Spontaneous Combustion. Rated M for mature audiences.
"Your house is burning down."
Those were the first words the redhead had ever said to him, so simple and so horrifying at the same time. Roxas was out on his lawn with the rest of his family, clinging to a salvaged stuffed animal, and past the fire trucks and crowds and smoke, this boy walked up out of nowhere, Your house is burning down.
Roxas turned and glared even though he was crying. "I know that."
"You're gonna have to move now, ain't ya?" The redhead's eyes were bright green and piercing, like he knew more than he should. It was nearly frightening, actually, because Roxas was only eight and the other didn't seem to be much older.
"Yeah."
"Your ma's throwing a fit."
Roxas turned around and did indeed see his mother in hysterics, yelling at the medics who were handling his brother, whose arm was severely burned but he didn't seem nearly as bothered by it as their mother.
"How far away you gonna go?"
"I don't know."
"I'll miss ya."
"I don't know you."
The redheaded boy shrugged. "I'm Axel. You?"
"Roxas."
"Then I'll miss ya, Roxas."
"…O…kay."
While Roxas didn't quite know how to meet the situation, Axel leaned forward and quite easily kissed the blond's cheek, wet from tears and black from smoke. "See ya. Maybe."
Roxas didn't have time to protest before Axel ran away. His face went red with a blush and he held his stuffed bear closer to his chest, thinking it would provide him some comfort from the strange thing that had just occurred. In the background he could hear his mother yelling, his brother Sora insisting he was okay, and his father thinking aloud how on earth they were going to survive this one.
When they were moved into a new house, Roxas found that same stuffed bear while unpacking, and held it close.
He named it Axel.
Roxas caught a glimpse of bright red hair on his third day at a new high school, entering his junior year. He knew no one in the area, he'd moved so much, but that hair… he fought to remember the name that went with the hair.
"Hey Roxas!"
Before he could even remember Axel's name, the redhead spotted him and happily walked up and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Told ya I'd see ya."
Roxas didn't say anything, still a bit too shocked, and Axel frowned.
"Shit, ya forget me? Well yeah, it's been what… seven y-"
"Axel!" Roxas suddenly blurted, even just to let the redhead know that he remembered the name after all.
"Fuck. Yeah! That's me."
Axel smiled razor-sharp teeth, his eyes brightening, still that too-green, soul-searing gaze. Roxas thought he felt himself blush again.
"I… have to go to class."
"See ya later then."
Axel unthinkingly kissed Roxas' cheek again, and it bothered the boy the rest of the day, until he went home and saw the little stuffed 'Axel' bear waiting, sitting on a shelf like it had been for a number of years now.
The very next day the chemistry lab of their high school blew up. Roxas' class was outside with the rest of the school and Axel ran towards him from the building, a cheeky grin on his face and the smell of chemicals radiating from him.
Standing right in front of Roxas, he stopped and said nothing, just smiling, and the other students looked at them curiously. Roxas smiled back and decided to speak first.
"Our school is burning down."
The grin faded from Axel's face and he solemnly said, "I know that."
Roxas nodded. "You smell like sulfur."
There was a pause and then they both burst out laughing, without knowing why hugging each other and Axel whispered with a twinkle in his eyes, "I exploded chem lab."
"That's awesome."
In the spur of the moment Axel laughed brightly, once more, before pressing a startling and yet chaste kiss to Roxas' lips. The blond was so surprised that he stood stock-still until the principals came to drag Axel away.
Axel got sent to alternative school for the remainder of the semester, but they had first period together when the redhead got back.
"How was alternative school?" Roxas asked right away, seven-thirty in the morning and neither of them were fully awake yet.
"Sucked," was Axel's only answer, and they sat there at the table they shared in silence for ten minutes, looking at each other.
"I'm fucking tired," Axel groaned loudly at last, and slid sideways to lean his head on Roxas' shoulder.
Roxas blinked, but really thought nothing of the gesture at all.
"So how exactly did you blow up the chemistry lab?"
"Sulfuric acid has an exothermic reaction to water. They touch, and it goes boom."
"Couldn't that have killed someone?"
