There once was a girl who liked to write too much about her OTP. It's me. That girl is me. Icon by @cureaesthetic My writing tags are #absinthe writes and #snippets Catch my sk8 writings on @summer-of-blossoms
Here Comes the Sun: aka everyone needs a soulmate AU (in this case, bodyswap) in their anthology. Now I know you've gotten a sneak peek at the first couple chapters, so I'll offer a snippet of a later chapter.
AkuRoku with a side of VanVen (Warning for mentioned past drug use)
---
"Never thought I'd say this, but you really lucked out with Vanitas." Roxas grumbled.
"Man, you really don't feel good, do you?" Ven shook his head, chuckling nervously, staring down at the floor, scuffing his foot across the carpet. "I'm sure we'll have our rough patches too."
"You don't have to try and make me feel better, you know." Roxas sighed. "So, maybe I don't like him, but I'm not blind. I can see the way he looks at you whenever you're both over here together." He jerked a shoulder up, scratching at the crook of one elbow. "He'd take a bullet for you. Axel would most likely push me in front of one."
Ven didn't say anything, but when Roxas looked up, he was staring off out the window, carefully maintaining a neutral expression.
"What's it like, anyway? Everything we were always taught it would be?"
"Yes, and no. It's not like we met up, looked into each other's eyes and went all googly." They both chuckled and Ven offered up a genuine smile. "I mean, I was basically looking at you."
"Trying to say you don't love me, Ven?" Roxas teased.
"There's the Roxas I know," Ven shot back. "Totally different kind of soulmate, Rox."
Roxas smiled, slumping back, finally relaxing. Though somewhere in the back of his mind, he was wondering what it was like for Ven to be interacting with someone who essentially acted like his twin but looked nothing like him. It had to be weird.
"Bet you weren't thinking of kissing me though."
"Nah. I know my own face well enough. Besides. I knew it was Vani beneath that face. And sure enough, when I opened my eyes again, there he was."
"You know. When you think about it… Isn't this a weird way to find your soulmate? Find and kiss yourself?"
"Maybe. It does make it a little easier though. Imagine having to find someone based off words written on you. Something they said to you or a name."
"At least Vanitas would have been easy."
"A Lea Moore a little harder, I'd bet."
"I'd take that over this."
They fell silent once again, Roxas picking at a scab on his arm, Ven tapping away on his phone. Talking to Vanitas. Roxas knew that look by then.
"You can go spend time with him, you know."
"You sure?" Ven looked up, grip tightening around the case. "I can stay if you need me."
"I'm fine." Roxas knew that his smile had to look forced, but he barreled on. "I'll probably just go take a nap. Try and get rid of this migraine."
They shared hugs, Ven made him promise to text if he needed any help and he'd drop everything and come back.
But once Ven was gone, Roxas didn't go to bed, he went hunting, finding Axel sprawled across an armchair, book in hand.
"You read?" The words tumbled out as he arched an eyebrow up.
"Har har." Axel rolled his eyes. "I finished high school thank you very much."
"Surprising," Roxas scoffed, sitting himself in the armchair across from him. "What are you reading?"
Axel's eyes narrowed and he quickly closed the book, stuffing it between the cushion and the arm before Roxas could get a good look at it.
"Nothing."
The answer came a little too quickly. Then, Roxas looked up and noticed the blush across Axel's cheeks. A further examination of the shelf behind them revealed a missing book. Right in the middle of Roxas's collection of romance novels.
He burst into laughter. Loud, riotous laughter that hurt his head, but felt good regardless.
When he finally caught his breath, Axel was glaring, face almost as red as the hair on the body Roxas was inhabiting.
"Seriously?" Roxas wheezed out, barely holding back another gale of laughter. "A romance novel?"
"Might I note that it's one of your romance novels?"
"Yeah, but I believe in romance."
He swore he heard Axel's teeth clink as he shut his mouth with another glower. Roxas crossed his arms over his chest in triumph as Axel fished out the novel and opened it once more, holding it up in front of his face.
"Never said I didn't, dick." Axel whispered.
Roxas blinked, unsure if he'd heard right for a long moment before Axel peered over the book, still holding it far too close to be reading.
"Would you at least sit down if you're going to invade my space? You're making me anxious hovering like that."
Roxas blinked once more before his brain caught up and he sat in the armchair next to Axel, staring into the blank television. And then he pinched his arm, yelping in surprise when pain shot up his forearm.
"The fuck is wrong with you?" Axel glared, lowering the book to his lap. "I figured being off the shit I was on would fuck you up, but this is stupid."
Roxas didn't answer at first, gears in his brain clanking along through the lingering haze. Had Axel really just said…
"I make you anxious?"
