Down with Love

Description: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, Amazing Grace crossover.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. Amazing Grace and its characters belong to me.

A/N: Just a little note that Demyx's last name was not my idea originally. I do intend to give the full credit for the names of all the Org members in a later chapter (because it's more dramatically appropriate to put it there), but I wanted to mention here that credit is owed. Tesa ye. ... bows ...

3. Good Vibrations
Beach Boys

I was finished unpacking and K'nsolear was about three-quarters of the way through when this bizarre mullet-mohawk thing poked itself into our room.

"Hi!" the person attached to the unfortunate hairstyle greeted with an extremely large grin. "How's everything going in here?"

Surprised and a bit wary, my roommate and I exchanged glances. Neither of us had any idea who this overly-friendly person was. "Uh … good," I answered him, partly against my better judgment.

"Good!" the stranger cried immediately and stepped into the room. "I'm Demyx," he introduced himself, still grinning, "the Resident Assistant for this hall."

Well, that explained why he was barging into our room like a member of the welcoming committee. Because, essentially, he was. That cheerful grin, though, worried me. He looked like the type to constantly and persistently interfere in someone's life all in the name of "making sure you're still doing fine." That kind of behavior would drive me nuts within a matter of days, and I kind of doubted K'nsolear would appreciate it either.

Demyx had continued speaking, barely taking enough time to breathe between phrases. "I'm just down the hall in 309 if you ever need me. You know, if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or even if you just want to talk, come on down and I'll be there. Well," he amended with a little tip of his head, "unless I'm in class, of course, or eating, or out with friends or something. Actually, I'm not there very often, but you can always write me a message on my whiteboard or something and I'll get back to you. I'm really good at returning messages. Well, except when I have a paper due. Then I can get a little scatterbrained, you know? So I guess what I'm trying to say is -"

I had so had enough by this point. Forget days. This guy was making me nuts within a matter of seconds. The only other person who could do that to me on a regular basis was Sora.

"We get it," I interrupted him loudly, making him jump. When he fixed his surprised but honest blue-green eyes on me, I continued a little more kindly, "If we need something, we'll be sure to seek you out." Then, to appease him and get him the hell out of there, I gave him a smile and said, "Thanks, Demyx."

He beamed. "You're welcome … um …" A brief look of confusion passed over his face, but he quickly replaced it with yet another smile. "Hold on a minute," he told me and stepped backwards out of the room. While his eyes checked the number above the door, one hand dove into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. A moment later, he had stepped back in and was checking the paper instead.

"Roxas," I told him, understanding what he was looking for.

"Roxas," he repeated distractedly. A second later, he confirmed, "Skyhawke, right?" When I nodded, he turned to my roommate with that never-ending smile and continued, "Then that means you must be …" His eyes dropped to the paper again.

All at once, his smile froze. Just froze up solid like he had turned to stone. Slowly, his eyes rose, and he looked at K'nsolear with a strange mixture of surprise and fear in his face. He held up one finger, and when he spoke, his voice actually shook. "H-H-Hold on another minute." The sheet of paper he held fell to the floor as his hand went back into the pocket for a second search.

Initially, my reaction to all of this had been serious amusement. I mean, how oblivious did Demyx have to be to be talking to us all this time and only now notice who K'nsolear was? But as our RA's actions became more and more panicked, I began to feel a solid weight settle in my stomach. My roommate was about to be singled out and pointed at again, and somehow I knew this would be worse than the offense created by Riku's shocked rudeness. By the look on Demyx's face and the number of stapled-together pages he had just produced from his pocket, this was going to be serious. Official. K'nsolear knew it, too. He had sat down in his desk chair with that same resigned expression he had worn earlier, and his cousin already had her hand on his shoulder, her calm smile present but looking strained.

"Man oh man," Demyx muttered to himself as he began to unfold the papers he had found, "I knew I was going to mess this up. I just knew I was. I told them they had picked the wrong guy for this." Nervously, he glanced between the two cousins and asked in a meek little voice, "Could I, you know, just sort of go out and come in again? Start over? Please?"

