Demyx had been mid-practise when he'd had an urge for a frappuccino. Though he tried to stave it off with some particularly challenging sitar pieces, even his music couldn't trump his stomach this time. Which was why he was currently queuing in his university's nearest coffee shop, staring at a man a few paces away from him. Who had the coolest hair.

He'd thought Riku's hair was strange, being silver and all, but this guy's was a shade that bordered on blue, which was really weird. He liked it. He liked unusual hair. He fingered his mullet nervously, knowing it wasn't to most people's tastes, but he thought it suited him. Plus it really annoyed Axel.

If Demyx had been most people (or maybe just Axel), he would've gone and introduced himself. Or struck up a conversation. Anything. But Demyx knew he had a tendency to freak people out when he first met them, because apparently he could be kind of intense, and hard to follow. Axel had helpfully told him all this, while Sora had tried to soften the blow by saying that though he may come across as a bit crazy, he did at least seem to be a harmless crazy.

That was something, he supposed.

So no, he wouldn't force his person onto this different, hot, wonderful man. He would quietly stare and hope it went unnoticed, and notice what drink he'd ordered and forever associate it with-

Riku was there, and he was talking to him. He knew Riku, he had an in!

Apologising a few times as he passed people in the queue, he reached them and nearly stumbled onto Riku, who turned with an annoyed expression, before realising who it was.

"Hey Dem, what's up?"

"Umm, not much. What're you doing here?" He tried desperately hard not to glance at the man. It was hard. Really hard. But he did it.

"Meeting Sora for some coffee," Riku said, waving to the back of the shop, where Demyx saw Sora had saved them a table. "I'm showing my lab partner the best coffee on campus," he added with a smirk.

Demyx glanced at Riku's companion, then back at Riku and gave no response. Riku would get the hint. He would have to get the hint.

"Oh, sorry. Demyx, this is Zexion. Zexion, Demyx."

When he heard the name, his first thought was of its uniqueness, not that he was one to talk. In fact, he figured they could probably bond over their respective strange names, and rue the fact that their parents wanted their children to stand out from the crowd.

He intended to start the conversation along the lines of 'wow, what a name huh! What is that, Norweigan or something?' but instead what tumbled out of his mouth was, "Your name must be worth so much on a scrabble board!"

This was met with silence, and he realised Zexion and Riku were both staring at him. He swallowed, opened and closed his mouth, and then Zexion said, "22."

Demyx blinked, and then mentally added up in his head. "Oh! Yeah, it is 22. Mine's only...18. And Riku's is 8. He loses."

Riku rolled his eyes and gave Zexion a look before going back to sit with Sora, where Demyx presumed the two would sit and chat and flirt while pretending that they weren't.

But focusing on more important issues, now Demyx had been left with a cute guy, of whom he only knew his name, scrabble number equivalent, and the fact that he shares a class with Riku. Though at first Demyx had been taken in by his looks, the fact that Zexion had then taken his scrabble comment in his stride, and even joined in, had changed things. Most people would've just stared at Demyx and then acted like he wasn't there.

"Do you major in music?" The question threw him off guard, and he blinked in confusion at Zexion.

"Yes...did Riku tell you?" It seemed unlikely, as Riku had seemed not to have ever mentioned Demyx to Zexion before, but how else would he know?

"No, your guitar case." Oh. That's how.

Before he could stop himself, Demyx said quickly "It's a sitar, actually." He swiftly shut his mouth; as Axel was always reminding him, just because he thought something was really awesome and interesting didn't mean that the person who he'd been rambling to for the past ten minutes did as well.

"Oh? What's the difference?" Zexion looked genuinely interested, or maybe he was just good at faking it. Demyx almost felt obliged to tell him that he'd just opened a can of worms and he may not stop talking for about an hour.

To make up for this, he glanced around the cafe, spotted an empty table and said, "D'you wanna sit down, and I'll get you a drink then tell you?"

Zexion frowned, and was quick to respond. "Oh no, don't worry, I can get my own."

"No, no, I insist," Demyx pointed Zexion towards the table, before going there himself to dump his sitar. He wanted to actually talk to the man, so he refrained from telling him that the drink was to make up for what was going to be a long conversation, if he had anything to say about it. "What do you want?"

Zexion was seated now, but still frowning. Nonetheless, he asked for a coffee which Demyx was quick to buy.

Now seated himself, Demyx sipped at his frappuccino, and began to tell Zexion (who may or may not have been actually interested, he hadn't figured it out yet) about sitars, electric sitars, and his band Nexus of our Broken Souls, of which he was the sole member.

Demyx had been disappointed to hear that Zexion did not play a musical instrument (and thus couldn't join his band), but it turned out okay because Zexion made the suggestion of trying to recruit band members rather than waiting for them to come to him.

Zexion was one of those insanely clever kinds; the type who answers questions that people ask rhetorically. He's majoring in Chemistry, but Demyx got the feeling he could've picked any subject and done just as well in it (except maybe music).

He was explaining this to Axel, who was nodding and saying 'uh huh...uh huh...' every so often. They were waiting for the next auditionee, and Axel had demanded he be present otherwise Demyx's 'already joke of a band would achieve the unachievable and get even shittier'. Demyx was quite insulted but valued Axel's opinion (he was the kind who listens to metal and old school rock, and fancied himself to be hard-core).

So far, they had heard a girl sing opera music, a guy playing the flute, and a rather memorable rendition of 'Candle in the Wind' on a pair of bongos.

Axel blamed Demyx's advertisement, which asked for a wide variety of musical talents to audition.

Demyx felt that as he played the sitar, and not the more typical guitar, he should not stifle and contain the possibly brilliant and unknown obscure talent that may be present in Destiny Islands. Axel felt that Demyx should just get a drummer, a bassist, a singer, and an actual guitarist and start up a real band.

If Zexion were here, he'd probably be telling Demyx to think about what direction he wanted his band to take- that sounded like a clever thing to do. The thing was, Demyx liked all kinds of music, and thinking about limiting himself to just one genre distressed him.

Just as Demyx was biting his lip in deliberation and Axel was about to walk out and drag Riku to a bar somewhere, a blond walked into the room.

Demyx glanced up, and saw the bass the blond had ready to play in his hands. Axel would be happy. He glanced to his right and saw he was right, Axel looked very happy about someone turning up with a bass.

Demyx remembered to be friendly and smiled at the blond and made a 'go on' gesture, and almost immediately the bass was being plucked and played expertly, and Demyx was grinning because he could have a bassist in his band.

When the blond was finished, Demyx smiled at him and noticed the auditionee had yet to smile or make any facial expression except looking focused while he played, but he ploughed on and asked "What's your name?"

"Roxas." His name would be 12 in scrabble, Demyx mused, and glanced at Axel who was 11. "I have a question."

Demyx blinked at Roxas, but before he could answer Axel butted in and drawled, "Go on."

Oh dear. Demyx glanced at his friend. He was slouched and smirking slightly. Trying to look casual and cool. Demyx's gaze returned to Roxas, who seemed unimpressed.

"Who's actually in this band so far? Because I'm already in a band, shit as it is, but I'm only gonna leave for something better."

Demyx was a bit panicked. There wasn't really a good way to spin 'it's just me and my sitar'. Maybe he could try and big up being a 'founding member'...

"Well," Axel began and Demyx sent him an alarmed look, because Axel knew nothing about the band or Demyx's vision. "Demyx here plays the sitar."

Roxas's brow seemed to furrow, and he asked, "Sitar?"

Axel was nodding, and replying, "Yeah, you know. Like a guitar, only more ethnic." Demyx felt insulted. "It's different, ya know? Not run-of-the-mill, like every other shitty amateur rock band out there."

Roxas was frowning now, and Demyx felt quite panicked, but as he seemed to have no part to play in the negotiations for his own band he kept quiet.

"Who else is there? Tell me there's at least a singer."

Sighing, Demyx realised they'd lost him because he sure as hell couldn't sing.

"Hell yeah we got a singer. What do you think I'm here for?"

"Axel, you can't just join my band! It's my band! I decide who's in it!"

"Chill out Dem, it'll be fine. Not like you have one already, right?" Axel looked far too pleased with himself, and was grinning for no reason. "This is gonna be so fun." Demyx knew he was talking about their new blond bassist and not the band. "You wouldn't even have a bassist if it wasn't for me, and Dem, that kid had skills."

That was true, however... "Dude, can you even sing?"

Axel stopped walking abruptly, and he looked thoughtful. "Well. I can't not sing."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Demyx yelled, stopping too as he shook his hands around in distressed gestures.

"Chill, chill, don't worry. It'll all work out." The grin was back on his face. Demyx didn't like it.

Demyx was very stressed. What with his band's rehearsals (which inevitably ended in Roxas storming out in the wake of Axel's attentions, which bordered on sexual harassment), his new music assignment to write a song (with lyrics- the first assignment he'd gotten so far that he was struggling with), and finally the fact that he'd come to realise that he had no way to contact Zexion.

Zexion, he was sure, could handle all of the problems which were currently plaguing Demyx. In fact, he'd probably deal with them, and then go and solve world hunger afterwards just for kicks. Not that Zexion would ever have to worry about struggling with an assignment or a horny singer (who may or may not be able to sing, they had never actually gotten round to rehearsing in rehearsals) scaring off your prized and pissy bassist.

Groaning, Demyx let his head fall onto the library desk, giving up on work. And now his head hurt.

"Demyx, what's up?"

Raising his head, Demyx found himself staring into Sora's sky-blue eyes. He smiled, and greeted the boy. "Not much, just you know...work, band, Axel. You?"

"I'm fine. Just taking a break from doing some work." Sora's smile was extra-wide, and as he glanced down at the scribbles and doodles that Demyx had been doing for the past hour, Demyx quickly peeked past him and saw Riku standing by the copier machine, looking very much like he was flirting with the attendant helping him out. Withholding a sigh, Demyx turned back to Sora who seemed to have forgotten that he didn't have to smile all the time to convince people that he was perfectly fine. When Sora smiled it meant he was happy. When he grinned it meant he was having fun. When his smile stretched just slightly too much, but not enough to become a grin, it meant Riku had done something to upset him.

