A/N: Oh my Kira, this is soooo late T_T I haven't updated my stories since the beginning of April. Gah! No excuses, really. End-of-year, so i was caught up with not studying and talking with my friends. It turns out I'm a social butterfly at heart xD Well, the year is over for me now, so now I've all summer to update my fanfic! So, yay!

My beta Emily-chan made a wall post that said today was Zemyx/Dexion day! D: I forgot! But I guess you can say I updated this at the right time then, huh...? kekekeke

After all that is typed and done, I REALLY hope you enjoy this. Lots of mixed emotions in this chapter...

Fact: Everyone Has a Breaking Point

It was the soft thumps on the carpeted stairs that alerted Zexion that someone was awake. He didn't look up from the bathroom mirror as he finished up in knotting up his black tie. Through the door he had left open, he saw Fuu walk down the main hallway and pass the bathroom. No wait – not pass. The slate-haired teen glanced over beside him where his younger sister stood expectantly at the bathroom's doorframe.

"Do you need something?" he asked quietly, albeit coldly. He tried not to give her much notice, instead suddenly becoming engrossed in making sure his shirt was well smoothed over.

His inquiry got Fuu more animated and she growled, "My money."

"And what, pray tell, do you need with it?" Zexion countered coolly. He almost believed he had nothing else to keep him occupied when he started messing with his hair.

"My business," Fuu declared adamantly.

"You're saying it's not for me to know?" The slate-haired teen chuckled, but it was forced, even though it sounded completely ice-cold. "Oh yes, that really does give one motivation to lend you something."

There was odd sort of silence, then there was a small squeaking as Fuu shuffled her sneakered feet. "For lunch," she murmured. When Zexion looked over at her, her face was twisted in a peculiar expression that was a cross between a scowl and a pout. Her thin, pale arm extended towards him, her palm open and facing the ceiling.

Zexion regarded her carefully. "How do I know that's what you're using it for?" he asked. His eyes glanced at the clock behind his sister and he sighed in exasperation at the time. "We, or rather, I, am going to be late. You have the habit of aimlessly beating others, don't you? Get it from some poor bystander." He walked past her, vaguely wondering if he had gone too far when he was suddenly slammed into the wall. Painting and picture frames rattled at the sudden impact.

Zexion widened his eyes. Fuu's dark eyes glared at him from beneath her light bangs, a contrast that made her all the more menacing. She looked him up and down, as if contemplating what to do. She wavered, her grip lessening.

The decisiveness returned to her eyes and her knuckles collided with Zexion's face. Hard pain exploded on his upper cheek as he was released. Grunting in pain, he brushed his fingers over his already swelling cheek. Fuu stood there a moment, looking down at him, then turned heel and walked out the door. The slam echoed in the house.

Quietly, slowly, Zexion picked himself up. His eyes stung, but the forming tears had more to do with the physical pain than the emotional one – not that he had any. Only slivers of remorse teased his heart, but the slate-haired teen wasn't much fazed by them. Fuu's attitude was to be expected; it always was. Zexion's apathy was also of little surprise.

Give pain, get pain. It was a weird routine the Anderson siblings had. And it seemed like neither was going to end it any time soon.

At least Zexion had the luck of the slug landing on the cheek he always covered with hair. Throughout the school day, no one seemed to notice anything wrong. But closer inspection in the boys' bathroom (when it was devoid of any male humanoids, of course), showed the slate-haired teen a purpling bruise with a sickly-yellow color around the edges. Only barely did his sister's knuckles tear through his skin – the light scab wouldn't leave any scars.

It hurt like a bitch, though.

He and Fuu crossed paths only once during the school day; something that rarely happened at all. As soon as he spotted her form – tucked in between the bodies of two attitude-retarded boys he knew to be named Rai and Seifer – he resumed in ignoring her existence (maybe avoid another beating…?). As he walked past the trio, he felt her eyes on him, but he didn't turn back. There was a slam, and when Zexion turned, he saw Fuu had shoved a freshman boy into a row of lockers. Rai jeered as Seifer smiled in approval.

The freshman's eyes looked up at Fuu in fear. She slammed him again. Zexion knew she wasn't going to really do anything – just spook him a bit, maybe take the money from him that Zexion never gave her.

The irony in this was that Fuu used to be the sweetest person you could know. She used to be so meek.

