Welcome to the Jungle, Sweetheart

Comfortably Numb

Axl's heart skipped a beat, "Uh, what?" Axl blinked at him, pretending to be confused, but he started to feel really hot. Slash gave him a sympathetic look, and Axl was a little irritated the way he looked at him like a hurt puppy. 

Slash sighed, "Axl, in all the time I have ever known you, I know you'd never let any girl mark you, and its, you don't have to talk about it, just..." Slash looked down, "I know Axl that you're good at getting out of things but, when I find you with a mangled leg, bleeding out on the street at 2 am, with a fucking hickey on your neck, it doesn't exactly point to any good signs." 

Axl narrowed his eyes at him, "What does it matter to you?" Axl gritted his teeth, "It's not like your my mother or my boyfriend, why should you care about what happens to me!" 

"Because I'm worried about you, asshole!" 

Axl went silent and looked down. Slash continued on, lowering his voice, "Axl I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, and I know you can handle yourself, but what happened tonight, I know something didn't go according to your plans, and you got hurt. And I get you're a very reserved person, and if you want to be quiet and say nothing about whatever the fuck you're going through, go right ahead. You don't have to tell me what you were trying to do, and you don't have to tell me how the fuck that went. If you want to keep secrets from the people who actually care about you, then you can do whatever the fuck you want. And I'm sorry if you got messed up a while ago, and that's why you always push people away, but I'm tired of you always pushing away me and everyone else who cares about you. It's what you've always done Axl, so if you want to suffer inside quietly, if you want to keep secrets from me and the rest of the world, then be my guest." 

Axl watched with wide-eyes as Slash got up from his seat and turned his back on him, heading for the door. He had no idea Slash could go off like that. And it scared him a little. He didn't want to be the reason to make Slash angry like that. His head spun with confusion and fear. Things he didn't understand himself, things that he was so scared to even consider in his own head, that he would never dare say aloud, especially not to somebody else. Not even his best friend.

But he really didn't want Slash to leave him, and the thought of being alone right now, almost scared him more than all those things in his head. The voices conflicting in his head were getting louder and louder until he couldn't hear anything. Couldn't think. They were screaming at him. 

Slash's hand was on the door handle. "Slash-" He stopped, listening. Axl's voice was quiet and uncertain. "...His name was Daniel..." 

Slash turned around to look at Axl, who now sat with his pillow to his chest, hugging it tightly and hiding most of his face in it, his head downturned and his eyes facing the window. Axl wasn't sure what to say now that he got his attention.

Slash bit his tongue, "Axl." 

Axl turned his head. 

Slash jammed his hands in his pockets. "Who's Daniel..?" 

Slash was afraid of the answer, but he needed to hear it come from his lips. Axl looked down. He didn't want to have to keep lying to Slash. 

He was always one who tended to prefer being brutally honest rather than lying or trying to weasel out of a situation. He'd rather be upfront and serious and face whatever happens. Lately though, he hadn't been fully upfront with Slash. It was high time he was honest with him for a minute. 

So he let out a deep sigh, and he told him the whole story. Well, not the whole story, he left out the fact that he actually set out with the purpose to flirt with some guys, and he didn't mention Matthew or the blonde. But he did tell him everything else. And right when his story wrapped up in the phonebooth where Slash would eventually find him, that's when a nurse walked in, "Okay Mr. Rose, it's time for your surgery."