Title: Living on a Prayer
Fandom: Chrono Crusade
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13/Teen for kissy stuff and small references to drug use.
Summary: She was the rebel and he was the runaway, both forgotten teens who had nothing, save each other and the sound of rock and roll. AU Chrono x Rosette, Oneshot
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I've been in a huge CC mood lately. And I love all the characters, and the Chrono/Rosette relationship is so cute IMO, I admit it. I really don't know where this one-shot came from, I wrote it really late last night, but I do enjoy writing AU's. A bit of a decade swap, from the canon 1920's to the 1980's.



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“Rosette, please don’t drag me back in there…”

He plopped down on the steps with a sigh and waited for his hearing to return and drown out the pounding rock and roll from his mind. He was sure he felt the beginnings of a headache - the ringing in his ears didn’t help matters much.

The blond turned to her companion and gave him a devious smirk. Even in the shadows of midnight she could determine his mood with his tone of voice and movements She had wore him out already eh? “What, too much for you Chrono? And here I thought runaways were supposed to be tough.”

He rubbed his temples with a sweaty palm. “And I thought schoolgirls were supposed to be at home studying, not at a place like this.”

Rosette scoffed. “Come on, you just don’t know what fun is.” She punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Live alittle! And besides, that Catholic school holds hoards of party girls, they act all innocent but they go crazy when no one's watching.”

An amused smile played on his lips. “You say that like you’re not including yourself.”

“Well, I’m not a crazy party girl.” she shrugged. “I’m not actually in there am I? I’m sitting out here with you since you're such a baby and the music hurts your ears.”

“No it doesn’t, and I like what they're playing, it’s just…I can’t stand it that loud. And half of them are drunk Rosette. And those weren’t cigarettes they were smoking either.”

She frowned in what Chrono took to be a confused silence, but said nothing.

“I know you want to rebel, but...there's no point in this. You're so much better than all that.”

The ground shook with the baselines of a distant guitar riff. Multi-colored light blazed through the windows of the house and told of the teen-decadence holed up inside. Chrono and Rosette were left out alone, like forgotten shadows moving on their own accord.

Rosette gazed at him from under thick lashes. Chrono was always at her side, her voice of reason. She could never understand why. His long hair – beautiful, she couldn't call it anything else, was tossed into a casual braid, not the typical rat's nest of a rocker. His clothes were dirty and torn, though she had washed them earlier(his home was the streets) and his face was ruddy and nicked with healing cuts. She never understood why he worried so much about her when he had his own problems to cope with.

She repaid him as best as she could; she snuck him into her bedroom at her foster parent's place, she gave him her lunch every day...

“You should go on home, Rosette.”

She smiled. “Don't you mean 'we?' I'm not letting you sleep in some nasty trashcan somewhere tonight.”

He flushed. “We're gonna get in trouble.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Trouble's what's what I'm looking for, remember?” she grinned.

He let out a defeated sigh, though a smile lingered on his cheeks.

Her foster parents could throw her out or give her back to the orphanage for all she cared. She would be moved to a different city in a faraway state but Chrono would follow. He had no commitments, no home to hold onto, just like her. She was practically a runaway, a runaway with a check hanging over her head for greedy 'parental guardians' to gorge on until they tired of her.

She placed a hand on his shoulder before he could stand. “Think about it.” she said. “Only a few more months before I turn eighteen and we can leave this behind, Chrono! And I can find my brother, and Azmaria too, and we can all go to New York together.”

He met her gaze and covered her hand with his own.

“But for right now....” she moved forward and pushed him down onto the steps. His face blushed beat red as he stumbled for words; Rosette was reminded of how young he looked, he was shorter than her, with a boyish face that was more cute than handsome.

His odd colored eyes were just as hesitant as her own, but they drilled a hole in the pit of her stomach, and she was happy she wore her lucky, tight, jeans for confidence tonight.

With one knee on each side of his waist, she dipped down and kissed him. His futile murmurings of surprise and embarrassment were ignored. Even if she wanted to run away from all her angst, even if the rough pavement dug into the skin of her knee, she kept herself pressed to him, like he was the drug she needed to survive, her own personal heroin.

She broke the contact and laughed at his dazed expression. Wisps of blond hair hung down and tickled the side of his face.

“Time's actually on our side now.” she said, wiping at the bright makeup around her eyes. “We can get an apartment there, I'll work, and you can even have clean clothes for once-”

“That doesn't matter so much, just as long as you're there. You're all I've got Rosette.”