Zexion sat in the study fussing over the report in front of him. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Zexion crumpled the piece of paper and threw it over his shoulder with an agitated sigh. Rubbing his forehead, Zexion leaned back in his chair until it was on two legs. Looking at the ceiling with the fountain pen between his teeth Zexion sighed. He looked down at the report with a few words that didn't even complete a full sentence. Taking the pen out of his mouth and dropping it onto the table with a clatter, Zexion screwed his eyes shut trying to think of something.
"Man..." Zexion growled "Writing about the matter was harder than being involved in it..."
Zexion looked down at the report again fighting the urge to kick it off of the desk and leaving the study. He growled and ranted at the paper cussing at it in irritation. Zexion leaned back to far that the chair's legs slipped from underneath him. Acting in more shock than fear Zexion only reacted with a confused grunt waiting for his back to connect with the floor. Something jolted the chair and held Zexion a few centimetres from the wooden floorboards. Looking up Zexion recognised the nobody automatically.
"Thanks Lexeaus" Zexion sighed with appreciation.
Lexeaus nodded with a grunt, returning the seat and Zexion back to their original position. Zexion rubbed his face and picked up his pen again. The tip of the fountain pen hovered above the page as Zexion struggled to decide on what to write. Scratching his left eyebrow in frustration, Zexion looked over his shoulder to watch Lexeaus. The broad shouldered nobody had wheeled a cart of books into the study and began carefully placing them on the shelves in order. Zexion took this as though Lexeaus was annoyed with the dusty books being laid about carelessly. Zexion was thankful Lexeaus never visited his room or the silent nobody would have exploded as soon as he set foot into the mess. The shuffling paper of the books distracted Zexion from writing anything down on the report sitting in front of him. He turned to where Lexeaus was putting books into place.
"... ... So Lexeaus… What do you make of all this talk about becoming a family? You never said anything at the meeting... Well, neither did Marluxia or Luxord... But - you know what I mean..." Zexion asked seeking comfort from the older nobody busy dusting off the shelves.
Lexeaus shuffled about lifting books and putting them into tidy rows ignoring Zexion. Knowing that Lexeaus wasn't much of a talker, Zexion sat watching the bulky nobody rummage around the books while trying to keep them in order. Zexion sighed and looked at his report feeling like it was crying out for his attention. He sighed and went back to watching Lexeaus, shuffle around the cart. Lexeaus lifted a pile of books losing a few off the top of the pile and tried to bend down to retrieve them with the tower of books in his hands.
"Needing an extra hand?" Zexion asked noticing Lexeaus might need help.
"You have a report to do" Lexeaus answered shortly.
Zexion frowned lazily and looked at the papers on the desk. He brushed two pages off and turned to the busy nobody who had managed to lift the other books off the floor and proceeded to put them onto the shelves.
"I have writer's block..." Zexion sighed looking at the remaining papers.
"No you don't. Someone of your expertise rarely gets writer's block. You just can't be bothered" Lexeaus answered before lifting more books onto the dusty shelves "So please lift the papers you brushed off the desk and continue with your report. I will try and not disturb you..."
"Couldn't the report wait for a little longer?" Zexion thought resting his right cheek on his fist.
Zexion sighed; there was no way he'd be able to strike up a conversation now that Lexeaus had told him off. He reached down to the side of the desk and lifted the paper back onto the desk thumping his hand against the oak to show his frustration. Lexeaus ignored the noise and continued with stacking the shelf. Zexion took the fountain pen into his hand and moved it over the page drawing random squiggles. Lexeaus looked over Zexion's shoulder and grunted in disapproval. Zexion grumbled and crumpled the paper up. Lexeaus took the ball of paper out of the young nobody's hands and dropped it into a bucket along with the others Zexion had carelessly thrown about. Zexion looked at the tip of the fountain pen and put it onto the paper watching the ink spread. Lexeaus lifted the dotted paper off of the desk and dropped it into the bin.
"Hey - I was about to write on that one - I swear!" Zexion protested.
Lexeaus shook his head knowingly "You were just watching the ink spread..."
"I can't help it Lexeaus..." Zexion groaned "Don't you think everything will change tomorrow?"
"Heck yeah, you think Xemnas'll keep things the way they are? We are gonna be a family tomorrow - not an organization" Another voice answered for Lexeaus.
The two nobodies turned to face the doorway. Axel stood smirking, with his arms crossed. Zexion turned his body to the side of his chair to take a better look at the cocky nobody. Axel looked at the other nobodies noting each expression and their current positions. Judging by the reaction to Axel's sudden entry, Zexion wasn't too busy on his report. Axel took more interest in the cart of books beside Lexeaus' side. He grinned knowingly.
"Well, well what's this? Lexeaus forgot to do an assignment?" Axel mocked still grinning.