Axel's cheeks tinted the faintest pink. "Just when you're hovering like that. You're really tall."
"Yeah?" Roxas arched an eyebrow.
Axel turned a page. Then a few seconds later, another, and another. "I'm no good at this…" He muttered before closing the book with a flutter of paper.
"At what? Reading?"
"No, idiot. Talking." Axel half shouted before freezing, shoulders going stiff.
"Well for what it's worth—"
"Shit." Axel spat with a glare.
Roxas cleared his throat. "For what it's worth." he glared back when Axel opened his mouth again. "I think you're doing alright."
RULES: Make a new post with the names of all your WIPs, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have WIPs. People can then send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them - post a little snippet or tell them something about it as a reply!
(Is this a playlist or a WIP list. I'm very unoriginal with titles, posted in order of attention span)
Chasing Cars
Cavalier
MakeDamnSure
Inevitable
The taste of Ink
Here Comes the Sun
Idk who to tag anymore. But if you see this and want to participate, go for it!
College AU - Akuroku day pic - Part of a Big Bang I participated in this year. I was partnered with Absinthe doing a College AU fanfic, this is part of a scene I enjoyed.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/58138315/
Axel and Roxas have known each other since childhood, though they were far from close. Just knew of each other, really, as they lived in the same town and went to the same schools. But they never really hung out. Axel was a ‘troubled youth’, while Roxas was a golden child, living up to every one of his parents’ expectations. Their worlds didn’t mix, despite their proximity.
They even attend the same college the next town over (it’s a miracle Axel got in, and a ‘shame’ Roxas had to settle), but within the first semester, Roxas is in an accident. Lays in the hospital on life support for a good week, and remains there for months simply recovering.
When he returns to school, he’s… different. He’s louder. More brazen. He hangs out with the ‘bad’ kids like Axel. He takes risks, gets into trouble.
Some say he’s a lot more fun. Other say he’s gone off the deep end. All can agree he hit his head a little too hard in the accident.
“I don’t have brain damage,” Roxas tells Axel one night. They’re sharing a cigarette after a party. It’s still before dawn. Everyone else is asleep. It’s quiet. “I know everyone thinks I do. That I must have w couple screws loose with the way I’ve been acting. But I don’t.”
“Then why are you like this now? You always used to be the perfect little goody-two-shoes,” Axel says. “What made you change, if it wasn’t the accident?”
Roxas laughs. His laugh is so bright these days. So open and free, a little ugly with how he snorts, but… Axel likes it. “Oh, it was the accident! It’s just… it didn’t change my personality because I hit my head or anything.”
Axel watches him closely. Why is Roxas telling him this? Why tell Axel?
“It’s just…” he continues, blue eyes staring off into the endless night sky. “I remember laying there, dying. Bleeding out on the hot concrete and thinking… what have I accomplished here? What have I done with my life?”
“You were the golden child of our little town,” Axel supplies. “Got good grades, played sports… you were in like, twenty honors classes.”
“Yeah, all because my parents wanted me to do that,” Roxas says with a scoff. “I didn’t really like any of it! And I didn’t even realize until I lay there dying thinking man, I really hated everything about this!” He barks out a laugh, fingers running through blond locks, always so messy and windswept these days.
“I thought to myself then, if I live, I’m gonna start having fun. I’m gonna do all the things I was too scared to do, or too conditioned to avoid, for all those years. I’m gonna find out who I actually am, parents and teachers and everyone else be damned.”
“So, did you do it?” Axel asks, and Roxas turns to him with a confused look.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you find out who you are? What you want out of life? Have you done everything you’ve ever wanted?”
Roxas laughs again, and shakes his head. “Nah, I’m still figuring it all out. And there’s tons of shit I still have to do.”
“Like what?” Axel asks, smiling as he watches the other man. Some look at Roxas with disappointment or pity these days. But Axel? Axel thinks he glows. “What else do you want to accomplish? What’s on the bucket list?”
Roxas is quiet, then, blue eyes watching Axel the way Axel watches him. A little smile plays on his lips. “Well… I have yet to ever kiss a redhead.”
Boss/Intern AU - It's a bit spicy at the end, so NSFW(ish?). Because it's me and I have no self-control. Also no, I don't really know how an office works, bear with me here.
Axel always thought things turn out different. He figured he'd always wind up at the top of the corporate ladder with the world at his feet, a wonderful office view, and perhaps he even joked about having a pretty little blond secretary on his knee.
But he couldn't say he was unhappy. Perhaps he didn't have an office of his own but he had a spacious desk, unlimited access to coffee and snacks, the best pencil sharpener money could buy (seriously, who needed something so fancy), and he'd been given permission to read when he wasn't busy.
