Kingdom Hearts 2 (Axel/Roxas)
Jul. 9th, 2007 12:13 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
whitereflection.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
kinkfestTitle: Put Your Hands Into The Fire 2/2
Author/Artist: Di (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
whitereflection)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: AU, m/m sex in part 2
Word count: 11,477 total
Summary: Growing up, settling down, loving your best friend, loving fire; sometimes it really is that easy.
Prompt: July 9, 38. Kingdom Hearts 2, Axel/Roxas: Pyromania - "Burn, baby, burn"
-----
{VAST - Flames}
High school turned into college, and like when Axel and Roxas started going out, everything was different yet exactly the same. They still studied together, books, backpacks, and papers scattered over the coffee table and floor of Axel's living room. And Roxas still read sections from the novels assigned in class, though now from the honors Intro to English course at the university. His being ahead a year in that subject meant he'd already taken the advanced placement course through the high school the year before, and was given an early dismissal to take college English in the afternoon. But, of course, they still always finished with reading from On The Road. It was habit; it was tradition; it was just one of those little things that made Axel happy, and made Roxas happy to be making Axel happy.
They went out sometimes, to the usual movies and college sports games and restaurants that any other couple would frequent (Roxas was particularly fond of the university's Struggle games, and joined the squad as soon as he could once also enrolled; he was amazingly adroit at whapping Axel with the Struggle bat when he would jokingly refer to it as "Nerf"). But a lot of times they just stayed in, watching movies, playing video games, and such, to the point that Roxas' mother once described them as acting "disturbingly married for their age."
Other times, though, they went out on dates that were peculiarly, uniquely them.
It was late in Axel's sophomore year. Spring was pretending to be summer, and Axel was standing in front of the open fridge, chugging juice from directly the carton as he waited for Roxas to bus home from his afternoon classes. His cel phone rang, deedling the opening notes to a Prodigy tune--his Roxas ringtone.
"Roxaaaaaaaaaaas," he answered with a voice full of the flirtatious grin on his face.
"Stop drinking out of the carton. Your folks own glasses."
"What? Oh come on. No way you could've known that!"
"Hah, lucky guess." Roxas' voice grew muffled, as if he'd covered the mouthpiece of his phone. "Hayner, you owe me five bucks." Then his voice was clear again, and he sounded smirky and not a little bit smug. "Thank you for earning me some cash."
"Dork." Axel stuck his tongue out at the phone, snapping a quick cel camera picture so he could prove to Roxas he'd done so.
"You love me, you know it."
"Yeah, yeah." In the background he could hear Hayner chanting "Whipped! Whipped!", so he flipped off the phone and took a picture of that, too, to e-mail to Roxas' friend to prove that he'd done so.
"Anyway. Got any classwork that desperately needs doing tonight?"
"Nothing that can't be put off."
"Think your folks would let you have the car?"
"Yeah, probably. Most likely. What'cha thinkin'?"
"Surprise. Be ready to go when I get there, we don't wanna miss it." Then Roxas disconnected, and Axel was left blinking at the phone. But he was ready when Roxas arrived, raising questioning eyebrows at the blond as he packed a portable cooler with drinks and food and grabbed a rolled up blanket from his family's camping gear. But Roxas still wouldn't reveal what his plans were, not even when Axel pouted and did the sad puppy eyes. "I said surprise. S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E. Got it?" He ignored Axel's protests with a small smile, the sort he got when he was extra pleased with himself, patting Axel fondly on the rear as he passed by on the way out to the car.
As Roxas directed him where to drive, he eventually realized that they were heading for the city's riverfront park, and after they parked and walked up one of the trails to a grassy overlook, he finally understood why.
Axel hadn't noticed before that the sky was hazier than it should be, but he did now. The air was heavy with the sharp, acrid scent of burning, and off in the distance, where the park property blended in with low industrial buildings and eventually sprouted into the short almost-skyscrapers of old downtown, was a building blossoming with flame and a towering plume of black smoke.
"Oh, man...." Axel whistled, staring awestruck. It looked to be one of the old turn of the century warehouses being converted into upscale apartments and condos--or at least it had been. Didn't look like there was any chance of it surviving to be renovated now.
"It's a four alarm, I guess." Roxas spread the blanket under the tree nearest the crest of the hill. "I heard some people talking about it with the driver when I was on the bus. Started by sparks from some workers' tools or something. With all the chemicals from the construction, they're having trouble getting it under control."
"Nice." His whisper was reverent. Then he blinked and shook his head sharply, running a hand sheepishly through the long, red spikes of his hair. "I mean, not nice. Sad they're losing their building, whoever owns it. Sucks losing city history and...stuff."
"Axel." Turning around, he saw Roxas was sitting on the blanket, leaning back on his arms. The look he was giving Axel was warm, and he felt that look to his very center. "You mean nice."
He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."
Roxas held out his hand. "Sit with me. Let's watch."
And Axel did, taking his hand as he settled down next to him. Then he scooted behind the shorter young man, so Roxas was nestled between Axel's outstretched legs with Axel's arms around him. Fingers interlaced as they grasped each others' hands again, and Axel rested his chin on Roxas' head, the soft, tousled spikes of Roxas' hair tickling his face. They observed in silence as the building burned, only occasionally speaking, and even then in hushed tones as if in a church or some other sacred place.
It was romantic as hell, and Axel didn't feel the least bit girly thinking that.
Eventually, they ate as the sun set. Roxas fished a little bit of polished blue sea glass out of his pocket, the one he'd gotten while beachcombing on a vacation a couple years back and had carried with him since. He held the glass up so it glittered in the waning sunlight, then held it up to the glow of the distant fire, angling his arm so Axel could see, too.
Dusk set in, and in time deepened into moonless dark. The old highrise was consumed by flames, until little but a brick shell remained. As the light from the dying fire dimmed, the night seemed impenetrable; even the streetlights seemed faint and far away. And still they watched, as the teams of firefighters dwindled down to a skeleton crew finishing cleanup and the last of the live-on-the-scene news crews drove away.
