Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, but I do, however, have a (the absolute best, in fact) Zexy!!
Jessie: HAPPY ZEMXY DAY EVERYONE! Tosses confetti
Joh: Finished?
Jessie: Grins For now, I am—that was my first matter of important business to finish. Alright, secondly: Yes, yes—I'm am well aware that I'm doing a terribly horrible thing in creating yet another multi chapter story when I already have two others, and requests to keep in mind. But honestly, this story has been in my head for many, many months. It begged me, and then it pleaded with me, and then it…it made me, so…don't blame me, okay? …Please?
Joh: Giggles Oh, Jessie…I love you…and your excuses.
Jessie: …Right. In any case, this fic's for my Zexy, because she rocks, and I personally think that she's the best Zexion a Demyx could ever ask for.
Joh: Awww, Jessie that's so nice!
Jessie: Smiles happily Well, she deserves nothing less! There will also be points throughout this story where there are additional dedications to my friends for helping me think up certain parts to include in this storyline, but other than that this is to my Zexion, from her Demyx—and on Zemyx day, no less!
Yes, I do feel smart.
Love you!
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▪▫ ∫Prologue∫ ▫▪
It's not unusual for those who come into our lives to ask either myself or Demyx just how exactly it came to be that the two of us became best friends – the both of us being quite blatantly on opposite sides of the social spectrum.
Firstly there's myself; the quiet, elusive, studious type. The one that, if one ever happens to find themselves searching for, can count on immediately being directed toward the library or the science labs. And if known not to be present in either of those places, strangely enough possibly toward the music hall on the rare occasion.
And then there's Demyx.
Demyx.
Demyx, always ready to be everyone's friend. Demyx, the self-proclaimed master sitarist of the school. Demyx, the champion of our school's swim team. Demyx, the star of all of our school's musicals.
Demyx, my crush of since-who-knows-when.
But enough of that—I think it's best to get back to the discussion at hand, no?
As I was saying, at first glance, no one would picture the two of us to be friends— best friends no less; or "the very bestest of friends," as Demyx prefers to so eloquently put it.
And as an explanation, you'll most likely to get the same automatic response from either of us—minus a very slight wording change, as well as a change in a name.
"It was because of Roxas' resentment," Demyx will giggle, and you'll most likely be able to pry the story out of him then.
"It was because of Riku's clumsiness," I'll reply simply, and refuse to elaborate further, thus saving the storytelling experience for Demyx.
But really—it was Riku's fault; don't let Demyx convince you otherwise.
We met when the both of us were still mere elementary school students. Both the Nomura and Strife families had enrolled their children in the same school; Demyx and I had both been six at the time, the Strife twins four and Riku five.
I won't argue that Roxas had aggression issues when he was younger--and unfortunately still suffers with to this day. Honestly; if you manage to get on that boy's nerves (which admittedly isn't that hard a feat to accomplish), you will not emerge completely unscathed.
It happened outside in the sandbox during recess one particularly beautiful day towards the end of the summer (albeit, that opinion may be slightly bias, taking into consideration how I consider that day to have been the best possible day I've ever experienced, as I happened to actually meet Demyx that day).
The twins, as I've been told, had been busy slaving away in their mission to build the best sand castle that ever was--however, with the consequential events, upon looking back we jokingly call it the Castle That Never Was.
But I digress.
Within the first few days of Riku's starting kindergarten, I'd noticed that he had been somewhat longingly watching the slightly-younger Sora, internally battling with himself as whether or not to introduce himself to the young brunette.
It seemed as though he'd finally managed to gather up the courage to waltz up to the older twin that day at recess, for he marched right on up towards the sandbox where the four year old twins were playing--
--Tripped over an abandoned shovel,
--Stumbled forward only to trip once more; only this time, right over the edge of the sandbox,
--And fell directly on top of the sandcastle the siblings had been working on.
Now, the Strife twins' reactions varied to the extreme. Sora, naturally optimistic and a hazard to himself and those around him as his own clumsiness was so bad most of the time, burst out laughing gaily.
The change in Riku's expressions had been priceless; one moment he looked positively horror-stricken upon registering what he'd done, and the next he seemed to be caught somewhere between a sheepish smile and a scowl—smiling because it seemed that no, he hadn't gotten on Sora's bad side, and scowling because if there was one thing that Riku detested more than anything, it was being laughed at or made fun of.
Unfortunately for Riku, not both of the twins were blessed with such a good nature—as he discovered when Roxas chose that very moment to demonstrate his displeasure with a none-too-gentle whack to the head with a plastic bucket.
Upon witnessing the unfolding events, I found myself forced to lay aside the book I had been reading to interfere with the inevitable fight, as I had the misfortune of having Riku as my younger brother.
It wasn't that I was worried about Riku being hurt—no, I was worried about little Roxas, as I knew from previous experiences that Riku didn't take well to being bullied and opted to fight back.
Just as I was picking myself up from the ground, I heard a panicked shout of "Roxas, no!" from across the yard.
I didn't stop walking toward the sandbox at the alarmed cry, yet I glanced to the side to see who it was who'd yelled so openly—only to catch a glimpse of a boy who looked to be about my age rushing past me to my own destination.
