This was finished exactly 5 minutes too late to actually be written on Zemyx day, but we can pretend, right? Anyways, it's my first Zemyx thing ever, and my first attempt at writing Zexion as a main character, so, er... if I failed completely at characterization, please let me know, and forgive me.
Also, written for Amanda, since otherwise I probably would have glossed right over Zemyx day. Hope it makes you smile~
Disclaimer: I don't own KH. ...Duh.
Zexion had a corner in the university library. He was the kind of person who would have a corner in the library; the kind of person that was so entirely preoccupied by books that he preferred to submerse himself in them instead of interacting with people. The librarians, at that point, simply accepted his presence as though he were simply another overstuffed chair or rickety table -- he never left any books out, anyways, and rarely checked any out, for that matter. He was simply always there, and always quite alone.
It was on a sunny afternoon that something about this routine changed for the first time in a long time. The change was not brought about by Zexion himself, however; Zexion, actually, did everything in his power to keep it from changing. Some changes, however, are like a force of nature - or fate, depending on how one looks at it.
"What are you reading?" A voice asked, and Zexion started, nearly dropping his book in shock. He looked up through his bangs at the source of the voice - a blond, with a stupid-looking hair style (was that a mohawk or a mullet?), a broad smile, and really ridiculously blue eyes. In short, he was the type of person who never, ever talked to Zexion. Which led to his intelligent response of, "What?"
"I said," Demyx said in a teasing way, "what are you reading?"
Zexion held up his book for inspection. It was on biogenetics, and theories about cloning, and it was clear from the expression on Demyx's face that it went right over the blond's head.
"Are you a biology major?" Demyx asked, and he sounded so genuinely curious that Zexion wasn't sure how to react.
"No," Zexion said, and lowered the book again to continue reading, mostly in the hope that this strange interruption to his regular routine would simply go away on its own.
Demyx settled down next to Zexion, leaning against the wall as wall, and Zexion wondered how he was failing so badly at making this annoyance go away. "Oh. Just light reading, then?" Demyx's voice held a smile, and Zexion smiled a little too before he could help it.
"Something like that," he allowed, and tried to continue where he'd left off, expecting the conversation to be over.
Demyx, however, had other ideas. "So are you always in the library?" Demyx asked, and Zexion resisted the urge to grit his teeth. "Every time I come in here, you're in this corner, reading a new book every time. I don't think I've ever seen you not here."
"I like it here," Zexion said, in another attempt to end the conversation.
"Do you have friends?" Another failed attempt, apparently. Coming from anyone else, the phrase probably would have sounded condescending or sarcastic, but from Demyx, it merely sounded genuinely curious and maybe a little teasing.
"Yes," Zexion said, truthfully. He considered his roommate Lexaeus his friend, and professor Vexen, and. . . well, that was about it, but it was something, right? . . .Right?
Demyx could easily have looked doubtful at that, but he seemed to simply accept it at face value. "You should spend some time with them, instead of here," he said simply, but Zexion had no reply. Demyx was leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on something on the ceiling but his shoulder nearly close enough to touch Zexion - and now that Zexion was aware of that fact, it seemed to lodge in his brain, taking up most of his attention. Though his eyes remained fixed on the page, the words blurred together as he paid them less and less attention.
"Hey," Demyx said, and cheerfulness practically seeped from his voice. "You should come over to the coffee shop with me. There's going to live music there in a half hour or so."
Zexion shrugged. "I'd rather stay here." He'd meant to add but you can go to the end of that, but it stuck in his throat. He told himself that it was because giving Demyx permission to leave was ridiculous, but that didn't quite ring true.
Demyx sighed, but even that sounded playful. "At least come read in the commons? It's nice outside."
"Why are you talking to me?" Zexion burst out, finally looking up from his book and at Demyx. "I'm the least sociable person in this library! The 80-year-old librarian is probably a more interesting conversationalist! Why me?"
Demyx looked fully into his eyes. "I like you." All of Zexion's arguments died in his throat. Demyx turned faintly red, but he kept going. "I just kept seeing you here, and I started getting curious about what you were reading, and why you were here, and who you were outside of this library." Demyx looked away, now fully red. "So. . . that's why." A wry smile crossed Demyx's lips. "Also, the librarian doesn't make very good conversation, believe me."
Zexion's mouth hung slightly open, unsure what to say to this. Finally, he gathered enough thoughts to come up with a weak rebuttal. "I'm not that interesting," he said, and he tried to affect some scorn into his voice and failed miserably - he still sounded faintly confused and slightly awed. "I really do spend most of my time in this library."
"You're interesting," Demyx assured him, and his tone left no room for argument. Zexion blinked at him, forgetting entirely about trying to look scholarly. Unexpectedly, Demyx beamed. "You're really cute, you know that?" he said, and, before Zexion could even fully sort out what that meant, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Zexion's cheek.
Zexion actually sputtered, his first few attempts at talking dying in a gaping confusion. After a couple seconds - during which Demyx just smiled and maintained a faint blush - he managed, "What?" Which summed up his feelings pretty well, really.
"I told you, I like you," Demyx said. "And I wanted to see how you reacted." He added the ending like an afterthought, but his smile morphed into a friendly smirk.
"Um," Zexion said, still fumbling with stringing together an actual sentence. Gaping for a second longer, he shook his head. "You're strange."
With an unexpected burst of laughter, Demyx replied, "So are you."
There was nothing Zexion could say to that.
Demyx turned, and then stood up, offering Zexion an outstretched hand. "Come on. Come read in the commons." Zexion stared at the hand as though it were something he'd never seen before, and deliberated. "Come on!" Demyx said, and his voice held laughter again. "You're going to get dust poisoning in here!"
"I don't think there is such a thing as dust poisoning," Zexion said, but he took the outstretched hand anyways and followed Demyx out of the library.
His corner could live without him for a few hours, anyways.
A/N: ...I can't shake the feeling that I have massacred Zexion's character so, so badly.