Running from the law through the backfield

Axel rolled his eyes as Maddox dismissed the other male. “I said I’m not talking about it tonight, Maddox. Why is that so hard for you to understand?” He let out a short breath as he turned to walk over to his half full closet. As Maddox spoke, Axel began rummaging through his clothes, trying to figure out what he even had left there, which really wasn’t much. However, when Maddox said that the other male was actually his brother, things all seemed to click. “Oh, awesome.” Axel nodded sarcastically, still looking through his things. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he turned to face his brother again. “Don’t let me get in the way of your brotherly bonding. God knows you probably have more in common with him than you do with me. Makes sense, I guess. Apparently I’m just trash that nobody wants around. My girlfriend doesn’t want me, my brother doesn’t want me, hell, my own son didn’t even want me so he just straight up died. This is just fucking perfect.” There was something a little broken in his voice as he spoke. He wasn’t thinking straight now, and that was evident in the things he was saying. “Just get outta here and start your relationship with your new brother.”

Maddox stepped into the bedroom, following his brother. “I’m not about to leave you alone, when I can tell that something has happened.” Maddox said as he watched his brother look through his closet.  Anger, disappointment and heartbreak flicked in Maddox’s eyes as he heard his brother talk, about him being trash and how no one wanted him. Maddox was about to step in and say something, but when Axel brought up Dash, Maddox lost it. Without thinking, Maddox raised his right hand quickly and the sound of flesh hitting flesh sounded through out the room. Maddox was breathing heavy as he looked at his brother, before he looked down his now stinging hand. He hadn’t once struck his brother before, their father yes. But he always promised that no matter what, he wouldn’t lay a hand on his brother. Maddox stepped back quickly, wanting to get out of his brother’s room as fast as he could. But before he left, he turned and looked back to Axel. “I’ve never been so disappointed in you, as I am now.” Maddox said softly before he left the room and headed for the front door to let himself escape into the coo night air.

“I’m just not in the mood. It happens.” Axel defended himself, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m not about to go spilling my guts while you have company because shit would get weird. So just go out and do whatever you were gonna do and we can talk later. It’s sounds like you two had a fun night of bonding planned, and I’m not about to get in the way of that.” Along with not being in the mood to go out, Axel wasn’t in the mood to argue. He was tired and just wanted to lay in bed and try to forget about everything. “I’m not keeping any secrets, I’m just saying now isn’t the time to talk because you’ve got a friend sitting in the other room.”

Maddox sighed again as he shook his head. “Jackson? You go on ahead, I’ll meet you at the Black Horse.” Maddox called out as he kept his eyes on his brother. Jackson raised an eyebrow, but gathered his things up. “Alright, just text me if you need anything.” Jackson called back before he headed for the door and let himself out.  Maddox folded his arms across his chest and looked at his brother. “Now that he is gone, you can tell me what is going on with you.” Maddox said with a soft smile. “And Jackson isn’t just a friend, he is my older brother.” Maddox said with a slight shrug. “So the night of bonding just kind of went toe to toe.”

“You guys go ahead.” It wasn’t often that Axel Teller ever turned down the opportunity to go for a drink, but he really just wasn’t feeling it. His head was all over the place, the all he wanted was to get in bed and try to sleep it off. When he heard Maddox in the hallway behind him, Axel quickly ducked into his bedroom, but wasn’t quick enough closing the door. He turned to face his older brother, shrugging his hand off of his shoulder. “Nothing.” He replied simply, shaking his head. “Just a bad day, it happens.” It wasn’t an overly convincing excuse, but it was all he had. He wasn’t about to go into detail while there was a stranger in the other room. “Go hang out with your friend. Have a blast. I’ll be here.”

Maddox raised an eyebrow slightly as he heard Axel decline the opportunity to go drinking. “Well, now I know something is wrong.” Maddox said as he let his hand fall to his side, once Axel shrugged it off. He ran his eyes over his brother’s face for a moment before he stepped back slightly.  “Come on, Ax. Talk to me, I can tell when something is wrong with you. And we don’t keep secrets from each other.” Maddox said as he sighed softly. He ran a hand through his hair a little, trying to keep it off his face. 

Axel thought he’d gotten away without being noticed when he suddenly heard his name. Letting out a small sigh, he stopped in the hallway and shook his head. “I’m not really in the mood tonight, Maddox.” He called out to his brother, knowing it probably sounded a little rude, but in the mood he was in, meeting someone new just wasn’t something that he felt like doing, especially after what he’d just heard Maddox say. “I kinda wanna just go to bed and hope that I don’t wake up.” There was an attempt at a laugh thrown on the end as he tried to make it sound like he was kidding, but it didn’t really work. Beginning to head towards his bedroom again, he kicked himself a little for not grabbing some of his stuff before he left Luna’s the other day. His room was so empty, it didn’t even feel like his anymore. “You guys have fun or whatever.”