But clearly Sora didn't want to talk about it, so Demyx simply stated, "I have to write a song, but I can't. I suck at lyrics."

Sora's wide smile turned into a grin, and he pointed at a scribbled 'Zexion' in the middle of the page between a bunch of random, deep and pointless words (like 'Destiny' and 'Insipid'- because it sounded clever). "Something distracting you?"

"I wanna see him again, Sora! He was so cool!" Demyx was just stopping himself from pouting. "Did you see? You saw right? He was actually listening to me! To me!" Demyx pointed at himself incredulously, and Sora laughed in response.

"And he didn't even seem to be humouring you!"

Demyx grinned, and bounced slightly on his seat. "Did you think so too? I thought he seemed genuine, but I wasn't sure. Do you know him?"

Sora shook his head, and answered, "No, the only reason I know him is 'cause he's Riku's study buddy." Demyx smiled and nodded at Sora, seeing how he kept his body facing Demyx's and waved a casual hand over his shoulder towards Riku.

Luckily, Riku appeared to be done and was glancing around the library, presumably looking for Sora. Instead, Demyx watched as he found Axel instead. Frowning, Demyx mused out loud, "What the hell is Axel doing in a library...?"

Sora turned around and saw Riku and Axel conversing together, and caught their attention by waving frantically at them. When they began to head over towards them, Sora addressed Demyx once more and said quickly, "Riku and me have to go 'cause we have a class now, but come over to his apartment tonight, bout 7ish. I was gonna watch a film while he and Zexion revised for a test they have at the end of the week." Sora was grinning now and Demyx grinned back, and then Riku and Axel arrived and the two left.

As they walked away, Demyx sighed and muttered quietly to Axel, "Those two make me so sad..."

Axel patted his shoulders a couple of times, as he said, "C'mon, you know they'll get it together eventually."

"Hmmm," Demyx frowned to himself and gave one more sigh before asking Axel, "Why're you in the library, dude?"

"Looking for you." Ah. "I arranged rehearsals with Roxas, we're gonna meet tomorrow in the hall at 5ish."

Demyx began to pack up his stuff, giving up on getting anything done. "Axel, can you please, PLEASE, try and not wind Roxas up? It's a miracle he hasn't left already!"

Axel just smirked. "You leave Roxas to me." That did not comfort Demyx in the slightest. "Anyway, I have band news."

"Oh my god," Demyx breathed, panicked. "Tell me you didn't book us a gig somewhere, we are NOWHERE NEAR ready, we'll be destroyed-!"

"No no no, Christ, shut up. It's good news." Axel grinned a bit maniacally and leaned forward. "We have a drummer."

Shuffling outside of Riku's apartment door at just past 7, Demyx took a deep breath and knocked. He didn't know if Zexion knew he was coming; and if he did know, that Demyx wasn't there to watch a movie with Sora but to attempt to connect further and actually get the number of Zexion.

The door opened revealing a grinning Sora, who ushered him in and led him toward the couch, where he sat nervously as Sora left the room quickly. He came back with a small pile of DVDs, and sat next to Demyx.

"Zexion isn't here yet." These words prompted Demyx to relax. "He'll be here in about fifteen minutes, and they're gonna work over in the kitchenette place over there, okay?"

Demyx nodded a few times, and then turned his attention to the DVDs Sora had brought in. "I thought we could watch one of the ones Riku won't watch with me."

The Swan Princess, The Rescuers, The Land Before Time...

"Oh! I haven't seen that since I was a kid!" Demyx sat excitedly, while Sora replied in kind.

"Which! Which one!"

"Land Before Time. Dinosaurs, right?"

"Yep," Sora said as he set up the TV. "Riku's told me not to bother him and Zexion too much, so we have to walk the thin line between occasionally drawing their attention and having fun, and genuinely bothering them. Because they're 'actually working', and they 'actually want to pass this year and do well'." Sora was rolling his eyes at this, and Demyx nodded.

"Lame."

"Exactly. Anyway, baby dinosaurs!"

As it turned out, it wasn't Sora and Demyx that disrupted the study session, but Zexion.

"Land Before Time?"

"Yep!" Demyx switched his attention from the screen to Zexion, who had just entered the apartment. His heart sped up a little bit and he smiled widely. "These baby dinosaurs are separated from their parents and have to find their own way to the Great Valley!"

"Yeah..." Zexion perched on the end of the sofa. "I'm pretty sure I watched this when I was a kid."

"Me too!"

"Zexion, c'mon. We gotta start this now."

"Yeah Riku, one sec." Zexion waved his hand dismissively and focused on the TV.

"Zexion. Did you come here to watch a cartoon aimed at 4 year olds or to work on Biochemistry?" Demyx could see Riku was annoyed. Blind men could see he was annoyed. He'd set up a little study area on the kitchen table, with sheets, pens, and even highlighters ('cause Riku was a bit anal). He was using one of the pens to tap in an irritated way on the table, and was glaring at Zexion.

Nonetheless...

"Yeah, just gimme a sec." Despite what Zexion was saying, he had positioned himself onto the couch beside Demyx.

Demyx beamed and offered Zexion some popcorn, who took it. Riku could be heard growling behind them, causing Demyx to glance nervously at Zexion. He was relieved to see Zexion wasn't reacting at all to Riku's obvious displeasure.

They watched the whole film. All seventy minutes of it. Riku had grabbed his stuff within five and gone to his bedroom, grumbling the whole way. Despite being pleased that Zexion had stayed, Demyx was worried that Riku would be angry about it, and would probably be angry at Zexion himself. Demyx didn't want that, and thinking that his own selfish motivations would push a wedge between Zexion and Riku's geeky relationship made him feel bad.

However, when the film had finished Zexion had headed to Riku's bedroom and shortly after the two had exited looking fine with each other. He and Sora had started tidying up the snacks they'd gotten out over the course of the film, when Zexion announced he was leaving. Demyx's heart seized up.

He just had to ask. Zexion wouldn't exactly say no. Riku probably had his number, but explaining that he'd gotten the number from Riku would sound weird. He just had to ask for his number. Hell, even ask for a date! It wasn't that hard. Just ask for his number...

"So basically, you bottled it." Axel had accompanied Demyx to the library again, and was meant to be helping him write the lyrics for his assignment. But there'd been only one topic of conversation so far, and though his stuff was out on the desk they'd grabbed, ready to be worked on, it hadn't been touched.

"I did not bottle it. I just...lost my nerve."

"Ergo, you bottled it. C'mon man, I got Roxas's number within ten minutes of meeting him."

"So did I! He gave it to us so we could contact him about the band!"

"Yeah, but still." Axel rolled his eyes, and then looked thoughtful. "If you're gonna be a pussy about it, then maybe you should create a situation where you need each other's numbers. Like I did with Roxas."

"But he can't join the band, he doesn't play an instr-" Demyx broke off with wide eyes. "Maybe he can sing! He can be our singer!"

"Errr, that's a great plan except for one little detail. I'm your singer."

"Tccch," Demyx waved a dismissive hand. "I've never even heard you sing."

"The anticipation will make it better, okay? Look, if the guy can sing then if he actually wanted to join this shitty band he would've told you he could by now."

"Hmm..." Demyx frowned, trying to think of a situation where Zexion needed his number. He could make himself so so so irresistible to him that Zexion had to ask for his number. Wait.

"Axel!" Demyx yelled alarmed, and turned to face him with a feeling of growing trepidation inside of him. "Why hasn't he asked for my number? I mean, we're both guys, either of us could ask. He hasn't asked; he must not like me!"

Axel took a deep breath, and then said carefully, "Yes, but Demyx you haven't asked him for his either and you're crazy for him." Axel looked like he was getting a bit tired of talking about this. To be fair to him, Demyx had made him go on one of the ancient library computers so he could show him a picture of Zexion, who was on the university website for doing something ground-breaking that Demyx didn't understand.

"Yeah, but that's different. He's not a spaz like me, if he wanted something he would just...go for it!" Demyx stared into space with a lost expression on his face. "And he hasn't gone for me..."

"Demyx." Axel laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and turned Demyx to face him. "Listen to me. The man sat and listened to you ramble about music for hours. He blew off a geeky study session, a voluntary geeky study session, and watched Land Before Time with you. Now these are not things a normal person would do. Maybe a secret, hidden interest in music would explain the sitar/band conversation, but watching Land Before Time? Demyx, no." Axel leant forward. "He watched that pile of crap from start to finish. He's definitely interested."

The argument Axel put forward was promising, and made sense. But still. "He was saying that he watched it when he was a kid. Maybe he was, ya know...reminiscing."

"Or maybe he was trying to get into your pants, okay?" Axel tossed down a pen and glared at his nervous friend.

"Really? You really think he was trying to get into my pants?"

Axel sighed. "Yes. I really do."

Demyx was happy. Really happy. Axel usually knew what he was talking about, so if he seemed to think it was the case then it very well may be. However, it was also true that he'd never seen Demyx and Zexion interact. Hell he'd never even met Zexion. But still. It could be true.

There was something else as well. "Do you think he wants...more?"

"Demyx, you're cute, right, but you're not that cute. If he just wanted to fuck around with you, he wouldn't put in this much effort."

There were so many things Demyx wanted to dispute this with. Like, how both the times they'd hung out, Zexion hadn't instigated either (even if he had decided to watch the film, he had wandered into the situation). And they'd only actually hung out twice. And they'd never been together alone. And maybe Zexion wasn't even gay, but was just friendly. Though he wanted to bring up all of these points, Axel's head was now on the table and he was making pained groaning noises so Demyx figured he didn't wanna talk about this anymore. He just wanted to say one more thing...

"Axel..." he said quietly. "I think I'm falling for him...pretty bad."

"Well no fucking shit!" Axel exploded, making several people around them glance around and look alarmed. "If you don't shut the fuck up, I will take this pen, and stab it into your face, okay? Work, Demyx. In silence!"

Demyx worked.

"This," Axel announced to the group, "is Cloud."

A blond man sitting on a stool waved vaguely at the group. He was seated in front of the set of drums Demyx had bought for cheap from a classmate. Battered, and slightly bruised, they would do the job.

