A Death Wish From a Lifeguard -Part Three
Stand Out (Above the Crowd!)
Warning: You've probably forgotten the point of this story. Have a go at Chap 1 and 2 if you will.
View Count: 634
Disclaimer: I have no rights at all to Kingdom Hearts, its characters or its brilliance. The day I claim rights to this masterpiece is- well, obviously never.
GO!
Bright blue eyes roamed the tranquil pool area skeptically. It had been six days, almost a week since a strand of dirty-blonde had been seen near the pool. Zexion found his break to be miraculous, yet he couldn't unwind the restlessness in himself. No one makes a point to show up and bother someone everyday one week, then just drop off the face of the earth, for a week, the next. Demyx had something up his tight little sleeves that Zexion wanted no part of. And it seemed as if Zexion became increasingly more paranoid. It was to the point where Zexion expected Demyx to chloroform him in the middle of the parking lot then drive them away from all society.
Yes, it was that bad.
So imagine Zexion's surprise when two heads of blonde, one dirty, one golden, strolled into the pool area fifteen minutes before closing. Thankfully the pool wasn't packed like usual, but it still bugged Zexion to suddenly feel his looming presence. And why come to the pool at 7:45 when you know the pool closes at 8? What could they possibly do to amuse themselves in fifteen minutes?
"Ooh, Zexion! Never knew you were the stalker type." Sora smirked madly, leaning against the ladder to Zexion's lifeguard tower.
Zexion didn't react outwardly to the jab, but on the inside he fumed. "Unlike you, I'm simply doing what I'm paid to do."
"The love, Zex." Sora mumbled, walking to the snack bar to bother Tifa for free leftovers.
Zexion rolled his eyes and absently watched a family of one mom and two small girls by the shallow end. His composure was deteriorating more and more each day Demyx haunted his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he could still see the two blondes talking casually on the pool chairs. The golden blonde looked near asleep as he curled into the chair and Demyx had his legs crossed comfortably at the ankles while he enjoyed his tan.
Soon the mother and the two daughters left and Zexion whistled for everyone to leave the pool area. The pool house would be closing entirely in ten minutes, so only the changing room were still open. But of course, two heads of blonde didn't get the memo. Zexion wanted to groan at the thought of actually approaching them just to tell them to leave; that had to be their plan the whole time, right? Otherwise they wouldn't have come fifteen minutes before closing.
Zexion would let them have their stupid chuckles for now. His inhales were scratching fiercely against his dry throat and his skin peeled in the suffocating heat. Once everyone was out the pool area, either trudging towards the locker rooms or packing up their things from the pool chairs, Zexion stepped down from his tower and lowered himself lazily into the water. The silverette faced the blue skies with tired eyes. As he spread his arms and legs out, a giant flock of birds gathered on the power lines outside the pool gates. This was the highlight of his crappy job, yet he still felt eyes on him. He hated that feeling because he knew there really was a pair of cocky blue-green eyes disrupting everything about his self-consciousness. He felt grossly violated.
And with them now being the only ones in the pool area, their conversation was heard loud and clear. They didn't talk about anything worth listening to, but just his damn voice pissed Zexion off. It was so arrogant and carefree and annoying. Zexion just wanted them to leave so he could go home. Reluctantly, he swam toward the shallow end steps and walked over to the two blondes.
"The pool is closed now." Zexion said bluntly, feeling a slight underline of awkwardness as water dropped from his trunks and hair noisily.
The shorter, golden blonde yawned with an impressive stretch. "Yeah, okay." He replied sleepily.
There was a short pause where Demyx nodded in absent understanding. Zexion lifted an eyebrow as neither moved. "You have to leave now." The silverette said through nearly gritted teeth.
Demyx lowered his shades and blue-green eyes met bright blue. "Says who?"
