A/N: Wow. Hello everyone! I didn't ever think I was going to be posting anything anytime soon. But, here I am! I don't want to waste your time with my blabbing, but this story was very important to me because I wrote it for my best friend. I started it in early May and just now got around to finishing it. I actually based Axel's personality and mannerisms largely off of the way she acts in real life, so this story is sort of dear to me. However, the person who inspired me to write this is Alleluia Rhapsody. She and I had a conversation about Demyx and Axel's friendship a while back, and it just made me want to write a story celebrating their friendship. Anyway, I'm talking to much! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Demyx. I don't own Axel. Nor do I own Kingdom Hearts, Chinese resturants, Sweden, bottle rockets, the word Damn, the stars, or Beatle Juice. Thank you!
"Ni hao! Ni hao! Hello! Will you be dining with us tonight, yes? Please, please, this way!" Aunt Helen's broken English rang through the small restaurant as she led the newest arrival of customers to an open booth. I had seen the routine enough times to know how the scene would play out like clockwork. Scurrying across the tiled floors, she'd hand the customers menus, or if they wanted dim sum, push a cart towards the table. She would go about tending to this particular table until-
"Ah! Ni hao! Ni hao! Hello! Dining in tonight, yes? Please, please, this way!"
And, since it was a typical busy Friday night, there would be hours and hours of Aunt Helen greeting customers with the standard Ni hao! Ni hao! He-
"Axel! Aiya!"
Well, that wasn't a greeting.
A petite, frail, elderly woman waved a well-designed silk fan at me through the window of the kitchen, her wrinkled face draped in a frown.
"What's wrong, Grandma?" I asked, wiping my hands on my apron as I wheeled out of the kitchen at top speeds. Grandma Chu was what the Yakuza, had her family been Japanese instead of their Western neighbors in Beijing, called a Dragon Grandmother. She sat upon a high stool at the cash register every evening and, in the case of Saturdays and Sundays, afternoon. She was in charge of one thing: money. Currently, my habitually irate, stumpy grandmother was poised atop her rickety stool, little legs dangling, not even close to touching the ground, counting several bills in one hand as she fanned herself with the other.
"That daughter of mine-"
"Aunt Helen-"
"Yes, yes. The loud, unmarried one. She is having trouble with the corner booth. The young ones there cannot understand her. Tend to them, yes?""
No. I don't want to. You know I'm terrible with people. That's why I hole myself up in the kitchen.
"Of course, Grandma. Let me take my apron off first."
You suck, I told myself as I folded the apron and placed it under the counter before tucking a pen behind my ear for show. You suck. No one said no to Grandma Chu, which explains why Grandpa married her. So, technically, the family was created out of fear.
Thank you, Gran. I love you.
The table, to my dismay, was filled with people I had seen before from school. That's one of the only reasons I didn't like working on Friday nights. Everyone who had an evening to kill came here. There were about four or five of them, but I kept my eyes on the tabletop as I passed the menus out.
"What can I start you all off with?"
"Coke."
"Me too."
"Me three!"
"Coke as well."
"Um… an iced tea, please."
Well… I wasn't expecting that. A please? That was rare coming from guys my age. And an iced tea? No one ever ordered that anymore. It was the one fountain drink that just sat lonely next to the grape soda, which had also been kicked off of the high-ranking pop charts. I looked up to see blue eyes peering at my own through a curtain of sandy colored hair. The Blue, blue eyes shifted after meeting my own and was blocked from sight as one of the guys leaned in front of the slight boy.
"Hey, it's the student body president!"
Shit, I've been recognized.
Daring to look up and finally see whom exactly I was serving, I pushed back my bangs to see four curious faces, and one perpetually confused blonde.
"I'm actually vice-president under Zexion's command, but thank you for the upgrade…"
"Pence! This here is Hayner, Olette, Roxas, and his cousin." The shortest one, presumably named Pence, chirped. The atmosphere around them radiated with a cheerful naivety, but at the same time, it was easy to tell that they were itching for something more than what they currently had.
Freshmen.
"I think I've seen you around before," I said absently to the smaller blonde as I placed paper mats before the group, glancing nonchalantly at the blonde with the crazy hair's cousin. Even sitting down, his head of haphazard tuffs reached just above the other students'. Probably a sophomore, or a junior at the best.
