Stepsiblings (alternate universe stories)

A Kingdom Hearts fanfiction series by Raberba girl

Summary: Stories with the same basic setup as "Stepsiblings," but which take place in slightly different alternate universes.

Introduction: In the main Stepsiblings series, the basic premise is that Saïx & Xion's father gets married to Axel & Roxas's mom. I did, however, keep getting plot bunnies for events that could never happen in the main universe, so this sub-series is like a collection of AUs of the Stepsibsverse.

Oh, and anything in this series might be mentioned in the main universe, even though it didn't actually happen. Yes, I am ridiculous.

o.o.o

Fourth of July (rough draft)

For Saïx/Vexen Day, 4 July 2012

Summary: Saïx's siblings and girlfriend are out of town, as are all his other friends. That only leaves one person to celebrate Independence Day with. Platonic fic for Saïx/Vexen Day 2012.

A/N: Saïx's POV. Takes place when he's in college. This is an AU because he would miss his sibs too much in the main universe to ever take summer school on campus. XD Also possibly because of Vexen's characterization.

Btw, Stepsiblings is not specifically set in America (or Japan, ftr). It's a very vague AU setting...in a country that just happens to have won a revolution on July 4th. *sweatdrop*

My self-confidence is shot... I really, really should not have procrastinated so much in attempting to write the SaiJaz pairing for real. *covers face in embarrassment for thinking I could ever get those two right* And btw, this fic is only about half SaiVex; AkuSaiRokuShi and SaiJaz take up the other half... *sigh* *goes off to cry like the emo perfectionist I am* *final draft will not have these horrible DX-flail A/Ns*

Oh, and it's thirteen minutes 'til the deadline for this fic, so forgive all the horrible tense agreement mistakes I didn't get a chance to fix. DX

o.o.o

The one holiday we were allotted during the second summer session, and even then, I was not allowed sleep in. I should have turned my phone off.

"Sai-Saiiiii!" From the amount of noise and the number of voices in the background, I assumed that they had turned the device to speaker mode.

"Hello, Xion," I said sleepily.

"You just wake up?" Axel laughed.

"Yes..."

"LAZY, Saïx," Roxas said gleefully. "It's already lunchtime and you're still in bed."

"It's seven o'clock in the morning here," I sighed. He was halfway across the world and knew perfectly well about the time difference.

"Aw, poor Saïx," Xion giggled. "Daddy, say good morning to Saïx!"

"Hello, Saïx."

"Hello, Father."

"Mom, say hi to Saïx!"

"Ugh, you guys talk to him, I'm busy."

Typical.

"Mom." That was Axel, sounding fed up. "SAY HELLO to your son that you haven't seen since Easter."

"He's not my son!"

"Axel, don't worry about it," I tried to say. I really had no patience for these awkward dances.

"IT'S NOT GONNA KILL YOU TO SAY HI TO SAIX." Axel sounded furious, but now the younger two were chiming in.

"Mooommmm, you have to say hi to Saïx! Pleeeaaase?"

"Say hi to Saïx!"

"Say hi!"

"Say it!" Then Roxas started chanting, with Axel and then Xion quickly joining in, "Say hi! Say hi! Say hi! Say hi!"

"ALL RIGHT!" Lea shouted. "Shut up! HELLO, Saïx."

"Hello, Lea."

"Yaaayyy! Good job, Mom!"

"See, that wasn't hard."

"Hush, precious; Axel, wipe that grin off your face."

"Children, stop pestering your mother."

"I'M NOT A CHILD! I'M ALMOST NINE!"

"Axel," I said tiredly, "can you please take it off speaker phone...?" The cacophony of staticky voices this early in the morning was starting to give me a headache.

"No, wait, hold on a sec-" Then, apparently, to Father, in a tone of great sarcasm, "Xem, we're gonna go over there to talk to Sai, okay? Is that okay with you? Yes? Great, catch ya later; c'mon, kiddos."

I could hear their crunching footsteps. "How has the trip been so far?" I asked. They were all vacationing abroad, the only reason why we were separated today.

"We saw dolphins!" Xion practically shrieked. "It was SO COOL!"

"The boat was really big," Roxas added.

"Food here's awesome," was Axel's input. "We've been collecting souvenirs for you everywhere we visit."

"Oh, no..."

"You're coming with us next time, right, Sai-Sai?" Xion asked anxiously.

"Maybe." I would like to, of course, but I couldn't predict the future. I hadn't planned on taking summer school this session, for example, yet that was how things had worked out.

"You have to," Roxas said in that bossy way of his. "You can't ever miss our birthday again, I hate it."

"You haven't even had your birthday yet."

"I will. Nine days. Axel's four. Tell him Happy Birthday."

"Happy birthday, Axel."

"Thanks, bro!"

"So does this mean I don't have to call you in four days?"

"NO!"

"You have to call us every day!" Xion informed me. As if I hadn't been doing that already.