Curled up on the blanket, with his head in Roxas' lap, Axel felt himself grow melancholy. It helped to be held like that, to have Roxas running a hand gently, comfortingly through Axel's hair. But there was still an ache. All fires eventually went out, died, he knew that; it didn't mean he didn't feel a pang of sadness when it happened, anyway.
"Hey." Roxas' thumb softly traced the shell of his ear. "Wanna go?"
"Mm. Yeah, I guess."
"Stay over tonight? My parents are still out of town."
Axel nodded.
It was spring pretending to be summer; but when they drove back to Roxas' house, he turned on the gas fireplace so Axel could sit close to it and watch. And even though it was too warm for it, Roxas sat close and watched with him.
-----
And life went on. They graduated--Axel cum laude (why yes, he did, ha ha), Roxas, summa cum laude (the little smartass)--got into grad school, moved out into their own apartment, and eventually graduated again.
Roxas started working towards his PhD just like he'd said he would back in high school. Axel got a job with the state as one of the caretakers for the university system's prairie preserves, the same ones where he'd done classes and thesis research and where he'd volunteered faithfully for the thrice-a-year burns during college.
Another couple of years, and he and Roxas settled even more. They got a cat, got a new car, got a condo, got a mortgage. They were closer to thirty than twenty; and that was cool, because that meant their auto insurance was cheaper. It was a smooth road into the strange land of adulthood, passing days like puzzle pieces falling into place, one by one by one.
-----
{Thirteen Senses -- Into The Fire}
"Yep...yeah, the move went fine. Really well, actually. Uh huh, last week. Back on the twenty-first. Had about five people show up to help, and we were finished by I think it was about mid-afternoon? Heh, yeah, we bought 'em pizza and beer. Bribery works." Axel leaned against the kitchen counter, dressed in threadbare, faded jeans, and his ever-present favorite shirt. (It was the fifth he'd had to make, as they inevitably wore thin and developed holes at the seams. Yet he could never not have his quote t-shirt. Not only for his own sake, but because it'd become his uniform when at the burns. His coworkers and the students took it for granted he'd have it on.)
Shoulder hunched to hold the phone to his ear, he sorted through a week's worth of mail. Junk, junk, resident, occupant--the previous Mr. Resident and Ms. Occupant had had some bizarre hobbies, if the catalogs were any indication. But then again, what would the new renters for his and Roxas' apartment be thinking of their junk mail?
"Honey, I think I think a pair of gay pyromaniacs lived here...."
The truth hurt. ("Fire fetishist," he mentally corrected the imaginary other couple.)
"Oh. What? Sorry, Ma, spaced off for a sec." He dumped the junk in the trash, sorting the yellow change-of-address stickered remainder into piles for later. "Yeah, actually, we're pretty much unpacked. Roxas has been a major slavedriver. Yeah, totally," he chuckled at the whip-crack noise his mother made. Her sense of humor could be as odd as Axel's and his father's, just more subtle. Usually. "You got the e-mail I sent with the photos? Awesome. Yeah, it is. Lotta space. We went for more than we needed so we could have a guestroom/library sorta thing. And we went for a third bedroom 'cause Roxas wanted an office."
His laugh echoed in the still somewhat empty kitchen--their last apartment had been so small, it would be a bit before they grew into the new place. "Ha, yeah, I'll get him a red stapler. And I'm telling him you're calling him Dissertation Boy. Mm hm, yeah, not much longer now." The clunk of a door closing sounded from the hallway, and Axel smirked as Roxas wandered into the kitchen. "He's so gonna be a pill to be around when he has to defend it."
"I'll show you pill," Roxas mock-growled, showing teeth. Stretching up to his toes (Axel swore he was going to be the shortest professor ever; already was the shortest grad assistant. This generally resulted in the re-emergence of the Struggle bat), Roxas pressed a too-brief kiss to Axel's lips, nipping at the lower one, before whispering in his ear, "I'm finished in there, if you want to check it out."
"Sweet." Ruffling Roxas' hair, Axel ambled down the hall, resuming his phone conversation with his mother. "Sounds like he's finished arranging his office, so I guess we're officially moved in--"
As he opened the door to the bedroom-office, he froze--and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that oh, right, that had been Roxas' smug, plotting-something smirk back in the kitchen there. Blindly, he held out the phone as Roxas came up behind him. "...talk to Mom, 'kay?" Axel's voice was hushed, almost horse, as he found he was suddenly feeling...choked up.
The cel phone was removed from his hand, and he heard Roxas speak, sounding terribly amused. But beyond that, Axel didn't pay attention. His sole focus was the room ahead of him.
Office, his ass.
He entered the room, carefully, carefully, stepping around the door and gently pushing it nearly closed behind him, taking pains to not create any drafts or gusts of air. Because all around him, on shelves that lined every wall, stretching from the floor up towards the ceiling....
Candles. Lit candles. Candles of every conceivable shape and size--tealights, votives, tapers, pillars. Candles in dishes, on trays, on sticks, in lamps.
There was a tingle that flashed through his entire body, from his feet to his scalp, and Axel felt his mouth go dry, felt his eyes sting. He had felt awe before, but never...never like this. He nearly sank to his knees, right there on the shimmering wood floor, and praised the heavens. There was no one alive more lucky than he, more blessed. More loved.
As he moved into the center of the room, Axel did a slow turn, taking in every light, every glow, every flame. Though it was still afternoon, the blinds were down, leaving the room dimmed and the candlelight radiant. God...he'd had no idea. How had Roxas...? While Axel was at work, he must have arranged it then. And Axel had made it easy, never poking his head into the closed room, blithefully shrugging it off as Roxas' space. But all those shelving units. Those would never have fit in their car, even unassembled. Oh, but Sora, Riku, and Kairi had a truck, didn't they, and Kairi's station wagon thing. And Roxas' parents had a SUV.
