Disclaimer: I, orgymoogle, do not own Kingdom Hearts (none of em'!) or any of the characters or creatures in it. Nor do I own the plots, storylines, or any of its other geniusness. I am merely an obsessed fangirl writing a fanfiction.

A/N: Lookies, I haz finally updated! Aren't you proud of me? =D

Okay, sorry, once again, that this took so long. I know its been like...months?, but it just doesn't seem like that long. Sorry! Plz forgive and accept this chapter as payment for my slacking!

Oh, btw, I know that in the last chapter Wakka told Riku to be at the shop at like...9:00 AM or something, but I changed it so that he told him to be there at about...well, whenever it says later in the chapter. lol

So sorry about the confusions, cuz I think I changed some other things, too, and if you have any questions just ask me! Oh, and I know it says it's summer in the chapter, but it's not actually technically summer yet. Its just getting really hot, and school is almost let out, so...yeah. :)

P.S. Guess what! I finally finished Inkdeath! :D I'm so proud of myself...xD I didn't really like the ending, though...but, it gave me a great way to start a fanfic set after it! :D If you're an Inkheart fan, you can look forward to a new, chaptered, Inkheart fanfiction coming up soon! Watch out for it! :D

Warnings: Cussing, boyxboy, umm...yeah.

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Music

Chapter 3: A Lot of Gays

Monday. The stupidest day of the week. People went to work, kids went to school, and the rest of the week re-started. Again. More work, more school. Of course, not for us. Well, maybe for me and Riku, now, but...

Speaking of which, I was currently on my way to the Twilight Town high school. Heh, funny how I should have actually been on my way to a college right then, but no, unfortunately (or not so unfotunately, maybe) we didn't have enough munny to send any of us to school.

I sighed. I just hoped I would be able to get a job at this school. I couldn't be a teacher, that was for sure, but weren't there other jobs at a school than teaching?

Tch, stupid Riku and his success. He had left at about the same time I had, which was 2:30 PM. I wasn't sure when to go, so I decided after school. A lot of schools ended at about that time, right?

I sighed as I came up to a large building. The 'HELP WANTED' sign was still on the front doors. Well, time to get this show started. All of a sudden, the bell rang, and I could almost hear the stampede of students as classes let out.

I guess I had been right about when it let out.

I walked up the few steps you had to take up to the doors, and once again felt cool air hit me as I entered the building. It felt good. It was so hot in Twilight Town, I had discovered over the past couple of days being here. There were teenagers everywhere. Bullies and jocks, populars and geeks, gays and straights, the ones who were all over each other and the ones who acted like the other was a repellent, and of course the occasional teacher here and there.

I stood kind of awkwardly for a moment, looking around for some sign of the Principle's Office. There were some really odd looking kids at the school, and some really boring looking ones.

My eye caught sight of something familiar, however. A certain blonde with a mullet/mohawk hairdo and sky blue eyes. Talk about sky blue eyes...

...err, ahem. Anywho.

He was leaning against some lockers on one arm, the other rested on his hip, and he was slightly hovering over another boy. The other boy, who had slate-colored hair that completely covered the right half of his face in a rather emo/punk fashion, was holding a few books to his chest. Hmm. The classic schoolboy and schoolgirl 'locker position'. The blonde, Demyx, if I remembered correctly, was quite a bit taller than the other boy, and he looked a few years older, too (beta fish says bullshit, they're like the same age!!).

Demyx was blabbering away happily while the shorter one was just staring up at him. I couldn't tell if he was really paying attention or not, there wasn't much of an expression on his face. He wasn't very colorful, either...or very much grown. The dude was like a shrimp.

I wondered how old the boy was as I subconsiously began walking towards them. Well, he was the only guy here that I kinda/barely knew, and it was better than walking around looking like a helpless fool.

Demyx must have seen me coming, because he turned and his whole face brightened like a lightbulb. He smiled and waved at me excitedly (at which, I noticed, the other boy gave a glare), and I flashed him my uberly-fantastic-hot-sexy-slick-I-know-I'm-hott smile, at which I noticed a tiny blush. I reached the two boys shortly, and Demyx was the first to speak.

"Hiya! Wow, it's you! I wasn't sure if you would actually come or not!! You remember me, right? Demyx. You're..uhh....uhmmm....."

"Axel," I finished for him, causing a tiny blush to appear (again) on his slightly tanned cheeks.

