cw // homophobia, homophobic slur
——
"C'mon, babe, it wasn't even that bad." Axl giggled, failing to keep up with Duff's quick stride resulting in her swatting at the air instead of Duff's arm.
Duff rolled her eyes, subconsciously slowing her pace. As she shook her overgrown bangs from her eyes, she chuckled. "They were like toddlers up there. They looked ridiculous."
"They sounded okay, at least." Axl shrugged, exhaling as they slowed near the bus stop. "Admittedly, they could use some work, but they were good enough."
"Maybe for a middle school talent show." Then Duff eyed her and laughed at how exasperated she was. "The bar was only a block from here Rosie."
Axl sent her an empty glare. "Well you're as fucking tall as Lady Liberty and you move like a racehorse that has to piss, how can anyone keep up with you?" She huffed. "And stop callin' me Rosie. Rosie sounds like an old hooker's name."
The corner of Duff's mouth quirked up in an amused smile. "Hey, don't bad-mouth my girl."
Axl gave her arm a half-assed swat and Duff took the chance to grab her airborne hand and pull her close.
Axl smiled sweetly, staring up at her fiancée as she rested her arms around Duff's shoulders.
Duff raised her free hand to Axl's hip and rested her forehead against Axl's own.
"I can't believe I'm marrying you in a few months. I'm the luckiest fuckin' bitch in the world."
Axl felt her cheeks warm as well as her chest. "Yeah, well, I'd wager I'm the lucky one here."
"And how do you figure?" Duff asks, bemused.
"Because.....No one else on this planet will be marrying the most perfect, beautiful, smartest, sexiest bass player ever created by God's own hands, on August 23, 2022."
Duff's entire face went up in flames and she ducked her head bashfully. "Shut the fuck up." She murmured, failing to suppress a smile.
Axl leaned in and gently nipped at Duff's lip before the taller woman eagerly leaned in for more.
Axl giggled, readying herself to give Duff whatever she wanted. Until she'd heard the last thing any couple minding their own business wanted to hear.
"Woo, girl on girl! I can't wait to see this!"
Axl saw Duff's face visibly blanch.
The two look up to see a group of four men approaching the bus stop.
Alcohol bottles were hidden within brown paper bags clasped tightly in each of their hands.
Axl and Duff swallowed uncomfortably, retracting from each other, but still standing close.
The disorderly bunch squeeze onto the wobbly bench and stare and jeer at them like they're in a fucking zoo, watching animals.
"Hey, redhead, feel up the blonde, won't you? Give us somethin' to look at!" One guy, who was a balding man that had to have been in his thirties heckles.
"Kiss her!"
The other men cackle grossly at that, yelling incoherently in agreement.
Without even glancing at her fiancée, Axl can tell Duff is trying to make herself as invisible as a nearly 7-foot tall woman can, shaking her hair back into her face and avoiding the men's prying eyes.
Axl holds her hand tightly, glaring daggers at the men as she pulls Duff closer to her.
"Ah, don't get shy now!" Another man shouts. This one is younger. Has hair just like Stevie's, but doesn't match the girl's innocence at all.
"Leave us alone!" Axl snaps, unable to hold her tongue any longer.
Duff's hand tightens in Axl's, trying to ground Axl and help her remember that they were outnumbered and it was dark out.
The group goes silent for a moment and then, one by one, they all stand.
Eerily enough, they aren't stumbling around as drunkenly as they were before they sat down.
Duff's eyes widened. "Ax...?" She whispered frantically.
"What makes you think," The balding guy approaches them. "That you have any high ground around here, dyke?"
Duff and Axl had taken so many steps back that they were nearly in the street.
"Get the fuck away from us!" Axl growled, growing increasingly heated the longer the man eyed them both.
Then, out of nowhere, he roughly grabs Axl's face and turns it toward a wide-eyed Duff, whose face he grabbed in a rougher way than he did Axl's . "I said kiss her!!"
Axl snapped. She didn't care how much the man hit her or touched her, but the second he put a hand on Duff, murder had become fully legal to Axl.
She knocked his hand away, lifted her fist and smashed it right into the man's nose, emitting a disgustingly loud crunch and making the man stumble back with a loud cry of pain.
It was like an alarm sounded. Soon, all of the men had began taking turns in beating on Axl.
