How I Paid for College

Summary: All Demyx wanted was to go to Juilliard. But when his father refuses to pay the tuition, Demyx finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of minimum wage, fraud, and thievery. On top of that, he has to come to terms with the fact that he may be in love with his best friend, Zexion. This is going to be one interesting summer.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to SquareEnix. Inspiration from Marc Acito, who wrote the book by the same title. (If you read this fic and hate it, go read the book. It's better. If you've read the book and hated it, read this fic. It's better.) I was dreaming when I wrote this/ So sue me if I go too fast

Dedication: For Stephen Colbert, who created the word of the year – truthiness. For my sister, whose new word is "burn". As in, when I turn out to be wrong: "Oh! Burn!" For Dualism! Who often has to make up new words and is my favorite reviewer. Because she rocks out loud, on ice, dipped in chocolate with a fluffy Orange Mooching Gopher. For Hikari of the Moon, who is not a future-seer. For Kanilla, my silent fan.

Special dedication goes to half of The Jackalope – the Psycho Rooster half – for keeping me company via MSN Messenger while I wrote. Go read Reverse Eclipse after this chapter. I very much enjoyed it. Indeed!

Opening Notes: Finals this week! Pray for me, my fools. Thursday I'll be going home. Back to my family. Back to work. I might be able to squeeze in another couple of updates here, but after that they will be fewer and further between. So here I am leaving you an extra long and wonderful chapter.

Started: December 10, 2006

Finished: December 10, 2006

Part Six: Burn

The last time Zexion kissed me, we'd been in grade school. He was going on vacation with his parents for the summer, and we had both been disappointed because of all the plans we'd made. He kissed me goodbye and promised that when he came back, we'd have the best day ever. And we did. We watched the sunset together, made a huge delicious breakfast with my mom, played several hundred rounds of various video games, played in the park, went to a movie, and watched the sunset. It was the first time Zexion told me that I was the best friend he'd ever had. He never kissed me again, though.

Larxene went to Roxas's house Saturday, and when she came back she looked better, and I wondered if by kissing me, Zexion meant that things were going to be like before again. But Zexion didn't call me all day, and instead I spent time with dad and Clarisse.

Clarisse was an artist. She took pictures of children. Happy children. Sad children. Babies and toddlers. They were all candid shots.

"Children have such expressive faces!" she said to me, showing a portrait of a young boy dancing in a storm of bubbles blossoming from the little plastic wand he held, his face shining with wonder and delight. Her photos were often published in magazines for parents.

"I'll be working on some autumn shots soon," she said. I imagined children playing in piles of colored leaves, eating apples, hiding behind huge pumpkins, wearing adorable Halloween costumes. I wondered... if Clarisse liked children so much, did that mean I'd soon have a new sibling?

Larxene shrugged when I mentioned it. "Maybe."

She didn't seem to care. And really, it didn't concern us. We'd both be going to college next year. A new baby would be part of dad's new life. One that we'd barely have a part in.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you... Zexion called. While you were with Clarisse."

My heart jumped.

"Yeah?"

"He says he wants you to go to his house tomorrow. He meant to invite you over today, but his parents dragged him off to visit family."

I grinned.

Zexion was actually the only "kid" in his family. Both his parents had no siblings, and his relatives consisted mainly of elderly aunts who acted like his personal fanclub. Once, he'd taken me along, and by the end of the evening, we were both smothered to within an inch of our lives.

"Hey, Larx?"

"What?"

"Did you love Zexion?"

She stared at me for a long moment. "Of course I did," she said finally, straightening and fixing me with a hard gaze. When I didn't say anything else, she picked up her duffel bag and headed out.

"Are you coming to my game?"

"Sure," I agreed, watching her climb into a van with her friends Yuffie and Tifa. "I'll go with dad."

She smiled at me, and then the van was gone, turning the corner.

Her team won, of course. She was a great forward, aggressive and lightning fast. It was no wonder she was getting a full athletic scholarship. Dad bragged all the way home that she was going to play professionally one day. I personally didn't doubt it, either.

After the game, dad drove me to the theatre for the second performance of The Tempest. Pence messed up a little in one of his scenes, and so did Olette, but everything else went fine.

