"Hey Roxas," Demyx said, peeking his head through Roxas's door, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Roxas replied hesitantly. He wasn't sure that he could manage talking to someone as carefree as Demyx right now. Roxas had spent his entire morning and afternoon thinking about what the events of last night had meant. This had distracted him all the way through his mission, and he hadn't gone to the clock tower simply because he was afraid to face Axel. He feared that his friend would not acknowledge what happened last night or, worse still, acknowledge it and regret it, causing him to avoid Roxas like he had the last time they'd kissed.

Although he had fallen asleep with the highest of hopes, now that he was awake and no longer influenced by the magic of the night, he kept thinking about how much alcohol it had taken for Axel to even speak to him. If Axel could only talk to Roxas, or smile at him, or kiss him when he was drunk, what did that say about Roxas? Was he only interesting and appealing to a drunk version of Axel? He realized these thoughts were making him feel substantially worse about the whole situation, and then he remembered that Demyx was still in the room.

"Are you okay man? You seem a bit distracted," Demyx observed.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry," he said, trying to redirect his attention.

"I just wanted to apologize for falling asleep on you last night. I hope I didn't ruin your first time out…. I know I can get pretty obnoxious when I'm drunk," and now his smile appeared again, "I think I had one too many shots last night, if you know what I mean!" Generally, when Demyx asked if Roxas "knew what he meant," Roxas had no clue, but he no longer bothered to ask.

"It's no problem," Roxas replied, "I still had a fun time. Thank you for bringing me." He realized these phrases came out a little flat, but he couldn't muster the proper level of enthusiasm.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Demyx asked.

Roxas wished he had the guts to say no, but he didn't want to be rude, so instead he said "Sure" with as much alacrity as he could fake, which wasn't much.

"Did you – uh- go somewhere with Axel last night?"

Roxas could feel himself blushing. He looked down at his lap. How was he going to explain this? He certainly couldn't tell Demyx everything that had happened. Could he tell him anything?

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me! I know Axel can get people into some pretty crazy situations when he wants to."

Roxas couldn't help but acknowledge the validity of this statement. "Well," he began, "he took me to the house of his Somebody." This seemed like a very safe explanation without requiring the whole story. Roxas was proud of himself for thinking of it.

Demyx looked surprised. "How did he find the house of his Somebody? I've been trying to open a portal to my Somebody's world since I came into existence, but I can never get the it right. Xemnas is very good at monitoring us." He stopped speaking, clearly lost in thought.

They sat in silence until Demyx broke away from his reverie, "Sorry, just thinking... what did you two do once you got there?"

"We weren't there for very long because his Somebody came home," Roxas evaded.

"Ohhh interesting. So Axel didn't involve you in any mischief?"

Roxas realized Demyx still had no clue what type of mischief Axel had put him up to. He didn't want to clarify, so he just shrugged again.

"You suck at telling stories man," Demyx sighed. "So you're saying you guys didn't steal anything or… I don't know..." He trailed off, and when Roxas didn't respond, he replied in a disappointed tone, " You just went to the house and then left? That's so boring. Axel usually has more tricks up his sleeve."

Roxas felt compelled to divulge more after this jab, worried that Demyx might see through him anyway. "Well," he could feel himself blushing again. "That was mostly all…"

Roxas must have looked visibly uncomfortable because Demyx looked concerned, which was very rare for him. "Is there something you want to talk about? I know I have some Axel stories that I would rather keep secret. But sometimes it helps to get things off your chest," he suggested. Roxas sensed that Demyx's offer was genuine, and it took him by surprise.

Maybe Demyx would be a good person to talk to. He could actually be a pretty decent guy when he wasn't complaining or talking forever or slacking off on missions. Although he was still embarrassed to talk about this with anyone, Roxas thought it might be worth the risk. Maybe Demyx could help him figure out what to do.

"Axel and I kissed."

Demyx smiled at him. "Wow, I thought he told me he was done fooling around with Organization members, but I guess that was before you came along, eh?"

Oh God. Was that a joke? Roxas was often bad at discerning humor, and right now he needed to know if what Demyx had just said was serious or not.

Demyx apparently sensed Roxas's confusion because he explained, "I shouldn't have said it like that. He doesn't just go around seducing all the Organization members within reach, okay? It's just , well… do you want me to tell you one of my secrets?"

Roxas didn't, given how the conversation was going so far, but Demyx didn't seem to care whether or not Roxas responded.

"Axel and I kind of had a thing way back, well before you got here. We hadn't known each other for long…. He was really drunk and I was really drunk. That's how it was whenever we'd get together. And I'd never kissed a guy before, but that man is just so persuasive," he emphasized the last word in a way that concerned Roxas. Demyx kept talking, but Roxas had stopped paying attention.

A lot of thoughts came to him at once – if Axel just went around kissing random people why had he said that a kiss changes a relationship forever? He and Demyx must be a lot closer than Roxas thought. He also wondered why Axel had said that a boy usually kisses a girl. That didn't seem at all true from Axel's experiences – at least the ones Roxas knew about. How many of Axel's experiences was Roxas still not aware of?

He had thought Axel was his friend. He believed their relationship was special, that Axel treated him differently than everyone else, but he now he worried that he was just another fling.

Apparently Demyx had stopped talking, because when Roxas finally got out of his thoughts and into the present, he found a concerned Demyx looking at him intently.

He put his hand on Roxas's shoulder. "Listen Roxas. It was a long time ago. Did I mention that every time we kissed we were drunk? It wasn't a relationship as much as a way to keep sane," he explained. "We had both just become Nobodies, and Xemnas obviously wasn't giving us any support. Life was just missions and memories of the past. I know you didn't remember anything about your Somebody when you got here -still don't I guess- but me and Axel knew everything about ours, and it was hard to deal with, because we realized that we weren't them anymore… We were just…alone. Everyone I loved as a Somebody…" He paused looking at the floor, "I knew I couldn't' see them anymore. They wouldn't even recognize me... It's really hard, you know?"

Roxas felt the weight of this confession. He'd never seriously thought about how hard things must be for other Nobodies. Maybe he should be grateful for not having memories of his own past. Yet his lack of solid memories were also the reason he had trouble relating to other people and knowing how to behave and act. He wondered which was worse.

"Sorry Roxas," Demyx apologized. "I didn't mean to bog you down with all that depressing information. Xemnas has forbidden us to talk about our pasts, but we obviously all do it anyway. It's impossible not to, you know?" He got lost in thought for just another moment and then drew his attention back to Roxas. "Listen, man. Axel has been different these past couple of months. He's a lot less rebellious, way more polite, and… I don't know. He's just a better person." Demyx gave Roxas a sly look. "I never realized it until now, but everything about him kind of changed when you got here." His eyes were sparkling suggestively, " So, maybe that means something's in your favor, eh?"

"Yeah, maybe," Roxas replied, still trying to take in everything Demyx had said.

Luckily Demyx looked at his watch at just the right moment and turned towards the door. "Oh man, it's time for me to go! We've been talking for ages. I've got a mission to do that I've been procrastinating on since last week! Take care man!" He waved as he left the room. "We'll talk later."

Roxas walked back to his room, pondering what Demyx had suggested. Maybe Axel did like him after all.