"Zexion?"
Demyx's voice woke him, Zexion breathing in deeply and blinking his eyes open. Demyx was leaning against the back of the couch, looking down at him with a smile. Zexion sat up, rubbing his forehead and pushing his hair out of his face, his cheeks and forehead burning from prolonged sleep.
"Hey, Demyx." He said groggily, trying to figure out how long he had slept. It had to be at least three-thirty, the bright sun illuminating the curtains that covered the windows. Demyx smelled faintly of gym class and something he didn't recognize, something sharp—a bit like cologne. It was pleasant, and a refreshing feeling washed over him, Zexion suddenly quite glad that he was there.
"You been sleeping all day?" He came around to the front of the couch and sat at the end, facing him. Zexion crossed his legs, leaning against the couch. It was amazing how tired you could get even after so much sleep.
"Yeah, I guess I have been." He would have blushed at the way Demyx smiled at him, but his face was still warm from before. "I didn't know I was going to."
"Axel said that you've been going through some things, I don't blame you." Demyx nudged his foot against Zexion's leg, Zexion noting with amusement that Demyx had chosen mismatching socks today. "Want to tell me what happened yesterday in class?"
"I don't know if I do…" Zexion contemplated it. Axel knew, but he was allowed to know most things about him. Roxas knew…if anything, that would be good reason to clue Demyx in. But why was he thinking so hard about something that he should just be forgetting? "It's not a big deal, really. I got a bit angry in philosophy, and kind of took it out on the teacher. Though really it was only weird because I don't normally talk in there."
"You took it out on her? What do you mean?" Demyx leaned forward, his expression concerned. Zexion felt guilty—he was making everyone give him strange worried expressions lately.
"I just lost my temper at something she said, really. I criticized her. Roxas told me, though, that sometimes she says things just so she can get us angry." Zexion ran his nails gently over his forearm, something he did that felt good, to distract himself when he was thinking deeply about something. "I'm kind of embarrassed about it now…and it probably doesn't look good that I didn't even show up for class today."
"She sounds like a bitch to me. I'm sure it's not the first time that's happened, either." Demyx leaned his head on his hand, rubbing his thumb over his ear. "I used to do that all the time."
"Really?" Zexion was awake now, leaning forward in interest.
"W-Well," Demyx's cheeks went a little red, "I was like, six, but I remember having yelling matches with my teachers."
"Ahh…" Zexion felt a bit disappointed—every kid threw temper tantrums.
"I did it a lot more than any other kid, and I think I spent half of first grade in the office. The problem was, though, that my teachers could never take me seriously. I remember most of the time they ended up laughing at me." Demyx shook his head, smiling broadly.
"Laughing at you? That doesn't sound like any way to treat a child."
"Well look at it this way." Demyx frowned for a moment, revealing to Zexion some ridiculous pouty face, his eyes getting big. "Imagine this face, but six years old."
In his mind's eye Zexion saw a young Demyx, his face red, eyes tearful and wide, frowning and frustrated. Demyx was right—it was hilarious, Zexion unable to resist laughing loudly at the image. Demyx laughed along with him, Zexion wondering how a small, anger-issues child could turn into someone as kind and optimistic as him.
"You know though," Demyx continued, pushing his hair back a little with his fingers, "you might look tired, but you also look better than yesterday. Are you coming to school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think so. I was just losing some sleep, that's all. I don't think I could have handled gym without a few more hours." He laughed. "Or ten."
"Think you're even going to be able to sleep tonight?" Demyx shifted closer, Zexion suddenly self-conscious about the fact that he was still in his boxers and a T-shirt.
"Probably. I still feel pretty tired." Zexion frowned for a moment, realizing something. "Hey, why isn't Roxas here?" Usually by now the blonde was sitting on the couch, watching some cartoon.
"He came in with me actually, but when he saw you he decided that he'd come over later. I stayed because I wanted to make sure you were okay. Yesterday was strange…last time something serious happened, it was because of me. But that was a long time ago." He waved it back as if he wanted to ignore it, but Zexion couldn't help but become curious.
"Something serious happened to you?" He was nervous, not knowing whether or not he was hitting something sensitive, though obviously it wasn't sensitive enough for Demyx not to mention it. Demyx took a few moments to consider it, as if he wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell Zexion yet or not.
"I just had some health problems. When I was a freshman I took classes to be a lifeguard, but…" Demyx looked genuinely sad now, as if lifeguarding classes had been just that important to him, "…I hit my head during a lesson and ended up breathing in a lot of water. I didn't know that you could drown even after you were out of the pool, but I guess the water stays there until you go to the hospital and they take it out."
"B-But you're okay? How?" Zexion forgot that it was almost five years later, feeling a pang in his chest as if it had just happened.
"Well, I passed out again and my parents took me to the hospital. Just in time, too, because I guess I could have stayed unconscious for a lot longer because of it. I was fine, but I got pneumonia after that, and I was told that I couldn't go swimming until I was free of it for at least eight months. I pretty much gave up swimming after that." Demyx ran his finger along a thread on the couch, biting the inside of his cheek.
"Are you scared of it?"
"No. I just haven't felt like it." He sighed, and Zexion realized that this was the first time he had ever seen Demyx looking so sad. "But! It's no big deal. I was able to go back to school and now I'm finally graduating! And that's a good cause to be happy if you ask me."
"Yeah! Yeah, it really is." Zexion smiled, but he couldn't shake the need to reach forward and comfort him, because it was clear that it was still something that saddened him deeply.
"You know what would make me really happy?" Demyx seemed to brighten up, Zexion glad that he did—out of all of the sadness he had to feel; it was the strangest with Demyx, someone who he had grown used to being his biggest source of happiness.
"W-What?"
"If sometime this weekend, or maybe even next week, you could come over. It's been weird at home without Roxas over, and I need someone to beat at Mario Kart." Demyx winked, making Zexion laugh. He had never seen something as dorky as a wink suit someone so well.
"I'd like that. It sounds like a lot of fun." Zexion felt so overjoyed at the invitation, he had almost completely forgotten about last night, or even yesterday—as if they were events that barely mattered anymore. Maybe, he hoped, they could stay that way.
"Saturday, then?" Demyx stood, stretching his arms out. Zexion nodded, standing as well, feeling extremely hungry. He had forgotten all about food, too tired to eat that morning and too distracted by Demyx's visit. "I'll come pick you up at one."
"Sounds good." He smiled. He had never been over to another friend's house before, save Axel's when they were little kids. Now he could go and do friend stuff, and learn about someone beside himself for a change. The idea thrilled him.
"I gotta go now, though. If I don't I'll never get my homework done, and I don't want to cancel Saturday because of that." He chuckled, walking to the door. "See you tomorrow morning, then?"
"Yeah! See you." Zexion watched as Demyx shut the door behind him, waving, going to the kitchen and pulling out a bucket of strawberries. He turned the television on, making himself comfortable and beginning to demolish a good portion of the strawberry bucket, Axel having bought it after Zexion told him it was his favorite snack. As he settled in his peaceful environment, still giddy from talking to Demyx, he started to wonder vaguely what it would be like to kiss him.
A/N: Eheheheheheheehehehehehe~
