AN: Woo, another chapter! D Many thanks again to Ayme for the awesome beta-ing. This chapter is part one of a birthday present to Lime-chan 3 Happy birthday, mah Demmy!
Reviews make me luff you forever, but they're not required X3 If you have something to say, good or bad, go right ahead and let me know.
Years passed for the new family and Demyx grew. He lost his baby fat, acquired a taste for music, and kept the spiky hair. Birthdays were celebrated, vacations were taken, tears were shed, laughs were had, and love grew between parents and son. Demyx was everything they could have asked for: he was outgoing, fun-loving, creative, and was perfectly happy with who he was. Despite his good qualities, he had trouble making friends. Everyone seemed a bit turned off by his exuberance and slightly odd likes. For instance, while most boys donned a helmet and pads to try out for football, Demyx pulled on a Speedo and joined the diving team. Instead of wanting a car for his sixteenth birthday, he asked for a sitar. Rather than going to parties and social events, the cheerful boy would sit in his room and compose songs on his unique instrument. Once in a while he had an acquaintance over, but usually it was for group projects that had been assigned in school. His fashion statements were in a league of their own as well, usually consisting of bright yet subtle clothes often sporting one foreign musician or another. His hair – always in what he fondly called a mullhawk – was also something that tended to make people avoid him, either for fear of getting spiked by it or because of its oddness.
Needless to say, the only people who enjoyed his presence – or tolerated depending on who you asked – were Demyx's neighbors, Xaldin and Luxord. The two men lived on either side of the musician and his family. Luxord, who had moved from England just a few days after Demyx had been brought home from the orphanage, was a charismatic and friendly individual who had baby-sat for Jim Dear and Darling when they needed a break from the labors of parenthood. Demyx had always been amused as a small child by the shiny silver earrings that decorated the Brit's ears and was always entertained by his strong accent. Xaldin, who had lived on the other side of Demyx's family for about ten years, was a tall, muscular man who always seemed to have a frown on his face. For some reason though he got along pretty well with the happy-go-lucky Luxord, and between the two of them they had spent more time with Demyx than any of his "friends" from school.
Hanging out with two men almost twice his age hadn't had much of an effect on Demyx's childish outlook on the world, his constant curiosity and will to explore and learn, and the awe he experienced over simple things. The two neighbors were constantly amazed at how childlike the young man managed to stay through the years of his life; not even college had changed him. Demyx was presently in his second year at Berklee, a prestigious college of music located not too far from his home, and despite the competition, stress, and work that comes with higher education Luxord and Xaldin couldn't see a difference in their young friend. In fact, going to college had made Demyx all the more hyper and eager to show them a new song he had learned, tell them some random historical fact he had discovered that day, or parade about with an extremely good grade.
Speaking of which, the twenty-year-old young man was currently on his way to show Luxord the grade he had received on a particularly hard paper he had to write that the man had helped him with. He had gotten an A on it and couldn't contain his excitement. Sitar case in one hand and paper in the other, Demyx bounded down the sidewalk that led from the public bus stop to his house but continued right on past it and skidded to a halt outside of Luxord's home. The blond-haired man was sitting on the stairs that led up to his house, looking at something on the ground. Demyx guessed he was playing solitaire – a favorite pastime of the Brit's. He'd pull his deck of cards seemingly from thin air and entertain himself anytime, anyplace.
"Luxord!" Demyx called as he set his sitar case down and bolted forward again, waving his paper in the air. "Luxord! Guess what? Remember that paper you helped me with like...a month ago? I finally got it back, and I got an A! I never get A's in this class! Look, look, look, look, look!" By the time he had finished speaking Demyx was jumping up and down in front of the seated man with the paper held right in front of his face. Luxord had to pull back slightly to focus on it but smiled all the same as he spotted the large red A next to Demyx's name.
"Well done, Demyx," he said, shifting his gaze from the paper up to his grinning neighbor. "I had a feeling that paper was A-worthy once we were done with it."
"Thank you soooooo much," the young musician said, totally disregarding the card game on the ground as he stepped forward and practically tackled Luxord back onto the stairs in a bear hug. The Brit had to reach out to steady himself on the railings that went up either side of the stair case but chuckled at Demyx's enthusiasm.
"It was my pleasure," he said after regaining his balance. He let go of one of the railings with one hand and returned Demyx's hug partly before gently pushing on his shoulder to let him know hug time was over. He normally didn't mind, but his cards had just been kicked every which way, and he didn't want them to blow all over his small yard and possibly into the street. "Did you show Xaldin yet?" he asked as he managed to free himself from Demyx's grateful embrace.
"No, not yet," the musician said as he took the hint and stepped back. "I wanted to show you first 'cause you helped me on it. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was messing up your game." Bending down, Demyx helped Luxord collect the cards he had accidentally pushed aside with his feet, chattering on as he did so. "I was gonna show you guys after I showed my mom, but I called her on the way home and she said she hasn't been feeling good all day and was gonna take a nap, so I figured I could show you guys first. Ah, I can't stop smiling! This is so awesome. I totally needed that A, too. That was a big paper. I probably would have to take the class over if I didn't get that A… Man, you totally saved my butt, Luxord. I owe ya!"