"Yeah," the shortest blonde replied vacantly, "I hang out with Zexion sometimes. We're neighbors, so occasionally we'll say hi at school. And, I'm gonna be treasurer this year, so he's offered to keep an eye on me." I hummed quietly in response before digging into the pocket of the waist-apron around my hips and produced five sets of chopsticks.
"I'll come backing a few minutes when you're ready to order." I looked up to offer a small smile to the group, but the tall, faux-hawked cousin had already beat me to it.
It was illegal to radiate such happiness.
Promptly, I flashed a sheepish grin and high-tailed it into the kitchen. An empty glass was jammed under the fountain soda dispenser as I eyed the boy. He held up his hands animatedly while talking to the freshmen, waving them around in emphasis as he said something out of earshot. The string bracelets of different colors and the green rubber band adorning his wrists shook as he continued to wave his hands. Each band and hemp probably held a story or served as some kind of memorabilia, but I wasn't about to ask.
"Loud runts." Grandma Chu murmured from behind her fan. "Make sure you get a fat tip from them, Axel."
"Yes, Grandma," I said in a singsong voice that was only audible to me, myself, and I.
"Um, excuse me…"
I turned around quickly, backing up against the soda machine and almost getting a shot of citrus pop down my shirt. It was the blonde one. The strange one. He stared down at his scuffed canvas sneakers (Oh god, I was wearing a pair too) and twirled his fingers through the strands of hair at the nape of his neck. I realized that this kid had what people called 'musician' fingers: long and graceful. But, pianist could be instantly ruled out because there were telltale guitarist-trademark calluses on the pads of his fingers. Either that, or this kid kicked ass at Call of Duty 24/7.
"Can I help you?" I asked, hoping that the sentence didn't sound as stiff as it did in my head. But, judging by the way Sandy Blonde flinched suddenly and shifted to the other leg at lightening speed, it was almost a bark.
Shit. This is why I don't interact with the customers, Grandma!
"Er, sorry, I mean-"
"Ah, no, it's okay! I shouldn't be bothering you while you work, but-" Guitar Hero glanced over his shoulder at the table he had come from. "I don't know how to use chopsticks, but I didn't want to look dumb in front of my cousin and his friends by asking for a pair of cutlery in front of them…"
"Say no more," I said and fished around under the counter that Grandma Chu normally occupied (thank God old people have to the need to take frequent bathroom breaks). When I straightened back up, Fauxhawk's face was set in a small frown. "Something wrong?"
"You don't look Chinese."
Thank you, Captain Obvious. Let's give the man a prize.
I ran a hand through my hair (that was clearly not the typical Asian black) before asking, "would you believe me if I told you I dyed my hair?"
"Perhaps, but no Asian except Yao Ming is that tall."
Damn.
"Crazy family super-genetics?"
"Judging by the little old lady who sits here's height, that would be a very slim chance," Music Man replied with a smile, enjoying the guessing game.
"Let's see…"
"Adoption?"
Ouch. The A word.
I gave a small wince and scooped up the drinks for Mr. Way-to-Bring-Up-a-Sensitive-Subject's table.
"I prefer the term salvation myself."
"You mean like the Salvation Army? I go there all the time!"
Huh. He's a dork. Who would've guessed?
"Your name's Demyx, right?"
"Mhm! Demyx Donohue."
"Well, Demyx, I gotta make sure that the other customers don't starve, but if you stick around I can score you some dessert if you'd like afterwards."
"Do you have any red Jell-O?"
0 0 0
"Do you think the sky is made of Jell-O?" Demyx leaned back against the façade of Grandma Chu's building, stacking his now empty cup into the tower of already empty containers. I watched curiously as he grabbed another and pulled the lid open, licking the underside like a cat.
"The sky can't be made of Jell-O," I replied simply, sipping a bubble tea the chef had secretly made me. Demyx rolled his eyes and stared up at the atmosphere in question.
"So, are you going to tell me that it's all scientific?"
"Of course not. But, the sky can't be made out of Jell-O when the ocean already is."
I've never seen someone's face light up the way his did. Jesus, it glowed! Satisfied, Demyx brought his Jell-O up to his mouth and inhaled the substance.
"You go to our school, right?"
"… You go to my school?"
Crap. That came out wrong.
"Er, not to sound rude or anything, I mean-"
Demyx laughed and shook his hand freely.
"No offense taken. I'm new this year; just joined your grade."
"No kidding? You look nothing like it, no offense or anything. Is your birthday right before the cut-off, by any chance?"
Demyx nodded with a familiar smile, fingering the frayed ends of his jeans.