There was a time when the young Anderson would never leave her older brother's side. There was a time she would draw him little pictures, or make him flowers out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper. There was a time when Fuu was scared of people, and the only one she'd let in was Zexion. Suffice it to say, she had a brother complex. Not a big deal.

For some odd reason, Zexion couldn't really remember if he ever did anything for his sister. As much time as they used to spend together, he recalled doing nothing nice for her. She had just been there. What the slate-haired teen did remember were the teachers who would look at the eight-year-old Fuu clutch her older brother's shirt and say, "She must want his attention. Does he ever spend time with her?"

"Yes, they're always together," their mom would reply with a smile.

Zexion continued walking down the hallway until he settled into the desk of his Economics class. Yeah, there was a time when Fuu had been everything she wasn't now. Now people feared her, talked shit about her behind her back. Now she didn't want anything to do with her brother. Now she made tissue paper flowers for no one.

"Zexion, what's the capital of Aislee?"

"Radiant Garden…why do you ask?"

Fuu looked up at him and smiled. "Just wanted to see if you knew. You know everything. If I need help with anything, can I ask you?"

A ten-year-old Zexion titled his head to the side, slightly perplexed by his little sister's inquiry. "Sure, if you need anything, you can ask me." Smirking slightly, he assured, "I'll know the answer."

"Yeah, you always do." Flipping through her kid-encyclopedia, she then asked, "So who were the people of Radiant Garden colonized by?"

Yeah…that was back when she wouldn't speak in less than two or three syllables. Zexion sometimes wondered what caused the radical change. The doctors wondered. The therapists wondered. Fuu and Zexion's parents wondered for a moment, before creating a world where they raised their children with closed eyes and plugged ears.

The Anderson family moved about almost eight years ago, a few days after the memory Zexion just had. A few years afterward, the two siblings had their mother leave their lives forever. The change had been slow, and at first neither of them had seen it coming. Their mom left, didn't come back, and suddenly he was visiting her every other weekend with Fuu. The visits dwindled as the months wore on. When Fuu started high school two years ago, there even came a time when she cussed her mother out on the phone.

The next day she didn't say anything. She grunted and gestured to communicate. A few days went by when she finally strung some words together, but there weren't a lot. Her speech had been that way ever since. Needless to say, it had been years since the last time she and Zexion saw their mother.

"It's a common symptom with divorces," the therapists would say ever-so-bluntly back when the siblings had joint-sessions. "What you're feeling is normal. And I know things feel rough now – you're angry at your mom for leaving you. You feel alone. But you're not, really you're not."

What a load of-

"Shit!" exclaimed an unnamed classmate as he suddenly fell over a desk. His friends laughed at the idiocy, one helping him up.

Zexion ignored their stupid voices and instead became suddenly engrossed with the objectives written on the board. He couldn't stop thinking about Fuu for some odd reason. And that bothered him a lot. He never – oh what was the word? – cared much about anything but himself. His thoughts becoming clouded with one person didn't mix well with him. So you know what Zexion decided?

Yeah, he was going to stop caring. It wasn't like anyone would notice anyway. People never noticed.

The house. Was. Empty.

And what was even more surprising was that the door was unlocked. Zexion closed the door behind him gently, alert and sensing for a presence. There was no piano playing. No TVs or radios or noise of any sound was being produced. Demyx Watera's house seemed completely uninhabited. But that was a stupid thought – who left their house so carelessly unprotected?

Well, I did come unannounced, Zexion thought, stepping further into the home. His eyes wandered thoughtfully up the stairs. Maybe he's asleep. I wouldn't hold it against him. The teen stepped up to the second floor and quietly made his way over to Demyx's room.

The door was open. Zexion peeked inside. Save for the muddy-brown snake lazily coiled in his tank, no other lifeforms inhabited the room.

The slate-haired teen sighed. Yeah, maybe he'd come back another time… But something stopped him just as he turned heel:

There was something like a splash outside the house. Zexion heard it from out the window that was next to Demyx's bed. He moved over to the window, lightly brushing back the curtain. Beyond and below in the back yard, Zexion spotted a pool, on the edge of which stood none other than the blonde. The slate-haired teen bustled down the stairs.