Luxord, now standing as he took the cards that Demyx had picked up, shook his head. "You don't owe me a thing, Demyx. Seeing that smile on your face is payment enough." He winked at the musician and tucked the cards into their container as Demyx snickered softly.
"Luxy, that's not fair. I can like…I dunno…do some yard work for ya or shovel your part of the sidewalk in the winter or something. A smile isn't a way to pay people." The Brit however shook his head as he slipped his deck of cards into one of his pockets.
"I insist that I require nothing more than that. You have quite the grin there, my friend. You'd be surprised what some people would do for a smile." Patting Demyx on the shoulder, Luxord gently led the musician back down the sidewalk to where the sitar case lay. Bending down, Luxord picked it up by the handle and headed back down the sidewalk past Demyx's house and turned to walk up to Xaldin's house with Demyx by his side. The two spotted the tall man sleeping in a chair that he kept out on his porch. Xaldin loved the outdoors and would spend hours sitting in that chair watching the wind blow the leaves on the trees across the street or listening to the rain hitting the roof. Luxord and Demyx knew better than to disturb their friend while he was in one of these "trances" as they liked to call them. But sleeping? That was a different matter.
"Xaldin! Hey, Xaldin, wake up!" Demyx called as he and Luxord reached the foot of the small set of stairs that led up to the porch. While Luxord put the sitar case down Demyx hopped up the stairs and bounced over to the side of Xaldin's chair where the dark-haired man was still sleeping. "Xaaaaaaaaldiiiiiiiin," the youngest of the three said in a sing-song voice. "It's time to wake uuuuuup. I got somethin' I wanna show ya."
The constant noise slowly reached Xaldin's brain, and he opened one eye which he focused first on Demyx then on the smirking Brit who had finally ascended the stairs. He opened his other eye then narrowed both of them at the older of the two men on his porch. Luxord shrugged as if it wasn't his fault that Demyx had woken him up. "You'd better hope it's something worth my time," the sleepy man grumbled as he slowly turned his gaze back to Demyx who was practically shaking with excitement. Indigo eyes blinked rapidly as something white was suddenly shoved in his face, and he lifted a hand to take the paper from Demyx to hold it at a distance where he could actually see it. Xaldin needed glasses for reading, and, since he didn't have them on him, he had to hold the paper at arm's length to even process that there were words on the page. "What the hell is this?" he muttered, squinting at the words before him.
"It's my paper. The one that Luxord helped me with a few weeks ago. Remember? On musical influence in Europe during the Renaissance?" Xaldin's tired brain tried to process that, and after a few moments he recalled what Demyx was talking about.
"Oh, yes, …that one. Hm." He finally saw the grade on the paper. "Congratulations," he muttered, passing the paper back to Demyx who snatched it away and danced over to an extra chair that Luxord usually occupied before plopping down into it and looking at the paper again as if still in disbelief that he had received such a good grade.
"Thanks, Xaldin," he said, the grin on his face evident in his voice. "Oh man, you guys have NO idea how happy I am right now." Xaldin rolled his eyes at that, and Luxord chuckled again as he leaned against the frame of the porch. They said nothing though, letting Demyx have his moment. The young man wiggled in the seat as he read the professor's comments on the last page and was about to start reading them aloud when his phone rang. "Oh, geez, that scared me," he said with a nervous little laugh, having had jumped a few inches out of the chair at the blasting jingle. He flipped the phone open after looking to see who it was, smiling broadly as he spoke.
"Hey, Dad! How are ya? That's good, me too. Hey, guess what I got on my-oh." Instantly the happy look on Demyx's face fell, and he listened to the mumbled voice of his father on the other line. Xaldin and Luxord looked at one another: Xaldin raised a brow and Luxord just shrugged. Neither had any idea what was going on. "Okay, Dad," Demyx said after a few minutes of silence. "Yeah, I'm just at Xaldin's house with him and Luxord. I'll get home and see if she's doing better, and I'll see ya in a few minutes. Love ya." He snapped his phone closed and tucked it into his pocket while standing. "Sorry, you guys. Mom hasn't been feelin' well all week, and she's kinda sick right now, so I gotta go."
"Tell her to stay in bed and sleep," Luxord said, ever concerned for his dear friends. "She doesn't need to be doing housework if she's ill. That woman is stubborn, I tell you."
"I'll let her know it's Luxy's orders," the musician said with a little smile as he folded his paper and tucked that into his pocket along with his phone. "I'll see you guys later!" With that he hopped over the railing of the porch – much to Xaldin's dismay – landed safely on the ground, picked up his sitar case, and ran across the yard to his house. Xaldin, shaking his head at the antics of his neighbor, looked at Luxord who was still leaning on the railing Demyx had just hopped over.
"Did she seem sick you to when you were over the other day?" Luxord shook his head. "Not in the slightest. If you ask me, she seemed…I don't know...glowing almost. Of course that was two weeks ago. A lot can happen in a-" The Brit stopped, blinked, and looked at Xaldin who was smirking slightly. "You don't think she's…? No, that's impossible. She and Jim have been trying even before they adopted Demyx."
"It's quite possible," the dark-haired man said as he settled back down in his chair. He closed his eyes and rested his hands on his stomach, fully prepared to ignore the remaining intruder and return to his nap. "I suppose we'll find out as soon as Demyx knows."