"Right, 'Axel'," he repeated, scratching the back of his neck nervously. We stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Demyx seemed to find his voice again. That emo kid was glaring at me almost the whole time. It was kinda creeping me out.

"Oh! This is Zexion," he gestured to the slate-haired (and apparently slate-eyed, too (beta fish says actually, his eyes are dark-bluish-grey, un)) boy beside him. 'Zexion' gave me a mere nod, and I nodded back.

"Yo." He didn't give a reply, or rather Demyx didn't give him the chance to.

"He's meh boyfriend." Demyx smiled and wrapped one arm around Zexion's shoulders. My eyebrows shot up. What? He had a boyfriend?

"Uhh...oh," was the intelligent reply from moi. Demyx laughed and smiled. His laugh sounded like music....

....okay, now don't get me wrong, I am NOT one of those obsessed girls (beta fish says lol AxeLeagirl?) who think whatever some guy they like does is amazing. And I'm not some amateur writer writing sappy love stories. His laugh seriously sounded like music.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to that around here," the blonde assured me, letting his arm fall off of his apparent boyfriend and patting me on the shoulder. "There are a lot of gay dudes," he finished, chuckling. I wasn't sure what kind of expression my face was portraying, but it must have been pretty suprised or something, because Demyx took one look and started laughing even more. Good golly, this kid could laugh!

Well, I guess 'kid' wasn't the appropriate name for him. He was probably older than me. But then, what was he doing in a high school? Heh, maybe he was really behind. I smiled at this thought, but then my smile went away. Maybe he just looked older than he really was? Well...that would have been one heck of a growthspurt!

When I came out of my little train of thoughts, I found Demyx and Zexion both staring at me. Well, Demyx was staring at me, Zexion was just kinda lookin' at me with a weird glare/blank/something look.

"Are you okay?" Demyx asked worriedly, and I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Uhhh...yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" But my question never got answered, because, yup, you guessed it, Demyx started talking again.

"So, you here for that job offer?" Yeah, why else would I be here, dumbass? I thought, 'course I didn't say that out loud.

"Yup."

"Cool! So, I guess I should like, tell you where the principle's office is, huh?" Sheesh, was this guy perky or what? "Well, I guess I'll catcha later, Zexy," he said, turning to his boyfriend and bending down to give him a quick kiss on the lips. I raised my eyebrows again, but neither one of them seemed to notice. However the shorter one, Zexion, looked a bit flustered, and I could have sworn I'd seen a tiny blush on his cheeks. I didn't have time to say anything (again) before Demyx grabbed my arm and was dragging me off somewhere.

* * *

Me and Axel left at about the same time the next day. 2:30 PM. He headed to the school, I headed to 'Wakka's Whirlin' Surf Shop'.

As I neared the spot where I had met Wakka the day before, I noticed for the first time a thick sign hanging above the shop. 'WAKKA'S WHIRLIN' SURF SHOP' was written in a blue, water-wave font. I reached the door, which turned out to be made of bamboo, and tried to open it. It wouldn't open. I tried again, but it still wouldn't budge. It was locked.

I sighed. Okay then.

I examined the door and then sighed again. Well, maybe Wakka was already there? I knocked on the bamboo door, hoping he would come and answer it. I waited for a few moments, and then knocked again. Sighing, I tried one more time, and still no one came. I decided to just wait, when suddenly I heard a Jamaican voice from behind me.

"Maybe if you say 'open sesame' it'll work, mon." I turned to see Wakka standing behind me, grinning. I smiled, too, and he began walking over to the door.

"Hey," I greeted, and the door opened with the 'ding' of a bell.

"Yo, mon," he returned, and he stepped inside, gesturing for me to do the same. The air in the shop was pretty much the same temperature as outside. "Make yourself at home," Wakka said, walking through the shop and into some back room.

I stood there kind of awkwardly at first, and then examined the place.

It was a fairly small area, with surf boards, bathing suits, goggles, towels, sun screen, wax and basically everything else for the beach that you could imagine everywhere. The walls were orange with blue wave designs at the tops and bottoms, and there was a bamboo check-out counter to the left. There was beachy music in the backround, and you could almost smell the ocean. The place had a nice aura, and I was able to relax.

Wakka entered back into the main room moments later, heading over to the front desk, only pausing to mess with a thermostat on the wall. He sat at the counter and leant his arms on top of it, grinning at me.

