Don't leave me loving you

”Just try it once and if you don’t like it we’ll leave again,” his brother promised him, but Axel doubted if it was the truth. Chase was a master in manipulation and exercising peer pressure. Axel knew like no other that the sentence wasn’t to be meant reassuring, but more to be interpreted along the lines of ‘don’t you dare to not like this or I’ll have to leave and we both know how I hate to leave early’. And that was if Chase would even leave. Probably not. He’d leave his brother to go home alone and guilt trip him the next morning for leaving early.

Axel let out a soft sigh and pushed on a smile. ”Alright,” he agreed nonetheless. Chase flashed him a broad smile before strutting along to find his prey. Another sigh left Axel’s lips as he decided to just order himself a beer at the bar. Perhaps that would at least calm down the hunger a bit.

Axel frowned as he noticed the two-dollars being slid towards the bartender. Well, that was quick. Surely a new record. His gaze went to the man next to him that he frankly hadn’t noticed until now. The man wore a dark brown leather jacket that had clearly been worn through two wars and hadn’t been washed ever since. The man himself looked as if he had seen hell as well. His stubbled bear desperately needed a groom, and the stench of alcohol was strong. Maybe Axel would do him a favor.

”Not at all,” he answered truthfully as he smiled back, although the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. ”Are you here to make it more fun?” he smoothly asked back.

Well, his brother was going to get his way. Axel would be well-fed and there would be one less scum on this planet. Only... It didn’t play out that way.

The chuckle made him frown. Had he said something wrong? Or was the man already that drunk? Axel wasn’t sure what to think until the other explained the situation. Now Axel felt his face heat up as he felt embarrassed for judging the man and the kind gesture so quickly.

”Oh no! I’m sorry!” he quickly said. ”I’m not one for one-night stands either! I know what I said and what it seems like but-“ He shook his head as he realized he had no good explanation for his previous words. He sighed softly. ”Thank you for the beer,” he eventually said with a genuine smile this time.

Axel sighed softly, trying to recover from his awkward moment. He shook his head, taking a few more sips from his beer in an attempt to drown the haunting thoughts. He let out another sigh and gave a nod. ”Yes. By my brother, as per usual,” he answered with a wry smile. ”Normally, I’m able to come up with some excuse or convince him that I really don’t need to go out, but tonight nothing worked,” he explained with an awkward chuckle.

Shortly his gaze went to the brother in question who was already tongue deep into some random girl’s throat. Axel held back another sigh and averted his gaze back to the man next to him.
”And why are you here?” he asked back.