So it was this kind of game the idiot wanted to play. Zexion turned and left the pool area without another word. Sadly, Zexion felt no desire to play along with their silly games. Still, Zexion wished he could have seen the moron's face when he saw that Zexion had left their anticipated banter. Once entering the staff locker room, Zexion patted the back of a large, burly man then thumbed towards the pool area.
"Two blondes out there can't seem to find the exit. Give them a hand, would you Xigbar?" He asked gathering his bag and towel.
Xigbar lifted his shades to the top of his head with a smirk that emanated danger. "No problem, short-stop."
Not surprisingly, Demyx was back the next afternoon before Zexion's shift even started. Zexion didn't want to wonder if he was in school or not; that would only make him feel inclined to ask him and therefore initiate conversation, At this point in their admirable relationship, Zexion didn't even want to see the man's face, much less hear the man's voice.
For a Tuesday, it was abnormally packed with small children in every nook and cranny of the shallow end. It was a pool of orange, yellow, and blues as each child who couldn't tread water to save their lives wore life jackets to keep them afloat. When Zexion asked Sora to clue him in on the child takeover, Sora simply handed him a slip of paper, grinning like a madman.
It's Your Day!
For a few hours of peace and relaxation, send your child to the community pool for a day of supervised fun! Children 8 and under FREE; children 9 and above five dollars. Food and drinks will be provided. Lifeguards on duty. I'm making it your day today! Enjoy it!
Zexion gave Sora a wild look of shock and the brunette thumbed toward an obnoxiously loud head of dirty blonde.
"Demyx is sponsoring a daycare?" The tone of complete disbelief in the silverette's voice never ceased to die down, no matter how much his thoughts reminded him that he didn't care. "Why?"
Sora shrugged. "No idea; it's definitely news to me." Then the brunette chuckled to himself. "Good thing I'm good with kids."
"Zexion glared. He abhorred the godforsaken demons. He didn't know whether or not Demyx knew that much about him, but after twenty minutes of constantly blowing his whistle at an obstructed rule, picking up wet band-aids all over the place, hearing "eeew, Duey peed!", and not even acknowledging Demyx's over-enthusiasm when initiating a game of Marco Polo, Zexion packed his things and left. This had to be one of Demyx's worst attempts at getting his attention - or his damn finest job if the goal was to run Zexion's nerves up the wall because Zexion was at his limit.
Ironically enough, he received a text that read 'ten minutes after u left, the zoo of toddlas were #peaceout'.
Zexion shoved his phone in his pocket before rolling his eyes with a harsh sigh and unlocking his front door. "You've got to be joking."
It had been an hour now that Zexion was on duty and he was sweltering in the August heat. Working as a lifeguard was the most conflicting job, having to watch people relax in the cool pool water while you burned alive in a chair. Zexion blamed his constant irritability on his frying nerve cells and boiling epithelium.
"Zex!"
And Sora.
Zexion turned his dry eyes toward the shouting brunette, slow to respond in such death promising heat. "Dude, are you seeing this?!"
The silverette followed Sora's gaze to the watery, chlorine heaven and blinked boredly. "See what?" He asked raspily, head slowly returning to Sora.
"You don't see the pool water?" Sora questioned in astonishment.
Again Zexion's eyes ambled toward the pool. He stared at the lapping water with envious eyes. Why was he staring at the very thing he wanted most in his life right now? This heat even had a stone-faced person like Zexion frowning with weary. What he wouldn't give to just collapse in such an oasis! The water seemed to have a barrier over itself to protect its crystal coolness from the sunlight as its rays only bounced away, leaving the faintest tint of yellow…
…yellow…?
Zexion startled at the realization. Blue eyes flicked across the water in sudden wakefulness, the silver haired lifeguard only seeing the yellow water and head of dirty blonde hair. How long had that idiot been there!? And what the hell did he do to the pool water!? It was lemonade yellow; how did he not notice that for the hour he'd been sitting there?
