Author's Comments: New chapter! Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Doctor Who. I own Imani.
Sleep ebbed away as the morning sunlight crept into his conscious…and the first thing he noticed was that his head hurt. Really, really badly.
A groan rumbled in his dry throat. Why did his head hurt so much? What happened last night…? Oh, right. He'd gone out somewhere and…had something to drink…
Ugh. He didn't want to get out of bed. Thank God he had the day off from work. What time was it…?
He reached around blindly for his phone, bumping random objects to the floor before managing to grasp it. There was a new message from Axel waiting for him. Drinks at Seventh Heaven later?
Drinks?
His gut lurched at the thought of alcohol. There was no way he could stomach another…whatever it was he drank last night.
What else happened…? He could hardly remember a thing. Why was he even out in the first place? Oh, right. Adella wanted him to meet her friend…but did he meet her? And if Adella was there, then her sisters had to have been there, too…but…
"Zeeeeeeexxx…" he moaned without bothering to look around the room to see if he was even there.
"What?" his roommate's voice drawled from somewhere.
"Was Ariel there last night?"
"Yes."
He cursed mentally. "Did I talk to her at all?"
"Yes."
He cursed mentally again, shutting his eyes and rubbing his forehead. "Then why can't I remember any of it?"
"Because you were too preoccupied with Arista."
Arista.
He bolted upright in his bed, eyes wide and mouth agape. Arista…with her black dress and red heels and flowing dance moves that looked like water and was so freaking hot—
Heat rushed to his face. He remembered dancing with her. He held her in his arms and her skin was so soft and she smelled really good…and…
"OH GOD, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING STUPID TO ARISTA, DID I?" he yelled—and then cringed at the volume of his own voice.
"Relax. The three of us took a cab and made sure she got back home safely."
He deflated, breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. That's good."
"You did kiss her goodnight, though."
Demyx tumbled out of bed as he whirled around to gape at his roommate. "I did WHAT?" he screeched, the sheets tangled around his legs and a sweat breaking out around his neck.
Completely unfazed, Zexion glanced up from his Lexicon. "Kidding."
"Whew…" He deflated, a sigh of relief whooshing out of his lungs. That would have been really, really bad.
"You almost kissed her goodnight."
He froze. Carefully, he raised his head to stare at Zexion, half-expecting that he would give him another "kidding."
Zexion simply stared back.
So…he really…no way. Nowaynowaynowaynoway—
"Aw, crap!" He buried his hot face with his clammy hands. "What am I gonna do? What if she remembers that? What if this makes things awkward between us at work?"
"Why does that matter?"
He eyed him through the cracks between his fingers. "She's my friend."
He saw Zexion arch an eyebrow at him. "Then why did you almost kiss her last night?"
Eep.
"And why were you so protective of her?" he asked. "You never left her side, you know."
His hands fell to his lap, wringing the sheets. "I don't know…Because she looked really good and I had a lot to drink?"
Zexion's stare glazed over with , the guy had no sympathy…not that Demyx deserved any. Demyx knew he didn't deserve any, but what was he supposed to do? He didn't know Arista was going to look that amazing! Nobody warned him about that! Nobody told him Arista was such a good dancer or had really pretty blue eyes or really soft skin…and nobody told him she had the power to make his heart beat that fast or produce butterflies in his stomach! Nobody! A friendly heads-up about any of those things would have been freaking fantastic.
He shook away his thoughts. "Should I text her?"
"Why would you do that?"
"I wanna make sure she's doing okay after last night." He reached for his phone again. "But what should I say?"
"You figure it out. You're the one who wants to text her."
"But…gah! I don't want her getting the wrong idea!"
"Which would be what?"
"That I…I…NO!" He clambered off the floor, tripping over his sheets as he raced to find refuge in the bathroom. "Stop asking me questions! I'm not answering you! You can't play therapist on me!"
"Just giving you some food for thought," he heard Zexion call after him.
He shut the door, sliding down it until he sat on the cold tile floor with his phone clutched in his hand. Food for thought, huh? More like food to choke on and die from sheer embarrassment with.
Aw man, he was screwed! What was he gonna do? He should text her and apologize. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, right? What kind of friend would he be to act like an idiot in front of her and not apologize for it?
With a new, tiny bit of determination, he tapped a message to Arista: Hey this is Demyx.
Wait. He didn't have to say that. She would know it was him. Caller ID, idiot.
He backspaced and started tapping again: Hey hope you're doing OK. Sorry for being really dumb last night. Didn't mean to almost kiss y
Wait no no no he couldn't actually type that out! That'd make it more awkward!
Clearing his throat and trying to banish the blush heating up his face, he backspaced and tried again: Hey hope you're doing OK. Sorry for being really dumb last night. I think I drank too much and I haven't had that much to drink in a long long time so
Ugh! Now he was babbling to her!