They were barely able to stay on their feet since they were still drunk, and Axl had been winning.
Up until the point where someone used an empty beer bottle to smash over Axl's head.
"Axl!" Duff screamed, watching as the redhead dropped to the ground.
At the sound of Duff's voice, three of the men turned their sights to the blonde, while the other two kicked and punched at an unmoving Axl.
Duff began to freak out.
Her heart hammered against her ribcage so hard she was sure San Francisco could hear it.
She felt like the ground was being pulled out from beneath her, waiting for her to fall so it could open up and pull her right beneath the cement.
It didn't help that she was breathing so hard she was barely taking in as many breaths as she was letting out.
The men got more than a few hits on Duff before a loud gunshot was heard.
The men all stopped what they were doing, jumping away from the victims of their evening drunken boredom as Duff was yanked back to Earth and her spot on the concrete, against a crooked light pole.
Duff managed to calm herself enough to set her eyes on Axl's limp body on the ground.
She didn't care who it was that shot the gun. Didn't even care if they were aiming for her, she just rushed over to the unconscious redhead and sobbed as she pulled the woman into her arms, attempting to shake her awake.
"I'm gonna give you five seconds to move the hell on before I make you choke on your own blood."
Nobody moved. "Five...., four....,"
The person had barely gotten to three and all five of the men had been halfway down the block already, screaming that they were going to the cops.
"Are you two okay?" A softer voice asked.
The sound of high-heeled boots frantically approaching them made Duff flinch as she pulled Axl closer, barely looking over her shoulder as she yelled, "Leave us alone!"
And she broke down sobbing some more. "Please just leave us alone."
"Honey, we're here to help." Duff heard the faint click of the gun going back onto safety. "Please let us help."
Duff finally looked up, trembling.
She was met with the face of a ridiculously tall woman with wild brunette hair. The woman gave Duff a sympathetic smile.
"Hi, I'm Tommy. This is my wife, Nikki." Tommy pointed behind her at the woman who had undeniably been the owner of the gun. Nikki waved awkwardly.
Nikki was also tall, but not as tall as Tommy. She was clad in tight leather pants and a leather jacket with a black homemade crop top underneath. She had on four-inch black leather boots.
Her hair was as black as her clothes and wilder than Tommy's.
Tommy wore a tight black dress that stopped just below her ass, six-inch thigh-high boots and a leather jacket of her own.
"We live in that apartment there." Tommy pointed up above them but Duff didn't bother looking. "We heard the noise and I practically threw Nikki out the window tryin' to get to you two."
Nikki piped in, carefully stepping closer. "You don't know how many creeps we have to scare off of ladies that have to catch the bus here."
"May I?" Tommy pointed to Axl.
Duff was confused, but shrugged.
Tommy came closer and kneeled in front of Axl.
"Nik, honey, I need your flashlight." Tommy says as she moves Axl's blood-soaked hair out of her bloodied face.
Nikki didn't say a word, only pulled out her phone and flicked on the flashlight, holding it above Axl so Tommy could study her injuries.
After searching her face, Tommy began to search Axl's scalp and then carefully lifted the woman's eyelids to see her pupils.
Tommy sighs in relief. "She'll be okay."
"Really?" Duff sniffled, laying a hand on Axl's cheek.
Tommy nods. "She doesn't need any stitches in her scalp, just a shit-ton of aspirin for migraines and ice packs for swelling."
"Her lip should heal in about a week or two and so should the cuts. The bruises on her arms and legs should follow the same pattern."
Tommy concludes with, "The luckiest part about this is that she doesn't have a concussion."
Duff sighs, letting a bit of tension roll off her shoulders just a little. "How do you know all this?"
"I've had to pull my girl out of countless fights. With the way we were in and out of the hospital, I figured I had to learn something because unfortunately insurance doesn't cover Dumbass, so...." Tommy shrugs.
Nikki made a noise and Duff giggled.
"Would you mind if we helped?" Tommy asks softly, motioning to Axl.
"I've got some fresh tea upstairs and some bandages and medicine. We can help."
Duff sniffled and looked at Axl, then to the empty street. "I....I can't. We have to get home."