"Nah, it was only a little fire at first, but when we were all runnin' out, I hung back and threw some other flammable shit into it. I think there was napalm, I smelled it anyway."
"Why did you do that?"
Axel sat up and regarded Roxas rather seriously.
"I like fire. Always have, since I was little. Since I was eight, now I think about it."
Roxas watched Axel's lips form a sheepish smile, and then the now-familiar blush painted Roxas' cheeks. He forced himself to look away, looked around the room at the other tired students with their heads laid down on top of their books. When he looked back, Axel's face was still there, crazy spiked red hair hanging everywhere and his green eyes so damn bright, staring.
Roxas leaned over and pressed an unsure kiss to the corner of Axel's mouth, not quite on the lips but close. Pulling away somewhat ashamed, it was the only time he'd ever seen Axel's facial expression waver from its usual happiness into uncertainty.
He didn't look at Axel the rest of the class period.
The school had an end of the year dance and Roxas wasn't exactly sure why he attended, but it was probably just for the hell of it, to say he went. The school had gotten a decent DJ and big speakers, decked the gym out with balloons and dim lights and for some reason it was automatically fun. Roxas knew none of the songs and danced with students he didn't know, but it was still a nice social gathering.
Axel even decided to go, but Roxas didn't know until the redhead charged through the crowds and found him, pulled him away and sat him down on the bleachers then looked at him.
"Roxas," was all he said, and that was when the blond smelled it.
"You've been drinking, Axel?"
The redhead's answering laugh was a loud bark. "Fuck, yeah. I hate shit like this. But yeah… I had something to say to ya. I think I forgot it now. Um… wait, nah. I know."
Axel nodded, and Roxas watched, waiting, but Axel only dropped his head in his hands and breathed a frustrated sigh.
"…Axel?"
The redhead snapped up and smiled brightly.
"Have yourself a good fuckin' summer, Roxas. A good one, okay?"
He stood up and walked out of the gym, and Roxas gaped after him, wondering what the hell that had been about.
On July 4th that summer, there was a community bonfire, and needless to say Axel went, and was actually the one who started the fire. The firepit was huge and the flames licked up towards the sky, where fireworks rained down.
Roxas found himself gathered around this fire with eighty or so other teenagers at roughly three in the morning. It was one of the more pleasant things in life, sitting around a fire with friends all talking and shouting merrily, someone's truck parked nearby and playing loud music for everyone. Roxas decided that if Axel would show up and they'd talk, then that would make it even better. He'd just turned seventeen and he felt he should be having as much fun as possible… besides, there was fire here, so Axel was somewhere.
Roxas stood and looked around, searched the crowd for any sign of bright red or bright green. Finding none after a few minutes of search, he sat back down on one of the millions of lawn chairs with a defeated sigh, only to look to his left and find Axel sitting right there, bathed in firelight, green eyes darkened.
"Lookin' for me, Roxas?" His tone was low and easy, much more relaxed than last time they'd spoke. Roxas smiled.
"Yeah. How've you been?"
"Alright. I suppose. You're seventeen now, right?"
"How'd you know?"
"I just do," Axel shrugged, and sat up, leaned close to Roxas. "The fire's awfully warm, isn't it?"
"We're sitting pretty close to it," Roxas said, the soft hairs on the back of his neck prickling up from Axel's closeness and his words, the subtle seduction within his tone. Roxas had never contemplated whether he liked girls or boys before now, but he definitely knew that in this moment, he liked Axel. There wasn't the smell of beer this time, but instead sweet wine coming off of the redhead in waves, washing over him.
To hell with girls.
Roxas smiled a bit shyly before he closed the distance and pressed his lips to Axel's. It was hesitant and unpracticed, but the redhead's lips were seemingly warmer than the fire, and as sweet as the wine he'd undoubtedly been drinking, and before Roxas really knew what was happening he'd been pulled into Axel's lap, straddling it, and they were devouring each other, clashing lips and teeth and tongues until Roxas actually couldn't breathe.
While he gasped and panted for air, Axel's lips were roaming down his throat, to his collarbone, biting and sucking and claiming him.
