A Death Wish From the Lifeguard - Part Four
Game Changer
Warning: Ah well, I didn't make it before 2015 ended. A New Years Day present to you then.
View Count: 856
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!
With the new discovery of a certain googly-eyed third wheel, Demyx was even more infatuated (well he wouldn't say infatuated) with the silver haired lifeguard. How much more impossible could winning Zexion over be than this? Dare Demyx think it, but the lifeguard might already be in love with another person. Demyx had to admit, even he had never severed a crush already burning bright like Aerith's and Zexion's. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try. Just because Aerith beat him to the silverette didn't mean she owned him or anything. Zexion didn't even know how much better he was for him instead of that brunette barbie. The question was how to show him that...
"Yo, if you came over my house just to take up space, go be a bum somewhere else." Axel called over his shoulder.
The summer courses at RGU were coming to an end and that meant final essays were due for the redheaded college junior who was smart enough to take the courses. The August heat still sucked the air dry of any bit of cool breeze and the occupants at the Lea household sat around with every fan known to man working at the highest setting. The fall semester was only two weeks away, and that meant Demyx wouldn't have nearly as much time to visit the pool as he did now. He had to act now before he was drowned in his own essay assignments.
"I'm not bumming off this desert." Demyx yawned as he stretched out further on Axel's couch. "I'm meticulously conspiring my next moves."
"Ahh." Axel droned, as if the dirty blonde's answer was explanation enough.
"I thought you said this whole thing turned into mission-impossible when you found out about the girlfriend?" Roxas questioned from the computer chair beside Axel, his voice fading in and out as he twirled in lazy circles. He didn't really care about the dirty blonde's liaisons, but since Axel was too preoccupied to entertain him, he'd indulge in Demyx's failing love life.
"Yeah," Demyx started, as if the blonde had answered himself. "That's why I've really got to step my game up now."
Roxas pressed his feet to the carpet to cease his rotations. "Dude, that's so wrong on so many levels."
"Don't bother," Axel drawled tiredly, not taking his eyes off of his document. "He's about as stubborn as a rock in lava. Doesn't have a conscience in his entire body."
"I do too have a conscience." Demyx said informingly, but not convincingly.
Axel snorted, but Roxas continued to look at the dirty blonde in disbelief. "Demyx, are you serious? You're seriously going to keep harrassing some straight guy?" Demyx shrugged after a brief minute of guilty silence and Roxas dropped his jaw. "Dude!"
"I'm tellin' ya, Roxy. He's not gonna-"
Roxas waved the redhead off frantically. "Fuck that! He's disrespecting guy code!" He faced the dirty blonde seriously. "Demyx, if that guy really likes this girl, it's beyond time you call a quits! You're gonna mess this guy's life up if you keep butting in, I'm telling you! Straight guys like him don't bend when wifey shows up."
"I'm telling you, Rox, he'll come around." Demyx replied reassuringly, disregarding the smaller blonde's warnings.
Roxas looked over at Axel who only shook his head in mental exasperation. "What gets me the most is that you're actually serious." Roxas said in surrender.
"I am serious." Demyx muttered simply.
Roxas stared at the dirty blonde lost in thought before continuing his oscillations just as lazily as before, all interest in Demyx and the poor boy that happened to grab his attention lost in the August heat. "Man, if he decides to date this girl, back off before you get a restraining order."
Demyx rolled his eyes, but perked up a bit through Roxas's lecture as a thought occurred to him. Roxas and Axel may have given up on Demyx's attempts to win the lifeguard over, but Demyx was going to show them that the little chance that he had was enough. Zexion would be his, one way or another.
"Whatever you told that idiot, I'm truly grateful to you." Zexion said wistfully, the water in his ears hollowing the sounds of the pool occupants as he floated on his back in the deserted shallow end.
Aerith laughed from her perch on a blue floatie as she kicked her feet lazily. "Oh he wasn't that bad. He was actually pretty charming." Zexion immediately lifted an eyebrow as blue eyes flicked in her direction and Aerith giggled. "Honestly."
"Honestly," Zexion bit, "his brain-washing skills are truly a force to be reckoned with because it literally took him all of three minutes to have you fooled."
Aerith took the defensive retort in silence as she thought about her friend's situation, something she had been doing for a while now. "You know, I think you're just a little nervous." A splash beside her could be heard as Zexion stood up straight, his frown deep. Aerith quieted him with a gentle motion of her hands before continuing, "Think about it. You've never really been shown this much affection before and the unfamiliarity of it all has you on edge with your guard up."
"If you're saying that I need to give that creep of a lunatic a chance-" Zexion interrupted before Aerith cut him off.