"Nice place, huh?" he asked me, obviously proud of his little shop. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." We stood in silence for a few moments, when suddenly the orange-haired teen pulled out a few sheets of paper and placed them on the counter, tapping them with his finger.

"I hate signing papers, mon, but I need ya' t' fill these out, ya?" I nodded, walking forward to stand right in front of the counter. He handed me a pen and I took it, filling out the papers. It didn't take long, and I handed them back to him. He scanned over them and smiled. "Great." He shoved them into somewhere, and I shrugged off the fact that I couldn't even fill out some of the questions on them. Whatever. "So," he began again, standing up and walking towards an aisle, "here's the details. The shop opens at 2:45 and closes at 7:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and sometimes we're open on Saturdays. Depending on my schedule, yah?" I smiled politely and nodded.

"Okay."

"Right. So, your job," he paused, smiling sort of evilly and going to the back room again. I waited and tried to guess the rest of his sentance.

"It's to help with the shop...right?" That's what I was here for, right? I mean...what else?

"Yah, mon! Exactly! And the way you're going to do that, is to advertise!" he replied cheerily. I heard some shuffling, and he came out of the back room with some stuff in his hands.

"Al...right." I raised an eyebrow as he held something out to me. A hula skirt. My eyebrows shot up in suprise.

"Oh-no! No way!" I refused, waving my hands back and forth in front of me. He frowned.

"But you have to! You agreed to da' job, mon." True, I had agreed to help with the shop, but...I never agreed to wear a skirt!

"Yeah, but...that's just...cruel." He just stared at me and blinked, and then laughed.

"Haha!! C'mon, mon! The ladies will love it! They'll come rushin' in! And we'll prolly get some dudes, too," I blushed lightly, and he laughed more.

"Still...I just...c'mon, can't I wear something else if it's really that important?" He stared at me for a second, as if considering this, and then blinked.

"Well...I think that the hula skirt would be a winner--" or I would look like a total idiot, I added in my mind, "--but...I suppose you could wear some swimmin' trunks instead...or maybe even a surfing outfit...hmm...." A surfing suit? For Gaia's sake! Well, I guess that was better than a hula skirt. Sure, I needed the job, but I was not going to go to such drastic measures as to wear a hula skirt. No way.

* * *

You have got to be kidding me. This was probably the worst job ever. Besides plumbing. How come Riku got to work at a fucking surf shop and I got stuck with working as a JANITOR? He would never let me hear the end of this! And the only damn reason I accepted this job was because we need munny, fast, and now I was going to teased for it! That just wasn't justice, man.

When I exited 'Principle Xemnas'' office (and what a scary yet hot principle he was) it was silent. The school had emptied, there wasn't one kid in sight. The halls were quiet again, just like the first day I had come into this damned school. Eh, I guess I should be grateful. At least it payed, right? Too bad our fucking parents had to....

....anyway....

My footsteps echoed slightly as I walked through the empty halls of Twilight Town High. I wondered in the back of my mind if Demyx was feeding the class fish again...I hadn't gotten to see if he had left before or not. He rushed me over to the principle's office and then disappeared with a cheery 'good luck!'. I wondered also, again, why he was here. He must be held back or something. He looked too old to still be in high school.

I shrugged it off. Whatever. If it was really that important, I would find out. Heh, I would probably figure out anyway. Demyx could talk.

I smiled at the thought of the chattery blonde, and quickly wiped the smile off of my face. Why was I smiling? There was nothing to smile about. I was now a janitor.

I exited the school and stopped after I walked a few feet away from the front steps. Well...I could always just check...I mean, it's not like I had anything else to do....

....aw, damnit.

Frustrated, I turned around and walked back up the steps, and into the school. I wasn't exactly sure where the room he had been in before was, but it couldn't be too hard to find, right?

It took me a little while longer this time, but I found the room, and sure enough, there was Demyx. And it looked like he had just gotten finished feeding the fish. He must've heard me come in, because he turned around a second later and when he saw me, smiled. I couldn't stop a smile of my own from forming. It felt...nice, to have him smiling at me.

"Hiya, Axel!" he greeted enthusiastically. I nodded my greeting back, waving two fingers.

"Yo."

"Did you get the job?" Well, that was straight to the point. I furrowed my brow in frustration as Demyx brought back the horrible thought of me being a janitor. Honestly, it just didn't fit.

