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emerald_embersTitle: Twists and Turns
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII/Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: Axel/Reno, references to Reno/Rude and Axel/Roxas
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 2870
Summary: In which Reno bumps into his videogaming twin and steals all the best lines.
Simple fact; Rude and Reno kicked ass. More accurately, Rude and/or Reno kicked ass, because they were both perfectly capable of kicking ass without the presence of the other. It was just a question of preferences. Rude was a good guy to have at your back, could drink anyone under the table and had very interesting piercings. Not that strange, then, that when the Planet had broken up into itty bitty pieces and been sucked into the darkness Reno had gone looking for him afterwards. The fact his outfit and, on a few memorable occasions, his body changed from world to world except for two where it had been back to normal? That was getting annoying.
Odd that the one place in the universe more backwards than Gongaga had not only amazing beer but the outfit most similar to his own, once he'd made a few creative adjustments to the jacket and ditched the waistcoat. Oh, and torn the ruffles off his shirt, because ew.
Wolves and castles and beasts that'd make Sephiroth cry if the bastard hadn't skipped off into the distance several planets ago singing a happy tune about the darkness and going to kill or buttlove Cloud. Reno wasn't sure, cared less.
What was the rule though about every creepy old castle in every world everywhere having secret rooms full of scary shit? Okay, it wasn't that likely he'd find Rude here, but a search was a search and damned if he wasn't going to do it thoroughly. You'd think someone of Rude's height, build and colouring would be more noticable, especially given the racial ratio in the worlds he'd visited so far were a bit off. Way off. Ethnic cleansing off.
Okay, getting back into a what-if-Rude-can't-be-found stream of thought there, and that wasn't good.
But yeah - castles and creepy secret rooms. This one was like a demonic mirrors convention, and if it weren't for his slight superstitious streak whenever luck was involved he'd be smashing the lot.
The fact his image in several of the mirrors was distorted, wearing a bitching coat and an expression somewhere between confused and psychotic seemed par for the course. Would have continued to seem that way if it weren't for his bumping into said mirror image one turn further in the mirrored maze and finding it not only a physical, sentient being, but startled and quite handy with flames.
Five minutes later and Reno was knelt on top of the vicious fire sprite bastard, pinning him down at the wrists. Rude's extra reach would have been so handy, but 'uncomfortable' was a damn sight better situation to be in than 'fighting to death'. He stank of burnt hair, but it was worth it.
"What're you doing here and have you seen Rude?"
"The name's Axel, got it -"
"Don't care and I'm generous so I'll ask again, what're you doing here and where's Rude?"
Axel paused for a moment before glaring, as if he'd had to choose an emotion to wear. "None of your business and who's Rude?"
Reno let out a deep breath before shaking his head. "Wrong answer."
The pain and surprise on Axel's face looked genuine enough when Reno headbutted him. "Ow! Fuck! I was scouting the place for Xaldin and I still don't know who the hell Rude is, okay?"
"Aw, shit." Reno did not feel like or look like a happy bunny, singed and now convinced he'd taken the long route through the universe. "I shoulda turned left at Atlantica."
"Or skipped it altogether, it's horrific."
Red-haired cheek-marked skinny smartass. Reno felt almost proud. "Did I ask you to talk?"
"No, but you could at least describe Rude if you're wondering where he is."
"You said you didn't know him."
"Exactly. Don't have to know someone to see them."
"Tall, bald, stocky, pierced all over."
Axel grinned wickedly. "Nice. Very generic pirate though."
"I'm not getting back on that ship of fucking fairies!"
"Jack and Will aside I thought they were quite butch. Besides, with Barbossa about most of 'em are docked."
Okay, those names didn't sound quite as campy-awful as the Neverland pirates. Didn't seem entirely impossible there'd be two lots of pirates in the universe. "Think you could give me directions to the most disreputable pub out there?"
"Don't feel like it."
Without the pre-warning sigh this time, Reno delivered another headbutt. "That wasn't a request."