"Heh, don't hold it against him, Xi," Axel said with a mischievous note in his voice that made me frown. "He's too busy calling SOMEONE ELSE every day to have time for us..."

"Huh? Who?" Roxas said in confusion, but Xion was giggling.

"Sai-Sai and Jasmine, sittin' in a tree-"

"Don't be tiresome," I cut her off. "I don't recall ever neglecting the three of you in favor of my other relationship, though I can start if it will fulfill your expectations-"

"No!"

"No!"

"What?" (That was Roxas.)

"No, really." Axel, finally sounding like he was being serious for once. "You've been doing good, Sai. It's really great hearing from you."

I didn't know what to say...my face felt hot. "Well. I like...talking to you three, you know." I almost said I miss you, but couldn't quite manage it aloud, no matter how true it was.

I could hear my father's voice calling something indistinguishable in the background.

"All right, we'll be there in a second!" Axel shouted back irritably.

"Quick," Xion urged the other two. "We have to tell him why we called him in the first place!"

"All right, then, on the count of three: One, two, three!"

"HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY~~~!" they all bellowed in unison, causing me to jerk the phone away from my ear for a moment.

"...Happy Fourth of July to you, too," I returned, reluctantly cooperative. "A warning about the noise next time, please?"

"Heh, sorry, Sai."

"Saïx." That was Roxas, sounding like whatever he wanted to say was urgent. "Sai, there's no parades here. People don't do anything for Fourth of July, it's just a normal day."

"Of course. Their Independence Day is different than ours."

"But...but we're supposed to be in a parade!"

Axel shouted something at my father. They were going to be forced to hang up soon.

"Sai-Sai!" Xion. Thankfully, that horrible nickname had not been picked up by the other two. Much. "Sai-Sai, since we can't go to the parade, you have to go for us today!"

"...Ugh."

"Promise!" Roxas yelled. "Promise you'll go to the parade! DO IT FOR US, SAIX!"

"Roxas, I had other plans for today."

"Like what?" Axel challenged.

Sleeping. Homework. Eating. Calling my girlfriend. ...Not in that order, probably.

Father was calling again.

"PROMISE, SAIX!" all three of them screamed.

"...I promise."

"W00t!"

"Finally."

"Yay! I love you, big brother!"

"I love you, too, Xion," I said quietly.

There was a pause.

"Hey!"

"Holy flying-!"

"You love us, too, right, Saïx!"

"Yes, Roxas, I love you, too."

"And me?" That mischief was back in full force.

"You can go jump off a cliff, Axel."

"He doesn't mean it, Axel," Xion said confidently. "His eyes are probably going, 'I love you I miss you I want you back.'"

"Heheh, yeah, I know."

"Don't make me doomgaze the phone," I threatened. I hate that term, but it's...caught on. Even Uncle Xigbar and Van use it now.

"Oooohhhh," my brothers crowed tauntingly.

Now I could hear Lea yelling.

"All right, we're coming!" Axel shouted.

"Saïx, your dad's doomgazing us," Roxas pleaded.

"No wonder, the way you've kept him and your mother waiting. Go on, I'll talk to you all later."

"Have fun at the parade, Sai-Sai."

"I will." Wait, what?

"I love you!"

"Talk to you later, Sai!"

"Bye."

...They're gone.

I lay there for a while, listening to the silence of the apartment and the silence of the phone in my hand. Then I sat up and leaned back against the headboard as I pressed a speed-dial button. I had learned that on noteworthy days, you are supposed to call people who are important to you.

I was a little afraid she wouldn't pick up at this hour, but then there was a click. "Saïx," she greeted in a happy purr that made me smile. She sounded sleepy, though.

"Forgive me for waking you, love." The endearments had been so strange to say at first, but they come easily now.

"Mmm, I can't think of many nicer ways to be woken up." I could hear her shifting on the bed. "I need to get up anyway, some of the girls are already making breakfast."

"What are you doing today?"

"Rehearsal, and the dinner afterwards. And a million other things."

...People usually took dates to things like formal dinners, didn't they. "Jasmine...I should have come."

"You have school."

"I could have...come anyway..." Defied my father while looking him in the eye, foregone class, booked a flight halfway across the country in the middle of summer semester...I should have done it. Should have at least determined whether it was important enough to try, but I'd just taken what she said at face value. Again.

"Saïx, I know what it's like to have to make sacrifices for your family's sake. It's all right, you don't even know anyone here and couldn't talk to half of them, you'd be miserable."

"However, I would be with you. I wouldn't call that miserable."

I could practically sense her smile. "I love hearing you say things like that."

"I must not say them enough."

"You don't, but that's all right, just makes them all the sweeter. What are you doing today, dear?"

"...My sister and brothers made me promise to go to an Independence Day parade."

"Really?"

"I know, it's ridiculous."

"It's wonderful! You'll enjoy it."

"Hmm..."