"Oh man...," he finally breathed. "Holy fuck...." He felt close to crying at the beauty of it. Instead he sat down gingerly, then laid back against the cool varnished floor. Axel spread his arms wide, inhaling deep the sweet smell, the faint hints of peppermint and cinnamon, the heady aroma of burning wicks, and let himself be surrounded by fire.
Minutes passed. Eventually Roxas slid around the door as well, walking over to Axel with quiet steps. "Your mother said 'bye and that she'd call you next week. She's going to be mailing you your magnet since it'll be next month before we get together with them."
He stood next to Axel's sprawled form, and Axel tugged at Roxas' pant leg, then softly grasped his ankle. "You make me...so fucking happy."
"Happy housewarming." Roxas smile was the small, fond, pleased one, and his blue eyes reflected flickering light. Axel swallowed hard, and gave a wobbly smile back. There was a rustle of clothing as Roxas sat. "They're bees' wax, mostly. I didn't want to choke you on tons of perfume. There's a couple cinnamon and mint ones, though, just because I liked them."
"I noticed. It's cool, I like."
"I'm glad." Roxas was just looking at him, still with that smile, and Axel watched him back for awhile. Then he stared at the ceiling again, so he could see flickering candle flames encircling them in his peripheral vision.
"I probably don't deserve to be this lucky, you know."
"Bah," Roxas scoffed, fondly. "You do." He laid down beside him, pillowing his head in the crook of Axel's shoulder.
"No, really. I mean, could you imagine how much karma a person would have to have to be rewarded with an awesome life?"
"Maybe you have that sort of karma. Maybe you were really screwed over in some previous existence, and now the universe is making up for all the things that sucked then."
"You think so?" He felt Roxas shrug against his shoulder.
"You never know. It could happen. Anything's possible."
"Huh. Yeah, I suppose." It seemed as good an explanation as any.
They fell into a comfortable silence, and Axel drifted in a mellow, almost daydream-like haze. He felt himself warm; not from candles, not that far away, and not even from Roxas next to him. But from within, spreading from his middle to heart and head and limbs, like embers that glowed orange then red, hotter and hotter. There was his heartbeat, steady in his chest, then beating faster, racing, and he could feel his pulse in his fingertips. His breathing quickened, his eyelids grew heavy, and heat settled low, where he was tight and aching and wanting....
He turned his head, and Roxas was watching him still, eyes glittering, dark, and hungry. He smoothed a hand down Axel's front, eliciting a hiss of indrawn breath from him as Roxas cupped him where he was oh god, so very hard. The younger man rose to one elbow and Axel met his kiss greedily, groaning raggedly against his lips when Roxas pressed down firmly and started to rub Axel's cock through the denim of his jeans.
God yes, this is what he craved. He brought a hand to Roxas' neck to pull him closer, his kiss an incendiary, devouring thing, and he thrust against the friction of Roxas' palm as wildfires ignited beneath his skin. Then the blond was undoing button and zipper, pulling the worn, baggy jeans and the waistband of his boxers down low on Axel's hips, and he cried out as Roxas stroked his length, skin on skin. "So beautiful like this...." Roxas' shaking whisper teased breath across his face. "You light up...."
Then he made a purring noise in the back of his throat as Axel, fumbling at Roxas' belt and pants, finally slipped his hand inside, into his briefs, grasping him with long fingers calloused from his work. Roxas bit at Axel's lip, and kissed him again in a slide of slick tongues and a scrape of teeth. They rocked together in a dance and sway that mirrored the candles around them.
But Axel was too close already. Trembling filled his muscles, and his hand on Roxas kept losing the rhythm, stuttering to a halt as pleasure consumed him. As he tried to grip his lover once more, Roxas leaned down to murmur hot in Axel's ear, "It's okay. Just let it happen. Come on, come on...." And Axel gave in and curled against his shoulder with a shudder as Roxas continued to squeeze and stroke him, clutching at the other man's shirt, reduced to breathy moans, '...ah...ah...ah...' against Roxas' neck.
It hit him like a blastwave, like fire that blazed to every nerve ending and licked through his veins, and it incinerated him until only cinder and ash remained. Someone was whispering "Yeah, like that...gorgeous...." and it was surely Roxas, because his own throat was suddenly rough-sore like from shouting--and anyway, there was no air for breath or speaking when you'd been dropped into the center of the sun.
When Axel's mind cleared, Roxas was holding him and they were rocking gently back and forth. He reached up to brush caressing fingers over Roxas' cheek, cradling his face in his hand. Candlelight became glittering, glowing stars shining from the depths of Roxas' eyes. "So incredibly fucking happy," he repeated, and he pulled Roxas to him for a deep, long kiss filled with all the words in his heart.
Axel could feel Roxas' hardness pressed between them, and he drew a growl from the blond as he then trailed a teasing touch along the solid length. "Lie back," he instructed, rolling them carefully over until Roxas lay beneath him. The wood floor was tacky under the stickiness of his skin, but he shrugged off the bit of mess he was making; it would clean easily, later. Roxas had been wise to set up the shelves in a room without carpet, and not just because of dripping wax. He said so, and Roxas gave a huff of amusement.
"I tried to think...of everything." His reply was muffled by the brush of Axel's lips, trailing off into a sigh as Axel pressed kisses to his chin, down his chest, and, pushing up the fabric of Roxas' shirt, on the smooth, fuzzed skin of his stomach. He licked lightly, slowly, along the rim of Roxas' navel with puffs of breath, felt Roxas shiver, heard his breathing stumble and hitch.
Then Axel looked up, held Roxas' gaze for a long, long moment, and he smiled with a wide, wicked, predator's grin. Running his tongue over his lips with deliberate unhurriedness, he freed Roxas' shaft fully from the cloth confines of his underwear, nuzzling along the line of dark gold hair and down to the thatch of curls until Roxas' groan became a needy, wanting sound.
Roxas pled his name, and Axel took his lover's cock into his mouth.