"Err, hi! I'm Demyx, I play the sitar, Roxas is on bass and Axel...sings."

Cloud nodded, and then stared into space.

Demyx blinked at their new member, who seemed the antisocial sort. But that didn't matter, because drummers could be silent and intense. It's not like he was required to jump around the stage and hype up the audience, like singers or guitarists. Or sitarists.

"Dem, where do you go to buy drumsticks?" Axel's sudden question interrupted his thoughts.

"Um, there's a music shop on the main street in town that I think is really good." Demyx answered. Axel nodded and went to fiddle with the microphone like he knew what he was doing, while he glanced at Roxas who was fiddling with his bass, and actually knew what he was doing.

Demyx ran his head over the question again. "Err, why do you need to buy drumsticks? Cloud? Don't you have a pair already?"

He turned to face the drummer who simply shook his head, and it was Axel who began to answer. "You see, Demyx...the thing is, Cloud doesn't own drumsticks. And never has."

Silence hit the room after this bombshell. The first to break it was Roxas, whose furious growl of "What?" Demyx felt summed up the situation nicely.

Axel's left hand was rubbing the back of his head, and he was shifting slightly. "Here's how it went...we didn't have a drummer right? Then I hear Cloud here, who's in my psych class, grumbling that he needs to join a band real fast, and I think 'Hey, seems like the solution to everyone's problems', because how hard is it to play the drums anyway? It's just banging shit."

Demyx breathed in, then out. A small sound of distress escaped him.

"Why are you so keen on joining a band?" Roxas's question was directed at Cloud, who seemed unfazed by how the revelation of his lack of drumming skills had pushed the rehearsal into turmoil.

"I told some people I was in a band to avoid them. Now they want to see me play in a show."

Demyx wondered how this was ever going to happen, with a singer who had never sung and a drummer who had never drummed. It seemed Roxas was having similar thoughts, because they shared a look. Demyx's was more anxious, while Roxas's seemed plain-out pissed.

"Fuck this, I'm gonna go practice at home." Roxas pushed his bass angrily back into its case, and stormed out of the room, followed by Axel who was yelling for the blond to wait up. Demyx stared after their retreating backs, and then turned to Cloud.

"Right. So I suppose we'd better start practising..."

Cloud nodded, then commented: "No drumsticks."

"Oh." Demyx grabbed another stool and sat next to Cloud, by the drums. "I suppose we'll just have to go through some basics...some really basic basics."

"So now, we have rehearsals three times a week where nothing gets done, and after that I have to stay behind and teach our drummer how to drum!" Demyx groaned and his head fell against the table. Throughout his story, Sora had made suitably concerned noises, and even bought him a frappuchino.

Now that he was done ranting, he actually studied his friend for the first time in their meeting, and he observed the boy's fidgeting and glancing around.

Frowning, Demyx asked, "What's wrong?" Here he'd been rambling and complaining about his disastrous band and Sora had been patiently listening even though he might have an actual problem.

It took Sora a little while to build up to saying anything; he took deep breaths, opened and closed his mouth, and took many tiny sips of his coffee. Finally, he placed his coffee resolutely down onto the sticky table, and blurted out, "Riku has a girlfriend."

The fact that Sora was in love with Riku was something that was known by Demyx and Axel, but it was never discussed. Sora never brought it up, and they weren't exactly going to start a conversation about unrequited gay love.

Disregarding that, the fact that Riku had a girlfriend was significant. Which was obviously why Sora was so torn up about it that he'd resorted to broaching the subject with Demyx. Demyx couldn't remember any girl Riku had had a thing with who could be called a 'girlfriend'. They were flings, temporary things that never stayed around longer than a couple of weeks.

"And..." Sora trailed off, biting his lip and looking devastated, which broke Demyx's heart, "she's really, really nice."

That was what hurt the most for Sora, obviously. That he couldn't dislike her, dismiss her as a fling that wouldn't last. But with a girl who was introduced as a girlfriend, and who was nice, there was no immediate end in sight.

"I'm so sorry Sora..." Demyx reached his hand forward to hold Sora's own and squeezed, and he responded in kind.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm being stupid...I know he's not gay, and I'm just his best friend, and this was always gonna happen eventually but..." Sora withdrew his hand and placed them on his lap. "I'm not ready for it to happen."

Demyx nodded, and fiddled with his empty drink.

"Update me on Zexion." Was Sora's quiet request and Demyx felt guilty about how relieved he was at the subject change, knowing he didn't have the faintest clue what to say to Sora.

"Nothing much...I haven't seen him since Land Before Time. I don't have his contact details, and I can't exactly..."

Demyx's mood could officially be classified as down in the dumps. He was sitting on a wall by his lecture building, killing time until his class began, and he couldn't get his mind off Sora. He was sipping another frappuccino, and he knew this had to be unhealthy but he didn't care...

So focused was he on his thoughts that he didn't register Zexion appearance until he was standing right in front of him, and had said "Hey" in greeting.

Demyx's gaze lurched down at Zexion and his jaw dropped. "Z-Zexion, what are you doing here?"

The boy gestured vaguely behind him. "Just had Chemistry, finished early 'cause someone set off the fire alarm. You waiting for a class?"

Demyx was nodding before he realised that if he'd denied it he could have suggested they go grab a coffee or something. Then again, he'd inevitably get another frappuccino and by the strange feeling in his stomach, he was guessing that wouldn't be wise.

"What's up? You look a bit down." Zexion was frowning at him slightly. A part of Demyx was jumping for joy that Zexion was concerned for him, whilst the rest was groaning at all the shit that was going on.

"It's everything!" Demyx cried, jumping down from the wall to better talk to Zexion. "Riku's got a proper girlfriend and Sora's all upset about it, my band has a drummer whose never drummed and a singer whose never sung before and we never actually rehearse, and-" Demyx cut himself off before he went to auto drive and started to moan about what he was gonna do about Zexion...to Zexion. He ended with a sigh, and made a helpless shrugging gesture.

Zexion was definitely frowning now. "That all sucks. Riku doesn't know Sora's in love with him?"

Zexion knew about that? Well, Demyx thought guiltily, if he hadn't before he would now after what he'd said, but it didn't seem like a surprise to him. Then again, he did study with Riku, so he got the chance to see their interactions a lot. Also, he seemed the type to be stupidly, freakishly observant and all-knowing. Demyx hoped that didn't apply to him as well.

Demyx nodded with a sigh. Zexion gave him an analysing look that made Demyx fidget slightly, and then he said, "You're in no fit state to go to class. Can you skip it? Wanna go grab some coffee?"

Demyx quelled his immediate reaction ("Yes! Yes! A thousand times, YES!") and simply nodded, disregarding his previous concern about his stomach. His digestive system would just have to take one for the team.

'ZEXION FOUND ME LOOKING FORLORN ON A WALL AND WE HAD COFFEE.'

'Wow. I'm so happy for you. Why are you using a word like forlorn in a text? Seems fucked up. Why were you 'forlorn?''

'I KNOW FORLORN 'COS I WAS LOOKING FOR SYNONYMS FOR MY SONG FOR DEPRESSED WORDS, BUT ANYWAY I WAS LOOKING FORLORN 'COS OF RIKU AND SORA AND RIKU'S GIRLFRIEND, BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER- WE HAD COFFEE AND MY STOMACH WANTS TO DIE RIGHT NOW BUT IT WAS WORTH IT.'

'Demyx, you're doing that thing where you get overexcited and don't make sense. Take some deep breaths, have a nap, then text me back in a couple hours okay?'

'OKAY. TALK TO YOU SOON AXEL.'

Demyx was unnerved. They were rehearsing; Cloud was playing on the drums, Roxas was on his bass, and Demyx had actually got his sitar out of its case. Axel was being suspiciously quiet.

"So," Axel began, and Demyx had known it wouldn't last. "You know that blonde bitch in our sociology class?"

Demyx did. She was really scary, and had hissed at him once.

"Well. She works at this bar. You know the one Dem, with the stage that you go to?"

The Underground, a cool place where unknown bands frequently played and Demyx went to get inspired and drunk.

"Right. So she was chatting shit bout how all the bands are rubbish, and I'd heard you saying that they were good, so I told her she was wrong, and all that. We argued for a bit...and then she said that there's this like, battle of the bands thing, and 'cause all the bands are shit it was gonna be shit, and well. Long story short, I signed us up."

There was silence, as Demyx tried to comprehend this.

"You WHAT?" Roxas yelled, jumping up in anger.

"Woah woah woah, hear me out okay! It's not like we don't have a song or anything."

This was news to Demyx.

"We have a song?" Roxas's expression was still aggravated, but curiosity had seeped into it.

"Yeah, Demyx wrote one for his class."

Demyx's eyes went wide, and he waved his hands frantically in the air. "No! No no no no no! It's awful!"

"C'mon Dem, you always say that. You spent ages on it, it can't be that bad."

Demyx headed to the back of the room and pulled out a tattered sheet of paper. Wordlessly, he handed it to Axel, who gave it a quick read-through.

"Oh God, you're right. This is crap."

Demyx sighed and nodded acceptingly.

"Well...it's okay, this can still work. You know in heavy metal songs where the singer is screaming the lyrics, and you have no idea what they're saying? Maybe we can do that."

"We're a heavy metal band now?" Roxas asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think my sitar can handle heavy metal..." Demyx muttered.

"Can you do screamo singing?" Cloud pointed out.

Axel looked thoughtful, and then answered, "I dunno...but we can find out."

The silence in the room was broken only by a hushed whimpering sound which came from Demyx.

'I forgot to mention- the show's next Saturday.'

'AXEL. WTF. WTF. FUUUUUUUCK.'

Demyx had gotten little sleep in the past few days. He had five days to make the piece he'd written for only his sitar suitable for the whole band, and he was struggling. Right now he was sat in a cafe with Sora, distracting himself from the inevitable bombing of Nexus of our Broken Souls by formulating further plans concerning Zexion.

"So yeah, I was thinking that I could invite him along to the concert, which is totally cool 'cause he was the one who suggested getting new members so inviting him along to see the, err...fruits of his labour is totally unsuspicious and natural. Right?"