A frustrated growl rumbled in his throat as he backspaced furiously. Why was this so hard?
Hey hope you're doing OK. Sorry for being really dumb last night. I think I drank too much and
He yelped and nearly dropped his phone as it sprang to life with a newly received text message. When he read who it was from, his heart skipped a beat.
Arista.
Hi Demyx. Thanks again for coming out last night. My sisters were all really happy to see you. Thanks also for getting me home after. Hope you and Zexion made it back safely. :) See you at work!
He reread the message at least five or six times. She didn't mention the almost-kiss at all. Did she forget about it? Or maybe she was choosing to not bring it up?
Okay. Yeah, it was probably best that they didn't talk about it, then. That was cool. He could do that.
He backspaced his own message again, relief seeping into his chest and loosening up his fingers. Hey no problem. Thanks for the invite. Was great seeing everyone again. Zexion and I made it back safely. Hope you feel better! See you later!
As he pressed the button to send the message back to her, he breathed in deeply. Okay. Everything was fine. There wasn't anything awkward with them. Things were completely normal. Great.
With that, he pulled himself off the floor and got to splashing away the blush from his face.
Axel wasn't the least bit surprised that Roxas, Demyx, and Zexion bailed on what had become their weekly drink meet-up at Seventh Heaven. All three decided to celebrate Roxas' new girlfriend's birthday somewhere in town. (It was about damn time that twerp fessed up.) When invited along by Roxas, he chose to pass.
"Still going to see Imani?" Roxas asked.
Hell yeah he was.
He pushed open the door, scanning the room with his green eyes. To his pleasant surprise, it was deserted except for the girl he was hoping to see sitting on a stool by the bar, hunched over and completely immersed in her crane-folding.
Perfect. No distractions.
His lips curled into a grin as he made his way over to her and slid onto the stool next to hers. "Hey."
She glanced up. Her dark eyes widened and the half-folded crane fell from her fingertips. "H-Hey."
A chuckle nearly escaped him. She was too cute for her own good. "You holding up alright?" he asked, propping his head up with his arm on the counter.
"Yeah." Her eyebrows inched together. "What about you? You actually drank last night."
"Not much. I got home fine, didn't I?"
She gave a small smile before hopping down from her stool. He couldn't help but frown a little as she left his side and began making her way around the bar. "Can I get you anything?" she called.
Anything? Yeah. A kiss.
"Maybe just a rum and coke today," he answered instead.
Imani nodded, snatching a glass and a bottle of rum. He watched in slight awe as she expertly poured his drink. He'd never actually seen her handling the alcohol before. "I didn't think you'd come in since your drinking buddies skipped out," she commented.
And miss out on seeing the girl of his dreams? Yeah right.
Axel shrugged. "What about you? Why aren't you out celebrating Namine's birthday?"
"We're kinda short-staffed today." She set his drink before him and reached for her empty water glass. "I told Nam I'd treat her to lunch sometime soon. She understood."
Lunch with Imani, huh? That sounded nice…
He followed her with his eyes as she returned to her stool next to him. "So when are we hanging out again?" he wanted to know.
She blinked owlishly. "We just hung out last night."
"We happened to both be in the same place at the same time and ended up hanging out last night," he corrected. "I mean when are we hanging out?"
"U-Uh…"
"What? You don't like hanging out with me?"
Her cheeks flared as she shook her head fervently. "No! No, that's not it…"
Aw, she was adorable. "I really like it when we hang out," he said, his gaze softening and his fingers itching to reach out and brush her arm or her knee…
Suddenly, the kitchen door burst open. Zack strode in, his face contorted in a scowl. "I don't," he growled.
Uh-oh. Papa Bear was in the house.
Axel grinned, not at all deterred by the hard stare Zack was sending his way. "Hey, boss. How's the wedding coming along?"
"Fine." The dark-haired bartender clenched his fist. "Do you have to sit there? There are plenty of other seats around."
"Why not? She was alone when I came in. What kind of a gentleman leaves a pretty girl by herself?"
He liked that shade of red taking over her face. Papa Bear's scowl was pretty entertaining, too.
Zack sighed, eyeing the drink in front of Axel with slight disdain. "If you're gonna hang out, make yourself useful and fold some cranes, would you?"
"Yessir." He saluted, plucking a paper square and wiggling it in front of him for Zack to see.
Zack stomped off, muttering under his breath about wiping down tables. When he moved out of earshot, Imani murmured quietly, "Sorry about him."
"Nah, I get it. He's protective of his favorite cousin." He started folding his square. "Don't you usually do this in the back?"
"Since it's just me and Zack for most of today, I figured it'd be better if I stayed out here."