Roxas was solid on his tongue, against the back of his throat; the scent of him was sweet like the warmed bees' wax candles, spicy like cinnamon and peppermint, his taste the salt-tang of musk and sweat and skin. The younger man gasped prayers to him, bucked and thrust, tangling his hands in Axel's thick, spiky hair as he arched. It was rough, but Axel liked it--loved it--like that. It was wild, it was combustion, it was them. And then Roxas was quivering, shaking, shuddering, dick pulsing between Axel's lips, and his choked-off cry echoed in the room as he came.
Axel smirked, smug and sated and satisfied, as he listened to Roxas pant and try to catch his breath. Wiping the back of his hand against his mouth and chin, Axel crawled back up to collapse bonelessly next to him, draping a long arm over the other man as Roxas shifted to face him, snuggling closer and tucking his head beneath Axel's chin. Their legs tangled together the same way they always did.
Roxas' eyes were closed, and his breathing was slow and deep, but when Axel sighed, "I didn't get you any housewarming gift. Condo-warming. Thingy," he roused.
"Ice cream," he muttered.
"Heh." Axel smiled against Roxas' hair. "Usual flavor?"
"Mm."
"Maybe I'll get some extra."
"Wha'for?"
"Nine years."
That got Roxas' attention. "Really?"
"Yeah, next week."
"Ah, right. That's right. Nice." Roxas smiled and his eyes were like sunlit skies. Their lips met, feather-soft and caressing, and their kiss was languid, savoring, sweet.
Eventually Roxas dozed again. Axel watched the shelves upon shelves of dancing flames flicker, and basked in their glow, content. As the setting sun painted firelight against the drawn window blinds and some of the candles began to burn low, casting long shadows about the room, his eyelids drooped and he drowsed.
In sleep, he dreamed of Roxas; in sleep, he dreamed of fire. He dreamed that he loved his best friend and his best friend loved him, and together they burned, burned, burned, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. Different than real life, yet--in the end--exactly the same.
----------
For the curious:
http://www.unomaha.edu/biology/Fire/
http://www.unomaha.edu/prairie/prescribedburning.php
http://www.unomaha.edu/prairie/firetraining.php
Also: Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits on pyromania and pyrophilia. My mental image of Axel's dad is a red-haired FF7!Cid, which is kinda wrong. And two other musical references not outright stated--Axel's Prodigy Roxas-ringtone is Firestarter, of course, and Mr. You're On Fire Mr. is a song by Liars (and now by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I guess?).
Author/Artist: Di (
whitereflection)Rating: NC-17
Warnings: AU, m/m sex in part 2
Word count: 11,477 total
Summary: Growing up, settling down, loving your best friend, loving fire; sometimes it really is that easy.
Prompt: July 9, 38. Kingdom Hearts 2, Axel/Roxas: Pyromania - "Burn, baby, burn"
-----
{VAST - Flames}
High school turned into college, and like when Axel and Roxas started going out, everything was different yet exactly the same. They still studied together, books, backpacks, and papers scattered over the coffee table and floor of Axel's living room. And Roxas still read sections from the novels assigned in class, though now from the honors Intro to English course at the university. His being ahead a year in that subject meant he'd already taken the advanced placement course through the high school the year before, and was given an early dismissal to take college English in the afternoon. But, of course, they still always finished with reading from On The Road. It was habit; it was tradition; it was just one of those little things that made Axel happy, and made Roxas happy to be making Axel happy.
They went out sometimes, to the usual movies and college sports games and restaurants that any other couple would frequent (Roxas was particularly fond of the university's Struggle games, and joined the squad as soon as he could once also enrolled; he was amazingly adroit at whapping Axel with the Struggle bat when he would jokingly refer to it as "Nerf"). But a lot of times they just stayed in, watching movies, playing video games, and such, to the point that Roxas' mother once described them as acting "disturbingly married for their age."
Other times, though, they went out on dates that were peculiarly, uniquely them.
It was late in Axel's sophomore year. Spring was pretending to be summer, and Axel was standing in front of the open fridge, chugging juice from directly the carton as he waited for Roxas to bus home from his afternoon classes. His cel phone rang, deedling the opening notes to a Prodigy tune--his Roxas ringtone.
"Roxaaaaaaaaaaas," he answered with a voice full of the flirtatious grin on his face.
"Stop drinking out of the carton. Your folks own glasses."
"What? Oh come on. No way you could've known that!"
"Hah, lucky guess." Roxas' voice grew muffled, as if he'd covered the mouthpiece of his phone. "Hayner, you owe me five bucks." Then his voice was clear again, and he sounded smirky and not a little bit smug. "Thank you for earning me some cash."
"Dork." Axel stuck his tongue out at the phone, snapping a quick cel camera picture so he could prove to Roxas he'd done so.
"You love me, you know it."
"Yeah, yeah." In the background he could hear Hayner chanting "Whipped! Whipped!", so he flipped off the phone and took a picture of that, too, to e-mail to Roxas' friend to prove that he'd done so.
"Anyway. Got any classwork that desperately needs doing tonight?"
"Nothing that can't be put off."
"Think your folks would let you have the car?"
"Yeah, probably. Most likely. What'cha thinkin'?"
"Surprise. Be ready to go when I get there, we don't wanna miss it." Then Roxas disconnected, and Axel was left blinking at the phone. But he was ready when Roxas arrived, raising questioning eyebrows at the blond as he packed a portable cooler with drinks and food and grabbed a rolled up blanket from his family's camping gear. But Roxas still wouldn't reveal what his plans were, not even when Axel pouted and did the sad puppy eyes. "I said surprise. S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E. Got it?" He ignored Axel's protests with a small smile, the sort he got when he was extra pleased with himself, patting Axel fondly on the rear as he passed by on the way out to the car.
As Roxas directed him where to drive, he eventually realized that they were heading for the city's riverfront park, and after they parked and walked up one of the trails to a grassy overlook, he finally understood why.
