Friday night at The Castle That Never Was. Axel, Roxas, Marluxia, and Zexion all piled into one of the rooms to show off their "mad" dance moves; along with, of course, yours truly. I mean, someone has to PWN them all and make them look like total idiots, right? And who better for that job than the Melodious Nocturne himself? So, Marly and I brought the Mountain Dew, Roxas brought the game and his PS2, Zexion brought his book, and Axel brought about five bags of Cheetos, which Roxas had been banned from so much as thinking of, even smelling of by the Superior due to a little skirmish that occurred not too long ago and ended with Number XIII having an emotional breakdown - but that's another story for another time.
"Alright," Roxas began as he started plugging the cords into the big screen while Marluxia and I moved furniture and Axel starts busting open bags of Cheetos. Zexion, of course, was lying on his bed, propped up by pillows, reading his stupid book. "My game, my rules. Playoff format - three rounds, winner proceeds to semi-finals, then winners of those face off in the finals. Winner of the finals proceeds to... the final finals, against… Well, I made a bracket sheet," he said pulling a piece of paper out of the pocket of his blue pajama pants, which were adorned with all these cutesy little cartoon keys. Axel's PJ's were different shades of red, decorated with hot tamales, or chili peppers, and you might call them. Marluxia's were... pink and flowery, while Zexion's... well, they're just black. Mine? Mine are a light shade of blue with silver music notes.
Axel suddenly grabbed the sheet out of Roxas's hand. "Against Zexion?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in the Cloaked Schemer's direction.
Hearing his name was just enough to pull his nose from between the pages for a moment. "I already told you idiots that I will have no part in this foolery."
"Then why're you here?" I shot back. Ha, got him now! I just know he's itching to try to make us look stupid by proving to be a natural at DDR. I don't care - I mean, to see Zexion dancing? Well worth it.
"It's my room," he replies coldly. "Why you imbeciles chose to conduct this idiocy in my room is still beyond even me. If you will at least pretend to be slightly intelligent for just a moment, Demyx, you will remember the only reason I agreed was because Axel was holding my thesaurus hostage at flame point."
"Oh... right," I muttered, scratching the back of my head.
"Anyway, point is, Zexion, no one can resist DDR - the allure of stomping arrows in time to music is too great for even you to defy for long," Roxas said with a smug grin as he twists open a Mountain Dew.
"Quite frankly, Roxas, I think I'd rather be trod into the ground by a herd of rabid wild chocobo than to play that daft game of yours," Zexion replied, giving him a bored look before returning to his book. The boy does have a sense of humor... a strange one, but it beats that of the Superior any day.
Marluxia rolled his eyes and glanced over Axel's shoulder at the paper. "First bracket - Axel versus... me." He stepped onto one of the mats as Roxas fired up the PS2, smirking at his opponent.
"You're going down… pyro."
"You know, it's hard to take someone seriously when they're wearing pajamas with pink frilly flowers on them."
Marluxia glared daggers at the Flurry of Dancing Flames. "Don't diss my element, Axel. And I swear, you call me that again and I'll-"
"And you'll what? Plant a tulip?"
"Maybe on your grave..."
"Heyyyy, so, who's picking the first song?" I interrupted with a nice big innocent smile plastered across my face. Those two never did get along, and, entertaining as it is to listen to them squabble, I'm ready for my turn to come around already! Besides, if one of Axel's chakram were to rip one of Zexion's Hamlet posters, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be having any more DDR parties here in the near future...
Both of them opened their mouths to answer at once, and both presumably to volunteer to choose the first selection. I winced visibly, knowing I'd only redirected their argument. But lucky for me, Roxas saw the same and quickly pulled a coin from his pocket. "Actually, why don't you guys just flip for it? Heads or tails, Axel?"
"Why does he get first pick?" Marluxia whined, crossing his arms.
"What, Marly, do you want to flip to see who gets to pick a side first too?" Axel retorted, his voice glazed with a nice thick coat of sarcasm. "I mean, the odds are the same, no matter who picks first."
The "Graceful" Assassin rolled his eyes heavily in Axel's direction. "Not the point, but whatever. By all means, Axel, proceed," he says, eyes narrowed to mere slits.
Axel happily complied, "Tails."
Roxas shot an uncertain glance at Marluxia, in case he should offer any further objection. When none came, he shrugged his shoulders and flipped the coin off of his thumb. It seemed to hang in the air for an eternity, spinning ever-so-slowly. Four sets of eyes followed it as it finally made its trip back to the ground, nearly knocking each other over as we huddled around to see the verdict.
"Ha! Heads!" Marluxia cries, thrusting a fist in the air. Sure enough, Xemnas' profile faced upwards, the image of The Castle That Never Was downwards. Axel shrugged lightly. "Select away, Marly."
After a wonderful death glare at the red head, Marluxia shifted his attention to the game. Stomping his foot on the 'right' arrow, he browsed quickly through the songs before finally selecting one titled...
Author's Note – Teehee, you'll have to wait until the next chapter… 8D I know this probably is really sucky, but I don't care, I made this quite a while ago, and I think I was smoking something. ..
I dunno why I put Hamlet posters in Zexion's room, it's beyond me…