Tommy lays a hand on Duff's shoulder. "It's okay. We'll give you a ride. I just need her to wake up beforehand so we can get some medicine in her. She'll be in pain if she wakes up riding on these bumpy roads."
At the thought of Axl being in any more pain, Duff found herself giving in as she nods.
Tommy then nods at Nikki and the woman motions to Axl before carefully and easily lifting her out of Duff's arms.
Tommy then stood and held out her hand.
Duff took it and let herself be pulled up from the ground.
"Let's get you two cleaned up." Tommy says.
——
"To tell you the truth," Tommy begins, pouring a bit of rubbing alcohol on a damp cloth as she kneeled before the sofa. "My girl Mick taught me a lot about taking care of Nikki after a fight."
She gently dabbed at the cuts on Axl's face as Nikki came from the kitchen with a frozen bag of carrots, gently sitting the bag against the top of Axl's head.
Duff sat at the end of the sofa Axl was laid on, letting the woman's legs drape over her lap as she sipped slowly at her hot tea.
"Who's Mick?" The blonde found herself asking.
Nikki answered this time. "She's this bad-ass old woman I met when I was 18 and on the streets. She barely had much herself, but she took me in. I told her she's like a mom to me and she told me if I ever called her that again she'd kill me." Nikki laughs softly.
"And where is she now?"
"She lives in a small apartment a few blocks away from here with her girlfriend."
Duff smiles. "If we'd known there were so many lesbians around here, we'd come out more often." Then Duff's smile wanes. "It's my fault we don't come out as much though."
Nikki sits in the ratty recliner to the left of the sofa and gives Duff a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Duff looks at Axl then. "Look at her." The blonde's voice broke. "If you knew that you were four times more likely to get hatecrimed than straight people if you stepped outside, who'd ever want to go out?"
Tommy and Nikki shared a brief glance and Tommy sighs. "I know this is....unfortunate, but you can't let those assholes scare you into hiding who you are." Tommy sits the bloody cloth on the wobbly coffee table.
"I'm not...hiding who I am. I just don't want to be a part of some fucking statistic. And we almost were."
Nikki gave Tommy a look that said, You can't argue with that, but Tommy still felt that this situation shouldn't make Duff so paranoid.
"You're right." Tommy says. "But then what? You....stay indoors most of the time? Miss out on your life?"
Duff held the cup of tea tightly in her hands as she stared at Axl's sleeping face.
"At least she wouldn't get hurt in our home." She says.
Before Tommy could say anything else, Axl groaned, hands flexing against her own thighs. "Am I dead?"
Her voice was a bit raspy and low, but they'd all heard her.
Duff hastily sat her cup atop the coffee table before she gently squeezed Axl's calf. "No, baby. No, you're alive."
Axl sighs and frowns like that was the most disappointing news she'd heard in her entire life.
Her eyes flutter open and she whines, immediately jerking her head aside and causing herself further pain.
"Baby, don't do that. Hold on." Duff reaches for the aspirin and bottle of water.
Axl brought her hands up to her face, covering her eyes.
"Axl, take this medicine. It'll help."
"Do I have to open my eyes?"
"No, sweetheart." Duff smiles at the woman fondly.
Axl pulls her hands from her face then, reaching them out and feeling around the air for Duff.
Instinctively, Duff moves closer so she's within Axl's reach.
"Here, just....open your mouth."
A smug smile stretched over Axl's face as she says, "Will do, mama."
Duff blushed profusely.
Leave it up to Axl to be on the brink of a concussion and still flirting.
"Shut up." Duff murmured as she dropped the pills onto Axl's tongue and held the bottle of water to her lips.
Axl easily swallowed the pills. "How long until these drugs knock me out?"
"Axl!" Duff hissed with a roll of her eyes. Tommy giggled and Axl bodily flinched. "Don't call them drugs, they're aspirin. Even though it is a drug. We gotta give it like twenty minutes."
"Who the fuck was that?" Axl asks.
Duff can see her pushing herself deeper into the back of the sofa out of fear.
Duff lays a comforting hand on Axl's thigh. "It's okay, honey, they actually helped us."
"They?"
"Tommy and Nikki." Duff answers. "They showed up after the guy hit you over the head with that bottle. You had passed out. But they offered to help us and I couldn't turn them away." Duff gives the two an appreciative smile.
