Author's Notes: Ramen is a bit of an impatient woman, so...The days that Zexion and Demyx spent together during school have been skipped. As in, we didn't even write that part because she was lazy and wanted action. [Trust me, she nagged so, don't get all "WTF!!!234!" on us. Thank you!
Apologies: It's probably not as flowing as a story should be.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Now, on with Chapter Two!
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The school week had pass, and Zexion had to admit that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would have been. The first day he was very quiet, regretting ever agreeing to Demyx's little wager for the fact that the boy always found him no matter what. The taller even walked the boy home on Thursday, and somehow managed to get Zexion's cell phone number out of him. It amazed the outcast how persuasive the other could be, but he grown slightly attached to him, and wasn't as freaked out when he found Demyx hanging out by his classroom door when school ended. The stubborn preppie certainly proved that he wasn't like the others, but the shorter boy still kept his guard up.
The dirty blonde hadn't minded the smaller boy's constant groans or expressions of pure irritation on the first day, and he had noticed they were slowly lessening over the week. It wasn't easy picking out topics that might have gotten Zexion to speak, but after careful preparation with Vincent's help, Demyx actually made a list of things he could converse with the other student over phone. Now Saturday, he gave his uncle a hug before racing to his prey's home. Sure, the little emo wasn't fond of the musician popping up, but he did have a bet to win. Skidding to a halt in the slate-haired boy's yard, he picked up his cell phone, clicked the green button twice and held it up to his ear.
Liking to have his Nokia under his pillow when he slept for easy access, Zexion woke up with a start when it began to chirp loudly and vibrate. He groaned as he snatched it, giving the screen a quick glance and immediately recognizing it as Demyx's number even without having saved it. Ugh, now what do you want? "Hello? What is it?" he asked in a quiet voice as he got up and stretched, knowing the older boy wouldn't let him go back to sleep.
"Good morning, beautiful!" came the cheerful reply, "sorry if I woke you up, but guess who was just dying to see your sunshiny face?" How someone could be so energetic the second they woke up was insane, but that was Demyx. Looking up at the sky, he started bouncing in place before speaking again, "It's nice out at the moment, so maybe we could go to the park? Oh, oh! How about the zoo?" Having no shame, he started to jump animatedly, waving his hand as he came up with suggestions, "You wanna go to an aquarium, maybe? Fish are always cool to look at!"
The reply he got at first was a sigh. They had a conversation similar to this the day before, only the musician was talking about which way they should walk to school. "Demyx, you better not be . . ." Making his way over to his window, Zexion pulled back the curtains to see the hyper boy bouncing around in his yard. As Demyx continued to ramble, the petite male slipped into a pair of black skinny jeans before going down stairs to greet the blasted boy. His mother wouldn't mind if Demyx was inside the house, anyways, being she found him amusing. Opening the door, Zexion shut his phone and slipped it into his back pocket, wondering how long it would take the other to realize what's going on. "Hurry up and get inside, Mr. Sunshine. We need to eat first before we do anything."
Flipping his phone shut and stuffing it into his pocket after a minute of awkward pause, 'Mr. Sunshine' trotted over laughing, "Aw, 'Sexy Zexy' learned sarcasm! Move three spaces forward!" Ignoring Zexion's cringe at the nickname, Demyx hugged the smaller boy and said his 'thanks' before walking inside with three calculated steps just out of the door's reach. Spinning on his heel to face the shorter boy, Demyx laced his fingers behind his head, still ecstatic as ever, "I get sick from eating in the morning unless it's something loaded with sugar, so I'll just wait till you're done eating whatever," a thoughtful tap on his lower lip, "'less you have junk cereal?"
Closing and locking the door, the blunette walked past Demyx and into the kitchen, "Sorry," he said, pulling out a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk from the refrigerator, "my little brother lives with my father, so we don't have any cereal. There might be some chocolate bars in that cabinet over there." He pointed off into some direction as he put a few slices of bread into the toaster, Demyx's gaze following to nowhere in particular. "Mother is trying to diet, can't you tell?" Sitting himself down after preparing breakfast, all Zexion had was two pieces of toast and a cup of milk.
"Right. . .Well, no thanks. My stomach doesn't agree with chocolate unless it's baked in something." When the dirty blonde saw what his reluctant friend considered breakfast, he gave a disapproving look and walked to the refrigerator, "That's all you're going to eat? I mean, if you're gonna eat breakfast, at least have a full-blown meal. I'll make something for you. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes. . .Whatever you want, basically. Your wish is my command." A dramatic bow followed after, before his hand fell on the handle of the fridge as he awaited a response.
"Er, no thanks," was what he got in return, the small teenager standing up. He walked over to the Demyx, taking his hand off the handle and standing in front of the refrigerator. "Be happy I even ate breakfast at all." Zexion didn't want to waste time with breakfast, mainly because he wasn't one for eating in the morning, but also because he kind of wanted to get out of the house and hang out somewhere, as much as he'd deny it out loud. It took a good moment for him to realize he hadn't let go of Demyx's hand, and his cheeks flushed slightly, his hand quickly releasing the other's with a mutter of sorry.