"The day of. I'm super incredibly young, I can't even drive yet! But, y'know…" Blonde Boy placed the last Jell-O cup into his leaning-tower-of-desserts-past before continuing. "I'm not in that big of a rush to drive. One less person to pollute the Earth."
No one thinks like that. No one that's 16-17 years old with normal male testosterone levels. We want big souped up trucks and Hummers and imported British/ German/ Japanese cars that have tinted windows and loudspeaker systems. Environment took the backburner when it came to cars, in all honesty.
"That's a new outlook," I replied, trying to hide the Bavarian Motor Works keys sticking out of my pocket. Demyx gathered up his Jell-O stack and attempted to balance them on each of his fingers.
"You think so? Thanks!" He frowned as the containers came tumbling down for a fourth time. It was like watching a little kid try and build a house of cards over and over again with that sheer, unexplainable childish determination. But, after a few more silent minutes of stacking and failing, Demyx's hands stilled and linked together. He ('indiscreetly') peeked at me from the corner of his eyes with those way too blue irises before asking, "If you don't mind me bringing this up, where exactly are you from?"
"The stork."
Damn. I finished that bubble tea already?
Demyx shifted uneasily beside me, curling his musician fingers around the toes of his sneakers. I had, clearly, not given him the answer he wanted, but I just didn't feel like opening up the bad memories door when today was turning out to be such a nice one! But…
"… I was born in Vienna," I muttered in a tone that sounded so depressed it surprised even me. But, Demyx seemed to take my inflection in one ear and out the other as he turned, hands planted firmly on the ground, and blurted:
"I love Austria!" The blonde's mouth was honestly hanging open in a smile. But, it quickly went from its dormant state to vigorous motion once more. "Can you play the piano?"
Piano. Honestly, I just revealed something that I rarely talk about, and he wants to know if I can play the piano?
"… Um, I'm no Mozart or anything, but when I was little I used-"
"How about German? Can you speak German?"
What… the hell.
"Not re-"
"Aw, that's a shame! German is the official language of Austria and stuff, ya know."
Where is the off button?
I leaned back against the building, running a tense hand through my hair that had escaped it rubber band hold.
"Well, considering my parents left me at an orphanage, it's not all that bad that I don't have any connection. The less I know the better, really." The glumness oozed out of my voice, and my attempts to conceal it were very minimal. Demyx frowned slightly beside me as he ran a finger along the rim of the Jell-O cups.
"Jeez, I'm sorry to heat that… But I don't really know what else to say…" He paused and tilted his head into my peripheral vision so that I could absorb his warm smile. Gods, how can people ever stay mad at this kid? "I'm kinda terrible with words, but I like to listen."
"Yeah, and ask questions."
Shit. I said that out loud.
But, to my surprise, Demyx started laughing. Not one of those 'Haha-Okay-Weird-Guy-Smile-And-Laugh' giggles, but a truly soulful chortle. Demyx laughed and laughed like I had just said the funniest thing in the world. Was he even aware that I had mocked him?
"You," the blonde started as he tried to contain his laughter.
"Me," I echoed half-heartedly. It was only too late when I realized that using blatant sarcasm made Demyx laugh even harder, so for several minutes I sat silently (and rather awkwardly) as the faux hawker clutched his stomach and d doubled over in sheer humor-induced happiness.
I could get used to this.
"You," Demyx began again, wiping a tear out of his azure eyes as he did so. "You are the most awesome person I have ever met."
…
…
Well, I didn't expect that.
"…Erm." I shook my head quickly, trying to clear my mind of the 'Oh my god, someone just said you were the most awesomest person they've ever met" double take it was currently doing. "I'm not that awesome, really."
Oh my god, someone just said I'm the most awesomest person they've ever met.
Demyx shrugged as his hand fished around the pocket of his jeans.
"Well, I think you are! And since everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I have simply voiced mine!" The blonde pulled out the object he had been toying with: a cell phone. With a sheepish smile he held out the device at arms length and said, "I have to get going, Roxas wanted me back before eight, but can I have your number?"
"Uh, sure." I took his phone and punched in my digits, overlooking the fact that Demyx's background was a very flamboyant picture of some band (Vampire Weekend?). "Um, when you text me just say that it's you and I'll save the number, I guess."
"Great!" Demyx dropped his cellular back into the depths of his pockets and stood up (but really, it was more like sprung up) and picked up the container tower he had created carefully.