He didn't have a pretty little blond secretary, though. In fact, he was the secretary. He'd applied to the job as a joke, wanting something new, expecting the position to go to the pretty brunette that sat beside him waiting for the interviews. Stereotypes and all that. But the CEO had taken one look up and down the length of his body and insisted Axel call him by his first name: Roxas.
And here he was, six months later in the best job he swore he'd ever had, especially when he sat down and opened the calendar to find not his chicken scratch of meetings and appointments for the man in the office behind his desk, but a tidy print that blocked out almost two hours that said 'vital meeting, secretary needed for notekeeping.' Looked like the intern would be answering the phones for a couple of hours again.
And maybe he didn't have a pretty little blond secretary on his knee, but he did have a hot little blond CEO that knew him rather intimately by his first name... at least judging from the way Roxas moaned it while Axel had him bent over his desk.
Roxas slumps back against the closed door, plastic pearls clattering against the wood. He reaches over to check the lock for the thousandth time. It's not that he expects Axel to come barging in, but still…
"I'm fine." The words come out raspy, wavering the slightest bit. He can't look at the feathers lying on the edge of the bathtub. If he does, he might lose his nerve.
What is he thinking?
He tugs gently at a string of pearls as he takes a shaky step away from the door, moving toward the mirror. His eyes fall to the feathery wings, waiting for him to put them on, and he nearly slumps to the floor. He stands there, frozen and naked, save for the blood red stockings covering most of his legs and the cream pearls around his neck.
"It's not… sacrilege," he tells himself. "It's just a costume." It's fine. It's surely fine. Of all the things he's done since leaving home, impersonating an angel isn't the worst. Not even close. "You know this is going to make Axel happy." He's said the same phrase what has to be dozens of times since he closed the bathroom door.
But it's not all about Axel. It's also Roxas, taking a stand against the years of scripture that twisted him into a person who hated himself. He's replacing old memories with ones of Axel and him. So, he picks up the wings with shaking hands and ties them on with ribbons the color of Axel's hair. It takes him half a dozen tries before he gets a bow that holds up for more than a couple of seconds. He follows them with a bit of lace, sliding the sheer fabric up over his legs. With as little as it covers, Roxas wonders if it would be better to wear nothing instead of a piece of lace. He leaves it, though. Knowing Axel, it won't last that long anyway.
And finally, he stands in front of the mirror, tracing a pinky finger lightly over the red stain on his lips.
He looks heavenly.
Cheeks flushed a faint pink, blue eyes wide and terrified.
He feels sinful.
Terrified. Excited.
With a trembling hand, he unlocks the door and pushes it open, walking out into the bedroom to Axel, lying on the bed and waiting for him.
Gonna go ahead and post this here for ease of linkage. A prompt piece written for the akrk discord server.
The prompt was: "I'm not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention."
Warnings: Akrk as always. Hinted sexual content.
---
"Roxas? Did you… get a dog?"
Twisting around, Roxas scanned the space behind him. Nothing. Hell, the door was still closed. "No?" He turned back to the computer, double-checking the angle of his camera. And he saw it a split second before one of the others on the call spoke up.
"Well, there's this mess of red fur… just in the corner of your screen…"
Roxas heaved a sigh, looking down at the source of the fur. Which, of course, wasn't fur at all. A pointed stare had his husband scooting a few inches back before resuming the steady prodding of Roxas's thigh that had gone on through three accounts and four virtual meetings.
Blessedly, the meeting wrapped up shortly after, and Roxas spun in his seat, rolling his eyes when his husband moved between his legs, poking at a button over Roxas's navel.
"You know, Ax. When you said you were feeling neglected…" Roxas pinched the bridge of his nose. "This isn't what I had in mind."
Axel grinned one of his award-winning smiles, sending a flutter through Roxas's belly, as it always did. But instead of leaning down to kiss the man, Roxas pushed his face away.
"I'm trying to work."
"And I told you this morning that I wouldn't leave you alone until you paid attention to me."
"Should have told them I had a needy cat…" Roxas muttered, slumping in his seat with a slap to the forehead.
"You should!" Axel agreed. "Then you could at least play with my hair during your boring meetings."
"No one asked you to sit in here!"
"Once again. Not leaving you alone until I get attention. Besides, you're the one that bet I would get bored before lunchtime."
Roxas took in a deep breath and held it, staring down at Axel as he pouted up with the biggest puppy dog eyes.
With a loud exhale, Roxas rolled his eyes yet again. "I didn't think that meant you'd be sitting in here poking my thigh the whole time!"