Good. He didn't like it when she hid.
His smile fell. "Crap, I forget what comes next," he muttered, staring at the triangle he'd managed to fold.
Imani looked up from her crane. "Oh, you go like this." She reached over, her thin cool fingers brushing his as she slipped them between the folds and turned the triangle into a square. "Look familiar?"
His eyes darted up from her hands to her face. She was close enough for him to press his lips against her forehead or bury his face into her hair. Remnants of the night before flashed in his mind. "Yeah," he said, his heart picking up its pace. "Very familiar."
"Hey!"
Damn. He'd forgotten about Papa Bear for a second.
He looked over his shoulder. Zack was waving his towel at them. "That's too close," he yelled. "Put some space between you two."
Axel fought down the smug smirk threatening to rip through his face as he leaned away slowly, his hands held up in defense.
Zack's glare was as sharp as knives. "I don't want any funny business from you, got it?"
He was half-tempted to insist that, on the contrary, his business was quite serious as far as Imani was concerned, but instead he settled for another salute. "Got it."
When he turned around again, he found Imani struggling to stifle a smile. Yeah, he was pretty serious about her. He'd have to really start spelling it out for her, though.
Aerith sighed, cradling the phone between her ear and her shoulder. "No, honey, you can't kick him out. He isn't doing anything wrong."
"He's sitting too close to Imani," Zack complained.
"He knows better than to try doing anything with her in front of you."
"So he'd try doing things when I'm not around? That's very comforting."
"Honey…"
Zack sighed. She could visualize him rubbing his face in exasperation or hanging his head. "I know. He's not that bad. He's your star pupil and he's going to save lives and he's the prodigy of the school."
"And he's helping you get Cloud and Tifa together," she added.
"Yeah. Dammit. And he's helping fold cranes now."
She smiled at the bitter resignation in his voice, her eyes roaming around the living room at the manila folders and papers scattered everywhere. "Just give him a chance, honey," she said, leaning over to grab one of the folders.
"Say that again."
Her hand froze. "Just give him a chance?" she tried.
"No. The other part."
What other part? Unless he meant… "Honey?"
"Yeah." His voice grew soft. "I like when you call me that. I could get used to that."
Warmth filled her heart and tinged her cheeks. "And you will," she assured him. "Honey."
He chuckled. "Do you want a nickname?"
"Do you have one in mind?"
"I uh…I have a few but I don't know if you'd like any of them."
He'd been thinking about nicknames for her? Curiosity piqued, she straightened in her seat and left the folders on her lap. "Try me."
"Okay." He cleared his throat. "Sugar?"
She mulled on the name with a hum. "Mmm…" She tilted her head to the side to try letting the name sit more comfortably in her mind, but she couldn't help frowning. "I don't know about that one."
"What about Sweetie?"
Her face twisted into a frown. No, that didn't sound right, either.
"Babe?"
Oh, that was a little embarrassing…She could feel her face flush.
"Aer-Bear?"
A surprised gasp escaped her followed by a laugh. "Aer-Bear?" she repeated.
"I know, that one's stupid," he mumbled. "I was trying to be original."
"No no, I…I kind of like that one."
"Really? You're not just saying that, are you?"
The more she repeated the nickname in her head, the more it grew on her. "It's got a nice ring to it. It's adorable."
"Well, you're adorable."
Her heart melted. She could hardly keep the huge grin from spreading on her face. Somehow he could still make her feel like a teenage girl talking with her crush.
"You sure you like it?" he asked, the uncertainty coloring his voice.
"Yes, honey," she said. "I'm sure."
"Okay, then, Aer-Bear."
"AquaAquaAquaAquaAqua!"
Her head snapped up from the magazine she'd been reading just as Ven zoomed to her side and leapt onto the couch. He nearly threw the laptop onto her in his excitement. "Look!" he cried, jabbing a finger at the screen. "It's Cloud!"
Sure enough, there was a spiky-haired blond in the screen sitting next to Terra. She smiled. "Hey, you. Long time no see. What're you doing with Terra?"
"Had a delivery here and ran into him," Cloud said with a half-grin. They looked like they were sitting in Terra's office. Terra had his white lab coat and glasses on.
She glanced at her watch. "You make deliveries this late?" she asked.
He shrugged with one shoulder. "Cid."
Ah yes. That explained everything.
"You two work too hard," she sighed.
They both scoffed. "You're one to talk," Terra retorted with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes at him. "So anyway, how's everyone doing, Cloud?"
"Same. Preparing for the wedding."
"How's Teef?"
"Same."
"Will you please just get with her already?" Ven blurted. "Stop taking so long."
With a sigh, Aqua swatted his shoulder lightly with her magazine. "Ven!"