Sora rolled his eyes and muttered, "I still don't see why you can't just ask him out..."

"No!" Demyx yelped, panicked at the mere thought. "This way is...safer."

"But, when is this even gonna happen?" Sora pointed out. "You won't be ready for a show in ages."

Demyx twitched and took a long sip of his frappuccino, before setting it down slowly. "That's true. We won't be ready for a show in ages. But we're playing one in five days 'cos stupid Axel booked us into one." Demyx stared morosely into his plastic cup.

"Oh...can your drummer play yet?"

Demyx shrugged. "He's not bad."

"And have you ever heard Axel sing?"

Demyx shook his head.

Sora paused and drank some of his coffee. "Oh dear."

Demyx nodded in agreement.

"...Do you have Zexion's number?" Demyx shook his head. "Then how you gonna invite him to the show?"

Demyx frowned. "I dunno, I hadn't gotten that far yet. He seems to be able to find me when I need him..."

Sora took a sup of his coffee then ventured, "Maybe he's stalking you."

"You know...I think I'd actually be okay with that." Sora sighed.

"You're such a freak."

Demyx had the drum part figured out. So now, Cloud just needed to learn it. They'd set up a different rehearsal time because they actually needed to practise. Cloud had the basic hang of it, and just needed to play it to get it fine-tuned. Demyx could probably have left him alone, but he wanted to be there to help him if he needed it and he was feeling chatty.

Once Cloud had finished playing it the whole way through with no mistakes, Demyx asked, "Hey, you wanna invite people to the show? Those people you're avoiding and who wanna see you play...anyone else?"

Cloud placed his drum sticks down and stared at Demyx for a few seconds, before asking in reply, "Are you inviting anyone?"

"Sure," Demyx grinned. "Sora and Riku, mine and Axel's friends, are coming and...I'm thinking of asking this guy."

Cloud's eyebrows rose, and Demyx fidgeted before beginning, "His name's Zexion, and he's awesome and I really like him, and...yeah." Cloud smiled and Demyx grinned sheepishly.

Cloud's smile faded and he looked deep in thought, until he muttered, "There's this guy...I might invite too."

"Ohh, is there?" Demyx leaned forward excitedly. "Tell me about him."

"...his name's Leon." Demyx smiled, and urged Cloud on. "He...works at this coffee shop round the corner from where I live."

Demyx smiled at his drummer, who was staring into space. "Is he good-looking?"

A slight smile came onto Cloud's face. "Hmm...yeah. Brown hair. Nice stormy eyes. Scar."

Demyx blinked and was slightly taken aback at this, but he supposed different things appealed to different people.

"A couple of my friends...Tifa and Aerith, I've known them since we were kids. They were trying to set me up with their friends, because they kept going on about how I'm alone too much and need somebody. Only they don't know I'm..." Cloud trailed off, and glanced at Demyx, who finished his sentence.

"Gay."

Cloud nodded. "Then they thought I was already going out with somebody 'cause I kept on going out during the day and wouldn't tell them where I was going, but really...I was going to the coffee shop, and just spending hours there with a book...not focusing much on the book."

Demyx smiled widely, and Cloud coughed and carried on.

"So, when they kept asking, I just told them I was practising...and when they asked what I was practising, I said I was in a band. I wanted something that they couldn't just demand I show them on the spot. But then they started going on about seeing me play with my band..."

Hence why he was here right now, trying to learn how to play the drums. There were still a lot of things unanswered though.

"Why don't you just tell them? They're your friends, right? That's one of the things you do with friends, talk about who you like." At Cloud's pointed glance, Demyx continued, "Why don't you tell them you're gay?"

Cloud just shook his head and Demyx dropped it, seeing that it was a subject Cloud didn't want to discuss.

"So, is this practising cutting into your coffee shop time?" Demyx asked, smirking slightly.

Cloud shrugged and replied, "A bit. But I still go when I can."

"Have you ever actually talked to Leon?"

There was a pause, and Demyx knew the answer before Cloud said, "No."

"Well, why don't you?" Demyx asked.

"Why don't you ask your Zexion out?" was the retort he received.

Demyx smiled a little bit at hearing Zexion referred to as 'his', but it was soon wiped from his face as he muttered his reply. "Because it scares me shitless..."

He looked up at Cloud, who was giving him a pointed look.

"Oh." Demyx said, sighing. "Fair enough then."

Demyx had managed to persuade Cloud to let him tag along to his cafe after they'd finished rehearsing. It was a small establishment, set at the corner of two side roads, but it looked cosy, and Cloud had told him that yes, they did do frappuccinos.

They grabbed a table at the end of the cafe, and Demyx looked for Leon whilst trying to look like he was actually perusing the menu. If Cloud's pointed look was any indication then he was failing. So he actually did look at the menu, and was overwhelmed by the amount of choice it presented him with, meaning he was wholly unprepared when a deep, strong voice asked, "Ready to order?"

Demyx jumped slightly and stared at a particularly handsome, scarred man (this would be Leon, then), and squeaked out, "yes" even though the answer was definitely "no".

He pointed randomly at one of the five drinks he'd been considering, while Cloud trailed off an order in the manner of someone who'd said it a thousand times. By the looks of things, Leon had heard it a thousand times because he didn't bother making a note of it.

Demyx didn't wanna be creepy and give Cloud a thumbs up or anything, so he just grinned at the other who pretended he didn't notice, and asked Demyx if Axel and Roxas were actually going out or not.

While Demyx was in the middle of trying to explain in more elaborate terms 'who the hell knows', Leon returned with their drinks, asking as he placed them down, "You two brothers?"

Demyx blinked in surprise. Well, he supposed they were both blond...

Cloud just shook his head. "Friends."

Demyx grinned, and then elaborated, "He's in my band." It was still his band despite everything.

This comment elicited a raised eyebrow from Leon. "You play an instrument."

Cloud paused and muttered, "The drums," and when Leon looked slightly impressed he continued. "I'm not very good."

Leon looked unconvinced. "You're in a band, you've gotta be okay."

Cloud muttered a quiet, "You'd be surprised" and took a sip of his coffee (or something, the order had been long and quite complicated), smiling at the taste. Demyx glanced quickly over to see if the action was mirrored in the waiter, and whilst his lips hadn't moved per se, Demyx was quite convinced the man was smiling with his eyes.

It was now or never. Surely, after a conversation about the band, Cloud could ask Leon to come see them. But no, he wasn't and the chance was slipping away, so Demyx said quickly, "Why don't you come along and see how good he is at drumming?"

Leon's attention turned to him, and Cloud placed his cup down on the table quite loudly. Demyx ploughed on. "It's this Saturday, down at the Underground. There's a Battle of the Bands and we're gonna be playing in it."

Leon looked unconvinced and turned to look at Cloud, who looked shell-shocked. Demyx gave him a light kick under the table which prompted Cloud to add a quiet, "you should come."

And apparently that was all that was required to convince Leon to go. Demyx grinned to himself, as Cloud watched Leon walk away.

"You're welcome," he said magnanimously. Cloud shook his head at him.

"I should kill you." But he looked happy and pleased with the outcome. Demyx returned to trying to explain Roxas and Axel when Zexion walked into the cafe. Demyx grabbed his menu and hid behind it, glancing occasionally out from behind it as Zexion chose a seat, sat down, and ordered a drink.

"Why are you staring at that guy?" Demyx shifted his menu to the side so he could see Cloud.

"That's Zexion," he hissed out, watching as Leon bought over his drink.

"Really? I recognise him, he must be a regular." Cloud paused, and commented, "He's cute."

Demyx grinned, but this expression fell abruptly away when Cloud turned around and called, "Zexion!" across the cafe. Zexion looked up, and Demyx had to drop the menu hiding his face pretty sharpish to avoid looking like an idiot. But then Zexion waved at him and made to join them and Demyx was grinning again.

He happily introduced Cloud as his band's drummer, which made Zexion smile, and they talked about the band for a bit, until:

"We're playing on Saturday, you should come alone," Cloud offered, in a friendly, casual manner, while Demyx froze in his seat.

"Sure, sounds fun." Zexion agreed nodding, then turned to look at Demyx who nodded in a kind of frantic manner that he hoped didn't look too weird.

"Tell him the details Dem, I gotta run." And with that Cloud left the cafe, with a wave to Leon on his way out. Demyx stared after him with wide eyes, but his attention was quickly shifted back to Zexion, as he asked Demyx about how the band was going.

Smiling, and taking a sip of his drink to compose himself, Demyx began to tell Zexion.

Demyx had been on a high for a few days now (after his impromptu meeting with Zexion) and Axel had gotten annoyed at his now manic behaviour concerning their rehearsals. It had always been at the back of his mind that he intended to invite Zexion, but now that it had actually happened, the reality of it was making him a bit crazy.

To be fair though, Axel had 'commandeered' the lyrics, and seemed to spend the whole of rehearsals doing something with a copy of them that required his complete concentration, but also Roxas's constant opinion, while the boy tried to practise his own part.

They still hadn't heard him sing.

Demyx was on his way to the music store in town to pick up a couple of strings for his and Roxas's instruments. The only problem was he kept getting distracted.

Demyx had found that he now double-took whenever he saw someone with silver hair (this meant Riku was constantly giving him weird looks and saying 'What?' when Demyx frowned at him, realising that the silver hair didn't belong to the person he wanted it to).

He was, on some level, always aware of Zexion, always on the lookout for him, which was probably why he saw him be pulled into an alley.

Demyx froze, and wondered what to do (phone the police, phone Axel, yell for help) but his feet then made the decision for him, and he found himself moving towards the alley, and he thought to himself 'it's a good thing I didn't try and get help or anything' because Zexion wasn't in trouble.

Zexion was being kissed. He looked annoyed about it (it was in a semi-public place after all) but wasn't doing anything to stop it. And after a sound from the other man, the one who had done the whole 'pulling-into-alley' thing, he began to participate more actively.

Demyx walked blindly away, heart pounding in his chest as his breathing sped up. He'd thought...

He was sat on a park bench for an indeterminate amount of time, before realising it was a Wednesday. Rehearsals started in twenty minutes. He got up to leave, pushing any thoughts of kissing and alleyways and love into the back of his mind, as he focused solely on the band.

