Saturdays were so boring.

Correction: Saturdays during the winter were boring. There was seriously nothing to do. Videogames held no appeal, movies sounded boring and he couldn't go outside because it was snowing.

Axel hated snow. It was cold and wet and it got everywhere. There was no way he was leaving his dorm unless he absolutely had to, and since it was Saturday, he didn't have to.

Unfortunately, he was bored to the point of pacing the room like a caged animal. He'd even done his homework, something he usually avoided until Sunday night and only did after Zexion nagged him like a housewife. The dorm was clean, too, another abnormality that only occurred during the colder days that meant Axel wasn't willing to leave the dorm. Zexion would have been proud that he'd put his hermit-like existence to good use.

With a frustrated growl, the redhead snatched up his phone and checked for any new messages. There were none, which didn't surprise the senior in the slightest. The only person who ever texted him was Zexion, and that had proved to be a dead end. The blue-haired student had appeared just long enough to stuff a bag full of clothes then vanished again without a word the night before and hadn't been back since. Axel had tried texting his roommate to ask where he'd gone and what he was doing, but all he'd gotten back was, "busy, tell you later."

It all seemed rather ridiculous.

Other than Zexion, Axel only ever received texts from his parents. Not that he wanted to talk to them. The only things they ever texted about were his grades and how much trouble he was in for whatever it was he did this time. Even halfway around the world, they thought they could somehow exercise discipline over him. It always made him laugh to receive a text telling him he was grounded. Most of the time, he didn't even read the messages they sent him.

There was, of course, one other person he actually wanted a text from, but he hadn't received a message from him.

As if he'd have texted you already, you idiot. It's been less than a day since you gave him your number, and you didn't even do it in person. You passed him a note like always because you were too afraid of being rejected flat out if you actually tried to talk to him. So you sent him a note in Vexen's class and spied on him from the back of the room like the coward you are.

Axel began his pacing again, his phone now forgotten, and his emerald eyes desperately searched the room for something to do to amuse himself. Not for the first time, he rifled through his movie collection but once again found that none of the movies sounded interesting enough to watch. It was the same for his videogames; maybe he needed to go shopping and buy some new ones, but that would require either walking into town or driving to the nearest city, neither of which he had any interest in doing while it snowed. The senior paused for a few moments to watch the hated snow piling up outside then returned to pacing, then watched the snow, then paced.

This back-and-forth had been going on for several minutes when a book on his desk caught his eye. It was Pride and Prejudice, the one Roxas had lent him earlier that month when they'd had detention together. He'd put it there after getting back that night and hadn't touched it since.

I should probably read it. If anything, it'll be something I can talk with him about, and he's going to want it back eventually. If I don't read it, he'll just think I'm an even bigger jerk than he already does.

Being careful not to damage it in any way, shape or form, Axel picked up the book and sat on his bed. His fingers traced over the cover art in mild admiration. Whoever had designed it must have had considerable talent and he liked to think the quality of the story itself was just as good. Roxas' description of what it was about sounded interesting, but the book itself looked a little on the boring side. It was better than the pacing he'd been reduced to, though, so he flipped to the first page and started to read.

Even if he didn't enjoy it, giving the book back to the blond would be an excuse to talk to him.

XXX

"Thank you and have a nice day!" Sora called as the front door of the shop closed behind the departing customers. He was seated behind the front counter as his boss, Miss Yuffie, worked in the back. His feet were propped on the bar connecting the legs of the stool and he rested his elbows on the counter as he sighed in relief. Finally, he had a moment to relax.

In the last three-and-a-half hours, the brunet had cleaned the window displays, swept the floor, polished a set of daggers and helped Yuffie reorganize the wall displays on top of helping the half-dozen or so customers that had wandered in since the shop opened at 9:00 that morning. He still had four hours to go.

An unhappy gurgling sound came from the brunet's stomach, signaling that it was time to eat, and he patted the flat surface of his abdomen soothingly.

"Yuffie, can I go on my lunch break?" he called, spinning on his stool to peer towards the back room. The noises coming from wherever Yuffie had disappeared to stopped and the woman appeared suddenly, wearing a leather smock and thick leather gloves.

"Is it lunch time already?" Her eyes darted towards the clock as Sora nodded. "Go ahead and take your break. I'll help anyone who comes in."