You'd expect after the second beat-down Axel would have realised that not only was Reno unafraid of a little fire but generous too with the whole leaving Axel unbound. Wandering around with a red-haired guy who looked like his brattier twin was weird enough. Walking around with a guy in kinky boots, bound and tied, was probably pushing everything a bit too far. After the third smackdown - had to give the kid credit for spirit at the very least - it was time to say sod it, press the night-stick up under Axel's coat as the kid lead them wherever this Tortuga was meant to be, and forget about their looking like a vaguely incestuous gay couple.
Vicious, flame-happy little bastard he might be, but death threats seemed motivation enough to behave. Reno got the pleasant feeling that Axel believed any such threats would be followed through; probably right too.
Whores, booze, more whores, more booze, excessive brutal violence and gambling - like any decent night out in the slums, only that the smell was actually worse. Or so he figured from Axel's face; years of a broken and rebroken nose had left his sense of smell a little deadened regardless of potions and repairs. And, again, turning his outfit into something resembling the Turk uniform wasn't much of an effort even if he did have to questionably acquire another man's trousers to replace the breeches some cruel god had bestowed upon him.
Slightly more unsettling was the fact that the kid's clothes hadn't changed. Turks were well versed in the art of asking questions and knowing when asking was a bad idea, so before they could wander deep enough into the town for Axel's outfit to be too noticeable Reno did the decent thing, pointing him down into a secluded section of alleyways. Ah, rats, little plague-carrying harbingers of doom.
"If this is the part where you kill and rape me I'm disappointed," Axel mused aloud, and that slightly psychotic edge of pretending to feel in his voice was still weird as ever.
"Wouldn't dream of doing it in that order. What's with the non-changing outfit?" And damn the kid for letting his mind wander down that route because suddenly all he could daydream about in the small corner of his consciousness not devoted to the tasks at hand was applications of Axel's clever mouth. Nothing wrong with being horny and a tad narcissistic, though.
"It's just 'cause I'm not really here," Axel replied, and as if that didn't sound nutty enough, added "I'm a Nothing."
"Paradox, you can't have nothing 'cause it's named, so it's... something," Reno argued, confusing himself slightly in the process and and pestering the wandering part of his mind to figure out how that bit of late night drunken philosophy with Rude had gone. "Why hadn't your coat changed?"
"I'm not here," Axel repeated, rolling his eyes in a too-practised gesture before grabbing one of Reno's hands and pulling it to his neck.
No pulse. Well. Shit. "Zombie, huh?"
"Do I look rotten to you?" Reno grinned instinctively but valiantly bit back any obvious comment. "I'm more like a ghost, if anything. I'm what happens when a heartless takes someone who really, really isn't ready to die, alright?"
Most of Reno's instincts screamed get away from the dead thing, but being a Turk gave him a fairly good handle on which instincts were worth listening to and which were best ignored. Still no Rude, so best to keep the first sort-of lead he had with him. "Alright, Ghosty; your outfit's not changed 'cause... whatever. It's time you did something to stop yourself sticking out like a sore thumb and help me look for my buddy."
Axel shrugged and with the sort of suddenness that made Reno wonder if he'd blinked and missed something was decked out in a much more appropriate outfit, albeit still with the kinky boots. Nice legs under that coat. "You'll have to be a bit more specific than stocky and pierced."
"Fair enough. He's coloured, cream in his coffee coloured, wears his clothes the way you're supposed to, and if he's not in sunglasses he'll be in normal glasses or squinting like fuck and fuming about it. Quiet fuming too, he's the dangerous type." Reno grinned before twirling the nightstick around his wrist. "Now, am I gonna have to keep this jammed up your ass or have you clicked that it'll be embarrassing if I have to hand your ass to you in the middle of a crowd?"
Axel looked thoughtful and seemed ready to make another smart-mouthed comment before he frowned at something over Reno's shoulder. "Sunglasses, right?"
"Yeah, and -" Reno cut himself off and turned fast enough to give himself whiplash. Sure enough, sunglasses, like the same god who'd put him in breeches earlier had played favourites and let Rude keep the anachronistic parts of his outfit while Reno only got to keep the nightstick.
Rude pulled the glasses down slightly, shaking his head before walking over. "You're lurking in dark alleys, why?"
