A/N: Sorry that this is like a half-month late! I just…really needed some mental health days. A lot of drama has been brewin' back at home but I am persevering. –determined face- In any case, let the story go on, considering you all prolly want me to shut up ;p

Enjoy.

Opinion: Being Together Makes People Friends

The bus was on Boone Street when Zexion promptly jolted up from his seat and held on to the one in front of him. He made sure his backpack was secure between the seat and his back, his expression expectant and annoyed.

The speed of the bus slowed down some, but it didn't help much as it drove swiftly over a large pothole. Everyone inside effectively was jumped up from their seats and slammed back down on whatever body part they had the misfortune of landing on. Zexion himself found his ribs smarting afterward and his brain felt like it had been rattled around too much inside his skull.

"Pothole," Fuu, Zexion's younger sister, warned belatedly five seats in front of him.

Zexion sighed – this was not the best way to begin a Monday.

Oh, wait – that's right. It was Monday – the dreaded day. A week had passed since the teen sealed his fate by signing the tutoring forms. There was just one odd thing about the whole affair:

Zexion hadn't bothered in telling Demyx anything.

But really, though, how could he? It wasn't something to be lightly conversed about – not that Zexion conversed often, which made his task all the more difficult to approach.

On the other hand, Demyx insisted in spending most of first period trying to talk to him. And always was he laughing at something, or sometimes nothing at all. Even when the blonde was merely listening to the things Zexion said, he'd smile so brightly. And then the slate-haired teen would find himself stimulated by Demyx's actions – but only for a moment, before his mind snapped back to its nonchalant state.

Still, other times the swimmer was annoying – interrupting Zexion's train of thought when he was trying to complete an assignment. Though he supposed he couldn't completely blame Demyx – it was after all in an athlete's nature to have so much energy and have a short attention span.

This was yet another reason, and perhaps the primary one, for Zexion to be so perplexed – Demyx chose to talk to him. He, Zexion the sociopath! No one else in school was ever so bored to do that – well, Lexaeus was once again the exception.

Looking around the classroom during first period that day, Zexion examined the other students. There was Maxi Valentine – who was very pretty with dark eyes and white skin and was the best artist in the school. There was also Rikku, who had been an excellent cheerleader in her sophomore year and whose mother was an actress. Xisla Phan was one of the smartest people in the school without having a stick up her ass…

Zexion raised a brow. Everyone in class had more a possibility of conversing with Demyx Watera than him. The slate-haired teen was easily the less ranked of the teenagers…

"Hey, good morning!" exclaimed that familiar voice.

…and yet. Zexion looked up, meeting bright eyes and a sincere smile.

"How are you today, Zexy?" the blonde asked happily, turning his chair around and straddling it.

The teen sighed. "Once again, your hearing abilities fail you," he said, taking out a piece of paper from his binder. "I told you Friday and the day before that to not call me 'Zexy'. It's common courtesy to listen to what others have to say to you."

"I did listen to you, but I ignored it!" Demyx laughed it off, crossing his arms over Zexion's desk.

"Then it's not really listening, but hearing, yes?" Zexion returned, beginning to read that day's warm-up on the overhead projector.

"Must you always be so moody?" the swimmer inquired with a sigh. "Isn't there ever a day where you're ever… I don't know, happy?"

"I've experienced euphoria before, yes," Zexion said nonchalantly, starting to write on his paper. "I just happen to never experience it in front of you."

"And there goes my self-esteem," Demyx exaggerated, sagging his body onto the desk. He then sat up and dug into his backpack for his own piece of paper – at least giving the appearance he was doing something.

Does he ever do his work? The slate-haired teen thought with a raised brow. But then that's when he remembered once again about what he should be discussing with the blonde. Zexion found his grip on his pencil somewhat tighter.

Maybe it had been a mistake after all. Maybe the teen had had a temporary moment of intense insanity. That had to be it, yes!

