𝕝𝕖𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕟

Axel understood the brother stuff all too well—God knew he had his own family drama to deal with. But hearing Isaac talk about working things out with Benji gave him a weird sense of possibility. Family was complicated, but not impossible. "I'm sure you both will figure it out," he offered, actually believing it this time. The club discussion had him considering a change of pace from his usual plotting. It'd be nice to think about something other than revenge for once. "A sweet spot by the booth, huh? You better not be setting me up to get my eardrums blasted." Getting to know his best friend's brother seemed like a solid idea—especially since the guy kept trying to bridge gaps instead of burning bridges. "Alright, deal. One of these nights I'll come check it out." Looking at Isaac's attempts to fix things with his brother made him wonder if some relationships weren't beyond saving after all.

"Now that's a nickname that I don't mind sticking." Flashing Axel a shit-eating smug grin. Though Miles' personality were the complete opposite of smug. He simply believed working hard paid off. At least, in his own case. He'd dedicated his entire life to his career and reaped the benefits of doing so. Following a long sip of water, Miles' eyebrows raised at the revelation. "No way. Now, best thing since sliced bread is quite the catch. Shit, man. Good for you. I'm happy for you two. How'd you meet?"

"Only you would be proud of that nickname," he said, finding Miles' complete lack of false modesty kind of refreshing. It was like the guy had figured out the secret to owning his success without being a jerk about it. When the conversation shifted to Shivi, he couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face. "I met her in New York, actually. She spilled coffee on some guy blocking my path at a café. I gave him a hundred bucks to get out of the way, and after that, she and I kept running into each other. Eight years of friendship later, here we are." The story still made him laugh—who knew spilled coffee could lead to this?

When Shivani thought back to her life prior to Axel, it was hard for her to really remember much about her social life, her friend circle at that point because of how dedicated she’d been towards her dancing career. But then it was like—after he’d entered, he’d been there to show her so much more to life without even realizing it. So really—if anyone should be giving anyone credit, it was her giving it to him. Still she listened to his words and smiled before reaching over to cup his cheek gently. “Babe, you’re meant to be my superhero,” she reminded him with a grin before sighing softly and nodding as she continued, “as for figuring things out—that’s what we’re doing, together.” Shivani couldn’t help the giggle that fell from her lips as Axel contradicted her and mentioned that it was his confidence and not arrogance, which she agreed with before smiling and just being grateful that he was willing to do this with her now—meeting her parents in this manner wasn’t an easy thing.

Her touch turned him into a complete sap—and honestly, he wasn't even mad about it. The superhero comment blindsided him in the best way. Him as a superhero? Please. But damn if he didn't want to become one for her. "I'd rather be your Clark Kent than Superman, if we're being honest here," he deflected, hoping she wouldn't notice how her words affected him. The easy way she included him in future plans made him want to step up his game—because yeah, maybe he didn't deserve it yet, but he'd make damn sure to earn it. Her confession about crushing on him since day one? That sent his ego into overdrive. And finding out she'd wanted something real from the start? His brain short-circuited trying to process that one. "So what you're saying is, I was irresistible from day one?" he covered up his internal freakout with a joke, but inside he was soaring.

Samira would easily take someone’s indifference of her or their hatred if she deserved it. She found emotions to be quite powerful and if that was the energy she was putting out—she deserved it back. But with Axel, clearly the man had been having a moment of weakness when she’d jumped the gun and overreacted so that was why she didn’t want him to despise her for whatever she’d put him through. “You’re welcome,” she nodded at his gratitude once more. He was mostly just lucky that she was a rather tall woman which meant she could help him and not cower under his stature. “No—I was actually going to say Jersey so I guess this is better,” she chuckled with a grin before taking another sip from her wine. When she asked what brought him over to Wilmington, Samira still hadn’t expected that entirely truthful answer but found herself nodding and smiling as he said it. “I guess it’s a good thing it didn’t work out…the amount of arson charges that would’ve come your way would’ve been brutal,” she said with a hint of a dimpled smile, trying to find the humour in an otherwise difficult topic.

Axel found himself laughing at the Jersey comparison, which stung worse than being mistaken for someone from Boston or New York. The wine was making everything funnier than it should be, including his own dark confessions about wanting to destroy the city. Her dimpled response about arson charges actually made him relax a bit. "You know what's funny? I never even got as far as figuring out how I'd actually do it. Some master plan, right? I just kept buying buildings and telling myself the 'how' would come later." The ridiculousness of his past actions hit him full force. Now that he no longer wanted to destroy anything, his filters were non-existent, letting him see the humor in what used to be so serious. "Though between you and me, I did look up the prison sentences for arson once. Pure research purposes, of course." A year ago, making jokes about his revenge plans would have been unthinkable. But now? It seemed almost therapeutic to laugh about it. "God, I really was dramatic back then, wasn't I? Trying to burn down a whole city like some cartoon villain." The words came out easier than expected, probably because he'd moved past that dark chapter of his life. Looking back, his elaborate scheme seemed absurd—buying up real estate with no actual plan beyond vague notions of destruction. 