"Old habits die hard," Reno replied before slinging an arm around Rude's shoulder, turning him to meet... nobody. Huh.
"What kept you?"
"Getting the hell away from Atlantica in the wrong direction. Why'd I have to go hunting for you anyway?"
"I knew you'd find me if I stayed put. And the rum is great. You wouldn't believe the double-vision I had just before."
Reno was pretty sure that yes, actually, he would, but let that slide.
The number of times Reno had woken up in the middle of the night still drunk, tied to his bedposts, and straddled by a leather-clad young man could probably be counted with the fingers and thumb of one hand, but it was still a mostly pleasant surprise. "If this is the part where you rape and kill me just make sure you do it in the right order."
Axel's chakrams weren't aflame but Reno was pretty sure the one cutting his shirt apart was sizzling given the smoke rising from the sliced parts. "Like there's someone you wouldn't consent to."
"I have taste when I feel like it," Reno argued, but couldn't resist grinning until the definitely sizzling hot tip of a chakram grazed his stomach. "Fucking ow! What the Hell're you here for anyway?"
"The plan was to maim you horribly for the beatings and probably killing you after, but -" Axel grabbed Reno's chin and pointing it towards the long mirror on the wardrobe. Damn if he didn't look like he was up to something kinkier than how it felt. "Thought it'd be better to repay bruise for bruise."
"Sore loser. Rude'd kick your ass if he weren't out."
Axel's knowing grin sent jolts places they probably shouldn't and Reno couldn't resist licking his lips when Axel peeled off the coat and looked in the mirror, finding the first bruise on his chest with a thumb before finding the corresponding part of Reno's chest and raising his chakram over it.
Oh. Shit.
Axel was nothing if not thorough but once his trousers were off and he'd started biting rather than using the fucking chakrams, Reno couldn't help but start reacting a little more favourably to the treatment than expected.
Hell, who was he kidding? He was butt-naked while Axel was the same apart from long gloves and kinky boots, was there any universe in existence where that combination wouldn't leave him with a raging erection? And typical enough, Rude had walked in on Axel biting Reno's thigh, taken one look, said "Details later," and headed back out.
God love Rude for efficiency though, potions stored in the room exactly where Reno would have expected him to when Axel announced a need for lube, and god love Axel for giving Reno one of the surprises of his life by opting to ride him rather than push into him as expected.
It probably should have been too weird to have Axel spend the entire duration of their activities with his eyes closed, only that Reno wasn't that much better because he spent it looking in the mirror at the definitely, definitely incestuous sight of going at it with his accidental twin until he was over and done with his orgasm and free to watch Axel ride out the last of his own.
Reno had no clue who 'Roxas!' was, but decided against asking after Axel preguessed any response by saying "Ask and I'll kill you." Even his evil streak had survival mechanisms enough to know when that phrase was meant seriously.
Axel splayed out across him in a way very obviously meant for comfort, not as an expression of affection, gathering strength or magic or whatever, Reno was too exhausted to contemplate other people's motives.
"Wild guess this, but I won't be seeing you again will I?"
"No." Axel's eyes closed and Reno wanted to roll his eyes at sudden realisation he was going to spend the night as a makeshift pillow, but found his thinking took a sharp diversion to other matters.
"I kicked your ass 'cause you're not afraid to die. If someone's beating on you then run or jump out of the way, don't just stand there and take the punishment."
Axel frowned for a second before mumbling, "Thanks", his face not entirely relaxing even as his breathing deepened. Reno couldn't help feeling a little ticked off knowing the kid would be gone by the time he'd woken up because something about Axel jarred with him. Not the dead-ish thing, not the recklessness - it was the emotions deal. Axel pulled a lot of faces that suggested he'd deliberately chosen and mimicked a feeling either because it suited him or because it seemed like the 'right' emotion for the time. But for all the obviously or seemingly faked emotions that seemed right for a sort of ghost, there were moments when Axel clearly felt.
Sending a fucked up dead guy into the world Reno had no crises of conscience about, but doing the same to a teenager he'd sworn off since the end days of Soldier. Not to mention that the whole 'Roxas' bit screamed tragic and/or doomed romance.
