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"How Not to Say No" [Ch 2] [KH] [zemyx]
Title: How Not to Say No
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Character/Pairing: Zemyx
Genre Humour/Romance
Rating: T
Word Count: 2543 ; Chapter 2/?
Description: Demyx has always believed in the power to “just say no”—he’s just never experienced it himself. College AU.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix and Disney
Click here to read from the beginning.
--
“Hey, Zexy!” called Demyx, waving as he flew into the café.
It was their third meeting of this sort since the night of the party, which, although it had been cut short by Axel and Roxas calling for a ride home, had been nothing short of amazing. The soft background music had propelled forward their conversation—through which Zexion had proven himself to be not only intelligent and funny, but also musically enlightened—the few other customers of the all-night café had been fairly quiet, at least compared to the noise of the club they’d just left, and Zexion and Demyx had shared a slice of chocolate cake. What could be more perfect? And today, he’d been able to get out of this week’s Friday-night party before he’d even been forced to try employing the big N-O word; he’d simply mentioned that he had plans with Zexion, and Axel and Roxas had grinned smugly at one another before waving their good-byes.
Zexion looked up and smiled. “Hello, Demyx,” he replied, carefully marking his place as he closed his book. “It’s nice to see you again. Though I wish you’d stop calling me that.”
Demyx pouted as he slid into the seat across from Zexion. “Why? It’s so cute! And so easy to remember!”
An eyebrow went up. “Cute? I hardly think so. And what makes it easier to remember than Zexion? It’s only one extra syllable.”
“Of course it’s cute! It’s easier because Zexion doesn’t rhyme with anything, whereas Zexy rhymes with—” Here his brain belatedly caught up with his mouth and quickly pulled the plug before he could finish mortifying himself. “It rhymes with, uh… Rexy.” He felt his face turn red, and tried not to think of how obvious of a cover up that had been.
Thankfully, Zexion only smirked, looking rather smugly pleased. “Oh? You think I’m kingly?”
“Huh?” Demyx was too focused on his relief that Zexion didn’t seem to have noticed his almost-slip to understand Zexion’s line of thought.
“Rex. It means ‘king’ in Latin, you know.”
The teasing smirk was still there, and Demyx was having a hard time meeting Zexion’s eyes. “O-oh. Right. Um. Actually, Rexy sounds sort of like Roxy, which is what Roxas’s—my roommate—what his best friend calls him, and, uh, yeah.”
“I see. That seems like a rather unnecessarily complex line of thought. You know, considering.”
“Considering what?” asked Demyx nervously. He was feeling rather overwhelmed by this conversation, especially since he’d just noticed that Zexion was wearing makeup. Just a touch of eyeliner, but Demyx was sure he hadn’t been wearing it during any of their previous meetings. Did that make today special? What if it was special, and he somehow screwed it up? What if he’d already screwed it up and just hadn’t noticed?
“Considering what else “Zexy” rhymes with,” smirked Zexion easily, before excusing himself to the restroom.
Demyx’s face went fire-engine red, and he began violently cursing his own stupidity. Of course Zexion had noticed. Even if it hadn’t been painfully obvious, Zexion noticed everything. His mind was about to go off into a panic when something else registered. As Zexion had walked by him, he could have sworn he’d caught a whiff of—cologne? Zexion was wearing cologne? They’d been standing fairly close at the club, and Demyx was sure that Zexion hadn’t been wearing cologne then. The other times? He didn’t think so… Makeup and cologne? Why today? Was today… was today a real date? Had the others all been real dates too?
…And so, rather than distracting him from his ensuing panic, his observation only served to shove him deeper in.
He’d acquired a coffee by the time Zexion reappeared, and was taking nervous, scalding sips, trying to calm himself down.
As Zexion started speaking, Demyx looked up, but his gaze caught on Zexion’s eye, which was darker and more defined than it had been before. Had Zexion… Had Zexion redone his eyeliner? Really? It took a moment to realise that Zexion was now staring at him expectantly, and he blushed, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Sorry, I was uh… Sorry, what did you say?”