Despite the pain it caused, Axl opened her eyes, shielding them from the overhead lights.
She blinked multiple times as she surveyed their surroundings. "We're not home."
"No." Duff retorts.
The way Axl's eyes had cut through the air and landed on Duff made the blonde shrink in her seat. "What?"
"You brought me into a stranger's house and gave me their medicine?"
Tommy and Nikki traded looks as Duff grew even more sheepish under Axl's scrutinizing gaze.
"I didn't exactly bring you in, it was Nikki," Axl's eyebrows shot up as her fiancée began rambling, trying to explain herself. "But-but they said they could help and you were unconscious and I-I was scared and I didn't know what to do because I'd never seen you so badly hurt and—."
Duff's heart was speeding up and she could practically smell the panic attack rolling back in.
Axl's face immediately softened. "Baby, baby," Axl's voice began calmly as she reached a hand out toward Duff.
With her own trembling hand, the blonde took Axl's hand in hers as tears stung at her eyes. She could feel her chest tightening and her heart resting between her ears.
"It's okay." Axl assured, keeping her eyes locked on Duff's. "We're okay."
A single tear fell down the blonde's face as she cast a tentative look at Tommy. The woman nods, mouthing, 'It's okay'.
Axl gently squeezes her hand, gaining the woman's attention once again.
"You're okay." Axl assured, keeping her eyes on her lover.
Duff nods, blinking away her tears.
"I...., I didn't mean for that to come off so harsh." Axl says then, now speaking to everyone in the room. "I'm just wary of shit like this. People aren't usually this nice without expecting something in return."
She continues with, "And it doesn't help that I was just assaulted and nearly killed out there."
Tommy and Nikki understand wholeheartedly.
"No, you have every right to be as cautious as you are. This world is scary, but you gotta remember that everyone isn't out to hurt you." Tommy says.
Axl's eyes land on the taller woman as she says, "Everyday I go outside makes that harder and harder to believe."
Tommy nods. "Understandable."
Axl was quiet for a moment, reaching a hand up to touch the defrosting bag of carrots on her head. "Do I have a concussion?"
"Thankfully, no." Nikki says, sitting back in her own seat, manspreading like hell. "Just a killer migraine."
"That, I can confirm." Axl says, rubbing her forehead with her hand as if she could rub away the pain, before she once again scanned the apartment.
The walls were painted black, all except one wall behind the television that was all red brick.
On either side of the television there were shelves stacked with records and tapes and CDs. Alongside the right shelf were two bass guitars and beside the left shelf there were three amps.
The painted walls were decorated in numerous posters, framed and pinned, and collages of what Axl assumes were friends and family.
All of their furniture was mismatched but stuck to the same color: black.
There was a corner near the window that was unusually brighter than the rest of the room.
The corner was full of plants. Real, fake, tall, small, hanging, floored, they practically had them all.
Near the plants was a short shelf full of wooden knickknacks, incense, two small buddha statues, some meditation books, and a few more photos of friends or family.
What caught Axl off guard the most was the ginormous black flag hung on the wall behind the TV.
The only thing on the flag was a large red sigil of Baphomet, otherwise known as a pentagram, with the head of a goat perfectly fitted into the sigil.
Axl's eyes widened and she slowly cut her eyes over to the other couple.
"You're satanists?"
"Axl!" Duff hissed for what seemed like the millionth time.
The second Axl asked the question, Nikki's eyes fell to the silver cross necklace that hung around the woman's neck.
Tommy immediately looks to the flag and giggles. "No. Well, not me at least."
She gives her wife an amused look when all Nikki does is smile. "Nik likes to scare people. She especially loves pissing them off. But I don't believe she's got a bad bone in her body."
"Good people don't just hang up pentagrams." Axl retorts. Duff smacked her leg.
Nikki stands then, all eyes following her. "Trust me. If I wanted to hurt you, you'd know, Red." Then she struts to the kitchen, nothing but the sound of her boots accompanying her.
When she comes back, she has a beer. She drops back into her seat and crosses her left leg over her right as she cracked the cap off with her teeth. Duff's eyebrows rose at that.
"The flag is just for shock value. I like to fuck with Tom's dad and scare away Tommy's girly friends."
Tommy fondly rolls her eyes, but never stops smiling at her wife.