"I can pitch those for you if you'd like-"
"Oh, thanks very much, but it's okay!" Demyx watched a blue Vespa zip down the street over his shoulder before smiling and adding, "I'll just recycle them when I get home!"
And with that, the blonde, tea drinking, Jell-O loving, environmentally caring musician waltzed away, calling a good-bye to me as I sat, staring, and wondering what kind of summer this friendship was going to spiral into.
0 0 0
"You're doing it wrong, Zex!"
"Please, Demyx; I'm following the instructions on the manual step by step. It will work."
"That's what you always say! What if the manual's wrong, huh? What if it's written by snarky, sardonic, old Chinese men who are just fed up creating all of America's products in sweatshops that they have finally decided to write nonsense down and laugh at our feeble attempts to assemble their products?"
"This was made in Sweden, Demyx!"
"Now even the Scandinavians are going against us! Mutiny!"
I sunk further against the seat of my bimmer. I was not about leave the comfort of my vehicle to walk into that spat. I considered just backing out of the parking lot and speeding away, leaving Dem and Zex to their argument, but as soon as my hands settled on the steering wheel, Music Man's hand whipped around and those damn blue eyes locked with mine.
Crap.
"Zexy, Ax is here!" The blonde abandoned the nozzle of the model rocket he had been clutching in his hands and dropped it in the sand, much like the way a child would discard a toy once he saw another one to play with. Demyx plodded over to my car in nothing but his lime green swim trunks and a baggy muscle shirt with a friendly smile. "Hey Ax!"
"Hi Dem," I sighed and pushed the door open, swinging my legs out of the car. "What're you and the missus arguing about?" I tossed several two liters of miscellaneous soda into Demyx's open arms before getting out and locking the car with a 'beep beep'.
The blonde blushed and tried to hide it behind a Dr. Pepper. "Zex doesn't trust my ability to assemble things without instructions."
"No one understands IKEA, it's okay."
"Not IKEA, Ax!" Demyx stamped his foot, but his face was quickly over come with a smile as he grabbed my elbow and dragged me out of the cement parking lot and onto the cool, sandy beach. The sun was directly overhead, casting unfathomably hot rays onto our bare shoulders; the sand itself was even burning like white coals on our bare skin to the point where I began sprinting towards the beach chairs in order not to burn the soles of my feet like last summer. "We're making a model rocket! Since the beach doesn't allow fireworks, Zexion thought this as the next best thing!"
Zexion gave me a brief glance as I walked over to the 'command center', dropping my beach gear beside an empty lawn chair and plopping down.
"How's she holding up, Captain Kirk?"
"Mmm… There seems to be something wrong with the wiring, Scotty. Chekov's suggestions aren't accelerating us in the correct direction, either."
We are such nerds.
Demyx pouted beside me, but opened up a two liter and drank straight from it. He wriggled into the plastic chair beside me, wrapping Zexion's towel that was draped over the arm of the seat around his body. It seemed that, despite their momentary tension, Demyx was content simply sitting, drinking his soda, and watching Zexion work nerd magic on the model launch rocket. We sat in comfortable silence, just listening to the ocean run against the sand and retreat back, over and over again, before Demyx's head popped up like a homing device as Zexion stepped back from the rocket with the switch box.
In utter silence, the smallest of our group flipped lever and took a few cautionary steps backwards once more.
Nothing happened.
Demyx and I exchanged curious glances as the rocket gave a few whizzes and refused to do much else.
"Well, this is frustrating," Zexion murmured, running a hand through his long slate colored bangs and revealing the second navy eye that we had only seen a couple of times.
"Do you want me to give it a shot?" I offered, pulling the two-liter out of Demyx's paws and taking a swig.
"No, no. I believe the problem was just the wires I was using. The package came with #15 copper wires whereas the standard model rocket uses #16. Luckily, though, I brought some just in case… So in a sense, Demyx, you were indeed correct when you said that the manual was incorrect. And for that, I apologize."
Demyx looked like he was about to cry from happiness.
Zexion scratched the back of his head for a moment before he leaned down and pecked the blonde on his forehead. I adverted my eyes just as Demyx wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and proceeded to give him a deeper kiss. But, it made me happy to know that he had finally found someone that apologized for his mistakes and gave him lovey-dovey kisses on the forehead.
"Now," Zexion hid the faint tinting of his cheeks behind his fringe of hair as he stood up, "We will go for take two as soon as I switch out the wires." The student body president proceeded to pull out a handful of replacement wires and rip out the old ones, working, once again, some more nerd magic. As Demyx beamed over at me I could see the anxiety that was building up in his eyes.