"Cool." Sora hopped off the stool and went to the small room where his coat was hung up. The nametag pinned to his chest was removed and and put it in the same place on the same shelf as he always left it before the brunet grabbed his coat. He shrugged it on as he left the shop, zipping it up and heading off down the street. There was a small café he usually went to during his breaks that was only a couple of blocks away, and he liked to sit out front and enjoy the sunlight while he ate. But today it was snowing and the outdoor seating area had been closed for winter, so he chose a small table by the windows instead so he could watch the snowflakes.

The waitress came and took his order almost as soon as he sat down, and Sora retrieved his cell phone from his pocket to see if anyone had tried texting or calling him while he was working after she walked away. There were two texts waiting to be opened. One was from Roxas, inviting him over to Kairi and Namine's dorm when he finished working; he didn't bother sending a reply back to his twin. The other was from Riku.

Hey, Brat, what are you doing tomorrow?

Rolling his eyes at the nickname, Sora typed out his response and hit send.

Sleeping. What else would I do on a Sunday?

Don't make any plans. Your Sunday belongs to me.

The waitress returned with Sora's food, which he thanked her for, and he took a few bites as he considered that last text. He could go along with it, of course, but that wouldn't be as much fun as arguing a bit.

Uhhh since when do you own my Sundays?

Since you lost that bet.

Naturally, Sora knew exactly what bet Riku was talking about, but he decided to play dumb just to bug his friend.

Bet? What bet?

He ate a little more of his food and watched the snow as he waited for what he knew would probably be an annoyed response from the older boy.

The bet that means you're my slave for 24 hours. Be here at midnight. If you're late, I'll have to punish you~

The squiggly line at the end of the text made the Riku-voice Sora could hear reading the message in his head take on a flirtatious edge and he blushed in spite of himself. Punish him? Why did that sound so…sexual?

Kinky, kinky, Riku. You know I'll accuse you of sexual harassment if you touch me, right?

The rest of his food was consumed and Sora settled back in his chair—his break wasn't even half over yet, so he had plenty of time to relax.

Not if I order you not to, my little slave.

The text made Sora's stomach do a funny little flip. Did Riku mean that? Was he seriously going to "punish" him and force him to keep quiet about it? No, no, he wasn't. He couldn't. It was Riku, after all, and there was no way a guy like Riku was actually interested in a guy like Sora. He was too loud and immature for someone as serious as Riku.

I guess I'll just have to be on my best behavior then, won't I.

Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Sora went to the counter and paid for his meal before making the short walk back to Yuffie's shop. Just as he was hanging up his coat, he felt his phone buzz and retrieved it to see yet another message from Riku.

That's a good boy, Brat. My dorm, midnight ;)

His stomach did another nervous flip. A winky face? Riku had never put faces in his texts before.

I have a bad feeling about this.

But it was only 12:30pm. He had plenty of time to calm down before midnight and convince himself that there was nothing to worry about. Or maybe he'd get more nervous with the passing of each of the next eleven-and-a-half hours.

Unfortunately, it would probably be the latter.

XXX

Zexion looked at the blond snuggled in his arms and smiled fondly. He really was adorable, and Zexion couldn't believe the younger boy had agreed to go out with him, or that he was spending the entire weekend in the junior's dorm. After seeing him every day for weeks and weeks, he finally had a chance to really get to know him.

"Demyx," he said quietly, and the junior looked up at him with those eyes that Zexion had so quickly fallen in love with.

"Yeah?"

"Did you forgive Mister Marluxia for what he did?"

A guilty look stole onto Demyx's face. "Yes…should I not have?"

Zexion kissed the blond's forehead reassuringly. "No, I was just wondering."

"Oh. Okay." He smiled and snuggled close again.

It was quiet for a few minutes.

"Demyx?"

"Hm?"

"How did you get involved with him in the first place? I've been trying to figure it out since homecoming, and I can't." Zexion said this calmly and seriously, though the question of how Marluxia gained such access to the junior had been fraying at his nerves and he was much more anxious to hear the answer than he let on. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," he added, not wanting Demyx to feel pressured.

The blond stretched his legs out on the bed he and Zexion were currently sitting on and rested his head in the older boy's lap. Slender fingers combed through the spikes of his mullet.