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Zexion looked exasperated as he lifted his hands and dropped them back into the pool in defeat. "No." He stated, this whole entire conversation being ass-backwards in terms of what he wanted to hear from his friend. "He's weird, and I'm concerned for my safety after his last stalking season. He's actually getting on my nerves at this point. He needs to get the freaking picture and leave me the hell alone already!"
"He seems to really care about getting a chance to-"
"Get in my pants." Zexion finished for Aerith. "To which I respond over my dead and buried body. Demyx proved from the get-go that he wanted some more-than-platonic relation with me and that he isn't usually deterred by rejection. I don't like him and I certainly don't want anything to do with him. And, a factor that every-damn-body seems to be forgetting, I'm not into guys. Is it so wrong that the man's overbearingness makes me uncomfortable?"
Aerith smiled. "Ahh, the root of the problem."
Zexion stared at her with a ruder face than he meant to wear. The root of the problem? The hell? That statement was conclusive, and yet Aerith was fixiated on making allegations from it. "And what's that suppose to mean?"
Aerith smiled slyly and stuck out her hand. "I challenge you to a bet."
"I'm not giving that ignoramous a chance!" Zexion said outright.
Aerith waved the silverette's whining off before dropping her offered hand. "You're just going to end up caving at some point anyway. You rejecting him isn't stopping him from coming back every day. Isn't it time you try a new tactive?"
The silverette lifeguard thought on that for a beat before replying, "Quit?"
"What?" Aerith snorted with laughter. "No. No. Try-"
"Getting him banned from the poolhouse..." Zexion entertained the thought seriously.
Aerith frowned slightly. "No. How about not running from your problems firstly." Zexion rolled his bright eyes childishly because he wasn't running. He was being decidedly calculative in his planning. "And maybe try just being friends with the guy. You're no homophobe; Sora's more than enough proof of that."
"I heard that." Sora said off-handledly from his lifeguard post across from them.
Aerith smiled at the brunette before facing an even deeper frowning Zexion. He obviously had no intentions of actually considering her advice, and to Aerith, there was something else behind his reasoning. Zexion didn't hate people this bad for reasons as elementary as this. If Aerith was going to be dragged in the middle of their problems, she sure as hell wasn't just going to sit their and watch the show. That was Sora's job.
"I heard that."
Zexion was evaporating at this point. It was- it had to be- at least 100 degrees out. Zexion wasn't sure how much longer he could survive in the unrelenting heat, and his empty water bottle sure wasn't doing a helluva lot at this point. It was hot enough to where Zexion was hoping, praying, that some little idiot kid toppled off of their half-assed pumped floatie and into the deep end just so Zexion could feel something other than scalding hot burns. Hey, you might as well hear it up front. Heat makes people delirious, and his job was to just sit in it for hours. He wanted someone to do something that got him in that water.
Across the pool, Zexion could see Sora was smart enough to sit with a wet towel over his spiky head under his visor. Zexion knew it was the heat now; no way Sora outsmarted him in something practical. And to make things worse in this hellish inferno, Demyx still hadn't left. The nimrod had been at that same table since he clocked in. It really made Zexion wonder if Demyx had an active social life beyond this pool lot, and where the dirty blonde got the money to keep coming everyday. The admission fee was five dollars; the dirty blonde had been coming nearly every day since June. Seriously, who has two-hundred dollars reserved just for stalking someone? The thought immediately made Zexion shudder in discomfort and his plea for the dirty blonde to just leave him alone became twice as strong.
"Is it hot up there, lifeguard?"
Zexion felt his dry joints crack at the effort to turn to the familiar voice shouting at him. He couldn't help smiling at the brunette as she held up two ice cream bars. Zexion made his way down slowly as the heat only got worse the more he moved. He was wary about leaving his post, as it was one of those days where it was packed to the gates with sweaty pool patrons, but the sun was a powerful negotiator that he wasn't strong enough to decline. Zexion noticed that between that dirty blonde nitwit and the heat, he was putting more and more trust in Sora's attention span than he should...
"Hey," Zexion greeted, unwrapping the offered ice cream. "Here to surprise me?" Aerith smiled downwards a moment before unwrapping her own ice cream. Zexion relished the icy chill of the sweet and salty treat as he assessed Aerith's silence. It was weird that she hadn't told him she was dropping by- not that she had to or anything, but it was sort of routine now: she'd call or text him, whether it be the night before or sporadically in the day, and Zexion would let Mrs. Daisy at the front desk know she was stopping by so she wouldn't have to pay the admission fee. This was how it worked all summer; to suddenly show up all of a sudden was new, and Zexion was curious for the reasons why.