Zexion’s lips twitched, and he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out until one lightly brushed Demyx’s foot. “I asked if you’re intending to go to Larxene’s Halloween party next weekend.”
“Oh. Um. I’m not sure. A-are you going?”
“Oh, I always go to Larxene’s parties. They’re guaranteed to be amusing, at the very least.” He gave a private little smirk, and then looked back at Demyx, his fingers gently tapping against the rim of his mug of tea. “Though I suppose you won’t be pleased with the music, considering your reaction to her shirt last week.”
“I—I mean, I—”
“Don’t worry; there will be more things to focus on than the music.” He tilted his head to one side, eyeing Demyx thoughtfully. “But if you do decide to go, it would be advisable to put your name in now, before all the good ones are gone.”
“I—What? All the good ones?”
Another secret smile. “Larxene assigns costume ideas via a raffle. If you don’t hurry, you not only won’t have time to prepare the costume, you also won’t get a worthwhile one.”
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Not at all. Don’t you like dressing up?”
“I—I don’t—I guess?”
“Mmm… Text me if you decide to come. Your roommate and his redheaded friend, too. I can let Larxene know.”
“Uh… Thanks…”
The conversation turned and continued from there until the two parted an hour or so later, but Demyx couldn’t stop thinking about the party and wondering what costume Zexion had drawn…
--
“Hey, Ax?”
It was Saturday afternoon—exactly a week before the Halloween party. Demyx was stretched out his bed, fiddling with his guitar absently as Roxas and Axel battled it out on their battered Nintendo.
“Ye—Oi! That’s not—Sh—Aw, hey, that’s totally—Dammit!” Throwing down his controller, he glared at the smirking Roxas before pointedly turning away. “Sorry, what, Demyx?”
Demyx was too caught up in his own thoughts to even notice that the game had ended. “Have we ever been to a party thrown by someone called Larxene? I can’t remember, but I’m not really normally any good at remembering these things, so…”
Axel guffawed. “Larxene? Fuck, no. Her parties are really exclusive. Invitation only and all that shit.”
Demyx blinked and sat up. “Invitation only?”
“Yeah, why? You wanted to go to one?”
“Well, that’s sort of what I was trying to decide…”
At that, Axel sat up, too. “Wait… Did you get invited to one?”
“Well, no, but… I guess Zexion assumed I had been or something, because he asked me if I was planning on going or not…”
“Zexion is invited?”
“Yeah, I guess. He said he never misses her parties.”
“How the hell does he get invitations?”
“I think he said Larxene is his roommate’s girlfriend or something… But these things can’t really be that exclusive, can they?”
Axel and Roxas exchanged fond but exasperated glances. “They are,” replied Roxas. “Only about twenty people get invited—all chosen by Larxene, and no plus-ones allowed.”
“This just sounds like a normal private party among friends. Well, other than the no plus-ones, I guess.”
Roxas hesitated. “Well, I guess they basically are, but…”
“But,” continued Axel, “Larxene is a crazy bitch, and everyone has heard of her crazy-bitch parties.”
Demyx stared at them, still confused. “How are they different from normal parties?”
Axel and Roxas both went blank. “They—they just… are?”
“You don’t know, either, then. So really, it’s just a normal, small, party, but someone made a big deal out of it and powered enough rumours to blow it completely out of proportion?”
“…Probably,” Roxas admitted grudgingly. “But whatever the reason, it’s still weird that Zexion assumed you’d been invited, right? I mean, if they’re that small, and he goes every time, he must know you’ve never been to one before.”
“Yeah… weird. He said to tell him if you guys and I were going, and he’d let Larxene know. He said there’s a costume raffle, and you have to enter early or you end up with a shitty costume design.”
“Us, too? Huh…” Axel stared off into space wonderingly.
“You’d better tell Zexion about the mix-up soon, Demyx, or he’ll probably be expecting you to show.” Roxas’s eyes were solemn as they met Demyx’s, and Demyx wondered absently why Roxas felt this party was such a serious topic.
“Yeah… I guess.” Demyx sighed, setting aside his guitar and rolling over onto his stomach to bury his face into his pillow.