"My freshman year, I was really shy and didn't have any friends, so I spent a lot of time in the music practice rooms. One day, I heard Mister Marluxia playing the piano. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard, and he wasn't even playing a song. He was making it up as he went. When I asked him where he learned to play like that, he just smiled and offered to teach me."

Zexion nodded. "And then?"

"I became his star pupil. I've always loved music, and the only reason I got into this school was because of a music scholarship. Mister Marluxia promised to help me practice and to teach me everything I need to know to be a successful musician. I started having private lessons with him, every day after regular classes. I emailed with him over the summers, too. He was my only friend. If he hadn't spent so much time with me, I never would have gained enough confidence to make my own friends."

"So you trusted him."

"With my life. I admit, I had a little bit of a crush on him at first, but I've only seen him as a mentor and friend for a long time," Demyx said, looking up at Zexion with an expression that promised he didn't have feelings for anyone but him. The older boy smiled and kissed the blond softly.

"But things changed?" he asked once he'd pulled away.

Nodding, the blond settled his cheek on Zexion's thigh comfortably. "He'd always been sort of physical and touched my arm or lower back or hand while he was correcting me or telling me I was doing well, even at the beginning. Then he started to hug me, not the hugs I always got after performances, but long hugs that seemed too intimate for a teacher to give a student, and he gave them to me whenever he saw me and before I left, sometimes in the middle of the lesson. Towards the end of last year, it escalated to kisses on my hands or forehead, sometimes my cheek. I kind of felt like he was trying to woo me or something, but I convinced myself that I was just imagining it. I couldn't believe someone like Mister Marluxia would actually be interested in me, you know?"

"I believe it," Zexion interrupted. "I don't like it, but I definitely understand why he was attracted to you."

Demyx blushed. "Really?"

"Really. I had no idea who you were when I saw you at the homecoming dance, and I tried to forget about you, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried."

The senior's fingers ran through the blond hair again as he remembered the day he'd found him, how frantic he'd felt when Demyx hadn't been in the library, the furious energy that had flooded his veins at the sight of the teacher stripping Demyx as the blond cried.

"That day in the hall…I've never been so angry in my entire life. I wanted to beat him to death just for touching you, and I meant it when I said I'd kill him if he didn't leave you alone."

Demyx laughed quietly even though he could tell how serious the older boy was. "You were terrifying. Mister Marluxia didn't stand a chance."

The older boy chuckled. "Thanks. I'm sorry I yelled at you, though. You didn't deserve it."

"Don't apologize." The blond sat up and smiled at the blue-haired senior. "I don't care that you yelled at me—maybe you were right. Maybe I should have fought more."

Zexion shook his head then kissed the younger boy lightly—it occurred to him that he was kissing him a lot for having only introduced himself yesterday, but he didn't care. He liked kissing Demyx. "You shouldn't have had to fight at all. Continue with your story?"

Nodding, Demyx laid down again. "This year, he started kissing me a lot, not on the mouth, but on my hands and face, sometimes my neck or shoulder. It wasn't until I asked him why he was acting the way he was that he really kissed me for the first time. I was so surprised…I didn't know what to do. I mean, what are you supposed to do when your best friend who is also your teacher kisses you?" He shook his head, sighing. "It was just a little kiss, and he smiled at me afterwards, saying I looked so cute when I was surprised. I got scared after that. I tried making up excuses not to have lessons with him so often, but when he told me I needed to keep up with my studies or I'd never succeed, I made myself go."

"He blackmailed you," Zexion said quietly, forcing himself with all his might to remain calm and stay where he was. All he wanted at that moment was to go find that pink-haired bastard of a teacher and make him drink a few of the senior's favorite acidic compounds, but he refrained. Murder wouldn't look good on his resume.

"I guess. I mean, he was teaching me a lot about music. He's really, really talented and I didn't want to mess up my chances, but he got worse. He touched me all the time and was always really close to me. It made me uncomfortable. 'As long as you practice and do as I say, you'll do splendidly.' That's what he said every time I resisted, so I told him that I had too much homework to come for lessons every day. He didn't like it very much, but he agreed to only have lessons twice a week. I tried to ignore it when he would touch me or lean close like he wanted to kiss me, but he started to get irritated and then he started being…sort of mean. He acted like I was taking his help for granted and made me feel bad for resisting him."