Zexion even showed up, and after, he drove me home.

"Did Lark give you my message?" he asked as we came to our street.

"She did." I grinned. "How are the Aunts?"

"As old and adorable as ever," he replied with a smile. "They send their love."

It was late when we pulled up in front of my house. I was sure dad was asleep already. Larxene was probably still at Tifa's house. Spending the night, maybe.

"Hey," I said. "Do you want to come in for a bit? I can make us a milkshake."

"A milkshake?"

"An avocado milkshake."

"That's disgusting, Dem."

"Is not."

"Avocado?"

"Chocolate, then? Strawberry?"

"Banana."

"Banana?"

He nodded. I sighed. "Fine. Banana."

Dad wasn't asleep yet, actually. He was in his office, drawing up a shares contract or something. Zexion and I made sure to be extra quiet in the kitchen. Dad doesn't like to be disturbed when he's working.

"I was thinking about what you said the other day..."

I blinked. "What did I say?"

"About how we're going to college next year... We won't get to see much of each other."

I nodded, carefully cutting up the bananas. "Yeah..."

"So I was thinking – because I don't want us to drift apart, Dem – that we need to take advantage of the time we have left."

I let the words hang there for a moment while the milkshake blended, poured it out into two heavy glasses.

"Dem?"

My name was whispered against my temple, and I immediately froze, heart jumping again.

"Zexion..." I barely managed to utter it. The syllables passed my lips and faded quickly in the mingling of breath.

It took a moment for the kiss to register, and when it did, the glass fell from my hand, shattering on the tile. I flinched and made to pull away, but a moan escaped my throat, and Zexion took it as an invitation to deepen the intimacy. I found myself pinned to the counter, the smell of vanilla filling me, hands gripping my shoulders, stroking down my back. The touches were rushed, fleeting even. But the kiss was slow. Almost painfully so; lips caressing my own, teeth nipping and lightly tugging, the tongue seeking to memorize every detail of my mouth. My hands tightly fisted fabric and I was dimly aware of the rest of my body shaking.

Wait.

The sound of glass crashing finally reached my ears, a long moment too late. I loosened my grip and pushed weakly, looking down at the mess on the floor, not meeting Zexion's eyes.

That didn't just happen. I feel light and heavy all at once, dazed. I blinked, trying to snap myself back into reality. But the lingering taste in my mouth, the tingling of my skin where his hands slipped under my clothes to touch the small of my back. Too real.

We cleaned up the mess without a word, and the surviving banana milkshake was dumped down the drain. After, we sat on the couch, and I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes again, Zexion is gone and it's past two in the morning.

I tried to convince myself that I had been dreaming, but for some reason a feeling of elation was building up inside me, and I couldn't fight the desire to smile.

Somehow I managed to get home. In all my eighteen years, I'd never touched a drop of alcohol, but tonight I felt drunk.

I kissed him.

And he let me.

I tried to find a way around it, but every time I closed my eyes I felt the light touch of hands looping around my neck, fingers ghosting over the hairs at the nape, fisting the fabric of my shirt and drawing me closer. That moan. If I ever head it again I was done for.

I didn't know what possessed me to do it. What was so arousing about someone making a milkshake, anyway? I snorted, making a mental note not to ask that out loud. With my luck, Selphie would hear and start singing that stupid song.

I kissed Demyx.

And he let me.

A small smirk worked its way across my lips, even as a feeling of dread slowly came over me. Demyx was known to do things just to make people happy. Namely Larxene and his father. What if he'd only gone along with it because it was what I obviously wanted?

"Zexion, you idiot," I muttered to myself. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was using him.

And somewhere a fangirl is threatening me with a spork or something.

I sighed, brooding and brushing hair out of my eyes. Zexion, you idiot.

Sunday seemed to drag on forever. Somehow I managed to keep my promise and spend the better part of the day with Demyx, even if I was completely useless and incapable of speech. How is it that after you kiss someone you can't stop staring at them?

"Zexion?"

"Yeah?"

"Pence needs a ride home after the play tonight. Can you?"

"Sure."

At least Demyx had Pence to keep him occupied during the car ride. The last performance was interesting in that Olette called in sick at the last minute. Kairi had to take her place.

"She wasn't bad..." Pence defended.