“Demyx, by ‘soon,’ I meant ‘now.’”
Demyx made a weak sound of protest into his pillow.
“Halloween is only a week away, Demyx.”
“Mmph. How’d you know it was for Halloween?”
“You said ‘costumes,’” Roxas responded drily. “You do realise that a week is already cutting it close?”
Demyx rolled onto his side, hugging his guitar. “Yeah,” he said, “I just… I mean, what if it really is a crazy-exclusive party, that only the top echelon of the school gets invited to or something? And what if he was just hanging with me because he somehow thought I was a part of that clique? I mean… What if I tell him that I wasn’t invited, and he stops wanting to… to be my… friend?”
There was a delicate pause before Axel and Roxas broke down into laughter.
Demyx scowled. “Oi, you guys! I’m being serious, here!”
“Oh, we know that, Demyx,” sniggered Axel.
“That just makes it even better.” Roxas glanced at Axel, and some communication seemed to pass between them, because they both collapsed back into laughter.
“Friends,” laughed Roxas.
“Top… echelon…” gasped Axel.
“Are they really still going with just friends after three dates?!”
“You assholes,” snarled Demyx, flopping back down onto his stomach. “See if I tell you anything personal ever again. And those weren't dates.”
“Oh, like we would have needed you to tell us, Demyx. What with you broadcasting it out on every channel.”
Demyx whimpered into his pillow, and Roxas sighed. “Here,” he said, rising and snatching Demyx’s cell from his desk and tossing it onto his sprawled roommate. “Call him now. Ax and I will be down in the cafeteria.”
As Roxas dragged the still-sniggering Axel out of the room, Demyx stared hopelessly at his cell phone. Finally, he managed to scroll down to Zexion’s name and press the call button. Despite almost hanging up three times, he managed to last long enough to hear Zexion’s calm, “Hello,” before his brain went dead with panic.
“…Hello?” Came Zexion’s voice again.
“Uh… H-hi, Z-Zexion.”
He could hear the smile in Zexion’s voice as he responded. “Demyx. Congratulations—you managed my whole name this time.”
“Uh… Yeah…”
There was a long moment of silence, before Zexion tentatively asked, “Is this about the party?”
Demyx cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and managed, “Yeah. Actually, when you asked that, I didn’t really realise that it was an invitation-only party, so…”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, yeah, since I don’t have an invitation,” said Demyx, chuckling nervously.
“Didn’t I invite you?”
“I—I mean, did you? Ca—Can you do that?”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Uh, right. Axel and Roxas, too?”
“Obviously.”
“A-ah.”
“Does this mean you’re coming?”
“Well, I—Yeah. I’d really love to go to a party with you. I—I mean, as friends.” Demyx closed his eyes desperately. He should have made Roxas call for him.
“Excellent. Larxene has been looking forward to meeting you ever since I mentioned that we’d become… ah… ‘friends.’” There was a definite smirk to Zexion’s tone, and Demyx shivered unconsciously.
“G-great. So, how do I find out about the raffle?”
“Larxene will contact you. You're supposed to keep them a secret until the party.”
“Okay. Should I send you Axel and Roxas’s phone numbers?”
“That would be helpful.” Still with the smirk.
“R-right. So… bye then.”
“Good-bye, Demyx.”
After they had hung up, Demyx lay unmoving on his bed for several long moments, processing what had just happened.
Then, he shot up and out of the room, not even pausing to lock the door as he raced down to the cafeteria.
“AXEL,” he screamed. “ROXAS.”
The two looked up from their conversation and waved Demyx over to their table, completely unperturbed by the fact that the entire room was now staring at them. “I guess he made the phone call,” Roxas confided to Axel in a mild tone. “I wasn’t sure if he’d actually do it without more vicious prompting.” He slid his tray out of the way as Demyx slammed down across from them.
“I don’t even want to know what you were planning, Roxy,” said Axel easily, snagging a curly fry from his friend’s plate.
“You guys,” panted Demyx, gesturing wildly and managing to be completely unaware of the way all the people at the neighbouring tables were leaning in to hear better. “You guys. Zexion invited me to the party and I don’t know what I’m going to do!”
