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"I'm home!" Axl came home to see two blonde heads and one brunette poking out from the back of the sofa, side by side. He was just back from his part-time job, holding a small bag in his arm. "Boys, I've got something for you."
"What?" Duff asked but didn't look at Axl, and the other two didn't even respond to him. Three of them were watching cartoons on TV.
Axl got into a huff as they didn't pay attention to him and stood in front of the TV so they couldn't watch the screen.
"Oi, move your ass."
"I can't see them!"
Slash and Steven complained to him one another, still keeping their eyes on the TV.
"If you talk to me like that, I won't give this to you," Axl told them like their mom and pulled some fancy packages out of the paper bag.
"What's that?" They looked up at him finally, and their eyes sparkled as soon as they realised it was something to eat. There were three chocolate bars of their favourite. "Where did you get that?"
"Well, I bought them because I got a generous tip from an old lady."
Axl worked at a car wash stand during the day. The wage was too low to make ends meet, so tips from customers were the most important resource.
"The first thing you need to do is to get a good look at the car you are going to wash. No one pays you extra if the car was not so dirty from the beginning," He proudly gave a lecture on how to get a good tip. "I picked the car because it was so muddy. After I washed it, she was so happy with how clean it became and gave me an extra tip." He handed the bar to each one of them.
"Oh, thank you. I love this!" Steven didn't listen to his story at all but smiled happily.
Slash was at least listening to him and asked Axl. "How much did you get from her?"
"Ten bucks."
"What!?" All three voiced their surprise simultaneously.
Duff gave a doubtful look at Axl. "Did you really just wash the car? What were you wearing?"
"What kind of question is that? I was wearing my usual uniform. The fuckin' company-logo T-shirt and my shorts," Axl frowned at him, literally not understanding what he meant.
"And it was soaked wet and stuck to your body, right?"
"Not that much, but how can I wash a car without getting wet?"
"See? That's it. The lady must've been happy to see your ass. That's the ten bucks for!" Duff chuckled, and Slash twitched the side of his lips.
"C'mon, she's a grandma!" Axl rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe the boys thought Axl had seduced the lady with his body.
"Maybe you should consider changing your job. You'd easily earn more tips with your pretty ass." Slash giggled.
"Oh, fuck you. Why don't you use your ass instead?" He said so but knew Slash was joking, and that's not going to happen. "You want that or not?"
"I need this. I’ve been hungry," Slash blocked Axl's hand as he tried to take the bar from his hand. "Thanks, man."
"You're welcome, asshole," Satisfied to be appreciated, Axl looked around the room for his favourite brunette. "So, where's Izzy?"
"I don't know. He's not home yet." Duff opened the package and bit the chocolate.
"Did he tell you where he'd go?"
"Hm...I think he said..."
Just as they were talking, the door behind them opened, and Izzy came back in. He made a suspicious look as he noticed all eyes were on him.
"...What happened?"
"Speak of the devil," Slash said, and Axl approached Izzy with the bag in his hand.
"Iz, this is for you," He put out another bar of chocolate and handed it to him. The tone of his voice was soft and different from how he spoke to the three of them.
"Oh, thanks. But why?" Izzy looked at Axl with his big hazel eyes.
"Nothing. It's just because I got an extra tip today. Apparently, there is no meaning at all."
Izzy watched Axl's eyes wandering restlessly. He thought the redhead was acting weird but didn't ask further. "Thanks, I’ll have it later."
Axl happily smiled back at him. There was a tenderness between the two who gazed at each other, which created an atmosphere that no one could interrupt them. Duff and Slash noticed something was going on but didn't say it out loud.
It was Steven who spotted them with his quick eyes. "Hey, isn't Izzy's bar bigger than mine?"
"No, It's not big!" Axl quickly tried to shut him up, but Steven wasn't convinced.
"Bullshit. Let me see." He stood up, brought his chocolate bar and compared it to what Izzy had in his hand. Izzy's bar was clearly bigger than Steven's to everyone's eyes, almost twice the size. "See? That's not fair," Steven pouted his lips.
"All right. It's just a slightly different size. You got a problem with that?" Axl admitted it and said defiantly.
"Why just Izzy?" Steven persisted in asking questions. He was always brave to confront their singer straightly.
"Because Izzy and I've known each other way longer than you and me!" Axl crossed his arm and fought back.
"Wait, if that's the case, shouldn't mine be bigger than both of yours?" Duff complained, his eyes moving between the bar Slash was eating and the bar Steven was holding.
Slash reacted by denying Duff's claim. "No, we're almost the same. But technically, I met Axl before you met him. In that sense..."
Izzy laughed at that the three of them started arguing about who got to know Axl first. It didn't matter to him because he was definitely the first. "What about you, Ax?"
"Hm?" Axl was still crossing his arm and gave a puzzled looked at Izzy.
"Do you have your candy?"
"Oh, no, I bought those for you guys, so..." He shook his head and bit his lips.
To tell the truth, Axl bought the chocolate only for Izzy at first after seeing the store display for Valentine's day on the way home. However, he thought it would be too obvious if Izzy found out it was only for him, so he went back to the store and bought three smaller bars as a cover-up. Of course, he didn't disclose it, but Izzy had known Axl long enough to understand his intention. The taller boy smiled gently at his best friend, who was terrible at hiding his emotion.
"That's so sweet of you, Ax. So why don't we share this between you and me? Then it will be the same size as everyone, right?" Izzy looked around them, and no one could say a word.
"Uh, well, if you say so..." Axl lowered his crossed arms, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"C'mere," Izzy nudged Axl, pointing his chin towards the door to the next room.
The three of them watched the two disappear into the next room. Once the door closed, Steven snorted unpleasantly. "What's that? Does that mean he thinks us the half value of Izzy!?"
Slash chuckled at Steven's off-the-point question, and Duff covered his face with his hands.
"Stevie, do you know you've made it impossible for us to get into the next room for a while?"
"What? Why?" Steven confusedly looked at the taller blonde.
"Forget it. Let's watch the rest of the show." Slash smirked, turned the volume up on the TV and bit his smaller size of chocolate bar.