I reached the sandbox not ten seconds after the boy himself had; but within that time the blonde had managed to unarm the aggravated Roxas, pull him aside and begun to scold him, as if he were familiar to the experience.
"Roxas, why'd ya hit that kid? You haven't even spoken to him before," the blonde reprimanded, sounding bewildered.
To my astonishment, Roxas neither hit nor screamed at the blonde, but merely rewarded the older blonde with an accomplished sulk.
"He bwoke ouw thandcathle," Roxas whined, pointed accusingly at the mound of sand where said castle undergoing his and his brother's construction had stood five minutes ago.
The new boy closed his eyes and sighed exasperatedly before kneeling down so that he was at the same level as the kindergartener.
"Well, I'm sure he didn't mean to," he replied easily, ruffling the four year-old's already-messy hair.
It was at this time that I lost interest in the blondes' conversation, and chose to glance at Riku.
"Are you alright?" I asked quietly, gingerly touching the bump on Riku's head; pulling back and frowning slightly when he hissed in pain.
"'m fine," he growled, "it's that kid who's not gonna be oka--"
"Um, I'm weally sowwy 'bout my bwother hittin' you…he dun like new people vewy much," I heard from my side, and glanced down to see little Sora wringing his hands nervously and biting his lower lip as he gazed up with the most accomplished puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen at Riku (and by this point, I'm convinced that those puppy eyes are a characteristic trait of the Strife family).
To my amusement, my silver-haired brother appeared to melt somewhat at Sora's apology and immediately began stumbling over his own words to assure the sorrowful-looking brunette that he was fine, and that it didn't even hurt anymore (although there was a small tick in his left eye as he blatantly lied) and informed him that "my name is Riku, d'yawannaplay?"
Convinced that my brother was going to be fine, I turned my attention back to the two other blonds, who appeared to be wrapping up their conversation as I overheard what sounded like a last request from the older of the two.
"—and from now on, please try not to hit anyone when you're angry, 'kay?"
Silence.
"Please, Roxas?"
More quiet.
"…For me?"
And finally, with that last desperate inquiry came a fairly affirmative-sounding mumble from the scowling four year-old boy, who proceeded to push the older boy's hand off his shoulder and stomp back to his spot in the sandbox.
I glanced at the older boy, who let out a relieved sigh at having been able to pry a possible consent from the stubborn child.
"How do you know Roxas?" I asked at last--and the boy gave a slight start as he glanced at me; only now seeming to register my presence. He blinked curiously at me, taking in my appearance before he answered.
"He's my cousin. I've gotta watch out for him," he replied with a helpless shrug, laughing lightly.
"How d'ya know Riku?" he asked upon answering my question.
"He's my younger brother," I replied, and raised an eyebrow at the look of rising horror on the boy's face.
"Oh--oh! I'm really, really sorry that Roxas hit him—I know, I should'a been watching him more carefully, 'cause I already knew that he doesn't get along very well with new people, but I didn't know he wasgonnahithimand--!"
"Honestly? Its fine—I should have seen it coming myself, knowing Riku's luck when it comes to meeting new people," I replied calmly, cutting him off from further apologies.
He opened his mouth to reply and shut it once more, breaking out into a relieved grin.
"'Kay, sooo…" he broke off, looking at me thoughtfully before smiling at me once more and sticking out his hand.
"Hey, I'm Demyx! What's your name?"
I glanced down at his hand before raising my eyes to his face, only fully taking in his appearance for the first time. His head was covered in dirty-blond tousled spikes, and he seemed to be growing out a mullet. He had a light complexion, but I thought that his most prominent feature had to be his eyes, as they were the most soulful, azure eyes I'd ever seen.
And at last I reached out and took his extended hand gently, before replying with
"Zexion Nomura."
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▪▫ ∫Chapter One∫ ▫▪
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It really was quite a lovely day; there wasn't a cloud in the robin's egg blue sky, the sun was shining its merriest, there was a comfortably warm breeze passing through the trees and the birds were singing.
However, all of this was lost to the somewhat aggravated teenager valiantly, albeit futilely, attempting to drag his best friend out of his house in the early hours of the morning. His dark ensemble, consisting of a black long-sleeved shirt and unzipped jacket (also black) with black jeans also contrasted oddly with the cheery atmosphere.
"Demyx, we're going to be late if we don't leave now," Zexion tried for the umpteenth time, frowning slightly as he caught a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall in the living room from his place in the foyer.
"I know, I know! Gimme a sec, will ya?" came the blonde's retort, shouted down the stairs from the second floor.
Zexion let out a silent sigh and bit back a smile, resigning himself to leaning back against the wall as he waited, keeping a steady eye on the staircase he knew the musician would come bounding down at any given moment.
At last, the sitarist came rushing down the stairs, faded blue sweater, torn black baggy jeans, battered book bag and all, opting to skip the last two steps and instead end with a dramatic, graceful leap which left him standing a foot away from an amused Zexion.