"Are you feeling okay?" Duff asks, eyeing the bandages on Axl's face.
Axl smiles sweetly. "I'm feeling fine, baby."
"Ok." Duff nods before looking at Tommy. "We're ready to go now." She says sheepishly.
She doesn't want it to seem like they're in a rush to leave, but while Tommy and Nikki's hospitality is greatly appreciated, Duff hated being a burden.
It was late and Axl looked close to passing back out any second now, so she figured they'd better be on their way soon.
Duff rather she did that at their own apartment than here.
Tommy nods at her wife, motioning for the woman to go somewhere and Nikki stands saying, "I'm gonna go get the car keys."
Tommy then turns back to Duff and Axl.
"Would you mind if I gave you our numbers?" Tommy asks, then quickly explains herself at Duff's weirded out look. "Just in case you two ever need anything."
Duff looked at Axl, who was dazedly playing with a lock of her own hair.
Duff sighs and nods, pulling her phone out of her pocket and opening it up. Then, she hands the phone to Tommy.
As Tommy is tapping in their phone numbers, Nikki comes from the back of the apartment twirling the keys around her finger.
"You guys ready?"
——
"And take a right there." Duff points.
Tommy follows the directions, making a right at the corner and driving a little ways down the block.
She slows the car as a tall, shabby apartment complex came into view. "This it?"
Duff nods. "Yeah." She then looks down and gently shakes Axl's shoulder, but the woman is knocked out and will probably be knocked out until the next morning.
"Fuck." Duff hissed softly.
Tommy smacked Nikki's arm and the woman hopped into action without complaint.
After Tommy parked the car, Nikki climbed out and pulled open the back door.
"May I?" Nikki asks for the second time that night, motioning to Axl.
Duff nods, smiling a bit. "Thank you."
Nikki, once again, effortlessly picks Duff up bridal style, Duff making sure the woman's head rested on Nikki's shoulder instead of hanging back.
"Thank you too, Tommy." Duff looked back to the brunette with a grateful smile. "Both of you. I don't even wanna know what would've happened if you guys weren't there. I appreciate it dearly."
"It's no problem." Duff assures, waving him off.
"Yeah." Nikki adds. "In plus, any chance I get to flash my gun at some assholes, I'm gonna take it."
Duff and Tommy laugh at that before Duff climbed out of the car.
He gave Tommy one last wave before closing the car door and leading Nikki into the building and up to the fourth floor, where their apartment is.
Nikki hadn't even broke a sweat, and Duff was shocked.
"You must be superhuman." Duff jokes, retrieving her keys from her jacket pocket and pushing them into the door.
Nikki didn't even get to answer and Duff didn't even get to turn the key before the door was yanked open.
"Duffy!!" A woman cried out as she threw herself into Duff, hugging the tall woman tightly.
The woman was short with a grunge-yet-fluffy blonde hairstyle that reached below her collarbone.
Her eyes were big and blue and her lips were wide and soft pink, downturned in worry. She was wearing a baby blue bunny onesie that Nikki was trying her best not to laugh at.
Not in a teasing way, but in a way that meant that the look was adorably ridiculous.
A black haired woman and another woman with dark brown curly hair came to the door and their eyes widened.
The black-haired one had a short, shaggy haircut that went just a little below her ears.
Her eyes weren't a very discernible color, but the bags under them, her skinny frame, and her pale skin really sold the whole 'living dead' look.
She wore a cropped sleeveless Three Dog Night shirt and a pair of black pajama pants that hung low on her bony hips.
The last one, the curly-haired brunette had a soft caramel complexion, big brown eyes hidden by her hair, and full lips.
She wore a grey classic Bride of Frankenstein t-shirt and boxer shorts that clung to her thighs like a second skin.
"What the fuck happened?" The black-haired one asks, reaching a hand out to brush against Axl's warm cheek.
"We got attacked." Duff says, holding Stevie's hand tightly in her own.
"What?!" The three women gasp loudly.
Duff immediately began shushing them and pushed them all into the apartment.
Nikki just went along, laying Axl down on the first sofa she'd seen as Duff closed the front door behind them.
"Who's this?" The curly-haired brunette asks, eyeing Nikki warily.