Axel hadn't noticed before that the sky was hazier than it should be, but he did now. The air was heavy with the sharp, acrid scent of burning, and off in the distance, where the park property blended in with low industrial buildings and eventually sprouted into the short almost-skyscrapers of old downtown, was a building blossoming with flame and a towering plume of black smoke.
"Oh, man...." Axel whistled, staring awestruck. It looked to be one of the old turn of the century warehouses being converted into upscale apartments and condos--or at least it had been. Didn't look like there was any chance of it surviving to be renovated now.
"It's a four alarm, I guess." Roxas spread the blanket under the tree nearest the crest of the hill. "I heard some people talking about it with the driver when I was on the bus. Started by sparks from some workers' tools or something. With all the chemicals from the construction, they're having trouble getting it under control."
"Nice." His whisper was reverent. Then he blinked and shook his head sharply, running a hand sheepishly through the long, red spikes of his hair. "I mean, not nice. Sad they're losing their building, whoever owns it. Sucks losing city history and...stuff."
"Axel." Turning around, he saw Roxas was sitting on the blanket, leaning back on his arms. The look he was giving Axel was warm, and he felt that look to his very center. "You mean nice."
He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."
Roxas held out his hand. "Sit with me. Let's watch."
And Axel did, taking his hand as he settled down next to him. Then he scooted behind the shorter young man, so Roxas was nestled between Axel's outstretched legs with Axel's arms around him. Fingers interlaced as they grasped each others' hands again, and Axel rested his chin on Roxas' head, the soft, tousled spikes of Roxas' hair tickling his face. They observed in silence as the building burned, only occasionally speaking, and even then in hushed tones as if in a church or some other sacred place.
It was romantic as hell, and Axel didn't feel the least bit girly thinking that.
Eventually, they ate as the sun set. Roxas fished a little bit of polished blue sea glass out of his pocket, the one he'd gotten while beachcombing on a vacation a couple years back and had carried with him since. He held the glass up so it glittered in the waning sunlight, then held it up to the glow of the distant fire, angling his arm so Axel could see, too.
Dusk set in, and in time deepened into moonless dark. The old highrise was consumed by flames, until little but a brick shell remained. As the light from the dying fire dimmed, the night seemed impenetrable; even the streetlights seemed faint and far away. And still they watched, as the teams of firefighters dwindled down to a skeleton crew finishing cleanup and the last of the live-on-the-scene news crews drove away.
Curled up on the blanket, with his head in Roxas' lap, Axel felt himself grow melancholy. It helped to be held like that, to have Roxas running a hand gently, comfortingly through Axel's hair. But there was still an ache. All fires eventually went out, died, he knew that; it didn't mean he didn't feel a pang of sadness when it happened, anyway.
"Hey." Roxas' thumb softly traced the shell of his ear. "Wanna go?"
"Mm. Yeah, I guess."
"Stay over tonight? My parents are still out of town."
Axel nodded.
It was spring pretending to be summer; but when they drove back to Roxas' house, he turned on the gas fireplace so Axel could sit close to it and watch. And even though it was too warm for it, Roxas sat close and watched with him.
-----
And life went on. They graduated--Axel cum laude (why yes, he did, ha ha), Roxas, summa cum laude (the little smartass)--got into grad school, moved out into their own apartment, and eventually graduated again.
Roxas started working towards his PhD just like he'd said he would back in high school. Axel got a job with the state as one of the caretakers for the university system's prairie preserves, the same ones where he'd done classes and thesis research and where he'd volunteered faithfully for the thrice-a-year burns during college.
Another couple of years, and he and Roxas settled even more. They got a cat, got a new car, got a condo, got a mortgage. They were closer to thirty than twenty; and that was cool, because that meant their auto insurance was cheaper. It was a smooth road into the strange land of adulthood, passing days like puzzle pieces falling into place, one by one by one.
-----
{Thirteen Senses -- Into The Fire}
"Yep...yeah, the move went fine. Really well, actually. Uh huh, last week. Back on the twenty-first. Had about five people show up to help, and we were finished by I think it was about mid-afternoon? Heh, yeah, we bought 'em pizza and beer. Bribery works." Axel leaned against the kitchen counter, dressed in threadbare, faded jeans, and his ever-present favorite shirt. (It was the fifth he'd had to make, as they inevitably wore thin and developed holes at the seams. Yet he could never not have his quote t-shirt. Not only for his own sake, but because it'd become his uniform when at the burns. His coworkers and the students took it for granted he'd have it on.)
Shoulder hunched to hold the phone to his ear, he sorted through a week's worth of mail. Junk, junk, resident, occupant--the previous Mr. Resident and Ms. Occupant had had some bizarre hobbies, if the catalogs were any indication. But then again, what would the new renters for his and Roxas' apartment be thinking of their junk mail?
"Honey, I think I think a pair of gay pyromaniacs lived here...."
The truth hurt. ("Fire fetishist," he mentally corrected the imaginary other couple.)
"Oh. What? Sorry, Ma, spaced off for a sec." He dumped the junk in the trash, sorting the yellow change-of-address stickered remainder into piles for later. "Yeah, actually, we're pretty much unpacked. Roxas has been a major slavedriver. Yeah, totally," he chuckled at the whip-crack noise his mother made. Her sense of humor could be as odd as Axel's and his father's, just more subtle. Usually. "You got the e-mail I sent with the photos? Awesome. Yeah, it is. Lotta space. We went for more than we needed so we could have a guestroom/library sorta thing. And we went for a third bedroom 'cause Roxas wanted an office."
His laugh echoed in the still somewhat empty kitchen--their last apartment had been so small, it would be a bit before they grew into the new place. "Ha, yeah, I'll get him a red stapler. And I'm telling him you're calling him Dissertation Boy. Mm hm, yeah, not much longer now." The clunk of a door closing sounded from the hallway, and Axel smirked as Roxas wandered into the kitchen. "He's so gonna be a pill to be around when he has to defend it."