"Tidus upstaged her big time," Demyx countered. "And he was playing Stephano!"

"So?"

"Stephano is a drunkard," I muttered.

"Kairi was just nervous!"

He had a point, anyway. Olette's original understudy was Selphie, but she was called to play the harp solo for the scene where Ferdinand and Miranda are blessed by the fairies, as well as the rest of the harp parts since the harpist broke his wrist.

Kairi was randomly pulled from the audience because Olette said she'd helped her with her lines.

After dropping off Pence, it was only a three minutes drive to Dem's house, and he filled the silence by talking about Death in a Courtroom.

Monday was never my favorite day. For obvious reasons, of course. Monday reminded me of that anti-drugs commercial. The one where the girl shows us an egg, calls it our brain, then cracks it into a frying pan and claims that this is our brain on drugs. Then she destroys the kitchen. That's my brain on Monday morning.

I pulled on a T-shirt and fixed my red boxers so that they weren't slipping down my ass and headed to Roxas's room.

"Sora! You look like you've been knocked up."

I nearly chocked on my own spit and quickly ducked behind Roxas.

"What are Larxene and Naminé doing here?" I slurred.

"Helping me get dressed."

"I thought that was Sora's job?" my mom said from the doorway.

"Usually," Naminé spoke up. "But for some reason Roxas wants to look extra special today. So he asked for our help."

I raised an eyebrow. "And why, pray tell, do you want to look 'extra special' today?"

The tell tale grin of doom flitted across his face briefly. "No reason."

My mom and I exchanged glances and rolled our eyes in unison.

"This is about Axel, isn't it?" I hissed, as soon as mom disappeared from view.

"Maybe."

Naminé and Larxene smiled.

"If we didn't know any better, Roxie," Larxene cooed, "We'd think you like him."

Roxas snorted and crossed his arms.

"Shut up and make me molestable already," he muttered.

Naminé giggled, reaching out to twine her fingers in his hair, twirling a comb in her other hand.

"Oh, Roxas," she murmured. "You go on and on about how you can see what's there between Sora and Riku even when they're both blind to it..."

"Hey!" I protested.

"And yet..." she continued, "When it comes to your own love situation, you really are just as blind as you actually are." She smiled sadly and pulled the comb through his hair.

"Shut up," Roxas muttered, fidgeting.

Larxene, meanwhile, was raiding the closet.

"Here!" she threw a pair of dark jeans in my direction and I caught them. An undershirt followed this, then a dark red shirt with the number 13 screened onto it, and a grey hoodie with a design of two detailed antique keys crossed on the back. "What about his glasses?" Naminé asked, holding up the dark lenses.

I grinned. "No. Axel says his eyes are beautiful." The girls and I shared a knowing glance that Roxas couldn't sense.

I left them to play with his hair and went to go get dressed myself. This was going to be an interesting day, I thought.

When Larxene and Naminé were finished, Roxas looked like he'd just stepped out of an Aréopostale catalog.

"I guess I'm the ugly twin today," I said, laughing. "Poor Axel..."

"Are you kidding?" Larxene looked him over with approval. "Axel will worship Naminé and me."

I grinned. "The clothes are only half of what he's planning. You should know that."

She laughed. "You're right. Poor Axel. Should be fun to watch, though."

Mom offered them breakfast, but they politely refused and were gone before Axel called to say he was coming to pick us up in five minutes.

"We'll be ready," I assured him.

Five minutes later Axel's car pulled up.

I sighed. You had to pity the guy. I mean, when Roxas did stuff spur of the moment it was disastrous. But when he plotted? Forget it. Stick a fork in it, because it's done.

It was the first time I'd seen anyone get a nosebleed like that.

"Are you okay, Axel?" I asked.

"Fine," he said after a moment. I handed him a tissue.

Roxas sat up front and made a point to be utterly hopeless at buckling his seatbelt so that Axel had to help him. I handed him another tissue.

"Are you normally this prone to nosebleeds?" I asked innocently.

Axel glared at me.

Revenge. That is why I was enjoying myself. I was not a little kid for Axel to feel sorry for. I was not. So in order to prove that, I pulled out the heavy ammunition and all the stops. Axel fell victim to no less than five nosebleeds before class even started. I conveniently "forgot" my cane in second period, so he was forced to offer me his arm. We tripped once, and I successfully landed on top.

