Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts II is copyright Square Enix, as are Demyx and Xigbar and Axel and Roxas and ya know those people. I cannot own them, but maybe one day I will join them, eh? Eh? XD

ALSO : the title is unceremoniously stolen from Depeche Mode, so I apologize, but it was too good not to use and come on, how could I not?

Authors Notes: WHEEEEEEE! OMG I THOUGHT I DIED. No, wait, I almost did. Or something. Damn you white blood cells! Damn you seasonal depression! XX

Anyways, I am back with another chapter. Apologies for not producing it sooner, Axel was being a bitch and Demyx was playing with Requiem, and, oh yeah, I got a job. We were all busy, obviously, and Vexen didn't want to write, and Zexion said that if I made him write he wouldn't buy me any more yaoi manga, and then Lexeaus wanted to write and I was going to dictate, and Xigbar challenged me to a paintball match, and damn I love me my paintball, so of course I couldn't turn him down, and the only one who gave me any peace was Xaldin, but then he started btiching about 'never being included' and stuff so I just got tired and went to sleep and when I woke up it was OCTOBER and I was all OMG and yeah…

Coffee + Zoshi Hyperness. And a new chapter. And that rant you just read.

Background Music: My Chemical Romance "The Black Parade"

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Title: Music for the Masses

Author: Zoshi the Confused
Rating: PG-13 to M (eventually)
Category: Kingdom Hearts II

Genre: Adventure/Angst

Contains: (or will contain) Shonen-Ai/Yaoi, Violence, Adult Situations, and Swearing

Sentences or phrases done in Italics thoughts

Select words done in italics emphasis

6

Axel was intelligent. Axel was witty. He was sarcastic and quick and he knew exactly how to act in any situation. Axel was everything he wanted to be.

Axel was, ultimately, his idol.

And it was that fact that made Demyx follow him around like a well trained dog, attempting to pull the other man into conversation.

On good days, he and Axel would discuss the idiocies of the Organization, from Xemnas's obsession to Vexen's constant demands of respect from the younger members. On really good days the two of them would pull pranks and cause trouble to everyone, excluding the Superior, Saix, and Larxene, of course.

On bad days, however, Demyx was bound to end up with a multitude of cuts and bruises, and a burn or two where his water shield didn't hold up. Playing with fire was dangerous, indeed.

That didn't matter to the blonde. None of it mattered. Axel was just so damn cool. And nothing he did could ever cause Demyx to think otherwise.

"Psst, Axel, c'mere." Demyx called out from a dark corner of the hallway.

Axel, on his way to the kitchen to torch some grub, or anything else that he could find, paused, frowning. Turning to the blonde, he faked a grin. "Yes, Demyx?"

"Come on, come on…" Demyx motioned for Axel to come closer.

With an exasperated sigh, wondering why he didn't just torch the blonde and leave, Axel walked over to where Demyx was hiding in the shadows.

As soon as he got close enough, Demyx reached out and pulled him into a portal he had opened in the convenient darkness of the corner.

"Demyx, what the hell are you doing?" Axel growled as their surroundings twisted and danced with all the colors of nothingness. Seconds later they were standing in the front room of Demyx's room, one of the three rooms each Nobody was allotted.

"Why are we in your room?" Axel frowned, crossing his arms. Demyx eyed him for a moment, wondering whether maybe today wasn't a good day to be bothering him. Oh well, he shrugged.

"Look, look, this is so awesome." Demyx said, walking over to the low glass coffee table that stood in front of a very faded sea green couch.

"You still have it?" Axel nearly screamed, his mind boggled by the sight of Demyx's fish – Requiem, was it? – swimming happily around in a ball of water on the coffee table. He'd seen, secretly, when Saix had entered Demyx's rooms, and when he'd exited, water ball and fish in hand. Why was it here? Or had Demyx done the unthinkable, and got another one after his first was confiscated?

"Yeah, funky isn't it? When Saix brought him in, I thought we were both goners, but then Xemnas said," Demyx dropped his tone to mimic the Superior's, "'Let him keep it. That will be punishment enough.' "

Demyx frowned, looking puzzled, and glanced at Axel.

"Whaddya think he meant by that?" He asked. Axel looked at the blonde in disbelief, then shook his head.

"I don't know…" Axel kept shaking his head, and took a step backwards. "I don't know. All I know is that its one thing when I get in trouble because of something I do, but I'm not about to get my ass beat because of you. I told you-"

"Axxeeellll… "Demyx whined, "But I told you I didn't get in trouble for it. Now come over here, I wanna show you something."

Axel frowned, not really believing the blonde. Sighing in exasperation, Demyx walked over, dragged the red-head to the couch, and sat him down.

"Now watch." Demyx grinned, sitting down cross-legged in front of the table. Axel watched sullenly, not sure what exactly he was supposed to look for.

Demyx held out his hand, and water spun into another water ball. He set that on the table, a few inches from the one that Requiem was swimming in. The fish, noticing what had happened, began to dance excitedly.

"And…" Axel asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow, and shifted on the couch.

"Shhh…" Demyx was focused entirely on the fish. He waved a finger over Requiem's water ball and over to the empty one. "Requiem, jump!"

There was a moment where the fish kept still, fins flared out, unmoving. Demyx repeated the motion, and Requiem's head seemed to follow his finger. Another moment of nothing, and Axel was ready to get up and leave. Suddenly, the little fish turned, swam furiously down to the bottom of the ball, and proceed to torpedo itself up and out into the open air. Arcing, his fins flared, Requiem dove into the empty water ball, twisting to keep from falling too quickly in the water.

"Good boy!" Demyx exclaimed, pulling out some fish food out of his pocket and dropping a few pellets into the water, where Requiem greedily gobbled them up.

"See, wasn't that awesome?" Demyx grinned, looking over at Axel. The red-head was resting his elbow on the armrest, a finger to his temple, a very, very patient look on his face. He stared at Demyx for a moment, a long moment, then stood up.

"Right. I'm leaving." He said, striding towards the door.

"What? Axel, wait! Axeelll…" Demyx called after him. "But, Requiem… and… and"

Axel sighed, wondering why he was bothering, wondering why he was still there, wondering why he hadn't torched the blonde before he'd been dragged to watch a pet show. He turned back to Demyx, an expression of extreme boredom on his face.

"Demyx. It was a jumping fish." Axel pronounced each word slowly and sharply. "A. Jumping. Fish. Not that interesting."

Something happened. Axel hated when it happened. These moments were the worst, really. He'd say something, and wham! Suddenly it seemed as if all the lights had gone out in the world that was Demyx. He hated these moments, not because it was obvious that he'd said something that injured the blonde's feelings – Ha! Feelings! No, he hated these moments because, try as he might, he had no idea, no idea, what it was exactly that he did. And of all the things that Axel hated, of all the many, many things, not understanding was definitely near the top of his list.

"Of course. I was stupid." Demyx spat, his words sharp. "He turned back to Requiem, petting the water ball as the fish swam around, agitated, as if he could feel his owner's mood. "I don't know why I thought you would understand."

"Right." Axel snorted, turning around and heading out the door.

Demyx glared at the water ball, not really seeing it, and Requiem quivered, fins clamping closed, and floated down to the bottom as if he feared being impaled by that gaze.

Axel was intelligent, he was witty and sarcastic and always knew what to do in any situation. He was everything Demyx wanted to be.

But sometimes – just sometimes – he really hated that bastard.

Endnotes: I bought a notebook specially to write new chapters of MFTM in. And I bought one that's smaller than regular notebooks. Why? So that I feel like I'm writing more, even though I'm not. XD I'm such a loser.