I liked writing this chapter. I hope you will like reading it. :D
Before writing the disclaimer and putting down the chappie, I'd like to give out a big thanks to my first reviewer: jazzy-jazz-kat!
This chappie is dedicated to you, for being the first reviewer of this story. :) Thanks a lot!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts 2 or any of its characters, nor do I own Tom & Jerry, M&M's, Pringles and Pepsi. Everything belongs to their own respective owners. I don't make any profit with this story either.
Enjoy, everyone!
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Chapter 2: To confide in a friend
It's been quite a while since it has been like this: all the members of Organization XIII breaking apart to go and live their own lives. Most of them decided to go live in the appartment complex at Twilight Town. All except Xemnas, Roxas, Lexaeus and Xaldin live in the large building.
Xemnas seemed to have vanished after the disbanding of the organization, none of his former subordinates know where he might be now. Not even Saix, who used to be most fond of his leader.
Roxas moved to Destiny islands to start a new life with Sora and his friends. Him and Axel write letters to each other frequently.
Lexaeus and Xaldin went on a journey together to find their true selves. An artistic journey in which Marluxia would've loved to join them, but instead chose to stay with the rest of the former members of the Organization, because he claimed that they needed a leader.
Of course, no one takes his leadership seriously anymore ever since the Castle Oblivion incident. He screwed up big time after all.
There is but one person who is willing to take him seriously, and that would be Vexen. Every time there is a problem in the complex, he turns to Marluxia for assistance.
But because things have changed, there have only been minor problems in the complex.
No more "Sir, Sora is in the castle and moving up!", but instead it has been "The coffee machine is broken, Marluxia!", "Zexion's tv is too loud again, Marluxia!", "Someone plugged the toilets, Marluxia!" and the worst of them all, "The flower garden is a mess again, Marluxia!"
Yep, Vexen sure seemed to be needy. Sometimes it would drive Marluxia totally out of his mind, like this morning.
'I can't even wake up in peace without him knocking at my door again about something minor and irrelevant that he could easily fix by himself. Is he nostalgic or something?' the Graceful Assassin tends to wonder, 'I know I am, every now and then… It was good to be the Lord of a castle… Much better than being the 'Lord' of an appartment complex.'
Marluxia sighs and puts his newspaper down, drinking a small cup of tea with his breakfast.
'Can't have it all, I guess…'
His quiet breakfast is disturbed by some noise on the hallway.
"Turn down the volume, Zexion!!"
"How about you turn down yours!!"
A vein pops up on the forehead of the pinkhaired man. He gets up and opens his door: "Would you people quit shouting? It's still morning, and I like my mornings quiet."
Zexion opens his door too and grins.
"Your breakfast smells nice, Marluxia. Can I have some?" he asks teasingly.
"This is not about my breakfast."
Vexen is standing between them, looking from one to another. He decides to just give up and walks away. Feeling defeated.
Demyx pops up from behind Zexion. "Good morning, Marly!"
"My name is not Marly…" the Graceful Assassin growls warningly.
"Sorry, Marly. But I'll be going out to get some groceries soon. Is there anything you need?"
That brightens Marluxia's mood a little, he smiles kindly.
"Well, I think I could use some more fabric softner," he says, "you know, the pink bottle with the rose print on it?"
Demyx smiles back: "Sure."
Then he disappears back into Zexion's room again.
While Vexen walks back to his room, he runs into Larxene. The only woman in the complex.
"Good morning, Vexen," she greets him cheerfully.
Vexen sighs: "Yeah, good morning…"
Larxene fails to notice the sarcastic tone in Vexen's voice and just walks on. She greets the Gracefully Assassin as well.
"Good morning, Marluxia! Nice weather today, isn't it. Feel like going shopping?"
"Oh, sure!" he exclaims happily, having totally forgotten about his bad mood, "I really need some new pants. I only have some jeans left, and they're not suitable for this weather. I'll sweat my legs off! When are you going out?"
Vexen twitches. He stops walking and peeks around the corner, watching Larxene and Marluxia talk.
The Savage Nymph shrugs: "I don't know. Maybe in about an hour? The shops will all be open by then."
Marluxia smiles and nods, then he points back at his room.
"I'll freshen up then, I'll meet you in an hour."
And with that, he vanishes back into his room.
Vexen growls. His mood was bad enough already, this only made it worse.
The Chilly Academic retreats to his room again and continues with his research.
What used to be his job is now more of a hobby to him. He likes to search for new knowledge and look up information on all kinds of things, but what he would actually really want is to be a painter. Marluxia already inspired him multiple times.
On the wall, Vexen pinned a lot of sketches. Most of them feature animals, like arctic wolves or lions, but there are some works that are entirely different from those drawings.
