Disclaimer: It's disappointing but I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything else I might end up using in future writing. Sad right? Yeah, I know.

Zexion actually found it rather amusing that Demyx had the number for the nearest pizza place programmed into his home phone, for his parents when Demyx was elsewhere, as the teen himself told him. Was it surprising Demyx was the only good cook in his family? Yes. Did it still somehow make sense? In the strangest way possible, it did. In fact, it appeared that everyone else in the house-even Cloud and Leon-had sampled Demyx's cooking and agreed that they would willingly sell themselves (for anything horrific up to spending time with their principal in a locked office; that's where they had to draw the line) for the chance to have him as a personal chef for a year or two or twenty.

But that's digressing. Right now you must be wondering just when Demyx revealed his apparent skill in the culinary arts if the only thing anybody in the house would be eating for however long they gathered there would be take out. It was when the pizza guy (rather rudely) asked whether Demyx was going away somewhere and was just setting up the pizza for his (horribly untalented) parents because usually the two of them were never seen within twenty feet of each other when it came to pizza delivery. Of course, this led to the revelation and Zexion's current train of though which included how late he'd have to sleep in for Demyx to get up, get tired of waiting, and cook breakfast for the house and whether he could somehow request pancakes in advance.

This was brought to a crashing halt however when the piece of pizza Axel was waving around nearly slapped him in the face. Jerking around to glare at the annoying child (and sadly, all he could do was glare because any violence would be treated as child abuse by an outside party, unless they actually knew Axel-then, they'd be able to tell he probably deserved it) Zexion was treated to the unfolding of a spectacular event.

Axel was cheering for Sora as the small boy who Zexion had once thought to be gentle and nonviolent beat the crap out of Riku in their video game. Looking at the skill with which Sora fought and the contrasting grin on his face, half of Zexion was glad Sora would never be able to fight in real life like that while the other half almost wanted to be able to witness such a sight. As Axel got a bit too exuberant, the slice of food flew out of his hand and, karma being cruel, hit Roxas. Note this.

This is the part where Axel is supposed to shut up, meekly apologize, and hope the universe and more importantly, Roxas, were feeling merciful that particular day. Not, I repeat not supposed to laugh loudly, throw his arm around his smaller friend, and tease him about it. But, as Zexion looked on, trying not to let the smile tilting his lips up escape, he observed that it made some pretty good entertainment.

Slowly, Roxas reached up to grab the pizza that had become attached to his face and leaned away from Axel. The moment he was far enough, he promptly slapped Axel with the same piece of pizza.

What happened next shouldn't even need to be explained but it shall be stated anyway. As the following food fight started, Zexion turned away, deciding that Demyx could stop them if he really wanted to. It was his house after all.

Never let it be said that Roxas was in any way passive. The second Axel dared let that piece of pizza he'd been waving around in his grubby hands go, a fight was inevitable. Luckily for the surrounding area, along with the people in it, the fight only involved food. Unless you were Marluxia and considered getting pizza sauce on your designer clothes a fate worse than death. But Marluxia wasn't here and so the possibility of getting hit with a stray piece of food or some soda was let go without any ear-splitting shrieks of a pitch most normal males shouldn't be able to reach.

That was until Demyx came in from the kitchen where he'd been eating with Leon and Cloud and caught sight of the warzone that had replaced his living room. Yelling, the fearless (or maybe just obliviously naïve) soul didn't hesitate to insert himself between the toddlers. "Stop, STOP!"

Roxas and Axel paused long enough to look at the sudden interference in the midst of their battle. Finally, Roxas spoke up. "Yes…?"

"Playing with your food is bad manners!" Demyx chided them, wagging his finger mockingly. "And so is fighting. You'll scare Fluffy for god's sake!"

"Fluffy?" Axel questioned at the same time that Roxas mouthed the word.

Demyx nodded brightly. "Yeah! You know, Fluffy, my cat?"

"You have a cat?" Axel exclaimed.

Demyx rolled his eyes as if Axel was the stupid one here (which he was but Demyx didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings). "Well duh. Right over there!" And he pointed.

Roxas and Axel both turned to look in the direction Demyx was pointing. When they saw the exact thing he was pointing at, their jaws fell. "That's not a cat, that's a furry pillow!" Roxas cried. Almost as if to prove Roxas wrong, the "pillow" chose that moment to open its eyes and yawn, displaying a large amount of teeth. Jumping down from the couch, Fluffy padded away to disappear into the depths of the backyard. Axel and Roxas stared after it.

Turning toward each other, as one they just gave up and fell back onto the couch beside Zexion to watch Sora and Riku continue fighting. Not that they'd noticed enough of their surroundings to ever stop.

Demyx was about at his wit's end. No, really, if this had been a video game his energy bar would've been on the verge of nonexistent by now. First there had been the mess left over from the food fight between Roxas and Axel; that had required a lot of cleaning up. And then tearing Sora and Riku away from their video game took a whole hour and a half. Zexion had been quite unwilling to help out too so it all fell to Demyx. By now, Cloud and Leon were well on their way to becoming his favorite people in the world. At least they listened to what others asked them!

But now, now came the true test of Demyx's stamina. The kids were all showered and ready for bed. They were all camped out in the living room, like a big sleepover. Demyx had already read them a few stories. The challenging part? They refused to fall asleep! He'd already read them ten books!

"It's not our fault! We're just not tired!" Riku complained. "I don't see why you can't let us stay up late like we usually do."

"Because," Demyx insisted, "you're children and need a lot of sleep. I'm not about to deal with six cranky brats tomorrow morning and I'm pretty sure Zexion won't want anything to do with you either." He shot the other, who had been sitting passively to the side, a warning look that clearly said 'if you don't help me, they're all yours in the morning'. He got the message and sighing, stood up.