"Ah… Axel…?" Roxas asked, not knowing why he was questioning anything, it felt so wonderfully perfect and somehow just right.
The redhead suddenly looked up, looked alarmed. "Shit. I… I'm sorry. I didn't…"
"No, don't be sorry," Roxas reassured him. "Just… keep doing it."
Their mouths met again, less feverish this time. Roxas put his hands on either side of Axel's face as if to hold him there, while the redhead's hands slid slightly up Roxas' shirt, fingers dancing over his abdomen, thumbs tracing the lines of developing muscle. Roxas couldn't help but moan deeply into their kiss, loving the redhead's warm touch, his cinnamon and wine flavor, and witch-fire green eyes when Roxas pulled away, staring at him, so intoxicated and lusty, and then that sinful mouth was at his throat again. Axel seemed to know exactly what to do to make Roxas gasp or whimper or moan, but then again, Axel had always been good at exciting him in one way or another.
"Aa… ah!" Roxas gasped loudly when the redhead unconsciously bucked his hips upward, making the blond boy painfully aware that they were both hard in the presence of approximately a hundred people, some of which were openly staring.
"Maybe we should go somewhere," Axel panted, removing his lips from the blond's slowly bruising collarbone, though his hips snapped up again and Roxas had to grit his teeth to stop from moaning at the friction created.
"Where?" Roxas asked, eyes performing a quick search of their surroundings; people, people, forest, people, forest.
"The truck playing music is mine, we could-"
Before Axel could finish the sentence, Roxas had gotten up, grabbed the redhead's wrist and began to pull him through the crowds to the aforementioned vehicle. It was close enough that the stereo set out on the truck bed could be heard but far away enough to provide privacy, which Roxas was most definitely grateful for.
"Back seat?" Roxas asked, looking back at the redhead, whose emerald eyes displayed an excitement that was almost childish.
"Yeah." Axel dug in his jeans with his free hand for the keys, producing them almost exactly when the black truck came into view, the loud music ringing in Roxas' ears, lyrics indistinguishable. Axel quickly unlocked the door and somewhat roughly pushed Roxas down into the leather seats. Roxas laughed anyway. Axel followed, crawling in between Roxas' legs and using the tip of a boot to pull the door closed behind him.
Axel all but bit at Roxas' lips as his hands pushed under the blond's shirt, rubbing and pinching at his dusty nipples until they hardened. Roxas rolled his hips up against Axel's, their arousals rubbing through denim, a sharp gasp leaving Roxas' lips when the redhead actually ripped the entire front of the blond's shirt and pulled it off of his slender form.
"You have no fucking idea how long I wanted you," Axel growled, his green eyes glowing, drinking in every inch of Roxas' milky white skin. "Sit up."
Roxas did as directed, pushing himself up to sit against the opposite window. Axel of course wasted no time in unbuttoning Roxas' jeans, pulling them down his slender hips, boxers following afterwards.
"Oh god, Axel," the blond murmured as Axel gripped his hard sex with one hand, wasting no time in lowering his head to lick the tip once before engulfing the entire length in his warm mouth. Roxas, having never felt something like that before, having never even been touched before, exhaled sharply in surprise and grabbed the leather on either side of him, his breath becoming panting and then wanton moaning as Axel sucked on him. The redhead's hands quickly found Roxas' hips to hold him steady as he unconsciously tried to thrust into Axel's mouth. The movement was slight at first, but it got steadily harder for Roxas to control himself, his nails digging so far in to the car seats the leather ripped. Axel stopped when he realized the blond's hips bruising a deep purple and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.
When Roxas grabbed Axel's hair and pulled him close for a harsh kiss, he could taste himself on Axel's lips and tongue, bittersweet and salty. He blindly reached for the button of Axel's jeans and hastily undid it, pulling down his zipper, sliding a hand into his boxers to wrap a hand around his hard cock, stroking it firmly and quickly.
"Shit," Axel cursed against Roxas' lips as his hips pushed forward to the boy's hand. "Don't…"
"Am I doing something wrong?" Roxas asked, slowing in reflex, afraid he'd messed up, hating himself for being inexperienced.