He made it to the kitchen, where at the end there was a sliding-glass door with a clear view of the pool. But…it was utterly lacking a certain blonde. Upon closer inspection, Zexion figured out why.

There was a porch swing facing ninety degrees away from him. On one side sat a wet Demyx. Beside him was a red-haired girl. Zexion instantly recognized her as one of the people Demyx had introduced him to during lunch. Ah, but a name, a name…! Oh, there it was: Axle Embers. But…what was she doing here? Zexion tried not to make his presence known. He considered just walking away and dropping by another time as earlier planned…but something made him stay.

Axle's face was solemn. Her eyes looked off into the distance. She said something Zexion couldn't hear. Demyx tilted his head and he must've said something because Axle then shook her head. There was a moment when neither of them moved, then suddenly, Demyx's arms were around the red-haired girl. Shock and something bigger but unnamable shot through Zexion's body. Said unnamable emotion took over his sense of thought, and he scowled, opening the sliding door without a second thought. Something wanted to kill Demyx, to tear Axle away from his arms-!

Two pairs of eyes suddenly looked up at him in surprise, and all maddening thoughts evaporated from Zexion's mind – replaced with an abashed blush on his face. Crap, what was he supposed to do? Say something, think coherently…!

"Oh, Zexion, right?" Axle asked somewhat cheekily, pulling away from Demyx's embrace.

The swimmer tensed, widening his oceanic eyes. "Oh! Zexy! What're you doing here?" he asked awkwardly, turning to face the shorter male.

Any remaining lines of thought Zexion's mind might've possessed were whisked away the moment his eyes fell on the tan expanse of Demyx's exposed skin. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of that sandy skin covered with droplets of water, that blonde hair sticking to his neck, and those pink nipples hardened in the cold…

You know how in cartoons when a computer gets a virus it starts to fizz and smoke with electrical wires flailing everywhere? Well, about the same thing happened to Zexion's sense of reason. His whole mind short-circuited and he then realized how stupid he was and how thick the saliva that had built up in his mouth was.

Said saliva was quickly gulped down as Zexion quickly placed his binder onto a free space on the porch swing. "Here, I left some worksheets inside there for you. I don't care when I get them back, just complete them…" Or something. He locked eyes with Demyx once, just to show he wasn't losing his mind. "Alright, that's there, then… My, erm, sincerest apologies for interrupting you."

"Um, nice seeing you…?" Axle said dubiously after him. Something in Zexion wanted her to jump of a cliff.

What in the name of knowledge was wrong with him?

He shouldn't be so upset. It was just…how close Demyx and Axle had been…it sparked a reaction within the slate-haired teen. I acted…protective. No, that's not the right word. I was…I was… Zexion thought of the image of the two teens again. Mixed emotions ran through his heart and he tried to name all of them; see if there was a better word to classify it all: betrayal, anger, sadness…

Zexion stopped walking a few feet from the door. No. Not any of that.

Jealously.

I was…jealous, the teen thought numbly, almost fearfully. No, I still am. I'm jealous. I… The word echoed in his mind: Jealous. But that can't be true. Jealously is a hormonal reaction youth have all the time. One they display when they sense something could potentially be taken from them: dignity, popularity…objects of affection… And if that something is taken…

Zexion's heart pounded under his skin, it pounded hard. He was scared. There was answer that was within his reach and he could almost touch it if he let out just a hair more…

"Zexy! Where are you going?" Demyx exclaimed, his dripping, half-naked form suddenly behind the shorter male. Tan arms were suddenly around him, encasing his chest and pressing Zexion to the blonde.

Zexion gasped. Whoa, whoa, WHOA. Being hugged should NOT feel this good to him. But somehow time got sucked in then spat back out during the moment that Demyx held him. The slate-haired teen tried to compose himself, feeling intense heat crawl to his cheeks and down his spine.

Nononononononononoooooo….

He had been jealous. Of Axle. Because Demyx embraced her. I want him to hold me like that, Zexion remembered thinking for a fleeting second.

No, I cannot…not with anyone, and especially not him!

"Demyx, let me go, please," Zexion said, his voice thankfully albeit surprisingly sturdy and casual. "I need to get home. Not all of us have as much free time as you."

"Can't you stay a bit?" Demyx asked, nuzzling his nose into the shorter male's hair.