"Brats!" Zexion yelled imperiously. The children in the room turned toward him, scowling resentfully. They were not children here! Zexion returned the look as he moved to sit on the floor beside Demyx. "If we make up a story will you go to bed?"

Demyx grinned as the six of them spoke amongst themselves before Sora, elected leader spoke up. "That'd be fine. As long as it's a good story. And you both have to tell one!" Zexion looked like he'd protest (after all, he just wasn't the story telling type) but Demyx cut in.

"Sure! That's fine with both of us! In fact, Zexy wants to go first!"

Normally there would've been some reminder to not use the nickname from Zexion inserted somewhere but the teen was suspiciously silent. Looking over, Demyx saw one of the scariest expressions he had ever seen on his friend's face. It was an Axel expression, or a Riku one. It was a smirk that implied a devious plan and an evil glint in his eye that promised destruction in its wake. Rightfully, Demyx was scared. Then the expression was gone. Poof.

The smaller versions of his friends hadn't seemed to notice and crowded around Zexion quickly. Clearing his throat, Zexion began his story. Demyx, deciding he had just imagined whatever had happened earlier, sat back to listen as well.

"One day, a man was lounging around his house. It was the middle of summer and the heat was stifling. The man had barely moved that morning but was already sweating.

So, he wandered into the kitchen to get something cold to drink. Luckily for him, there was already a tall glass of ice cold lemonade on the counter. Thinking it a gift from the gods, the man threw his head back and gulped down the drink in record time.

However, when he had drained the cup and first opened his eyes, he immediately froze. The man had seen something truly terrifying.

There, at the bottom of the cup was…a single, black cockroach. The end." Zexion finished, looking for reactions to his tale.

Silence, for a moment, and then they came pouring in.

"What the hell? That was gross! Ugh!" Axel clutched his stomach, looking disgusted.

Sora shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself, muttering something that sounded like, "Damn scary. Who comes up with this stuff?"

"Fucking disgusting!" Roxas shouted, looking a little pale. "Zexion, you sick-minded freak!"

Riku seemed to be scared speechless. Even Cloud and Leon looked a bit nauseated. Demyx looked at Zexion, slightly appalled.

"Zexy! I can't believe you would tell them something like that!"

The smirking boy just shrugged. "You volunteered me to go first even though I didn't have a story prepared so I just went with the first thing I could think of. So really, the nightmares and emotional scarring they'll suffer from this is all your fault. And their's because I've been run ragged by them all evening."

Demyx rolled his eyes and tried to pull off a glare that was about as threatening as a puppy's growling. When that failed to have an effect, he turned back to the panicking children and tried to calm them with a more heartwarming story.

"Once upon a time the night was pitch black and the people were engulfed in darkness. This was because the stars refused to shine for selfish humanity who only thought about themselves and were always quarreling with each other. Traveling was dangerous and all people could do was remain safely in their homes for as long as they could. There was not merrymaking and people rarely laughed. It was a time full of sorrow and despair. This all changed when a certain boy was born.

He was a beautiful child, kind and cheerful despite his dark surroundings. Because he was so different from the other miserable children, he was often treated as an outcast and teased mercilessly but this only made the boy all the more determined to be kind to anyone he met. Adults neglected and ignored him, thinking he was bewitched or possessed. It was his frugal upbringing that taught the boy to live humbly and in this fashion, gained all sorts of virtues.

Finally, when he was old enough to understand such things, he set out to understand why the world was so dark. The boy knew it was this that made people so sad and he wanted to help by bringing light into the world. So he traveled all the way up to the stars to ask them to please shine down on the world. The stars, believing him to be just another selfish arrogant human sent him away. Each day, the boy would come back and politely ask again but again, the stars would ignore him. Finally getting fed up with the constant bother, the stars told the boy that if he went nine days without food, water, or sleep they'd light up the sky.

The boy was overjoyed at this and promised he'd do it. The stars, who knew nine days was impossible for a human to go without sustenance watched and waited for the boy to give up. But he didn't, instead laboring on even as he wasted away. By the time eight days had passed, it was only his incredible willpower keeping the boy alive. By the time the ninth day finally ended, he was dead. Seeing this, the stars were filled with guilt and regret and kept their promise to the boy as they lit up the night sky. Their tears became the falling stars and in honor of the boy never once have they stopped shining."

By the time Demyx was finished speaking, the six spread out before him were fast asleep, not to wake up anytime soon. He and Zexion went around tucking them in and headed toward the door. Zexion would be sleeping in the spare room that night. As Zexion flipped the lights off, Demyx could have sworn he'd heard him mutter something.

"Did you say something, Zexy?"

Startled, Zexion denied it. "Nothing. Why?"

Demyx grinned. "Oh reeaally? Because I could have sworn I heard you say the kids are cute when they're being quiet."

"N-no, I didn't!" But the flustered countenance and light pink of his cheeks spoke otherwise.

"Zexy, could it be possible that you…like kids?" Demyx leaned in. "Don't be shy now! You can tell me the truth." Zexion's only answer was to push past the taller blond and storm off in the direction of what was hopefully the guest bedroom. Smirking, Demyx followed after.

Oh, he'd remember this little bit of information.

AN: Haha, guess what? I'm not dead! Anyone notice the missing chapter last week? ...no? Didn't think so. But that was just a little something called homework sneaking up on me. I've got my stuff together now so I should be able to go back to updating every week again. But you don't care do you? On to other things, anybody recognize where I got the Zexion's story from? My friend showed it to me and I thought it was so funny I just had to use it. And now to keep this short, I'll just say thanks for all the reviews/alerts/faves. They brighten up my day!