"I'll show you pill," Roxas mock-growled, showing teeth. Stretching up to his toes (Axel swore he was going to be the shortest professor ever; already was the shortest grad assistant. This generally resulted in the re-emergence of the Struggle bat), Roxas pressed a too-brief kiss to Axel's lips, nipping at the lower one, before whispering in his ear, "I'm finished in there, if you want to check it out."
"Sweet." Ruffling Roxas' hair, Axel ambled down the hall, resuming his phone conversation with his mother. "Sounds like he's finished arranging his office, so I guess we're officially moved in--"
As he opened the door to the bedroom-office, he froze--and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that oh, right, that had been Roxas' smug, plotting-something smirk back in the kitchen there. Blindly, he held out the phone as Roxas came up behind him. "...talk to Mom, 'kay?" Axel's voice was hushed, almost horse, as he found he was suddenly feeling...choked up.
The cel phone was removed from his hand, and he heard Roxas speak, sounding terribly amused. But beyond that, Axel didn't pay attention. His sole focus was the room ahead of him.
Office, his ass.
He entered the room, carefully, carefully, stepping around the door and gently pushing it nearly closed behind him, taking pains to not create any drafts or gusts of air. Because all around him, on shelves that lined every wall, stretching from the floor up towards the ceiling....
Candles. Lit candles. Candles of every conceivable shape and size--tealights, votives, tapers, pillars. Candles in dishes, on trays, on sticks, in lamps.
There was a tingle that flashed through his entire body, from his feet to his scalp, and Axel felt his mouth go dry, felt his eyes sting. He had felt awe before, but never...never like this. He nearly sank to his knees, right there on the shimmering wood floor, and praised the heavens. There was no one alive more lucky than he, more blessed. More loved.
As he moved into the center of the room, Axel did a slow turn, taking in every light, every glow, every flame. Though it was still afternoon, the blinds were down, leaving the room dimmed and the candlelight radiant. God...he'd had no idea. How had Roxas...? While Axel was at work, he must have arranged it then. And Axel had made it easy, never poking his head into the closed room, blithefully shrugging it off as Roxas' space. But all those shelving units. Those would never have fit in their car, even unassembled. Oh, but Sora, Riku, and Kairi had a truck, didn't they, and Kairi's station wagon thing. And Roxas' parents had a SUV.
"Oh man...," he finally breathed. "Holy fuck...." He felt close to crying at the beauty of it. Instead he sat down gingerly, then laid back against the cool varnished floor. Axel spread his arms wide, inhaling deep the sweet smell, the faint hints of peppermint and cinnamon, the heady aroma of burning wicks, and let himself be surrounded by fire.
Minutes passed. Eventually Roxas slid around the door as well, walking over to Axel with quiet steps. "Your mother said 'bye and that she'd call you next week. She's going to be mailing you your magnet since it'll be next month before we get together with them."
He stood next to Axel's sprawled form, and Axel tugged at Roxas' pant leg, then softly grasped his ankle. "You make me...so fucking happy."
"Happy housewarming." Roxas smile was the small, fond, pleased one, and his blue eyes reflected flickering light. Axel swallowed hard, and gave a wobbly smile back. There was a rustle of clothing as Roxas sat. "They're bees' wax, mostly. I didn't want to choke you on tons of perfume. There's a couple cinnamon and mint ones, though, just because I liked them."
"I noticed. It's cool, I like."
"I'm glad." Roxas was just looking at him, still with that smile, and Axel watched him back for awhile. Then he stared at the ceiling again, so he could see flickering candle flames encircling them in his peripheral vision.
"I probably don't deserve to be this lucky, you know."
"Bah," Roxas scoffed, fondly. "You do." He laid down beside him, pillowing his head in the crook of Axel's shoulder.
"No, really. I mean, could you imagine how much karma a person would have to have to be rewarded with an awesome life?"
"Maybe you have that sort of karma. Maybe you were really screwed over in some previous existence, and now the universe is making up for all the things that sucked then."
"You think so?" He felt Roxas shrug against his shoulder.
"You never know. It could happen. Anything's possible."
"Huh. Yeah, I suppose." It seemed as good an explanation as any.
They fell into a comfortable silence, and Axel drifted in a mellow, almost daydream-like haze. He felt himself warm; not from candles, not that far away, and not even from Roxas next to him. But from within, spreading from his middle to heart and head and limbs, like embers that glowed orange then red, hotter and hotter. There was his heartbeat, steady in his chest, then beating faster, racing, and he could feel his pulse in his fingertips. His breathing quickened, his eyelids grew heavy, and heat settled low, where he was tight and aching and wanting....
He turned his head, and Roxas was watching him still, eyes glittering, dark, and hungry. He smoothed a hand down Axel's front, eliciting a hiss of indrawn breath from him as Roxas cupped him where he was oh god, so very hard. The younger man rose to one elbow and Axel met his kiss greedily, groaning raggedly against his lips when Roxas pressed down firmly and started to rub Axel's cock through the denim of his jeans.
God yes, this is what he craved. He brought a hand to Roxas' neck to pull him closer, his kiss an incendiary, devouring thing, and he thrust against the friction of Roxas' palm as wildfires ignited beneath his skin. Then the blond was undoing button and zipper, pulling the worn, baggy jeans and the waistband of his boxers down low on Axel's hips, and he cried out as Roxas stroked his length, skin on skin. "So beautiful like this...." Roxas' shaking whisper teased breath across his face. "You light up...."
Then he made a purring noise in the back of his throat as Axel, fumbling at Roxas' belt and pants, finally slipped his hand inside, into his briefs, grasping him with long fingers calloused from his work. Roxas bit at Axel's lip, and kissed him again in a slide of slick tongues and a scrape of teeth. They rocked together in a dance and sway that mirrored the candles around them.
