coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine

[mostlyajerk]

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[mostlyajerk]

Hartley moved his hand to run his fingers through Axel's blond hair, combing it back from his face. Better. He looked into his eyes and smiled. "I don't exactly spend much time talking to your parents, Axel. Don't worry. If I want to tell anyone's parents that I have a friend who is popping pills, I'd tell my own." Wouldn't that be fun.

He lowered his hand again before he could get any smart ideas. "I'm proud of you. How are you feeling?"

[trickedya]

"I still need to go to dinner with your parents and scare them."

Maybe he'd even find and wear his tiara for it. If there was one thing Axel Walker could not do, it was pretend to be straight. He wasn't straight, he wasn't even close to straight. He screamed gay and he was excited to use that to his and Hartley's advantage. "I'm feeling sick a lot and I keep getting dizzy but otherwise, okay, I guess. More stable, I think."

[mostlyajerk]

"Make sure you drink enough. Water, I mean, not alcohol." Just in case there was any confusion about that. "I'd take you to dinner with my parents, you know I would, but that would set the police on your sweet ass in no time." Honestly, even if they didn't recognise Axel, he still wouldn't be surprised if they called the police anyway, just because. They weren't the most welcoming of people.

[trickedya]

"Well, tell me it wouldn't be a memorable dinner." Axel joked with a bright grin, holding Echo close as he watched Hartley. Handsome Hartley, beautiful Hartley. The pretty piper of his dreams. He set Echo down gently and then slowly crawled across the floor until he was sitting in front of Hartley, pretty much putting his head in his lap like a needy dog. "You're so good to me. When did you get to be so good?"

[mostlyajerk]

Hartley let Axel lie down and then automatically ended up petting his hair. He whistled, low and steady, watching as his rats decided to walk back into the cage. He was getting good at this, a suggestion rather than actually forcing them. Echo of course just climbed his shoulder instead, she felt at home there. Looking down at Axel he shrugged. "I think you deserve better than life has given you. You also need to try and be better and you are trying, so."

[trickedya]

"I am trying. I could be good. I could be so good for you, pretty Piper. I could not kill anyone if I had to. You know that, right? I could." He didn't know if he could. He hadn't faced actual challenges yet like his parents or the pressure to act, like Lisa telling him to do it and so on. He'd been on his meds for a week and he felt like such a good boy, he just wanted Hartley to know.

He wanted Hartley to approve and want him. Want him so much. "I would do anything for you."

[mostlyajerk]

"I don't want you to do things for me, Axel. Do them for yourself. You have to want to do and be something or you won't really change." Of course Axel was latching onto him, it made sense. Not a lot of alternatives and Hartley had been the only one to give him positive attention, it was hardly surprising. "Take it from someone who's lost because of principles. They have to be your own or you won't hold onto them."

[trickedya]

"But I don't have any of those! I can't have what I don't have but I can have it for you. You set them and I do it. I'm really good at doing what people tell me." Not a selling point most would brag about but he was good at that. "Not that I'm so lackey, I'm not. I'm my own man." So there. "It's just that I-I don't have morals. Much. I mean I don't like to hurt certain people. Like you. I like you. And I kind of liked Barry, even if he didn't like me because we both had dads in the joint and we both were like legacy killers. And, you know, I don't want to kill any of the rogues. That's kind of it."