Axel and Roxas exchanged a long-suffering glance. “Well, you said you’d go, right?”
“Well, yeah. I said you guys are coming too, by the way.”
Axel blinked. “What? Why would you want us there?”
“Moral support. I’m about to go to a party with the most amazing person in the world, where I’ll have to meet all of his friends.”
Roxas’s eyes brightened. “You’re going together? So you’re official now?”
“No, we’re going as friends.”
Axel and Roxas groaned simultaneously.
“Come on, you guys! I need your help! I don’t know how I’m going to survive this!”
“Well, you’ve done fine when you’ve gone out together so far, haven’t you?”
“That was one-on-one, and did not involve all of his friends being there to beat me up when they see how uncool I am.”
“Demyx… Don’t you think you’re over-reacting a little?”
“NO!”
Axel sighed and leaned across the table, snatching Demyx’s nervous hands and holding them between his own. “Demyx. Listen to me. If Zexion went through the trouble to get you invited to this party—and even invited your friends, who he barely knows—it was because he likes you. Okay?”
Demyx nodded, not meeting Axel’s eyes.
“It’ll be fine,” said Roxas, giving him a rare smile. “You’ll have a blast.”
Demyx took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “You’re right. I’m just being silly. Right. I can do this.”
Axel leaned back and shared a grin with Roxas, before starting. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open just as Roxas’s cell chimed, announcing an incoming message.
“Oh yeah, I sent your numbers to Zexion. He said Larxene would contact us about the costumes, since I guess they’re supposed to be a secret.”
Axel’s red eyebrow was raised, and he glanced over at Roxas, lips twitching. Roxas was tapping his thumb against the side of his phone, biting his lip to keep from laughing.
Just then, Demyx’s phone went off, and he snatched it up to see the message.
Demyx. Sat.31Oct.7pm. 3186 Barber’s Ave, Castle Oblivion, Rm1212. Turkey. Be creative.
Demyx let his head fall down onto the table and mourned his love life, dead before it even had the chance to live.
--END CHAPTER—
Previous Chapter
-
--
---
[Fanfiction Masterlist can be found here.]
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Character/Pairing: Zemyx
Genre Humour/Romance
Rating: T
Word Count: 2543 ; Chapter 2/?
Description: Demyx has always believed in the power to “just say no”—he’s just never experienced it himself. College AU.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix and Disney
Click here to read from the beginning.
--
“Hey, Zexy!” called Demyx, waving as he flew into the café.
It was their third meeting of this sort since the night of the party, which, although it had been cut short by Axel and Roxas calling for a ride home, had been nothing short of amazing. The soft background music had propelled forward their conversation—through which Zexion had proven himself to be not only intelligent and funny, but also musically enlightened—the few other customers of the all-night café had been fairly quiet, at least compared to the noise of the club they’d just left, and Zexion and Demyx had shared a slice of chocolate cake. What could be more perfect? And today, he’d been able to get out of this week’s Friday-night party before he’d even been forced to try employing the big N-O word; he’d simply mentioned that he had plans with Zexion, and Axel and Roxas had grinned smugly at one another before waving their good-byes.
Zexion looked up and smiled. “Hello, Demyx,” he replied, carefully marking his place as he closed his book. “It’s nice to see you again. Though I wish you’d stop calling me that.”
Demyx pouted as he slid into the seat across from Zexion. “Why? It’s so cute! And so easy to remember!”
An eyebrow went up. “Cute? I hardly think so. And what makes it easier to remember than Zexion? It’s only one extra syllable.”
“Of course it’s cute! It’s easier because Zexion doesn’t rhyme with anything, whereas Zexy rhymes with—” Here his brain belatedly caught up with his mouth and quickly pulled the plug before he could finish mortifying himself. “It rhymes with, uh… Rexy.” He felt his face turn red, and tried not to think of how obvious of a cover up that had been.
Thankfully, Zexion only smirked, looking rather smugly pleased. “Oh? You think I’m kingly?”
“Huh?” Demyx was too focused on his relief that Zexion didn’t seem to have noticed his almost-slip to understand Zexion’s line of thought.
