Vexen wasn't even there when he woke up groggily at nine o'clock the next day. Most of the others were already awake, including Roxas who was dangling his legs off the side of his bed and probably reading. Marluxia pulled himself up to talk to the short boy.

"Where's Vexen?"

"He's gone to wash himself off," Roxas pointed to the door to the bathroom.

"What's he washing off?"

"Sharpie,"

"Nail polish remover gets it off," Marluxia helpfully advised.

"Yes, and I'm sure Vexen has a bottle of that in his bag,"

"He has a thesaurus; you never know what other wonders he might have," Marluxia had climbed up onto Roxas' bunk and was inspecting the book that the boy was reading. "What is that, anyway?" Roxas turned over to the front cover. The book was entirely black, with a pair of pale hands holding an apple on the front.

"It's a book Naminé wanted me to read. I can see why she likes it but it's not really my type of book,"

"What's it about?" Marluxia had never been one for reading, but he figured that if he was going to end up hanging around with Vexen and Roxas more, he should at least try to take an interest in their hobbies.

"Some girl who falls in love with a vampire in high school. And he's completely perfect. Beautiful, strong... pretty unrealistic."

"That's Twilight, right?" Vexen had come back, freshly cleaned and with only the faintest hints of writing on his face, arms and chest. He walked over to his bed, fumbling for a pair of trousers, and eventually pulled a pair of jeans on over his boxers.

"Nice butt," One of the other boys called at him, and the group on the other side of the dorms dissolved into laughter. "Pity about the face, though," Vexen didn't even bother to respond, putting on a loose pale blue shirt and pulling out a hairbrush, tugging it through his long hair. He turned to face Roxas and Marluxia as he did so, giving the latter a slightly confused look.

"Marluxia...?"

Marluxia realised that he'd been staring and turned away, colouring slightly, but Vexen wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, I was just thinking."

"Fine. I'll be in the library if you need me," Vexen collected up his books and left.

"Smooth," Roxas said once he was gone.

"Shut up," Marluxia punched the other boy lightly on the shoulder, frowning.

"You like him, don't you?"

"I don't know him," Marluxia protested, not wanting to give anything away, but his face had turned bright red by now. Roxas grinned at him and he gave up. "Fine. Sure. Yes. But he's probably not even gay,"

"When it comes to love, Vexen's about as experienced as a peanut, and probably even less observant," Roxas told him confidently.

"How do you know?"

"He told me once, when Zexion and Demyx split up,"

"Yes, but he noticed that I was staring at him,"

"He probably thought there was some sharpie still on his face. Anyway, you should make a move."

"No way!" Marluxia exclaimed. "We have just about nothing in common. Except hating Axel, which is nothing to base a relationship on. And anyway, there's still Demyx,"

"What about Demyx?" Roxas looked over his shoulder, but the cheerful musician wasn't around. Marluxia looked down, embarrassed.

"Well, I... I have a crush on him. For a long time,"

Roxas did a double take.

"Seriously?! What on earth did you see in him?!"

Marluxia thought about the question for a while. A few days ago, his answer would have been simple: he was sweet, caring, talented, supportive, helpful, cute. But none of those seemed to apply any more, and to say that they did would be stupid. He sighed, utterly confused.

"I don't know. I guess I just envied him, because he was popular," That seemed about plausible.

"A slut, more like," Roxas muttered. "Anyway, I'd go with Vexen any day, if I were you. Planning anything this weekend?"

"I might go down to the lake," The school owned some land next to the main campus, including a small lake surrounded in forest. It was open to the students, but not many people went there since it took a good half an hour trek to reach it.

"In this weather? Marluxia, it's pouring down out there!"

Marluxia looked out of the old windows of the dorm at the water droplets splattering and sliding down the surface of the glass. The water calmed and soothed him.

"I like rain," He murmured. "Come with me?"

"I think I'll pass," Roxas had turned back to his book and resumed reading. Marluxia sighed, jumping off the bed and fumbling around in the drawer beneath his bed for clothes.

"Suit yourself,"

"No sane person would go out in that downpour," Roxas defended.

"Whoever said I was sane?" Marluxia fired off his best savage grin, and Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"You're weird, Marluxia."

---

"There you are," Marluxia, now properly dressed, settled down next to Vexen on the long table. As he expected, the long haired boy was fastidiously working on an essay of some sort.

"I told you I was going to be in the library,"

Marluxia gave him a small glare for being so pedantic, but Vexen ignored it.

"Anyway. I'm going down to the lake, I was wondering if you wanted to come,"

"It's raining," Vexen pointed out. There wasn't much natural light in the dusty library, but you could still hear the constant pitter patter of rain on the roof.

"So? It's just water," Marluxia pouted. He wanted one of his friends to come with him for company, but he knew Larxene wouldn't come and he didn't want to stoop so low as to ask Luxord or worse, Hayner and Pence. He briefly wondered about Leon, but the odd boy had never really liked him much.

"It's cold," Vexen said, folding his textbook shut with a snap and opening up another one. He turned a page in his notepad and began to write again. "Why don't you ask Roxas?"

"He didn't want to come," Marluxia said.

"And I sympathise with him completely."

"Please?" Marluxia tried the begging approach. Vexen turned around and gave him a slightly disdainful look.

"You could always wait for a sunny day,"

"It's November. There won't be any of those any more for months," Marluxia pouted, realising now how much he was looking up at Vexen. It wasn't just that the blonde was taller than him, but he was also sitting a lot straighter in his chair than Marluxia, who was bent over like a hunchback. He kept staring at Vexen, trying to break down the icy barriers. Finally, Vexen turned back to his work, sighing.

"Fine. Fine. I'll just finish this and get my trainers, okay?"

"Yeah!" Marluxia scored. "Thanks, Vexen. I'll see you in the dorms," He wandered out of the library, a wide grin on his face.