"Well, Axel, my kid is already walking age, so dropping her on her head isn't a priority anymore, but thanks for the solid advice there." Amos chuckled, thanking the bartender as they came back with their drinks of choice and asked them to put them both on his tab. "The Todd situation, the Kian situation. It's been an eventful year and we're still a few weeks out form New Year's." Amos admitted and then smirked back at his companion. "Look at you, almost being nice to me, wow." He teased. "Shivi would be proud of us. Do you think if we send her a selfie of us she might have a heart attack?"

Sometimes life threw curveballs, like finding himself actually getting along with Amos of all people. The suggestion about sending Shivi a selfie made him snort. "The selfie might give her a stroke, actually. Maybe we should do it," he suggested, imagining her choking on her coffee when she saw it. This year had been one hell of a ride—from Kian landing himself in jail for murder and then Shivi finding out about his plans. "Speaking of eventful, you've got your hands full with fatherhood. I still can't wrap my head around that one." The admission slipped out naturally, surprising even himself. "By the way, if you tell anyone I'm being nice, I'll deny everything."

Axel found himself nodding along to Nazim's California talk, realizing how his own take on Wilmington had done a complete 180. "The coast grows on you," he said, actually meaning it. The truth was, this place had snuck up on him when he least expected it. "A few months ago, I would've agreed about running away..." His mind went straight to Shivani, to all the ways she'd changed his perspective without even trying. "Now I'm starting to see why people stick around. The water, the community—it's got something special." The words came out easier than he'd thought they would. "They have a decent food scene here beats LA any day of the week." He'd never imagined saying that, but here he was.

If Axel had told Shivani how her words made him feel, she’d have either worked better at explaining herself or asked him about what he’d needed to feel better about the situation. But seeing as he hadn’t said anything—she was oblivious to his feelings and instead just tried her best to keep him smiling and reassured that she could handle her parents. He didn’t know them like she did and while she was a 33 year old adult, he wouldn’t understand the way her parents felt right in meddling in her life. It was hard to explain to someone who didn’t have to deal with it but Shivani knew she’d be able to. “Giving you a lot of credit? How so?” She asked with a smile before chuckling at his words. “Careful—you’ll sound too arrogant to them even if I completely agree with you, they would be crazy not to adore you as my partner.”

Axel almost snorted at her question about credit—she had no idea how much power she held over him. "You make it sound like I'm some superhero who's got everything figured out, when I'm basically winging it here," he admitted, letting his guard down a bit. She really had no idea how much of a mess he actually was behind all his bravado—and somehow that made him want to be better, to actually become the guy she seemed to think he was. It was wild how she could make him feel simultaneously like the most capable person in the world and also completely terrified of disappointing her. "Hey, I prefer the term confident, thank you very much." The thing about confidence was that he'd perfected it into an art form. It was a shield he could hide behind. Every time she teased him about it, he felt simultaneously exposed and secretly that she knew him well enough to call his bluff.

“Thank god for that,” she grinned back at him as he mentioned that he wouldn’t hate her for going to Gwendolyn with her valid concerns. When Axel expressed gratitude for her helping him to the Uber, she only waved it away before smiling at him once more. “Nah—I would hope that someone else would do the same for me if I was in a similar state so don’t worry about it.” Of course it was rare for Samira to ever let herself get that inebriated but back when she was younger it had definitely happened once or twice. She nodded as he made that mention about her making a big change in life. “It was a bit alarming, I won’t lie—but now we’ve had some time to get adjusted and it’s been…pretty good.” She smiled at him when he mentioned his accent and chuckled before shrugging, “I did hear some type of accent, but I couldn’t place it—so I’m glad to know I wasn’t off base entirely.” She took a sip from her wine before looking back at him and shaking her head. “Definitely not much of a tourist place for sure, though my work certainly seems to think so. I work as an external affairs manager with the Fairmont hotels, and my job is to scope out new places and help them decide whether or not to build a hotel here,” she paused for a moment before looking back at him. “What about you? What brought you to Wilmington?”

