You've arrived my Lattes! Welcome back to Short Stories For Late Nights. Sadly this is going to be the last part of this mini story. If you've enjoyed it, spam gabbyjade04 to get her to collaborate with me again so we can continue Mafia's Love. Enjoy this freshly brewed story.
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The meeting was pretty boring, but Jake had to be there because he was the one in danger. He didn't want to tell Axel about it because Jake knew he would worry, and he did t want him to. Axel already has too much on his mind. Jake just wished he could escape reality and travel where ever he wanted. He's always wanted to see the world, explore places that he's never been to, meet new people that he might befriend. At this point, Jake doesn't think that it'll ever happen.
Axel couldn't move nor see. Before his panic could rise, he saw a memory appear before him. From said memory, Axel knew he was dreaming. "Come on, Axel!" She shouted happily, smiling that stupid smile she only ever seemed to show him.
"I-I'm coming!" His little, frail, ten year old self replied. Axel wanted to wake up. At this point, Axel didn't know if he could go on any further with this nightmare, it hurt him too much to remember. "Sammy, slow down," he panted, slightly tripping over his feet.
"No, we're going to be late!" Sammy yelled, pushing her body to a faster pace. Axel only looked down to watch where his feet were going. He followed his closest friend's action and forced himself to also go faster. He didn't understand what was so special about this festival.
"We're going to miss my favorite band!" She gasped, still running as fast as her tiny legs could can her. Before Axel could process what was happening, Sammy was pulled into an alleyway as he was held from behind. He let out a scream only for his mouth to be covered by his attacker. He looked around as much as he could, and saw Sammy in the same position as he was except she had a knife held to her throat.
When she noticed Axel's eyes were on her, she stopped struggling. Axel was confused as to why she stopped. His anxiety most likely hit its peak after that. He could tell a panic attack was creeping it's way towards him. Sammy then look him dead in the eyes and smiled the softest smile he's ever seen.
At that time, Axel had no idea what she was planning. He still doesn't know what she was thinking about. "Look at what we got here," a disgusting voice purred. "These two will sell for a good price!" The person behind Axel boomed, causing him to flinch.
Sammy's eyes widened. Her eyes then held conflict as if debating what her next action should be. She then looked back up at Axel with sorrowful eyes. "Run," she mouthed before slamming her head back into the face of the man holding onto her. He toppled over, dropping the knife on his way down.
The man holding me moved to help his partner. Sammy picked up the knife and ran at the man. She managed to stab him multiple times in the stomach before his lifeless body fell to the pavement. Sam dropped the knife and ran over to Axel. She gripped him tightly in a hug.
"I'm sorry... I love you," she cried, kissing him on the cheek many times. Before Axel could reply, he felt something wet soak through his shirt. Sammy gasped, dropping to her knees. "Run, Axel ," was her last words, the words he should have listened to awhile ago.
This time, he reluctantly did as told. Everything to him felt so numb as he ran, he ran as fast as he could from the man who just killed the only person that meant so much to him. He killed Axel's closest friend. Tears continued to role down his cheeks as he ran to the festival, the place he was supposed to arrive at with Sammy, but it seemed only one out of the pair made it.
Axel bolted up into a sitting position on the couch. He felt his body violently shake as he started to sob. He then saw a blurry person run up to him. Axel knew who it was though. Once Jake was close enough, Axel wrapped his arms around the other's neck, pulling Jake as close as he could.
Jake held Axel, coddling him in his arms and whispering sweet nothings into his ear. "Calm down," he spoke quietly, running his hands lightly though Axel's hair. "I'm here now. Everything's fine." Jake wanted to hold Axel until someone made them break away from one another.
Jake cared about Axel, very, very much, more than he could ever tell the smaller of the two. If anything happened to Axel, if he was harmed, if he was hurt, in pain or crying, Jake would do anything to make him feel better. "Sammy," Axel chocked out. Due to his sobbing, his words were most likely unidentifiable. Axel clutched his fist in Jake's shirt.
Axel's entire body hurt. Jake put his hand on Axel's cheek, making him look up at him. "Axel, do you want to talk about it? We could go to my room if you want," Jake sighed, rubbing Axel's back in a calming manner. Axel nodded his head, but made no attempt to get up.