"Whatdaya think, Ax?"
"Hmm…" I leaned back in the beach chair, watching as a couple of surfers ran by with their boards in hand. "I'm thinking that this is gonna be 3 meters high." I nodded my head downward, the red and black sunglasses on my head falling to perch on my nose. Demyx's face washed over with utter shock.
"3 meters? 3 meters is the minimum! I can see this baby soaring up to 6, no 8 meters high!" Demyx bounded out of his chair in emphasis and crouched next to mine, holding out his hand. "Let's beat."
"What are the stakes?"
The blonde glanced at the clear, blue sky for several minutes as he contemplated all of the possibilities.
"If I win, you have to do whatever I say."
"Whoa there, Dem. I love you and all, but you have Zexion to do that kind of stuff with," I teased, holding my hands up in retaliation. Demyx's face exploded in a red blush as he slapped my shoulder.
"Shut up, Ax! You know what I mean."
"You're right. I do. But, if I win, you have to treat me to ice cream."
"That sounds good!" Demyx agreed.
Zexion wiped the back of his hand across his forehead as he stood up with a rare, brilliant smile. I could tell that Demyx's heart was already starting to melt.
"Alright, she's ready to go," Zexion held out the box towards us, offering the switch for us to control. "Dem, Ax?" Demyx quickly shook his head as he squirmed around in his chair, trying to find a comfortable spot that wouldn't ruin his concentration when the rocket took off. I shook my head and settled back in my seat as well.
"It's your spawn; you go right ahead," I offered. Zexion shrugged and flipped to box over the button up with a wicked glint in his eyes.
"54321GO!" Demyx shouted in one breath, his blue irises intense and locked onto the rocket. His boyfriend smirked and pressed the button, the rocket successfully releasing steam. In an instant, the rocket burst off of the starting dock and soared into the air with a loud whoosh. It shot straight up and became lost behind the bright glint of the sun, and the three of us simultaneously shielded our eyes from the intense light. As the rocket began to fall from it's peak altitude, Zexion followed the rocket with trained eyes, watching for where it would land and how precise his calculations had been.
Yey. Science.
I glanced at the space of clear blue sky where the model had reached its highest point and realized that my estimate of three meters had been completely off. The habitual 'Damn' slipped out of my mouth before I could even control it, and I whole heartedly expected Demyx to whip around with a childish, gleeful smile and announce that he had indeed won.
So, when he didn't, it kind of concerned me.
I glanced over at Dem to see what kind of cat had his tongue, only to find him still glancing at the rocket. But, in reality, he wasn't just glancing. His blue eyes were so wide that for a moment, they seemed to reflect the sky. If you looked close enough, I'm sure you would've found little wisps of white clouds mirrored in his irises. Dem was on his knees, kneeling in the chair as he subconsciously rose to try and stretch himself further and further towards the abyss that the rocket had just soared into. Souls like Demyx's didn't belong Earthbound like flightless birds.
But, if only for a moment, he seemed to soar.
The rocket touched ground a few feet away from the rushing waves of the tide, and Zexion quickly walked toward it, not willing to run but anxious enough to want to see if his baby had gained any damage or scratches. Demyx's mind was brought back to Earth as well, judging by the way he started blinking again and smiled like a maniac. The blonde leapt on top of the beach chair and started cheering (which, of course, drew the attention of a few pedestrians). If I haven't mentioned it before, Demyx's happiness is obviously infectious, and before I had the chance to stop it a smile had found its way onto my face. As Zexion trekked back to us, seemingly unfazed by the hotness of the sand, Demyx launched himself off of the chair, almost mimicking the rocket himself, and threw his arms around his boyfriend.
"That was so amazing! Oh my god the rocket went so, so high and I swore that it was never going to go down and I of course beat Ax in our bet so now I won and WOOHOO Zexy that was AWESOME!"
I put on a sham pout and leaned back in my chair, drinking some Dr. Pepper that was bound to become flat at any moment and watched Zexion attempt to pry Demyx off of his body in order to protect his model rocket. I considered throwing both of them into an oncoming wave, or burying Demyx in the sand and leaving him there for the birds to nest in his crazy mess of product infused hair, but instead, I finished the dark soda and threw the bottle at Dem's head. Dazed, he picked it off the ground where it had fell and stared at it for a moment before throwing it into the air after claiming, "This is what it looked like Zexy! Watch- WOOSH!" It soared into the air, not nearly as high as the rocket, but for a moment, it was truly awesome.
