#— axelxreyes ;; —

[lifexsaved]

Spotify sentence starter meme - @axelxreyes - one foot wrong by pink

Am I sweating? Or are these tears on my face? Should I be hungry? I can't remember the last time that I ate. Isabelle's internal monologue was on fire today, and she couldn't get it to just stop for one god damn second. The doctor felt like she had gone through the day on auto pilot, not really focused or there, just doing procedures she'd done many times before until the day ended and she found herself once again in a bar after work, bumping into Axel Reyes. She was wary of him now, she hadn't been before. Was that thanks to Mathias? Had to be. She thought she could trust the Syndicate, that a medic would be safe from harm from inside the organisation because they were needed. She had been wrong. "Do you ever feel like, if you put one foot wrong, you're going to fall?" Isabelle was talking metaphorically as she moved to sit next to him at the bar, but with her injuries still healing and the long day she had it would probably be quite literally true also. "Just... Just one foot, and I'm gonna fall. God, I need a fucking drink. Bourbon, double. And whatever he's having." She spoke to the bartender, sliding over some cash.

[elizabeaufort]

⏤ She hadn't seen Axel in a while, but when she saw him on the streets wanted to do a little surprise, something playful. She covered his eyes and… The grip was rough on her fragile wrist, which made her grimace. Either way, she didn't want to drop her mask… Okay, also a bad idea, since everything was going backfire to her. ❛ Little rough, don't ya think?! ❜ She said once he recognized it was her.

❛ Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. ❜ She added. Elizabeth felt him brushing her wrists gently, although it hurt a little… ❛ You're forgiven. ❜ She removed her wrist from his hand making a little massage around them and sat by his side with two bags with two rolls of fabric. ❛ How are ya? ❜

from here. + @axelxreyes

[avamhollis]

Ava doesn't work on assumptions -- at least, she doesn't believe so. She works off intel and research and observation, she works off information and she does, in fact, have deep ties to politics. Much to her dismay, she'll say, she knows a lot more about the industry than she'd like, but it does come in handy in times like these.

"My entire family works in politics," she replies easily. The implication, of course, is that they have always been easily manipulated. They still are, to this day. "Can you imagine it, me as a politician?" She laughs dryly, though it's not like she never considered it. In the end, the limelight would have been too much of a hassle when it came to her second job.

"You know what? I don't." Axel admitted as he lifted his glass to his lips and took a sip. "I don't care much for them. The people, the talk..." He shrugged his shoulders. "Is that an assumption that they are easier to manipulate when they are like that, or do you have experience in such things?"

[yeniens]

❛ who taught you how to do that? ❜ - axel

"Hm?" Yenna looks back at him, busy disabling the alarm with her hair pin, "The alarm thing?" She pauses. "My ex-h- my ex-boyfriend." Beat, "The one in our apartment, it used to go off all the time, when it wasn't supposed to. Eventually he'd just.. disable it. And show me how to do it, in case I was home alone."

@axelxreyes

[lifexsaved]

❝ how have you been sleeping? ❞ - axel

The question almost caused her to laugh, but Isabelle caught it before it came out, turning it into somewhat of a scoff. Sleeping wasn't the word for what she was able to do, only really getting in the few vital hours she needed for her body to still run in the on-call rooms of the hospital on her breaks, or the rare quiet moments. Isabelle still found it difficult to sleep alone in her own bed, even with the new security system that would be loud enough to wake her if anyone broke in. "I get some sleep, on breaks at work." She answered honestly. There was no point in lying to Axel, he was one of the few that saw through her lies most of the time. "It's just going to take time, I'll be able to sleep at home soon, I'm sure." Was she sure? No, not really. But god, she was hopeful. When she was on her own in her home the nightmares came, so even if she managed to fall asleep it was never for long. "How are you doing?" The doctor questioned, trying to take the spotlight off of herself for a moment at least.