But it's not like I can get out of this now, he thought. And really, what is there to fear but fear itself? The prospect of Demyx laughing in his face? No, that didn't seem too likely – the blonde seemed to like Zexion well enough to not do that. Maybe it was the idea of spending the next few months together with him – stuck to him?

Yeah, that was most likely it.

Demyx chose that moment to look up from his imaginary hard work, eyes meeting Zexion's. He blinked, looking a little surprised. "What?" he asked, a smile already tugging on his lips.

Zexion furrowed his brows, examining cool, oceanic eyes for awhile, almost contemplating. He straightened himself up in his seat, looking down and scribbling on his paper once more. "There's…something you should know."

Demyx was immediately into the conversation. "Ooh, what's this? Zexy has a secret?" he whispered, as if he didn't want the world to know what Zexion was going to say. And honestly, the teen wouldn't have it any other way.

He ignored Demyx leaning into him and he said as quietly as possible that it was a murmur, "Erm…do you per chance remember signing up for peer tutoring?"

"Hmm? Oh, that," the swimmer said, deflating as if the news bummed him out. Which it should. "My coach made me sign up. He said I couldn't stay on the swim team if I couldn't keep my grades up. Thus, the tutoring – which sucks toads."

Zexion quickly got that slightly disturbing mental picture out of his mind, his said, "Well, my counselor was informing me about it. Apparently I…was selected to be tutor for the…activity." Argh, he was going in circles with this. He just had to hurry up and get it out in the open. No wait; scratch that – not the open.

In front of him, Demyx was staring at him patiently, a first for him. And for once, he wasn't smiling. But his expression wasn't that of someone expecting certain doom – almost like someone expecting a miracle. His eyes were a little wider and kept gazing at Zexion inquiringly; his hands gripped the chair tightly. Strange behavior for the blonde and Zexion wondered what it could mean.

He let out a deep breath. He was never so insecure in his life – actually, he had never been insecure period. Demyx may be a jock, but he wasn't a bomb. It wasn't like the swimmer could actually harm him – and even if he did, what did it matter? Demyx wasn't anything to him. Demyx was just…there.

"It appears…that we have…" Oh, stop prolonging the moment, his mind ordered. You could cut the suspense with a knife. "…been paired up." Zexion stopped writing, but still looked down at his paper.

Oh, well…it seemed the world was still intact, he hadn't burst into flames and Demyx wasn't protesting (well, yet). Maybe the situation hadn't been as delicate as Zexion made it seem.

Still, that left Demyx. The slate-haired teen chanced looking up. The blonde was smiling excitedly, but…he wasn't saying anything. Zexion frowned. Why wasn't Demyx saying anything? Demyx always had something to say, but now he looked so pleased with himself. Silently, at that! Not that Zexion was complaining about the quiet, but it was Demyx for God's sake!

Oh, well crap. It seems the world was unthreading at the seams after all.

"You're quiet," Zexion pointed out with a raised brow.

The blonde continued to stare with sealed lips, nodding. In his throat, he grunted a, "Mm-hm."

"…Why the hell aren't you speaking?" the teen demanded, looking at the swimmer like he might explode at any moment. Well, he had to be prepared, right?

Demyx put on a contemplating expression, probably wondering how he could answer in only meaningless noises.

"Talk," Zexion ordered, snapping his fingers in front of the blonde's face. "It's starting to concern me that you're not speaking."

"Oh, so you like me to talk?" Demyx asked, a renewed look of happiness on his face.

Zexion frowned. "I don't recall ever mentioning that. I merely noted how uncharacteristic it was of you not to be blabbing away." Now that the ice had been cracked, the teen looked at the other tentatively. "Did you actually listen to what I had to say this time? About the two of us working together for the peer tutoring?"

"Oh, yes, I heard you," Demyx said, putting his elbow on the desk and cupping his cheek. "I just didn't want to ruin anything by talking - it, er, seems I do that a lot."

"'Ruin anything'?" Zexion repeated, confused. "There was nothing to ruin."