"What would you rather have me do?" Axel flashed a wicked smirk, wiggling his eyebrows. "I mean, I could always—"
"No. Absolutely not. I am not having my coworkers watch my face as I get off. I'm not paid enough for that."
"What about over lunch?"
Roxas smacked his palms over his face. "Will you leave me alone until then?"
"Nope!"
"I married a moron…" Roxas said, voice muffled from behind his hands.
"I'm going to pretend that was a complement."
"And I'm going to pretend you're not here," Roxas grumbled, pushing Axel back and turning back to his computer. "See if you can hold out for another hour, you attention hungry gremlin."
To no surprise, Axel went right back to prodding at his thigh, smug grin plastered across his face.
"At least… I don't know. Massage my feet or something," Roxas muttered, lightly kicking Axel's ass as he crawled up under the desk.
However, he regretted his mouth the second Axel's fingers dug into the arch of his foot. The moan slipped out before he could hope to hold it in, and his face grew warm, thankful that Axel was the only one that heard.
"Feels that good, huh?" Axel's voice drifted up, fingers slipping up under his dress pants, rubbing slow circles over his ankle… calf, then back to dig into the arch of his foot.
"Yeah," he whispered, hands shooting to grip the edge of the desk as he slumped down in his seat.
"Come on, Rox…" Axel's breath tickled over his thigh, through the thin fabric of his far too tight dress pants. "Your legs are already spread for me."
"I thought you wanted attention," he weakly argued back, far too aware of warm breath over his groin.
Axel's ever nimble fingers undid the button of his pants and he chuckled. "Maybe I've changed my mind. C'mon, Roxy. Let me give you the attention you deserve."
And without any fight left in him, and no more meetings until the afternoon, Roxas happily let him.
the writer’s urge to ask your friends “do you wanna see a little somethin’ i’ve been working on?” when the little somethin’ you’ve been working on is 800 words and ends in the middle of a sentence
the writer’s urge to ask your friends “do you wanna see a little somethin’ i’ve been working on?” when the little somethin’ you’ve been working on has not even been started yet and you just want to yell about the idea
Your writing is incredible, and I think I just read like six of your fics back to back. I just wanted to stop by and say that because wow. Dark. Delicious. Wonderful. <3
AAAAAAH! Thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed my stories! <3 <3
#40 exes meeting again after not speaking for years au
CW: Physical abuse (mentioned, from a third party)
More under the cut for length
---
"You deserve better."
"There's no one better! And even if there was, I want you!" Roxas's voice rang out, even above the waves, out over the sand. "Why are you doing this to me, Axel!?"
---
Axel jerked awake with a sharp gasp, one sleepy hand coming up to wipe away the tears leaking out.
"Ax?" the figure next to him stirred, reaching out a hand to rub at his shoulder.
"Nightmare," he grumbled. He wasn't about to tell his boyfriend he'd been dreaming about his ex.
"Gonna be ok?"
"Yeah, go back to sleep," Axel soothed, reaching over to run a hand through his boyfriend's hair. "Night."
"Night, Ax." And the man rolled away, snuggling under the covers. His soft breathing resumed minutes later and Axel turned away. And he wondered
When had they stopped saying 'I love you?'
And why in the world was he dreaming about Roxas again. It had been… what? Six or seven years and one cross country move when he couldn't take the memories... the guilt anymore. But when he picked up his phone, knowing full well he wasn't getting any more sleep that night, there it was.
Roxas's face. His profile on some random social media thing. Older now, mid-twenties. And looking almost… world-weary, serious. In Axel's inbox sat an inconspicuous 'hey, how have you been?' that had popped up shortly after he'd accepted Roxas's friend request. And he'd closed it in fear, terrified of confronting his demons, laid out for all to see, in the light of day.
But now, in the creeping stillness of the night, with nothing but the faint echoes of the city, he started scrolling through Roxas's status updates. There were concerts, museums, the usual boring stuff. Sitting next to the button for pictures was one for life events and in curiosity he poked it, wondering if Roxas was one of those that used the feature. And to his surprise, he started to swipe through events.
Moved. Moved again, never leaving their small hometown. In a relationship.
Of course, Axel sighed, a person like Roxas wouldn't stay single forever.
Split up. In a relationship.
Engaged.
The breath rushed out of Axel. A wave of heat followed by a dousing of ice left him gasping for breath, surprised he didn't wake his boyfriend back up.
But there was more. He held his breath and flicked his thumb, expecting the next one to be married.
It was.
His heart gave an almost violent squeeze. What was the next one? Adopted a child? Bought a house in the suburbs? He had to know. He scrolled.