"Okay, Zexy, lesgo!" he exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing the slate-haired teenager's wrist –blatantly ignoring the half-hearted reproachful remark from Zexion as he did so– and took off running down the stairs leading up to the open front door, effectively dragging his best friend out the front door.
"Demyx, wait—Demyx!" Zexion exclaimed, a hint of exasperated amusement managing to sneak into his usually calm, collected tone as he caught his balance and stopped; forcing the excited teenager to stop as well.
"Whaat?" Demyx drawled back playfully, fingers automatically toying with the cord of his favorite headphones resting comfortably around his neck (their usual place) having nothing else to do.
"Don't you want to say goodbye to your sis—"
"Oh yeah!"
And with that revelation, Demyx ran back up the stairs leading up to his house. Zexion forced back what would have been an uncharacteristic roll of his eyes in response to his friend's antics before he began trailing behind at a much more resigned pace.
Demyx skipped through the front door, pausing only a moment to flash an apologetic grin back to his friend before turning to face the interior of the house, allowing his bag to fall by his feet.
"Ariel, I'm leaving!" he called. Immediately, the lovely young woman came hurrying out of the kitchen where she had been cleaning up from the breakfast she'd served to her younger siblings that morning.
"Have a wonderful first day back, Demy," Ariel smiled, wrapping her arms around her brother in a warm embrace before pulling him back at an arms length and gazing at him affectionately.
"And I wish you the best of luck getting into your favorite electives—the same goes for you, Zexion," Arial declared, sending a kind smile toward the quiet teenager she knew to be standing by the doorway as he waited patiently for his friend. He surprised her with a thin smile of acknowledgement.
Just as she let Demyx go, another redheaded blur came rushing into the surprised blonde—nearly knocking the both of them to the floor.
"And don't forget to pick me up after my dancing lessons from now on, okay?" Kairi warned; violet eyes narrowed as she tried to glower menacingly at her brother.
"Aw, gimme a break, Kai, that was years ago."
"Demyx, that was last week."
"Details, details," Demyx chuckled as he ruffled her hair lightly, earning himself a reluctant smile from his sister. At long last he turned to an expectant Zexion.
"And now, we've reaaally gotta go before we're late," he laughed, bending down to scoop up his bag and nudging Zexion playfully as he darted back out of the house once more.
Zexion nodded one last time in the siblings' direction, before turning to follow Demyx out of the house.
"Where'd you park, Zexy?" Demyx asked, glancing back over his shoulder at said student.
"Just around the corner," Zexion replied easily, already fishing in his pocket for his keys.
They reached Zexion's admittedly very nice car (it had been an early birthday gift from his constantly absent parents) and Demyx immediately went for the passenger door to take his usual seat. Zexion himself slid gracefully into the driver's seat, setting his bag into the back seat, Demyx following suit in a much more unceremonious manner.
However, when Zexion went to turn on the ignition, he felt Demyx's hand grab his wrist gently, thereby stalling the action. Zexion turned his stormy blue eyes to Demyx, where they widened a fraction upon taking in the sad smile Demyx wore.
"Nothing's really gonna stay the same anymore, now that we're all in collage, is it? Not that I'm not happy that Sora, Roxas and Riku are gonna be there, too, but…everything's gonna be totally different now, won't it, now that it's not just you, me, Axel and the others?" Demyx asked quietly. Zexion's fingers twitched from where they rested on the steering wheel, but otherwise he remained frozen, mulling the question over in his head before he responded.
"It'll most definitely be different," Zexion began at last, choosing his words with care.
"But…" And here he hesitated, unsure whether or not to continue his train of thought. But the moment his gaze lifted from the steering wheel to meet those desperate eyes, his mouth began working without his consent.
"But you never know--maybe different will be better, Dem," he shrugged lightly, offering a rare, gentle smile at the blond musician and going as far as to reach up to lightly trace his fingertips along the side of Demyx's jaw before turning back to start up the car.
Much like Demyx's unexpected bout of sadness, however, he wasn't prepared for the blonde to suddenly fling his arms around him in a tight hug or for the teen to press his face against his shoulder.
"De-Demyx?" Zexion stammered uncomfortably; unsure whether or not his friend was crying.
Suddenly, the blonde teenager pulled back—however, now the blond was smiling slyly.
"Aww—who knew there was actually a heart somewhere in you, Zexy? Do correct me if I'm wrong, but did 'His Majesty the Ice Prince' just try to console me?" he teased.
"And as to that, Demyx, I can assure you it was just your wishful thinking," Zexion deadpanned, resisting the urge to roll his eyes when he caught the sitarist sticking his tongue out at him from the corner of his eye; opting to focus on making it to the highway.
"You know, with your level of maturity, I'm rather surprised that you're starting jour junior year of college and not preschool," Zexion smirked, never once taking his eyes off the road—he didn't need to look to hear Demyx's splutter of indignation mixed with poorly-repressed laughter.
"Oh yeah? Well at least I'm not known as 'That Emo Kid,'" Demyx retorted humorously. Those words, however, did in fact manage to provoke a reaction from Zexion, for the slate-haired teen immediately frowned.