"Oh!" Duff brightens a bit. "This is Nikki. She and her wife helped Ax and I."
"Nikki," Duff calls before pointing everyone out. "This is Slash, Stevie and Izzy."
Nikki waved awkwardly, just as she had earlier when she met Duff and Axl.
"What happened?" Stevie asks, large blue eyes full of concern.
Duff's little smile fell. "We were just....at the bus stop. Some drunk assholes came up to us and started demanding we 'give them a show' and when Axl told them to leave us alone, they tried to make us kiss for them. She snapped and...."
Duff shook her head. "Anyway, we're fine now. Nikki scared 'em off with a gun and Tommy gave Ax some medicine and made sure she didn't have a concussion."
"Concussion?!" Izzy's eyes widened as she crossed her arms. "What the fuck did they do to you guys?"
"Look at your face!" Stevie frowns, gently running a finger over the bandage on Duff's face that was covering a cut. "This is wrong."
"We're fine, guys." Duff giggles, trying to assure and calm them. "We're here now and that's what matters."
"No." Slash snaps, making everyone look at her. "Duff, this isn't ok. This isn't another fucking day in the neighborhood, this was a goddamn hate crime."
Duff sighs. "We can talk about this in the morning, okay?" Her friends kept their unrelenting glares on her and she added, "Please?"
Izzy rolled her eyes while Stevie and Slash sighed.
"Promise me." Stevie held up her pinky as Slash stomped to her room.
"Baby, c'mon." Izzy grabbed Stevies free hand, tugging her gently.
"No. Wait." Stevie pulled her arm out of Izzy's grip. She turned back to Duff, holding her pinky a bit higher. "Promise me."
Duff gave the woman a small smile, reluctantly locking their little fingers together. "I promise, Popcorn."
"No." Stevie held their fingers tighter, a determined look on her face. "My real name."
Duff kept her smile, saying, "Stephanie Taylor-Marie Adler, I promise to confide in you all tomorrow morning over your favorite bowl of cereal."
Stevie's smile was almost blinding. "Thank you."
Izzy fondly rolled her eyes at her girlfriend, tapping her arm.
Stevie unlocked their fingers and turned to Izzy. The woman nodded her head toward the back of the apartment. "Bedtime."
Stevie nods and waves goodbye to Duff and Nikki before taking Izzy's outstretched hand and following the woman to their bedroom.
Duff turned to Nikki who had a small, amused smile on her face. "Sorry about them."
"No, no, it's fine." Nikki giggles softly. "I think it's great you have so many people that care about you. You're really important to them and they love you." Nikki says. "You shouldn't apologize for that."
Duff nods then, and Nikki says, "I should get goin'..."
"Would you like me to walk you down?" The blonde offers.
Immediately, Nikki shakes her head. "No, I'll be fine. Stay and take care of your wife."
Duff blushes at that, but doesn't correct Nikki.
It's not like it was a lie.
Duff leads her to the front door and pulls it open before saying, "Goodnight, Nikki."
"Goodnight, Duff. It was great to meet you two." Nikki says, bidding her farewell before leaving.
Diff doesn't close the door until Nikki disappears down the stairwell.
She sighs then, locking the door behind her.
After she manages to carry Axl to their bedroom and drop her on the bed, Axl begins to whine a bit.
"Sorry, sweetheart." Duff smoothed the woman's hair from her face. "You're not heavy, I'm just not strong."
Then, she begins to to carefully undress Axl, thinking of how she's going to break the news that the blood was not coming out of her favorite shirt and they'd have to toss it.
"Yay, we're havin' sex!" Axl cheers weakly, barely managing to lift her arms to throw them up happily.
"No, we're not." Duff emphasizes with a final tug of Axl's jeans from over her thighs. "Jesus, where'd you get your thighs...."
Duff grabbed a shirt off the floor that Axl had thrown there earlier on her search for the perfect 'amateur band night' outfit and carefully pulled it over Axl's head.
Axl giggles, rolling over once Duff is done. "Come lay down." She murmurs into the pillows.
"In a minute, babe..." Duff smiles, leaving the room to go to the kitchen and then the bathroom.
On her way, she'd collected two water bottles, an ice pack, and some more aspirin for Axl if it began to wear off sometime in the night.
