Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Slash was on his way home from his part time job, when it started to rain. Great. He was already tired and angry from his job, so the weather didn't really add to his mood. The only good thing was that it was only a few blocks away and he'll be home.

He was looking at the tips of his now soaked worn-out sneakers, when he noticed the light haired boy walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of him. The boy looked to be around the same age as Slash, and he was already soaked from the light rain.

He was wearing only a white tank top and tight leather pants. Slash found him pretty attractive. He seemed to be in a similar mood like Slash, but that still didn't stop him from waving and flashing smiles at the passing cars.

Oh. Now that made sense. Slash realised only now, why was the boy dressed like that and why he was desperately trying to get someone's attention even in weather like this.

Slash blushed when he realised he was staring the whole time and now he was also totally soaked. He sighed and slowly approached the boy. The day couldn't get any worse now, could it? So he might as well do something good.

"Hey," he greeted the boy nervously, but he wanted to seem calm.

The boy turned to his direction and smiled pleasantly when he saw Slash. They both looked as bad as the other, but he seemed to like Slash.

"Hey. You want something, handsome?" he flashed him a smile.

Slash got a little nervous and blushed again. Why was he like that? It's not like it was his first time talking to someone he found attractive.

"Um, yea..."

"Cool. You have some money?"

"yes," he said hurriedly and pulled fifty dollars from his pocket as a demonstration. That seemed to satisfy the blonde.

"'kay, sounds good." only now had Slash noticed that the shorter had a chewing gum.

"But I don't have a car and it's raining, so we could go to my house if you don't mind. Don't worry, it's only a few blocks away." Slash tried to smile but he was still so nervous?!

"sure," the blonde said as he followed Slash in his quick pace.

"I also don't have an umbrella," he tried to lighten the mood and it worked, because the boy laughed.

"yea I noticed."

Slash smiled widely back at him. For some reason the thought of the boy smiling made him very happy, and he already couldn't get enough of the smile he only saw a few times.

They walked in silence for a while, and although the other boy seemed like the quiet type, he complimented Slash's hair, which made his heart flutter.

"Your hair is cool, by the way."

"Thanks, although it looks way better when it's not wet." he smiled and quickly added.

"Yours is also nice."

"Thanks, but it also looks better when dry." he smirked.

"What's your name?" the shorter asked.

"What's yours?" Slash replied.

"I asked first."

"Fine." Slash rolled his eyes.

"I'm Slash."

"Mine's Axl."

Axl. Slash liked the sound of it. They both knew that these weren't their real names, but it was enough for them.

"Looks like we're here."

Chapter Text

Thankfully, nobody was home. Although Slash's mom and grandma were used to
Slash bringing home friends now and then, he was still thankful that they weren't home and weren't questioning him.

He led Axl to his huge room in the basement and Axl seemed impressed by the room. It wasn't exactly to Slash's liking, but he was slowly getting there. The room was a mess, books and clothes everywhere, but Axl didn't seem to mind.

"Uh, we could change into something not wet." Slash proposed, as there was water dripping from both of them to the ground.

"Sure," Axl nodded, but looked a little confused, as to why even bother changing.

"but all my clothes are wet," Axl looked into his bag, where he carried a few spare t-shirts.

"I'll lend you some of mine, if you don't mind," Slash scratched his hair.

Axl blinked at him, but them shrugged his shoulders. "Okay"

Axl then started stripping like no big deal, but Slash blushed like crazy.

"Um...you can also take a shower if you want. I don't mean it in a bad way-just it might be good after the cold rain and yea..." Slash was stuttering. Get yourself together man! He wanted to smack himself for acting like such a teenager.

Axl smirked at Slash awkwardness and nodded. "'kay then. Thanks."

Slash smiled and handed him red pyjama pants and a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

Slash also changed into something more comfortable and sat on his bed. He needed to calm down first. He closed his eyes for a while but his peaceful rest was soon interrupted.

"Saul!!"

Looks like his mom was already home.

Oh lord.

Slash involuntarily got up and walked upstairs.

"Hey mom," he greeted her and noticed she was home for a while now, because she already started making toasts for dinner.

"Hi," she smiles at him. "How was work today?" she asked as she continued preparing the food.

"Uh, kinda shitty to be honest" he scratched his hair and looked at the ground.

"oh I'm sorry, I hope its better on Monday," she continued chatting about her day at work. Slash was starting to space out and his mind wandered to the blonde boy in his room.

"Saul, are you even listening to me?"

"Um-I'm sorry, I spaced out a little."

"Oh, I see." she smirked. "Do you have someone down there?" she asked and Slash got red again.

"Yea...a friend of mine." he smiled awkwardly.

"I won't bother you any longer then. Here, and have fun." she smiled and handed him a plate full of toasts.

Slash smiled and nodded. "Thanks" and he quickly disappeared into his room.