Zexion turned to Sora who only stared on is wonderment. "Funny how the people in the pool don't really seem to care." Sora chuckled.
Zexion sat back at the valid point. With this heat, who'd care that the pool's mineral salt level was damn near non-existent? However, Zexion should really get Zigbar on the job before butts get fired, and he should really find a way to get rid of that laughing head of dirty blonde. Zexion felt himself losing years with this guy…
"Honestly?" Zexion immediately bit, dead-panning at the sight of the parade-size floatie the blonde lounged on. It was so large that it barely fit the width of the pool, easily taking up the entirety of the mid-section of the pool.
Where did he even find a floatie that big?!
"Yo!" Demyx replied happily, waving to the obviously angered lifeguard. "Your shift doesn't start for another twenty minutes! Come chill!"
Zexion's brow twitched irately, looking over the many people accompanying the idiot on the blimp in the pool. How did he even get that thing in there? Was there no one bothered by the floatie? No moms, no boyfriends, no female tweens? No one? "Get that out of the pool." Zexion scowled.
Demyx smirked, wrapping his arms around two women and eyes ever teasing behind dark shades. "Tell me that when you're on duty." He said easily, the drawl crawling through his lips in excessive smoothness.
Zexion lit with irritation. "If you don't get your ass out of that water, I'm-"
"You'll what?" Demyx tried, receiving snickers from the group around him. "Don't tell me you're gonna confiscate it? Gonna come in here and take it by force?"
Zexion was heated from head to toe with anger. He hated being patronized- hated it. The silverette glared at the dirty blonde, pushed past his line one too many times, and turned around. He made a slow walk to the employee locker room, bristling like a cat when laughter and obnoxious giggles followed loudly in his wake.
"Need a hand?" Xigbar asked with a smirk.
Zexion let his glaring eyes land on the raven haired pool technician. "I need your scissors."
Xigbar raised an eyebrow at the request but reached in his tool belt to withdraw his rusty pair of scissors. "I ain't no accomplice in no murder, ya hear?"
Zexion took the scissors and marched outside again, disregarding Xigbar's stare. Without hesitation, he jumped in the pool (so he wouldn't have to waddle through the shallow end) and immediately stabbed the blonde's floatie - the laughter and taunts driving him to shout, "Get out of the pool, Demyx!"
The smile instantly left Demyx's face as anger burned at his skin as well. The group around the dirty blonde went wild with roars of laughter, jumping out the quickly sinking floatie and melding back with their initial groups. Demyx wanted to punch the guy, he felt so humiliated. But he had to calm himself before he got the guy fired, and that's not at all what he wanted.
Smirking in the stead of sneering, Demyx waded toward the silverette in mock anger, splashing at him before grabbing his hand, pulling him close, and pecking a loud kiss on Zexion's cheek.
Zexion shoved the blonde away frantically, scrambling to swing at him. Demyx laughed at the silverette's wide eyes and animalistic semblance when getting out of the pool before accidentally stabbing someone with the scissors in his hand.
Sora, meanwhile, dipped his corndog in his plate of mustard and fries while watching the silverette attempt to bring his mind back to earth, a surprising feat all in itself. The brunette had never seen Zexion so riled, not even during middle school when he was bullied. Zexion handled stress and debasement with godlike patience, so to see the silverette so bothered was, well… Sora didn't quite know what to make of it yet. It was a rather unnatural thing to witness… unnatural, and the slightest bit amusing. Poor guy was going to need some namaste if he was going to explain to the boss man why he literally assaulted an innocent (paying) pool regular.
Zexion's eyes dulled to slits as he listened to some lady ramble about how he shouldn't "talk to my son that way". And by "talk to my son that way" she meant how Zexion whistled at the brat for excessive and erratic splashing. It was some stick-bug lady with a moley nose and yellow, chipped teeth screeching and squawking at him like a bat. He tried to tell her that her son was bothering other (paying) patrons at the pool with his rowdiness, but she literally was not having it. It was like she was trying to convince Zexion that the little demon child was actually some sort of angel on earth. The silver-haired lifeguard just wanted both of them to leave. He'd pay them to.
