"Sorry about that. I should have brought you some comic books, maybe that'd make you less bored." Hartley supposed he could see why people would be hesitant to be friends with Axel. Not dangerous enough to be a good ally in here, but too unhinged to just be someone's bitch too. Probably good for Axel, beat the alternatives, but it was no surprise he was bored. "I mean, this is supposed to be punishment. It's still better than the prison the Flash used to have, the people there would forget that I'm vegetarian every other day."
"I'm here because I tried to kill people. Tried! I never actually killed anyone so really, intent to kill is just complete bullshit and I should not be in here for another ten to fifteen years! I can't stay here any longer, my brain hurts and they keep changing the locks which is really pissing me off." Because he kept breaking them. No one broke out and got brought back quite as many times as Axel did. "Whatever, it's dumb!"
He was agitated and it was obvious because being restless and being locked up didn't go hand in hand. "I do want a comic." It was said with a childish huff. "I like Jughead."
"I can get you some of that." Whatever that was. Jughead? Hartley frowned and made a mental note. He was familiar with some comics, but he still had a lot of pop culture to catch up on, especially since movie and tv shows nights had ended pretty abruptly around the time he first started having dinner with his parents. He doubted that there was an actual correlation, because if there was, he'd have gladly traded back. Whatever, him and Echo watched some stuff by themselves these days and he would make friends again. Or one night stands, from the looks of it. He just wasn't the best at socialising. "Jughead. What's that, a superhero?"
"No, you dumbass. He's Archie's best friend... you know? From Archie comics. Though I hear they rebooted that shit while I've been in here and now it's all young, sexy and gritty." He liked the dumb comics about hamburgers and crazy misunderstandings. He didn't want serious stuff in his fun times. Mostly because he didn't handle serious well. "Though the kid that plays Jughead is hella sexy, just saying." Like damn.
Axel leaned back in his seat and pulled his legs up, smiling at Hartley. "When we get out, if I can pet the rats as well as hold them, I'll hold off killing long enough for us to marathon Riverdale. Deal?"
"Sounds like a good deal. I'll research your Jughead for you." Not something he was going to pin a lot of hopes on, but hey. It wasn't as if it wouldn't be good for Axel's sake if he could refrain from killing. Start on his meds again, perhaps. "I've been meaning to ask you, Axel. Do you think you can get them to give you your meds in here? It might make it a bit easier for you. More bearable." He saw him fidget, he knew how impossibly hard this had to be for him. "I can try to do something. Get you a lawyer?" Not as if he had much money, but still.
"No! God, no. No. Come on, I can't take those things. They mess with your head and they change you, that's what dad said about mom and it was so right. As soon as she ditched them, she was herself again. And she told me that, like, after she did it that sometimes the government puts stuff in them so they can track you and shit. And that's probably how we got found." A very informed woman, clearly, but Axel looked around faintly paranoid, gripping the phone close with one hand while the other wrapped around himself. "Can't you just help me break out instead? It's more fun to be outlaws! We can steal a car, go cross country. Maybe a new state. Star or Gotham or something."
"You know I can't do that." It was a bit strange, Hartley thought, that he could sit here and talk to Axel and at the same time miss the Axel he had really gotten to know, however briefly. A lot less child-like, even if he was still far from serious, someone a lot more aware of consequences. Someone who could be a true friend to him. But that wasn't what this was about anyway. He wanted to help Axel find himself for him. "Medication is just a way to help your mind get it together. It's like me wearing glasses."
"It's like if someone strapped them on you twenty-four/seven and they came with gross side-effects. That's what it's like. Not at all like glasses." Axel huffed in annoyance, wishing Hartley didn't talk like this. This was who he was, the real him. Why did Hartley like that? He ground his teeth and looked off elsewhere. "Don't you like me?" Why did he visit if he had such a problem? "I am what I am. I can't help it. I shouldn't have to dope myself up to change it."
Hartley reached up subconsciously, tracing his ears, but he said nothing more about all this. It was probably best to keep his thoughts to himself. "Of course I like you, Axel. You are right, I wouldn't come here otherwise." There was more he could have said about why and how he liked Axel, but he knew better than to get into that with someone who was in such a volatile shape. Instead he just shrugged and wished small talk was a strength of his.
"It's easier to meet in a club, then it's too loud to talk half the time." Right. That was a great way to change the topic.
"Then I'm fine." Axel wasn't fine but to do what Hartley was asking was like betraying his mother and his father, it was going against his family and what they believed. Chaos ruled and medication was mind control. Clearly. He bit his lower lip and tried to calm himself down, hating that he was so easily worked up by Hartley. He didn't even mean to but here he was, already spiralling inside his head.
"Club convos tend to be a whole lot of nothing anyway. Usually just asking where best to go to fuck somewhere." He smiled a little to himself. "We talked in a club once."
"We did. I've no idea what you said." Actually not true, he was quite apt at lip reading, but he certainly didn't remember it that well, he hadn't been all that sober. "Clubs were more fun when I was younger." They had also been more fun when he'd been truly self-destructive. "But there's not that many ways to meet gay men without going to a place like that." Too bad. "It's pointless anyway, because you bet that anyone worth having anything with has already been snatched up by someone." Sex without having a connection was more fun when he was younger as well.