Ugh, kids. No wonder people hated them if thinking about them messed with your head like that over and over again.
Still, could always be worse, at least Axel showed no signs of being a good kid or slightly creepy post-coital paternal instincts might have got involved.
"Afternoon," Rude announced against Reno's ear, his greater weight replacing Axel's long since absent presence in the bed. "You look like shit."
"I'm a narcissistic cradle-snatcher with a necrophiliac streak, I deserve that."
"Huh." Rude sat up slightly. "Do I want to know what you did last night?"
"What's a Nothing?"
Rude went quiet for a long moment before smacking Reno across the top of the head. "You're an idiot and I have no idea how you're still alive. Organisation XIII ring a bell?"
Being half-asleep wasn't helping his processing powers much but bit by bit something was piecing the story together. "Yeah, a bit, they were -" and snap, very, very belated survival instinct kicked in and Reno was bolt upright in the bed. "You're shitting me, Axel was -"
"Axel?" Rude repeated before resting his head in his hands. "Not just an idiot then, you're a lucky, lucky bastard to be alive. Thought I'd smelt burning but given the situation... is he coming back?"
"No," Reno replied, part of him recalling the last few days and feeling bummed out on account while the part of him that valued his life sang thankful praise. "At least, he said no."
Rude seemed to consider this for a moment before lying back down a little. "We can probably get away with staying on this world, but you're keeping an eye out for that kid. One glimpse and we're off to Hollow Bastion."
"Uh?"
"Only other planet with decent booze," Rude explained.
"Sounds like a plan."
Rude smacked Reno around the back of the head for good measure again before looking across at the long mirror and smirking. "You kinky bastard."
"Yeah." Reno looked into the mirror too, at the bruises and burns and dried salt on his chest, wondered suddenly if it was Rude or Axel who'd untied him. Probably Axel, given the ropes were gone now.
Even if the morning after was scaring the crap out of one half of him and depressed the crap out of the other half, at least he'd had crazily awesome sex last night. Right? Right.
He really hoped that if he told himself that enough times the thought would stick, because spending a month missing the other man in the mirror didn't sound anything like fun.
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII/Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: Axel/Reno, references to Reno/Rude and Axel/Roxas
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 2870
Summary: In which Reno bumps into his videogaming twin and steals all the best lines.
Simple fact; Rude and Reno kicked ass. More accurately, Rude and/or Reno kicked ass, because they were both perfectly capable of kicking ass without the presence of the other. It was just a question of preferences. Rude was a good guy to have at your back, could drink anyone under the table and had very interesting piercings. Not that strange, then, that when the Planet had broken up into itty bitty pieces and been sucked into the darkness Reno had gone looking for him afterwards. The fact his outfit and, on a few memorable occasions, his body changed from world to world except for two where it had been back to normal? That was getting annoying.
Odd that the one place in the universe more backwards than Gongaga had not only amazing beer but the outfit most similar to his own, once he'd made a few creative adjustments to the jacket and ditched the waistcoat. Oh, and torn the ruffles off his shirt, because ew.
Wolves and castles and beasts that'd make Sephiroth cry if the bastard hadn't skipped off into the distance several planets ago singing a happy tune about the darkness and going to kill or buttlove Cloud. Reno wasn't sure, cared less.
What was the rule though about every creepy old castle in every world everywhere having secret rooms full of scary shit? Okay, it wasn't that likely he'd find Rude here, but a search was a search and damned if he wasn't going to do it thoroughly. You'd think someone of Rude's height, build and colouring would be more noticable, especially given the racial ratio in the worlds he'd visited so far were a bit off. Way off. Ethnic cleansing off.
Okay, getting back into a what-if-Rude-can't-be-found stream of thought there, and that wasn't good.
But yeah - castles and creepy secret rooms. This one was like a demonic mirrors convention, and if it weren't for his slight superstitious streak whenever luck was involved he'd be smashing the lot.
The fact his image in several of the mirrors was distorted, wearing a bitching coat and an expression somewhere between confused and psychotic seemed par for the course. Would have continued to seem that way if it weren't for his bumping into said mirror image one turn further in the mirrored maze and finding it not only a physical, sentient being, but startled and quite handy with flames.