“Rex. It means ‘king’ in Latin, you know.”
The teasing smirk was still there, and Demyx was having a hard time meeting Zexion’s eyes. “O-oh. Right. Um. Actually, Rexy sounds sort of like Roxy, which is what Roxas’s—my roommate—what his best friend calls him, and, uh, yeah.”
“I see. That seems like a rather unnecessarily complex line of thought. You know, considering.”
“Considering what?” asked Demyx nervously. He was feeling rather overwhelmed by this conversation, especially since he’d just noticed that Zexion was wearing makeup. Just a touch of eyeliner, but Demyx was sure he hadn’t been wearing it during any of their previous meetings. Did that make today special? What if it was special, and he somehow screwed it up? What if he’d already screwed it up and just hadn’t noticed?
“Considering what else “Zexy” rhymes with,” smirked Zexion easily, before excusing himself to the restroom.
Demyx’s face went fire-engine red, and he began violently cursing his own stupidity. Of course Zexion had noticed. Even if it hadn’t been painfully obvious, Zexion noticed everything. His mind was about to go off into a panic when something else registered. As Zexion had walked by him, he could have sworn he’d caught a whiff of—cologne? Zexion was wearing cologne? They’d been standing fairly close at the club, and Demyx was sure that Zexion hadn’t been wearing cologne then. The other times? He didn’t think so… Makeup and cologne? Why today? Was today… was today a real date? Had the others all been real dates too?
…And so, rather than distracting him from his ensuing panic, his observation only served to shove him deeper in.
He’d acquired a coffee by the time Zexion reappeared, and was taking nervous, scalding sips, trying to calm himself down.
As Zexion started speaking, Demyx looked up, but his gaze caught on Zexion’s eye, which was darker and more defined than it had been before. Had Zexion… Had Zexion redone his eyeliner? Really? It took a moment to realise that Zexion was now staring at him expectantly, and he blushed, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Sorry, I was uh… Sorry, what did you say?”
Zexion’s lips twitched, and he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out until one lightly brushed Demyx’s foot. “I asked if you’re intending to go to Larxene’s Halloween party next weekend.”
“Oh. Um. I’m not sure. A-are you going?”
“Oh, I always go to Larxene’s parties. They’re guaranteed to be amusing, at the very least.” He gave a private little smirk, and then looked back at Demyx, his fingers gently tapping against the rim of his mug of tea. “Though I suppose you won’t be pleased with the music, considering your reaction to her shirt last week.”
“I—I mean, I—”
“Don’t worry; there will be more things to focus on than the music.” He tilted his head to one side, eyeing Demyx thoughtfully. “But if you do decide to go, it would be advisable to put your name in now, before all the good ones are gone.”
“I—What? All the good ones?”
Another secret smile. “Larxene assigns costume ideas via a raffle. If you don’t hurry, you not only won’t have time to prepare the costume, you also won’t get a worthwhile one.”
“…You’re joking, right?”
“Not at all. Don’t you like dressing up?”
“I—I don’t—I guess?”
“Mmm… Text me if you decide to come. Your roommate and his redheaded friend, too. I can let Larxene know.”
“Uh… Thanks…”
The conversation turned and continued from there until the two parted an hour or so later, but Demyx couldn’t stop thinking about the party and wondering what costume Zexion had drawn…
--
“Hey, Ax?”
It was Saturday afternoon—exactly a week before the Halloween party. Demyx was stretched out his bed, fiddling with his guitar absently as Roxas and Axel battled it out on their battered Nintendo.
“Ye—Oi! That’s not—Sh—Aw, hey, that’s totally—Dammit!” Throwing down his controller, he glared at the smirking Roxas before pointedly turning away. “Sorry, what, Demyx?”
Demyx was too caught up in his own thoughts to even notice that the game had ended. “Have we ever been to a party thrown by someone called Larxene? I can’t remember, but I’m not really normally any good at remembering these things, so…”
Axel guffawed. “Larxene? Fuck, no. Her parties are really exclusive. Invitation only and all that shit.”
Demyx blinked and sat up. “Invitation only?”