He didn't want to let go of Jake. "Come on, let's go," Jake told him, letting go of Axel and then putting him on his back, giving him a piggyback ride. Jake walked to his room, a tear lightly falling dos his cheek. He opened his door and stepped inside. Jake sat down on his bed and Axel quickly moved over so he was now sitting next to him.
"I, um, I guess you wanna know about... my past," Axel stuttered, looking up to meet Jake's eyes. "I'd like to know, yes," he responded. "Just started wherever you would like," he continued. "When I was..., when I first started elementary school, I made a friend. Her name was Samantha, but she wanted me to call her Sam of Sammy," Axel paused, taking a deep breath.
"We would spend a lot of time together. I practically lived at her house. I considered her my older sister," he paused again, tearing up at the thought of her. "Well, she was really popular but always made time for me. One year, during summer break, she wanted to go to a festival because her favorite band would be playing there."
"It was past our curfew and she wanted to be rebellious for once so she snuck out. I did too since it meant I got to hang out with her," at that, his tears fell. "It was the worst idea she has ever came up with. We were running late so we were running down the empty streets until we got pulled into an alleyway...," Axel trailed off, her last words ringing in his mind. Jake hugged Axel against his body, comforting him in his hold.
"Hey, it's alright," Jake said, feeling Axel's face buried into his chest. He held him there, not moving, barely breathing. Jake was holding a person that meant so much to him and not ever wanting to let them go. "Axel, Jake!" They heard Ralph yell from the kitchen.
"The food is ready!" He informed. Axel jumped a little. He then slowly pulled himself from Jake. "Come on," he mumbled, rubbing his face, trying to remove any signs that he was crying.
Jake got up from his bed, walking down the hall behind Axel. He saw Ralph putting plates of Indian food on the dining room table. "Take your seat," he told them, pulling their chairs out for them. Jake sat down next to Axel, looking him in the eyes and smiling slightly. Axel smiled back weakly.
This was the first time he's really ever talked about Sammy. "Alright, eat as much as you want," Ralph informed, sitting the rest on the food onto the table. Axel nodded his head and started eating. They sat there in silence, chewing on the delectable food that swans put in front of them. Jake finished what he wanted and got up to put his dirty plate in the kitchen sink.
He placed it in there gently and headed to his room, catching one more glimpse of Axel. Jake walked down the hall, going into his room to grab some fresh, clean clothes to put on after he showered. He exited, his arms filled with items of clothing. He opened the door to the bathroom and sat them on the counter, turning on the hot water in the shower. He then took off his clothes and stepped inside, feeling the relaxing heat and steam of the water.
He cleaned himself, got out, and dried his body. Jake had only slipped on some sweatpants when he heard a crash coming from the kitchen. He opened the door, running down the hallway with no shirt on. Axel figured it happened because he hasn't been sleeping for multiple days on end. Well, that's what he was guessing.
Axel was going to go wash his dishes, but everything went black after he heard something crash. Now all he was doing was waiting for a nightmare to show up. He wondered which one it was going to be this time: Sammy's murder, the abuse, his parents, or some other horrible thing. It finally appeared.
Axel was sitting in a field of flowers, enjoying the breeze. He's never seen this before. "Take care of yourself," he heard an all too familiar voice say softly.
Jake ran into the kitchen, seeing Axel on the floor, surrounded by glass shards. He sprinted towards him, making sure not to step on a price of glass. "Axel," Jake sighed, a little worried and picking him up in his arms, "wake up. I'm here now. Everything's alright." He made his way to the living room and sat down on the couch, letting Axel lay on his lap.
"Ralph," Jake said to him, "do you mind cleaning the glass on the floor in the kitchen?" He asked. "Not at all," Ralph responded, quickly heading towards the room. Jake looked down at Axel, seeing a little cut on his cheek. He touched it, making sure not to wake him. It was barely bleeding, but it still made Jake worry.
"What do you mean by that?" Axel asked the voice. "It means you need to treat yourself better. You haven't been sleeping or eating enough," Sam sigh, finally appearing before his eyes. She looked older.