Maddox frowned a little as he frowned at his brother tone. “We were going to go to the Black horse, why don’t you come with us?” Maddox asked as he stepped into the hallway properly, to try and get a glimpse at his brother. His frowned deepened as he heard his brother’s words, he could see Jackson moving out of the corner of his eye. Maddox turned to face the other male, before he shook his head slightly. “Hey. What’s happened?” Maddox asked as he walked down the hallway, towards his brother’s room. He reached out and grabbed Axel by the shoulder gently. 

Axel had been all over the place for the last couple of days. Things with had Luna had been weird, and he was honestly not sure what was going to happen with her. He knew he’d fucked up big time letting those words slip out of his mouth. He just wished he could take it back and have things go back to the way they were. Everything had been so great, he’d finally been happy, and now all he was was miserable. After dealing with awkward silence for as long as he could, he’d finally decided that maybe he should go back to the flat he shared with his brother. Parking his car in his usual spot, it felt odd walking up to the front door knowing that he’d be sleeping there again. Not that he would really get much sleep. He’d stayed there the night before and had only gotten a couple of hours. He was exhausted. It just didn’t feel right being there anymore, not without her. When he got to the door, he could see that a light was on, so he knew that Maddox was home. Axel hadn’t had a chance to talk to his brother about what had happened, so he wasn’t sure how he was going to explain why he was suddenly home again. Opening the door, Axel walked inside and could hear two voices, one he didn’t recognize. His brother’s words rung out through the small flat. ‘I wish I had known you when we were younger.’ At first he didn’t think much of it, until he heard what followed. ‘The brother bonding we could have done.’ That stung. On top of everything else, hearing Maddox say that to whoever it was that he was talking to, he suddenly found himself wanting to walk right out again. But, he didn’t. He had nowhere else to go. So, he pushed on, walking further into the flat, making his way towards his bedroom, hoping that they wouldn’t notice he was there.

Maddox finished his drink off before he shifted slightly and stood up. “Ahh, you mean all the breaking and entering we could of done.” Jackson said as he looked up at Maddox, before he grinned. “I know all about your not so clean record, dad did tell me.” Jackson said with a grin before he turned his head to the sound of footsteps. “Are you expecting someone?” Jackson asked as he looked back to Maddox, Maddox shrugged as he moved around the couch and headed for the kitchen. “It’s probably just Axel. Which to be honest, is surprising. I don’t see him much these days.” Maddox said as he put his cup down on the bench and stepped out of the kitchen. “Ax? Come through to the living room, I have someone here I want you too meet.” Maddox called out as he looked down towards the bedrooms.

Maddox not finishing his sentence spoke for itself and she was able to fill in the blanks. “I wish I heard it more, it’s nice.” She left her reply at that, being careful not to push him to talk more about it. Luna nodded enthusiastically with a smile that was now more like a grin. “No, that counts! A lot of people, like me, can’t surf for shit. That’s something you have over others.”

Maddox smiled a little as he shook his head. “Sadly he doesn’t even sing for his own family, so I don’t think you will be hearing much more of it.” Maddox said softy, a soft frown gracing his lips before he shrugged slightly. “Get Ax to teach you, I am sure he would be happy too. And you will love it, it’s a great feeling.”

“It can be, yeah. I like a lot of emotion to be conveyed in my pieces so I hope I’ve made people feel some other emotions too. Being a doctor is such an asset to society though – even if you get into it for a selfish reason. I just kinda transfer what’s in my head to canvas or whatever and hope for the best.” Luna waved it off as she reciprocated with a warm smile. “Ah, I assume you’re talking about the singing. I’ve only heard him once. It may be the only time too since I did kind of scare him. Nothing though? Is there anything you find even remotely interesting that you’ve never tried that could bring out that artistic side of you? I’m determined to help you find that thing.”

Maddox smiled softly as he nodded. “You are you lucky to even hear that small part of his signing. He always use to sing for our grandma, But....” Maddox said softly as he shook his head as he looked away from Luna. He chuckled softly. “I can surf, but I don’t think that really can count as a talent. “ Maddox chuckled softly as he brushed some hair out of his eyes

“No, I don’t think that’s dumb at all. It’s very common, actually. I don’t actually find it all that selfish, but I guess that depends on how you look at it. People do a lot of things for selfish reasons. I do art because it’s what I want to do and people could find that selfish.” she replied with a shrug. “I’m sure there’s some talent you have that you just haven’t explored yet. You could be some secretly awesome designer or something and you don’t even know it.“

“ But what you do, it brings some kind of joy to people joy around you. It’s a nice, thing to do. Being an artist.” Maddox said with a smile as he brushed some hair out of his face slightly. “Axel  has the talent in the family, not he would admit it too anyone. But I know Grandma enjoyed him.”