A sudden face full of chlorine startled Zexion into snapping towards the pool. It sounded like a freaking war zone in that pool. Bus loads of kids (that may actually have only been maybe ten guys) were raising watery hell in - surprise, surprise - the deep end. Zexion groaned in the back of his throat, a volcanic eruption in his composure. Before he had an eighth of a chance to blow his irritation into his whistle, his face was whipped with multiple jets of water.
Once Zexion could breathe air again, he blew his whistle like a damn siren during the Vietnam War and approached the deep end with his hand soothing the pulsation in his forehead. With as much sangfroid and professionalism as he could get to cooperate with his body, Zexion stated, "If the water cannot stay within the pool, then neither can the toys."
"So we can only shoot inside the pool?"
Zexion's eyes darted to an innocent looking Demyx with apprehension. He didn't know whether that was a question, an innuendo, or mockery, but when a hand snatched his trunks forward and pulled him into the warm water he found out the hard way that it was an invitation. Zexion struggled to the surface as his surprise didn't allow him to hold a decent amount of air before he fell. As soon as he was gasping for air he felt a squeeze at his behind and a devilish laugh erupt behind him. Zexion's ears burned as he tried to gather his discombobulated senses, but water ripped at him again at the yell of "ATTACK!".
What the hell is going on!?
Sora, who had been finishing his lemonade, threw away his cup and ran to the edge of the deep end in childish fascination, as if watching a piece chicken fall into a family of starving piranhas. "Zex! You had your break an hour ago! Get outta there!" He yelled out jealousy.
Zexion couldn't even glare with his face being pelted so harshly; he could barely keep up his tread of water while his hands flailed to shield his face. Sora sat on the thought of helping the silverette but Zexion looked to be having a decent time in there. He'd let the kids play a little longer. As soon as the brunette stood and turned his back to the pool (as long as no one drowned, it was fair game in his mind), there was a loud but brief shout of "fuck!" and ceased splashing. Sora spun on his heel to see what caused the sudden armistice. Blue eyes found Demyx struggling to cling to the sides while holding a bloody nose and Zexion lifting himself out of the pool with the grace of a drenched kitten. The silverette looked back at the pool with a tired glare before numbly trudging back to the stick-bug lady and hearing out the rest of her complaints as if nothing happened.
Sora had to give Drowny his credit; he might be the only thing on this planet to get so much of Zexion's attention. Zexion could say how he hated Demyx until he was blue in the face, but Sora knew Zexion had formed some kind of fondness for the dirty blonde. The silverette wouldn't otherwise put up with Demyx's antics as much as he did.
With a smirk, the brunette bounced toward the snack bar (leaving the pool somewhat unattended) and called out cheekily, "Hey Tifa! Let's make a bet."
August 19 was an insanely hot day and Zexion honestly believed his skin was melting completely off his bone. 15 minutes did not do any justice as a break in Zexion's book. However, the last few days without a trace Demyx compensated almost overwhelmingly for the murderous heat. And since Sora was out for the week (for whatever reasons), the brunette kept an eye on Zexion at work through Aerith. Truly some of the best few days of the silverette's career.
"Here, try this." Aerith said beside him, and within seconds there was the most heavenly feeling searing across Zexion's bare skin (sunburns be damned; it was 102 degrees out). Bright blue eyes opened with shock to see a white blanket, seemingly made of ice, thrown over his anterior. Aerith raised a pail of ice water with a wide grin. "Fabri-freeze, As Seen on TV. Is it working?"
Zexion closed his eyes in bliss with a chuckle. "You mean if my skin is currently thrumming in icy cool sensations, then yes. It definitely works. I'm heating it back up really fast though.
