Hello,

This story was originally posted under the user name Magnetic Cheese. The account belonged to an aquaintance, and I ahve finally gotten around to posting them under my own account name.

If this piece seems familiar to you, this would be the reason why.

I hope you enjoy these written words.

Influence

"He's sick!"

Demyx sighed impatiently under his breath while Axel continued to laugh like the maniac—er…pyromaniac that he was.

'He's so mean…' Demyx huffed. He waited awhile for Axel to calm down.

"Did you get all your giggles out of your system yet?"

Axel snickered. "Yeah, yeah, just about."

There was a moment of silence.

"I just don't get it though."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "What's not to get? Zexion's sick and we have to help him get better, end of story."

It was Axel's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I get that part. But what I don't get is how he got sick. We're Nobodies…technically we're not real people. We shouldn't be able to get sick."

Demyx blinked. He contemplated for a second before shrugging it off carelessly. "Yeah I guess you're right. But hey, look at it this way…if he can get sick, it must mean that we can't be completely unreal…right?"

Axel smirked. "I guess."

"So it's settled then!" Axel stared at Demyx curiously. "We have to help him get better! I owe it to him."

Axel titled his head to the side, putting his thumb and forefinger to his chin. Demyx took a step back, noticing his intense gaze.

"What?"

"Why are you so bent out on helping old Zexy for anyways?"

Demyx glared up at Axel. "Don't call him that!"

Axel blinked. "…Eh?"

"Only I can call him 'Zexy'!"

Axel smirked. 'I see…'

"And," Demyx shuffled his feet nervously. "It's…its kind of my fault that he's sick…"

"Is it now…" Axel rubbed his chin, genuinely interested.

Demyx gulped. "Well you see, it all started…

Knock knock

Zexion rolled over in his bed with a groan. Not many of the Organization members knew this, but…Zexion was not an early riser. In fact, he hated mornings, almost as much as he hated getting his hands dirty with work.

…Okay, so in The World That Never Was it was technically never morning…

But it was still freaking early!

Knock knock

Zexion growled lowly while pulling his white pillow over his head in agitation. He waited for a moment and calmed when he didn't hear another knock on his door. He removed his pillow from his head, fluffed it a bit, and then snuggled into it with a sigh, pulling his covers over his head.

Just as he was about to fall into a blissful slumber, his door slowly creaked opened. Zexion tensed underneath his covers as the footsteps drew closer to his bed. He secretly peaked out from under his covers only to find…'Demyx?'

He relaxed slightly. 'What does he want?'

Zexion felt Demyx lean over him and poke him softly in his side. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Zexy?"

Zexion sighed, pulling the covers completely off his head. He stared up at the ragged looking dirty blonde. "Yes, Demyx?"

"…I'm sick." And then he proceeded to cough all over Zexion.

Zexion, in turn, jumped up and right out of bed, staring at Demyx incredulously. "First of all, back off."

Demyx frowned, seemingly hurt by Zexion's comment. Zexion observed Demyx critically from across his bed.

'Stuffy red nose, drowsy eyes, sniffling, coughing—"Achooo!"—Sneezing…'

Yup…Demyx had a case of the common cold.

'And the first thing the idiot does is cough all over me. Just great.'

"Zexy..." Demyx whined before collapsing onto his bed. Zexion started, his eyes softening as he gazed at Demyx. He sighed.

'Poor idiot…'

"Wait, wait, wait! So…you coughed all over him?"

Demyx nodded his head guiltily.

"So…you did this to him!" Axel burst out laughing.

"It's not funny! I didn't mean to get him sick!" he desperately tried to defend himself.

"Oh right," Axel laughed. "'Zexy…I'm sick cough, cough.' I can tell it was by accident." Axel clutched his side, laughing like crazy.

"It was!" Demyx pouted. "Anyways, he took care of me the whole time I was sick! He made sure I got better. And that's why we have to help him now."

Axel immediately sobered. "'We'? If I'm not mistaken, you're the one that coughed on him."

Demyx blinked. "So what are you saying?"

Axel smirked. "I ain't coming near him, got it memorized?" And with that, Axel conjured up a black portal, stepped into it, and was gone.

Demyx stared in shock. "How…how rude!" He huffed stomping is foot. He hesitated for a second before turning back and heading for Zexion's room, determined to make him feel better.

"Don't worry Zexy! Demyx is coming!"

Knock Knock

"Gow away." Zexion sniffed, not in the mood to see anyone. His nose was stuffy, and runny at the same damn time, his head ached, and his throat was killing him. At this point, he just wanted to crawl into a whole and die. There was only one person he was willing to tolerate at this time.

"Oh come on Zexy! I'm here to cheer you up!"

Zexion's eyes immediately softened when he heard Demyx' cheery voice. "Come in." He rasped.

Demyx opened his door and breezed in before stopping next to Zexion's bed. It was then that he finally noticed the state of his room…

…Which looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

"Oh my…" Demyx stared. Every inch of the room seemed to be covered in scrunched up tissue paper and boxes of Kleenex. Demyx finally settled his eyes on Zexion and gasped.

"Zexy! You look awful!"

Zexion sneezed into a tissue and tossed it onto the floor. "Yeah, an it's aw yowr fowlt."

"Aheh…sorry." Demyx rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He sat at the edge of Zexion's bed and leaned over, resting his hand on Zexion's forehead. "At least your fever has gone down." Zexion leaned into Demyx' hand.