In his desk, in a drawer with a lock on it, Vexen has hidden his secret sketchbook in which he loves to sketch Marluxia over and over again. He drew the man in a lot of different situations already: in the shower, in his beloved flower garden, on horseback, and so on.
Vexen sighs: "I think I'm having an artblock…"
Suddenly, the sound of gunfire sounds through the complex and a couple of holes appear in Vexen's wall, the bullets that made the holes only barely missed his drawings.
"What the heck?? Why can't I ever have a normal day like everybody else?!" he angrily exclaims. He gets up and stomps out again, straight towards Xigbar's.
The Freeshooter is working on his guns. 'Geesh, how could I ever forget the safety catch?'
He nearly drops the rifle he's holding when his door is slammed open.
"Shoot my wall again and you're dead!" Vexen roars at him, "you're really asking for it!"
Xigbar frowns: "I didn't do it on purpose, you know. No need to nag on me. I didn't break anything, did I?"
Vexen is about to counter, but then he sighs, giving up again. He walks into the room and flops down on a chair, like he does more often when he's at Xigbar's room.
Xigbar sighs, he can't really blame his friend. He picks up his rifle, turns on the safety catch for sure this time and takes place on the chair next to his.
"Sorry, man…"
"It's okay, Xigbar. You didn't wreck anything, I guess I overreacted."
"Want some M&M's?"
"Yeah, sure."
-
And so, the two Nobodies enjoy some M&M's in front of the tv. They're just watching some cartoons for entertainment. Xigbar sniggers at a funny Tom & Jerry cartoon, causing him to almost choke on an M&M.
Vexen sniggers too and pats his back: "Choke carefully."
Xigbar regains his regular breath and smiles nervously.
"Gee, thanks…"
He shamelessly tosses another M&M up in the air and catches it in his mouth, afterwards turning his attention back to the tv.
Vexen grabs some Pringles and is just about to tear open the bag when he hears his housemates talk on the hallway.
"Will we be having lunch in the city centre today as well, Larxene?"
"Sure, but it's your treat this time, Marluxia."
"Okay! Let me get an extra shirt in case I spill all over myself like last time."
Xigbar bursts into laughter because of the hilarious cartoon on tv, he turns to Vexen to talk about it, but quickly swallows his words when he sees the other's facial expression.
Vexen not only tears open the bag, he rips pieces off of it with his teeth out of frustration.
Xigbar takes the bag from him: "What did that bag ever do to you?"
The Chilly Academic sighs softly and turns away, he doesn't really want to talk about what he really feels right now.
He just crosses his arms and tries to keep a straight face. But that's not so easy when Tom and Jerry are on tv. Soon he finds himself chuckling again at something silly that the ever popular cat and mouse are up to.
Xigbar smiles sort of sadly.
"You can trust me, you know. I really think it'd be better if you talked about it," he says.
Vexen takes the bag of Pringles from Xigbar and sighs, munching on a chip.
"Alright… if you really want to know that badly…"
The Chilly Academic sighs again and starts with his story. "It all started at Castle Oblivion, I guess. You heard the tales. Marluxia was a Nobody who had lots of power there, as the lord of the castle. We all had to do exactly as he said, even if he was in a possible conspiracy. We didn't get along back then at all, you know that much. But then Sora came along, taking care of the Organization… A fate we kind of deserved, I guess, for doing what we did."
Xigbar nods understandingly and sips some Pepsi from a can. Vexen continues.
"Soon we all ended up moving in here, starting a new life. I guess it was at that point, when I started to see the real Marluxia… what he's like in a relaxed state… that I slowly started to take a liking to him. Know what I mean?"
Xigbar smiles, he likes where this story is going.
"Yes. Continue?" he asks, clearly curious about the other half of the story.
Vexen sighs softly: "Well, that's where the problem lies. I don't think Marluxia likes me as much as I like him. In fact, I think he's straight. I have the sneaking suspicion that him and Larxene are dating. I mean, they go shopping all the time, and he keeps shouting my head off! Gah!!"
The Chilly Academic seems to have lost his chill at last. The Nobody rests his head on his hands and his elbows on his knees.
"It drives me mad," he growls, "I confide in him as a leader and all he does is shove me off. And on top of that, he's dating that crazy woman!"
Xigbar frowns, he doesn't like seeing his friend like this, he puts his Pepsi can down and takes a typical thinking pose.
"Yeah… If you really want to be together with him, then Larxene would be a problem… along with the fact that he's straight…" he mumbles, thinking some more.
Vexen shakes his head: "I tried to think of a solution, but I couldn't. Not one single stupid book I read has the answer."
Xigbar thinks a little more, then he grins.
"Wait a second… I think I have an idea."
"Sure, but will it work?"
"Just leave everything to me."
The Freeshooter eagerly rubs his hands together. He's going to have a lot of fun working out this particular idea…