Although the newest member of Organization XIII had spent most of his first day being educated, his knowledge in all things earthly was still severely lacking – at least this was the only explanation Xigbar could think of for why the kid was curled up in his bathtub full of cold water with his spiky head resting on the cold porcelain.
"Uh, kid?"
Demyx's head snapped up.
"What're you doin'?"
"Sleeping," said Demyx, looking up at Xigbar who was wearing nothing expect for somewhat tight, black jeans and a towel over his shoulder. "They didn't give me one," he explained. Demyx had searched the whole castle for a place to sleep (not yet having had beds explained to him) and this was the only bathtub he'd found. He'd tried the showers, but it was like sleeping under a waterfall minus body of water.
"I see that," said Xigbar. "But why are you sleeping in my bathtub?"
"It was the only one I could find."
"That's 'cause I'm the only one who wanted one. I'm sure we can get you fixed up with one, but why are you sleeping in it? You're gunna drown."
Demyx mouthed the word "drown" in confusion.
"Your lungs are gunna fill up with water and you'll die."
"Huh." Demyx thought about this. "Well where am I supposed to sleep then?"
"In your bed."
Demyx looked at him blankly.
"You know, that big, soft, white thing in your room?"
"Oh that thing! I was wondering what that was for."
Xigbar sighed. "Come on, kid, get outta there. Let's get you to bed."
Demyx hoisted himself obediently out of the tub.
"Whoa!" cried Xigbar, holding up a hand to block his vision. "Put some clothes on, kid!" It was not that Xigbar wasn't used to seeing naked men. When you lived with the (at that point) all-male Organization, which wasn't called the Orgy for nothing, it was unavoidable, but he felt bad seeing someone so young and innocent and ... cute.
Demyx scrambled to get his clothes back on.
"Alright, come 'ere, kid." Xigbar toweled off Demyx's hair and then, before the blond could stop him, scooped him up fireman-style, knocking his knees out from underneath him so that he fell into the older man's strong arms. "There you go."
Xigbar carried Demyx up to his room and carefully laid him in his bed.
"Alright, this is where you sleep. Got it?"
"Uh-huh. Thanks, uh..." Demyx frowned. "What's your name?"
"Xigbar."
"Thanks Xigbar. I'm Demyx."
"Yeah, I know, kid."
"Xigbar?" asked Demyx as the older man turned to go.
"Yeah kid?"
"Why are you so nice to me?"
Xigbar shrugged. "I guess I'm just a nice guy. Why? Are the other guys not nice to you?"
"Well, Axel said I looked like a sail fish on a bad hair day, which is ridiculous because fish obviously don't have hair." He looked very sulky. It was adorable. "And nobody else would talk to me, expect when they were talking my ears of trying to explain all this crazy-weird stuff and not making any sense!"
"You'll catch on, Demyx. And other guys aren't that bad," said Xigbar, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to the blond. "You just have to get used to them. Let's see," he said, ticking off members on his fingers. "There's Xemnas," Xigbar thought for a minute. "Actually, you might want to steer clear of him. He's a bit, well, you'll see. And then there's me; I'm cool. And then Vexen. He's a little quiet, but he's a pretty cool dude as long as you don't mess up an experiment or anything then he goes completely insane. Then there's Xaldin. To be honest, avoid him at all coasts. Trust me." He shuddered. "Anyway, then there's Lexaeus. He's very quiet. I'm not even sure he can talk. But he'll usually stick up for you. And then there's the emo, Zexion. Again, pretty quiet, but if you want to just sit and read with somebody, he's your man. And there's Saïx. He's basically Mansex's, Xemnas's, uh, lapdog. He'll bawl you out for anything, but I think he means well; he's just a little OCD. And it sounds like you've met Axel. He's really not that bad. Sure, he's a rambunctious little pyro, but I think you'll get along. He's fun." Xigbar reflected on his list. "Okay so maybe we're not the best bunch ever, but we can't be all bad."
"What do you mean?" asked Demyx who felt as if he should have been talking notes or something.
"Well, according to Xemnas and Vexen, only people who had really strong hearts end up like us; everybody else becomes a dusk or something if a Heartless gets 'em. I'm not very good at explaining things," he said awkwardly.
"So we used to be really good, uh, people?" he asked.
"Yeah maybe. They never exactly made it clear if "strong heart" means "good person" or just "stubborn" or something." Xigbar shrugged. "But I would say we're bad people, even now. We want what a lot of people want; we just want it for different reasons."
"Um...?" said Demyx, who was, once again, totally lost.
"Well, nobody really likes Heartless, rights? I mean, they eating your freaking heart; who would like them - even if they are kinda cute? So I still don't see what people's problem is with us. They don't like Heartless; we don't like Heartless. We all just want the Heartless dead, right?"
Demyx nodded mainly because it was easier.
"Just 'cause we want the hearts, I don't see why that's so bad, I mean, were they gunna use them? No." Xigbar rolled his one good eye. "You look confused."
"It's just a lot to take in," mumbled the Nocturne.
"I can imagine. You have to deal with becoming a Nobody and not being a fish anymore."
"I wasn't a fish!"
"Yeah, whatever." Xigbar stood up. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep, lil dude. If you have any other questions about life up here, don't hesitate to ask, Okay?"
Demyx had about a million questions about "life up here," but he just nodded.
Xigbar was almost at the door when Demyx called him back.
"Xigbar?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"We don't have hearts, right?"
"Right."
"So we don't have proper feelings?"
"That's what Xemnas says."
"Okay."
"Alright, well see ya tomorrow. 'Night, kid."
"Good-night, Xigbar."
Xigbar turned out the light and shut the door, leaving Demyx alone in the dark.
Demyx pulled the blankets up around him. He did have a lot to learn, but he already knew it wasn't true about them not having hearts.