They had arranged to rehearse Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Inevitably, each session consisted of Axel and Roxas fighting/flirting, while in the background Demyx taught Cloud (with his newly purchased drum sticks) how to play his instrument.

The sessions lasted as long as it took for Roxas to get so pissed off he stormed out. Today, Demyx and Cloud had managed to work at the drums for about an hour, while Roxas had even strummed a few tunes on his bass at the beginning. But that had only been because Axel was late.

With Axel distracted by Roxas, and Cloud preoccupied by the thought of getting his drumming right, as he'd soon have to perform in front of his cafe-worker crush, Demyx's broken heart went unnoticed. Not that he blamed them – he was doing his best to hide it, because talking about it would make him think about it, and he didn't want to do that. Self-preservation was currently his priority.

He headed to the library after practise, his mind focused on finishing the damn song. Axel was doing a good job of distracting him, clearly aiming to be a nuisance and disruptive, after being sworn at viciously by Roxas at the end of practise (and narrowly avoiding a bass to the face). This was fine by Demyx, who rarely failed to be cheered up in his best friend's presence.

At the moment, he and Axel were trying to play battle ships with only a couple of sheets of paper, and it wasn't going very well. Soon after, Sora had found them and had joined Demyx's team to try and make the match more even.

It was while Demyx and Sora were having a hushed discussion about the likely location of Axel's big big ship that Riku turned up. With the girlfriend.

"This is Kairi." The red-haired girl beamed and waved at them, appearing a bit nervous but also self-assured. She was majoring in Physics, which had made Demyx's head hurt a bit even contemplating, was the Dean's daughter, and lived a couple of roads down from Sora and Riku's place.

"You gonna tell them my star sign too?" Kairi asked, letting out a small giggle while Riku smiled.

She was a Pisces.

It was all very excruciating, because Sora was smiling and engaging Kairi in conversation, and he was right, she was really nice and seemed funny, down-to-earth, pretty, kind...

Riku looked pleased. Like how Demyx would look if Zexion hadn't actually all this time just been being friendly with him, and wasn't already with someone else, and was instead with him, and he was introducing Zexion to people.

They left, after a bit. Riku had arranged to play some pool with Axel in a couple of days, and Kairi had mouthed co-ordinates at them from behind Axel's back and winked. They grinned, laughed and chatted until the couple were out of the library, when dead-silence hit the table. Demyx was staring desperately at Axel, whose gaze was focused on the floor.

Sora's plain statement of "I need to get drunk" hacked through the silence. They went to get drunk.

They had ended up at another of Demyx's haunts, which had a cool stage, where strange, unknown bands played on occasion.

Right now the stage was empty, and the only sound he could hear was the steady sound of Sora crying. He had had two shots of something blue, a large glass of something that was hot, and then a beer. He had then sat down, took a few breaths, and started to sob. It was horrible, sitting there listening to Sora crying and crying his heart out. There were no words they could say to comfort the boy, and Demyx felt a bit pathetic and useless rubbing Sora's back in what he hoped was a consoling way, but in reality Sora probably didn't even realise he was doing it. Because Sora was so upset and every sob made Demyx flinch, and because he'd lost count of the number of shots of that blue stuff he'd had, and also because every few seconds Demyx had to remind himself not to think about Zexion, Demyx was also crying, but only a little bit, in what he hoped was a low-maintenance way.

Axel had been nursing a beer the whole time they'd been here, and had muttered something about 'leaving you to it' and gone up to the bar where he was currently chatting with the manager of the place. Axel did not deal well with emotional outbursts, or emotions of any kind, really. This was why even though Axel was clearly in love with Roxas, Demyx never asked him about it, because Axel would probably freak out and have a drunken one-night stand just to prove he wasn't.

As it was, Demyx knew Axel had convinced himself he just wanted to hook up with Roxas. This was also probably what Roxas thought. It was all kinda fucked up.

It was about midnight when Axel came back. Sora had stopped crying a little while ago, and was leaning his head on Demyx's shoulder. Demyx was still a bit teary, his sadness fuelled by his new thoughts of Axel and Roxas. Axel just stared at them, and then grunted. He pulled them both up and guided them towards the exit. Luckily, the place they'd gone to was local, which meant a few minutes later a confused Riku opened the door to a red-eyed, drunk best friend.

They stood in the doorway, Demyx clinging to Axel while Riku demanded to know what had happened and Axel denied knowing what had upset the boy. Sora was staying silent and staring at the ground, and Riku only shut up when Sora sniffed and actually made eye contact with him. Within a few seconds Sora had been ushered in, and Riku had muttered a goodbye to them before shutting the door decidedly.

On the journey back Demyx wondered out loud whether Riku would be mad at them tomorrow ("Probably not...he just needs time to cool off."), whether Sora would move on ("He's been crushing since he knew what a crush was...why would he stop now?") and why the hell Roxas put up with Axel ("Wait...what?")

He hadn't actually meant to bring up that last one, but he'd been thinking about it. Roxas no doubt thought Axel was trying to get into their pants, so why put up with him at their practises? Why not flat-out ignore him, and play his bass? Demyx mused this aloud (not the bit about Axel trying to get into Roxas's pants), and Axel didn't say much in response.

He woke up the next day (with a bitch of a hangover) to Axel loudly proclaiming that it was four in the afternoon, Demyx had missed all his classes that day, and they (him and Riku) were gonna watch a DVD, so Demyx should get the hell up now.

Demyx was willing to completely go along with Axel's refusal to acknowledge the trauma of the night before; it was par for the course.

Riku didn't act mad while they watched some stupid film about aliens and invasions, so that was something. Demyx was beginning to think the night before might as well not have happened, when Axel came into his room (looking determinedly casual) and asked all nonchalant, "So, Roxas...he's a cool person you know? I reckon he'd be...fun to hang out with." He'd then opened and closed his mouth, before grinning and finishing, "Great arse as well."

It was something. Demyx was willing to take it.

"He thinks I'm an idiot," was how Axel greeted the table when he arrived at the Underground. Demyx, Sora and Riku had been discussing whether to get some shots or not, but this conversation halted as Axel collapsed in the empty seat.

"...Roxas?" Demyx guessed, and figured from Axel's harsh glare that he was right.

"Yes, Roxas. I tried to talk to him, ya know, properly, and he just kept giving me these weird looks and he blew me off when I invited him to come here tonight."

Sora and Riku exchanged glances and both stood up to go to the bar. Demyx frowned after them, leaving their friend in his time of need, and told Axel, "That's because as far as he knows, you're some kind of...flirty slut."

Axel threw a coaster at him. "You sure know how to knock a guy when he's down," he said, scowling.

"No, no, what I mean is, he doesn't know the other you. You know, the serious part," Demyx tried to explain.

From the way Axel swallowed and looked nervous at 'serious', Demyx wasn't sure Roxas would ever get to know that part. Before he could piss off Axel more, Sora and Riku returned: with shots.

The night was spent drinking, and trying to come up with ways to get Axel together with Roxas; the ideas were getting progressively worse, and right as Riku was attempting to drunkenly justify the use of tranquilisers, ("Not so you can, ya know, sex him up or anything, just so that you can save him from the person who was trying to sex him up, making you the hero!" – Axel was being worryingly enthusiastic) the guy who had been kissing Zexion walked in.

Demyx swallowed and immediately dropped out of the conversation, taking a shot quickly, and Axel's as he was distracted. He focused on breathing, and breathing, but the last time he'd been drunk he'd been so distracted by Sora he hadn't really been able to focus on his own issues, but now the guy, the curious-looking, older guy who had dragged Zexion into an alleyway because he just couldn't wait to reach somewhere more private, so he could kiss him and kiss him was standing right there, and ordering a beer-

"Demyx, what's wrong?"

Which was about the worst thing Sora could ask. It killed the conversation between Axel and Riku, and the three of them stared at him. He didn't know what his face was showing, but Axel looked ready to kill, something which was sure to get worse if Demyx didn't get himself under control.

"Dem?" And Sora looked so concerned, and...

Demyx burst into tears. For the second time in two nights. Quiet, persistent tears, that he couldn't stop, and he couldn't answer his friends' worried questions, as they wondered above him, "Is it the alcohol?", "No, Demyx gets happy drunk not depressed drunk.", "Well, it's gotta be something...the band, Zexion-"

The choked sob he gave at the mention of his name was probably a giveaway. In fact, from the presence of Axel's hand on his shoulder, making him face him, he knew it had been.

"Demyx," he said slowly, in a calm voice. "What did Zexion do?"

He had to explain now. He had to explain so Axel didn't punch the boy or something, had to calm himself down so he could speak. After a few deep breaths, he managed to mutter out, "Zexion didn't do anything."

"Like fuck," Axel growled, losing any semblance of calm.

"No, really," Demyx hastened to add. "It was me, all me. I was the one who read too much into things, he was just being friendly, and people usually get weirded out by me but he treated me so normally, and I liked him so much, but that didn't mean that he..." Demyx was out; he didn't actually want to articulate the end of that sentence.

His proclamation was met with silence, before Sora asked, "What happened?"

"Saw him kissing...another guy..." Demyx thought it would be petty to point and say 'that guy'.

He heard Axel swearing above him, and a quick, muttered conversation between them all.

"C'mon Demyx," Sora said smiling and pulling him up. "Let's just go home, okay?" Demyx nodded, but heard Axel grumble something, and found himself enveloped in his best friend's arms. Demyx wanted to tell him how proud he was, that he was facing his feelings for Roxas, and dealing with Demyx's little breakdown without running away, but he didn't feel like talking, so he just walked, with Axel's arm around his shoulders. Riku and Sora separated from them after a while, and Sora hugged Demyx quickly, telling him he'd be round tomorrow, and he and Axel carried on through the darkness.

Demyx heard the group of laughing people before he saw them (he probably wouldn't have seen them anyway, because his gaze was focused on the ground as he walked), and he absently hoped that they didn't try and cause any trouble, because he would be of no use and Axel was liable to cause excessive harm and get arrested.

He was not expecting, "Axel?" in a voice that sounded familiar, followed by a confused, "Demyx?"