"Fuck, no," the redhead hissed. "I want in you, Roxas, so fucking deep inside you I can't tell where I am anymore."
"Oh god, then fuck me already," the blond pleaded, shifting, pulling Axel's jeans and boxers to his knees, attempting to divest him of clothing as quickly as possible. Axel made the job infinitely easier by being lanky, able to sit back on his feet and shed the rest of the offending items.
"If I do it now it'll hurt like a bitch," Axel warned, crawling back into place between Roxas' spread legs, gripping his hips firmly.
"I don't give a damn," Roxas begged, his voice almost breaking with need as he placed his arms around Axel's neck. "Please… just please."
"Your choice."
Carefully, Axel positioned himself at Roxas' entrance, his fingers shifting on the boy's hips as he nudged his head against it, hissing at the warmth emanating from it before looking into Roxas' eager blue eyes and deciding he shouldn't wait any longer than necessary.
Taking the risk of hurting the blond, Axel quickly shoved in to the hilt.
Roxas screamed, his nails digging sharply into the redhead's back and drawing blood. Axel lay still, bent over the boy, listening to his harsh groans and heavy breathing and small cries as he fought the pain undoubtedly wracking his body.
"Just be calm, okay," the redhead finally got the nerve to say, as Roxas dissolved into quiet tears and shuddering sobs, his face contorted with physical stress. "Just breathe."
Axel didn't wait for an okay to move, he just did, carefully pulling out- hearing blood drip onto his seats- and sliding back in, entry somewhat easier this time. Roxas bit his lip to keep from crying out. The first few thrusts were like that, difficult, Roxas fighting signs of pain or weakness and Axel just trying to be more gentle. It was halting and slow, until Roxas' breath hitched on a thrust that was angled differently.
"What was that?" the blond asked uncertainly.
"Stay still." Axel frowned, pulled out, and thrust back in at the same angle, a little harder, striking the same place. Roxas gasped and his back arched, and the redhead's lips curled into a smile. "Feel better?"
"Yeah…" Roxas said, slowly, as if he were contemplating the issue seriously. "Speed up. It hurts more if you drag it out."
"You got it."
His grip shifted from Roxas' hips to hold onto the boy's thighs, using them for leverage as he began to rock in and out of Roxas' tight body at a quicker pace, aiming for that place each time. Axel hissed in pleasure as the boy's walls gripped his length, swallowing him, feeling like they were pulling him in further each time.
"Oh, fuck," Roxas moaned distantly, his eyes falling half-lidded as his body began to writhe under Axel, back arching upwards, hips pushing up to meet Axel's each time. He could feel the redhead's cock, moving deep inside him, intimately close like no one had been before. Despite the pain- no, maybe even pain included- this was something he could definitely get used to.
"Faster, Axel," the blond commanded, and Axel only nodded as he obeyed, thrusts quickening again, striking Roxas deeper and harder in exactly the right place and way each time. Roxas' mouth fell open in a silent curse and he suddenly couldn't stop moaning, and he felt Axel's green eyes on him, drinking in every detail as their hips met again, and again, and again.
By now, the windows of Axel's truck had steamed up and condensation was rolling down the glass. The vehicle itself rocked back and forth in their rhythm, and Roxas could only vaguely hear the music emanating from the stereo. Everything was drowned out by his moans, Axel's grunts of effort, the heat and scent of pure sex hanging in the air around them. Roxas couldn't feel any pain anymore, just Axel driving into him, heat pooling in his groin and bringing him so close.
"Oh god, oh please…"
Roxas barely heard himself say it, but Axel did. He himself was holding out and it was damned difficult, Roxas was so tight and hot around him, walls clenching down on him with every thrust into his willing body.
"Axel… I…" Roxas started, cutting himself off with a sharp, load moan and arch of his back.
The redhead swore as the sound shot straight to his groin. He was too close, closer than Roxas was to that unavoidable edge, but Roxas was more important. Without a word, Axel gently let go of one of Roxas' thighs, and wrapped his hand around the boy's weeping cock, pumping him firmly in time with the movement of his hips. Roxas threw his head back, gasping harshly for air.