"I honestly haven't the slightest idea as to how I earned that title. I mean, it isn't as if I lock myself up all day--"
"--Actually, you kinda do, Zexy--"
"--Or listen to heavy metal music while I write about how very much I despise my life, is it?"
"…Kay, yeah, I don't really get it much either. I think it's just 'cause you're so quiet and read all the time," Demyx nodded fervently, giggling at the brief, incredulous expression that flashed across Zexion's features.
Demyx thought he heard Zexion mutter something along the lines of "does no one bother to read anymore?" under his breath as he shook his head, thereby signaling the end of that tangent.
Satisfied, Demyx stretched back to grab his bag, unzipping the front pouch to carefully maneuver his ancient CD-player out of its case (by this point he knew quite well that Zexion preferred quiet car rides).
Successful in his mission to retrieve his favorite source of entertainment he carelessly tossed his bag over his shoulder, where it miraculously landed on the backseat and not the floor, as per usual. Once he'd plugged in the cord of his ever-present headphones, he slipped his headphones over his ears, turned on the power and pressed PLAY; allowing his eyes to close in bliss as the instrumental introduction to whatever song had turned on began.
It was a quiet ride the rest of the way to the university; after the next few minutes, Zexion allowed whatever tension he felt to melt away completely now that he was certain that they'd get there on time if the traffic remained as light as it as now.
Only after around ten minutes of silence did Zexion allow himself a furtive glance at Demyx from the corner of his eye, and he smiled faintly as he took in the sight of the unusually quiet blonde.
Demyx's eyes had fluttered closed, hiding his ocean eyes from view. His lips were parted and moving slightly as he absentmindedly mouthed the lyrics to his music, and his fingers tapped out a silent tune as they danced along the ledge of the car door where his arm rested.
'Gorgeous,' Zexion thought distractedly; but upon realizing what he'd just thought, however, he scowled to himself and forced his gaze back to the highway, hurriedly pushing the thought to the back of his head until a later time; he could ponder about his best friend to his heart's desire later that night as he battled his dreadful insomnia.
And if the insomnia wasn't enough, there were those occasional and terribly vivid nightmares which he'd suffered all through his life—yet somehow, to Zexion's eternal frustration, he could never remember. But his reaction was always the same; he would always wake up drenched in a cold sweat, clutching his chest where his heart would be beating at a painfully erratic rhythm until he caught his breath. Strangely enough, the reassuring beat beneath his fingers always managed to calm him.
Pushing aside his morbid thoughts as well as those of his crush, he concentrated solely on the task at hand, which consisted of pulling out of the middle lane and into the right one to reach the designated exit which cheerily welcomed the newcomers to RGU—more commonly known as the renowned Radiant Garden University.
Glancing at the clock as he pulled into the parking lot, he was satisfied to see that they still had another whole ten minutes before they were needed in the main hall to pick up their schedules.
"Demyx, we're here," Zexion announced as he stopped the car, only belatedly realizing the acknowledgement wasn't necessary. He shrugged it off however, as he was greeted with silence.
"…Demyx?" he tried again, this time turning to actually face the teen as he addressed him—and found himself suddenly struggling against the hints of a tiny smile playing on his lips as he realized the musician was still sitting there listening to his music, utterly oblivious to his surroundings and the fact that they had reached their destination.
"Dem, we've got to go," Zexion insisted, at last resorting to shaking Demyx's shoulder lightly.
"Whatsit?" Demyx asked abruptly before he hastily removed his headphones, letting them settle around his neck as he blinked dazedly at Zexion.
"Are we there already?" he asked curiously, turning his music off and tugging gently on the cord to unplug it
"Yes, the traffic was quite light, and we're approximately nine minutes early," Zexion replied easily as he stepped out of the car and closed the door while Demyx grabbed his bag to stow his CD player back in its rightful place.
Zexion waited patiently for Demyx to clamber out of the car before he locked it, motioning as he turned for the currently-stretching blonde to follow suit.
The slate-haired teen's sensitive ears picked up the sound of Demyx's quickly approaching footsteps, and so he was prepared in advance for the sudden addition of Demyx's weight on one shoulder.
"Sooo, where to first?" Demyx asked; resting his chin against Zexion's shoulder and looking up inquisitively from the corner of his eyes as he awaiting his friend's response.
"I suppose we should wait for your cousins and my brother in the main hall," Zexion replied, staring determinedly at the large building they were approaching.
"I hope they'll like it here—I mean, I know Sora will, but whaddya think 'bout Riku and Rox?" Demyx wondered aloud, suddenly relinquishing his grip on Zexion in favor of easily slipping into a spontaneous, silly ("it's abstract, Zexion, don't sound so critical!") dance beside the not-so-surprised student as he continued their conversation.
"Well I know that Riku will be happy, so long as he's with his best friend, but with Roxas, one can never be sure," Zexion answered simply, his expression softening slightly at the sound of Demyx's bright laughter.
"Yeah, I guess you're ri—aaagh!" Demyx ended with a yelp as he was assaulted and tackled to the ground without warning.
