"How much longer, Dem?" Really, he hadn't expected his return to campus to go quite like this. Yes, having Demyx meet him in the senior hall to help him unpack had been nice—and they'd shared several kisses whenever Axel and Roxas hadn't been looking—but when the blond junior invited him back to his own dorm, he hadn't thought he'd be told to turn around and close his eyes and wait because Demyx had a surprise for him. He didn't want a surprise—surprises meant he couldn't be prepared and he hadn't had to deal with uncertainty since he first realized he liked the mulletted musician and didn't know what to do about it. But he trusted Demyx so he tried to be patient.

"Just a sec."

Zexion didn't reply to that. He didn't believe that it would really be only another second—it had already been more than that, anyway. And what sort of surprise would Demyx even have? They'd opened presents on Christmas. There shouldn't be anything else. Really, why did he have to wait? He had thought this trip would be to make up for all the kissing and intimacy he'd missed out on during the break. And there he was, standing with his eyes closed, back to the dorm while Demyx did who knew what. He hadn't even gotten to see the room—Demyx had made him close his eyes while they were still out in the hall.

This is ridiculous.

"Okay." There was excitement mixed with nervousness in Demyx's voice. "You can look."

Finally. Prepared to act impressed with whatever surprise this was, Zexion opened his eyes, turned around, and froze.

Holy shit.

What? How was…? Why…?

"Dem…you're…"

The blond smiled shyly and crossed his ankles, twisting his hips and shoulders as he looked at the other teen. "I'm what?"

"I…" Wow, he was speechless. That didn't happen very often. Really, though, he'd been entirely unprepared for this. His Demyx, the sweet, shy, talented musician, was wearing the exact opposite of anything Zexion had ever thought he would see on the blond. It was all black, for one thing, and while it looked good on him he thought the younger student would have chosen some color for himself.

Wait, no, that was ridiculous. Demyx would never have chosen anything like this for himself, black or otherwise. Not without someone encouraging him.

Axel.

This had to be his redheaded roommate's doing. No wonder he'd been so friendly as they were leaving to come to the junior hall. That asshole.

"Zex?" Demyx wasn't smiling anymore, had drawn his shoulders up and lowered his head, arms holding each other over his belly. "Is…something wrong?" he asked quietly, hardly daring to look at the senior and suddenly ashamed of himself.

The look in his eyes put pain in Zexion's heart. The younger boy was looking at him with something dangerously close to fear and that was unacceptable. There should never, ever, be a reason for Demyx to be afraid of him. Ever.

"No, I'm just," Zexion paused to gather his thoughts then smiled slightly. "I'm surprised, is all."

"Oh." The almost-fear faded and was replaced by a sad sort of embarrassment. "You just didn't look very happy, so…"

Still with the smile he'd managed in place, Zexion crossed the small distance between them and wrapped his arms around the blond, hugging him gently. "I'm happy because I'm with you, Dem."

Hesitantly, Demyx returned the hug and nuzzled into the blue-haired student's neck. "But the outfit? Do you like it?"

"It's…not what I expected," Zexion hedged. Truthfully, he did like it. It was surprising to see and he was in a state of mild shock but that didn't mean he didn't think it looked good on his boyfriend. "It looks good on you, though."

Demyx smiled hopefully. "Really?"

"Really." Good, he'd gotten a smile out of the blond. That was progress. "But I'm curious—what made you decide to get it? It's not your usual style."

A blush appeared on the younger student's face and he shrugged a little. "I thought it'd be a nice way to welcome you back to campus."

The adorable little idiot.

Amused, Zexion kissed his boyfriend's forehead and hugged him a little tighter. "Holding you like this is all I need." The blond hummed happily and snuggled closer for a moment before drawing away slightly.

"So, um, is there anything else you want to do?" he asked shyly, smiling and playful now that he knew he wasn't in trouble. Zexion's expression had been pretty angry when he'd first seen the outfit and at first Demyx had thought he'd done something wrong. He was glad that wasn't the case.

"Mm…yeah." With one hand, Zexion cupped the younger boy's cheek and lifted his face, kissing him softly. A sigh escaped the blond and he relaxed against the other's chest, letting his eyes fall closed as he returned the kiss. It wasn't what he'd had in mind when he'd gotten the outfit but he enjoyed it all the same. He always enjoyed it when Zexion kissed him. The older boy was very good at kissing, after all, and Demyx was never happier than when he was with his blue-haired boyfriend.

Slowly, the broke apart, and there was a light dusting of pink of Demyx's cheeks when he looked up to find deep blue eyes watching him. "Zex…"

"Hm?"

"I…" He hesitated. The words sat on his tongue, heavy and hard. Should he say it? Was now the right time? They hadn't been dating for very long, as Zexion always reminded him, only a few months now. It was probably way too early, but he was tempted. So, so tempted.

No, he wouldn't say it. Instead, he smiled and pressed his forehead to the older boy's. "I'm glad you're back."