He got his answers no more than three seconds later when a voice so irritatingly familiar called out to them from the snack bar tables. "Heeey!" Zexion exhaled slightly in the place of scowling as Demyx jogged up to them, not even bothering to blow his whistle anymore. He was afraid Demyx would like the attention too much.
With only a nod in Zexion's direction, Demyx came to a stop beside Aerith and wrapped his arms around her fondly. "Hey Aer! Thanks for coming."
Zexion's eyebrows drew together instantly.
Aerith returned the hug with surprise. Demyx was so sweet and friendly; how in the world could a person hate this man? "Sure thing! Want some ice cream? I bought a few before coming."
... What?
Demyx's smile widened brightly as he accepted without a beat. "Sure! Ah man, you sure are really nice. Hey, I saved us some seats right over there under the umbrella if ya wanna get out of this heat."
You can't be serious.
Aerith glanced at the aforementioned seats and smiled appreciatively. "How kind of you. I was worried I might have to go back to the car for a chair." The brunette then faced a backhanded looking Zexion. It was almost too funny to see him like that. She bet there were devastating train wrecks in those astonished thoughts of his. "Do you need anything before I go? You still have three more hours up there."
All words died on the silverette's usually articulate tongue as he could only stare at what was taking place before him. Demyx laughed cheerfully with a pat to Zexion's shoulder, to which the lifeguard immediately glared at, and said dismissively, "Aww, he'll be fine. Besides, he knows I'm only a call away!"
What the hell is going on?
Zexion wasn't happy with his situation at all. He didn't own Aerith or anything, so he truly didn't have a right to tell her not to hang out with whomever she felt like being admist the presence of, but to get so friendly with the one person on this planet Zexion couldn't stand the most right now? He could smell a scheme like it was the smell of fish in the air. Demyx was up to something, and Zexion honestly didn't know what to do about it. It was one thing to bother him to the ends of the world and back, but to now involve Aerith in his stupidity? Zexion was not happy at all.
Across from the deep end of the pool, Aerith sat with latent surprise at how mundane the topics of conversation were. She was sure that Demyx had texted her to meet up with him at the pool so he could talk about Zexion, or to plan some kind of stunt with Zexion, but so far they had only talked about school-related things. Aerith was glad the blonde was so passoniate about his dream of becoming an engineer and his interests in dance and music, but is this really all he wanted to talk about? The brunette was confident that there was something more, something he was beating around the bush at, but after an hour of Zexion-less conversation, Aerith wasn't so sure. What was more was that Demyx was genuinely spurring an interesting conversation. He was all ears whenever he asked Aerith something about herself, and delved deeper into their new friendship by expressing concerns or questions when it came to every day stresses that troubled Aerith.
Aerith wanted to see the plotting behind his actions, but the dirty blonde was so honest and open that she couldn't help second guessing herself. What was Demyx's goal here? Or was there any? Was he honestly just being his normal, friendly self? Aerith inwardly laughed at how little she could figure out about an open book like Demyx. This was going to be more fun than she initially thought!
"So Demyx," Aerith finally caved, catching bright, sea green eyes from their gaze on the pool. The brunette placed her head on her knuckles and smiled knowingly. "What are you going to do about next week?"
Demyx's eyebrows furrowed briefly before he simply tilted his head in question. "What's next..." Demyx's voice trailed softly as realization dawned heavily upon him. The beginning of fall classes. Demyx blinked and looked toward Aerith, studying her sugary smile. "Oh..." He began slowly, glancing away. He knew that Zexion, like Axel, was taking summer classes, but he was only taking two. When the fall semester started, he was sure Zexion would have at least six classes to juggle. Would he keep his job as a lifeguard? Demyx had never thought about the possiblity of Zexion quitting his job to focus on school, but that smile Aerith wore made the dirty blonde unsure. Not to mention he himself with all his piling math and science classes. Demyx grimaced at the angry pulse at the back of his head. "Want to go for a swim?" Demyx asked quickly before standing and heading towards the shallow end of the pool. Aerith stared for a second before giggling to herself and following behind the shifty blonde.
Demyx stood near the shallow end's stairs as Aerith simply sat on the edge. There were a lot of children around them, and the screech of whistles never ceased. It was louder in the pool since it was so packed that day, in no way being a place for conversation. But maybe Demyx thought better in the water? Aerith was amused to see the dirty blonde at such a loss for what to do. From what she heard, Demyx was insanely smooth for someone who lacked any filters.