"Hey, Dem," was the simple greeting Demyx received as his assailant, casually dressed in dark ripped jeans and a fishnet shirt layered on top of a vivid green shirt that matched his eyes, settled himself more comfortably on top of the flabbergasted teenager.
"H-hey, Axel, I missed you," Demyx laughed breathlessly, beaming up at the smirking redhead.
"Umm, you gonna get off me?" Demyx asked after a good few moments had passed. Axel glanced up, pretending to become lost in thought before he shook his head.
"Nah, too much work," he replied with a shrug. Demyx frowned up at the snickering pyromaniac before turning desperate eyes to his silent friend who looked on in mild amusement
"Zeeexy, tell him to get off," the musician whined as he struggled to escape from beneath his lazy fellow junior.
"Axel. I do not think that Demyx appreciates his current predicament. Kindly remove yourself from his person," Zexion deadpanned, sending the sitarist into a fit of giggles—which almost immediately, due to a lack of air, turned to choked coughs.
"Alright, alright, but only 'cause he sounds like he's dying," Axel countered playfully, picking himself up and off from the relieved teenager, who scrambled up as well, brushing dirt off of his pants.
"That was really mean," Demyx pouted, struggling to repress a smile.
"Deal," was Axel's easy retort, but he was grinning, and at last so was Demyx.
"So, what're you two doing here this early? I'm only here already 'cause Reno threw me out of the house. Which is so totally unfair, seeing as it's my place, too. We've still got time to spare—wanna go get something to eat?" Axel asked, throwing an arm around Demyx's (as well as an unwilling Zexion's) shoulders, a soft clacking accompanying the motion as the assortment of random bangles on his arms knocked together.
"Sorry, we've gotta pass on that; we're waiting for Sora, Rox and Riku," Demyx smiled ruefully.
"That's fine--mind if I tag along too, then?" Axel asked, not disheartened in the least.
"No prob; the more the merrier, right?" Demyx grinned between his two friends.
"Did you find out who you're rooming with this year, Axel?" Zexion finally spoke up as they continued walking to the main building, titling his head inquisitively.
"Marly again," Axel grinned.
"It's great—I practically get my own room, seeing as he's always hanging out at Larxene's," he said with a triumphant smirk.
"So, d'ya know what the rooming arrangements for your cousins' and your brother's gonna be?" Axel asked.
"I dunno—I'm not really sure. It'll most likely cause a problem, since Sora is best friends with Riku, but he's Rox's brother…aw geez, poor Sora's gonna get caught in the middle as usual," Demyx laughed nervously.
"I'm sure they'll work something out," Zexion reassured Demyx. The blond nodded and mumbled an assent distractedly, as now his bright blue eyes were busy searching the sea of students for familiar faces.
Zexion himself began searching for an easy-to-find feature of his brother's—Riku's striking platinum hair.
However, the two were forced to put their mission on a hiatus when Axel whistled loudly, nudging them urgently.
"Damn--that blondie's new, right? I've never seen him around before, and he looks young enough to be a freshman," Axel managed to get out, gazing off to their left.
"Where, Axel?" Demyx sighed impatiently, gracing Axel with a quick scan of the crowd out in the direction so that he could get back to searching for his—
"Ohmigawd, Zexy, there's Roxy! That means Sora 'n Riku must be here too, then," Demyx bubbled excitedly, launching himself from the two other startled teenagers as he sped off in his cousin's general direction.
"Roxaaas!"
The cry of his name was all the warning said blonde had before an excited sitarist very nearly knocked him over (he managed to keep his balance, however, as the younger Strife twin was fortunate enough to be experienced with such random glomp-attacks on a regular basis).
"Get off me, Demyx," Roxas grumbled, as if irritated, but his struggle to keep the corners of his lips turned downward said otherwise.
"Aww, but I haven't seen you in ages! Didn't you miss me?"
"Yeah, whateve—"
"Demy!" cried an excited blur of colorful clothes and spiked brown hair which raced toward the addressed student before he found himself pulled into a tight hug.
"Sora!" Demyx laughed, musing his cousin's hair playfully before pulling away to smile warmly at the overjoyed brunette.
"Geez you got tan--how was it spending summer in Destiny Islands?" Demyx asked eagerly.
"It was really nice spending time out there with cousin Rikku, but I missed you guys back here so much—Hollow Bastian'll always be home," Sora replied, grinning so widely that his eyes were forced shut.
Zexion looked on with a slight smile as he watched the newly reunited trio began to excitedly relay the latest events.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa; hang on a sec—Dem knows that cutie?" Axel spluttered impatiently, jade eyes bright with gradually building anticipation. Zexion glanced up to regard the redhead in mild surprise.
"Do you mean to say that the… 'blondie' you were mentioning before was… Roxas?" Zexion asked haltingly, eyeing him dubiously.
"Roxas, huh?" Axel repeated to himself as a slow smirk spread across his lips, not seeming to register Zexion's inquiry.
"Hey, Zexion," greeted a calm, smooth voice from the approaching newcomer. Zexion blinked as he registered the new voice.
"Hello, Riku," Zexion replied, nodding at his brother in acknowledgement.
