"Hey, Xaldin, uh, I know it's none of my business, but--"
"Then why ask?" Xaldin said coolly. For how much longer would he have to put up with Demyx? Even Axel or Xigbar would be preferable to this absolute idiot. He turned the page in his book. "Why are you in here, anyway? Don't stand in my doorway."
"Uh, I guess you're right. I'll ask Xigbar, then." Demyx turned to go down the hallway.
"Ask him about what?"
"Uh, something. It's dumb, and I can see that I'm bothering you. Um, never mind."
"Don't trip on the stairs."
-
"Hey, has anyone seen Xigbar?" asked Demyx, walking into the unnecessarily huge bathroom. Ah, the bathroom. As good a place as any to begin, he supposed.
"He's on a mission," Vexen replied, brushing his hair. "Why do you want to know anyway, huh?"
"Um, just because. No reason. Will you tell me when he gets back?"
"No," Vexen said.
"Well, at least you're honest," Demyx muttered, going into the hallway and running directly into Xigbar.
"You liar, Vexen!"
"Maybe he just got back," Vexen shrugged.
"What's going on?" Xigbar asked.
Demyx turned away, frowning. "I wanted to ask Xaldin something, but he told me to butt out, so I went to find you."
"Well, okay."
Vexen did his silly turkey-laugh and scoffed. "I'd hate to interrupt your little moment, so I'll just be going to Larxene's bathroom or something." He fake gagged and shoved Demyx out of the way to get out of the bathroom.
"Why are we in the bathroom, anyway?" Demyx asked himself. "Maybe I should ask both of them about it. Hey, it smells like bacon in here. That's weird." No-one had ever accused him of being normal, anyway. "Let's get out of the bathroom," he said out loud.
"Alright?"
-
"So why are you leading me all around the Castle? What did you want to ask about?"
"Huh? Oh, actually I was trying to find somewhere that nobody would bother us."
"Demyx," Xigbar said, putting his hands on Demyx's shoulders. "You're creepin' me out, man. What the hell are you going to ask me?"
"It's about Xaldin."
"Oh? What about him? He's too quiet. It's always the quiet ones, you know. Hehaha."
"Are you in love with him or something?" Demyx said suddenly.
"What? As if! Didn't I just say he was weird? You're thinking too much, Dems, and you know what happens when you think."
"Yeah, I guess so. Um, sorry. I'm gonna go get something to eat, okay?"
"Don't fall down the stairs, dude. It'd be a mess to clean up."
-
"Knock, knock."
"Come in, Xigbar." Xaldin laid his book on the table. and gestured to the other chair. Xigbar sat.
"Well? I assume you've a reason for coming here?"
"You know that I do. I wouldn't bother you out of the blue."
"What, exactly, did the stupid one ask you, then?"
"Not how to make cupcakes, that's for damn sure." Xigbar slammed his fist on the table. "Is it that obvious? Honestly."
"Is what that obvious?"
Xigbar sighed. There was no way he could say it, but he was sure that if he did, Xaldin would react. He was always stoic--not as much as Lexaeus, but to an extent. What he wanted was to see any genuine display of emotion. Then again, wasn't that what they all wanted, some kind of emotion?
"He asked if I had certain feelings for an unnamed person. That's all."
Xaldin raised an eyebrow. He would get more out of Xigbar.
"Specifically?"
"Just someone. Really, I don't even know why I came here." He stood, intending to leave.
"Specifically?" Xaldin repeated, enunciating each syllable. "Sit back down, please." Xigbar did.
"It's you, alright? He asked if I was in love with you, damn it. I mean, how ridiculous, as if!"
"Is that so." Xaldin smiled. "How interesting. He really is dense, isn't he?"
"...How do you mean, 'Is that so'?"
Xaldin scoffed. "Weren't you the one who just said it was obvious? I may appear devoid of emotion, certainly, but must something necessarily be as it appears?"
"I repeat: how do you mean?"
"Forever I walk among the ignorant," muttered Xaldin. "You really can't see what I'm saying?"
"No. Forgive me for being as dense as Demyx."
"What is your greatest wish?" Xaldin asked suddenly.
"Don't change the subject."
"Your answer is relevant to the conversation at hand, I assure you."
"As if I'd tell you that anyway."
"I have ways of making you talk, you know," said Xaldin, almost threateningly. Xigbar started laughing, recalling a very strange joke Larxene had told him the other day.
"Oh? Like?" he scoffed.
"I think it would be in your best interests not to backtalk me, Xigbar," growled Xaldin.
"As if, dude," Xigbar replied.
"So be it."
Xigbar rose and pushed his chair in with no intention to come back.
-
It must have been midnight. Ugh. Why would anyone be knocking on the door at midnight?
"Hey, um, about earlier--"
"Forget about it," Xigbar snarled. He pulled his sheets over his head, willing the idiot to just leave already. What was he doing awake at midnight, anyway?
"Well I was going to apologize for making an awkward situation, but whatever. Why are you getting all defensive about it, huh?"
"Demyx," he said.
"What?"
"Get the hell out of my room, kid. Go to sleep."
"Oh, uh, sorry."
-
No more than twenty minutes later, Xigbar was awoken yet again by another knock on his door.
"Forgive my intrusion."
"Not at all," Xigbar said sarcastically, glaring at Xaldin. Great, another awkward thing to deal with.
"I'd like to apologize."
"For what?" Xigbar sat up, combing his hair with his fingers. He unconsciously paused his hand over the socket that his eye patch usually covered.
"For being rude earlier."
"Sure, but do you have to do it at midnight?"
Xaldin smiled again. Twice in one day, that must have been some kind of record.
"Actually, yes. Everyone is asleep at this hour. Except, apparently, you and I. Odd, isn't it?"
'You and I.' The way he said it...
Combined with the smiling and the weird responses and...
It was almost enough to make one think that he was implying that...
"Oh my God, I've just realized that I'm the hugest idiot in the world."
"Congratulations."
"When you said 'Is that so', you meant..."
"I meant what?" Xaldin asked.
"That I--and you--we--and--"
"May I sit?" Xaldin pointed to the bed. Xigbar instinctively scooted over, blushing. Yeah, totally not weird to be sitting on a bed, half-naked, in the dark, with another guy he may or may not have had weird feelings for. Not at all.
"Will you tell me your response to Demyx's question?"
"I told him no way."
"And were you telling the truth?"
Xaldin leaned over Xigbar, pushing him onto the bed and pinning his arms down. Xigbar was blushing furiously now, and he hoped to whatever gods there were that Xaldin didn't see. Wait, why would that matter, anyway? He was practically being raped here, for Chris'sake.
"Um, maybe," he stuttered.
"And by maybe, you mean...?"
"Um, no?"
"And by no, you mean...?"
"As if I was telling the truth."
"That's what I like to hear," Xaldin said, grinning.