"Of course," Vindeflei replied before K'nsolear could say anything, and the next second, Demyx was gone.

About twenty seconds later, he came back, head held high and back straight. Gone was the smile. So was the fear, and so was, from what I could tell, every other emotion in existence. He looked like a freaking robot as he came in, bowed low at the waist for a heartbeat or two, and then straightened up with the pages held out in front of him like a proclamation.

"Hello," he boomed as if he were addressing an auditorium full of students instead of one lonely individual, "and welcome to our fine institution. I am Demyx O'Donohue, your Resident Assistant for this, your freshman year at Swarthmore College. I am truly honored to be able to welcome the son of such a noble and prestigious House to our community. Over the next several months, you will undoubtedly encounter many new and enriching experiences as you seek to learn more about the world and about yourself. As your guide during this all-important time in your life, I will be happy to assist you in any way that I can should you require it. The journey that you begin today will -"

Sue me, but I couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't. This was beyond humiliating, for all four of us. "Demyx!" I cried, taking several steps forward and raising my hands in supplication. "Stop. Just stop. Really. This isn't necessary."

Those blue-green eyes blinked at me, but a second later, Demyx was leaning down, holding the papers in front of him as if to shield himself from K'nsolear's eyes with it. "Are you sure?" he whispered, the fear clearly returning to his eyes and voice. "The Dean told me this speech is really important. I'm supposed to make sure I read it all from beginning to end."

"I'm sure," I assured him, feeling rather strange that I, the freshman, was telling him, the RA, what to do. "And he's not deaf, you know. You can talk to him normally."

"But … but …" Demyx stammered. I could tell that he didn't want to be doing this but that he was afraid he'd get in serious trouble if he didn't. His eyes kept darting around as if the Dean were about to jump out from somewhere and start beating on him. "They made me go to a special seminar and everything," he insisted. "All about the N'Darie and how to behave and what to say and lots of political stuff like that."

Ugh, politics. Successfully keeping the scowl of disgust off my face, I snuck a glance at my roommate to see what his reaction was. When Demyx had been reading off his idiot welcome speech, K'nsolear had looked like he couldn't decide whether to curl up and die or jump up and start destroying things. Now that the nonsense had stopped, his anger had dissolved, and he seemed rather relieved. Those reactions, combined with what I had already learned in the encounter with Riku, prompted me to make my biggest pronouncement yet.

Looking straight into Demyx's eyes, I declared, "I really don't think that Soli is interested in political stuff. I know I just met him, but he seems like a pretty normal guy to me. So you don't need to treat him special or anything. Just, you know, treat him like you would anyone else."

Now, I know I was making some pretty big assumptions there, but I wasn't quite prepared for the dead silence that greeted me for a good minute and a half. Everyone just stared at me, speechless. Demyx looked like a frightened rabbit, all coiled up on himself and ready to bolt at the slightest sound. K'nsolear just look stupefied, like I had been talking in Swedish or something. Vindeflei's expression of shock turned into one of quiet amusement after a few seconds, but even she didn't say anything. It was like someone had found the master switch for the passage of time and turned it off.

I was starting to wonder if I had just made a huge mistake and if all that political garbage was worth something after all when K'nsolear shifted slightly, coughed, and asked, "'Soli'?"

Great. Open mouth, insert foot. Perhaps I should have thought a bit more before deciding to give my newly-met roommate a cutesy little nickname without asking him first. However, I've always felt that a little bravado never hurt anyone, so rather than smack myself in the forehead or start sputtering apologies like my brother would have done, I just shrugged and replied, "Yeah. Your name is four syllables long. You need a nickname. Don't you like it? I can call you 'Kin' instead. Or just 'Lee' if you don't like the 'So' part."

Vindeflei actually started laughing at that, although she quickly covered her mouth with her free hand to hide it. K'nsolear blinked at me for several seconds before slowly, hesitatingly, breaking out into a small smile. "No," he said quietly, "it's okay. You can … call me that … if you want."