"It was quite courteous of you to offer to pick the twins up from the airport this morning in my place," Zexion continued airily, although there were the slightest hints of a smirk playing on his lips. Riku's aquamarine eyes narrowed warily.
"…And your point is?" he drawled nonchalantly, although his blazing eyes dared his older sibling to continue on his tangent while they were still in the twins' presence.
"Why would I need a point? And if I were to have one, well… we both know that you'd already be aware of it," Zexion responded, shrugging indifferently; however he was forced to angle his face away to hide his tell-tale smirk with his long bangs.
"Hiya Riku!" Demyx exclaimed, beaming as he appeared out of nowhere, punching the younger Nomura lightly on the shoulder in a playful greeting. Riku smiled back, returning the favor.
"Hi Demyx--happy to have your cousins back?" Riku joked, laughing at Demyx's ecstatic reaction as the dirty blonde nodded vigorously.
"I believe it's about time we left to retrieve our schedules," Zexion spoke up, offering his friends a faint smile as they turned to look at him.
"Aw Zexy—you're so responsible!" Demyx giggled, throwing his arms around the slate-haired teen in an enthusiastic hug and letting go of him—all before Zexion could protest— before he sped off in his cousins' direction to grab their wrists and drag them along behind him happily, laughing giddily along with Sora and ignoring an irate Roxas' objections, Riku following along shaking his head.
"…I supposed we'd better leave as well, Axel," Zexion sighed.
No response.
"Axel? Oh, for the…" Zexion snapped at last and, upon realizing the redhead was still utterly taken with the fact that one of his best friends was related to what appeared to be his latest love interest, opted to grab the pyromaniac by the wrist himself to drag the (sickeningly obviously) infatuated student along with him.
It seemed as though it was going to be an even longer day than Zexion had anticipated.
Zexion and Axel caught up to the others in the main hall where they had stopped at the end of the line to collect their new schedules.
"So…how do we find out about our rooming arrangements?" Riku asked casually—making a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable fight between himself and Roxas. At the simple inquiry, however, Roxas immediately grabbed his twin's arm and forcefully dragged the yelping brunette to his side.
"I don't know how the process itself is set up, but the one fundamental factor remains that Sora stays with me," the blonde replied just as easily; his tone conflicting almost humorously with his vice grip on his brother (it would have been funny, had he not managed to look so menacing and Sora not been wincing at the sheer amount of pressure Roxas had clamped down with on his arm).
"Roxas, please calm down. Hold onto Sora any tighter, and I'm afraid you might amputate his arm," Zexion said tonelessly, not even blinking at the revering glance Sora sent his way.
Roxas said nothing, but released his grip on the brunette's arm—muttering a nearly inaudible "sorry" to Sora as he watched his sibling gingerly rub his arm in a feeble attempt to get the feeling back.
"So you're Demyx's cousin, are you?" came a purred inquiry from Roxas' left.
Roxas blinked before glancing up to see a smirking redheaded teenager.
"Hey, my name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" he asked, tapping his temple lightly with his index finger. Roxas regarded him blankly before turning his cerulean gaze toward his cousin and Zexion.
"Do you know this jerk?" he asked gruffly, gesturing his thumb over his shoulder to point out the speechless teen.
"Unfortunately, yes," Zexion sighed. Demyx, on the other hand, perked up immediately at the question, grinning broadly at the opportunity to introduce his friend.
"Yeah, that's Axel--he was one of the first kids in my class that I became best friends with here. I know I've mentioned him before… oh yeah! Remember that story I told you about in my freshman year? It was your favorite one, remember--with Professor Vexen?"
Roxas turned back to stare at the lanky student calculatingly.
"Are you the one Dem told me and Sora about in his first year here—the one who burned down one of the stations in the chemistry lab?" he asked at last.
"That's me," was Axel's proud answer. Roxas tilted his head thoughtfully, before rewarding the hopeful student with a smile—a tiny smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"I set off the sprinklers at Twilight High because I set the school's entire supply of chemistry books on fire for my senior prank," Roxas responded, nodding curtly at the now wide-eyed junior before engaging decidedly in an argument with Riku upon joining the conversation Sora and his best friend had been having.
"I think you 'n Roxas will wind up either getting along really well or hating each other's guts," Demyx joked, but his happy demeanor faded somewhat, however, as he took in Axel's slack expression.
"What's wrong? Don't you like him?" he asked worriedly, pursing his lips together nervously.
"Oh, believe me Demyx, that's not the problem at all—quite the contrary in fact… that is, if I'm not mistaken," Zexion replied, unable to repress a smirk as at last Axel managed to muster up the strength to glare (read: pout) at him.
"Hey, hey, hey—you do not mess with someone's interest in what obviously appears to be their soul mate," Axel retorted in a low voice, jade eyes darting over to rest on said "soul mate."
Demyx glanced between the two, obviously confused.
"What interest? Whose soul mate?" he asked bewilderedly. When neither of his friends responded (one sulking, one smirking) he crossed his arms and frowned, becoming lost deeply in thought before his azure eyes widened considerably.
