself comfortable on the counter while Barry searched through the fridge for the leftovers.

A minute later Barry had found and reheated some leftover pizza. He handed plate with a few slices on it to Axel, who immediately started digging in and kept one for himself. "So, what's the deal with this thing between you and Hartley?"

Axel nearly choked on his food. "O-oh my god, don't say it like that!" Barry made it sound like there actually was something between Axel and Hartley, and there wasn't and never would be...probably...except, maybe not. "There's nothing between me and Hartley."

"Okay, okay." Barry put up his hands in a defensive way. "...But do you want there to be?"

Axel froze as he thought about the question, because, honestly, he wasn't entirely sure. "I don't know." He admitted quietly.

"Well, do you have feelings for him?" Barry asked.

"Of course." Axel scoffed at the question. "I just don't know if they're feelings feelings, or just feelings, you know?"

"Strangely enough, I do." Barry said. "Look, these kind of feelings are complicated. Have you ever, uh, like liked someone before?"

"I don't think so." Axel said honestly. He had never really liked people in general growing up. Even now he wasn't the biggest fan of mankind.

"Okay, so you don't have anything to compare this to." Barry thought for a moment. "Well, how does Hartley make you feel?"

"Uh, I don't know." Axel had no idea how to express his feelings through words, but he didn't exactly see the harm in trying. "I feel...normal when I'm with Hartley. I just….I just like Hartley." Axel groaned. That was completely useless information and it didn't mean anything!

"That's great!" Barry beamed, which caused Axel to frown. Apparently something that meant nothing to him was completely understood by Barry Allen.

"It is?" Axel asked. "But I explained it badly."

"That's part of what makes it so great." Barry said. "Feelings like this are just hard to explain, and even harder to recognize."

"So how do I know if they're feelings like that?" Axel asked, because he still wasn't sure.

Barry shrugged. "You just gotta trust your gut on that, I guess." Oh, well, wasn't that fantastic advice? Axel opened his mouth to tell Barry just where he could stick his words of wisdom when his cell phone dinged, alerting him to a text. Axel froze. Only one person ever really texted him, and Axel didn't think he was ready to confront him right now.

...but he had to hear what he had to say.

Axel too out his phone and quickly opened up his new message before he could chicken out. He was right. It was Hartley, and he was wanting to meet up the next day at CC Jitters to talk about what had happened.

Axel took in a deep breath as he tried to figure out whether he wanted to go or not. Before he could even release his breath a new text arrived from Hartley. The message had just seven words in it, but reading it made Axel feel like the world around him had stopped.

'And yes. This would be a date.'

Oh no.

"What's up?" Barry asked, his voice tinged slightly with concern. "You're pale."

"Hartley wants to meet at CC Jitters tomorrow." Axel replied with a half truth.

"Are you gonna go?" Barry asked.

"...I don't know." Axel said for what felt like the millionth time that day, but he couldn't help it. All of these complicated emotions and thoughts made him feel completely lost. Axel stared at his phone for a few minutes and just tried to gather his thoughts. It was kinda hard to do, because his thoughts were even more all over the place than they normally were. He could only distinguish one thought above the others.

"I like Hartley." Axel said in a quiet voice. "But I-I'm not...I can't be…"

"Gay?" Barry raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think there's something wrong with being gay?"

Axel wasn't entirely sure. His upbringing told him 'yes, there was something very wrong with being gay'. But his friendship with Hartley said otherwise. After all, Hartley was about as gay as they come, but Axel hadn't ever really had a problem with it. Sure, he teased Hartley about it constantly because he didn't know how to handle it, but he didn't really try to be malicious about it. Axel thought that it was okay for Hartley to be okay...so what about other people?

Axel didn't think he had any problem with anybody else being gay. He just wasn't sure about himself.

Barry must've been able to tell that Axel felt extremely conflicted. "Look, if it bothers you that much why don't you just not think of it as being gay?"

Axel looked at Barry strangely. "What else would it be?" If a guy liked a guy, then they were gay. That was it. There wasn't anything else about it, was there?"

"You could just like Hartley." Barry suggested. "I don't think you have to give some label to it."

"Huh." Axel hadn't ever thought of that before. So he could just like Hartley? That actually didn't sound so bad. The only thing that Axel wasn't sure about at this point was what would happen if things went wrong? Axel didn't want to get his heart broken, and he didn't want to break Hartley's either. If things didn't work out between them, then would they even keep on being friends after that? Axel knew that lots of normal people didn't stay friends after a breakup, and the two of them were most definitely not normal people.