That smile. I really, really don't want to admit this, but it did me in. Last year, whenever Sora called home or wrote me about his roommate and the troubles he was having with him, I always listened politely, encouraged him, and acted the good brother in every way. Privately, though, I was shaking my head and wondering why Sora had to be so fricking nosy all the time. I swore to myself that when I got to college, if I got stuck with a problem roommate, I would just ignore him and it and go on with my own life in my own way. I wasn't about to butt my way into someone else's business and try to force them to do things they didn't want to just because I thought it would make them happier. I mean, really, what the hell do I know? I'm just a stupid teenager with fewer than two decades of life experience under my belt. What gives me the right to tell other people what to do?

When I saw K'nsolear's smile, though, dammit if it didn't feel good. I felt proud of myself, like I had accomplished something worthwhile. And dammit if I didn't want to do it again. Stupid N'Darie half-breed. It was all his fault. If he hadn't been so shy, so painfully, obviously withdrawn, I wouldn't have cared that I had just made him happy. But somehow I just knew that no one had ever tried to give him a nickname before, that no one had ever thought him normal enough to have a nickname. And knowing that made the guarded joy in his expression all the more bittersweet.

"What about me, Roxas?" Vindeflei asked, breaking me from my thoughts. Her calm smile had brightened into something sparkling and mischievous. "My name is four syllables long as well. Do I get a nickname?"

"Sure," I grinned at her, relieved to shake off some of that tension and awkwardness that had crept up around me. "You're easy. Vindi. Like if a Russian tried to say 'Wendy'." She laughed again and this time didn't try to hide it. "And you can call me Rox if you want. You know, if two syllables are too much for you."

K'nsolear said something quietly in L'Guan that I couldn't catch - not that I would have understood it if I had - prompting his cousin to pinch him lightly on the arm. He responded by shoving her, and she retaliated by picking up his pillow from the bed and bashing him over the head with it. The tug-of-war that ensued over the pillow probably would have been more vicious had they both not been laughing so hard.

I don't know if it was what I had said, the talk of nicknames, or this last child-like display, but something finally snapped Demyx out of his terror-induced paralysis. "S-S-Seriously?" he stuttered. "You don't want me to act … you know … all political?"

A quick truce was called in regards to the pillow, and my roommate turned to our RA with a hesitant smile. I could tell he was feeling shy again. "No," he managed to assure Demyx, "I don't."

"But … but your House," Demyx argued, although the hope in his voice was obvious. "You guys are, like, really important. Are you sure it's okay?"

Something different flickered in K'nsolear's eyes at that, but before I could figure out what it was, it was gone. "I'm sure," he said quietly.

Demyx's entire upper body sagged with blatant relief. "Thank goodness!" he moaned, folding up the speech again and returning it to his pocket. As he leaned down to pick up the student list he had dropped, he began babbling, "I was so excited to be an RA this year and be like a big brother to everyone and help you guys out, but then they told me I would have to be all serious and official and stuff around you, and I told them that I didn't think I could do it, but they said I had to do it anyway, and that made me all worried, and then they made me take that class and that made me even more worried, and -"

"So I guess it's good you don't have to worry anymore," I interrupted strongly to get him to just shut up. I was seriously starting to regret stepping in earlier. At least when he was scared, he was mostly quiet.

Demyx beamed at me again and nodded his head happily. His smiles weren't so bad, but the guy really needed an Off button. "Yeah!" he declared and neatly folded up his student sheet again. I thought, or rather hoped, that that would be the end of it and he would leave us alone now, but he took another breath and kept on going. "So I've told you who I am and where to find me. What else? Um … oh, I know!" He straightened up to his full height, almost like he was trying to look official again, although this time there was still life in his eyes and warmth in his smile. "Tonight is Freshmen Orientation, so I thought everyone on the hall could go to dinner together and then I can take all of you first-years over to the amphitheater. Um …" His gaze rested on Vindeflei and, just like before, he seemed to notice her for the first time. "Are you on my hall, too?"