"I figured you didn't want me to say anything." Demyx shrugged. "We're going to be working together for the next few months now. I didn't want you to get annoyed by me already – I want you to like me."

You want me to like you? Zexion thought incredulously. What did his feelings towards the blonde have to do with anything? But he had to admit, despite the slightly confusing thought process behind it, it was a compassionate thought. Still, the teen was as apathetic as ever – the sentence only caused the littlest of stirs inside him.

"So you are accepting of our partnership?" he asked tentatively.

Demyx brightened up once more, sitting up and smiling. "'Accepting'? I'm totally stoked! This is awesome – now we can hang out together more often!" he exclaimed, causing the teacher to give him a warning glance. Lowering his voice some, he assured, "Don't worry – the two of us are going to be friends in no time!"

'Friends'? My, did the blonde use terms that Zexion wasn't too familiar with. "What does a relationship between us mean anything towards your academic success?" he inquired, tucking his completed warm-up away in his binder.

"What do you mean? You don't want a friend?" Demyx asked in disbelief. "You can't be that antisocial! Everyone wants someone to be around - that's why God made Eve for Adam!"

Yeah, okay, let's bring up the Story of Creation when it doesn't matter, why not? The slate-haired teen took an inaudible deep breath.

"C'mon, lemme be your friend," Demyx said, a sincere expression on his face.

Egad. A friend? Zexion never wanted a friend – never especially needed one. Plus, a friend was like faith: you could only have it if you believed in it. But Zexion didn't believe in faith – so what hope did he have to achieve a friend?

The teen remained silent for some time. But he finally recovered, saying, "We start today. I have the papers containing all the points we must meet in this erudition."

"Starting today?" Demyx looked up in thought. "There's no specific place we're supposed to do this, right? Like, this is on our free time?"

"Yes, this is for our leisure."

"Sweet!" the blonde exclaimed – he was practically jumping in his seat from excitement. "So, would you-!"

"Alright, class let's go over the warm-up I'm sure you've all been working diligently on," the teacher said, giving the interrupted swimmer a pointed look.

"Yes, yes. Of course, Miss," he assured, getting his chair and going back to his own seat. The blonde leaned into Zexion on the way and whispered, "Tell ya later."

.:.;.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

So Demyx took it well. What's more, he seemed rather blissful at the announcement.

Wonder why… Zexion thought during fourth period. What could there possibly be to gain from the teen other than his tutelage? Practically nothing yet Demyx took the situation to be good news. Was this really such a good idea…? Dubious feelings were bubbling up inside him more as time passed.

The lunch bell rang and Zexion got up from his seat to follow his classmates towards the cafeteria. While waiting in line, the teen wondered what he should do about the tutoring: Did it really matter what subject they started on? Miss Lockhart had shown Zexion Demyx's report card to him and it seemed Calculus was the weakest point.

I suppose we could start on that. So then, where would they go? Definitely not Zexion's house – he automatically made the mental note for Demyx never to step foot within his domain. The public library might also have to be ruled out – with the blonde's attention span, who knew how long he'd last there. He could just hear that exasperating loud voice echo in the otherwise quiet building. The thought was enough to make the slate-haired teen twitch.

"Zexy! Hey, Zexion!"

Sigh, there was never a beat missed. Keep walking, Zexion, he told himself, his pace increasing slightly. Just keep walking and pretend you hear nothing. It is just a voice – a real, annoying and ominous voice that happens to know your name…

But obviously his reasoning wasn't as powerful as he made himself believe. The owner of the voice sought him out and it got louder and louder until…a hand rested firmly onto Zexion's shoulder, making him jump.

"Hey, Zexy, don't you hear me callin' you?"

"I apologize if my ears can't single out your voice amongst the blare of everyone else's in the cafeteria," Zexion retorted under his breath. Luckily, Demyx didn't seem to hear – or care – instead moving in front of him.

"I came to see if you wanted to sit with me at my table. I didn't get to finish talking to you in first – you just sorta disappeared when the bell rang."