Her red hair reached down to her mid back. Her emerald eyes still shined with motherly love towards Axel. Sam always treated him the way a mother should to their child even though she was the same age as him. "Sam?" Axel asked, taking a step back in surprise.
"Yeah, it's me, Ax," she smiled. "What is this place?" Axel asked, looking around with tear filled eyes. She only continued to smile as she cupped his cheeks. "Go, you finally have someone to continue caring for you," she sighed happily, pressing their foreheads together.
"I'll always love you, Axel," Sam whispered. "I love you too," he replied, gently placing his hand on top of her hand. "You have to go back now... Take care of yourself or I'll come back to haunt you," Sam warned. With that, the scenery disappeared.
Axel slowly opened his eyes to see Jake's worried eyes looking down at him. "Hey," Jake spoke quietly. This situation was awkward to Jake because of the fact that he was half naked, wearing only sweatpants and holding the person he cared a lot about. "Hi," Axel mumbled back before noticing what kind of position they were in. He started to squirm around nervously on Jake's lap, making the other a bit uncomfortable as a blush started rising to his cheeks.
Jake laid Axel down on the couch before he got up. "Do you want some ice cream? We could eat it while we watch a movie," Jake said, trying to distract Axel from his problem. "Yeah!" Axel shouted, bouncing up and down like a little kid.
"What movie?" He asked, looking up at Jake after he calmed down a little. "Hmm, you choose," he replied, turning the tv on and going to Netflix. He then handed Axel the remote and left to go into the kitchen to grab some bowls, spoons, and the ice cream. Jake scooped two helpings of ice cream into his bowl and put three into Axel's bowl, knowing that he had a big sweet tooth, but he liked that quality about him.
While Jake was preparing the ice cream, Axel quickly grabbed the remote and started looking brought the movies. Axel finally decided to play a horror movie since he enjoys watching them. Jake walked back into the living room, two bowls of ice cream in his hands. He saw Axel had already picked out the movie they were going to watch. Horror movies weren't his favorite, but he could handle them.
He made his way around the couch and handed Axel his bowl of ice cream, sitting down beside him and covering up with a blanket that was over his form. After Jake sat down and got comfortable, Axel pressed play. To him, horror movies were a source of comedy because of how dumb the people are in them. Like, why would you walk around your house and scream hello when a demon or killer is in there. They're not going to be like, "Ah, yes, hey! Sorry about trying to kill you. Do you want some tea?"
No. They're so stupid it makes him laugh. Jake looked over at Axel, seeing him smiling a bit and enjoying his ice cream. He really thought that this was funny. Jake realizes he has different preferences than him when it comes to movies, and it hasn't got to the scary parts yet, but he was genuinely frightened when it came to this stuff.
It seems sort of ridiculous that a grown man working in the Mafia is scared of a movie that took place at a movie studio, but that's just how he's wired. Axel grinned when he realized this movie had demons in it. That usually meant the people in it are twice as stupid. If anyone survived in this film, Axel would give Bruce twenty bucks. This is a pretty good night if you look past what happened earlier.
A horror movie, his favorite ice cream, and Jake. Jake continued to watch the movie and saw, in horror, as the characters were killed off one by one. He was trying to man up and not hide whenever something bad happened, but it was pretty difficult for him. Axel, on the other hand, was giggling every time someone died. What could he say, Bruce didn't give him his job for no reason.
Whenever the movie got to a good part, he felt Jake move around. Axel glanced over at him after yet another character was killed. "Are you alright?" He asked, fulling turning his attention away from the movie and towards Jake. "Yeah," Jake somehow managed to stifle out.
He turned his head towards Axel, seeing him with a genuinely worried look on his face. "It's just..., horror movies just aren't really my favorite. That's all," he replied shakily. "Oh, you should have told me before I played the movie," Axel cracked a smile, trying to cheer up his friend. "Do you wanna watch something else or do something else?" He asked, pausing the movie.
"Oh," Jake quietly said, putting his empty bowl on the coffee table. "We could play a board game?" He offered. He felt a little embarrassed that he couldn't watch a movie a child wouldn't even be scared of. Axel hummed as he moved closer to Jake.