Lexeaus went red with embarrassment and dropped his face to the floor to avoid anyone noticing his horrified expression. Axel walked forward into the study and patted the bigger nobody on the shoulder with his right hand.
"Hey don't worry big guy, I won't tell Xemnas that you were also slacking off" Axel answered Lexeaus' expression.
Lexeaus didn't respond to Axel's comment. Instead he shuffled out of Axel's pat and began to put the books back onto the shelf. Axel shook his head and turned his attention to the purple haired nobody in front of him.
"The adventure of book stacking awaits nobody" Axel added intending humour.
Zexion frowned at the flame wielder "What are you doing here? You never come into the study."
Axel crossed his arms behind his head with a smile "Well I just came in here to visit my best little buddy in the whole wide world Zexion and ask him to do a little something for me. You see I'm kinda-"
"The answer is no..." Zexion answered before Axel could finish his sentence.
"What? Oh come on, Zexy. Can't you help a nobody in need?" Axel asked pouting.
"I'm not covering for you a second time" Zexion answered swinging his body round to face the desk "And don't call me 'Zexy' my name is Zexion."
"Well, I'll just have to report to Xemnas that someone hasn't been tending to the dishes, trash and sweeping lately" Axel answered with a yawn.
Zexion noticed the strange tone in Axel's voice. Almost if he was hinting at something. Zexion's mind clicked causing his eyes to widen and his face to flush with embarrassment. The unattended jobs that were listed were his chores.
"You wouldn't!" Zexion muttered in a murderous tone slowly turning to face Axel.
"Wanna try me?" Axel smirked crossing his arms again.
"But that's blackmail!" Zexion accused pointing at Axel.
"Well it wouldn't BE blackmail if you co-operated with me. We finish our reports and your jobs will go unnoticed by the superior, got it?" Axel asked dominating the argument.
"What do you mean 'we'?" Zexion asked raising an eyebrow.
Axel doubled back remembering "Ah yeah... Me, Demyx 'n' Roxas are kinda in a jam.... And with you being the bookworm of the organization we thought we could get a little help from you. You know to get us a little further in our reports..."
"Okay how far are you guys?" Zexion asked turning in his seat again studying the nobody's body language.
"Erm..." Axel stopped in mid thought.
"Well, how many reports have you guys written?" Zexion asked raising an eyebrow at the flame wielder.
Axel looked at the floor thinking of a convincing lie trying to avoid the cold eyes of the young schemer.
"You mean to say that for the past month you guys haven't even touched a report let alone wrote anything down?" Zexion asked gob smacked.
Axel looked at Zexion with shock flashing in his green eyes "I never said that!"
"No but you were thinking on how to cover it over" Zexion smirked after reading Axel's mind.
"Alright, alright that's true..." Axel admitted "And you know us three, we can't exactly concentrate enough before our minds wander to music, games, comics, sleeping in late, clubbing, food or ice cream - That's why were asking - no BEGGING for a tiny bit of help. We don't want Saïx to come knocking on our doors only to receive blank paper - You remember what happened to us last time!"
"That I do" Zexion's smirk was still in play making Axel's eyes to look around the study slightly paranoid.
Zexion never smiled unless he was up to something. Zexion studied the skinny nobody with cold eyes. The guy looked like he needed help. Axel's eyes strayed from Zexion's face to read various titles of books on the shelves. Lexeaus, knowing he was forgotten about grunted noticing the last sixteen books were in the wrong numeral order. He pulled them out and restarted the row. Axel's eyes settled back on Zexion who shut his eyes and sighed in defeat.
"Alright I'll help you guys out - But" Zexion's eyes cracked open revealing a dangerous glare "You guys are gonna help me with my chores."
"What Zexion, we have our own chores to worry about - never mind yours!" Axel answered defensively.
"Well if you guys aren't gonna help me - I won't help you. After all I finished most of my reports last month only messing up on this one that I'm abut to start. Pretty soon my chores will be finished too and you guys will just have to tell Saïx what you guys were doing instead of your reports" Zexion yawned turning to face the report on the desk.
Axel stared at Zexion and let out a long groan "Fine you win, we'll help you with your chores..."
Zexion looked over at Axel and smiled in victory "Good. Now where do you think you guys will be able to write your reports without distractions?"
Axel thought about most of the rooms in the castle carefully choosing between them "Here I guess..."
"Okay find Demyx and Roxas then get back here and sit at the table over there" Zexion pointed at a table in the far corner "I'll be waiting over there for you guys to show up. And remember - it's you guys that chose the help you're about to receive..."
"Oh thanks Zexion, you don't know how much this means to us! I'll go collect the other guys right now!" Axel answered disappearing.
Zexion looked at Lexeaus who shook his head wheeling the empty cart out the door. Zexion shook his head after Lexeaus left and let out a groan knowing he had probably just made a big mistake.
TBC