"I said I wanted to marry you and run away with you." Well, he had been trying to play it cool. Axel cracked up, unable to help himself, looking at Hartley with a brightness in his eyes. Playful and happy. "You were cute and my age, you were in the same business. I got very excited. I kept trying to confess a love I just decided I had for you all night. Luckily the loud music stopped me."
Even he knew it was too soon when he was off his meds but that was him. He fell so fast. "Not that I wouldn't marry you on the spot if I had half the damn chance."
"They don't give marriage licences to convicts." Weird piece of trivia to know, but Hartley just shrugged and smiled. "That's still the only proposal I've ever gotten, so you are my romantic lead." What a life he'd had. Well, there was worse. There was definitely worse. At least he wasn't the one locked up in prison. Who knew, given the path he'd gone down on, given the way Barry kept looking at him ever since the time wraiths, maybe in another life, he would have ended up just like that or worse. "I wish the rogues had really taken off. Seems as if they should have."
"We could still make it happen. Sometimes Lisa hits me up sometimes with ideas but ... I mean I'm usually unable. They take my phone or I get dragged back in." He did miss the rogues, the one or two times they hung out was the closest thing he'd ever had to friends. He know they all found him annoying but it wasn't harsh annoyance, it was fun. Like siblings. Like family.
"I don't know how much of that he planned. Or Mick." It was so strange to think about. Hartley shook his head and shrugged. "I'd have probably had to tap out anyway. I'm not really down for crime. I thought I'd join the good side instead, but it turns out that they don't really have a need for me. Best to do my own thing and take pictures of my rats for you. How does your wall look now, still decorated with the rats?"
"Snart kinda was the good side, though. Let's face it, he's all about robbing the rich and giving back, keeping a little sum for us and playing with the Flash. That was fun." To Axel, in this state of mind, it wasn't enough but it had been once. They'd all had a lot of fun playing around but it never really took off. Which is funny, it was kind of what Hartley was looking for once.
Now he was way more goodie, goodie. "My wall looks great. I love my ratties! I tell everyone about them. No one cares but I do."
"I know. I hear rumours that Snart went out a hero." It wasn't really that hard to imagine. They had all been people broken for various reasons and looking for what to do to have a place in the world and he supposed Leonard Snart had found it, for better or worse. Hard to complain about that. "I took some more pictures, I put them with your sweets. You'll have so many rat pictures to choose from." It wasn't as if he had anyone else to share them with, given that they didn't tend to be a good ice-breaker.
"Thanks. It makes my room feel like I have guests." He talked to the rats sometimes, imagined hanging out with Hartley, holding the rats and just hanging out. He hated to be alone and this place, it gave him that feeling. He had to get out soon, he knew he had to. He wanted to be in the real world again, to live and breathe fresh air, to touch.
He wished he could touch Hartley. He reached out and touched the glass-- ew, it was sticky. "Come back again real soon, yeah?"
Hartley didn't even think about it first, he just lifted his hand and touched the glass. Ew. Definitely sticky, he'd have to wash his hand as soon as possible. But for now he just looked at Axel and focused on how glad he was that he could give him some measure of comfort. He might not be a good person, but he wasn't entirely bad either. The world wasn't so black and white. "I'll definitely come back soon. I like having someone to visit."
"I like having visitors. Or ... visitor." Axel smiled and shifted in his seat, eyeing the glass tentatively. "Bring me a comic." Hopefully Hartley could pull this off, he'd love some reading material made for his own age range. Or mental age range. "And maybe we can talk about ... other stuff, you know, down the line. If I wanna." And by other stuff, he means meds. In a roundabout way. Maybe... Maybe for Hartley. Maybe.
"I'll bring you comics," Hartley promised, "Jughead, I remember." And anything else he could get them to give Axel and that seemed like Axel would like it. He'd just have to ask at the comic book shop. Or maybe even ask Cisco. Actually, that was a fun thought. He would definitely have to do that.
"Maybe other stuff." Whatever Axel meant by that. He didn't want to pin his hopes on that. "Take care, Axel. Enjoy the pop rocks."
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He was agitated and it was obvious because being restless and being locked up didn't go hand in hand. "I do want a comic." It was said with a childish huff. "I like Jughead."
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Axel leaned back in his seat and pulled his legs up, smiling at Hartley. "When we get out, if I can pet the rats as well as hold them, I'll hold off killing long enough for us to marathon Riverdale. Deal?"
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"It's easier to meet in a club, then it's too loud to talk half the time." Right. That was a great way to change the topic.
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"Club convos tend to be a whole lot of nothing anyway. Usually just asking where best to go to fuck somewhere." He smiled a little to himself. "We talked in a club once."
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Even he knew it was too soon when he was off his meds but that was him. He fell so fast. "Not that I wouldn't marry you on the spot if I had half the damn chance."
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"When Snart left, he kinda screwed us, huh?"
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Now he was way more goodie, goodie. "My wall looks great. I love my ratties! I tell everyone about them. No one cares but I do."
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He wished he could touch Hartley. He reached out and touched the glass-- ew, it was sticky. "Come back again real soon, yeah?"
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"Maybe other stuff." Whatever Axel meant by that. He didn't want to pin his hopes on that. "Take care, Axel. Enjoy the pop rocks."