"Wait a sec…Axel, that "blondie" from before wouldn't have happed to be Rox, would it?" he accused softly, a sure smirk of his own touching his lips as the redhead's gaze snapped to him in surprise.
"Since when did you become so perceptive, ditz?" Axel shot back playfully, loving the (adorable) glower sent back his way.
"Hey! I am not a ditz!" Demyx whined loudly, gaining much of the surrounding students' attention.
"Well, I for one am quite sure you're not, Ducky," came an amused response, and Demyx looked over his shoulder in surprise to identify the newcomer.
"Luxord!" he exclaimed joyfully, hugging the British man tightly before he pulled away.
"How've ya been?" he asked, eyes shining happily. The gambler smiled back, and was about to reply when Sora suddenly threw himself behind the musician, peeking over his shoulder nervously as Roxas stomped over, followed by Riku.
'Save me,' Sora mouthed, wide blue eyes begging the sitarist to interfere.
"Rox, cut it out, you're scaring your brother," Demyx reprimanded cheerily.
"Riku, you too," Zexion added. Riku mouthed wordlessly before he managed to reply.
"W-what did--I didn't do anything!" he protested, glaring daggers at his older brother. Zexion spared him a bored look before turning away to greet Luxord.
"Hello, Luxord. How was your trip over the break to London?" he asked quietly, blatantly ignoring the brief, infuriated splutters that came from behind him.
"It was fine, thank you," Luxord replied amiably, blinking curiously about at the new faces.
"It seems as though you've brought a number of new students with you this year…relatives?" Luxord observed as he gestured toward the three freshmen now tuned into the conversation as well.
"Yup--this is my cousin, Sora," Demyx began, gesturing to the grinning brunette. Luxord glanced at the smiling student.
"I see that smile runs in the family," he chuckled softly. Sora laughed brightly as he linked his arms casually behind his head.
"And this is his twin brother, Roxas," Demyx continued, motioning toward the younger twin. Roxas lifted eyes identical to his brother's to meet Luxord's kind gaze.
"Hey," Roxas mumbled, lifting a hand in an uninterested fashion.
"Lastly, this is my younger brother Riku," Zexion introduced, somehow managing to sound even more apathetic than usual.
"I don't think you could've possibly managed to have sounded any happier, Zexion," Riku replied coolly.
"I take it your rather… blasé personalities are a common trait in your family as well then," Luxord observed, grinning as he shook his head.
"Ooh! Lux, have you seen any of the others around?" Demyx asked excitedly. Luxord frowned slightly, tapping his chin lightly as he thought.
"Well, I did happen to run into Marluxia and Larxene on my way to the line… and I'm sure I caught a glimpse of Lexaeus' looming figure as I was parking my car before," he answered decidedly. Demyx clapped happily and voiced his enthusiasm with a bright "yay!"
"But I'd best be off for now—I promised the English department that I'd assist in organizing some of the new books that arrived in the library that have yet to be sorted," he explained.
"Okay then—see you around, Luxord!" Demyx said warmly; Luxord responded with a small wave and a soft "cheerio" before he became lost in the crowd of students.
It didn't take long after that for the group of students to reach the front. When they did, however, they were greeted with yet another familiar face.
"Hiya, Jack!" Demyx greeted cheerfully. Said student gave a slight start before gazing up with his deep, dark eyes.
"Oh, Demyx! I take it you're well?" he asked, sitting back slightly with a smile and tucking a loose strand of the palest blond hair back behind his ear.
"Yup! Hey, how're things with you 'n Sally?" Demyx asked. The tall, pale senior's smile turned dreamy as his girlfriend was brought up in the conversation.
"Sally's great...wonderful, beautif-ah!—She's very well, thank you for asking!" he amended hastily, flushing slightly.
"Okay then, so it's Demyx…?"
"Mizu. Demyx Mizu."
"Oh right, sorry! Sheesh, we were in so many of the same classes last year, you'd think I'd remember," Jack laughed, typing Demyx's full name into the computer to pull up and print the documents to hand to the eager junior.
"There you go! Have a wonderful day--oh! And be sure to keep this year's Halloween Fling in mind! You're always so creative!" Jack reminded earnestly before shooing him off so that he could help Zexion next.
Demyx became so occupied in reading his schedule that he jumped when Zexion tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
"So… how many classes are we going to share this year?" he asked easily. Demyx grinned.
"I dunno—but we should wait for the others so that we can all compare together!" he replied, feeling pleased with himself when Zexion agreed that it was a good plan.
When all six of the students had collected their necessary information, they found themselves in the courtyard, sitting beside Demyx's and Axel's favorite fountain which depicted a rather large, marble Moogle.
"Okay! Sora, Riku, Roxas—you three compare your schedules while me, Zexy and Axel see about ours," Demyx directed while grabbing an unprepared Axel's schedule.
"Hey… Axel, we're in, like, every other class together!" Demyx said cheerily, handing the redhead his schedule back so that he could point out the similarities and differences.
As he listened, Zexion managed to catch that there were differences between their art and history classes before he suddenly found himself missing his schedule as an impatient Demyx stole it from his grasp.