0 0 0
Bzzz. Bzzz.
I rolled over onto my stomach and glanced at my ringing cell phone, debating whether or not to answer it. If it stopped ringing within the next few seconds, it was Roxas. He had absolutely no patience with electronics, including cellular devices. But, if the ringing continued, it was Demyx. He would stay on the line until the apocalypse if he could.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
Demyx.
Flipping open the phone, I sat up in bed and brought the device to my ear.
"Did you get locked out of your house again?"
"Aw, c'mon Ax! I can't call you just to have a casual conversation?" Dem whined from the other end of the line. I snorted and rolled off of my bed, blindly searching for a pair of pants.
"Are you aware what time it is?"
"Umm, I think it's 8-ish?"
"10, Demyx. It's 10. 10:49 to be exact."
"Give or take two hours, Ax! I was pretty close if you think about it."
"You keep telling yourself that. I'll be over in 20, okay?" I found a decently clean shirt lying at the foot of my bed and shrugged it on, all the while holding the phone between the crook of my shoulder and my neck.
"Thank you thank you thank you Ax! I owe you big time! And with those frantically relieved parting words, the line went dead as I propelled down the staircase and grabbed both my car keys and Demyx's spare house keys that were, ironically, hanging right next to the car's. And, as I had promised, within 20 minutes I had pulled out of the driveway, taken a right (twice), turned left, passed our high school and the little convenience store run by a creepy guy named Xigbar that made to-die-for ICEEs, turned right one more time, and at the very end of a cul-de-sac, pulled into Demyx's driveway with 24 seconds to spare.
Bumbling out of my darling German baby, I quietly shut the driver side door as to not wake Mr. and Mrs. Donohue, but as I turned around I noticed that my slight best friend wasn't huddle on the corner of his porch as he normally was when locked out.
Actually, I couldn't see him anywhere.
"Demyx? …Demyx…?"
Shit! The mob finally came and took him! I told him to knock it off with the Mafia jokes!
"Pssssst! Ax!"
You've gotta be-
I tilted my head skyward, searching for a head of sandy blonde hair that I could pelt with rocks later in return for giving me the biggest scare of the century.
"Up here!"
'Up here', in this particular case, was Demyx-code for 'look at me, I'm on the roof, not kidnapped by mobsters!'
"Demyx Christopher Donohue! What the hell are you doing on the roof?" I shouted up to the musician in an angry whisper. Finally, Demy poked his head over the peak of the roof, his stupidly exultant face breaking out in a goofy smile.
"Sitting! Come join me, Ax!"
"Not for long; get down here before you hurt yourself or the house!" I ushered, probably looking like a wild bird with my outrageous, flailing gestures. Demyx shook his head with a pout before ducking out of sight once more.
Fine! If it has to be that way!
I crossed Demyx's front yard and went around to the back before climbing on top of the Donohue's patio table, inches away from the open window still leading to Demyx's room. Lucky for me, Demyx had mentioned that he thought he was a water god back in middle school and has always kept the window to his bedroom open just incase his ability to talk to the clouds and make it rain suddenly came back.
Demyx had hooked his feet around the drainpipe running from his roof by the time I had managed to get to his window still. Demyx reached down and held out my hands so that he could hoist me up. Regardless of the fact that his upper body strength was virtually nonexistent, I reached out and allowed Dem to yank me up whatever fraction he could before I had to claw at the shingles the rest of the way.
Thank God the Donohues only lived in a two-story house.
Panting heavily, I rolled onto my back and willed my heart to still. Beside me, Demyx simply smiled, feeling accomplished, and lay down beside me. It was all I could do to keep myself from shoving him off. But, regardless, the blonde gave me a few moments to catch my breath as he gazed up at the stars that were sprinkled across the dark sky.
"… You know," I began after a few more minutes of trying to get my breathing back to humanly acceptable levels and my mind functioning again, "the last time I did this, I was in elementary school."
Without taking his cerulean eyes off of the sky, Demyx asked, "You mean climbing up someone's house to get to the roof? I can imagine how much easier it would have been in elementary school, what, with less weight and such."
"… No, Dem. I meant watching the stars at night. My friend Reno and I used to stargaze almost every summer, but he moved during middle school so I stopped doing it." I pushed myself up onto my elbows, only to see how high up we actually were, and instantly regretted it. Beside me, Demyx's face lit up almost as bright as the pinpoints of light overhead.