Oh yeah, Zexion remembered hat. When he ran like the frickin' dickens – out of character as it may have been, he couldn't stand to be in the blonde's company for long. His mental condition could only take so much…

"You want me to join you at your table?" the teen repeated. Well, gee, why did that sound like the stupidest idea to ever be voiced?

Demyx rolled his eyes, not catching the hint of disbelief. "Nah, man, I'm just goosin' ya," he teased. Tugging on Zexion's uniform shirt, he offered again, "C'mon, come sit with me. I'll introduce you to my cousin and her friends – they're a nice bunch, I swear."

I think we may have different definitions of 'nice', Zexion thought bitterly but he had no more to say on the subject when the blonde whisked him away in the opposite direction. He half-jogged to keep up with Demyx's long strides but the pair soon paused in front of a table.

"Alright, guys, I got him!" the blonde exclaimed proudly to the group at the table. "Okay, then intros are in order: Guys this is Zexion Anderson. Zexion, these are Sora, Naminé, Axle, Olette, and my cousin Roxanne." He pointed to each person respectively. Demyx took a seat next to a red-haired girl, the one named Axle.

"Sit, they're not gonna bite," the swimmer promised, patting the empty seat next to him. Tentatively, Zexion complied, making sure not to sit too close to Demyx.

A girl with bright green eyes – Olette, Demyx said? - smiled friendly at the slate-haired teen. "Ah, so you're the famous Zexion Anderson, hmm?"

Zexion blinked then looked over at Demyx as for support. "'Famous'? What have you told them about me?"

The group laughed, apparently amused at what he said.

"Aw, he's cute – I love him already," Olette gushed gaily, putting her hands together in a clapping gesture.

"Hey, don't tease the poor guy," Demyx said, looking at Zexion. Flashing his white teeth, he said, "I don't think he receives declarations of affection often – look at him, he's blushing!"

Between Olette's comment and Demyx's smile and eyes, the teen did indeed feel flushed. It was really about the first time he ever got so embarrassed to a point he blushed – or got embarrassed at all. And quite frankly, he didn't enjoy the feeling. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, trying to focus his attention on his food.

Why on Earth was he sitting here? This wasn't normal at all – Zexion wasn't used to being around so many people that were, for lack of better word, aware of his existence. He just really wanted to go back to the corner table where Lexaeus probably was. Would Lexaeus even notice he had gone?

There was just no end to the things that went wrong in Zexion's life – especially when he was with Demyx. Speaking of whom, he was giving the slate-haired teen quite a lot of glances. Zexion turned to meet those captivating eyes and was surprised to see Demyx visibly jump, redden, then smile awkwardly. Zexion blinked, not knowing exactly what this behavior meant.

"S-so, um – Zexion, was it?" The teen looked away from the swimmer and stared at a small blonde girl who he originally thought was a boy. Her hair was cut above her shoulders and her rather baggy uniform shirt didn't leave much to believe there was a female body under it. Her cheeks were stained pink and her eyes were a deep ocean blue.

She looks nothing like Demyx, Zexion thought, remembering the girl was the swimmer's cousin, Roxanne.

"Yes, that's my name."

"So what are you and Demyx doing exactly?" she asked. Her tone was dubious and her actions rather paranoid. Zexion wondered what it was that was spurring her to act like this – unless this was a normal attribute to her?

"I must help him with his studies," he replied indifferently. "He showed some rather concerning weak points in his academics that needs to be taken care of."

"So you're his tutor, then?" piped up a small, quiet voice that belonged to the petite blonde girl, Naminé.

"It's a title I must obligate to live with," Zexion murmured, but nodded to answer her question.

The red-haired girl on the other side of Demyx, Axle, smirked. "Ha, and you made fun of my grades," she said triumphantly. "It seems you've been slipping as well."

"Shut up, Ax, those are two totally different scenarios," Demyx defended. "Besides, Zexion here is super smart. Oh, he helped the teachers during summer school – he was like a staff aid. I saw him there, isn't it cool?"