"AP English… Bio… art…" he caught the blonde murmuring under his breath as he quickly scanned the two schedules. After a mere ten seconds, the mulleted blonde handed his paper back beaming.
"So, excepting your placement in AP math and AP history, we're together in all the other classes, not including our electives! This sooo beats last year's two classes!" Demyx said happily.
"What about you three?" Axel directed toward the freshmen, where Sora was just handing back the papers to their respective owners.
"Oh! Riku and I are in nearly all of the same classes, but Roxas is in most of the AP's. He's got a few of the same classes with us, though--most importantly, we've all got chemistry together which meaaans… I'm not gonna fail!" Sora replied cheerfully.
"Who've you got for chemistry?" Axel asked Roxas, moving to sit down beside him. Roxas glanced down at his paper before a slow smirk appeared on his lips.
"…Vexen," he answered, looking quite satisfied.
"And if I find he was as mean to Dem as my cousin says he was… I'll give 'im hell," he continued fervently, crinkling his schedule slightly as his grip tightened at the memory of Demyx's complaints about the teacher when he visited home during his breaks from school.
Sora, upon sensing the sudden change in his brother demeanor quickly scooted closer to Riku.
"I feel bad for Mr. Vexen," Sora whispered into Riku's ear.
"It's professor, Sora. And I don't feel bad for him, I fear for his well-being," Riku replied quietly.
"Oh, you'll loose those concerns soon enough—like, say, when he refuses to call on you in class, and then scolds you loudly at the end of class for never speaking up 'cause he doesn't like you," Axel laughed.
"But...but then, how did you pass…you did pass, didn't you?" Sora asked worriedly.
"Pass? Oh, don't worry, I passed with flying colors. Chemistry's my best subject, y'know—'cause I'd never screw up the opportunity to burn things when I've got permission to," Axel scoffed, offering the brunette a reassuring grin.
"So I guess the last thing to settle is our dorm arrangements," Demyx blurted out before could stop himself, wincing and quickly clamping his hands over his mouth when he realized it was too late.
Once the words had left his mouth, Riku's and Roxas' eyes met determinedly. Both boys reached out to grab the sorry-looking brunette situated between them, who, in turn, hastily tried to jump off the ledge of the fountain.
Unfortunately, he somewhat managed to succeed in propelling himself the wrong way and ended up tumbling back into the water.
When at last the spluttering brunette managed to sit back up –batting away Riku's and Roxas' hands all the while– he crossed his arms and glanced between the two somewhat darkly.
"So… What have we learned here, today?" Sora asked expectantly, over Axel's hysterical laughter. The two looked away sheepishly.
"Don't fight next to a fountain while you're around?"
"I should always get what I want?" (At this Sora sent the blonde an exasperated look).
"Well, that too, I guess, Riku--and no, Roxas. No. I think that this is a perfectly good example that," and here, Sora stopped dramatically before continuing.
"…That fighting leads to bad karma which means even more back luck for me. So please. Please, can't we come to an agreement in a calm, civilized fashion?" Sora pleaded earnestly, blue eyes searching his brother's and best friend's eyes desperately as he began wringing out his drenched brown locks (which quickly sprang back up into their naturally spiked style upon loosing the excess moisture).
"What do you suggest we do, Sora?" Roxas grumbled, looking pointedly away as Demyx unabashedly gaped at his being open to suggestions for once in his lifetime. Sora, on the other hand, simply grinned.
"Weeell…"
And that was when Sora chose to introduce his incredibly complex and positively brilliant technique that, upon harnessing the godly Powers That Be, would make the life-changing decision for them.
Or, simply put, the way in which Riku and Roxas found themselves settling the matter over a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors (best two out of three).
Which Riku won; thereby leaving him both incredibly satisfied and with an extremely painful (and very nearly fractured) shin.
Roxas, luckily enough, didn't even have to deal with the problem of finding another student willing to share a room, for the moment Roxas had placed his foot back down on the ground from kicking his brother's best friend, an unusually eager Axel invited him to share his room, explaining that his "roommate" didn't even set foot in their dorm, seeing as he spent all of his time at his girlfriend Larxene's (whom, he added, he should avoid at all costs necessary).
The simpering redhead had practically melted at both Roxas' consent and smile, much to Demyx's and Zexion's amusement.
And suddenly, as everything had worked itself out in the end –and it only dawned upon Zexion as he and Demyx were stepping into their new dorm room– the day hadn't been quite as tedious as he'd first suspected it would be.
XXXXXXXXX
Jessie: Smiles Why, yes, I am having the time of my life writing this!
Joh: Aw, Jessie, that's what writing's about!
Jessie: Gushes Aishiteru, sis!
Joh: Huggles Wo ai ni, sweetie!
Jessie: I'm so happy I'm so active again. Thank you all so much for your patience! And—IMPORTANT NOTE! I was talking to Joh about this, and this is what I decided on. I love posting biiig updates, and I know (from experience, mind you!) that I love when authors post biiig updates for story. Key point? I would very much appreciate it you would all grant me your patience while I'm writing it
Happy Zemyx Day, everybody!
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