Helping Those in Need || Olivia & Axel || Prompt
olivia-greene
Axel hadn't really understood the gravity of taking to the streets before he'd done it. It wasn't as though he'd thought it through that well, it's just that the circumstances for doing so were more than encouraging. His younger brother had a place to stay and people to look after him, he had a friend, a best friend Olivia who was willing to do this with him and who was going to support him every step of the way, as it was just the way she operated and he was thoroughly motivated by the fact that he was ready to give up on his parents. They weren't even parents to him at this stage, just the people he was made by, it should have meant something but it didn't.
The first few months were the hardest. Axel was away from everything and all he'd ever knew and the young man was struggling to cope with that, but he knew that people had to deal with a lot more than that to get by in other circumstances, that was partly what drove him, compelled him to give it his all. If he hadn't had Olivia he didn't know what might have become of him. His best childhood friend didn't just drive him, she gave him courage, half the things he'd done he wouldn't have done if it weren't for her, if they needed a safe place to sleep he would find one for her safety and not his own, if they needed money, he would earn it one way or another...legally anyway. There's no greater force on earth to make you power through adversity than love for another person.
The two were lost in more ways than the obvious. They didn't exactly know where they were going, no but they didn't know what they wanted to do either.The sandy haired man and the kind blonde were searching out there really, searching for themselves and for something that could make them strong apart from one another. And that thing was turning out to be more difficult to find than either of them would have guessed. It didn't help that they spent some nights cold, hungry, irritable and trying to make ends meet. Sure there would sometimes be a place to spend the night that didn't make either of their skin crawl but that was always once in a blue moon. Axel had been pampered and, as much as he hated to admit it, spoiled his entire life. It was all a great shock to his system. There were many times when he'd been inches to proposing the two make their way home, mostly when they were inches from snapping but it was almost like the two had an unspoken agreement to hold on, to believe in themselves and each other, to know that they could do this.
On a particularly rough night, the two were spending it underneath an overpass, a fire made to keep them warm, their resistance holding out just one night longer, or so he would tell himself. Then that night would turn into another and another and they just carried on. They had their regular supplies like thermal sleeping bags, flashlights, back packs full of their gathered essentials but it wasn't a good night. The two were hardly speaking. Axel finally plucked up the energy and nerve to speak to her as he sat near the fire, across from her, visible through the flames. It was hard to look at her on nights like this, he was left feeling more and more like this was his fault, that she deserved more.
"Are you warm enough?" he asked her, fretting but trying to keep it from his expression. Of course there wasn't much he could do about it but he would do anything he was able to in a heartbeat. Anything for Olivia. It was just the two of them and that was all they cared about, keep to themselves, watch each others' backs, that was the rule. Axel took a deep breath and glanced at their surroundings, frowning when he heard the faint cry of pain out in the distance. His eyes flitted to Olivia, questioning whether or not she heard it to when she must have. Others, also sleeping rough, curled in on themselves, ignoring it as if it were a common thing. Axel stood a little and took a look, mumbling as he saw it, "Someone's in trouble."