"No," she replied, with far more patience than I would have had at this point. "I'm downstairs on the second floor."

"Oh, okay. Well, you're welcome to join us, but your RA probably has plans for you, too. So, I was thinking we could meet in the lounge at 5:30 for dinner and then afterwards, we'll go on over to Orientation and then -"

"Actually, Demyx," I interrupted, extremely grateful that I had a reason to do so, "I already have plans to have dinner with my brother. And I'm not going to Orientation."

Demyx's face had fallen a little bit in resigned disappointment at my first statement, but at the second, his expression changed to a kind of horrified disbelief. "You're not going?" he echoed dramatically. "But you have to go!"

"No I don't," I argued calmly. "No one's going to kick me out or fail me just because I didn't go to Orientation." That was one nice thing about having an older brother who had gone through all of this the year before. Most of the other freshmen who were unpacking and settling in right now were probably still suffering under the restrictions of high school. The teacher says do this; you say "Yessir." But college isn't high school. College is freedom. I didn't have to do a damn thing that Demyx said if I didn't want to. As long as I stayed clean, didn't cause trouble, and didn't fail my classes, my time was mine to do with as I pleased.

"But … but …," Demyx was stammering, unable to comprehend that anyone wouldn't want to go to Orientation. "It's tradition!" he finally settled on. "You're not a proper Swattie unless you have your candle."

I smirked. "Oh yes, the candle." Sora had told me all about the candle. Partly as a way to get Demyx off my back and partly because I was just feeling snarky at the moment, I crossed to my desk, pulled out a pencil, and held it up in my hand like it was a lit candle. Serenely, I intoned, "These candles represent your own individuality. Regard them and see how together, as a community, we can light up the darkness of the night. But never forget that this powerful light is made up of all of your individual lights, and by removing one, the whole is diminished." I paused for a moment, pretending to gaze at the "candle" thoughtfully, but then suddenly affected a look of panic. "Aah! It's going out! My individuality is going out!" Rushing over to the other side of the room, I begged of the woman who was again openly laughing, "Vindi! Vindi! Can I borrow some of yours?"

When I turned back to Demyx, he had his arms crossed over his chest as if in disapproval, but he couldn't hide the little smile that was creeping into his face. "Okay, okay," he conceded, throwing his arms up in the air in mock capitulation. "I get it. You're not going." He turned to K'nsolear and asked, "What about you? Can I talk you into joining us?"

My roommate shared a quick glance with his cousin before answering, "Actually, Vindeflei and I were planning to eat dinner together. As for the Orientation …" He smiled a little and flicked his gaze at me for a half-second. "I think I'll pass."

Demyx groaned and threw his hands in the air again. He was certainly a demonstrative guy if a bit clichéd. "Fine. Both of you skip out on me." A finger came up and waggled at us as he said, "But don't come crying to me once you realize you've lost out on a vital part of your freshman experience."

Yeah, I know I'm evil, but I couldn't resist. Innocently, I replied, "But I thought we were supposed to come to you if we have any problems, Demyx."

Thankfully for me and my less-than-considerate attitude, my new talkative and expressive RA had a sense of humor large enough to deal with me. He blinked at me for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Enough!" he cried after a moment. "I can't deal with this anymore. I'm going to go see if I have any freshmen on this hall who actually need me." He threw us a grin over his shoulder as he turned around and headed out the door. "You two have a good evening being your own non-traditional selves. I'll see you around."

Once he had disappeared, I turned to my roommate with a grin and a thumbs-up. At that moment, I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. I had asserted my independence, stood up for Soli, and gotten rid of the chatterbox RA without having to resort to violence. All in all, quite a decent accomplishment for one afternoon. The fact that K'nsolear responded to my smile with one of his own just made it all the more awesome.

I had a feeling that the two of us were going to get along just fine.

A/N: I knew people who were so moved by that speech during Orientation that they kept their candle with them for all four years. Mine hit the trash as soon as I got back to my room. :) I promise the set-up stuff is almost done, and then the fun will begin.