"Yeah...I got a job..." I replied, shifting my gaze to the floor in embarrassment. I quickly decided to change the subject, so I would have a chance of him not knowing what it was before he needed to. At least I could avoid humiliation as long as possible.

...And maybe I wouldn't have to tell Riku, either! I mean, why should I? It's none of his business...or maybe it is...

...I cast those thoughts aside for the moment, focusing on the task at hand.

"So...are you a student here?" I asked, returning my gaze to his face.

"Uhhh.....no..." he seemed slightly confused. "I'm a substitute teacher...remember? I told you yesterday." My eyebrows rose a little in suprise. Had he? I didn't remember that....

I felt a slight blush form on my cheeks, and I saw Demyx chuckling. Well, smooth, Axel. Real damn smooth.

"Oh...sorry," I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly. He laughed.

"It's okay," he said when he had stopped laughing, "I mean, I can't expect you to remember everything, right?" He was smiling, again, and I began to stare. I couldn't help it! He was so...

...I snapped out of it when he began to frown a bit, and I quickly replied. "Uh, sure," I said lamely, and his smile was back. "So...what do you teach?" His whole face brightened when I asked this, and he seemed excited to tell me.

"I teach music class. Well, I substitute teach, anyway." He laughed a little, and then continued. "It's really fun. Some of the students are really gifted. But some of them...well, they just need to learn how to pay attention." He frowned when he said this, but quickly turned his frown upside down (what the hell? Did I just say that?) and continued in the same upbeat, perky tone he had been before. "I love music. Do you like music?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, shrugging, "who doesn't?" His smile grew when I said this, and he nodded in agreement.

"Do you play any instruments?"

"Nope." His face fell a bit when I said this, but, as usual, it quickly perked up again.

"I play sitar, guitar, banjo, violin, cello, and tambarine. Sitar is my favorite." He seemed very proud of this, and my mouth dropped in amazement. Wow. That's a lot of, uh...instruments. Heh, and I didn't even play one. He must think I'm a total loser. "And Zexion plays the flute and the clarinet." I noticed his smile soften a bit, and he looked up into space for a second with a fond look in his eyes. His blue eyes...wow, they really were blue...

He snapped out of it a second later and snapped his fingers. "Speaking of which, I'm actually supposed to meet him somewhere right now," he said, grabbing an instrument case and walking towards me. "You wanna come? We're gonna grab some lunch." I smiled but shook my head.

"Nah, thanks. I should head home." He seemed a bit disappointed, but he smiled nevertheless, and shrugged.

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll seeya later!" He waved and smiled, then exited the room. I watched him go and when he was out of eye-shot I sighed. Wow.

Gah, stop that, Axel! I smacked myself mentally, shaking my head as I exited the room as well.

* * *

I had been standing outside of Wakka's surf shop for a while now, I didn't know exactly how long, but an hour, at least. And, sure enough, after about half an hour of standing outside the shop door, advertising in a rather flattering surfer suit, complete with surf board, the girls (and guys) came rushing in. Practically every time someone walked by they would come in, and most would either wink, giggle, blush, whistle or try to flirt with me. To tell you the truth, it was getting kind of annoying. And wearing the suit in that heat for hours wasn't helping my mood, either. Luckily, Wakka let me come in every now and then, get a drink and cool off for a bit. But then it was back to advertising.

He had wanted me to advertise shirtless at first, to which I said 'no' (boy was I glad he was around my age, or I probably would have done whatever he said), but I began regretting refusing his request. Swimming trunks and a bare chest would certainly feel much better in Twilight Town's summer heat than a surfing outfit. On top of that, I was directly in the sun.

I could feel my skin burning--well, what was showing, anyway. Sheesh, if this was what it was gonna be like all summer at this job, then maybe I would go for the shirtless advertising.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and slumped my shoulders, holding the large surf board with my other hand. And that was just another thing to worry about. What about in the winter? Surely Wakka wouldn't keep his surf shop open during the winter? And what about Axel's job? Apparently he was working at the school, and this school year would be ending very soon. What then?

I rolled my eyes as I thought about the unintelligent red-head. It was just like Axel to get a job that would be ending soon. Well, until after summer, that is, when school started up again.