Five minutes later and Reno was knelt on top of the vicious fire sprite bastard, pinning him down at the wrists. Rude's extra reach would have been so handy, but 'uncomfortable' was a damn sight better situation to be in than 'fighting to death'. He stank of burnt hair, but it was worth it.
"What're you doing here and have you seen Rude?"
"The name's Axel, got it -"
"Don't care and I'm generous so I'll ask again, what're you doing here and where's Rude?"
Axel paused for a moment before glaring, as if he'd had to choose an emotion to wear. "None of your business and who's Rude?"
Reno let out a deep breath before shaking his head. "Wrong answer."
The pain and surprise on Axel's face looked genuine enough when Reno headbutted him. "Ow! Fuck! I was scouting the place for Xaldin and I still don't know who the hell Rude is, okay?"
"Aw, shit." Reno did not feel like or look like a happy bunny, singed and now convinced he'd taken the long route through the universe. "I shoulda turned left at Atlantica."
"Or skipped it altogether, it's horrific."
Red-haired cheek-marked skinny smartass. Reno felt almost proud. "Did I ask you to talk?"
"No, but you could at least describe Rude if you're wondering where he is."
"You said you didn't know him."
"Exactly. Don't have to know someone to see them."
"Tall, bald, stocky, pierced all over."
Axel grinned wickedly. "Nice. Very generic pirate though."
"I'm not getting back on that ship of fucking fairies!"
"Jack and Will aside I thought they were quite butch. Besides, with Barbossa about most of 'em are docked."
Okay, those names didn't sound quite as campy-awful as the Neverland pirates. Didn't seem entirely impossible there'd be two lots of pirates in the universe. "Think you could give me directions to the most disreputable pub out there?"
"Don't feel like it."
Without the pre-warning sigh this time, Reno delivered another headbutt. "That wasn't a request."
You'd expect after the second beat-down Axel would have realised that not only was Reno unafraid of a little fire but generous too with the whole leaving Axel unbound. Wandering around with a red-haired guy who looked like his brattier twin was weird enough. Walking around with a guy in kinky boots, bound and tied, was probably pushing everything a bit too far. After the third smackdown - had to give the kid credit for spirit at the very least - it was time to say sod it, press the night-stick up under Axel's coat as the kid lead them wherever this Tortuga was meant to be, and forget about their looking like a vaguely incestuous gay couple.
Vicious, flame-happy little bastard he might be, but death threats seemed motivation enough to behave. Reno got the pleasant feeling that Axel believed any such threats would be followed through; probably right too.
Whores, booze, more whores, more booze, excessive brutal violence and gambling - like any decent night out in the slums, only that the smell was actually worse. Or so he figured from Axel's face; years of a broken and rebroken nose had left his sense of smell a little deadened regardless of potions and repairs. And, again, turning his outfit into something resembling the Turk uniform wasn't much of an effort even if he did have to questionably acquire another man's trousers to replace the breeches some cruel god had bestowed upon him.
Slightly more unsettling was the fact that the kid's clothes hadn't changed. Turks were well versed in the art of asking questions and knowing when asking was a bad idea, so before they could wander deep enough into the town for Axel's outfit to be too noticeable Reno did the decent thing, pointing him down into a secluded section of alleyways. Ah, rats, little plague-carrying harbingers of doom.
"If this is the part where you kill and rape me I'm disappointed," Axel mused aloud, and that slightly psychotic edge of pretending to feel in his voice was still weird as ever.
"Wouldn't dream of doing it in that order. What's with the non-changing outfit?" And damn the kid for letting his mind wander down that route because suddenly all he could daydream about in the small corner of his consciousness not devoted to the tasks at hand was applications of Axel's clever mouth. Nothing wrong with being horny and a tad narcissistic, though.
"It's just 'cause I'm not really here," Axel replied, and as if that didn't sound nutty enough, added "I'm a Nothing."
"Paradox, you can't have nothing 'cause it's named, so it's... something," Reno argued, confusing himself slightly in the process and and pestering the wandering part of his mind to figure out how that bit of late night drunken philosophy with Rude had gone. "Why hadn't your coat changed?"