"That's ridiculous," Zexion interrupted again. "He has no right to harass you and insist on a physical relationship."

"I know, but…I didn't know what else to do…he made comments about how I had so much potential and I was letting it go to waste because I wasn't practicing enough, how it would all be for nothing if I didn't follow his instructions. I got so worried about ruining my future that I just…gave in. I had lessons every day again, and I let him kiss me without arguing.

"Then it was time for homecoming. I couldn't believe it had only been a month since he'd kissed me—it felt like he'd been doing it for years. At the dance, I tried to hide from him, but he managed to catch me on my own and, well, you know what happened," he finished, focusing on the stitching of Zexion's pant leg as if by doing so he could pretend that everything he'd just described wasn't real.

"What about between the dance and when I found you in the hallway?"

Demyx bit his lip before speaking. "That night at the dance was the first time he really touched me. I couldn't believe he'd done it. I didn't want to believe it. I spent the rest of the weekend locked in my dorm. On Monday, he acted like it hadn't even happened. He was smiling and happy, he complimented me on every little thing I did and he wasn't being intimate at all. I was so confused, I almost started hoping things would go back to the way they were before. But at the end of the lesson, when I was about to leave, he called me back and the way he said my name…I just started crying. I couldn't help it. The way he looked at me was so…so hungry and I was terrified he was going to do it again and I wanted to die I was so ashamed."

He stopped as he remembered that look, and the way the teacher had hugged him and tried to comfort him, promising that it would be all right and that Demyx didn't need to cry because Marluxia was going to take care of him. Eventually the teacher had walked him back to his dorm and left him there. Demyx remembered wishing he'd never gone to this school and wanting to go home but knowing that even if he did, he'd never be able to forget what happened or tell anyone. He'd stopped going to lessons completely after that.

"Demyx, it's all right," he heard Zexion whisper reassuringly. "He isn't going to bother you anymore. You don't have to be scared or ashamed. None of it was your fault."

"I-I know," the blond choked out, "but it feels like I let it happen. I thought about reporting him to Headmaster Xemnas all the time but I've heard such awful stories about him that I was scared to. I didn't think anyone would believe me anyway because Mister Marluxia is sophisticated and elegant and doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would assault a student, you know? I just…felt so trapped and helpless and like there was nothing I could do even after I quit the lessons…it felt like he owned me or something."

Zexion gripped the younger boy's shoulders and made him sit up, looking into his eyes with the most sincere expression he could muster. "That's not true. You did not let that happen, Demyx. Do you hear me? It was not your fault. Mister Marluxia took advantage of you, but it's over and he's not going to do it again. He apologized and you forgave him, and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you like that ever again. Okay?"

The junior stared at him for a moment before lunging forward and hugging him, burying his face in the older student's shoulder as Zexion rubbed his back.

"I'm going to protect you," he whispered. "I promise. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Demyx. Ever."

Demyx smiled even though he knew the older boy couldn't see it, calming down so quickly just from being in the senior's embrace. "I know."

XXX

And this was what he'd been reduced to.

Why had he ever thought it would be a good idea to hang out with Kairi and Namine while they were having their Pampering Day? Oh, right. He thought they'd have focused on themselves and each other enough that he could occupy a corner without being in the way and study. But no. That plan had gone awry within half an hour of his arrival.

Somehow, Roxas had gotten caught up in Pampering Day.

It was his own fault, really. Kairi had noticed him chewing his nails, and the redhead had been "absolutely horrified" that he had such a bad habit. Even though he'd tried to hide his hands and claimed he only did it when he was nervous, the two girls had wrestled with him until they could examine his nails. Then they'd deemed him to be in need of an "emergency mani." Roxas soon learned that "mani" was short for manicure, and as he sat with his hands soaking in some herbal cleansing water something or other while Namine and Kairi chatted over him and brushed through his hair, he'd never felt so emasculated in his life.

At least I managed to text Sora before they forced me into this. Hopefully, they'll forget about me when he gets here.

He tried to use that thought to comfort himself, and really, what was so bad about letting a couple of girls do his nails? As long as they didn't try to paint them or anything…he could handle the herbal water and having his nails filed. It was kind of annoying when they broke and snagged on his clothes. Eh, maybe this wasn't so bad. Who knew, maybe they'd end up doing Sora's nails, too.