Man, was I thirsty! How long had I been standing out here without a break? An hour? It felt like longer. I sighed exasperatedly and turned to go inside. Just a short break, that's all I needed. A short time to cool down, re-hydrate myself, try to think about how desperately we needed this munny so I wouldn't just drop it then and there.

The shop door opened with a 'ding' and I immediately felt cool air hit me like a bomb. It felt so good. A sigh of relief escaped me, and Wakka looked over at me from the counter in amusement. I smiled politely and he smiled and stood, heading to the back room again (and I hoped it was to get me some water).

"Didn't you just take a break, mon?" he asked suspiciously, coming back out with another bottle of water. I smiled and nodded gratefully, taking the bottle and opening it rather hastily.

"I dunno...I...suppose it wasn't too long ago." I shrugged sheepishly, and he chuckled. Lifting the bottle to my lips, I began to chug down as much water as I could as fast as I could.

"Woah, woah, woah mon! Don't choke yourself!" Wakka exclaimed from beside me, and I slowly and hesitantly lowered the nearly-empty bottle from my mouth, smiling sheepishly. "Woah, mon." He seemed distracted by something else all of a sudden, and he was staring at my face. I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"What?" I asked warily, and he laughed at my reaction.

"Your skin burns like a baby's bottom!" He laughed, and I blushed, although I suppose he couldn't tell because of my apparent sunburn. Well, my cheeks had been burning pretty bad.

"Well, what did I tell you? Now you know why I try to stay in the shade." He laughed and I laughed, and suddenly the shop door burst open. I turned to look in suprise, and saw a rather energetic-looking brunette bounding towards us.

"Hiya!" he greeted cheerily, and I couldn't help smiling at his beaming face. I heard Wakka answer with a 'yo, mon!' to the seemingly younger looking boy, and I nodded my greeting. He stopped a few feet away from us, putting both his hands on his hips and looking up at me curiously. Boy, was he short! And those eyes...they were impossibly blue, and huge! "Who is this, Wakka?" I could tell Wakka was about to answer, but I answered for him.

"Riku." The boy smiled, and waved.

"I'm Sora," he introduced himself, jabbing his thumb into his chest. I nodded in understanding, a calm smile still resting on my lips.

"He's my new employee!" Wakka informed 'Sora', and you could hear the pride in his voice. Sora laughed and put one hand back on his hip.

"Wow, that's awesome! I'm one of Wakka's best customers," he exclaimed, and then chuckled, pointing at my face, "looks like someone's been out in the sun too long." I blushed very slightly, and it quickly went away.

"Yeah, well, we have Wakka to thank for that," I replied, throwing a playful glare over at the orange-haired teen. Sora laughed, and I smiled.

"Jeez, Wakka, you finally get an employee around here and you make him get a sun burn?" Sora laughed, crossing his tiny arms across his thin chest. Sheesh, the whole boy was tiny. Such a tiny body with all that crazy hair...and what a tan he had.

Wait...that hair...those eyes...it was him! That kid that had bumped into me the other day!

Wakka shrugged and Sora laughed again, uncrossing his arms and walking past us, shaking his head. Both me and Wakka turned to watch him at the same time as he sat down behind the counter, where Wakka usually would.

"Hey, now," Wakka began, taking a few steps towards Sora so that he was closer, "just because you're my second-best customer doesn't mean you can sit behind my counter." Sora chuckled, and once again a smile graced my features. To tell the truth, I wasn't even sure if it had left at all. "And you," Wakka continued, turning to me with an acusing finger pointed, "you better get back to work, young man!" I straightened my back and saluted playfully, at which Sora laughed, and I turned and headed for the door.

"It was nice meeting you, Sora," I said before exiting, turning to bow gracefully. Sora laughed again, and I smiled victoriously before exiting the shop.

Where the hell had that come from?

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A/N: Well, I hope you liked it! I thought that this chapter was a pretty good length, so...hopefully that will make up for my lateness!

Yeah, I dunno. Deal. lol

Well, review if you like, alerts and favorites are great, but if you write you should know that reviews are what really gets you going! So thanks to all who have favorited and/or alerted this story and/or me, now review! =D

Thanks to flurry of dancing flame for beta'ing!

All flames will be used for Axel's enjoyment.

P.S. To those of you who actually remember that Sora was in a big hurry in the last chapter, and that's why he bumped into Riku, don't worry, you'll find out why he was in such a hurry in later chapters! :)