Unfazed, Ven prodded her arm with his finger. "You're thinking it too. You're totally thinking it too!"
She saw Terra smirk and glance at Cloud, who chose to ignore Ven's demand. He was probably used to being nagged about that already. "What's new with you?" the blond asked.
"Nothing much," she replied with her own shrug. "Just counting down the days until we get to Hollow Bastion."
Ven sighed long and loud, his head lolling to one shoulder. "It's taking so dang long. Make November come faster, Terra."
"Why me?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Call on the power of your Tardis."
"First, I'm not Doctor Who. Second, do you even know what a Tardis does?"
He deflated even more. "No…"
Aqua watched him with a quiet sigh. He'd been acting like this for a while now, but it still kind of broke her heart to see him this dejected. There wasn't much that they could do, though. Time wouldn't speed up, no matter how desperately they wanted it to.
"It's less that two months away, Ven," Cloud said with a small smile. "You can do it."
"Yeah. We're all counting down the days until you guys get here, too, you know," Terra added. His dark eyes looked to her. "We all have to do our best until then, right?"
She nodded, a soft smile on her face. "Right."
Ven hummed thoughtfully, his posture slowly straightening and a smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah," he said, a new determination lighting his eyes. "We'll all do our best. Cloud, can we spar when I get there?"
"Sure."
"Yes!" He punched the air. "That means you have to spar, too, Terra."
"I told you. I haven't—"
"Ah-ah! No excuses! Cloud, you have to get him to come along when we spar. And bring Zack, too! We can do two-on-two—me and Terra versus you and Zack. It'll be epic!"
Cloud chuckled. "I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're a kid."
Ven huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not a kid! I'm twenty! I can drive!"
They shared laughs and fired quips back and forth. Aqua looked on, a smile tugging at her lips. Despite being so far from each other and not seeing each other in a while, the three of them still connected as if they'd never been apart. She imagined the same would've happened with Zack and Roxas.
Peace settled into her heart and she breathed deeply. Never mind that they were worlds apart. All was right.
Too soon did she catch Terra glancing at his watch. "You okay on time?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Sorry. I've got a meeting coming up."
"Aw, okay." Ven sighed again, but his smile remained. "You better train hard before I get there, Terra. We gotta take Cloud down!"
"Yeah yeah. Sorry, Aqua."
She blinked. "For what?"
Terra shrugged, reaching up to touch the cord peeking from his shirt and coiling around his neck. His habit whenever he felt sheepish. "We barely got to talk to you," he muttered apologetically.
She shook her head and offered a smile. "Don't worry about it. We'll catch up another time. It was great seeing you, Cloud."
Cloud nodded. "You too."
They signed off and Ven shut the laptop. "Sorry, Aqua," he murmured, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed.
"For what?" she asked again.
"For hogging Cloud and Terra."
"You weren't hogging them. You were just excited."
"Yeah, but…"
Aqua watched him frown and trace his fingers along the side of her laptop. Terra and Ven, her two boys whom she loved with all her heart. She just couldn't imagine life without them.
"Hey." She nudged his arm. "Wanna go train?"
Immediately his face lit up. "With you? Really?"
She nodded. "It's a nice day out."
He leapt to his feet, racing around the apartment to set the laptop down and gather his things. "Loser buys the sea salt ice cream!" he shouted.
"Then you'd better not forget your wallet!" she called back.
"Have you told her yet?"
The question caught him off guard. Terra tore his eyes from the computer screen and arched an eyebrow at Cloud. "Told her what?"
Cloud simply stared back, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms over his chest. You know what.
He sighed. Was it that obvious? He hardly spoke a word to her just now. "Well have you?" he chose to fire back rather than admit what they both knew.
"This isn't about me."
"But you're in the same boat…kind of."
"Being able to see her and talk to her whenever I want doesn't make it any easier."
"I know."
"So you haven't, then?"
Another sigh left him. He removed his glasses, setting them on the desk as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "How could I? There's no point right now. She's too far away."
Cloud didn't respond right away, choosing to stare at the corner of Terra's desk. "Any chance she'd move back here for you?"
"Hardly. Her job's great and Ven's there."
"Would you move there for her?"
If he had to be honest, he'd been thinking about it a lot lately. He wasn't sure if he could pull it off, though. "Maybe."
"Aerith would put in a good word for you there."
"Yeah." He arched an eyebrow at him again. "Since when have you been so concerned about sharing feelings?" he asked slowly.
There was a twinkle in his blue eyes as he answered with a shrug. "Dunno. I guess all the matchmaking going on has rubbed off on me."
He laughed. "No kidding. No one's safe anymore."
Author's Afterthought: Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading! I'll try to upload the next chapter soon!