When she comes back, Axl is humming a song she must've made up while hugging Duff's pillow.
The blonde smiles at her fiancée in adorn before sitting her collected items on Axl's nightstand, which is just one of those tall, white drawer things that are a total eyesore to Duff.
Then, she goes to the closet to get a towel to wrap around the ice pack.
Once done, she sat on the edge of the bed and prepared that.
"You know, you don't have to do all....that." Axl stated, keeping her head laid on Duff's pillow
"But I want to." Duff says. "In plus, you'll be thanking me when you wake up while I'm sleep and everything you need is within arm's reach."
"I guess." Axl mumbled. "But if I'd just listened to you and we stayed in and watched Stevie's cheesy movies, we wouldn't be in this mess."
Duff paused for a moment. "I'm glad you didn't listen to me." Duff responded, before quickly adding, "Not because we got attacked an' all. But because of the happiness I saw in your face tonight."
She feels Axl shuffle behind her as she continues. "I know there's nothing else in this world that you love more than music. Seeing the way you light up every now and then is worth getting my ass kicked."
Then she turns and rests the towel-wrapped ice pack on Axl's pillow, meeting the woman's cerulean eyes.
"There is." Axl says.
"There is what?"
"Something else I love more in this world than music." Axl says.
Duff doesn't have to ask, and Axl doesn't answer, because they both know the answer.
Duff just leans down and presses a kiss to the woman's forehead and cheek, carefully shifting her onto her own pillow so the ice pack is on her head.
"Get some sleep, Rosie." Duff pulls the blankets over her.
——
Axl woke up to semi-trucks repeatedly rolling over and backing up on her skull, the sun boiling her alive, and her blankets and pillows suffocating her.
Moaning softly in pain, she took control of the one thing she could, keeping her eyes shut tight as she kicked the blankets off the bed, and threw the pillows right with them.
She then reached one arm out to where Duff was supposed to be, but found the space empty.
That only soured her mood further. So she rolled over. In the opposite direction.
As she fell out of the bed, knocking over a heap of shit on her bedside table, all she could think about is putting herself out of her misery by jumping out of the window.
She barely heard the sound of multiple feet thundering toward the bedroom over the voice in her head telling her to kill herself.
"Axl, what the hell are you trying to do? Kill yourself?!" Duff quickly rushed to her aide, helping her sit up against the side of the bed.
"Yes, actually." Axl answers, squinting her eyes at the group to lessen the pain in her head. "My head's fuckin' killing me, that big, yellow bitch in the sky won't stop trying to cook me and the bed tried to suffocate me. I'm just tryin' to finish the job for them."
Slash and Izzy give the redhead a weird look, which she ignores.
Duff only sighs, giggling at her lover, whose pout only deepened at the laughter. "You're adorable." Duff mutters, easily reaching for the pill bottle and water.
Axl watches her every move and cant help but wonder how she'd managed to land such a beautiful, patient person who would put up with her bullshit and still love her.
"What were you really trying to do?" Slash asked, kneeling beside Axl and pushing her hair out of her face.
"I was looking for Duff." Axl sulked.
Stevie giggled at that as Duff handed Axl the pills and water.
"You might have to lay down for a little while longer. Just until the aspirin lessens the pain." Duff mused.
Axl gave her a weak thumbs up. "I'll find the fucker who did this. I would have rather he killed me than to leave me dealing with this shit."
"I wouldn't." Duff snapped back. They all look at her but say nothing. Mostly because the look on her face dared them to try her if they had the guts. And they didn't. "Slash, help her back into bed, I'm gonna shut the curtains." Duff stands.
Axl's pout doesn't go away as she watches Duff make a beeline for the windows, pulling their secondhand curtains closed and sealing the room in a much needed dimmer morning light.
Slash helps Axl back onto the bed, but the redhead doesn't lay down.
Duff places her hands on her hips as she stares patiently at Axl. "Lay down."
"Not yet." Axl says, squeezing her eyes and lowering her voice as it was too loud to her. "Can you guys leave for a sec?"
Slash and Izzy share a look, but keep their mouths closed. Before Stevie can open her own, Slash is dragging her away and closing the bedroom door.
They sit in a long stretch of silence before Axl says, "I'm sorry."
Duff took a few seconds before asking, "What for?"