“Yeah, why? You wanted to go to one?”
“Well, that’s sort of what I was trying to decide…”
At that, Axel sat up, too. “Wait… Did you get invited to one?”
“Well, no, but… I guess Zexion assumed I had been or something, because he asked me if I was planning on going or not…”
“Zexion is invited?”
“Yeah, I guess. He said he never misses her parties.”
“How the hell does he get invitations?”
“I think he said Larxene is his roommate’s girlfriend or something… But these things can’t really be that exclusive, can they?”
Axel and Roxas exchanged fond but exasperated glances. “They are,” replied Roxas. “Only about twenty people get invited—all chosen by Larxene, and no plus-ones allowed.”
“This just sounds like a normal private party among friends. Well, other than the no plus-ones, I guess.”
Roxas hesitated. “Well, I guess they basically are, but…”
“But,” continued Axel, “Larxene is a crazy bitch, and everyone has heard of her crazy-bitch parties.”
Demyx stared at them, still confused. “How are they different from normal parties?”
Axel and Roxas both went blank. “They—they just… are?”
“You don’t know, either, then. So really, it’s just a normal, small, party, but someone made a big deal out of it and powered enough rumours to blow it completely out of proportion?”
“…Probably,” Roxas admitted grudgingly. “But whatever the reason, it’s still weird that Zexion assumed you’d been invited, right? I mean, if they’re that small, and he goes every time, he must know you’ve never been to one before.”
“Yeah… weird. He said to tell him if you guys and I were going, and he’d let Larxene know. He said there’s a costume raffle, and you have to enter early or you end up with a shitty costume design.”
“Us, too? Huh…” Axel stared off into space wonderingly.
“You’d better tell Zexion about the mix-up soon, Demyx, or he’ll probably be expecting you to show.” Roxas’s eyes were solemn as they met Demyx’s, and Demyx wondered absently why Roxas felt this party was such a serious topic.
“Yeah… I guess.” Demyx sighed, setting aside his guitar and rolling over onto his stomach to bury his face into his pillow.
“Demyx, by ‘soon,’ I meant ‘now.’”
Demyx made a weak sound of protest into his pillow.
“Halloween is only a week away, Demyx.”
“Mmph. How’d you know it was for Halloween?”
“You said ‘costumes,’” Roxas responded drily. “You do realise that a week is already cutting it close?”
Demyx rolled onto his side, hugging his guitar. “Yeah,” he said, “I just… I mean, what if it really is a crazy-exclusive party, that only the top echelon of the school gets invited to or something? And what if he was just hanging with me because he somehow thought I was a part of that clique? I mean… What if I tell him that I wasn’t invited, and he stops wanting to… to be my… friend?”
There was a delicate pause before Axel and Roxas broke down into laughter.
Demyx scowled. “Oi, you guys! I’m being serious, here!”
“Oh, we know that, Demyx,” sniggered Axel.
“That just makes it even better.” Roxas glanced at Axel, and some communication seemed to pass between them, because they both collapsed back into laughter.
“Friends,” laughed Roxas.
“Top… echelon…” gasped Axel.
“Are they really still going with just friends after three dates?!”
“You assholes,” snarled Demyx, flopping back down onto his stomach. “See if I tell you anything personal ever again. And those weren't dates.”
“Oh, like we would have needed you to tell us, Demyx. What with you broadcasting it out on every channel.”
Demyx whimpered into his pillow, and Roxas sighed. “Here,” he said, rising and snatching Demyx’s cell from his desk and tossing it onto his sprawled roommate. “Call him now. Ax and I will be down in the cafeteria.”
As Roxas dragged the still-sniggering Axel out of the room, Demyx stared hopelessly at his cell phone. Finally, he managed to scroll down to Zexion’s name and press the call button. Despite almost hanging up three times, he managed to last long enough to hear Zexion’s calm, “Hello,” before his brain went dead with panic.
“…Hello?” Came Zexion’s voice again.
“Uh… H-hi, Z-Zexion.”
He could hear the smile in Zexion’s voice as he responded. “Demyx. Congratulations—you managed my whole name this time.”
