.:B o o k w o r m:.
By: Nietono-no-Shana
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Kingdom Hearts, but just the ideas here.
Tch, tch, tch…
'It's him again,' Zexion sighed to himself as he rolled his eyes. He repositioned himself in his seat and put the book he was reading onto his lap.
Tch, tch, tch…
'That stupid musician,' he thought, taking a deep breath and then exhaling. 'Why does he even come here?'
Zexion heaved another huge sigh, and, upon exhaling he said, "Demyx, I can clearly hear your footsteps from behind the Fiction shelf."
A loud groan came from behind the stack of books, and a blonde boy with a mullet popped his head out from one of the sides.
"Could you at least let me win one time!?" he complained.
"This isn't a game, Demyx. And besides, it's annoying when you disturb my reading."
"Reading is for squares," Demyx said as he stood up from his hiding place. He started to slowly saunter over towards the desk that Zexion was at.
"It would do you some good," he replied, ignoring Demyx as he arrived at the desk across from him.
Demyx had come to the Castle's library for the past two weeks, and Zexion wasn't sure why. Someone who was restless, bubbly, and incredibly stupid like him didn't belong in a confined and quiet area like the library. He was very different from Zexion, who preferred his privacy.
"Can I join you?" Demyx asked, putting his hands on the table and leaning over to try and take a peek at what Zexion was reading.
"As long as you don't bring those annoying 'friends' of yours," Zexion replied, leaning back on his seat to distance himself from him and Demyx.
"You mean Axel and Roxas?"
"Who else?"
"Nah, they're no fun; they always leave me out of stuff. And besides, they wanted to raid Larxene's room again."
'Perverted freaks,' Zexion thought to himself with disgust.
"I'm so bored," Demyx sighed. He hopped up onto the desk and leaned back on it, gazing up at the plain white ceiling of the library.
"Off," Zexion immediately commanded, pushing Demyx's back to get off the desk.
"Alright, alright, already!" Demyx teased as he slid off the desk and stood up again.
"Desks are meant to put things on; not people's bottoms."
Zexion pulled a packet of disinfectant wipes from his black coat's pocket and opened the package. He took out one of the cleaning wipes and swished it back and forth across the spot where Demyx had sat on.
Demyx merely blinked his blue eyes with disbelief as he watched what Zexion was doing.
"You're such a control freak!"
"I want to keep this place clean," Zexion simply replied.
Demyx crossed his arms and pouted with a frown.
"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to wipe your seat when you leave." He shot back.
Zexion's eyes widened at this. Was this a challenge?
"You're willing to stay in this library till closing time?" he asked incredulously.
"Y-Yeah," Demyx said, trying to sound like he really was. "But…how long will it be?"
"6:30 PM."
He glanced at the nearby clock, which read 3:30 PM…
Was he really going to stay in the library for three whole hours!? Not even Axel or Roxas would be able to entertain themselves in a musty old place like this. I mean, the library was for geeks!
"Stay as long as you like," Zexion offered, putting his book onto the desk. "But I doubt you'll be here that long." And with that, he tuned the rest of the world out, and entered the world of his book by resuming to read it.
Hating to lose to an argument, Demyx huffed and looked away from Zexion. He wondered why he'd even bothered to strike up a conversation with this anti-social Nobody. He looked around the rest of the library, which only had three other members in it: Vexen, Luxord, and Marluxia (strangely enough).
"What's Marluxia doing here?" Demyx whispered, turning to look at Zexion again and pointed over at Marluxia.
Annoyed that he'd already been disturbed again in less than a minute, Zexion reluctantly looked over at the man who was in the Romance section.
"He likes to read Romance novels," Zexion answered, his eyes blinking over at Marluxia as he was stooped over a particular book.
"Romance novels?" Demyx repeated. "Aren't those for girls?"
"Well, Marluxia does appear to have a feminine side…" he pondered.
Just then, Marluxia shouted something out loud, which made everyone jump once they heard him scream.
"Oh, Sarah," he cried, "Why the hell would you choose Gary!? He's totally not your type…"
Demyx's eyes opened wide with horror, and he looked at Zexion for an explanation.
But the Nobody simply shook his head in dismay. He, too, didn't know why Marluxia loved those kinds of sappy books.
"He tends to do that a lot," Zexion added as he turned the page of his book.
"Looks like the library is for weirdoes," Demyx said as he stuck his tongue out with disgust. He took a seat across from Demyx and stared at the cover that Zexion was reading.
"'Psychology for Beginners?'" he read aloud as he looked at the thick book. "Is that what you read all day long? About people minds? How can you read books with no pictures in them?"
'When will this guy shut up?' Zexion thought to himself.
Nevertheless, being the polite person he was, he put his book down to answer Number IX's question.
"Psychology is a very interesting subject," he began. "And reading books with pictures in them is clearly for brazed children, such as yourself."
"I'm not a kid!" he shot back, pouting again.
"I bet the only thing you can read are picture books," Zexion shot back.
"Alright, that does it!" Demyx said, standing up from his chair and slamming a hand down on the desk. "Zexion, why are you so anti-social?"
"I like being alone," he said simply, but he was getting annoyed as well. "And being around you is a nuisance."
"But don't you realize that being alone can have its limits?"
'Limits?' Zexion repeated.
Solitude never had limits; you could always choose to be alone if you wanted to. Being alone was what Zexion loved, because he could do the things he wanted to do. He had choice, unlike the choice of being a Nobody, where you couldn't feel emotions. Being alone was the only choice he could make on his own…
"Being alone never has its limits," he replied.
"But don't you ever think that maybe, just maybe, you'd want to have some company around with you?"
"I don't need company," he said. "I can do well on my own."
"But what if someone wanted you to be their company?" Demyx asked. "Then what would you do?"
Zexion blinked up at Demyx with surprise. He hadn't thought of this kind of question before.
Nobody had ever wanted Zexion as company…
Perhaps now, he would be able to make the choice to welcome someone else into his realm…
Demyx shook his head and sighed.
"You're such a bookworm," he said as he turned around to leave. As he walked to the doors of the entrance, he said, "I guess I'll catch you later, or something." As he reached for the handle to the library's door, Demyx took one last look at Zexion and smiled. "And the next time I'll see you, I'll be sure to sneak up on you properly." And with that, he walked out into the castle's hallways and was gone.
Zexion was still stunned by Demyx's words, and he could feel his hands drop the book's cover as it fell onto the desk with a loud 'THUMP'!
Maybe Demyx was right. Maybe what Zexion had wanted for the longest time was company. But he'd never asked for it. Or – more precisely – he wanted someone else to find him first.
For the first time a long while, Zexion smiled to himself and closed his eyes, embracing the quietness of the library once more.
…Perhaps he isn't a stupid musician after all…
-End
Ah, I was bored, and decided to type this short story up. Demyx and Zexion would make a cute pair of friends, don't you think? This is my first time writing a Demyx/Zexion (FRIENDSHIP!) story, so if you'd give me some feedback, that would be awesome! :D
-Shana-san