[lifexsaved]

indulge . find my muse drinking to cope . - axel

@axelxreyes

Isabelle wasn't one to drink, not often, but she had had a horrible shift. A kid had come in, and they'd lost them. Those days were the worst, when there was nothing that they could do to help. She was half way through her fourth drink when someone sat next to her at the busy bar. She turned to look at whoever it was, and of course recognised him. "If you're going to sit next to me, dear Axel, you're going to have to drink and not comment on how much I'm drinking tonight." Isabelle's words were already slightly slurred, she really wasn't used to alcohol, her tolerance was incredibly low. She rarely drank just in case she got called in to help someone in The Syndicate, and more often than not she was on shift the next morning. Tomorrow however, she was off, and Syndicate had other medics if they needed. Worst came to the worst, she'd flood herself with fluids, sober up, and help whoever was needed. "I lost a patient." She explained, but she didn't go any further. "So drink, Reyes."

[izaralevine]

There's faces, and voices. Dark eyes frantically search between the pair, reminding herself of the circumstances. Not Harry. It hurts, it all hurts. "Where's —?" It's Axel. A sweaty, warm version of a man she's never expected to be here.

She doesn't protest the water either, sipping through the straw. Exhaling when she needs to catch her breath. "Can I get sick from water...?" She croaked, finding it difficult to make a dumb remark when she saw flashes of the garage, of the man with the devil's smile.

He'd smiled. She could have sworn it was glee. He left me there, again and again —

Her breaths rose, eyes flying to the door, as if she expected him the be standing there. Waiting, and waiting til she believed she was safe. Izara didn't want to do that to herself, she knows better now. No more monsters — so many monsters, New York's a beast cradling them all. Involuntary, she lets the trembling words fall: "Thank you, Ax—"

Luis' voice draws her back, and the hand she almost lifted to squeeze Axel's arm stops, falling back to the bed. She isn't sure if he looks as shit as she feels. Both of them, here...

Dread fills the tiniest of openings beside fear, and agony. Spills into the cracks, and has her realising that her worlds are colliding. An old one, and a new one. Shaking her head against the pillow, "Don't apologise, please, no. Not you."

Kit isn't sure she could have broken any more, but the sight of the pair of them, standing — watching over her with those glazed gazes has her exposed; she's being ripped open all over again.

She's not okay. And she doesn't know how to answer Lu's question. She doesn't know how she's feeling. Nothing other than: "It hurts." swallowing, she has Harry in the back of her mind — the impending fear of what is left of her leg, the extent of her injuries. She doesn't want cops either — not yet. Not yet. Please. Luis, tell them not yet. Eyes find their way back to her ex (as they often do), and she implies in her quiet tone: "They called you?" a beat, a moment to realise: "And you came."

@axelxreyes

The call had been completely unexpected, along with the flurry of emotions from the conversation. Confusion, sadness, anger, worry, and a bit of guilt. Those emotions were what had caused him to sprint towards the hospital. Yes, a car would have been faster, but running was better for his mind. He needed to numb it before entering the hospital.

Before seeing her.

But what he didn't know was that all of the negative emotions he was experiencing, they would vanish the moment he saw the state of his ex girlfriend. When his eyes landed on her body, all he felt was anguish. Who did this to her? Why? I should have been there to protect her. I should have--

"No." Axel swallowed the lump in his throat as he approached her. "No, it's Axel." Why is she expecting Harry? Axel only knew of the man because he kept some tabs on Izara and her life, like who she worked with. He immediately moved towards her and poured her a glass of water, with a straw. Axel held it in front of her face, maneuvering the straw until it was in front of her lips. "Don't drink too fast. You might get sick."

He wanted to reach out to her, to run his fingers through her hair. To kiss her forehead. But he did none of those things. Instead, he stood there with the cup of water, waiting for her response. The shock of seeing her in such a state, and knowing that he was still her emergency contact, slowly setting in.

[lifexsaved]

smash or pass - axel

He has a severe attitude problem, I prefer my men to at least have a little respect. Though, he is a pretty one. Smash, if he keeps his mouth shut.

