Chapter Text
It hasn’t always been like this.
When they were starting, everything was relatively simple. They won races together, AJ and Blaze. They were a perfect duo that bested all racers and outdid every cheat of Crusher. They worked as a team and couldn’t imagine being in a race without each other, and the audience saw them the same way.
But as time went on, the dynamics between AJ and Blaze shifted gradually and AJ didn’t see it coming until it was glaring at him with ferocious fury. It was when AJ was 16, five years after he and Blaze ended up in Axle City. Yes, it’s true that in five years, people are expected to change, but somewhere in AJ’s mind, he thought at least his friendship with Blaze would stay the same. He believed that both he and Blaze would still be the same dup, be each other’s partner in crime; they could have still been equals.
He hated how he was proven wrong.
Back then, it would be both of them being invited to parties and hangouts, but then, somewhere along the way, Blaze had been attending events without AJ. Before, it would be both Blaze and AJ sharing their adventures at the table with new friends, but now, it would just be Blaze sharing everything while AJ sat beside him with a cup of juice or a snack, laughing along with the crowd with Blaze’s bad jokes. Previously, it had been both AJ and Blaze went up on the stage to receive the trophy for winning a race, but now, AJ couldn’t even turn to Blaze before he rushed off to claim the reward and the praise.
When did things change? How did things change this much? Has it always been like this? Did AJ just didn’t notice?
“Hey, Blaze,” AJ called as he walked into Blaze’s rooms filled with all of the trophies they (was it still a ‘they’?) had won. “I think we need to talk about something.”
“Hm?” Blaze asked, turning back to AJ with a new bowtie. “About what? Is this going to take long?”
Ignoring the way that Blaze was trying to brush him off, AJ asked, “Are you going somewhere? You seem… Well-dressed.”
“Oh, yeah!” Blaze grinned excitedly. “Watts invited me over to celebrate the arrival of her new pet! It’s semi-casual. Do you think I look good?”
AJ stared at the smiling Blaze and he racked his brain if he was ever invited. Unfortunately, no memory resurfaced. He turned to his best friend (is he still a best friend to him?) and gave him an encouraging smile instead. “Yeah. You do.”
“Thanks, bud!” Blaze said. “So, uh, you need to talk about something?”
“No. Never mind,” AJ said. “I might make you late.”
“Oh, alright…” Blaze’s smile slowly faltered but it never left his face. “Are you sure it isn’t anything important?”
AJ looked away and debated if this was the right time. Will Blaze mind if he’s a bit late to the party? Usually, he would, but maybe he could make an exception with him. So, with slight hope, he turned to Blaze and began, “Blaze, I–”
Blaze’s phone rang and the red truck immediately took it out. It was his alarm reminding him that it was thirty minutes before Watts’s party. “Oh! AJ, I have to go!” Blaze said, pocketing his phone once again. He went to his driver patted his shoulder and said, “I’m sure we can talk whenever I get back, ‘kay? I’ll see you later!”
Blaze drove off as happy as he started in the morning.
AJ watched in Blaze’s doorway. His throat tightened and he clenched his fists below. He turned to the ground and looked around and he could feel the walls of his home slowly closing in on him, threatening to squish his body as his heart was being squeezed inside his chest. He quickly got his coat and took a walk outside.
The sky was covered over by a grey mask of clouds, but the moon’s light illuminated through the darkness of it all, masking the atmosphere with an ominous filter. AJ walked through the streets, murmuring arithmetic formulas under his breath to try and calm his mind; to try and stop the tears that threatened to pour out of his cheeks.
He didn’t know for how long he walked. It must have been a distance if he reached the beach side of Axle City. “From my home to the beach, that would have been at least 10 kilometers, converting it into miles, that would have been 6.1 miles…” AJ muttered as he went to sit down at one of the docks that the beach had provided. It was mostly used for people who wanted to fish, but oftentimes, it was a platform for adolescent trucks to jump off from. He hung his legs off the dock and began kicking them in the air. “I left at around… 8 o’clock. And now–” AJ checked his watch “ –It’s 10:04. That meant I was walking at a speed of 2.99 miles per hour…”
AJ looked up at the horizon where the moon hung high in the sky with clouds trying to block his view. The sea dazzled in ink and AJ wondered if he could go through that horizon, if he could go deep inside the inky sea to sleep. He wasn’t tired, no. He just… He wanted peace. And what is more peaceful than sleeping?
