We wanted to do a Zemyx because, duh, it's Zemyx day. With Zexion as the seme. Ow-ow!

#1 Crush

Zexion knew that his life was about to be thrown into the god forsaken Congo River- Or at least his grade was- when his marine biology teacher said, "You'll be working with Axel Barron." That was a death sentence to his A-average: Ms. Lockheart may as well have told Zexion to never hand in another thing to her class.

Axel Barron was a walking contradiction. He was a third-generation hippy and heavy on environmental causes. That didn't stop him from smoking clove cigarettes in the student lounge, driving a humungous van to school (he carpooled, which might have made it okay), and generally being a violent person. To place a perfect maraschino cherry on the s'mores parfait (Zexion hated sundaes) of his misery, Axel was a school-and-rules optional sort of person. So, Zexion wasn't surprised when he was stopped outside of Marine Biology after the bell.

"Listen, I'm…"

"It's fine. I can write the report myself."

"That's shit," Axel pouted. "I wanna help. I just suck at actual work. I'm more of a 'Find the sources' kind of guy."

Ignoring how Axel could make a scholarly word like "sources" sound pornographic, Zexion said, "Fine. You can do the internet research. I'll actually write the paper and I'll do the research at the aquarium."

Axel pointed a spindly finger at him. "Sounds like a plan. I can even pick you up afterwards and crap."

"Great. I'm going today then."

"Cool."

"Great."

"Wonderful."

"Perfect."

"You're gonna miss your bus."

Zexion tried to give an intimidating glare (That was difficult to administer to someone who stands 7 inches taller than you) and stalked off to the buses.

If anyone asked him, Zexion would say in a heartbeat that he didn't want to major in Marine Biology. He wanted to major in literature and go to Stratford-upon-Avon where he could sift through historical records and find every little piece of Shakespeare's life he could possibly dig up. He was a Shakespeare fanboy. He didn't mind in the slightest. Which is why, when Axel failed to pick him up on time, Zexion found himself digging through his bag for one of his copies of Romeo and Juliet.

"Wow. You actually read all that 'I love thee so' shit?"

A large hand clapped itself onto Zexion's shoulder and he jumped. He whirled around to look into a pair of eyes, green-blue as the tank he had been staring into for the past hour or so. Attached to these eyes was tanned skin and a dirty-blonde faux hawk. All of these features were extremely attractive, more than what Zexion was used to, but that didn't call attention away from the shirt this god of a boy was wearing.

It was highlighter yellow. Piss yellow, actually. With a purple collar and a bright blue nametag that advertised the aquarium and had his name in a water pattern. "Demyx."

"Yes, Demyx, I actually read this 'I love thee so' shit."

"School?" Demyx flopped down next to Zexion and stared over his arm. "I had to read a lot of Shakespeare for school."

"It's leisure. We've already finished the Shakespeare unit."

"Ewww… Why?"

He actually got this a lot. Not from the more academically advanced people he knew, like Vexen or Saix, but people like Axel or Sora. "Because Shakespeare is a language that transcends the ages and is still relevant in today's society."

Demyx blinked slowly. "No, no. I get that. I wrote papers on that. I just wanna know why Romeo and Juliet and why not Hamlet?"

Zexion had never gotten this question before. He would have answered it if Axel's van hadn't decided to manifest itself in the parking lot. "Gotta go!"

The Demyx conundrum bothered Zexion all day. No one else understood his unnatural bent for Shakespeare. Vexen understood the love of academia, but was on the completely opposite side of the spectrum. Saix knew what it was like to fall in love with poetry, loved Midsummer Night's Dream, but would always go running back to John Dunn. But Demyx liked Shakespeare. Genuinely. He wasn't afraid to challenge him on his love of the ultimate love story.

And, to a degree, it scared him.

Zexion spent his lunch period in the library, typing away at a list of arguments as to why Romeo and Juliet was infinitely better than Hamlet. It wasn't that Hamlet had no literary merits, but really, who in their right mind would choose the ultimate emo-teen story over the greatest love story of all time?

"Heeey, Easy A. How's our report coming?"

"Already finished the first draft." Without even looking at the clove-reeking annoyance behind him, Zexion passed Axel a sheaf of printed papers. "I'm going back today for additional research." That was a lie. This first draft probably would be the final draft. But Zexion did want to have this discussion with him.

"Coolio." Without waiting for any sort of invitation, Axel plopped down in a seat next to Zexion. "So, I saw you chatting it up with Demy. Did he Shakespeare molest you?"

Shakespeare molest… The term sounded funny, even echoing in Zexion's head. "No. He just asked me about a preference."

"He'll molest you on your Shakesperean tastes if you let him. Just tell him you're not into that and he'll back off."

The constant motion of Zexion's fingers ceased. "I actually am into Shakespeare, believe it or not."

Axel grinned and, despite the various school policies against food in the library and candy in school, took out a lollipop and just stuck it in his mouth. "Really?"

"Really. And how do you know Demyx? He doesn't go here."

"Went here last year. He's a freshie at Port Royal U. Marine Bio major. I think he's in a rock band too. I've been to a few parties with him."

"Why didn't you tell me you used to be at my school?"

"Hang on a sec." Demyx motioned for Zexion to hold on as he tossed some food into a tank for the fish. "Good guys, eat up." He climbed off the ladder. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you used to go to my school?"

"I didn't know you didn't know. I mean, you didn't run around with your head that far up your ass, did you?"

A blush of mortification overtook Zexion's features. Between dredging up really good experiences for the college essays he was going to have to write, and SATs and community service and his father going into the hospital, yes, Zexion did have his head that far up his ass.

"I was a bit busy last year."

"And the year before that?" Demyx's grin could be really annoying sometimes.

"You can't possibly expect me to keep track of all the members of the class in front of mine."

Demyx laughed, a cool laughter that echoed through the nearly empty aquarium halls. "I guess you're right. Plus, you were probably one of those bookish types, right? Kept to himself all the time? People were too much trouble for you or something?"

"Y-Yeah…"

He nodded. Conversation was so easy with Demyx. Conversation with people was never easy for Zexion. Ever. There would always be all these awkward silences or uncomfortable fidgeting. Not with Demyx. Every movement that might have been fidgeting on someone else was smooth poetry in motion with Demyx. Every awkward silence became comfortable. It was the direct definition of chemistry.

This also scared him. Things were moving too fast and Zexion did what he always did when things were moving way too fast for him; He distanced himself from the situation. Politely.

"Look, this is moving way too fast."

"What?"

"I…"

Demyx blinked, then let out a peal of laughter. "You sound like a girl trying to get her boyfriend to slow down, Zexy."

"Don't call me Zexy," he said automatically. Then backtracked through the past two days. "Wait, I never told you my name."

"I know. But I still knew it. Just because you didn't know me doesn't mean that I don't know you." Zexion flushed. "You were mentioned a few times on the intercom, just here and there. You were in the yearbook with the book club, so I saw you in that when Saix was in. Uhm…" Demyx leaned against the ladder he had been up on earlier. "I know there's more."

"No, that's… enough. It almost feels like you were stalking me," Zexion said with a smile.

"No, I'm not stalking you anymore than I was stalking anyone else."

Rather than respond to this, Zexion turned his attention to the fish he was supposed to be studying. "Why fish?"

"What?"

"Why do you want to study fish so badly? Axel told me you're in marine biology."

Demyx got away from the ladder and stood next to Zexion. "Because I like fish. They're pretty, they're exotic, and they're cold-blooded just like me." Zexion raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding."

"I knew you were kidding."