They ended up at Tifa's diner, eating greasy burgers that Aqua had brought to them herself with a sympathetic frown because it wasn't a busy night. Demyx picked at his dinner, eating fries and the lettuce off of his sandwich, while Axel bit into his viciously, missing the chance to spend someone else's money on delicacies. They ate their burgers in silence, Demyx not wanting to talk and Axel realizing that he had already messed something up by pushing a conversation around.
"Dessert, you pair?" Aqua was back, staring them down. "Your moods certainly need the sugar. It's like a rain cloud. Whoosh."
The blond shoved his plate away. "No thanks. I don't think I can eat."
Frowning, the blue-haired girl collected the plate. "You should. What happened, did Axel scream at a restaurant filled with people because darling Zexxy was being a bitch?"
"How do you know that?" Axel snapped, glaring at her.
"Because Ven works there and told me, duh." Aqua rolled her eyes. "Real classic, Axel, if I do say so myself. You make yourself look like an ass and now things are worse for Dem."
Groaning, Demyx slumped forward, burying his head in his arms. "Aqua, go away."
"Blueberry pie it is. À la mode, on the house." Aqua turned, and then snapped her gaze back to Axel over her shoulder. "Fix things, firetruck. And maybe I'll bring you coffee."
Axel sighed. The bribe of coffee wasn't that powerful, but she was right on several levels. Besides, he had ignored more than enough good pieces of advice tonight. "Dem-"
"Don't try and patch things up just because Aqua told you so," Demyx muttered, not looking at his friend.
"Demyx."
"I don't want to talk to you."
"I'm buying you dinner, at least talk to me?"
"Why?" The blond picked up his head, looking distinctly annoyed. "You've already done enough tonight."
"I thought you forgave me for that." Axel sighed, biting his lip.
"I never said that." Demyx pressed his fingers against his eyebrows. "I said that you overreacted is what I said."
The redhead folded his arms. "Well. I'm sorry. But you acting all petulant and childish isn't helping anyone, least of all you."
"Screw you," Demyx muttered. "I'm as childish and airheaded and self-centered as they come."
"I wouldn't quite agree with that," Axel said, leaning forward. "I couldn't like someone who's more self-centered than me."
Demyx looked up, a bit startled. "You're not self-centered. You spent all this time helping me. Or trying to, anyway."
"Yeah." Axel smiled, a tiny change in expression. "That's me being self centered, alright."
"You helping me is not-"
"It is, Dem. I just said I was self-centered. I only do things for myself."
The blond glared at him. "Yes, because helping someone else is being self-centered."
Axel just laughed. "You're also unobservant."
"I am not," Demyx snapped. "I thought we were being nice to me?"
"Yeah, well, I'm a terrible person. So sue me." Axel leaned back in his chair. "You're unobservant. Or did you not notice that you and Aqua are my only friends?"
"I-" Demyx stopped talking, staring at him. "No."
The redhead smirked. "There you go."
"So, enlighten me, then." He crossed his arms, blue eyes turning back to their petulance as he glared at Axel. "What's so important that I've been missing that makes you self-centered for helping me?"
"Think about it for a while," Axel said, accepting a cup of coffee from Aqua.
The blue-haired girl smiled at the blond, and gave him a plate with the promised pastry on it. "He's being nice now, you know. I promise."
Stabbing his fork though the flaky crust, Demyx muttered, "I don't see how making me play a guessing game is nice."
Sitting down next to him, Aqua said, "You know, he's not one to be very open. And when he says 'unobservant'… well, he kind of does mean unobservant… but…"
"Go away, Aqua," Axel said over the rim of his cup. "I was having a conversation, you know."
She gave him a smirk to match the playful warning in his tone. "Right. Don't leave Dem floundering too long, Ax." She slid out of the booth, winked at Tifa, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow, and went back to the kitchen.
Demyx was dissecting the slice of pie with his fork, watching the ice cream melt into it. "You planning on telling me, Axel?"
"Telling you what?"
"I mean… you're…" Demyx looked down at his plate, and then shoved it away, standing up. "Whatever. I'm going home. Tonight sucks to start with, I'm not playing riddles."
Placing his cup on the table with a dull chink, Axel said, "Listen, Dem. I'm-" He broke off, running his hand through his hair. "Well, I'm not good at saying things," he mumbled finally.
Demyx rolled his eyes, and shoved his arms into his coat. "So you're only eloquent when you want to be? Thanks, Axel."
The redhead sighed. "Fine. Go home, and maybe tomorrow you can catch a train back to- where do you come from?"
"Don't you mind it," Demyx snapped, and left the restaurant. Axel rolled his eyes, fished a twenty out of his pocket, and tossed it to Tifa as he followed the blond out the door.
Luckily for the redhead, Demyx wasn't disposed to running when he was sulking. Within a few seconds of leaving the diner, Axel had caught up to him, and stopped the blond in his tracks.
"Listen, Dem, I'm not really talking my best tonight, but-" Taking a deep breath, Axel tried to consider his next words. "I don't really want you mad at me, either."
"You don't." Demyx's tone was flat. "You don't want me… mad at you."
"Well- no. I've been selfish and idiotic all day, really." Axel half-smiled, anxiously. "I know, I've been saying I was helping, but really- really, I just don't want you going along with Zexion's mind games."
"Uh-huh."
Axel sighed. "And, listen- I… I just want you to stay here. Put a band together, whatever makes you happy, blondie. But… I just don't want you to go away."
"Because I'm one of your only friends?" Demyx asked, very quietly.
That made the redhead freeze for a second, and then he stepped a little bit closer to Demyx. "No. Because you're the only person who's ever been more than a friend to me."
Abruptly, the blond gave him a hug. "Axel, shut up."
"What?"
Tilting his head up to look the redhead in the eyes, Demyx remarked drily, "You're just bad at being eloquent today, aren't you?"
In reply, Axel just shook his head, and then kissed the top of Demyx's head. "I think you maybe got the point."
Demyx's reply was to pull Axel's face down to his and kiss him.
A/N: Remember back in October when I was all, "I'm going to finish this before November so I don't abandon it"?
Yeah. Obviously, life came and punched me in the face. I didn't get a chance to finish it in October, spent November working on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, and then ended up assistant stage managing a play at my school that delightfully ate up the months of December and January.
Leaving us in February, where I realized "huh, there's that story I was meaning to finish like, five months ago".
I'm so sorry it took this long. DX And I'm not very happy with it, because I write angst MUCH better than I write romance, in my personal opinion...
I will write an extra chapter for this story, though. Mostly because there are a few loose ends that wouldn't fit into this chapter.
Also, I'm considering trying to write the Zemyx prologue to this... though that one might be a "nice idea, not really happening" thing with me, because mock trial (my main extracurricular activity) is starting its competing season for the year.
Thanks for reading this, even though I'm not good at consistent updating.
Oh, and happy Valentine's day. 8D
