As he woke up Zexion noticed he was shirtless, blushing as he remembered that he had taken it off last night in the heat of needy, inexperienced kisses at Demyx's bedside. Before he woke him up he found his shirt, putting it back on and leaning down, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. He smiled as Demyx groaned from his gentle shaking, groggily sitting up and blinking his eyes in an effort to focus better.

"Morning." Zexion was astonished that he hadn't felt strange from waking in a room that he had never slept in before, but he had spent so much time here that he supposed it wasn't so bad. Demyx grinned tiredly and reached forward, pulling Zexion to his chest and lying back down.

"Too sleepy to say stuff." He mumbled, making Zexion giggle and squirm uncharacteristically to free himself from his new-found boyfriend's grasp, though apparently Demyx wasn't too tired to hold him in a vice grip until Zexion finally gave up and laid still.

"So," Zexion sighed, trying to get comfortable with Demyx's arms around him, "Are you planning on sleeping all day, or am I gonna have to walk home?" He closed his eyes for a moment, but not before catching Demyx's frown.

"No…don't leave." He whined lazily, gripping Zexion harder.

"Ach…I can't breathe…" Zexion wriggled free, sitting back up and leaning against the wall. Demyx's expression sported the utmost agony, his hand traveling underneath the cuff of his pajama bottoms and becoming content with stroking his ankle. Zexion shook his head and smiled. "I need to shower, and get a little of that load of homework out of the way."

"Really? You don't wanna spend all day in bed with me?" Demyx squinted mischievously at him, his hand traveling up to Zexion's calf, massaging it. "Boy, your legs are hairy."

"And yours aren't!" Zexion shouted, half joking, half quelling the urge to knock him on the head. "I do want to spend the day with you, but I'd rather do it when I'm free of the responsibilities of schoolwork weighing on my mind."

"Ahh…you're so diligent, Zexion." Demyx teased, pushing his hand further past his calf and over his knee, the cloth on his pajamas falling down his thigh. Zexion observed this with scrutiny, hoping that Demyx wouldn't try to go any further. "I wish I could be so mindful…but the essay sounds to me like something I'll be leaving off until Monday night."

"Well, I'm just slower than you when it comes to writing; I couldn't get it all done in a night. You're truly the more admirable one between us." Zexion laid a hand on Demyx's head, chuckling, and slapping his hand away when he tried to reach a little too far up his leg. Demyx pouted.

"You're no fun…"

"I didn't know you'd be making moves on me so early!" Zexion stood, brushing himself off and nudging Demyx with his foot. "Come on, I don't want to walk back…"

"Fine. But I demand more kisses before we go, and then some more on the way, and some more once we get there." Zexion huffed, though secretly he knew he would have no problems filling Demyx's demands. He rooted through his bag for his clothes, picking them up and going to the bathroom that connected to Demyx's room. It was comparatively neat inside, Zexion studying the walls and looking at what kind of shampoo he used as he shed his pajamas and pulled on some pants, trying not to think too hard about the fact that he had been temporarily naked in Demyx's bathroom.

Putting his shirt on Zexion looked in the mirror for a few moments, shrugging satisfactorily and peeking out into Demyx's room. Demyx was putting a shirt on, his head popping out of the neck hole in an amusing fashion, making Zexion laugh.

"Do you ever comb your hair?" He asked, walking over to him and leaning on his dresser. Demyx pulled at one of the longer strands.

"Nope. It's too short in some places and too thin in others to really need it." Suddenly he reached out, putting a hand on Zexion's shoulder and kissing him. Zexion pushed back, not really meaning to but somehow keeping track of his comfort level with each progressive kiss; this one felt slightly more natural than the last, though still he felt that he needed some practice before it was no longer strange.

"Alright." Zexion began as they broke apart, "Let's go…you can come and eat breakfast with me, too." He went over and grabbed his bag, Demyx holding the door open for him as they left. Zexion noticed that neither of his parents were home, but remembered quickly that both had jobs during the daytime on weekdays.

As they drove Zexion noticed that Demyx had apparently decided against kissing him, seemingly laying off of him for a while. Zexion appreciated this, after a night of so much closeness he needed some time to himself to think things over. At the apartment Axel and Roxas were eating breakfast at the kitchen table, greeting them jovially as they walked in. As Zexion and Demyx went into the kitchen to help themselves to a plate of eggs, Zexion stole a glance at Roxas, who raised an eyebrow at him. Axel seemed oblivious to the situation.

When they had eaten and Demyx had gone, Axel and Roxas going out as well, Zexion finally had time alone to shower and freely hum whatever song he wanted without worrying that someone could hear him, even walking around his room shirtless for a while simply because he didn't want his damp hair getting the material of his collar wet. After a few hours of television and reading, he sat down at his desk and read the prompt for his essay, something his wandering mind could only vaguely understand as he tried to concentrate on the words. Somewhere between the first and second paragraphs of the rough draft he managed to eat a bowl of ice cream, watch half of the rest of a television show in the living room and put a shirt on before he could really focus.

But as soon as his edge began, it ended with a rap on his window. Startled he jumped up, turning around and wondering who it could possibly be—the only way a person could get outside his window would to be to climb the fire escape, and none of his friends had any way to expect to enter from that route. The sun shone brightly against the silhouette of someone familiar, and walking closer he saw that it was none other than the red-haired man of his dreams.