"I'm not getting anywhere with Zexion, am I?" Demyx chuckled as he leaned against the edge, next to Aerith's legs. The brunette sat in silence, surprised. Today, Demyx seemed to be full of little shocks and baffles. "No matter what I do, or how much attention I give him, he never seems to get past his hate for me. What am I doing that's so wrong anyway? I'm showing him every ounce of care I've got."
Aerith glanced down at Demyx only to meet saddened sea greens. There it was again, that honesty that could very well be counterfeit at the same time. Why would Demyx be confessing his lost chances with Zexion when the last they spoke, Aerith had told him they were rivals? Did Demyx really think on this, or was he plotting? Aerith had to admit, the blonde had one hell of a poker face! Intentionally or not, Zexion sure knew how to pick'em.
Demyx turned fully when seeing Aerith's small smile widen happily across her face. "Hey, what's that look for?" Then the dirty blonde's look fell sly. "Oh look at you princess; you're just happy you're winning."
Aerith shook her head gently. "No, that's not it. I just think your effort's cute."
"Well at least someone does." Demyx muttered sarcastically.
"For the record," Aerith started, pushing her feet against the water, "You're further along with Zexion than you think." Demyx's pout faded as his attention shot to the smiling brunette. Aerith continued before the dirty blonde could get over his surprise. "Zexion is kinda stony, as I'm sure you've noticed. I don't really know myself why he's so uptight about keeping such a stolid composure all the time, but I do know that ever since I've known Zexion, he doesn't break out of that cold shell of his unless he's comfortable around that person. And comfortable for Zexion is by no means the same as comfortable for a normal person, so to speak." Aerith giggled. "It's kind of a compliment when Zexion can show so much expression around you."
Demyx felt like he had stopped breathing. The air was so thin all of a sudden, but he was sure if he suffocated, he'd die a damn happy man. However, even with such heart-stopping news, Demyx still didn't get the kind of reactions from Zexion that Aerith got. She was still above him. Demyx sighed and slouched in the water.
"I don't want hatred." He bit. Aerith made a slight questioning sound and Demyx shook his head in frustration. "If I've 'earned' expressions or whatever, why'd I have to get hatred and annoyance? Where's that going to get me? Even if I back off a little, everytime he sees me he glares as if he can't stand the thought of breathing the same air as me."
"What happened to taming the ferocious lion? Wild animals like that don't go down without a fight." Aerith assured, slightly disheartened at what sounded like Demyx's resignation.
"He's more like a haughty snake." Demyx threw back. "I don't want that. Sure, conquering his personality barriers is what attracted me to him, but I'm a young, spritey guy, y'know?" With a smirk, Demyx nudged at Aerith's legs playfully as his words lightened. "I can't keep chasing after the same fish in this wide open sea."
Aerith laughed briefly. "I'm afraid we're using too many animal acronyms here for me to keep up with." Demyx snorted as Aerith composed herself. "But, surely you can't mean that, can you?" Can he? "You're just going to give up on him like that?"
"Why not?" Demyx asked, with a cross of his arms and a shrug. "He sure as shit never gave me a chance in hell with him. Besides, you should be happy. You're rival-less now. You sound as if you're disappointed."
Aerith smiled at Demyx's raised brow. "It's because I am."
Man this girl is forward.
Aerith leaned back on her hands, her feet only slightly swaying in the toss and turn of the heavily occupied pool. "Are you going to try to be at least friends?"
Demyx tilted his head as he peered toward the silverette on the other side of the pool. Grinning with a huff, Demyx gave a one-shouldered shrug. "That's all Zexion, my friend. I apparently have no say in this fine relationship of ours."
Aerith pouted briefly while Demyx's head was turned. This, she guessed, was one way to resolve Zexion's problems, but she was really hoping Demyx was lying to try to fool her or something. Demyx didn't come across as the type of person to ever listen to logic when he wanted something. It had been nearly two months since Demyx started pursuing Zexion and now all of a sudden, within a week of meeting her, he wanted to throw in the towel on the account of her closeness with Zexion? If only Aerith knew what was really going through the blonde's head... Gosh, he was good! Aerith honestly couldn't tell a truth from a lie with this guy (and she couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or a bad thing about him).
"That's too bad then..." Aerith admitted light-heartedly.
Demyx was silent as his gaze lingered over the pool, but after a few minutes of listening to the loud chatter around them, Demyx lifted himself onto the edge. "Hey, Aer?" Aerith hummed in attention as she faced the dirty blonde's smile. "Wanna go out to eat later?"
Aerith blinked once as realization hit her immediately. What a crafty guy, Demyx was. Aerith returned the smile as she cheered happily on the inside for finally figuring Demyx out. "Sure thing."
A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! :D
Review/Favorite, it's totally your call. I write for fun, not for fame.