"I can see you're busy with your essay, Roxas," was Axel's mildly toned response, and Demyx glanced up in time to see Roxas flush.

"I finished it before I came out," the blond muttered, before biting out, "not that it's any of your business."

Axel laughed rather bitterly, and said, "No, no. Of course it's none of my business. Sorry for bothering. If you'll excuse me, I need to get Demyx home." He paused, before his voice took on a nasty tone. "He's fine, by the way. Thanks for asking."

Demyx really wished Axel wouldn't bring him into his argument with Roxas, but there was no way he was piping up about that now.

Roxas looked flushed again, and asked Demyx, "Hey, you okay?"

He'd barely finished his sentence before Axel cut in viciously, saying, "Well clearly he's not okay."

Roxas was glaring at him now, all signs of meekness gone.

"Screw you, Axel. You guys took me off guard, you don't need to bitch me out for it. Feel better, Demyx." The last bit was muttered as he stalked away and caught up with his friends.

Axel began to lead them away, muttering about what a little bitch Roxas was, and wasn't this just the greatest day ever?

When they got back, he seemed to have gotten himself together, and Demyx was given glasses of water, a hot water bottle, and one of Axel's t-shirts to sleep in (all very awkwardly, and in truth his pyjamas were comfier than Axel's skinny t-shirt, but it was the thought that counted and it made him feel better), before he was put to bed, feeling thoroughly managed, but not caring.

Sora, true to his word, did turn up the next day, and they passed the time with ice-cream and the rest of Sora's 'Films Riku won't watch with me'. Sora didn't bring up Zexion, and Demyx didn't bring up Riku, and the closest they got to talking about it was Demyx recounting the scene between Axel and Roxas on the way home for Sora.

Even though it was the last thing he wanted to do, Demyx had to part ways with Sora and go to rehearsals. They were playing tomorrow, and he hadn't seen Axel since the night before, so he didn't know what kind of mood he was in. He didn't even know if Roxas would turn up after last night.

When he arrived he did find his three other band members, all sitting in silence by their own respective instruments (Axel was holding a microphone). Neither Axel nor Roxas looked up when he entered, and Cloud just looked confused, understandably. Demyx didn't even want to get his sitar out, but he couldn't actually allow their last rehearsal to happen in complete silence, managing to make it their least productive yet.

Just as he settled by Cloud, and strummed a single note poignantly, Roxas bit out, "What the hell are you even doing here anyway?"

It took Axel a few seconds to show any sign that he'd heard Roxas, but eventually his head lifted and he glared across the room. "You know what the hell I'm doing here, you fucktard. What, you gonna try and chuck me out the band now?"

Roxas grit his teeth and set his bass down, setting his hands angrily on his hips. "No, I'm just wondering what the point is. Clearly, you don't give a shit about this band. You never sing, you never help set-up, and all you do is distract me, and I actually-"

"Excuse me," Axel interrupted, "I've been busting my arse getting these lyrics to not suck. Meanwhile you just ponce about with your shiny, expensive bass and skilled fingers and-"

"I don't even know why I'm still here," Roxas muttered angrily, grabbing his bass and beginning to put it away. "This is a stupid band, with stupid members, and a stupid fucking name."

"You shut the fuck up!" Axel exploded, leaping to his feet and making them all jump. "Demyx came up Nexus of our Broken Souls, and you have no right-"

"The initials spell out NOOBS!" Roxas bellowed, silencing Axel, whose mouth opened then closed. He frowned and turned to stare at Demyx. "Shit. They do as well."

Both Axel and Roxas were looking at him now, and he struggled to form a reply. "Well shit."

Axel rolled his eyes, and then turned back to Roxas, seemingly trying to gather the same anger he'd had in him before. After a few moments of silence his shoulders fell and he tossed his hands in the air, shaking his head. Roxas seemed to be having the same problem.

Axel made the first move.

"It's not just your arse I'm after."

His statement was met with silence, and Demyx personally felt Axel could have phrased that more eloquently. From the look on Roxas's face, he felt the same.

"It's also..." Axel broke off and frowned in concentration.

"Don't list everything at once," Roxas muttered after a few seconds, but he seemed more subdued than before, and was biting his lip.

"It's...it's just...you! It's..." He turned to Demyx and asked, looking embarrassed, "Do you mind?"

Demyx didn't feel he could point out that Axel was actually disturbing their rehearsal, rather than what he was acting like now, that Demyx was disturbing their awkward love confessions.

He and Cloud hurried out of the room, closing the door and staring at it. Neither of them said anything, and then Demyx realised:

"My sitar's still in there." He couldn't just leave it there. He needed to practice before tomorrow.

"Hard luck," Cloud said. "Well, hopefully they won't be too long."

By the time ten minutes had passed Demyx let out a sigh

Cloud began creeping forward. "Maybe they're nearly done," was what he was saying as he edged open the door, stared for a second, then slowly closed it.

"They're making out on the drum kit."

It took Demyx a few seconds to understand what Cloud had said. "They're making out on the drum kit," Demyx repeated. The unmistakeable sound of a cymbal being hit punctuated his statement.

They stood in silence for a minute. "Did they...look like they were gonna break it? I mean, they're old drums."

Cloud frowned, and cautiously poked his head back in, and then out again. "They seem sturdy. I think you can go in and get your sitar, I doubt they'll notice."

He had to look. He couldn't not look. Cloud had looked twice and he hadn't looked at all and that wasn't fair, was it? It was his best friend and he felt a bit dirty but he was just so intrigued...

He slowly, quietly opened the door an inch and glanced in. He saw Roxas's hands gripping Axel's hair tightly, heard the unmistakable sound of a zipper being lowered, saw Axel began to shuck his pants down, and quickly stepped backwards, letting the door close by itself.

He stood frozen for a second, and then turned to Cloud. "I can get my sitar later."

"They had sex on the drum kit?" Sora was gaping at said drum kit, which was now sat innocuously at the back of the stage at Underground.

"I...I don't actually know what they did on it. But...something happened on that drum kit that can never unhappen."

Sora was shaking his head, but was starting to smile. "Where are they now?"

Demyx sighed and shrugged. "Probably making out somewhere. That's all they seem to do now."

Sora grinned happily. "Ah, young love."

Demyx rolled his eyes, but smiled as well, because this whole thing with Axel and Roxas could have ended so badly and somehow it hadn't. Axel deserved someone like Roxas. He didn't know what Roxas could possibly have done to deserve someone like Axel, but there you go.

"You're on in five," said an official-looking guy with a clipboard, who also added, "and can you tell your band mates to get out of the bathroom? There's only one back here and there's a queue forming."

Demyx flushed and stumbled out some kind of response, but the man had already left. Sora was laughing, and wished Demyx luck with a smile, before he left to go to the public area of the establishment.

They were on in five minutes. They hadn't had a final rehearsal. And half of their band was probably naked in the bathroom right this second.

Showtime...

Being on stage was different from being backstage. Demyx had known this. But he hadn't known it like this. He shuffled, breathing deep and long. He'd never performed in front of such a crowd before he was only used to playing with friends or for family. The most nervous he usually got whilst playing an instrument was when he was being examined. This trumped that to a stupid degree.

The place was packed. People were brimming around, talking, laughing, drinking, and here he was standing on a stage holding his sitar. He saw some people pointing at it and talking to one another, and he wanted to yell to them 'it's a sitar!', but he would never be heard over the din of the place.

He looked behind at Cloud, who appeared calm and unflappable as always. But then his face transformed with the slightest of smiles, and the drummer gave a small wave in the direction of the bar, where Demyx's gaze followed, and he saw Leon give a wave back.

Axel and Roxas were talking furiously in hushed tones, both significantly more clothed than they had been a few minutes before. Demyx caught the end of the conversation as they passed him, as Roxas asked, "So what are you gonna do then?", and Axel replied with a shrug, "Wing it."

Demyx winced then noticed the man with the clipboard waving at them to start.

"We're starting," Demyx said, resigned to crashing and burning. He almost missed Roxas's muttered "if it sucks, I'll sing and drown you out", and then they were in place, ready to play Demyx (and Axel's) song.

"Hey everyone, how you doing?" Axel asked with a grin, and received a few half-hearted responses and one thrown beer can. "Okay! Well, we're Nexus of our Broken Souls, and this is our song Lis Incognita."

Lis Incognit-what? Demyx didn't have time to question Axel's renaming of his song (even if his own title had been crap), because he could hear Cloud's steady beat behind him, the strumming of Roxas's bass, and that was his cue to start playing his own instrument.

Then Axel sang.

"My Grandmother always told me I had the voice of an angel," Axel drawled with a smirk to a blonde girl who'd approached them after they'd finished to tell them when the winner would be announced, and had complimented their singer with a flirty smile.

Their singer who could sing, apparently, and knew he could sing, and had never bothered to clue them in about it. Roxas was pissed as hell and was furiously fiddling with his bass, although it might also have had something to do with the giggling blonde hovering around Axel.

If Roxas fiddled any more fiercely with his bass he was gonna have to buy a new one. It didn't help that he was barely looking at it, his gaze stuck on Axel and the girl

Axel was such an idiot. Demyx shouldn't have to do this. "Go over there."

Roxas blinked, and dragged his stare away from the pair to Demyx. "Huh?"

"Go over there, put your arms around him, and ask him why he never bothered to tell us he could sing."

That last bit was more for his sake than Roxas's own, but it would be a good conversation-starter.

Roxas wavered for a second, before muttering, "He looks like he's busy."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Roxas, I don't know what Axel said to you last night, but... I don't think he'll give a shit about her once you're there." He didn't look convinced. "You do know right? I mean, you understood what he was trying to say?" Demyx bit his lip, and hoped he wasn't overstepping the line. When it didn't look like Roxas was gonna say anything, Demyx said, "You're not just some conquest to him."

"Aren't I? Aren't I just the one who played hard-to-get?" Roxas shook his head, standing up as he started to put his bass away. Demyx didn't know where the Roxas who'd done naked things on a drum kit and in a bathroom had gone.

"Please." Demyx reached for his arm and held him in place. "Give him a chance."