Divorced.
He blinked. Divorced? Within the year. What the hell had happened?
Pictures told much of the same story. Up until the divorce. And there was one of Roxas, the faintest hint of a smile, a bruise under one eye and holding a paper. The next was of him and a dark-haired girl who looked his age, not his… ex-husband. They were wearing party hats with a sign in the background proclaiming 'just divorced.' Two years ago.
Was… that why Roxas had gotten back in touch? He felt dirty for hoping. Surely Roxas had seen his 'in a relationship' status.
Besides, were two years enough to get over a divorce and an abusive relationship? Did Roxas not remember what Axel had accidentally done to him years ago?
He couldn't bring himself to reply to Roxas's message, but spent hours and hours, day after day, pouring over his profile, every picture, every ounce of Roxas's life he'd missed out on. Up until—
"I've… met someone, Axel." His boyfriend told him one evening. Axel noticed the bags by the door then. "And you're hung up on your hometown. On this Roxas person."
Axel waited for the pain and sadness. But there was an odd sense of relief. So they parted with hugs and muttered 'no hard feelings.'
He started packing the next day, putting most of his stuff in storage, turning in his notice to both the apartment and his job. Maybe he'd be back. Maybe he'd wind up staying.
He drove hundreds of miles knowing full well that Roxas could take one look at his face and tell him to go away. He could put his fist into Axel's nose, yell at him for leaving. But he had to try. He had to see Roxas. Had to talk to him.
Within a few days, he was driving onto familiar roads, and unsurprisingly the town hadn't changed much.
He looked everywhere for Roxas with no luck. He wasn't at his listed workplace. Axel wasn't sure where he lived now. So, exhausted he checked into the one hotel for an extended stay and passed out after checking in on social media.
---
The next day he went back out, running into old friend after old friend. At the grocery store, the diner, the main square. He met families, husbands, wives, kids. So many of them asked if he'd seen Roxas, but yet no one could tell him exactly where he was.
"He's been through a lot the past few years, I'm sure he'd be happy to see you again."
"He works up at the skate shop, but I think he's got today off."
"I swear I saw him at the skate park a couple of hours ago. You should go say hi."
"Axel! Oh man, Roxas is going to be so happy to see you!"
On and on. But it started to feel like he was following a phantom around town. He was always gone before Axel got there, leaving him to wonder if he was avoiding him or if it were just a case of bad timing.
But once the sun started to sink towards the horizon, he headed down to the beach… their beach and posted a picture of the sunset. And he stood there, hands in his pockets watching the fading sun, feeling eighteen again.
It was beautiful, shifting into deep reds and oranges. He hadn't seen anything like it in years, not since he left for the city.
"Nothing like sunsets on the beach, huh?"
He must have missed the crunch of footsteps drowned out by the ocean and nearly jumped out of his skin.
The voice was so achingly familiar, maybe a hint deeper. He turned, and there Roxas was, standing next to him. Just as short. Just as beautiful. Axel tugged his hands from his pockets, one halfway to Roxas's face before he let it fall to his side.
"Yeah, they really are." He turned back to the sunset but jumped again when a hand slid into his. "How'd you know where to find me?"
"Saw you were back in town, and then the sunset picture. Figured there'd be only one place to find you."
"Why come find me?"
"Because I've missed you," Roxas spoke like it was the simplest thing. The most obvious thing. "Besides, at least a dozen people mentioned you'd been around looking for me."
"I… saw what you've been through."
"Oh." His hand tightened around Axel's. "The marriage?"
"The divorce."
"He hit me," Roxas said with absolutely no emotion. "I ran when he broke a rib. Got a restraining order, then a divorce. He's in jail now."
"I wasn't going to ask," Axel mumbled.
"Everyone else does," Roxas whispered, barely audible over the waves. "Why come back? You used to talk..." He took a shaky breath, leaning into Axel's arm. "Used to talk about us getting out of here someday. I thought you hated it here."
"I thought I did too. Thought there were better things out there. But I only came to realize everything I cared about had been left behind." Axel's fingers tightened around Roxas's and he swallowed hard. "Can you ever forgive me?"
"Already did." There wasn't even a second of hesitation before Roxas brought Axel's hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to his skin, lips searing like fire.
Axel didn't ask why. Didn't ask how. He turned and cupped Roxas's jaw, tilting his head up in an old familiar gesture, to kiss him.
Roxas's arms came up to circle his neck, to hold them tight together and Axel couldn't help but picture Roxas, stretched up on his toes in the sand, just like old times.
They kissed until the sun disappeared, until the moon was high in the sky, before heading back into town, hand in hand to have a nice long talk.