[lifexsaved]

"Usually my patients come to me in such a state that I can't particularly get their consent to touch them before doing so." The woman spoke back, her voice just as cold as his. She had dealt with people that were dangerous before, it's what happened when you aligned with a gang, and another cold person with a hard personality wasn't going to cause her to shrink away. "Would you like a doctors help, or are you simply going to let the wound bleed, not be cared for, and encounter all sorts of problems?" Isabelle was sure she had seen this man before, she couldn't place him, though. She saw many people in the hospital, perhaps just as many through Athena and the amount of people that she had met through The Syndicate practically tripled in the time she was looking after Oz everyday until he no longer needed the hand holding. "Superficial, still needs stitches. I'm assuming from your happy-go-lucky attitude that you're about to tell me you're 'not going to a fucking hospital'?" She asked, brow raised.

Axel was bleeding and to most people, it wasn't very normal to see. Or, it was something of a shock to see. For Axel, it was normal. Although, he preferred for the wounds to be on the people he had a hit on. "I'm fine." He rolled up the sleeve of the arm that has a superficial cut on it. It was about half a foot long on his left forearm. "Do you normally go touching strangers wounds without permission?" His voice was hard as he stared at the woman. "Stop fucking shouting." The last thing I need is all this fucking attention.

[alexcalder]

—he remained silent, observing; blue eyes studying the other hitman, the way he reacted to his question —had he known, he wouldn’t have involuntarily added more fuel to the fire. and he is about to tell him, that whatever the bastard did, they will find him when Axel speaks again. fuck. fucking fuck, he needn’t elaborate further for Alexander to know who he was talking about; why he was so worked up. there is not a single word that came to mind to somehow console the younger man —despite not knowing every detail in regards to his relationship and break up with Izara, he knows it for a fact that Axel loves her, no matter what stupid excuse he would argue. and he knows it, too, what it meant to have failed to protect her; even if it wasn’t his fault, even if he couldn’t have known. but, Alexander is not about to tell him that either, not now that he is blinded by rage focused towards the unknown perpetrator —would he not feel the same if it was him in his place if it was someone he cared about? If it was Liz who had gotten hurt? the mere thought was disturbing.

he toyed with the glass in his hand for a long moment, searching for the right words to say; but they aren’t there. if it is something he wouldn’t wanna hear, he ain’t about to say it to Axel either, it won’t help or calm the other man down. “you will find them, Axel,” and he believes it, and he will help him, too, if he wants him to. “but maybe…focus on being there for her, for now…” it wouldn’t help, but perhaps Izara would want him to be there for her instead of drowning his anger in uncopious amounts of alcohol.

Who do we need to take care of? Just the question caused Axel's anger to spike. He gripped the empty glass in his hand -- his knuckles turning white. "I don't know yet." He said through gritted teeth. He needed more alcohol. He needed something that would, at the very least, calm his nerves. "Unfortunately, I don't have a fucking name."

Axel hadn't wanted to bombard Izara with too many questions while he saw her. He hadn't wanted to overwhelm her, as she clearly went through something horrific. But he needed to know who it was that hurt her. It was something he felt so strong that he felt it in his bones. "She almost died." His voice cracked slightly. "And I wasn't there. She was hurt and I couldn't help her."

He slammed his fist on the counter as the bartender walked by. "Another drink. Actually, make that four."

[lifexsaved]

"You wouldn't like it Axel, and I think you would get yourself into trouble." Perhaps she was overstating how much Axel cared; would he really fly off the handle at Mathias for hurting her? A fuck buddy at worst, a friend at best? She doubted it but, it wasn't worth the risk of someone else getting hurt because of her. She had a plan she just had to find out where the other lived.

It was clear the distraction of a kiss wasn't coming any time soon, so sighing she leaned back in the booth, drink in hand. "I don't want to be in my home, Axel. Not alone. Not until I have some sort of security system. It's not... I don't feel safe there anymore. They broke into my home, they made me hurt myself and then they hurt me." Isabelle spoke quietly, taking in a large mouthful of her drink as she glanced up at him. "And I don't have someone I can call on to come and take care of me, not someone I would burden with this anyway."

