Dream On

Mornings After

Axl woke up to someone peppering soft kisses all over his neck and shoulder and a small smile spread over his face as he recalled last night's events.

He turned around so that he was facing Slash and whispered a "morning", voice raspy from sleep.

"Morning" replied Slash and took Axl's face in his hands, leaning forward to place a chaste but full of love kiss on Axl's lips.

"I could get used to this" admitted Axl. And really apart from the new addition of kissing this wasn't much different from their usual morning routine –after all most of their mornings began like that, cuddling in bed, discussing the night's dreams and sharing new ideas that had come to them during the night.

"I'd very much like that" agreed Slash.

They laid there on their couch, not really talking for a while, simply enjoying each other's company, taking in their new situation.

"Do you want to go get breakfast?" asked Slash, which wasn't unusual as they often went out together for breakfast -or early lunch as some would call it- seeing that they were both late risers and their bandmates had usually already left the apartment by the time they got up and also their fridge was never stocked with anything that didn't contain an alcohol percent above 20.

"Yeah sure, just let me stay in bed for five more minutes" Axl replied, pulling the blanked higher up and diving under it snuggling closer to Slash.

"You're comfy" he said after a while against Slash's chest.

"So you've mentioned" Slash chuckled.

"Huh" he muttered confused.

"You talk in your sleep sometimes. You're always telling me how I'm the softest pillow and such. You also kick me sometimes. Less fun those times" explained Slash.

Axl blushed and he was thankful that he was still underneath the blanket and Slash couldn't see him. "Do not" he mumbled.

"Sure you don't Rosie. I find it adorable. Now come on. Get up I'm hungry" and just on cue Slash's stomach made loud noises of agreement.

"Mph fine" he said, his head peaking reluctantly from underneath the covers.

They got up and got dressed in their usual attires, both wearing simple T-shirt's, leather pants and cowboy boots and left the apartment.

Instead of going to the band's preferred breakfast bar, they chose to go to a small brunch place they had discovered a morning after a gig a couple of months ago while they had been aimlessly walking the streets of LA talking about anything and everything, both in that weird place between drunk and hangover.

For a little while as they were walking, Axl felt quite weird because this felt a little too much like the cute dates he took sweet girls out on, who knew nothing of their world and just saw Axl as a sincere and honest man from Indiana. But Axl wasn't really that, sure he was a country boy -his roots running deep in his blood no matter how hard he tried to escape them- but he was also mischievous and devious, moving like a snake in the world around him, not to mention that he was the epitome of rock n' roll, completely embodied the whole stereotype, fully immersed in the everyday reality of booze, drugs and sex.

And throughout his friendship with Slash all these sides of him had merged into a full image only Slash could really see, but that morning, as they were holding hands down the street it all felt a little too overwhelmingly, tooth achingly sweet and a little too much like it was not really them. A little too off balanced in Axl's mind.

And when they walked in and sat down Axl thought that they looked so silly in their leather clothes, holding hands, flowers in Axl's hair – Slash had picked them from the park they had passed by and assured him that he looked cute. Their whole look screamed danger to those around them, who were everything but discreet as they stared at them with a look that said get out of here, you disgust me you fucking punk. But still neither Axl nor Slash ware ones to care for others' opinion so they just ignored the hateful glares burning holes in their skulls and enjoyed the sweet taste of freshly made pancakes.

After their wonderful breakfast, Slash seemed to sense that Axl was feeling a little off and he also seemed to agree with him, because he took him to an empty and abandoned building - somewhere unknown to Axl but a place that had become one of Slash's hiding spots- and offered him a flask full of JD that Axl had no idea where he had kept hidden that whole time.

So they walked to a corner of the almost empty room, apart from the old leather couch and a wooden table in the middle -Slash's additions- and slid down the wall sitting on the floor, their shoulders touching, legs straight in front of them, slowly sipping from the flask.

Now Axl thought that's more like it, more like me, more like us.