"Really? That's so cool! I thought I was the only one that did things like this." Demyx squirmed closer to me with an excited smile, but it was one that I had seen several times before. Demyx was the kind of person that, when happy, wanted to stand on rooftops and share his happiness with the world. And tonight didn't seem to be any exception to the unspoken Demyx Rule. I hummed in reply, linking my hands together behind my head. The cricketers were particularly obnoxious tonight, but since my house wasn't close to much shrubbery, unlike Dem's house, they were hardly around.
"You know, I've known you a whole six months! That's half a year," Demyx commented as he tried to connect the stars with his fingers and created pictures like the whole night sky was his drawing board. I quirked an eyebrow at the random presentation of information, but once I stopped to think about it, he was right. Time must fly by when you're in good company.
"Really, only half a year? Jeez, it feels like I've known you for forever!" I replied, a bit more awed than I normally was when surprised. "I mean, in six measly months you've graduated Junior year, got yourself a beef, and made a shit load of friends! It takes most people all of high school to do that, ya know."
Demyx considered all of this and smiled as I mentioned each accomplishment he had achieved in the six months that I knew him, even blushing when I mentioned Zexion.
"Six months is plenty of time to do all of that, you know!"
"In politics, six months is almost no time at all."
"Perhaps, but six months is forever in celebrity time."
"Is it?"
"You bet!"
"You would know, Dem."
"Of course I would know, Ax!"
It didn't get much better than this.
Demyx and I lapsed back into peaceful silence as he began connecting the stars again, this time trying to create a teddy bear using Orion's belt. I watched my friend (who, actually, was my best friend, but it was utterly unmanly to use that term) stop his movements and smile before pointing at each individual pinpricks of light, naming each and every one of the larger stars. It was like all of the tidbits and random information stored in Demyx's brain had to be let out in blurts of words and excited sentences every so often or else he would burst from all the unshared knowledge.
"And those groups of stars there, that's the Roxas constellation."
"Uh huh," had been my default response, but only too late did I realize what Demyx had actually said. It was impossible to take back what I said and make it seem like I was actually listening because Demyx was already laughing and poking me repeatedly in the shoulder, which he knew I hated.
"I threw that in there to see if you were paying attention, Ax, and you totally fell for it!" Demyx stopped his poking as I swatted his hand away.
"Okay, okay, so you caught me. I've never been into the whole astrology thing, can you blame me?"
"Not Astrology, Astronomy. Astrology tells you stuff based on your birth sign, like Gemini and Virgo and that whole shebang. Astronomy is the study of stars and stellar evolution, my friend." Demyx laid back down, stretched his hands to the sky, and wiggled his fingers around like a jazz handed theater person.
"Eh, I never believed in that stuff in the first place, really," I commented, but Demyx suddenly seemed perpetually uninterested as he rolled to his side and faced me.
"That interesting! But you know what's even more interesting?"
"How fast you could fall if I pushed you off the roof right now?"
"Oh Ax, you're such a joker!" Demyx laughed a canned sounding chuckle before continuing. "What even more interesting is you and Roxas. How's everything going between you two?" Even though the blonde had been joking a moment before, he sounded honest and curious right away. I shifted uncomfortably for a moment and craned my neck to watch Demyx gaze at me with a certain brightness in his eyes.
"Yeah. We're doing well," I said with a content sigh. "Roxas is getting less and less embarrassed and jittery around me. It's relieving. The kid used to jump three feet in the air when I would put my arm around him." I laughed at the memory of Rox, who was a good head or so smaller than me, scrambling as I would grab him in a hug and swing him around. But, since Demyx found Zexion and they got together, he seemed to relax considerable, even when we were in the company of other people.
"That's good!" Dem chirped excitedly. He opened and shut his hands now, changing movement as he always did. "Zex was a little like that too. He would get kinda shy around me when I was with other people, but now he's totally calm and cool about it! I'm sure Rox will be just like that one day."
"Hah, Roxas always tries to put on his calm and cool façade, but it never really works." I gave a small shrugged and smiled, unable to help myself. "He'll work it out one day."
"Mhm. I'm sure he will," Demyx agreed. He rolled onto his back and placed his hands behind his head, staring up at the stars once again, hands stilled for a rare moment in time. I did the same, coping my friend as I turned onto my back and stared at the constellations and stars in the sky, suddenly feeling like I actually should've paid attention to Dem when he was rambling on about the names and origins of each of the celestial bodies because now I was curious.