He hoped Axel wouldn't let him down, because Roxas gave a slight nod and walked slowly over to Axel. Demyx wished Sora was here so they could watch together, but as he wasn't Demyx grabbed Cloud and with him watched Axel's hands clutch Roxas as he was kissed hard, watched the girl walk away after a minute had passed and they'd showed no signs of stopping, watched Roxas mutter something to him and Axel smile in response and kiss him softly.

"Oh, they're so sweet." Demyx couldn't help but feel partly responsible for this. He also couldn't help but regret that Sora had missed this event, as he would have agreed with Demyx rather than muttering "You're just a girl, aren't you..." like Cloud had.

Eventually they did find Sora.

"You guys were great! You didn't suck at all!" Like he'd obviously expected them to, which was fine. Demyx had expected it too. "Where's Axel?"

"Trying to convince Roxas to drink something fluorescent at the bar." They turned and saw Roxas walking towards them with an annoyed look on his face. "I don't think it worked."

By the time Roxas had reached them, Axel had caught up with him. Roxas pointedly introduced himself to Sora and the ignored-Axel turned to Demyx with a shrug.

"Why you gotta be a dick sometimes?" Demyx asked, sighing.

Axel rolled his eyes. "It was one drink. I'll back off now."

Demyx muttered, "You'd better", because it had taken too long for them to get together for it to go to shit now. There was that other thing as well...

"Lis Incognita?"

"Yeah," Axel shrugged like it was obvious. "Everything sounds cooler in Latin, ya know?"

"Right..." Demyx didn't know, but there you go. "So that's my title translated?"

"Nah, saw it on a map, thought it sounded cool."

Of course he hadn't translated his title. Of course it didn't make sense.

"So what's it mean then?"

"How the hell should I know? Do I look like I understand Latin?" Axel snorted incredulously, and downed his drink, promptly going to order four more to celebrate their 'not sucking'. Axel handed him Cloud's as well, and after Demyx had recovered from whatever it was that Axel had gotten for them, he looked around and tried to find their drummer.

"Where's Cloud?" he asked Axel, who was now drinking another himself.

"He's busy," Axel replied with a smirk staring at the dance floor, and Demyx followed his gaze and saw that yes, Cloud was busy. Busy grinding his ass on Leon's crotch. It looked like he'd come out to his friends anyway (purposefully or not), because the two female friends he had pointed out earlier in the evening were watching them like he was, and looked just as excited as Demyx probably did when Leon started kissing Cloud's throat.

He downed Cloud's drink. Because while he was happy for them, he had seen far too much of his friends' sexual adventures recently for his liking.

Axel and Roxas hadn't made out for a little bit, and had probably realised that so they were up against a wall at the back. Sora had disappeared, meaning Demyx was standing alone, feeling like a loser. He was contemplating getting another drink when he heard someone say, "You guys were pretty good," behind him. He turned quickly, always eager to hear feedback, especially positive, and came face-to-face with the other man. The man Zexion was with.

Demyx worked a smile across his face and replied, "Thanks", somehow, even though he didn't really even want to breathe right now.

"So, you're friends with Zexion right?" the man inquired, and it made sense now. Cloud had invited Zexion along; Zexion had bought his boyfriend to see his friend's band. Maybe he'd told this man how he'd given Demyx the idea to start a band.

He needed to give a response.

"Yeah, we've known each other a few weeks. He seems cool." Very non-descriptive, casual, just like he needed to keep this conversation.

"Cool, huh...is that all you think of him?" the man asked with a smirk, because he knew. He must know, why else would he be looking at Demyx in such an amused way? He knew how Demyx felt, and he was just standing there and...

He couldn't do this. He couldn't stand there knowing what they both knew, so he walked away ignoring everything around him, eventually finding a wall that wasn't occupied and could support him. He stared blankly at the crowd, knowing Zexion must be in there somewhere. Did he know about how Demyx felt too?

Something caught his eye. Hair, but it wasn't silver hair, it was brown, and he saw Sora go up to the bar, back stiff and head down. His gaze didn't need to travel far to see Riku dancing with Kairi, slowly twirling a lock of her own red hair.

This was wrong. Him and Zexion, fine. That had never been going to happen. But Sora and Riku? They could work. They could be happy. And Riku didn't even know it was an option. Had probably never even considered it.

He was approaching the dance floor before he could stop himself, and he tapped Riku on the shoulder, asking to speak to him for a second. He didn't look at Kairi. It wasn't her fault. She was nice, but Sora was his friend, not her.

He wasn't sure how to begin.

"Listen Riku...there's...Sora's your best friend, right?"

Riku just looked confused, and gave a slow nod, before asking, "Why?"

Demyx stared at Riku intently, before spluttering out, "He loves you, you know. And, and I don't mean like a friend, I-I mean he's in love with you. Has been for like, forever. And everybody knows." Demyx paused for breath and took in the blank look on Riku's face before continuing, "I mean, not everybody knows, I just mean me and Axel. It's just...Sora's been so depressed 'cause of Kairi, and...I just thought you ought to...have all the facts. Before you made a decision."

Riku's face was so carefully blank now it was almost painful. Demyx wondered whether he should say something else, when Riku muttered "Excuse me" and left quickly.

Demyx bit his lip as stared after the retreating boy, and the full implication of what he'd done hit him. He'd ruined the careful balance of Sora and Riku's friendship. He'd probably ruined it forever, and it was none of his business anyway, and Sora wouldn't even be mad at him, he'd just smile sadly and...

He must have looked how he felt because a hand appeared on his shoulder.

"What's got you worked up?"

Axel.

"Told...told Riku. 'Bout Sora." There was no point in beating round the bush. Axel needed to know how badly he'd screwed up.

"Dem..." Axel ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long stream of air. He looked troubled, which only made Demyx feel worse. He might as well get it all out.

"And Zexion's boyfriend's here, and he knows that I like Zexion, and he seemed amused by it...obviously because I'm not a threat to him at all, and I just didn't want Sora to feel like I do, I just thought if I..."

He didn't know what he'd expected to happen. Obviously what had happened was always going to be Riku's response.

"Dem, you can't make everyone happy." Demyx glanced up, shocked, as Axel continued in a pained voice. "You arranged for Cloud's guy to be here right? And you told Roxas to come over and kiss me?" Well kinda... "God knows what would have happened with Sora and Riku...you might have only sped things up. But it was Sora's right to tell Riku, not yours."

That was true. He'd totally undermined Sora. Gone behind his back. Betrayed him.

"Hey, you had the best intentions," Axel said as he wrapped a sniffling Demyx in a hug, gently shushing him. "Don't cry, why do you always cry? You're way too emotional Dem..."

"I'm sorry," he managed, apologising for messing up, crying, and anything else he'd unintentionally done wrong.

"Don't apologise..." Demyx was open to suggestions, but Axel trailed off and didn't seem to know what Demyx should do instead.

Then his arms tensed, and Demyx heard Axel growl, "What do you want?"

It took a few seconds for a reply to appear, but when it did it was confused and vaguely hostile. "I just wanted to see what was wrong with him. Demyx?"

Zexion. Zexion wanted to know what was wrong with him. He couldn't face him, not right now. He buried his head further into Axel's shoulder, and blocked out the sound of the angry conversation around him, until the silence that suddenly fell registered, and Demyx peeked out.

"Is it true?" Riku asked, and Demyx looked at Axel as he nodded in response. Riku's face still had that strangely blank look, though he was also breathing kinda fast and his body was completely still, except for the twitching of his hands, which he occasionally clenched into fists.

Riku turned and looked determinedly at the bar, and Demyx saw Sora there, slowly sipping a drink.

"He's my best friend." Riku burst out, without looking away from Sora. "He's my best friend, I never..."

He sighed and turned to face them, and upon seeing Demyx's face forced a smile and said, "Hey, don't be upset, I'm glad you told me."

Before Demyx could make a reply, Axel had growled out, "It's not just 'cause of you and Sora, it's this dickhead as well."

"I don't even know what I've done wrong!" Zexion yelled. Demyx had managed to forget about him, but now he glanced at him and it all came flooding back.

"Yes you fucking do! You chatted to him, you led him on, you made him fall for you, and then you crushed his heart!" Axel wouldn't be stopped by Demyx's desperate protests (because if Zexion didn't know, he did now, and Axel had kinda done to Demyx what Demyx had done to Sora, not that it would make a difference anyway), and continued, cutting through Zexion's current silence. "He's naive and emotional and a complete spaz and you should've been the one who looked after him, not the one who made him cry!"

Axel probably would have carried on but Sora had at some point turned up and with Riku was holding him back. Demyx breathed unsteadily in and out, as silence fell around them. At some point in his tirade Axel had let go of him and he stood alone now, his shoulders cold from the loss of contact and his heart clenched.

"Why did I make you cry?" The question was asked softly, and a hand brushed his arm slightly, drawing back when Axel growled, "Don't you fucking touch him."

Demyx made himself look at Zexion as he muttered, "I saw you...with that man..."

Zexion swore and looked angrily around, like he was wanted to find someone and hit them. Then he stepped forward a little bit more, into Demyx's personal space, ignoring Axel's snarl.

"It's not what you think, he doesn't mean anything. Before you, he...well, we had an arrangement, and I finished it. Because..." he reached out a hand again, and Demyx shuddered when he stroked it up his arm. "Because before then I didn't have a reason not to, but now...now I have a reason not to. And I'm sorry that it's hurt you, really. That was the last thing I wanted."

Demyx didn't want to let himself hope. But he was beginning to think that maybe Zexion actually...

Zexion's other hand slid around his waist and drew him in, and it seemed to be Axel's cursing that caused Zexion to turn to them and say curtly, "Could we have some privacy?"

"Like hell-" Demyx wanted privacy too, especially if this would lead where it might possibly maybe lead, but he dreaded having to tell Axel that, so lucky for him Sora had interrupted him for him.

"No, Axel. We're gonna give them space."

"No, Sora. We're not. Don't you care what-"

"It sounds to me like it was a misunderstanding." Sora glanced across at them, a slight smile on his face. "They need to sort this out themselves now. And I do care, and I swear if Zexion hurts him anymore I'll let you loose on him okay?" Sora could be a bit scary when he wanted to, and his last statement seemed to be more for Zexion's benefit than Axel's.