But Axel was too close already. Trembling filled his muscles, and his hand on Roxas kept losing the rhythm, stuttering to a halt as pleasure consumed him. As he tried to grip his lover once more, Roxas leaned down to murmur hot in Axel's ear, "It's okay. Just let it happen. Come on, come on...." And Axel gave in and curled against his shoulder with a shudder as Roxas continued to squeeze and stroke him, clutching at the other man's shirt, reduced to breathy moans, '...ah...ah...ah...' against Roxas' neck.
It hit him like a blastwave, like fire that blazed to every nerve ending and licked through his veins, and it incinerated him until only cinder and ash remained. Someone was whispering "Yeah, like that...gorgeous...." and it was surely Roxas, because his own throat was suddenly rough-sore like from shouting--and anyway, there was no air for breath or speaking when you'd been dropped into the center of the sun.
When Axel's mind cleared, Roxas was holding him and they were rocking gently back and forth. He reached up to brush caressing fingers over Roxas' cheek, cradling his face in his hand. Candlelight became glittering, glowing stars shining from the depths of Roxas' eyes. "So incredibly fucking happy," he repeated, and he pulled Roxas to him for a deep, long kiss filled with all the words in his heart.
Axel could feel Roxas' hardness pressed between them, and he drew a growl from the blond as he then trailed a teasing touch along the solid length. "Lie back," he instructed, rolling them carefully over until Roxas lay beneath him. The wood floor was tacky under the stickiness of his skin, but he shrugged off the bit of mess he was making; it would clean easily, later. Roxas had been wise to set up the shelves in a room without carpet, and not just because of dripping wax. He said so, and Roxas gave a huff of amusement.
"I tried to think...of everything." His reply was muffled by the brush of Axel's lips, trailing off into a sigh as Axel pressed kisses to his chin, down his chest, and, pushing up the fabric of Roxas' shirt, on the smooth, fuzzed skin of his stomach. He licked lightly, slowly, along the rim of Roxas' navel with puffs of breath, felt Roxas shiver, heard his breathing stumble and hitch.
Then Axel looked up, held Roxas' gaze for a long, long moment, and he smiled with a wide, wicked, predator's grin. Running his tongue over his lips with deliberate unhurriedness, he freed Roxas' shaft fully from the cloth confines of his underwear, nuzzling along the line of dark gold hair and down to the thatch of curls until Roxas' groan became a needy, wanting sound.
Roxas pled his name, and Axel took his lover's cock into his mouth.
Roxas was solid on his tongue, against the back of his throat; the scent of him was sweet like the warmed bees' wax candles, spicy like cinnamon and peppermint, his taste the salt-tang of musk and sweat and skin. The younger man gasped prayers to him, bucked and thrust, tangling his hands in Axel's thick, spiky hair as he arched. It was rough, but Axel liked it--loved it--like that. It was wild, it was combustion, it was them. And then Roxas was quivering, shaking, shuddering, dick pulsing between Axel's lips, and his choked-off cry echoed in the room as he came.
Axel smirked, smug and sated and satisfied, as he listened to Roxas pant and try to catch his breath. Wiping the back of his hand against his mouth and chin, Axel crawled back up to collapse bonelessly next to him, draping a long arm over the other man as Roxas shifted to face him, snuggling closer and tucking his head beneath Axel's chin. Their legs tangled together the same way they always did.
Roxas' eyes were closed, and his breathing was slow and deep, but when Axel sighed, "I didn't get you any housewarming gift. Condo-warming. Thingy," he roused.
"Ice cream," he muttered.
"Heh." Axel smiled against Roxas' hair. "Usual flavor?"
"Mm."
"Maybe I'll get some extra."
"Wha'for?"
"Nine years."
That got Roxas' attention. "Really?"
"Yeah, next week."
"Ah, right. That's right. Nice." Roxas smiled and his eyes were like sunlit skies. Their lips met, feather-soft and caressing, and their kiss was languid, savoring, sweet.
Eventually Roxas dozed again. Axel watched the shelves upon shelves of dancing flames flicker, and basked in their glow, content. As the setting sun painted firelight against the drawn window blinds and some of the candles began to burn low, casting long shadows about the room, his eyelids drooped and he drowsed.
In sleep, he dreamed of Roxas; in sleep, he dreamed of fire. He dreamed that he loved his best friend and his best friend loved him, and together they burned, burned, burned, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. Different than real life, yet--in the end--exactly the same.
----------
For the curious:
http://www.unomaha.edu/biology/Fire/
http://www.unomaha.edu/prairie/prescribedburning.php
http://www.unomaha.edu/prairie/firetraining.php
Also: Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits on pyromania and pyrophilia. My mental image of Axel's dad is a red-haired FF7!Cid, which is kinda wrong. And two other musical references not outright stated--Axel's Prodigy Roxas-ringtone is Firestarter, of course, and Mr. You're On Fire Mr. is a song by Liars (and now by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I guess?).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 02:36 am (UTC)One of the most amazing things I've read in a very long time. Thank-you so much for writing this. Honestly.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:50 am (UTC)Sad as it is, I rarely take the time, mostly because I'm moving onto the next fic so fast I don't bother. Which makes me a huge hypocrite considering I write as well, and reviews always make me sparkle.
So. Um. Yeah. I really, reeeeally loved it.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 03:59 am (UTC)"Axel." Turning around, he saw Roxas was sitting on the blanket, leaning back on his arms. The look he was giving Axel was warm, and he felt that look to his very center. "You mean nice."
Normally I only quote one or two bits at a time, but that whole chunk is just fabulous. Axel's "Ooh, pretty," then "Er, I mean, fire bad. Tree pretty.", and Roxas just being so "Liar :P", and yay. *hugs it*
I am LOVING the song for this bit, btw, never heard it before.
I think the romanticism by now is reviving the starry-eyed little girl who's been in a coma since Beauty and the Beast first came out in the cinema's. I just. Yes. And combined with the song, I. Yeah. I think I'm in love.
Love the detail of his t-shirts wearing thin. My sis has one wrangler t-shirt that's damn near transparent by now, but still can't part with it.
Love love love pulling in the Struggle bat reference as well! It's awesome :D.