Damn.
"Dem?"
"Hmm?"
"What the same of the star right there?" I asked, pointing to a large, shining dot in the darkened atmosphere.
Musician Man's face lit up at the question almost immediately.
"That's called Vega! It's the brightest star that you can see in the summer, actually. But the brightest star in the winter is Betelgeuse!" He explained animatedly, holding out his hands as if it helped explain how utterly brilliant these stars actually were. In a sense, it did help, because it made me smile even wider.
"Betelgeuse sounds kinda like Beatle Juice."
"You mean that one movie with the emo girl and the guy that floats in the air and the steel drum music?"
"… Sure, if that's how you remember it, Dem."
"I LOVE THAT MOVIE." Demyx went on to explain in a hurried, exuberant tone his favorite parts of the old movie that he liked best, and how he had tried to trick his older Larxene into believing he was Beatle Juice himself by dressing up in a pin striped tux that he had found. He quickly wore himself out though and collapsed back against the shingles of the roof, smiling a warm and completely satisfied smile. He stared at the sky for several minutes again, humming the melody to 'Jump in Line'. I must have lost control of my body and conscience during some point of time, because before I knew it I had blurted out Demyx's name.
"Yeah, Ax?"
"… Um. Thanks for being my friend. I'm really glad you talked to me that day at Grandma Chu's," I said in a some what quick voice, suddenly feeling more embarrassed and realizing how cheesy that sounded when it was actually spoken instead of floating around in my head.
Damn.
But Demyx's reaction was the exact opposite of what one would normally expect after a slightly bizarre statement like that. He smiled for ear to ear and grabbed me into a hug, which almost succeeded in knocking both of us off of the rooftop. I went to push Dem away in order to let air into my lungs, which he was currently crushing with his bony arms, but his hold was so strong that it was impossible to pry him off. I sat and leaned against him, allowing myself to simply be embraced and to exsist in a content state that I often had trouble finding.
"Ax?" Demyx said into my shoulder as I patted his back, unsure of what to do with my hands.
"Yeah, Dem?"
"Remember the day on the beach?"
"Of course I do. It was only two months ago."
"Remember the bet I won?"
"Aw, c'mon Dem to pour salt into an old wound," I whined, finally getting some oxygen as the sandy blonde sat up and stared at me with a sheepish smile.
"I'm not actually locked out of my house."
"…"
… Oh.
Well, I didn't expect that.
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you trying to tell me that this whole thing was what you wanted me to do with you for winning the contest?"
"Mhm!" Demyx nodded, happy that I had guessed correctly. I ran a hand through my hair and stared at him with unbelieving eyes.
"So, you couldn't have told me in the first place that you wanted to stargaze?"
"Exactly! I couldn't have! Because stargazing just sounds so, mushy! And since we don't have those mushy-mushy feelings towards each other, I was trying to think of the best way to get you to come over, and I knew that if I said I was locked out that you would come right away! See?" Demyx beamed triumphantly with his hands on his hips.
Proud bastard.
"You're a crazy ass, Demyx." I groaned into my hands that were currently holding my head. He seemed to pause for a moment as if thinking the statement over carefully, weighing it in his mind with the other names I had called him in the past. A smile was the final result.
"Yeah, I know! But I'm not a lonely crazy ass, at least."
"'Course your not. There's nothing lonely about you as long as I'm breathing." I said with a snort, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and I meant every word of it, as much as I, sarcastically, regretted saying it.
"Then I am the happiest crazy ass alive."
I looked up at Demyx after I had mustered up the courage to pull my head out of my hands, and I swore that his way too blue eyes were sparkling almost like Vega overhead. It had never occurred to me that what I had needed was Demyx. Hell, the first time I saw him I didn't really want anything to do with him. But it seems that everyone needs a Demyx, whether that person comes in the form of an environmentally aware, random fact spewing, music loving, hair product using blonde package or not, regardless of the fact that they might turn you into a confused, exhausted, frustrated crazy ass from time to time. Unfortunately for my mental stamina, Demyx was completely and entirely worth it.
…
Damn.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading all the way through! Sorry for all the swearing if it offended any of you :c
Um... That's all~!
Take care of everyone! I'll be writing a lot more soon, so expect updates from me in the near-ish future. Catch you all on the flipside :)
Ciao~!