Axel still looked reluctant, until Sora said, "Besides, for the past few minutes some drunk asshole has been trying to feel up Roxas." Within seconds Axel was stalking away, followed by Sora and Riku who hopefully would stop him getting thrown out.

"There's a lot I need to say..." Zexion started, and then he said worriedly, "it's weird to have you this quiet for so long."

Demyx stifled a giggle, and blurted out, "Do you like me?" because he didn't want to do anything until he knew, and he didn't want to get carried away if it wasn't true.

Zexion slid his hands round Demyx's neck and leaned forward, muttering, "Yeah", and whilst Demyx would have preferred to have addressed it for longer Zexion was kissing him, and he wasn't going to stop that. No. Definitely not.

"Gonna introduce me?"

Zexion pulled away with a growl, and Demyx stared at the man who had been Zexion's...something.

"This is Marluxia. Now fuck off."

Marluxia rolled his eyes and said something about language, but Demyx wasn't listening because the kiss had properly registered all over his body and he was tingling, and dragging Zexion away before he knew what he was doing. He saw Cloud and Leon and went over to tell them, explain the misunderstanding to Cloud, see how these two were doing, but when he got closer he saw that Cloud was sitting on Leon and there was a lot of rubbing and touching going on, and when he heard Cloud give a whimper even over the loud music, Demyx flushed and left with a grin, still dragging a willing Zexion behind him.

He stumbled across Axel, Sora and Riku, and this time Axel didn't growl at his and Zexion's closeness, probably because he had Roxas crowded against a wall and they looked to be having a heated argument, when they weren't making out.

"Apparently Roxas was handling the situation, and didn't need Axel's assistance," Sora informed him with a grin.

"And did he?" Demyx asked, fidgeting and smiling as Zexion stroked his hand.

"He'd kicked the guy in the nuts by the time Axel got there so I'd say that was a yes." Riku said, glancing at the couple against the wall.

In all the mayhem Demyx had forgotten about Sora and Riku. His happiness ebbed and he deflated, and even Zexion squeezing his hand in concern didn't help. Sora didn't know Riku knew. He glanced at Riku who shook his head slightly. Right, Demyx wouldn't say a word. Sora didn't need to know he'd been rejected by his best friend, and they could carry on as normal. Maybe.

Or not. Because Kairi was suddenly there, having re-found her boyfriend, as was her right, as his girlfriend. Demyx really didn't have the right to be annoyed at her. He was trying really hard.

Trying so hard that apparently his grip was squeezing Zexion's to the point of pain, because Zexion gently detached their hands and placed them on his shoulders, gently tugging him down.

"What is it?"

He didn't know where to begin, and was then distracted as Riku left with Kairi. At least Sora didn't know the reason for his haste.

Demyx heard Zexion let out an angry noise and refocused his attention on him, wondering if he'd gotten impatient. But Zexion wasn't even looking at him, his gaze was focused past Demyx, and he sent an apologetic look his way before releasing him and muttering something about 'dealing with this prick'. Demyx turned and was unsurprised to see Marluxia a few metres behind him, an angry Zexion stalking his way.

Demyx released a breath and turned around, trusting Zexion and not needing to see the encounter.

"You two have worked things out. I see," Sora commented at his side, grinning at him. Demyx couldn't help but grin back, despite the heavy feeling that wouldn't leave the bottom of his stomach. He wasn't crying anymore, and he wasn't feeling the alcohol as much, but the guilt was still eating away at him. The occasional stray thought would cross his mind, that maybe Sora would feel bad, seeing him with Zexion and Axel with Roxas, but then he'd realise that it probably didn't even occur to him to feel jealous, that he was so used to feeling a complete lack of hope that he probably didn't even consider 'what-ifs' when he saw them together.

Demyx forced a smile, and started to reply when he was interrupted.

"Sora, could you come here a second?" Sora was looking at Riku in a confused way, but nodding his assent as he followed his best friend away from Demyx, to the other side of the room, where Riku stopped him, running a hand through his hair and looking stressed.

What was going on? Where was Kairi? What were they saying? He stood alone, with no one to harass or comfort him. Zexion had disappeared, and he thought he might see some red hair-

"Axel!"

The distressed cry escaped his lips and in a few seconds Axel was by his side, panting and with swollen lips but concerned, angry eyes, spluttering out, "Where is he, I'll kill him, I'll-"

"No!" Demyx interrupted him quickly. "Riku's pulled Sora aside, over there!" he pointed, to drive his point home.

Axel's face took on a grim, resigned expression. They were joined by a vaguely disgruntled-looking Roxas, and Demyx felt guilty for a few seconds before he saw Riku stare up at the ceiling, and Sora stare at him in confusion and he let out a whimper.

Axel's arms were around him, and he was muttering angrily in his ear, "I shouldn't be the one doing this, where the hell is that twat of yours, he just left you alone, can never leave you alone, God," before turning and saying to Roxas, "Sorry, you're going to have to share me."

"Like I didn't know that already," Roxas replied, and if Demyx had been looking he was certain he'd have seen the bassist roll his eyes, but his gaze was glued to the scene in front of them.

He didn't imagine that he'd be able to tell what they were saying, and it was only because Riku had to repeat it about three times, each time enunciating it slightly more, that he saw what Riku was saying to Sora.

"I know."

From the first time he'd said it, from the look on Sora's face he'd understood what Riku had meant. But only after he'd heard it repeated, did the look of true pain surface. He watched Sora's mouth open, then his shoulders fall and his head turn downward to stare at the floor. He must've said something very quietly, because Riku leaned forward slightly to hear it, clearly asking for it to be repeated. He leaned forward more, and more, and-

Axel's arms tightened round him as Riku leaned enough to duck down and capture Sora's lips with his. Demyx actually gasped, and from the looks of things so did Sora, who stood with his mouth gaping open as Riku drew back.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he was lunging across the gap to reach Riku, grab him, kiss him fiercely and desperately, with Riku responding in kind, gasping against one another.

Demyx didn't even know how many years this had taken, but here it was, happening in front of him, and-

"I swear Demyx, if you start crying I will actually kill you," Axel stated near his ear.

Demyx paused, trying not to do or say anything, before he sniffed and managed to get out, "But it's a beautiful moment!"

Demyx heard a muttered, "Took them long enough," and he was lurching into Zexion's arms sniffing into his shoulder. Axel was taller, so was technically better at the whole holding thing, but he didn't care. Axel didn't run comforting hands up his back, or stroke his hair.

He turned to look again, and saw that Sora was now standing a little way from Riku, and was speaking quickly and frantically, as Riku tried to calm him down and was slowly and gently succeeding.

"See?" Zexion muttered quietly to him. He heard a thumping sound and saw Axel rubbing his arm from where Roxas had hit him, a smirk on his face after he'd undoubtedly said something to purposefully piss Roxas off. On the other side of the room Riku had said something that had made Sora laugh, which had made Riku kiss him as though he just couldn't stop. Cloud and Leon were probably having sex somewhere, hopefully where they wouldn't be arrested.

"It all worked out fine, yeah? I don't know why you get so upset."

Demyx shrugged, turning to face him. "Can't help it, sorry."

Zexion smiled at him, and he couldn't have stopped the smile on his face, even if he'd wanted to. "It's fine, don't worry about it. Just...you can come to me now; you don't have to go to Axel all the time."

Demyx nodded, making the decision not to mention that this was actually a good compromise; he could split his crazy between his best friend and boyfriend.

Nothing he'd done had scared Zexion off. This either meant he wasn't as bad as he thought he was (and he really didn't think this was the case), or Zexion was also a little crazy.

That was fine.

"I'm still shaking," Sora said quietly to Axel when the singer had managed to get him alone. Riku had gone to get his and Sora's coats.

"If Riku's doing it right, you won't ever stop," Axel said with a smirk that turned into a smile at the blissful look on Sora's face.

"You okay?" Sora asked suddenly, staring intently at him.

Axel gave him a weird look. "Why the hell wouldn't I be okay?"

"Well," Sora said slyly. "You have just lost your best friend to someone it looks like you're determined to hate."

Axel snorted, and then muttered, "Haven't lost him." His gaze automatically sought out his mess of a best friend in the crowd. He was high-maintenance personified. He didn't hate this Zexion guy; if anything he pitied him. It took a special kind of person to handle Demyx, and Zexion hadn't convinced him yet that he was it.

To be fair, he had managed to console Demyx after they inevitably hadn't won, which had always been going to happen, Axel had known. Because this was a contest between rock bands. And they didn't have a guitarist. Also, there was a difference between not-sucking and actually being good. They'd toed this line.

"I'll see you later, Axel," Sora said, standing up now and holding his coat, grinning as Axel refocused on the world around him. Riku gave him a distracted wave and hustled Sora out of the building, like a man on a mission.

His gaze found Demyx and Zexion again. He frowned as they kissed sweetly, breaking off to smile at one another.

"I see why you're like this now." Roxas. What did he mean, like what? "So overprotective, so short-tempered."

Was this about that arsehole who'd been feeling Roxas up? Roxas had not had that situation under control-

"I'm not Demyx, Axel," Roxas said as he climbed onto his lap. "Push all your overbearingness onto him, okay? He needs it, not me."

"I get it, Roxas," Axel said solemnly. "You're a strong, independent woman and I shouldn't-"

He knew he'd get hit for that but it'd been worth it.

Apparently he'd been forgiven quickly, because Roxas was soon whispering into his ear, "I found the guy who made Demyx get upset, the one that tried to mess with him."

"Where is he?" Axel's grip on Roxas's waist tightened.

"Pink hair, leaving now." Axel saw him. "Do you wanna leave as well? See if we're going the same way? Our paths might cross." And then Roxas confirmed every single hopeful thought that had ever crossed Axel's mind about him. Every 'maybe' and 'what if' that had played around his head since he'd first set eyes on him.

"I can be your alibi," Roxas whispered hotly in his ear, nipping it gently.

"You complete me," Axel growled at him, before pushing them both up and racing out the door with him.