“Well, well… Look who’s here.” AJ stiffened when he heard another voice approach him. He turned to stand defensively when he saw Lazard standing with a warm smile on his face.
“Lazard?” AJ called. “What are you doing here?”
“I prefer you call me Kolo,” The older monster truck said with a shrug. “Just don’t tell anyone that.”
“... Kolo?” AJ repeated.
“Yeah. It’s my name,” Lazard, or rather Kolo, replied. “People just call me Lazard because… Well, I’m a lizard,” he snorted at his own joke. “But you don’t see people call Zeg “Dino” or anything,” he swayed away at the mention of the other reptilian hybrid. He turned back to AJ and asked, “So, kid. Mind telling me what you’re doing this late out?”
AJ was hesitant. He shifted his foot sideward and crossed his arms. He doesn’t want to tell Lizzard that he came here just because he felt rejected by his best friend. "No particular reason. I just wanted to… to go to the beach."
"At ten in the evening?" Lazard asked skeptically.
Now that AJ heard it, his excuse sounded stupid. And justifying it would sound even more stupid. So, he turned away in embarrassment instead.
Lazard watched the young boy for a while before he sighed. "If you don't want to talk about it, then I won't press you," he said. He came closer to where AJ stood and the boy stiffened and prepared for a fight, but instead, Lazard sat down where AJ once sat and took out a notebook and began to write.
AJ was more than confused and he squinted his eyes to try and see what Lazard was writing about. Unfortunately, it was dark and AJ left his visors back in his room. And even if he did have his visors right now, he didn't think that he could understand the scribbles that Lazard was jotting down.
AJ stood there awkwardly for a few more moments before he decided to sit down a few feet away from the former villain. He asked, "So, why are you out here late at night?"
Lazard shrugged. "I wanted to see the beach."
AJ had to process his response as it was the same one as his. He didn't know how to react to his response being repeated by another person. But then Lazard started laughing. "I'm joking, I'm joking," Lazard said as he finished his laughter. "Wow, tough crowd. Or are you really not in the mood for jokes?"
AJ shrugged. "A bit of both."
Lazard let out a few more giggles before he settled back into staring at the pages of his notebook. He turned to watch the horizon in front of them and replied, "Well… I had a small fight with my brother. Well, I wouldn't really say small, but it's smaller than the usual ones anyway."
AJ was shocked. "You have a brother?"
"Well, he's sort of my brother," Lazard said, moving his tire from left to right to signify that he was a bit unsure. "We were born in the same place, and had the same parent, but we don't really look the same. I guess that's why people don't really see us relating to each other… but yeah. I have a brother. I actually came back to Axle to reconnect with him, but uh… it's not going as well as I thought."
"Why'd you leave Axle anyway?" AJ asked.
"Well," Lazard looked ahead as his eyes were filled with thoughts. "I wanted to explore myself. And the world. Who am I without my brother? Who am I other than the spare? My brother found who he is without all that. He found friends and a lover. He found who he is other than being our father's son, and that is just so frustrating because Father lets him but not me so the only way I could actually find a different identity is to leave him and all that we've made and he took the credit when it was the both of us and–”
Lazard suddenly stopped as he stared down at the notebook he was scribbling. It was now filled with scratch marks of his frustrations made by his pen and he had to remind himself where he was and who he was with.
He gave a weak chuckle and put the notebook aside. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to rant.”
“No, no, it’s… It’s okay,” AJ said as he looked pitifully at the hybrid monster truck. He looked back at the horizon and he could not help but think of how much he could relate to Lazard.
“Well… I could relate in a way,” AJ said quietly at first, but then he had the courage to open up. “I… I’m happy that Blaze is having fun when I’m not around, but it’s like, my existence doesn’t matter anymore. It’s like, everyone pays attention to Blaze, and gives Blazee all the credit when it was both of us who did the work! And Blaze doesn’t do anything and just keeps receiving all of this that he doesn’t realize that… That…”
“You’re being forgotten…”
“Yeah…”
Silence stretched between the two as a sense of understanding calmly washed them both.
Then, Lazard broke the quiet with an offer, “Hey, kid. If you’re not busy, maybe you could come by my workshop. I could use some help.”
AJ turned to Lazard and gave him a small smile. “Sure.”