Zexion returned the smile. "Me, too." His hands were resting on the blond's lower back, the tips of his fingers just low enough to feel the edge of lace. He wanted to stroke it but resisted because he didn't want to make Demyx uncomfortable, even if the outfit had been the blond's idea. It wasn't really much of an outfit though, when he thought about it. The junior was wearing lingerie, nothing but lacey little black panties with a sheer skirt that hung over only the first few inches of his thighs. A strip of the same sheer material was draped over his chest, likely tied in the back, with a ribbon looped around his neck to hold up it up. All of it was hemmed with lace that contrasted nicely against the junior's skin.

Damn, Demyx looked good. It had shocked Zexion to see it, but there was no denying that he liked the way his boyfriend looked in this sort of…attire.

"Zex, that tickles."

What? Oh, oops, he'd started stroking the skin of Demyx's lower back while he'd been distracted thinking about the fabrics that only concealed the most private parts of the junior's body.

"Sorry," he murmured, pulling out of the hug and making sure to meet the younger student's gaze so that he wouldn't stare at any other part of him.

Demyx smiled crookedly and slid his hands up from where they'd been resting on the blue-haired senior's chest to wrap his arms around Zexion's neck. "It's okay. It wasn't a bad tickle."

"No?" Teasingly, the senior let the fingertips of one hand lightly trail over Demyx's lower back, grinning when the touch made Demyx arch slightly.

"Nn…."

Their eyes met again; Zexion used his free hand to lift the junior's chin, his touch painfully close to that sensitive spot on the underside of the younger boy's jaw.

"You look great, lark, but I have to ask: where'd you get this outfit, and why did you pick it?"

Demyx blushed, eyes darting down to what part of Zexion's hand he could see. At any moment, the senior might stretch out a finger and stroke the soft skin and he'd melt. For now, though, he forced himself to focus.

"Um…I ordered it online…" Which really was the only option because there was nowhere nearby that Demyx could have gone to buy it in person, unless he somehow found a way to get to the city, but he didn't have a vehicle so that wasn't really an option.

"Okay. What made you pick this outfit? We haven't talked about anything like this before." Sex was a topic they'd only breached once, right before Zexion left a couple weeks ago. Other than that, they didn't talk about their likes or dislikes, any kinks they might have. Honestly, Zexion didn't know if he even had any kinks. But Demyx in lace might very well be one.

"Well…after we didn't, before you left, when I went to get my present from your room, I talked to Axel for a little while…"

As he'd first suspected, this was Axel's doing. "And he helped you choose."

"He gave me advice on what you might like, cause he knows you so well."

"Right." Zexion cleared his throat and tried not to look embarrassed. "He wasn't wrong about this."

A sound somewhere between a chuckle and a giggle escaped the blond and he shifted his weight from foot-to-foot. "So, do you wanna do anything?"

"Heh. Yeah. I'd very much like to kiss you."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Demyx asked playfully, leaning forward to press against the other student so that the flimsy top he was wearing caught on Zexion's clothes and shifted against the junior's skin. It tickled, especially on the more sensitive spots, and Demyx was hard-pressed to keep from rubbing against Zexion just to increase the sensation.

"Mm." Gently, Zexion shifted his grip on the other boy's chin and used one finger to stroke the skin under his jaw. He felt Demyx's chest expand suddenly as the blond inhaled, saw his eyes widen and recognized the slight tremor that went through him. "That." And he kissed him, gently, drawing away just slightly every few moments so that Demyx never had the chance to really kiss him back. It was a teasing, playful way to kiss, one that he knew would drive the junior crazy, which was exactly what he meant to do. Only fair after Demyx had dressed like this.

Eventually, Demyx whined and pulled back, pouting at the older boy. "Zexion!"

"What?"

Frowning and with his bottom lip sticking out, the blond pulled out of his boyfriend's embrace and turned away, walking towards his bed. "If you're not going to kiss me for real, then you don't get to touch me at all."

Zexion smirked and followed the blond—he meant to do a great deal more than just kiss him.

X

Cold and tired and more than ready to relax for a few hours after such a long snowball fight, Roxas, Axel, Sora, Riku, Namine, and Kairi trooped towards the sophomore dorm hall. They were all slouching, their feet dragging, and they worked to dust the snow off their clothes by the time they reached the doors. Sora got there first and held the door open for his friends. It was just before dark, and the temperature was dropping rapidly, so it was a relief to get inside to the heated air and protection from the wind that was starting to pick up.

The last to come inside, Riku stopped by Sora and grinned at the brunet. "Nice try, Brat, but you still can't beat me."

Rolling his eyes, Sora let the door swing shut and started after the others. "I call a rematch, just you and me."

"Fine with me."

"Good. Tomorrow after lunch. One-on-one. Then we'll see who beats who."

"You're not gonna win."