"For....what I said. And for getting myself and you into this shit. I should've kept my damn mouth shut." Axl clutched the sheets tightly in her fists. "I just....I hate seeing you scared, I hate seeing people scare you that bad."
Duff's face softened and she let her shoulders drop as she walks around the bed to sit beside Axl.
"You don't have to apologize, Axl." Duff assures. "And it's....its not your fault that those men were assholes. I just...." Duff paused with a sigh, trying to find the right words to say next.
"I.....last night, I...I thought they killed you. Or they at least got real close to it. The way you dropped, Ax...." Tears rushed to Duff's eyes as the moment replayed in her head. "Then they just....just kept beating on you."
"All because we wouldn't kiss for them." She shakes her head.
"We're not real to people like that. We're just sexual fantasies they can get off to behind doors and then another thing to condemn when they go out into the real world."
Axl brushed the blonde's hair back and gently grabbed her face, turning it toward her.
"You're real to me." Axl begins. "I'm real to you. Fuck what those dicks think."
Duff doesn't even look at Axl or give her a tiny smile and the redhead feels her heart lurch a bit.
"Michaela...."
Duff, a little startled at the use of her government name, finally gives her full attention to Axl.
"You're my wife." The redheaded woman begins firmly. "I would take a beating every day for the rest of my life to keep anyone from touching a hair on your head."
Duff rolled her teary eyes. "Well you won't have to. I'm getting a gun."
Axl's eyes widened and she burst out laughing. "What?!"
"You can go and do all the fighting you want, but I'm gonna start putting bullets right between the eyes of anyone who wants to fight us for being gay."
Axl fell over, laughing uncontrollably.
Duff smiled at the sound of her fiancée's laughter. "I'm not lying, Ax."
Axl's laughter calms and she stares up at her lover.
Duff can't help the way warmth began to trickle through her before Axl motioned for her to lay down.
Duff doesn't question the woman, only lays back, keeping their eyes locked the entire time.
Axl lays a hand on Duff's chest then, softly trailing it up her neck to rest on her cheek. Duff melts into the touch, eyes running over Axl's entire face.
"I love you, Michaela Andrea Rose."
Duff smiles then, feeling her cheeks warm rapidly. "I love you more, Willow Beth Rose."
Axl hates her name. Always has. But the way Duff says it always makes Axl love her name more and more.
She leans up and over the blonde, trapping her in a warm, slow kiss.
Duff giggles against Axl's lips as the woman's hair tickled her cheek.
She pushes the hair behind Axl's ear and pulls the woman into a deeper kiss.
Axl pushes one hand into the hair at the nape of Duff's neck, pulling at it gently and dragging a small whine from the depths of the blonde's throat.
With her other hand, Axl runs it down Duff's chest and then pushes up Duff's shirt, toying with the band of the blonde's wireless bra.
Axl pulls away from her lips, only a little, and rests her head against Duff's.
The woman is panting softly, staring up at Axl through her lashes and a quick, burning flash of heat runs down Axl's spine.
"As much as I wanna make you my bitch right now, I know the girls are waiting for you and I don't want them walking in on me with my head between your thighs." Duff looked away shyly. "Despite what you all might think of me, I'm not that much of a monster."
Then she eyes Duff. "Except where it counts."
Duff immediately frowns, then gently swats Axl's arm.
Axl laughs, sitting up. "What?"
Duff grumbles, sitting up and fixing my her hair. "You got me wet, you fuckin' bitch."
Axl laughed even harder, making Duff's cheeks flush. "Shut up, Axl!" She rolled her eyes.
Holding her stomach and apologizing through laughs, Axl says, "I'm sorry baby. But at least we know you still love me."
"Fuck off." Duff giggles, standing. Then, against her better judgement, she turns to Axl with a fond look. "Just....let your medicine kick in. Come out whenever you feel like it."
Axl nods. "Sure thing, mama." She falls back into the bed, staring at the ceiling.
When Duff leaves, closing the door behind her, Axl lets her eyes slip closed.
——
hey guys, sorry about disappearing.
but this female duff and axl idea has been on my mind for some time and i knew if i didn't write it, it wouldn't leave my mind.
so here it is!
it's just a little thing that came to my head, but i hope you like it!
plz comment!
<3