"And what would be those consequences if we kept what you said between us?" Axel asked as he stared at his friend. He wanted to help -- he did -- but he wouldn't force her to discuss what happened. He'd ask questions, yes, but if she told him to drop it, he would. For now, anyway.

"Dealing with it, like being out at a bar when you should be at home resting?" Axel knew with th eway she moved and walked, she had to be more hurt than what she was letting on. "Stitches..." Axel let out a sigh, the thought of kissing her was put to a halt. "Isabelle. Can you at least tell me how this happened and why you're not in bed, having someone take care of you?"

[lifexsaved]

"I can't speak about it, because I'm worried of the consequences." She admitted, because realistically she knew what help she needed. She had needed medical help, so she had gone to Zed. She needs a security system, so she will get one. When she's healed, she wants revenge on Mathias, and she would get it. "But I don't have to talk about it, either. It's... I just can't answer whatever questions you might have, Axel. What happened, has happened. I'm just trying my best to deal with it." It was hard, mostly because of work if she were honest. And Isabelle didn't know what she would do the next time she was called by The Syndicate because one of them needed medical attention, and it was Mathias she was presented with.

"You would be correct, my lips are not bruised." Isabelle replied, though she was sure that her body would not handle falling into bed with Axel yet again, kissing was something that she could do. "Just don't expect for this to lead to either one of our beds. I think you'd tear my stitches." Though sleeping in her home on her own had become hard since the intrusion of Mathias, perhaps she could convince Axel to stay the night. She knew that she shouldn't expect that of him, but the question could come later.

"Which one is it for you, Isabelle?" Axel asked as he observed her, carefully. He didn't know her as well as his ex, Izara, but he felt like he knew her enough to figure out when she was lying. "Because I have different answers depending on which one it is."

He nodded and grabbed their drinks. As he stood, he turned and watched as she stood up from the chair. The way she moved clearly meant that she was hurting, or at the very least uncomfortable, in more than one area of her body. He chose to sit next to her instead of across from her in the booth. "A distraction?" He asked as he slid her glass towards her. He took a gulp of his own before placing his down on the table in front of him. Axel then turned his body towards Isabelle. "Well... you have two options. I could do my best to talk your ear off, or..." He lifted a hand and brushed a fingers over her lips. "I don't see bruises on your lips."

[elizabeaufort]

⏤ She chuckled when he teased back, dimples showing on her cheeks. Elizabeth didn't know much about Axel, not other than what he looked like underneath his clothing, or some preferences in bed. That was a very long, long time ago also they hadn't seen each other in a long while. Either way, she liked the way it was because 'complications' weren't something she needed in her life. She has a lot of chaos in her life.

❛ Thanks. ❜ Her grey-bluish hues met his brown eyes. ❛ Do you have a hobby too? ❜ She tugged her phone back into her purse. ❛ As much as I love fashion, it never occurred in my mind to be a fashion designer. Maybe, I was one in my past incarnation. I want to open my own company Gin or Vodka, creating my drinks. I always wanted to open a drink business. ❜ She confessed. ❛ I supposed so… ❜ She says coyly referring to being natural. ❛ Right now, I have to make 3 looks, one for me and the other for my toddlers. ❜ Not everyone knows she had children, at this point… Everyone probably might know she has them. There are some people she has known for years and yet they did not know she had babies. She is always with them when she is not at the club and when they aren't at the daycare. At the moment they were in the daycare, meaning she had time alone for herself.

"Incredibly well. Some might say the most out of all the others." Another tease. He genuinely didn't know a whole lot about Lux but he hadn't needed to. Just like she didn't need to know him beyond what he enjoyed in bed. Surface level, that's all he had wanted when they slept together. No deep shit. No complicated conversations. No strings attached. That was, until he had decided that he wanted a break from it all.

The two of them hadn't been together in a long while, now.

"That's a cool hobby, Lux." Axel said with a smile. "You want to be a fashion designer? Or maybe you were already one in another life?" He suggested before his eyes flickered towards the picture. "What a natural you are."

