Dislaimer: no ownage of characters. Yes, I know I should be working on Fun with Pheromones, but eh, my ADD gets the best of me most of the time. Don't worry, I'll try to get back to it soon. Promise. For the meanwhile, hope you enjoy this quick fic.
Chapter One
There were many unspoken rules and guidelines within the Organization. Most of them were provided for the rare instances that they actually had to be around one another. Thusly, many of these regulations were based around meal, assembly, and, most importantly, bath time. While every Nobody had their own personal room, every morning, or sometimes evening depending on the day, the members of Organization XIII converged together in what was aptly nicknamed by some of the more 'energetic' members, 'The Hall of Hygiene.'
The community bath was a lavish one. At night it was tended to by the custodial Dusks. It consisted of twelve separate showers, curtains included, six baths, for those injured and unable to stand, and a lobby furnished with four chairs and a large couch. But while it retained plenty of room to hold twelve Nobodies at a time, as its construction had taken place before Roxas showing up, such an event had never occurred in its history. Instead, the morning ritual of bathing had always been divided into two stable, for the most part, groups.
The first group consisted of the original six, Number VII, and Number X. These eight members were the earlier risers, keen on avoiding the second and later group to come in the morning. Of course there were a few exceptions. Numbers II and X were the most flexible and allowed into either group. And while group two didn't necessarily shun group one, and vice versa, it had been accepted that the groups not mix. Only Number XI had a problem with this. He strongly felt that it was his right to bathe with the higher ranking members. It was this arrogant, annoying, and butt-kissing attitude however that kept him firmly in place within group two. Of course, this did not stop him from dubbing himself group two's leader.
As usual for Zexion, it had been another late night. What was unusual in this case was that he had overslept. He took pride in the fact that, despite not setting his alarm clock, he could manage to wake up when he so desired. Typically he would take about a three hour nap and be ready for another early morning in the laboratory. But this morning was different. Instead of waking up to the clock reading 6am, it was currently 7:30am. Crap. With a grumble, the sleepy eyed schemer rolled out of bed, stripped, and donned his black bath robe and black bath sandals. On the way to and past the door, his hand expertly grabbed a small basket that held his soap and shampoo.
It was a quick trip down the hall and to the bath. He dearly hoped that the rest of this morning ritual would move just as fast. But knowing the members bound to be present, things weren't looking well. He had heard the rumors, but the moment after he opened the door and peered inside, he no longer doubted their farfetched element of truth. There stood Demyx and Axel, wrestling on the tile floor, and both completely in the nude.
"Time out time out!" whined Demyx, his bright blue eyes lit up in excitement, despite the fact that he was currently stuck in a headlock. He wiggled and strained in vain to escape, and finally gave in to going completely limp.
"Another gold for Axel! The crowd goes wild!" The pyro added in his own cheering effects as he waved to the invisible audience of spectators. All the while, poor Demyx was being dragged around in circles.
"Look Axel, Zexion's here!" the nocturne emphasized with utter glee. A stunned Axel stopped in his tracks and dropped his guard, just as he hoped he might do. A giggling Demyx broke free of his captor and pranced forward towards a wide eyed Zexion. "Morning Zexion! Are you going to be bathing with us today?"
Silence. The schemer stared blankly at the two before him. Axel had regained his composure and leaned casually against the wall with his arms crossed. Demyx, in all his disgusting 'morning person' glory, smiled in clueless, or played clueless, wonder. "It would seem that way," he sarcastically conceded. "Of course, one must first get to the baths." Hint, cough, hint. His tired eyes glanced between the two with a mix of a warning and suspicion as he observed the pyro's cocky smirk and the hydro's dorky, but downcast smile.
"If you're suggesting that we might stop you from taking a nice warm shower, then you've got us all wrong," Axel slyly spoke up while pushing himself off the cold white wall. "On contrary, it's the hot water system that's your enemy here, ya know. We've still got a ten or fifteen minutes wait at best." His spiky red head nodded over to the shower stalls, all of which save for one was empty. At that moment, the occupied one's water was turned off as a figure emerged from behind the curtain.
"Still nothing. It isn't even room temperature!" an exasperated Marluxia pouted with a swish of his light brown, tinted pink hair. Unlike the other two, he sported a single large white towel around his waist. Daintily with an air of haughty superiority, he strolled back into the lobby and plopped down unceremoniously into one of its chairs. After an unhindered yawn, he rested his chin upon his propped up arm and finally acknowledged Zexion with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, hey Zexion," Demyx suddenly interjected. "Do you think maybe you could pass it down to the others before us that they shouldn't waste all the hot water on washing their hair? I mean, The Superior, Saix, and Vexen, they have an awful lot of hair. They clog up the drains like you wouldn't believe," he rambled. An amused Axel snorted loudly before finally giving into laughter. Even the Graceful Assassin chuckled at the request.