"That sounds nice," he mumbled, wrapping his arms around Jake while looking up at him with a childish grin. "What game then?" Jake questioned, leaning down a little bit. He felt his face grow hot, but it didn't bother him. "I don't know," Axel replied softly, pressing his cheek onto Jake's chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"Alright," Jake replied, "let me go get one. I think they're in Ralph's room." He got up from the couch, leaving Axel wrapped up in the blanket hey we're sharing. He grabbed their bowls and headed towards the kitchen. He then sat them in the sink and went to Ralph's room.
Jake knocked on his door, hearing a "come in" soon follow. Axel wrapped the blanket around himself tighter. He sat there for a little bit before he heard his phone go off. He quickly shot up and grabbed it. "Hey," Axel greeted excitedly, beaming like a child who was getting praised.
"How are you, kid?" He heard Bear's rough voice ask. Bear is a nickname Axel gave to Bruce when he was younger. The nickname kinda just stuck over the years. "I'm fine, what about you?" He asked, siting back down on the couch.
"I'm fine now that I know you're okay," Bear chuckled. Everyone in the group says that Axel made him a much softer person than he was before. "Hey, Ralph," Jake greeted, opening the door. "Do we have any board games?" He asked, leaning on the door frame.
"No, but we have some cards," Ralph answered, pointing towards a desk that in one of the corners. "Thank you," Jake stated, walking over to the desk and opened one of the drawers. He grabbed the box of cards and closed he drawer. He excited the room, nodding to Ralph. Right as Axel finished his call, he heard footsteps come closer.
He then saw Jake pop out from the corner. "What game is it?" H asked excitedly, swinging his legs like a little kid. "We didn't have any board games, but I found some cards for us," Jake responded, setting the box of cards down onto the coffee table and sitting down on the carpet. "I hope you enjoy rat as much as I did when I was a kid," he mentioned, removing the cards from the box.
When Jake was younger, he and his parents played card games all of the time. That was until his parents had been shot when he was fourteen. "I've never played," Axel mumbled, sitting down on the opposite side of the coffee table. "Then let me inform you on what to do," Jake said, moving closer to Axel. "To play the game, of course, I'll deal out all of the cards between us, you can't look at your cards, then tidy them up into a stack."
"Once you do that, we'll take turns placing down a card. The only time we'd do something different is if one of us play a face card: Jack, queen, King, and ace. There's a certain number of chances you'll get if one of us plays that kind of card. If you fail to play another face card during you're chances, then the play who play the card will get the stack. Another way to win the stack is if doubles are laid on top of each other."
"First one to slap the stack will take it. To win, you must be the only person left with cards in you're hand. Got it?" Jake informed, shuffling the deck before dealing the cards. "I think so," Axel smiled, taking his cards after Jake was done.
The two of them, took turns flipping a card over and placing it on the now growing stack. Finally, Jake placed a five on top of another five. Axel sprang into action and slapped the pile before the other. "Does this mean I take it?" Axel giggled happily.
"Yeah," Jake sighed defeatedly. This went on for what seemed like forever. The stack go randomly to one of the two. "That was fun," Axel laughed, smiling up to Jake after he lost the last game they played. "Hey, what time is it?" He asked, stretching out his back as he fell back onto the floor.
"Sitting like that for so long hurts," he sighed. "I believe it's close to 9:30," Jake answered, getting up, hearing his knees and back pop. "And you thought you were uncomfortable," he joked, causing Axel to giggle. "What do you wanna do now?" Axel asked, rolling over onto his stomach.
He then propped his head onto the palms of his hands. "Hm, I'm probably going to bed. Today was tiring," Jake answered, putting the cards back into their box. "Yeah," Axel whispered. Together they walked down the hallway where there rooms were located at.
"Can I sleep with you again," Axel asked, his face heating with embarrassment as he tugged on his large shirt. "Sure," Jake replied after a long pause. They walked into Jake's bedroom. "Sleep on which ever side you want," he informed, waiting for Axel to lay down first. Once Axel got on the side he wanted, Jake laid down next to him. They exchanged their goodnight a before falling asleep next to each other.
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Goodnight, Lattes ❤
(Good morning, Tea Cups! Or afternoon?)