Axel thought he knew what he wanted to do, but he still wasn't entirely sure. He just needed some time to think about this. At the same time though, Axel didn't want to keep Hartley waiting. So Axel looked at his phone and just wrote a simple message.

'I'll think about it.'

Hartley took a deep breath and looked at his watch for the tenth time in the past two minutes. He didn't think he had felt this nervous about a date before. Of course, this wasn't just about a date, Hartley would have been able to handle it if that was the case. This was also about their friendship in general. Hartley didn't even care if this was an actual date or not (alright, that was a lie, Hartley would definitely prefer this to be a real date, but he would live with things if it wasn't) but he did need to talk to Axel about this.

Hartley was so nervous about this 'date' that he had arrived at CC Jitters a full half an hour early. He had been waiting for about thirty five minutes now, and he felt like he was going to break down from nerves. He was tempted to go inside and get himself a coffee or three to relax, but he really didn't want to. Hartley wanted to be outside to see Axel when (if) he arrived. So he waited outside.

It was raining outside and had been the entire time that Hartley had been there. He hadn't bothered bringing his umbrella, so he was soaking wet. Normally he would absolutely despise it, but it wasn't so bad this time. It wasn't raining all that hard, and the water almost seemed to ground him. All Hartley had to do was close his eyes and listen to the light sound of the rain hitting the pavement and he was calmed slightly.

"Hey, you." Hartley's eyes flew open when he heard the oh so familiar voice. He had been hoping to hear his voice all day, but he hadn't actually been expecting it. Hartley turned to see Axel standing next to him, offering out his ridiculous looking children's umbrella. Hartley smiled for the first time that day.

"I almost thought you weren't going to come." Hartley said.

"I almost thought that too." Axel admitted. "So, uh…" Axel trailed off and seemed to be blushing a bit. Hartley could see that Axel was just as nervous as he was, He suddenly found himself regretting the second text he had sent the day before.

"You know, this doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be." Hartley said, and he actually meant it.

"Uh, actually, I think I kinda do want it." Axel gave off a nervous little laugh. Hartley felt like his heart fluttered. God, he felt like a teenager whose crush was finally talking to him.

"Seriously?" This sounded too good to believe.

"Yeah, I think so." Axel said with more confidence. "I mean, you'll be paying, right? Isn't that what guys do for dates?"

"Well, yes, but you're the guy here too." Hartley reminded him, though he wasn't really sure why he had to.

Axel just grinned at him. "But you're the one who asked me out."

Hartley had to laugh at that. If he was feeling spiteful he might remind Axel that he had only asked him out because Axel had kissed him first, but he wasn't that low. Axel was obviously feeling incredibly nervous already. Hartley didn't want to scare him off by making him feel embarrassed.

"I'll tell you what." Hartley said. "I'll pay for our coffees, and you can pay for the next date." Too late he realized that him saying that might scare Axel off even more than the reminder of the kiss might.

To Hartley's relief Axel just laughed. "Yeah, that sounds fair." Hartley let out a nervous laugh himself. Axel had basically agreed to more dates before they had even had their first one. Hartley actually felt incredibly relieved about that. He felt amazing.

"Should we go inside?" Hartley suggested. Axel smiled nervously, and Hartley returned it with one that was just as nervous.

"Yeah, okay." The two of them went inside together. Neither of them were feeling very sure about themselves or this whole situation, but they were both willing to give this new thing a try. It was a risk, a big one, and there was a definite chance that it might blow up in their faces.

The thing was, both Axel and Hartley were comfortable with taking risks. As nervous as they felt, they were also very excited. It all kinda felt like an adventure. And, really, every day with Axel actually felt like an adventure, so Hartley considered himself prepared.

And even though Hartley never really considered himself an adventurous type, he was really looking forward to the ride.

A/N: I never thought I'd ever get to the end of this. My gosh, it's been amazing. I always feel super excited whenever I finish a story, especially since right now this is my longest story I've written so far. It has all just been incredible, and I'm happy that I was able to share my story with all of you.

Now that the story is over, I kinda wanna share my headcanons. As you have probably guessed, I've written both Hartley and Axel with mental health issues, but I haven't told you guys what exactly I've been writing them with. So, yeah, here goes.

As I'm sure some of you have already guessed, I've written Hartley with Asperger's syndrome. It was just kinda my way of adjusting to some changes in my life. Axel on the other hand was more complicated. I had a headcanon for him, but I don't personally know anybody with this, so I had to just go off what I could find online. So, even though I admit my portrayal may be inaccurate, and I apologize if it was, I was trying to write Axel with bipolar disorder.