The summer had been crazy hot, work bad and tensions were running high when the new tenant moved into the spare room at the back of the house.
He was an old friend of Larxene's, she had said, harmless if a little eccentric, brunette (the first tenant not to be blonde), perfectionist, and rich to boot. A perfect addition to the crumbling household.
Needless to say, they were all looking forward to (well, most of them; Vexen never looked forward to anything, even Christmas) the arrival of this strange Marluxia fellow.
None of them - not even Larxene - expected pink hair and black leather.
"You've changed," She commented lightly as he stepped into the house, giving it a critical once-over.
He smiled a little, deep blue eyes that were hypnotising and bottomless and drew you in until you completely forgot that it was rude to stare and it was quite possibly a good thing that his dusty pink fringe hung slightly too low on his forehead, for otherwise you may very well have simply fallen into the pools of iridescent sapphire, never to see the light of day again.
It made you wonder how many people he had drowned with those eyes.
"So have you. You must introduce me,"
His voice was the same, deep yet somehow soft and song like, and you melted into the gentle, lilting sound of his speech until there were dreams of meadows and cloudless skylines and wheeling, singing birds calling beautiful melodies to commemorate the beauty of the world...
He walked down the hallway as though the place was already his own, proud and strong. He had an air about him, of nobility and regality that heralded to a time gone by.
"Yeah, sure. This is Naminé, she's an artist, and Vexen, a scientist - I'd stay away from him if I were you. He's kinda... antisocial,"
Vexen made no move to disagree with the statement. In his opinion, the less he saw of other people, the better. Most people agreed.
Marluxia's gaze flitted over Naminé for a moment, but apparently considered her fairly uninteresting. Vexen... He took his time to inspect the bony man lingering at the bottom of the staircase, as though memorising every meticulous detail of his body. It obviously made Vexen uncomfortable, all but squirming under that steady look.
A silent conversation was held between blue eyes, and green. Vexen was the first to glance away.
"Hmph."
He made his way up the stairs, and was gone.
Marluxia smiled again, almost condescendingly if you looked deep enough.
"What a curious man,"
Larxene chuckled.
"Downright barmy, if you ask me,"
He turned again to Naminé.
"A quiet one, aren't you?"
Naminé almost melted under that radiating gaze. There was no denying that this man was gorgeous, and Naminé was the kind of person who was noticeable only for the fact that she was so unnoticeable, remarkable only in her unremarkability. People weren't interested in her. So when Marluxia suddenly turned his undivided attention to her, she crumpled beneath the captivating charisma that held everybody's eyes on his.
Or perhaps she was just being too poetic about the whole thing.
"Y-yeah," She stuttered, with a little shrug.
Marluxia nodded, satisfied by her answer, and walked through into the kitchen to inspect his new territory.
Naminé glanced at Larxene, who grinned.
"He'll fit in just fine," The taller blonde assured the smaller one as Marluxia checked the cupboards, dismissing most of them as useless. "Well, except with Vexen but he's a jigsaw puzzle all by himself,"