"Let's play Go Fish."

Demyx blinked, taken aback by the uncharacteristic suggestion. "…What?"

Zexion continued to rub his face against Demyx' hand. "You're always asking me to play Go Fish with you. So, let's play." He purred.

Demyx blushed. "U-um, o-okay."

"Got any three's?"

"Go fish."

Demyx pouted, leaning over to pick up a card from the 'Fish' pile, which Zexion insisted should be on his lap. After picking up his card he grinned and placed both cards in the pairing pile.

"I win!" Demyx beamed at Zexion.

Zexion smiled slightly. "Again."

Demyx happily shuffled the cards, all the while grinning. Zexion continued to stare at Demyx, as he had been doing throughout the whole game, witha strange look still in his eyes.

"You can go first this time, Zexy."

Zexion nodded. "Got any ten's?"

Demyx stared down at his cards, looking through all of them before shaking his head. "Nope, Go Fish!"

Zexion leaned over towards Demyx slowly. "Can I ask you something?"

Demyx leaned in closer as well. "What is it, Zexy?"

Zexion shifted in his bed nervously before grinning, shocking Demyx to no end. But what he said next made Demyx almost choke on the air he was breathing.

"…Can I feel your hair?"

"W-w-what!" He managed to choke out in between huge gasps of air. When he finally got a hold of himself he looked up at Zexion's face and noticed that he was…blushing.

Demyx blinked.

"I said, can I feel your hair?" Zexion repeated huskily.

"Um…uh…I g-guess so?"

Zexion grinned, leaned in closer, and proceeded to run his gloved fingers through Demyx' dirty blonde tresses.

"It's so soft! Mmm, I love it…" He purred.

Demyx gulped, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. 'Is…is Zexy coming on to me!'

"You have really pretty eyes…"

"T-thanks." By this point, Demyx was blushing like a mad woman.

"You know," Zexion smiled coyly, his eyes drooping. "I really like you, but don't tell Demyx, 'cause it's a secret." And with that he collapsed onto a very flustered looking Demyx.

"Oh my…"

"So how is he now?"

"Hm?" Demyx looked up dazedly.

Axel rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Zexion. How is he?"

"Oh," Demyx cleared his throat. "He should be fine now; he's just resting for a bit."

"Not anymore he isn't." Axel smirked.

Demyx blinked. "...Eh?"

Axel inclined his head towards something behind Demyx. Demyx turned slightly only to come face-to-face with a healthy looking Zexion. And everything Zexion said to him previously came tumbling back, hitting him like a brick. Axel snickered, watching Demyx turn a very prominent shade of red.

'I knew something happened between those two. And one way or another, I'm gonna find out what.'

"Well," Demyx turned to Axel in curiosity. "Seems like you two have some catching up to do, so I'm just gonna hang with the noob for awhile. Later." And like before, Axel conjured up a black portal, stepped through it, and was gone.

A very awkward silence fell on the two remaining Organization members.

"…Hey Zexy, about yesterday—" Demyx, who had been slowly turning back around, was cut off when Zexion pressed his lips softly against his own. And just as quickly as it came, Zexion's lips were gone from his, leaving Demyx stunned into silence.

Zexion stepped back from Demyx and the two Organization members continued to stare at each other. Zexion brushed a bit of his silvery hair out of his eye and swept it behind his ear, watching as Demyx slowly ran his fingers over his lips in shock.

A few more seconds passed before Zexion turned and started to walk down the castle's long hallways.

"Hey, wait!"

Zexion stopped, turning his head slightly towards Demyx, who started to fidget.

"What…what was that for?"

Zexion continued to watch him for a while, making Demyx' face redder by the second, before turning his face forward with a small sigh.

"I'm sure you know very well what 'that' was for."

Demyx stayed silent and Zexion silently struggled to continue.

"Yesterday…everything I said and did…I was under the influence of a cold. But, what I said…I never once lied to you…"

Demyx blinked.

"I really like you, but don't tell Demyx 'cause it's a secret."

Zexion held out his hand for Demyx. "Now come on, while I'm still in the mood."

Demyx took the offered hand. "In the mood for what?"

Zexion gave him a small smile. "For a round of Go Fish."

Demyx grinned.

Axel snickered, stepping slowly out from the shadows. He looked down and the thin Polaroid he was holding between his fingers, which depicted two of his fellow Organization members in a lip lock.

"Axel, you are a genius!"

"Won't they get mad at you for this?"

Axel turned to face his companion blinking. '…What was his name again? Roket…no…Rolex…no…uh…Roxas?' Axel continued to stroke his chin with his free hand. 'Sounds about right.' "…Roxas."

The newest addition to the Organization looked up at him in response. Axel snapped his fingers with a smirk.

'Roxas…' "Don't worry about it, Roxas. Besides, I'm not the one who took the picture." His emerald green eyes danced with laughter as he stared down at the camera in the younger boy's hand.

"But…you threatened to burn me alive! Wa-wait! Where are you going! I'm still talking to you!"

Axel ran down the hallway, ducking as a camera came soaring above his head, smashing into pieces after colliding against the wall. He snickered as Roxas chased after him.

"Gotta love the newbies." He smirked.

Fin.

As always, I thank you for reading my work.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curiosity Bunny