With a rather annoyed sigh, Zexion moved and sat himself down in time to avoid the wrathful opening of the door, which slammed loudly against the nocturne's head and left him to crumble onto the floor. The party was finally complete with the entrance of a grumpy looking nymph and a snoring Roxas being dragged along the floor by his foot.
"Special delivery Axel. Do we have hot water yet?" Larxene demanded after dropping Number XIII's foot. Her hands instantly went to work on adjusting and tightening the large fluffy towel that covered her from chest to knees. Piercing blue eyes glared around the lobby before abruptly halting on the Cloaked Schemer. "What's he doing here? Doesn't he usually bathe with them? And yes, take that as it sounds," she interrupted, questioned, and insulted all at once.
Axel momentarily watched in bemusement at the glaring contest between the two. "Thanks. No. I don't know. Yes. Haha," he replied in a smart-ass manner. Three pairs of eyes turned and then glared at him as they were either not amused or not thrilled with having to think so hard first thing in the morning.
Before anything else could be said or done, a loud snore erupted from the youngest member. Clad in only a pair of boxers decorated with the many different styles of keyblades the be found through all the many different worlds, Roxas shifted in his blissful sleep and reached out to grab the nearest body, a knocked out Demyx. Searching for warmth, the kid curled up and settled against the water user's side, his head on the nocturne's outstretched arm.
Not even a cricket dared to chirp. All four conscious Nobodies stared— Axel with his mouth agape. "Larxene," the flurry whispered, a large smirk on his face matching her own. "You know where my camera phone is, right?" He didn't even get the chance to finish where he was going with that statement. Already, the nymph had formed a portal behind her and was backing up into it. Now was his chance. Ignoring the shocked looks of Marluxia and Zexion, Axel knelt down and slowly began removing the key-wielder's boxers.
He was just getting the boxers around Roxas' feet when Larxene re-entered, phone ready and prepped. Without Axel knowing, she managed to get a quick shot of him in the act. Priceless. Three nude guys in one picture. She watched through the camera lens as Number VIII shoved the boxers into Demyx's hand and then quickly tip-toed out of the scene. The nymph savagely snapped away, getting around six pictures before stopping and checking them all to make sure they were good and saved.
"Hey Roxas! Roxas!" Axel suddenly spoke up, breaking the thick silence. He nudged his friend with his foot until at last deep blue eyes peek out through thick black lashes. "Hey there Roxas! Congrats for last night! And welcome to your first day of no longer being a virgin!" the pyro happily announced. "You did good kid! I'm proud of you! You really wore him out!"
Like fish out of water, Roxas, Marluxia, and Zexion gaped in shock and confusion. Had they missed out on something here?!
"What are you talk...ing," the thirteenth member was going to question before looking to his left. His eyes instantly bulged out. It was at this time that all through the castle, a piercing scream could be heard. It was also after that moment that the rest of the members not currently in the bathroom decided that it was best to ignore having heard such a horrified yell and continue on with their business of breakfast.
The sounds of Axel's camera echoed through the once more silent bathroom. Larxene, unfazed, grinned happily with capturing the moment of absolute shock, fear, and confusion all rolled into one on Roxas' face. Beautiful. In her eyes, it was pure art. "Aw, don't worry Roxas. Unless your name is Zexion, it is one of those natural life things that we've all gone through," she commented, unable to resist adding to the chaos at hand. "But geez kiddo, you've sure got a lot of stamina. The way you were going at poor Demyx, I thought we'd have to admit him to the hospital ward."
"WHAT!?"
As Roxas shot up into a sitting position, Axel was the first to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Aw, don't worry so much Roxy. We promise not to air your and Demyx's video on YouTube or anything like that. We're all your friends here, and we respect and have no issues with your sexual preferences. Just think of this as valuable life experience," he finished with a gentle nod of his spiky head.
At this point, big pools of salt water were forming in Roxas' eyes. "I... I..." he stuttered before sniffling. "I don't know what to think or do. I'm so confused," he finally admitted. Wearily he snuck a look at the naked, sleeping form of Demyx. It was at that point that he noticed where his boxers were currently at. A soft sob escaped from his mouth as his head slunk down.
"There, there now," Number XII spoke up before patting his free shoulder. "Go ahead and let it all out. It's quite normal to be so over-emotional after such a big first event such as this." Slyly she snapped a few more pictures while he wasn't looking. "Yep, the typical crying on the bathroom floor thing is quite normal." Especially with girls and the feminine type.
"Oh, good morning Roxas!" a happy, very Demyxy voice chimed in as he began to stir and stretch on the floor. "Did you sleep well?"
Another screaming sob echoed through the castle.
Wee, that was a fun write. This was going to be a one shot, but seeing as the story has taken a life of its own, looks like this will be a few more chapters. Well, until next time. To be continued!