It was crowded as they all filed onto the elevator, but they were still cold so they didn't mind having to stand close together. The plan was to go to Sora and Roxas' room, though the brunet would be leaving after only a few minutes to go to Riku's room and watch dance movies with the older student, as he'd promised to do earlier. Good thing, too, seeing as their dorm would barely have managed to hold them all otherwise. But with Sora and Riku there, they could all settle comfortably while Roxas started up the cocoa machine.

Sora was quick to change into comfortable, dry clothes and grab a few essentials before he headed to the door. "Be back in the morning, Rox."

"Have fun." The blond waved as his twin and friend disappeared, the door shutting quietly behind them.

Neither boy said a word as they made the trip to Riku's room. They hadn't had a chance to talk much during the last few hours, and now that it was quiet, they weren't really sure what to say. This was going to be the first time they'd hung out one-on-one since the biting incident and Sora didn't know how he was supposed to act. Yes, Christmas had been fine, and nothing weird had happened since, but there had been other people around so how much did that matter?

"Um, so what movie do you wanna watch first?" he asked once they'd reached the older boy's dorm, and Riku shrugged. Great. Noncommittal body language was exactly what he wanted to see. Ugh. "Let's get them all out and then we'll vote."

"Kay."

As Sora had suggested, they gathered all the dance movies the brunet had gotten his friend for Christmas and set them out on the floor to examine.

"I really like Footloose," the younger commented, trying not to sound like that was the only one he wanted to watch but also wanting to make sure Riku knew he would be okay with watching that one if the silver-haired athlete wanted to, too. But the older student didn't say anything, merely sat there looking at the movie cases with absolutely no expression.

Seriously, were they going to have to revert to the childhood method of Eeny Meeny Miny Moe?

"You know what," Sora began, pushing himself to his feet and heading for the futon, "they're your movies. You pick." He sat, pulling his legs up and tucking them beneath himself to wait. If Riku was going to be uncooperative then Sora wasn't going to waste his time trying to get the other sophomore to go any faster. It would be easier to just sit and relax and wait.

Several minutes passed in silence before Riku finally picked up one of the movies. "Dirty Dancing?"

"That's a good one."

Riku nodded and got up to put the disc in his player then turned around. "Let's move the futon out so we can sit on it to watch."

"Kay." Standing, Sora helped the other boy to pull the futon out from under the loft and centered it in front of the TV and its systems. "Popcorn?" he asked once they'd gotten it set up.

"Yeah. I'll get the blanket."

It wasn't like it was cold in the dorm, but a movie like Dirty Dancing practically required popcorn and a blanket. Which meant they were most likely going to cuddle, just like Kairi had said earlier. But Sora didn't let himself get his hopes up as he took the plastic off one of the bags of popcorn then stuck it in the microwave and punched in the right amount of time. The way things had been going, he didn't want to expect things to go back to normal just to be disappointed. Why should he expect Riku to want to do anything like cuddle or flirt after the way he'd run off? It wouldn't be fair to the other athlete and it would be stupid and selfish of him to assume.

When the microwave beeped, he waited a few moments for the popcorn to fall silent then carefully removed the bag. He pinched just a corner of it and shook gently to make sure none of the kernels were stuck to the inside of the bag. Carefully, he pulled at the opposite corners until the top of the bag came open, then switched corners and did the same thing the other way so that it was open all the way.

"Do you have a bowl?"

"Under the sink."

Bag in one hand, Sora retrieved the bowl and poured the buttery snack into it, stealing a few pieces before he threw the bag in the trash bin and dropped onto the futon. The movie menu was playing on Riku's TV, waiting for them to select Play or Scene Selection or Bonus Features. A folded up blanket sat beside the brunet and Riku was busy adjusting the TV's volume. Sora ate another couple of pieces of popcorn while his friend found the right remote and joined him on the futon.

"Ready?" Riku asked, looking over at Sora, and the younger boy nodded.

"Ready."

The Play option blinked when Riku pushed the right button on the remote, and the menu disappeared to be replaced by the opening scene of the movie. Riku set the remote down and picked up the blanket instead, shaking it open and then laying it down over his own lap.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sora watched the older boy and silently wished that Riku would look at him and ask why he was so far away, why hadn't he already moved closer to share the blanket, and tell him to quit hogging the popcorn. But Riku's attention was completely focused on the TV, and as much as Sora had wanted to watch these movies, he didn't like the way it was going so far.

"Come on," Riku suddenly spoke up nearly fifteen minutes into the movie, and Sora looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

The older didn't say anything else or look at the blue-eyed sophomore, merely moved the blanket and held his arm up, gesturing for Sora to come closer. Obediently, the brunet crawled over the short distance of empty futon between them and settled next to the teal-eyed boy. Riku's arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled until he was leaning against the other student, comfortably tucked into his side. The blanket was rearranged to cover both their laps, and the popcorn was balanced on where their thighs pressed together.

Warm and comfortable and considerably happier than he'd been a minute ago, Sora let his entire body relax against Riku's muscular frame and sighed quietly. Perfect.