Zexion spine erected. "H-hey, stop that! Why are you so familiar with people?" he exclaimed, pulling away. Glaring behind his shoulder, Zexion threw open the door. "Would it kill you to give people their own space?"

Demyx's persona didn't fail him, and he smiled brightly. "Space? You're in my house," he lilted, spreading his arms wide. His words were laced with laughter. "There is no such thing as personal space here."

Zexion's hold on the knob lessened a bit, and he visibly relaxed. Stupid Demyx and his contagious friendly attitude… The blonde noticed the slate-haired teen's changing mood and said, "But if you really got to go, I want to give you something first!"

"Huh?" The swimmer bounded away up his room, signaling for Zexion to wait there. When he came back down, his hands were behind his back. Then he removed one, handing what he held to the shorter male.

"Here, I got this for you. Maybe it'll get you educated on the world of rock."

Zexion's curious blue eyes traversed over to the thin square-shaped object handed to him. It was a CD case, the cover gray and a soldier-like man with white wings made up the cover. Near the bottom right corner were the words 'Hybrid Theory'.

"What…is this?" Zexion asked, opening the case to find a red disk.

"It's Linkin Park," Demyx explained. "Ah, these guys will fill all the angst you've got and more. You listened to them with me in my car, remember?" He shrugged, a hopeful smile playing upon his pink lips. "You seemed like you were into them, so I got your own copy of the CD for you."

"…A gift…?"

"Sure, you can call it that. Maybe a bit of compensation for helping me out in school?"

Zexion gingerly placed the CD inside one of the pockets of his binder. He licked his lips, realizing then that the corners of them were tugged upward. "I suppose I should thank you, but you called it compensation, so…" He turned towards the opened-ajar door.

Demyx got hyperactive behind him. "H-hey! You know, a little thanks would be nice!"

"Yes, I suppose it would," the shorter concurred, stepping down onto the porch. The breeze outside caught his hair, momentarily brushing it away from his face…

"Whoa Zexy, what happened to your cheek?" Demyx cried in concern, automatically going over to the slate-haired teen.

Zexion froze, having completely forgotten about the ugly bruise his younger sister had given him earlier. He flushed; quickly trying to put his bangs back in place…but a large tan hand interrupted the action. Demyx's blonde brows were furrowed in observation as his fingers gently brushed back the slate bangs. His aqua eyes widened in horror. "Who did this to you?" he asked in a low voice.

Zexion slapped Demyx's hand away. He hated the look on the swimmer's face; hated how…concerned he was. Someone actually being concerned for him…it was new; different from the therapists. And Zexion wasn't sure he liked that too much.

"It's nothing," he murmured, stepping out of touching range. He hung his head, the bangs falling back over his face. "It's none of your business." Damn, how he could he so careless? He never wanted Demyx to see him with this mark. Zexion was still a guy after all, and he didn't want to appear inferior to the blonde.

Demyx's face twisted in utter seriousness. "No, it's not nothing, you idiot. I know bruises like those and you can't get 'em from just falling down the stairs. Who did it?" There was a silence in which Zexion teetered the choice of talking or running. After a few moments, Demyx asked, "Are things okay at home?"

Right on target. Weird, clogged sensations shot up Zexion's throat. "Shouldn't you be getting back to your guest?" he snapped, but as soon as he said it, Axle came walking out of the house. Her bottle-green eyes looked from him to Demyx, silently wondering what was going on.

"Um, I'm gonna be going now, 'kay Dem? See you later." She walked past Zexion, then looked over her shoulder and offered a smile. "Don't be a stranger next time, Zexion. I'll talk to you sometime."

"See ya, Ax," Demyx said softly after her. When she was gone, the swimmer raised a blond brow. "Hmm, well would you look at that? No guest to attend to now."

"Please Demyx Watera, just leave it."

The blonde's voice rang out in the porch, only barely restrained. "Look, Zexy, you may not think much about our time together, but I like to consider you a friend!" He softened, having that wide-eyed, teary look again. "You're my friend. And when I see my friends hurt, I want to know what's happening to them. I wanna help, y'know? Please…please tell me."

How could Demyx help? He couldn't. Demyx was a completely irrelevant factor in this equation and his being involved could just tip the whole thing off-course. No, the swimmer wasn't going to be this. But how could he explain the mark? In the back of his mind, he was being told not to lie to Demyx.