Axel wasn’t sure why she seemed so relieved he didn’t hate her—like that was even on the table. Should he be the one thanking her? “Yeah, you’re safe.” He didn’t know why she kept brushing off his thanks like lugging his drunk ass to an Uber wasn’t worth a little credit. Sure, he wouldn’t have just left someone stranded either, but she didn’t have to play it down so much. “Still, you didn’t have to, so thanks.” The San Francisco thing threw him a little—he hadn’t expected that, of all places. That was a hell of a leap. He chuckled at her comment about his accent. “You couldn’t place it? Let me guess, you were about to ask if I was from Boston or New York, right?” He let the joke land, but part of him wondered if anyone ever recognized Philly for more than the usual clichés. When she explained her job and the reasoning behind being here, he nodded. Her question turned the tables on him, and he considered how much to say. But there was no sense sugarcoating it, not when she knew everything already. “Business. And as you already know, revenge. I thought I could buy everything and just burn it all down. Make sure this place can never hurt anyone again, but as you can tell, that didn’t work out.”

Her glossy lips pressed into an o shape as she teased with a quick "ooouuu look who's got car rules." Though she was quick to let out a chuckle while her head canted to one side, as if to size him up. "Classical piano is quite the surprise. I didn't take you for a Beethoven kind of guy. But I do love 2000s hip hop and rap. My first celebrity crush was Lil Wayne, believe it or not." One manicured finger reached out to poke into his arm before she was turning on her heels, already steps ahead of him while she whipped a look over her shoulder. "I'm going to start introducing you as a music critic to clients. I'm already counting down the seconds to hear this playlist of yours, hurry up."

He nearly rolled his eyes at her dramatic "ooouuu," but the corner of his mouth twitched. Of course, she’d have something to say about his rules. Classical piano catching her off guard wasn’t surprising—no one ever expected it. But Lil Wayne? That got a quiet laugh out of him. “Let me guess, posters plastered all over your wall?" Axel asked, not really judging, but the tone he used sounded like he was doing just that. he could definitely picture it—her bedroom decked out like a Lil Wayne shrine, glittery gel pen lyrics scrawled on a notebook. At least she had taste. She was already striding ahead, tossing that music critic comment over her shoulder like it was nothing. He smiled and shook his head. Music critic? Sure. "Get ready to have your mind blown. This playlist is unskippable." 

cleo wasn't so much nervous when it came to talking to him but more about making a fool out of herself and the rambling that she was doing made her feel like an absolute idiot. she smiled at the man front of her, "of course. it's my job." she reassured, her eyes landing on where the stitches once were. they were gone now and he was healed up really well, "sure," she paused, holding her hand out for the other to shake, "i'm cleo." she introduced. she was trying to act as normal as possible since she knew she could come off a bit paranoid, especially since running from her ex.

Axel found her rambling kind of funny. It wasn’t like she was trying to impress him—more like she was trying to keep her words from running away without her. That alone made her stand out. Most people either came at him too strong or avoided him altogether, so this was… different. When she said it was her job, he smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching like he was holding back a laugh. “Yeah, but not everyone’s good at their job. You made getting stabbed by a wall slightly less humiliating, so that’s saying something.” He just shook her hand when she said her name was Cleo, nodding as he did so. “Nice to officially meet you. I’m Axel, but I guess you already know that, considering you stitched me up and all.”

Axel found the younger man’s nodding suspicious—like the guy was trying to convince himself everything was fine. The mention of texting Benji more caught him off guard, though. That sounded… promising. He wasn’t sure what had gone down between the brothers, but clearly, Isaac still cared. “Yeah, man, baby steps are the way to go. Benji’s stubborn, but he’s got a good heart. You’ll get there.” He tried to keep it light, but there was relief in knowing the other wasn’t giving up on his brother. The Soundwave comment made him chuckle. “No strobes? Fancy. Glad to hear you’re settling in. Maybe I’ll swing by sometime—if you promise not to blast my eardrums.” He went silent for a moment as he dug into his dinner. He wasn’t sure why they were estranged, but at least his best friend's younger brother still gave a damn about his brother. That was what truly mattered.

“You being here by my side is more than I could ask for Axe, honestly that’s all I need.” Shivani smiled at him, hoping to reassure him because while she did appreciate the sentiment from him, she knew it was hard for him to not be able to face this head on with her the way she would have to. “They’ve adored you as my friend, I don’t see why they wouldn’t love you as my partner though,” she murmured with a smile as she looked down at the promise ring adorning her finger. She couldn’t call him her boyfriend, it just felt too..insignificant for his place in her life. “Oh believe me, I know—I’ve seen you use that charm many times in the past—on me and others, don’t think I’ve forgotten.” She teased with a grin as they returned back to the city they’d first met in. 