"I'm not here," Axel repeated, rolling his eyes in a too-practised gesture before grabbing one of Reno's hands and pulling it to his neck.
No pulse. Well. Shit. "Zombie, huh?"
"Do I look rotten to you?" Reno grinned instinctively but valiantly bit back any obvious comment. "I'm more like a ghost, if anything. I'm what happens when a heartless takes someone who really, really isn't ready to die, alright?"
Most of Reno's instincts screamed get away from the dead thing, but being a Turk gave him a fairly good handle on which instincts were worth listening to and which were best ignored. Still no Rude, so best to keep the first sort-of lead he had with him. "Alright, Ghosty; your outfit's not changed 'cause... whatever. It's time you did something to stop yourself sticking out like a sore thumb and help me look for my buddy."
Axel shrugged and with the sort of suddenness that made Reno wonder if he'd blinked and missed something was decked out in a much more appropriate outfit, albeit still with the kinky boots. Nice legs under that coat. "You'll have to be a bit more specific than stocky and pierced."
"Fair enough. He's coloured, cream in his coffee coloured, wears his clothes the way you're supposed to, and if he's not in sunglasses he'll be in normal glasses or squinting like fuck and fuming about it. Quiet fuming too, he's the dangerous type." Reno grinned before twirling the nightstick around his wrist. "Now, am I gonna have to keep this jammed up your ass or have you clicked that it'll be embarrassing if I have to hand your ass to you in the middle of a crowd?"
Axel looked thoughtful and seemed ready to make another smart-mouthed comment before he frowned at something over Reno's shoulder. "Sunglasses, right?"
"Yeah, and -" Reno cut himself off and turned fast enough to give himself whiplash. Sure enough, sunglasses, like the same god who'd put him in breeches earlier had played favourites and let Rude keep the anachronistic parts of his outfit while Reno only got to keep the nightstick.
Rude pulled the glasses down slightly, shaking his head before walking over. "You're lurking in dark alleys, why?"
"Old habits die hard," Reno replied before slinging an arm around Rude's shoulder, turning him to meet... nobody. Huh.
"What kept you?"
"Getting the hell away from Atlantica in the wrong direction. Why'd I have to go hunting for you anyway?"
"I knew you'd find me if I stayed put. And the rum is great. You wouldn't believe the double-vision I had just before."
Reno was pretty sure that yes, actually, he would, but let that slide.
The number of times Reno had woken up in the middle of the night still drunk, tied to his bedposts, and straddled by a leather-clad young man could probably be counted with the fingers and thumb of one hand, but it was still a mostly pleasant surprise. "If this is the part where you rape and kill me just make sure you do it in the right order."
Axel's chakrams weren't aflame but Reno was pretty sure the one cutting his shirt apart was sizzling given the smoke rising from the sliced parts. "Like there's someone you wouldn't consent to."
"I have taste when I feel like it," Reno argued, but couldn't resist grinning until the definitely sizzling hot tip of a chakram grazed his stomach. "Fucking ow! What the Hell're you here for anyway?"
"The plan was to maim you horribly for the beatings and probably killing you after, but -" Axel grabbed Reno's chin and pointing it towards the long mirror on the wardrobe. Damn if he didn't look like he was up to something kinkier than how it felt. "Thought it'd be better to repay bruise for bruise."
"Sore loser. Rude'd kick your ass if he weren't out."
Axel's knowing grin sent jolts places they probably shouldn't and Reno couldn't resist licking his lips when Axel peeled off the coat and looked in the mirror, finding the first bruise on his chest with a thumb before finding the corresponding part of Reno's chest and raising his chakram over it.
Oh. Shit.
Axel was nothing if not thorough but once his trousers were off and he'd started biting rather than using the fucking chakrams, Reno couldn't help but start reacting a little more favourably to the treatment than expected.
Hell, who was he kidding? He was butt-naked while Axel was the same apart from long gloves and kinky boots, was there any universe in existence where that combination wouldn't leave him with a raging erection? And typical enough, Rude had walked in on Axel biting Reno's thigh, taken one look, said "Details later," and headed back out.