"Just…a fight among siblings. Is that so wrong?" The blonde blinked: once, twice, trying to absorb that information, Zexion could see it. The slate-haired teen raised a brow in defiance. Looking up at the sky, he said absently, "Hmm, should be taking my leave, don't you think? I have dinner to prepare…"

"Zexy!" Demyx exclaimed just as the shorter male turned around. "Wait, please. Okay…okay, if none of what happened to you is my business… Please, just listen to this. We've known each other for over two months now, and…you're still a stranger. I don't know how much about me you know, but just know this: I'm here for you, man. Anything you need, I'll try to give. Okay?"

Now it was Zexion's turn to blink dumbfoundedly. The way Demyx said it…it was like he was offering all of himself to him. That…wasn't considered 'normal' among friends nowadays, was it? Zexion could tell. He's so caught up in the moment… Why is he doing this for me? I don't need him, so what could he possibly offer me? And…conversely, what could I possibly offer him that he'd promise this for me? Give-and-take, correct? I've nothing to give, and even I did, I wouldn't give it to him.

Which makes this pointless and stupid, Zexion concluded, almost forcibly. "Your little oath is noted," he said quietly, turning away. As he walked down the sidewalk, he wondered if it was too late to go back; too late to tell Demyx everything. He wondered what the blonde would do if he ever found out about his life…

Demyx's voice suddenly rang out when the slate-haired teen was turning the corner, interrupting his thoughts. "Hey, listen to the CD, alright? It won't kill you to learn a little teenage culture!"

Why is he calling out to be in broad daylight? "Get inside before you catch cold!" Zexion shouted, face heating up. "It's the middle of October, you idiot!"

"I thought idiots couldn't catch colds…"

"I am now ignoring you…."

"Haha, aw, Zexy…!"

Zexion permitted himself to smile just a tiny bit. At least the mood had changed between them. He decided he certainly liked a hyper, happy Demyx more than a moody one. But the slate-haired teen's relief didn't last long.

By the time Demyx was out of sight and hearing range, it was quiet enough for Zexion to think again about what happened back at the blonde's house. I don't understand it… Why did I react that way? I don't want to be jealous over him! I don't want to be anything with him. I didn't even want this tedious assignment… But not matter how much he tried to rationalize it to his brain, his body reacted on its own. It didn't make sense. And Zexion detested when something did not make sense.

"Well, I don't think you can help that. Even if you try to set your mind to forget, your body…will always remember."

So, the mind and body would sometimes disagree? But there seemed to be some variable factor, something the teen wasn't considering…

"I really want to do something nice for you." Oh…the look in Demyx's eyes that day…how soft his expression was… Those clear, oceanic eyes…

Zexion's heart did something odd then. It felt like…like all these butterflies had been set loose and were trapped inside it. Then he remembered that description. He used to read them in books all the time. He went down a mental check list of things he had done when near Demyx: blushing, sensitive to his touch, secretly anticipating when the blonde would embrace him again… Zexion stopped short when he remembered what diagnosis those symptoms led to.

… … …

Zexion froze on the concrete sidewalk, and almost dropped his binder.

Oh.

Shit.

But…no! HELL no! His heart went on overload and the teen couldn't control it. It jumped excitedly in his chest, like it had been waiting for him to realize this.

"N-no! Stop it! I'm not…I can't…!" Zexion tried desperately, clutching his heart over his chest. "Not with him, no, not with anyone! This isn't me, this is stupid…!" But no matter how much he denied it, the thought had already crossed his mind and it was running around and around his mind; teasing him:

He was growing fond of Demyx. Too fond.

He was falling for him. He was falling for the smile and eyes and tan skin…

Alright, Zexion was going to permit himself to do this once more, just for those of you who didn't get the gravity of the situation the first time:

Oh.

Shit.

Ending A/N: Finally! A realization of feelings! Kekekeke

In case it wasn't obvious, I did have to rush a bit with the ending. And then when I was done, I realized that it'd be better if Demyx actually noticed the lil beatin' Fuu had given Zexion, so I had to rewrite a bit. So really, that's the only part I'm hoping came out alright. Everything else was written near the beginning of May xP

So, it's a been along while, but I've made up for it. T_T Still, I will ask, am I worthy of a review?