Axel heard her words, and they hit him in a way he wasn’t prepared for. She said having him by her side was all she needed, but that didn’t sit right with him. Sure, it was sweet—hell, it was more than sweet—but it also made him feel useless. He wanted to do something, to prove to her parents that they were solid, and that he would take care of her. Sitting back and letting her handle it? That wasn’t in his DNA. He was the guy who made things happen. Now, he was supposed to just…exist? That was harder than he wanted to admit. Still, her smile when she said it softened the frustration bubbling inside him. She believed in him—in them—and that was something he wasn’t used to. “You’re giving me a lot of credit, you know. But I’ll take it. And for the record, I think they’d be crazy not to love me as your partner. I mean, look at me—I’m charming, remember?” He smirked, though it was more for her benefit than his own.

benji didn't know what the two of them were going to get into but either way, he hoped it was something that it was something that could help benji forget about everything for the night. he needed to have fun. it'd been too long since he had a night worry free and he trusted that axel had his back while the two of them were out. he chuckled, "alright, man. let's do it. heads up, i'm god awful at these escape rooms but hey, i say we give it a shot."

Relief crashed over Axel when Benji agreed with him, though his friend's laugh was doing that thing where it tried, and failed to mask his insecurities. He knew his best friend needed the distraction—something to pull him out of his own head for a while. The guy deserved that much, and he was determined to deliver. "God-awful works for me. I'm hovering somewhere between hot mess and functional adult, so we'll be a perfect match," he said with a laugh. The zombie thing, he figured, would definitely spice up their future "remember when" conversations, even if they were careening toward a meltdown of biblical proportions. “Alright, let’s make a pact—if we don’t make it out, we blame the undead. They’re notoriously bad at giving hints anyway.”

Saint nodded his head in response, “sure. It’s good to see you happy.” And he meant that. He was happy for his brother, especially since it’d been so long since he’d seen axel with anyone. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last he’d seen his brother in a relationship. “I know I don’t have to thank you but ya know, I appreciate you. You’ve done so much for me after everything. I feel like I should have done more to keep in contact when I was training. I’m sorry, by the way.”

He held back a laugh at Saint’s apology. His brother had this way of overthinking things that didn’t need that kind of energy. Training or injury, Axel never took it personally. That wasn’t how they worked. “Saint, stop it,” he said, shaking his head. “If we keep doing this, the next thing you know, we’ll both be crying our feelings.” He wasn’t about to let things get too heavy—there was no point. They got each other without needing to spell it out. Switching gears, he added, “So, what do you say we ditch the fake monsters and grab a drink instead? My treat.”

"Picking up speed, are we?" Despite Miles' extensive athletic training, boxing was an activity he was newly getting into, though thoroughly enjoying. Perhaps this would become a new habit, and one that would forge a newfound friendship between Axel and himself. He'd ducked and dodged, and blocked–in a similar speed and fashion to how his counterpart had just done. And soon, his arms moved swiftly to return the jabs. "Mate, if all I had was hope do you think I'd have won that championship four times? You gotta take what you want. Y'know?" He'd stepped back to catch his breath then, sticking the glove under his arm to pull it off. "Break?" His free hand moved to grab their water bottles, offering one towards Axel before he was able to sip from his own. "So, tell me, what's new with you these days? Other than nearly taking out my eye in a ring."

Axel took the water bottle with a nod, his smile lingering as Miles' words bounced around in his head. The guy had a point—four championships weren’t exactly handed out like participation trophies. “Alright, alright, Mr. Take-What-You-Want,” he said, twisting the cap off. “Guess I’ll have to step up my game next round. Can’t let you think you’ve got me figured out already.” He took a long sip, letting the cool water cut through the heat of the moment. Miles’ question hung in the air, and Axel felt a flicker of hesitation before answering. What was new? A lot, honestly. Too much. But not all of it was for sharing, especially not here. Still, there was one thing worth mentioning. He set the bottle down, leaning back casually. “I’m dating now. Her name’s Shivani, and she’s the best thing since sliced bread.”

Axel liked how Nazim made it easy to talk—no pretense, just a laid-back flow that felt refreshing. When Nazim brought up Wrightsville Beach giving California competition, he couldn’t help but agree. “Yeah, Wrightsville’s got its charm. Plus, no earthquakes,” he joked, though they both knew he wasn’t lying on that part. He wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Yeah, he was no longer planning on destroying the city, but did he want to settle here? “Maybe. Depends how things shake out.” He was impressed that Nazim noticed how he talked about Shivani. It wasn’t often he let himself get that open, but with her, it just...happened. “She’s worth every bit of the hype,” he said, smirking. “She just gets me, you know?”