___

Slash was sitting on his bed and mindlessly flicking trough the tv channels. Axl was taking his time it the bathroom. Slash wasn't mad tho, because he could imagine when was the last time the blonde boy had a bathroom with warm water to himself.

When he finally got out of the bathroom, he looked very pleased and happy, but his face soon met up with confusion.

"These are for dinner." Slash smiled.

"O-kay...Right." Axl sat next to Slash on the bed.

"Um, I take money for the time, by the way." Axl mentioned awkwardly, but felt kinda bad, because this curly haired boy was so kind to him. But it was a job like every other and he needed the money.

"Yea, I figured it out." Slash smiled, a little sadly.

There was awkward silence for a while, only the quiet chatting of the people in tv was heard.

"Um, listen. I don't want anything from you. Which doesn't mean I don't find you attractive, actually I like you very much but...I just felt so sorry for you in the rain and...and I'm kinda lonely so any company is good...but anyways, by that I wanted to say you don't have to be scared of me or expect me to want something from you or...yea. Also I'm not like a crazy murderer or something, no...Um, so yea I just wanted to say this."

Slash muttered and he was looking down at his hands, fidgeting with them a little nervously. God, Axl is gonna think he's crazy.

Axl smiled at his last sentence, but otherwise stayed quiet and just stared at Slash.

He thought he was gonna go crazy from Axl's burning gaze.

Then finally, he spoke, very quietly.

"Thanks man. It's-it's actually nice of you."

And as soon as he finished speaking a few silent tears escaped his bright eyes.

Slash didn't wait for anything and hugged the skinny boy. Axl buried his head in Slash's shoulder.

Chapter Text

Axl was happily munching on the toasts, as they were both watching a sitcom in the tv.

"Wow, I haven't watched tv for fun in like, forever." he commented with a smile. He seemed way more relaxed now, and Slash was here for it.

"I watch tv a lot when I'm bored or just lazy."

"That's cool."

"But nowadays there is so much nonsense, like now for example." he gestured to the tv and they both laughed.

They fell into silence again, but Axl's eyes were wandering around the big room. He liked it very much. As a young kid, he dreamed of having a similar room, so he was in awe.

"Your room's amazing." he couldn't hold it back.

"Thank you, I'm trying to get it to my absolute liking." Slash grinned and his heart was fluttering at the thought of Axl liking his room. Slash loved his room, because that's where he spent most of his time.

Axl's gaze then stopped on a big crate and he mindlessly got to it and started looking trough its contents.

"Wow, you collect Vinyls?" Axl was thrilled.

"Uh, yea. They're pretty expensive, so it goes slowly." Slash smiled. He was very proud of his collection.

"The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crüe, that's amazing!"

"Can we listen to these later?" Axl asked enthusiastically.

"Sure we can." Slash smiled.

"The guitar, do you, do you play?"

"Yes of course."

"And...can you play something for me?" he asked, sounding almost a little shy.

Slash was excited beyond measure. Of course he wanted to play something for Axl. He was excited, because every time he wanted to play y for someone he was interested in, they didn't really care.

"Yes, yes if you want to." Slash smiled and his dark eyes sparkled under his curly hair.

"I loove rock! I mean, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Bowie and everything you have here!" Axl grinned happily from the ground where he was sitting next to the crate with vinyls.

"Yea, me too." Slash smiled.

___

Slash was now comfortably lying in his bed and Axl was sitting next to him, leaning on the wall.

"Axl." it was his first time saying his name aloud.

Axl turned his head from the tv and faced Slash.

"Hm?"

"Are you homeless?" Slash asked seriously.

Axl smiled. "Well, almost every night I find a bed to sleep in, but I don't have my own."

"I'm sorry," Slash looked at his fingers.

"You don't have to be."

"I mean, if you want, you can stay here for a while." Slash suggested.

Axl was quiet for a while. Slash noticed he tented to do this.

"Well-of course I want to, but, but I don't want to bother you. You seem like a normal nice guy, who doesn't need to spend his time and take care of someone like me."

"Yea, but I still took you home, didn't I?" Slash smiled at the blonde boy.

Axl was quiet again. "I-I can't want this from you, it's-"

"Yes you can." Slash assured him firmly.

"You can stay as long as you want here." he continued and a little awkwardly placed his hand on Axl's.

Axl tangled up their fingers and smiled a little.

"I-I have like a hundred dollars on me, is that enough for now?" Axl asked seriously.

"Oh fuck off with that, I'm the one who's supposed to pay, remember?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Listen, don't worry about that. Keep your money, and I'll take you shopping for some basic things tomorrow."

Axl smiled at that.

"I...Thank you, but I really don't know what to say." Axl scratched his head and blushed a little.

Slash was just staring at the blonde lovingly, but his mind already wandered towards tomorrow's shopping.

"We can buy you some clothes, also some hygiene products like toothbrush or-um well, I don't mean it in a bad way just-" oh no, Slash was there again.

"Yea, but I could really use the toothbrush." Axl agreed and they both laughed.