Oh was it fun to make him squirm.

"Axel!" Larxene shrieked during chemistry, "You're not supposed to do that!" There was a very loud bang, and our beaker exploded. Thankfully, Axel shielded me from the flying glass, and I took advantage of the situation, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Get a room," Saïx muttered.

Axel couldn't string together a complete sentence until our next class.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it a bit?" Riku asked. "I really think he likes you, Roxas. Maybe you should give him a chance."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Riku. Give me advice on my love life when you've got yours under control, okay? And anyway, I don't swing that way. I'm just having a little fun."

Riku gave an exasperated sigh. "That's what I meant about you being insensitive without meaning to. You're toying with him. I know you don't mean to be cruel, but what if he really thinks you're coming on to him?"

I thought about it.

"He doesn't like me Riku."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"He doesn't talk to you differently?"

I smirked. "So Sora told you about that, did he?"

"He did. And I wondered if Axel ever..."

"No," I cut him off.

"I see the way he looks at you."

I flinched. There it was. When I couldn't accept something, Riku always gave me visual proof. Because he knew I couldn't find a way around it.

When I didn't say anything, he gave me a brief hug. "I'll see you at lunch."

He was a piece of work. It took me the better half of the morning to figure out what he was up to. Roxas, you little minx. He wasn't as dense as I thought he was, figuring out that my advances the other night had been real. And now he was retaliating. I was pretty sure he wasn't returning my affections. No. He was trying to make a fool out of me. It should have made me angry, but he was too adorable and too good at it to bother.

But that didn't mean I was going to keep letting him push me over.

The next time he stumbled into me, I held fast and leaned closer to him. "You okay, Roxas?" I asked, placing my words right at his ear.

Something flitted across his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Good," I murmured. "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." I wondered if I could risk kissing him on the cheek again. No. The last time it had barely even counted. This time he would freak out for sure. I felt his pulse quicken under my fingers and smirked.

"What do you want for lunch today?"

"Pasta."

I loaded up our trays and led him to our friends, setting up his meal before I did mine.

"Roxas?" Sora sounded concerned. "You look a little flustered. Are you okay?"

I winked in Larxene's direction, grinning like Christmas had come early and Santa had brought me a sleigh full of explosives and a hooker.

Riku nearly choked on his drink and managed a weak smile, leaning over to whisper something in Sora's ear.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Roxas announced.

I helped him to his feet and lead him away, then waited outside for him. (He'd made it perfectly clear on the first day that I was not to follow him in.)

"I want to go find my cane," he said when he came out, and I happily obliged.

Professor Yensid let us in and I found it for him.

"You should be a little more careful of where you leave your things," I warned lightly as we headed back.

"Shut up," he retorted. I smirked. He seemed to be done with his little game for now. Shame. All I had to do was make one little move and you give up? You're no fun, Roxas.

"Hey," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"You have tomato sauce on your face."

"So clean it off," he said offhandedly.

I grinned. "No problem." I had him pinned to the nearest wall within seconds, lowering my face to his.

"W-whaa-what are you d-doing?" he demanded, mouth agape.

I chuckled lightly, tracing one finger from the corner of his eye down. "Cleaning it off." Quicker than lust, I licked gently at the inside corner of his mouth outward, lapping up the sauce.

That thing flickered in his eyes again and he pushed me away roughly.

"Pervert."

"He who plays with fire often gets burnt, Roxas," I recited, even as I tried to control my own breathing. "Got it memorized?"

- The Writer

Ending Notes: (playing in the chocolate fountain Hikari of the Moon gave me) Ha! I was actually able to refrain from using that line for four whole chapters! I think I deserve some sort of reward for that.

Anyway.

I just noticed something. All of these POVs are male POVs! So I think we're in for a Kairi POV next chapter. Maybe even Naminé and Larxene, too.

And finally! Next chapter I will also be doing a little timeskipping for the same of things. Not much, just a couple of days. Then there will be the wedding of Demyx's dad! And the main plot, at long last. Because we're a little overdue.

Remember!

Eat chocolate!

Oh! And review. That would be nice.