Even the short period of time the outcast held his hand, the taller boy felt a small jittery feeling form in his stomach, but it was easily concealed by his happy personality. His hand inside the smaller boy's, a small jittery feeling came over him but was easily concealed because of his usual bouncing personality, "Don't worry about it! Besides, if you think about it, our hands kind of fit together." he laughed, his arm hanging off of his friend's shoulders for a handful of seconds, "So, anywhere special you'd like to go?"
He really didn't want to talk about keeping hold of the other's hand, and Demyx just getting closer didn't help in the least. Despite the weird feeling he was getting, he immediately dropped the subject when he was released from mullet boy's grip. "It doesn't matter to me, though, the park sounded quite enjoyable." The emo boy didn't exactly have a good experience with parks, considering the last time he went at the age of eight he had been attacked by a dog, making him vow to never go to a park again. But hey, he had Demyx now, so it shouldn't be so bad if anything came up, right?
One can only hope. "Alright then, to the park we go! We have about three, but I doubt you want to go to the ones with playgrounds in them." The thought of not getting to go on the swings was a little disheartening to Demyx, but he hid it as well as he hid everything else, "There's a really nice one not too far from here that has big trees and a pond, and all that nature-y stuff." he exclaimed, placing his hand on Zexion's back and ushering him outside, not making an advance to remove itself as the dirty blonde believed his friend would try to run away if he wasn't guided. About a block or so away, however, he finally let his arm return to his side, "Well, we need something to talk about, and I'm usually the one starting the conversations. So, why not you give it a try?"
A thin, blue-ish lavender brow raised in the handsome boy's direction, "Start the conversation?" Heavens knew Zexion wasn't good with that, "Alright . . . How about I start with a question, then? You haven't told me about your family except for your uncle, in a way. Do you have any siblings? And you pointed out that your mother was, er, up North. So then, what about your father?"
"Questions are always good to make a start." 'Mr. Sunshine' said, taking a moment to process every inquiry, "Well, thanks to my father cheating on my mom, I have a stepbrother named Hayner. He's a delinquent, and a pothead." He dodged a fire hydrant before continuing, "Mom was caught in a deadly traffic accident about ten days after my sixteenth birthday, and my dad bailed on us when I was nine. He said, 'Dem, I just don't love your mom anymore, and I ain't made to support a mental case like you. Sayonara kid, and try not to kill yourself too soon.'Anyways, my uncle Luxord decided he'd move into my house and watch over me, since he didn't want me losing all my friends from moving in with him. Oh, and mom's body couldn't be identified, so we didn't have a funeral." Even after his tragic tale, he didn't seem too bothered by it., looking at his companion with a soft smile, "So, what else would you like to know? Hobbies, favorite video game?"
Zexion flinched. How was it possible for this kid to be so cheerful after having experienced that? Either he was really good at looking on the 'bright side', or he was a terribly good actor. With nothing to say in response that sounded utterly pathetic, such as 'I'm sorry', which wouldn't do much either considering he didn't do anything, Zexion could only let out a quiet 'Oh, that sucks' as he dug his hands into his pockets and stepped over a puddle. Well, guilt wasn't exactly what he wanted out of a conversation, but that's what the boy felt for asking such a personal question. "Yes, hobbies. Is there anything you're interested in doing? Play an instrument, write stories . . .?"
When the low mutter was heard, Demyx kind of just laughed, "I'm okay with it. It'd be selfish to focus on my past by letting it drag me down, creating negativity and hatred. When it comes up, all I say is, 'at least it happened to me', and then I forget it. There are others who are more misfortunate, and then there are people who don't deserve things like that, so I just think it's better me than them." His speech done, his smile brightened even more than before, "I play instruments from the different countries Lux visited. I think the ocarina and sitar are my favorite to play. I also like helping people out, strangers or not. What about you?"
Looking up at the other, emo boy's face said something like What do you mean 'it happened to you?' You don't deserve it either!. But, this expression only lasted a moment before he turned his head again. What time is it? "I'd like to hear you play sometime. I've never even heard of those instruments before." He started to add a slight skip to his step now that he was fully awake. "Me? I doodle here and there, but only when I'm inspired by books that I've read. Some of them gave me such a wonderful mental image of whatever or wherever they were describing, that I had to put it down on paper."
The expression had spoken volumes to the musician, but he kept smiling and pretended he didn't notice. "I'm sure you've heard a sitar before. They were popular with hippies, and then ocarinas were pretty common with them too. Sitars had nice, tranquil sound, and then the ocarinas were more compact than a flute or clarinet. But yeah, I'd love to play sometime for you! I actually have my ocarina with me, if you want me to play for you when we get to the park. Nature and music. . .It's calming." A dreamy gaze took over his face, quickly brought out of it when Zexion spoke again, in which he nodded his understanding, "All art is inspired by something that influences the artist, and that's what makes it influential to others. I'm sure your sketches are really good."
"I'd be delighted to hear you play," he said with a smile. The conversation went on, small talk at the most, though the smaller boy couldn't say that he didn't enjoy it. In all honesty, he enjoyed his talks with Demyx. They never really went too deep, but there was something in even their talks about lunch that seemed a bit personal. It made him feel...There just wasn't a word he could quite put to it. At the park, he was in the middle of describing one of his favorite parts in a vampire story he read and how he illustrated it, when he froze. The sketch artist bit his bottom lip, trembling slightly at the sight of the leash-free Great Dane a tall man with long blue hair was walking with.