God love Rude for efficiency though, potions stored in the room exactly where Reno would have expected him to when Axel announced a need for lube, and god love Axel for giving Reno one of the surprises of his life by opting to ride him rather than push into him as expected.
It probably should have been too weird to have Axel spend the entire duration of their activities with his eyes closed, only that Reno wasn't that much better because he spent it looking in the mirror at the definitely, definitely incestuous sight of going at it with his accidental twin until he was over and done with his orgasm and free to watch Axel ride out the last of his own.
Reno had no clue who 'Roxas!' was, but decided against asking after Axel preguessed any response by saying "Ask and I'll kill you." Even his evil streak had survival mechanisms enough to know when that phrase was meant seriously.
Axel splayed out across him in a way very obviously meant for comfort, not as an expression of affection, gathering strength or magic or whatever, Reno was too exhausted to contemplate other people's motives.
"Wild guess this, but I won't be seeing you again will I?"
"No." Axel's eyes closed and Reno wanted to roll his eyes at sudden realisation he was going to spend the night as a makeshift pillow, but found his thinking took a sharp diversion to other matters.
"I kicked your ass 'cause you're not afraid to die. If someone's beating on you then run or jump out of the way, don't just stand there and take the punishment."
Axel frowned for a second before mumbling, "Thanks", his face not entirely relaxing even as his breathing deepened. Reno couldn't help feeling a little ticked off knowing the kid would be gone by the time he'd woken up because something about Axel jarred with him. Not the dead-ish thing, not the recklessness - it was the emotions deal. Axel pulled a lot of faces that suggested he'd deliberately chosen and mimicked a feeling either because it suited him or because it seemed like the 'right' emotion for the time. But for all the obviously or seemingly faked emotions that seemed right for a sort of ghost, there were moments when Axel clearly felt.
Sending a fucked up dead guy into the world Reno had no crises of conscience about, but doing the same to a teenager he'd sworn off since the end days of Soldier. Not to mention that the whole 'Roxas' bit screamed tragic and/or doomed romance.
Ugh, kids. No wonder people hated them if thinking about them messed with your head like that over and over again.
Still, could always be worse, at least Axel showed no signs of being a good kid or slightly creepy post-coital paternal instincts might have got involved.
"Afternoon," Rude announced against Reno's ear, his greater weight replacing Axel's long since absent presence in the bed. "You look like shit."
"I'm a narcissistic cradle-snatcher with a necrophiliac streak, I deserve that."
"Huh." Rude sat up slightly. "Do I want to know what you did last night?"
"What's a Nothing?"
Rude went quiet for a long moment before smacking Reno across the top of the head. "You're an idiot and I have no idea how you're still alive. Organisation XIII ring a bell?"
Being half-asleep wasn't helping his processing powers much but bit by bit something was piecing the story together. "Yeah, a bit, they were -" and snap, very, very belated survival instinct kicked in and Reno was bolt upright in the bed. "You're shitting me, Axel was -"
"Axel?" Rude repeated before resting his head in his hands. "Not just an idiot then, you're a lucky, lucky bastard to be alive. Thought I'd smelt burning but given the situation... is he coming back?"
"No," Reno replied, part of him recalling the last few days and feeling bummed out on account while the part of him that valued his life sang thankful praise. "At least, he said no."
Rude seemed to consider this for a moment before lying back down a little. "We can probably get away with staying on this world, but you're keeping an eye out for that kid. One glimpse and we're off to Hollow Bastion."
"Uh?"
"Only other planet with decent booze," Rude explained.
"Sounds like a plan."
Rude smacked Reno around the back of the head for good measure again before looking across at the long mirror and smirking. "You kinky bastard."
"Yeah." Reno looked into the mirror too, at the bruises and burns and dried salt on his chest, wondered suddenly if it was Rude or Axel who'd untied him. Probably Axel, given the ropes were gone now.
Even if the morning after was scaring the crap out of one half of him and depressed the crap out of the other half, at least he'd had crazily awesome sex last night. Right? Right.
He really hoped that if he told himself that enough times the thought would stick, because spending a month missing the other man in the mirror didn't sound anything like fun.