Aerith eyed the box with a frown. "Says 'for hours of refreshing coolness'. It's only been a minute."
"You should have known that was only a tactical sales pitch. The damn ice age itself couldn't cool this heat." Zexion muttered lazily, still enjoying the cold blanket.
"The caveat could have come before I wasted twenty bucks." Aerith laughed, pushing Zexion aside in the reclined pool chair. "Lemme feel it."
Zexion smirked but slid his legs over so Aerith could sit on the edge. "Trust me, my sarcasm is fully tangible."
"As well as your charming ego," Aerith admitted knowingly, bringing the chilly blanket over her lap. "Oh wow! That's really cold..."
"Worth the twenty bucks?" Zexion asked in content. He could feel the sun's harsh rays behind his eyes, but the blanket prevented the burn from reaching him.
"Oh definitely." Aerith laughed, squeezing beside Zexion to lay down. The pool chair wouldn't quite hold them both comfortably, so Aerith leaned over and laid her head on Zexion's chest.
Zexion suddenly became very aware of his breathing and actually struggled to keep it normal. "You're too hot; you're melting the blanket."
"Is Zexion Maexare Iens whining?" Aerith looked up at Zexion with a goofy smile.
Zexion peered down at the giggling brunette before rolling his eyes and nudging her softly, very conscious of how their skin practically stuck together from sweat. "I'm serious. The blanket's a sauna now. I think I'm already having heat flashes."
"You're complaining is what you're doing." Aerith huffed, reaching for the pail of ice water and dipping the blanket in it. Aerith didn't bother to squeeze the water out of it before throwing it back over them and giving Zexion a small scare with the instant chill. "Better, grouch?"
Zexion snorted, skin tingling from the temperature change. "Much. But now I feel like complaining about how stupid we look under a blanket in this heat."
"So you admit you were complaining?" Aerith tactfully questioned, that goofy smile seemingly adding sparkles to the brunette's aura. Zexion felt hot all over again, despite the icy feeling spread over him.
"You know, I'd have to agree with Zexy." The duo under the blanket threw their attention to the dirty blonde standing next to their pool chair and Zexion's eyes narrowed at the sudden appearance of his worst nightmare. Demyx noticed instantly and smirked haughtily. "Oh don't give me that grunch look; you two look suicidal under there."
Aerith felt the draw of Zexion's shoulders as the silverette tensed and it was then that she knew the stranger to be Demyx Mydes. Aerith had sat through several of Zexion's rants about the dirty blonde, but never had the chance to see him in person. The sight she was graced with, she had to admit, was completely unexpected. The man before her was anything but the god-awful creature Zexion described him as. "My word, you're handsome! Gracious!" The brunette blurted, inspecting Demyx shamelessly.
Zexion was speechless (yet not at all that surprised) at the girl's words while Demyx sent her a glistening smirk that Zexion had a real problem with. "Why thank you, Aerith - may I call you Aer? Such a unique sound; do people call you Aer?"
The brunette lit up with the wide smile that commandeered her lips. "Sure, all of my friends call me Aer."
"Friends, huh? In that case," Demyx began, pulling out his cell phone. "Exchange numbers with me?"
Zexion was really grasping for words now. Aerith surprised herself with how suddenly she laughed as she reached for her bag to find her phone. "You really are bold." She observed, recalling one Zexion's many complaints.
Demyx tilted his head curiously. "So you've heard, I assume?"
"Oh goodness, yes." Aerith sighed, sitting up straight again with her phone in hand. "Bold, loud, stubborn, talkative, flirty. I've heard it all about you."
The dirty blonde's eyes swept toward the head of silver instantly and was greeted with the speckles of red in Zexion's cheeks. Demyx felt high enough to choke in the dense vacuums of the stratosphere. Before he could have his say in the matter, Zexion muttered harshly, "Aggravating me to the point of therapeutic dependency isn't something to drink beer over, jackass."