"Really? That's great," Olette complimented, smiling at Zexion, but then she shot Demyx a knowing look. "But don't get too reliant, Demyx. Zexion shouldn't hesitate to drop you if you get lazy."

"Which he will," Axle murmured, but loud enough for her to be heard.

The blonde rolled his eyes, gesturing to the girls. "Y'see what I must live with? When you're not lowering my self-esteem, they are."

"It's a tough job, but someone has to do it," Axle declared, exchanging smirks with Olette. Zexion almost felt like smiling, but quickly suppressed the urge by continuing to eat.

The rest of the lunch period passed uneventfully – not counting the numerous times Zexion caught Demyx staring at him. Which was becoming increasingly obnoxious. Really now – there were other things to do in this cafeteria besides give Zexion these weird gazes… Like Demyx was undressing him with his eyes…

The teen blinked. Oh in the name of All That is Knowledge, please don't confirm that last thought. The swimmer…couldn't possibly be looking at him in that kind of way. No. No way. Why would Demyx want to undress him? …No, wait – don't ponder it. There's just waaaaaaaaay too many things wrong with that statement. Don't think about it, don't think about it…

Oh crap, he thought about it.

Now Zexion was getting paranoid. Mentally, he kept telling Demyx to look the other way. Go on, look somewhere else. But the blonde never complied. Not that Zexion expected it to work, but whatever. Just focus on lunch. Oh, wait that's right – he was already done! Nothing to do but sit here idly as Demyx continued to stare.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Slowly and cautiously he turned his head to look into the swimmer's eyes. "Do you…have something against me?"

The question was obviously not expected, if Demyx's blank stare indicated anything. "Have something against you? What makes you think that?"

"You keep staring at me."

The blonde's cheeks flushed. "Oh, I…I am? I mean – y-yeah, I guess I am." He laughed awkwardly. "Heh, s-sorry about that. It's just…" He looked at Zexion again.

Usually, the teen was able to read any expression on a person's face. But for the first time as he looked into another's eyes and examined their countenance, he found the feeling within unfathomable. It was frustrating not to know what the other was thinking – what the hell was going on? Zexion furrowed his brows slightly in concentration but found it was still a lost cause.

"Hey, are you two having a staring contest or something?" That would be Olette speaking.

"Yes, and I'm totally winning," Demyx said, his usual smile on his face. Zexion suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

The bell rang, announcing the end of lunch and students reluctantly got up from their seats and returned to the confines of their classrooms. But just as Demyx himself was standing, Zexion interjected the action by asking, "Wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?"

The swimmer's face lit up. "Ah, you remembered. Pen and paper please," he asked, holding out his hand. Zexion didn't know what the writing utensil and paper were for but dug one out from his binder nonetheless. "Okay, then." He began writing something down in surprisingly legit handwriting. "Here ya go." He slid the paper back to the silent slate-haired teen and gazed at him expectantly.

Zexion examined the paper, reading its contents: 10886 Richmond Ave. #909 The purple house with a white van out front

He looked at the blonde curiously.

"My house," Demyx explained with a grin. "We'll study there tonight, 'kay?" Zexion didn't even have time to widen his eyes incredulously before the swimmer was up and leaving.

"I'll see you there!" he called, giving the slate-haired teen a big wave good-bye.

Good-bye indeed. Good-bye to Zexion's last piece of sanity.

Is he going to get it through his miniscule mind, he thought, watching as the cafeteria emptied out, that this project does not make us friends?

He didn't even consider it; he knew the answer: When Hell freezes over, maybe.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

Xelruna: Talking was never my forte. Even on the Internet, I have to force myself to respond to someone. I'm just insecure that way. But Zexion, he's antisocial and doesn't really give a fudge what others think of him. So it's pretty fun to type his character sometimes, even though in my mind I'm like, Noooo, don't do that - give Demyx-chan a huggle!!!! T.T

Alas. XD