"No, really. I mean, could you imagine how much karma a person would have to have to be rewarded with an awesome life?"
"Maybe you have that sort of karma. Maybe you were really screwed over in some previous existence, and now the universe is making up for all the things that sucked then."
OKAY. We need to talk. You already had me melting (how very appropriately) at the nearly choking up on walking in on the candles scene and the making him so fucking happy, but this? OW AND OW AND MORE OW, and also *god yes please yes*, because I am now at the point of incoherence and keyboard smashing and I *love this fic so hard*.
"Roxas' shaking whisper" also squishes my innards. Just, oh. And Roxas calling Axel beautiful instead of the other way around squishes me too.
And I'm done, I'm at the end, and I'm not crying but I'm gutted it's finished because I just want to go back and read it all over again now right now, because it's *beautiful*.
Honest to god, I'd put this prompt up as one of the fun ones, and had only really expected short things off it from Axel/Roxas shippers, but *god*, this is more than I could have hoped for or dreamed of. I love it. It's just... I love it, I have no other words for how much I love it, and it's wonderful.
Thank you so, so, so much for this.
*tacklehugs*
no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 03:06 am (UTC)All the references to feelings and warmth, in both parts, were a very nice touch as well.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 03:20 am (UTC)OKAY. This was absolutely awesome ♥♥♥ Absolutely loved the line about the Karma. YES SOMEBODY GOT SCREWED OVER IN GAME. XD
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 10:10 pm (UTC)But thank you tons! ♥ And no kidding--things Disney always seem to be focused on the happily ever after and I just want to flail and yell at them that they forgot the happy endings for a few FIX PLZ. XD; Yay for AU fic. I read a lot of it, does it show? *heh*
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 12:25 am (UTC)Also, complete agreement on the happy endings thing. I've always disliked when books/movies/games that robbed characters of happy endings. Especially when it was completely unnecessary >_>
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 05:13 am (UTC)That was really nice how you moved them along and their relationship and just the bits at the start with Axel and wanting to "burn" -- sadly enough, I think I got what me meant right off.
<3
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 01:20 pm (UTC)You are absolutely amazing. This fic defines awesomeness. I love how Axel could just be Axel. I love how Roxas was just Roxas. And together, they just were.I see all these things with romanticized versions of love, but this is what it really is, in your fic. Absolutely perfect. That you for a most amazing read.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 09:13 pm (UTC)I'm a total ass because when I clicked, I had no intention of commenting, just reading, maybe do some swooning and then moving on to the next fic. But then I read the first part, and I just felt the urge, but I didn't know what to say that hasn't been said about a million times before, and I felt like a jerk because I mem'd without commenting, but I just brushed it off and raced off to part two.
And now, I have to tell you, and I don't care how many times you've heard it, or how well you know it, because I have to say it. I love this, I think it expresses so much that I could never put into words. The being fire, not loving it, but truely becoming it, is something I don't think many people would be able to adiquetly describe. (sorry for the spelling errors. Normally I double check everything before posting, but I just can't stop myself for spellcheck right now)
To me, this is just them, being them, being them. Loving each other, working with each other, playing, as friends, as lovers, and everything and anything they want to be, and I love it, because that's what this pairing is about to me and you just did everything... exactly the way it should be. So, thank you.
I'm sorry if I'm rambling or whatever, but I can't help it, this story, made me laugh (the fact that Roxas thinks it's perfectly fine to burn other people's property so long as it's not very well liked made me giggle, because that's so like him. And I loved Axel's interactions with his parents, because they just sorta seem real and like a family ^_^), it made me become sort of misty eyed (the candles and the childhood hide out really pulled my heart strings) and I liked it.
The playlist is awesomeness, by the way. I think I might just overload youtube with vids of these songs, because I can see it, and I can just see the clips and it all fits.
So, after glancing quickly back at what all I said, thanks so much for the insperation, the entertainment, and for putting up with my rambles ^_^
-VS
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 05:24 am (UTC)That was... holy fucking cow.
Amazing and oh my gosh I never thought I would love something so absolutely angst or blatant fluff free, but dearie me, this is MARVELOUS.
And I love it to DEATH. Fiery death. Of amazingness... (I'm rambling now, aren't I?)
Well, you deserve plenty of praise for this! It was awesome. It didn't need over bearing angst to make it beautiful, nor did it need so crack-ish fluff. It was simply unbelievably awesome. The characteration was so accurate too (in my opinion). It's definitly the best akuroku piece I've ever read. You win the internet. And candy.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-14 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 12:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-28 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 11:12 am (UTC)"What? No. What the hell? You're not listening again. That's not what I'm saying at all. I don't want to burn things, I don't want to burn me. I'm not looking to hurt myself. Strange as it may seem, I like me. What I said was I want to burn. I want to burn. You see what I'm saying? No reason. I just want to. It's the way it should be. The way I should be."
-- and it carried on being perfect from there. I love the sex scene. I love the way Axel and Roxas interact. I love the bit about watching the fire and Axel saying "nice" and then correcting himself and Roxas saying "no, you mean nice". Hee. ♥
no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 11:37 am (UTC)...G-guh. Perfect. I can't even count the number of times my heart clenched and I had to stop to catch my breath. The playlist is gorgeous, the writing is gorgeous, the fire is gorgeous.
and now I'm the one with the kink, oh yeah.no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-05 10:20 am (UTC)And the links to songs just make it that much better.
Definitely added to my rec list.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 05:56 pm (UTC)Kingdom Hearts fandom!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 03:48 pm (UTC)Even though I drifted away from the fandom, I still have such fondness and nostalgia for it. So cool to run into someone that's a fan :D AkuRoku will always be awesome, even if I don't read or write it these days. Man, the internet is a small world, sometimes, hehe!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 05:58 am (UTC)*brofist of Akuroku love* I'm glad that I at least found this again - someone reminded me the other week that it was Akuroku day, and I felt bad for not doing anything. Still, an awesome pairing and you wrote wonderfully!