Demyx disregarded the cold comment though. The fact still remained that Zexion thought about him, talked about him, asked for advice about him in the midst of his private life: a gated world Demyx had no presence in whatsoever. Demyx only felt warm helium searing through his skin; he felt light and hyper, like he had just won 5k marathon. He had finally knocked down a wall between him and Zexion, and damnit, he felt accomplished.
"I'm leaving." Zexion bluntly spat, getting up and immediately frying as soon as the blanket was removed.
Aerith watched the silver-haired lifeguard stiffly return to his post and climb the short ladder to his chair. The brunette was surprised Zexion cut his break short eight minutes; usually the silverette cherished his meager breaks like a newborn child. Green eyes flicked back to a drunk looking Demyx and Aerith wondered what in the world she was suppose to do now. "So, Demyx Mydes," She started, slowly summoning said blonde's attention. "490-232-4952."
"Huh?" Demyx drawled with disinterest before remembering his (new) cell phone in his hand. "Oh yeah. Umm, 590-249...?" The dirty blonde slowed his speech with a sly chuckle as Aerith shook her head.
"May I ask you something?" Aerith said as she simply took the dirty blonde's phone and typed in her own number.
Demyx squinted his eyes anxiously. "Is this a friend-interrogation question, like a meeting-the-family kind of thing?" He asked, feigning his discomfort. He was an honest enough person, so questions about his motives would at least be easy to answer, whether they pleased the asker or not.
"Of course." Aerith admitted, looking up at Demyx's lack of reaction. "Although, I don't think I qualify as best friend yet. More like really good friend, but that's not the point. My question for you is... what makes you so determined to win Zexion over? Zexion's obviously not the most approachable person in the lot; what keeps you gunning for him?"
Before Demyx knew it, and as he expected to happen, the truth was out in a matter of seconds. "Because I want him to eventually come to me." Aerith's eyebrows furrowed as she attempted to understand. "I like going after the ones who seem impossibly unobtainable. I like making myself their only exception, like I've tamed the ferocious lion."
Aerith nodded somewhat as her fingers paused in their typing. "I see." Aerith quickly sent herself Demyx's number before handing the phone back to the dirty blonde with a smile. "Guess we're rivals then."
Demyx nearly dropped his phone as those words entered his ears and shattered his cranium. He glanced down at the innocent looking brunette as she stood casually beside him, her frilly, white, polka-dotted two-piece shuffling in the wind and the fine ends of her hair sticking to the sunscreen and perspiration shimmering along her skin. He had a fairly accurate hunch that Zexion had the hots for her (source: Sora), but he never knew the feeling was mutual. Did Aerith know Zexion liked her? And did Zexion know Aerith liked him? In that case, Aerith was already past becoming Zexion's friend - she was steps in front of him in terms of winning Zexion over. The silverette wouldn't even look in Demyx's direction without sneering. What was it that Zexion saw in Aerith? She was awkward, scrawny, her voice was annoyingly soft and her chest was an absolute (okay, maybe not absolute) turn off. She looked like a pageant girl, and Demyx was wracking his brain trying to figure out what the silverette saw in a squeak like her. Maybe she was a bookworm like him?
Gahh! Maybe I should read a book? One of those really thick ones... Or maybe Sparknote a bunch of sciency-books? I don't even know much about Zexion...
"What's his favorite book?" Demyx challenged, his mind still in overdrive.
Aerith only needed three seconds to answer. "He doesn't have a favorite, but he does like anything historically fictional, doesn't matter what time period. If it's based off of an actual set of events, he'll read it for hours at a time. The book he's read the most, though, is The Crucible."
Demyx licked his lips with a slight grin. Yeah, definitely rivals...
A/N: Before you behead me, know that I had to write this twice. Nothing ever comes out right the second time; that's why we call shit number 2. Let's hope for another update before 2016 this time around...
Review/Favorite, it's totally your call. I write for fun, not for fame.