“Uh… Yeah…”
There was a long moment of silence, before Zexion tentatively asked, “Is this about the party?”
Demyx cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and managed, “Yeah. Actually, when you asked that, I didn’t really realise that it was an invitation-only party, so…”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, yeah, since I don’t have an invitation,” said Demyx, chuckling nervously.
“Didn’t I invite you?”
“I—I mean, did you? Ca—Can you do that?”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Uh, right. Axel and Roxas, too?”
“Obviously.”
“A-ah.”
“Does this mean you’re coming?”
“Well, I—Yeah. I’d really love to go to a party with you. I—I mean, as friends.” Demyx closed his eyes desperately. He should have made Roxas call for him.
“Excellent. Larxene has been looking forward to meeting you ever since I mentioned that we’d become… ah… ‘friends.’” There was a definite smirk to Zexion’s tone, and Demyx shivered unconsciously.
“G-great. So, how do I find out about the raffle?”
“Larxene will contact you. You're supposed to keep them a secret until the party.”
“Okay. Should I send you Axel and Roxas’s phone numbers?”
“That would be helpful.” Still with the smirk.
“R-right. So… bye then.”
“Good-bye, Demyx.”
After they had hung up, Demyx lay unmoving on his bed for several long moments, processing what had just happened.
Then, he shot up and out of the room, not even pausing to lock the door as he raced down to the cafeteria.
“AXEL,” he screamed. “ROXAS.”
The two looked up from their conversation and waved Demyx over to their table, completely unperturbed by the fact that the entire room was now staring at them. “I guess he made the phone call,” Roxas confided to Axel in a mild tone. “I wasn’t sure if he’d actually do it without more vicious prompting.” He slid his tray out of the way as Demyx slammed down across from them.
“I don’t even want to know what you were planning, Roxy,” said Axel easily, snagging a curly fry from his friend’s plate.
“You guys,” panted Demyx, gesturing wildly and managing to be completely unaware of the way all the people at the neighbouring tables were leaning in to hear better. “You guys. Zexion invited me to the party and I don’t know what I’m going to do!”
Axel and Roxas exchanged a long-suffering glance. “Well, you said you’d go, right?”
“Well, yeah. I said you guys are coming too, by the way.”
Axel blinked. “What? Why would you want us there?”
“Moral support. I’m about to go to a party with the most amazing person in the world, where I’ll have to meet all of his friends.”
Roxas’s eyes brightened. “You’re going together? So you’re official now?”
“No, we’re going as friends.”
Axel and Roxas groaned simultaneously.
“Come on, you guys! I need your help! I don’t know how I’m going to survive this!”
“Well, you’ve done fine when you’ve gone out together so far, haven’t you?”
“That was one-on-one, and did not involve all of his friends being there to beat me up when they see how uncool I am.”
“Demyx… Don’t you think you’re over-reacting a little?”
“NO!”
Axel sighed and leaned across the table, snatching Demyx’s nervous hands and holding them between his own. “Demyx. Listen to me. If Zexion went through the trouble to get you invited to this party—and even invited your friends, who he barely knows—it was because he likes you. Okay?”
Demyx nodded, not meeting Axel’s eyes.
“It’ll be fine,” said Roxas, giving him a rare smile. “You’ll have a blast.”
Demyx took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “You’re right. I’m just being silly. Right. I can do this.”
Axel leaned back and shared a grin with Roxas, before starting. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open just as Roxas’s cell chimed, announcing an incoming message.
“Oh yeah, I sent your numbers to Zexion. He said Larxene would contact us about the costumes, since I guess they’re supposed to be a secret.”
Axel’s red eyebrow was raised, and he glanced over at Roxas, lips twitching. Roxas was tapping his thumb against the side of his phone, biting his lip to keep from laughing.
Just then, Demyx’s phone went off, and he snatched it up to see the message.
Demyx. Sat.31Oct.7pm. 3186 Barber’s Ave, Castle Oblivion, Rm1212. Turkey. Be creative.
Demyx let his head fall down onto the table and mourned his love life, dead before it even had the chance to live.
--END CHAPTER—
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