[lifexsaved]

"And if you don't know what help you need? Or you can't speak about something for fear of consequences far worse than what you've already been through?" If Isabelle caused a stir with this, told people Mathias attacked her, would they even believe her? Would he own up to it, or deny it? Would it even matter, considering whose last name he shares? No, she had already decided that she wouldn't be telling anyone who her attacker was, but she would heal and bide her time. Plans were already forming in her mind as the anger ebbed at her.

"For a start, you can grab our drinks and take them to the booth nearest the bar." She knew he had noticed at least that she was uncomfortable; Axel wouldn't have offered to move otherwise. So, with a hand braced on her side she slowly stood, taking her time in straightening her body out before moving to sit in the booth. A sigh of relief left Isabelle, as she was able to have something supporting her back, making her posture better and putting less pressure on the wounds. "I just need a distraction right now, a friend. And I'm with you, so. Distract me."

"By not doing it on your own, Isa." Axel said, his voice calm and soft as he stared at her. There weren't many people in his life that he truly cared about. Isabelle, however, was one of them. Her, Izara, and a couple of the members of his gang. "You ask people for help. People that you trust."

He watched her as she shifted on the stool and it was clear something was wrong. She was moving as if something was hurting her. He had harmed enough people -- and had been hurt himself -- to know what it looked like when someone was uncomfortable. "You don't have to tell me what happened--" Even though I want to fucking know. "-- but I need to know what I can do to help." A pause. "We can move to a booth?"

[lifexsaved]

"How? How do you do it? I mean, I've done it before, my line of work isn't easy with the losses or even with the wins that still feel like losses." Like Oz, she was forever looking for new medicine, new techniques that could help him. This was different though, she had never been attacked by someone she thought was one of her own. Axel asked what was going on, and Isabelle didn't know what to say. She just shook her head, looking down at the drink that was put in front of her. "Nothing is wrong I just... rough day." It was a lie, did Axel know her well enough to know when she was lying?

She swallowed thickly, grabbing the cash off the counter and putting it back in her purse, flashing him a small smile, "Thank you. I appreciate it, Ax." Belle hissed as she adjusted on the bar stool, it wasn't really a comfortable position to stay in whilst injured. But the bar is where she wanted to be.

Axel's eyes dragged towards the direction of the familiar voice. One that sounded a bit off compared to the other times he'd talked to her. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Isabelle. "Sometimes." His answer was a bit cautious. "But I usually manage to plant my feet on solid ground before that happens." A pause as he turned his body towards her, fully. "What's going on?" He couldn't remember her ever ordering multiple drinks at once. Not that they hung out often but when they did, it was usually at a bar.

"You already ordered the same as I have." He snatched the cash she placed on the counter and slid it back towards her. "I got it, Isa."

[elizabeaufort]

⏤ She chuckled at his teases. ❛ You know me so well, don't ya? ❜ She teases him back. Watching him rubbing gently her wrist to smooth his roughness, then she sat by his side taking her wrist from his hand. And she set the bags between her legs on the floor. ❛ Ah… This? ❜ Her gaze dropped to the fabrics, mostly of the color of pink. ❛ I sew. I saw a dress so I'll copy the design. Sometimes I do my dresses. ❜ She admitted a hobby she does when she feels a tad… Inspired.

❛ Or my friend's outfits. ❜ She recalls fondly a festival she went to with a close friend of hers, she did his outfit and he was happy about the result which made her happy too. Elizabeth picked up her phone, unblocked it, went through her gallery, and showed him one of the dresses she made. ❛ I made this, look. ❜

"I thought you liked it a little rough?" Axel teased as he stared down at her, a playful smile on his lips. He definitely wouldn't have grabbed her that harshly had he known it was her. He continued to rub gently at her wrist, where he had just gripped it, as if he was trying to make the harshness of his fingers disappear from her skin.

"It's ok." Axel said as his eyes then turned towards what she had in her arms. "What's all this for?" He motioned towards the bags with the rolls of fabric. "Are you going to make some pillows or something?" He smirked. "And I'm good. Fine. Busy with work, as usual. What about you?"