Chapter Text
“Katy, man, the cheerleader.”
Izzy quirked a brow trying to get a little extra space between them on the ratty couch. “Mhm.” He couldn't care less about some bottle-blonde cheer captain.
Apparently he didn’t sound impressed enough for Axl’s liking. “Katy? The one with the tits, man.” The redhead squirmed, pressing himself closer to Izzy’s side—the complete opposite of what the brunet was going for. His house was hot enough already thanks to the broken air conditioner, Axl insisting on wedging himself as close as possible to Izzy was only making it worse.
“Ah, Katy.” Izzy hummed, hanging one long leg over the arm rest. Axl took this as an invitation to roll over as best as he could and force his leg between the brunet’s thighs. Whatever, at least his skinny hipbones weren’t cutting into Izzy’s skin anymore.
“I’m totally asking her out.” His breath danced across Izzy’s skin through the tin material of his shirt. They had only an hour till service, and Axl would have to make the dreaded journey back.
“Why?” Izzy asked, stroking his fingers through tangled red locks.
Axl sputtered, “What do you mean why? She’s hot, and she’s got the—”
“—tits, yes I know, you’ve mentioned.” Izzy bared his teeth in an attempt at a smile. Not that Axl had seen, too busy pressing his face to Izzy’s chest, breathing him in. “Do you like her?” He asked coyly, you never knew what could send Axl into a rage.
Axl groaned, squirming and jarring his body against Izzy’s. “Do you ever listen? Everyone wants—”
“Yeah, but what do you want?” Careful. He always had to tread so carefully around someone as unstable as this. But Axl hadn’t punched him in the face and stomped away yet so that was always a good sign.
“You know what.” Axl grunted, plush lips finding Izzy’s pale skin, pressing barely there kisses against it.
“I read minds now?” He tried, chewing on his lower lip, methodically working his fingers through Axl’s hair. It kept them both grounded.
The redhead shifted again, and Izzy held his breath, willing himself to stay still. The slightest of movements could ruin everything.
“You tryna make me say it?”
“No idea what yer spouting.” Axl’s weight was pressing him into the couch now, not particularly heavy, but just enough. Axl had always been enough for him, but if the redhead’s desire to pursue Katy-with-the-tits was anything to go by—he wasn’t.
The thought sent a sharp spike of something ugly through him and he was suddenly furious. Furious that Axl followed everything they’d ever done with ‘I aint no fag’, furious that he lived his life convinced he was something sick, furious that Axl went out of his way to prove himself to everyone with just about every girl in town at the expense of his own happiness.
Axl laughed wryly, eyes flicking to Izzy’s lips. “Just shut up and put your mouth to better use.” He whispered, as if convinced someone—God maybe—would hear and Stephen would get word of his sinful behavior.
That would be bad for both of them.
Izzy couldn’t exactly complain, it was as much of an invitation as he’d ever get from the redhead and he’d take it.
Axl’s kisses were always forceful and bruising, they left him breathless and wanting—but if you were patient, if you coaxed him into it with gentle touches and whispered praises, he surrendered himself beautifully.
Izzy did just that until Axl was sighing contentedly, completely relaxed, carefree in a way he was meant to be.
He’d show him he could very well be enough.
------
Izzy never made a habit out of going to school. He wasn’t in denial—school wasn’t a place for the likes of him. He only ever got work done if Axl walked him through it, breathing down his neck every step of the way. Sitting in exam rooms and being forced to regurgitate whatever shit they forced into his brain wasn’t how he saw himself spending years of his life.
He made it his duty to show up today, because he knew damn well Axl was going to ask Katy out. Hell, Izzy had even worn his best pants (the one that had only two holes in it) and washed his normally greasy hair. The brunet felt odd and out of place, but once he was on campus such feelings were commonplace.
Axl had eyed him suspiciously on the walk over, lips curling down as he took in Izzy’s get up. “What are you doing?”
“Attending school, like I should be.” Izzy replied, lips almost curling into a smile. Almost.
The almost-smile had seemed to freak Axl out even more. The redhead fiddled with a lock of hair behind his ears and kept his eyes trained on his sneakers. “Don’t take you as the kind that does things he should.”
“New year, new me?”
The redhead snorted rudely.
“We’re in the middle of June.” Axl pointed out, raising his blue-green eyes to meet smoky ones. “What are you up to Isbell?”
“Not a damn thing.”
And he had done just that, in his defense. Not a damn thing. That was until the bell rang and Axl all but busted his ass to meet the cheerleaders coming off the field.
Izzy hummed quietly, using his blue Papermate pen to shade the blue of Axl’s eyes at the back of his book. Sharing wasn’t ever his strong point, he was an only child after all and he didn’t intend to share his Axl with just about anyone.
Their relationship was unhealthy maybe (they were too dependent on each other, too clingy, it was all too much), but neither of the two could claim they were anything close to healthy.
It’s why they fit so perfectly together.
He waited till Axl came back from the field, breathing hard, cheeks flushed pink. “You ready?”
“I’m staying a bit longer.” Izzy offered him that smile again, the charming one he saved just for situations like this. “Detention.”
The redhead paused, clearly confused. Like hell Izzy ever stayed for detention. “Well, do you want me to wait?”
“You should get home, it’s a Thursday isn’t it? You know enthusiastic daddy dearest is about Youth Thursdays.” Completely uncalled for, a low blow, but necessary.
Axl stiffened, eyes flashing dangerously before he turned away. "Whatever."
“Hey, how’d it go with Katy?” Axl whirled on him, eyes cold and calculating. Izzy’s smug expression remained firmly in place. He knew, now all he had to do was wait.
“It went fine.” Axl said, slowly, eyes never leaving Izzy’s. He clearly wanted to say more, but settled for shaking his head and walking away.
Fine.
It was all too easy to get Katy alone, a flick of his dark hair and a charming smile was all it took (she was easy, laughably so. Not enough—never enough for someone like Axl—). It was even easier to wrap his fingers vice-tight around her skinny wrists and allow the ugly, sharp feeling to contort his face into something that terrified her.Allowing the steel to seep its way into his voice was the easiest thing in the world:
“You don’t fucking go near him, you don’t fucking talk to him ever again.”
She tossed her pretty blonde head from side to side, rouge lips parted in a silent scream, much too afraid to let a sound slip past.
“Do you understand?” His fingers tightened, they had to leave a mark. Izzy didn’t care, he was mad with his need to claim what was his.
“Y-yes, just please—”
She understood.
-----
Axl didn’t.
He clambered into Izzy’s room, cursing and stomping all the way, deliberately knocking over a few knickknacks.
“Please don’t break my records.”
Axl gazed at him, eyes wide. “Katy called it off.”
“Did she now?”
“Said some bullshit about not feeling it anymore.” He dropped his bad unceremoniously on the wooden floor, kicked off his sneakers and crawled into bed. “It’s crazy, just outta nowhere.”
...
“Izzy...”
...
“What did you do?” His voice was unsteady, his body tense.
The brunet squinted down at his book, suddenly really interested in Moby Dick.
“You fucking son of a bitch, I’m gonna kill you!” The redhead hissed, pulling away as if he had been burnt. “I swear to god I’m—”
“You shouldn’t swear.”
He huffed a hysterical laugh, staring at Izzy in amazement. “You’re one sick little shit—”
The brunet waved him off with a flick of his wrist, “Kill me later, come check this out.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Axl mumbled the entire way over there, purposely elbowing Izzy in the ribs on the way.
They lay together tangled in each other for hours, breathing in sync, with Axl reminding Izzy ever so often that he’d totally get around to the killing thing once the book was done.