"Ah… Axel…!"
"I know, babe, I know," Axel assured, adjusting his position slightly so he pounded into Roxas deeper, harder. He heard Roxas' breath catch in his throat in a matter of seconds, felt his hips and thighs tense and quiver around him for a startling moment before the blond screamed his name. He came intensely, cum spilling onto both of their abdomens and Axel's hand, the redhead following in climax nearly as soon as Roxas had screamed, hips snapping forward and filling Roxas with his seed, a quiet moan of the blond's name issuing from his lips.
"Ah, shit," Axel groaned, pulling out and collapsing on top of Roxas, who was attempting to breathe correctly, his eyes closed and hands releasing their death grip on Axel's shoulders.
"That was amazing," Roxas sighed after a few moments.
"I'm pretty fuckin' incredible," the redhead admitted, nuzzling himself into the little hollow behind Roxas' carotid artery.
"And modest, too."
"Yeah."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Hey, Axel?"
"Mm."
"Something's been bothering me for the longest time, something I should ask you. I've always been sort of suspicious about it."
Axel looked up at Roxas with green eyes feigning innocence, and the blond smiled, taking the expression as ready confirmation. "You set my house on fire, didn't you? When I was eight."
"I sure as hell did," Axel chuckled. "That was my first fire, and it was actually an accident then. I hope you're not mad."
Roxas laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not really, no. I consider you a pyromaniac, not an arsonist."
"Good, 'cause I've had something to ask you, Rox," Axel murmured. "Since I owe you a house anyway, I want you to come and move in with me."
A comfortable smile spread across Roxas' face. "Sure."
Five months more and they were completely settled into a new apartment. Senior year was flying by and their new home became steadily cluttered with Roxas' and Axel's stuff, and appeared a bit more lived in every day.
Roxas always woke up first and made breakfast, and Axel stumbled out of their bedroom as soon as he smelled the bacon. They fought for space when they brushed their teeth together, and Axel actually elbowed Roxas all the way into the bathtub once. Roxas napped on Axel's shoulder on the bus ride to school, and at lunch listened to Axel's theories of how to blow up the school with intense fireworks on graduation day at the exact moment they dismissed students.
Every time they walked back through the apartment door Axel dropped his books, grabbed a beer, and managed to talk and/or wrestle Roxas into bed for at least an hour, and as soon as they could breathe again the books were picked up, put back in order, and Axel ordered pizza while Roxas attempted to teach him calculus.
The rest of the night was spent on a new soft couch, curled up and watching movies.
"Axel?" Roxas asked on one such occasion, half-asleep already with his head resting on Axel's chest, the redhead's warm arms encircling him.
"Yeah, babe?"
"How long… is this gonna last?"
Axel smiled half-heartedly. "Until you fall asleep and I have to carry you to bed," he joked.
"No," the blond said insistently. "I mean us."
"Well, the way I see it," Axel began, shifting slightly, "We're going to last about as long as a really, really good fire."
"What is it with you and pyro terminology?"
"I'm serious, Rox, just listen. A fire, when it sparks, is absolutely fuckin' gorgeous. How it dies out or lasts depends on how you take care of it. Either you pay careful attention to your amount of tinder and that fire keeps going beautifully, bright and colorful with all the flames licking up at the sky, sparks shooting off. But when you leave it and don't feed it, it begins to wither and die down, smaller and smaller and losing luster… until it's just gone, and you're left with ashes."
"How well are we taking care of our fire, Axel?" Roxas murmured, snuggling closer to him. Whenever Axel explained things, he always began to get a bit tired, and it didn't help that he'd been fighting sleep for two hours.
"Babe. There's a pyromaniac tending ours. We're fine."
"…I love your analogies."
"Everyone does."
"And I love you, too." Roxas yawned.
"Ditto." And Axel yawned as well. "Damn, that's contagious. Bed?"
There was no answer. Roxas was already fast asleep.
D'AAWWWW, I wrote a cute ending? And a story that actually had a somewhat plot and awesomeness? Please to review for me!
All standard disclaimers do apply in case you don't know, and flames are not welcomed, except by Axel.