He swallowed, memories and emotions that he had finally learned to suppress rising within him once more, making him nauseous and dizzy. It didn't matter that this was the only person in the gang who had shown him kindness, because he didn't know him—for all the manners he had shown him before, he could be a thousand times worse and Zexion would have never known.

"C'mon, kid!" He tapped on the window again, peering inside with an expression that looked almost innocent, as if it were perfectly normal to be climbing fire escapes and asking to be let into someone's home via the window. "Let me in!" His voice was muffled by the single pane of glass, the man standing and putting out his cigarette in frustration. Finally, to Zexion's horror, he opened the window.

"What are you doing?" He choked, backing away against the doorframe as the man poked his head in. He laughed, though Zexion found himself unable to gauge his intentions through it.

"Just checking on you, kid! I saw you walking around the neighborhood and finally figured out where you lived. Mind if I come inside?"

"Yes, I do mind!" He was beginning to lose control of his voice, "If you're just checking on me, why couldn't you just have knocked on the door?"

"Cause I dunno which door is yours. I tried once and a lady almost bludgeoned me with her purse. It's kinda weird trying to tell people that I'm looking for someone whose last name I don't even remember." He laughed again, climbing in through the window and making himself comfortable on Zexion's bed. "Hey, this isn't half bad."

"Listen, I know I kept you from jail that one time, but that doesn't give you an invitation to just come inside my room! If Axel comes home he's going to pound you." Zexion wished he was closer to a phone, afraid if he tried to run the man would catch him. But he still wasn't sure if he had any reason to fear him at all. "I don't know anything about you except that you were supposed to kill me and you didn't. You've never even told me who you are! How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Well for one, with that mouth of yours you'd be in a lot more trouble if I was looking to hurt you." The man pushed back his hair, his eye patch one of the strange kinds that hooked around his ears. "I'm Nails. Weird name, sure, but it's what I can give you for now. Shake?" He held out a hand, but Zexion shook his head.

"I'm just gonna stay here." Zexion thought for a moment. It was true, in his experience the members of his gang wasted no time in completing their objectives. Nails seemed without any objective whatsoever, other than curiosity. "So…I'm fine. If that's all you wanted, you can leave now."

"Really? I was just getting comfortable. Want a cig?" He pulled one out, offering it to Zexion, who shook his head. Nails nodded, politely tapping it back into the case and putting it in his coat pocket. "How's your mom?"

"M-My mom?" Zexion blinked. He thought that they had taken her…though the government had arrested most of the men in the gang, they hadn't found his mother. He hadn't thought about it much, probably for fear of his own imagination. "I haven't seen my mother since you took her away."

Nails frowned, looking just as confused as Zexion did.

"What do you mean? We let her go once we saw the cops coming. She didn't find you?" With the news Zexion's heart felt like it was being squeezed, leaning heavily on the desk as he tried his best to keep from falling. Nails stood back up, going over to him and holding him by the arm. "You mean to say that you haven't seen her since then? How come they didn't mention that in the hearing?"

"You were released before we got to it!" Zexion felt himself being guided to his desk chair. He wasn't sure what was worse, having coped with the fact that he thought his mother was missing for the sake of his father's arrest, or having to cope all over again with the idea that he had no leads whatsoever now to find her, no hope at all… "Did you see where she went?"

"She ran off." Nails shook his head, patting Zexion on the shoulder. Zexion wasn't sure what to make of this man, why he seemed to care so much—perhaps their actions toward each other meant more to him than he had previously thought. "I'm sorry kid, I had no idea. I wouldn't have let her go if I knew she wasn't going to find you."

"I can't believe it." As Zexion grappled with the new information, Nails straightened up, walking over to the window. Zexion frowned, looking over at him. "Are you leaving, then?"

"Well yeah. But I'll be back. I'm gonna find your mom." Nails slipped out the window, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it in his mouth. "I can tell you that she wasn't found by one of the gang, they all got arrested. I made sure of that." Zexion stood, walking over to him and leaning out the window.

"You'd really do that? Why?"

"You saved me from a lifetime in jail. You didn't even know me very well, yet you still did it. It's the least I could do." Nails descended the ladder, falling a good height but somehow managing to land balanced on the ground. "I got connections, it won't take long."

"Thanks…" Zexion muttered, though he didn't think the man heard him. He wasn't sure what to feel now, looking over at his essay for a moment, then giving up and going to sit on his bed. It was well into the afternoon by now, almost dinnertime, but food didn't really appeal to him. He wondered what Demyx was up to, sitting back and imagining what it would be like to call him and explain everything that had just happened.

Lying back in his bed he covered himself with his comforter, thinking of his mother, wondering where she could be. Did this mean the chances of her being alive were less? Or greater? He didn't want to think about it, knowing that until he knew for sure he was only going to torture himself with the possibilities.

He hadn't realized how tired he was until now, though it made sense—he and Demyx had stayed up later than he ever had before. Turning on his side he closed his eyes, reaching up to hold his pillow, and trying his best not to think of anything he fell asleep for a long nap.

A/N: Hey guys! First of all, thanks for your awesome and faithful reviews! I love that I can see familiar icons now when I check the page :3 It's wonderful, and it all means a lot to me. Second, I hope this chapter wasn't too crazy! Zexion really needs a break from all this stuff. I think the fic might end soon, though I need to figure out how. Don't worry though, I'm planning on having a little bonus chapter with Axel and Roxas in the end. I need to put them into the story more, they've been a little less prevalent lately! XD

Anyhow, I hope you are still enjoying it! See you next update.