"You will. Just don't go alone, silly."

"My options are rather limited in that respect." Belle, Al, and Adam had all gone home for the summer, and even if I'd wanted anything to do with Zell's crowd, they were gone as well. There wasn't really anyone in town whom I knew well enough to attend such an event with, except for...

"What about-?" She paused. "Well, probably not."

I was pretty sure we both had the same person in mind. "Most likely not," I agreed. "But I'll think about it."

"Good. I don't like the thought of you being lonely, and you two get along well." She giggled. "Surprisingly well."

"I'd take his company over Zell's, at least; that is certain."

"You're so funny, love." Then, a little unexpectedly for this point in the conversation, "I miss you."

Three small words, yet they brought all the unpleasant feelings back. "I miss you, too," I said in a low voice. Then I did not know what to say, and she did not speak either, so that we simply listened to each other's breathing.

"Jasmine!" I heard a woman's voice call in the background, then a couple more sentences in a language I was not familiar with.

Jasmine called back in the same language, then said to me, "I have to go."

"I know."

"Love you."

"I love you." I could not quite bring myself to end the call - I kept waiting for her end of the line to go dead.

"Well...good-bye, dear."

"Good-bye."

"..."

"..."

"Are you still there?"

I smiled a little. "We're wasting minutes."

"Hang up, then."

"Mm..."

I finally heard her shift again as she got out of bed, the sound of her movements and the increased noise as she walked to, I assumed, the kitchen where the bride-to-be and other bridesmaids were. Cheerful greetings rang out. The sound changed so that I guessed she had set the phone to speaker mode, and I heard her call something to them.

There was a sudden shout of several female voices in unison. "Sabah el kheer, Sa...!" Most of them had trouble pronouncing my name.

"They said Good Morning," Jasmine laughed.

"I surmised. Tell them that I respond in kind." She said something to her friends in their language that caused them all to burst into laughter. There were some individual shouts in a teasing tone, then the sound was a little muted as she returned the phone to its normal mode. "You sound like you're enjoying yourself."

"It really is fun with just the girls, getting ready for the wedding together."

"I know you're going to look beautiful."

"I'll have pictures for you. I wish you could have-" She cuts herself off. "Someday I'll see you at a wedding, Saïx. I know you'll look very handsome."

...Such a strange thought. Did she mean our wedding? I haven't proposed to her, of course...we haven't talked about it...I haven't even really thought about it...I should be thinking about it, though. We've been dating for almost a year, I should at least be thinking about it. Yet more evidence of my social ignorance; how could I have missed so much growing up? A wedding...maybe she didn't mean our wedding...she could have just meant any wedding, any friends of ours getting married, because I am pleased with where our relationship is now, I don't...relish the thought of it changing, but that's strange, isn't it, people don't usually date like this unless they're at least considering-

"Are you all right, sweetheart?"

"What?"

"The phone static... You're doomgazing again, aren't you."

They can tell through the phone static?

"I don't think you're angry, so you must be upset. Did I say something wrong?"

"I...I don't...know what you're talking about." What were we talking about? "You've seen me in a suit before."

"But not when-"

They started calling her name again, playfully whining. I was keeping her from her friends. "I'll have to talk to you later, dear."

"Promise me you'll have fun, all right?"

"I'll do my best," I managed.

"Love you."

"I love you."

"..."

"..."

"I can't hang up on you!"

"Give the phone to somebody else."

After a pause and some transferring sounds, a woman said something to me in strange words and a warm, sweet tone that made my lack of understanding not matter.

Then she was gone, too.

I sat there for a long time, the silence now more pressing than ever. My chest felt...empty. I had never felt like this before. My life had been fine, but then those brothers of mine had showed up to make things difficult and complicated, and they'd made me start liking my sister better, and then once the three of them had all bound me into their little pack, I'd gone to college and instead of my world finally settling down again, it had seemed to explode. I had a girlfriend. I had friends, the first friends I'd ever made in my life.

But now all of them were gone, and because they'd forced me to love them, it was painful, as I had known it would be, to lose them. I had known this would happen. Yet they insisted, and now look at me.

I sent a text message to Axel. "My chest hurts. This is all your fault."

His response was quick (and obnoxious). "STILL WORTH IT!"

"Why should I take your word for it?"

"its true and we lov u lots!"

Well. It was not, after all, as if they made me do all the work. "Don't jump off a cliff."

"dawww i knew u cared"

"I wish I didn't."

"go make a new friend"

"Bit difficult to do without making eye contact." I frightened away most people just by looking at them; even Axel had taken a while to stop hating me. People like my sister or like Jasmine, who could see past the gold and accept me almost at once, were quite rare.

"SMILE"

"You're no help at all."

Nevertheless, the exchange had cheered me up a bit, so I finally got out of bed and prepared for the day. Then I reached for my phone again.

He sounded impatient when he answered. "Yes, hello, what is it?" He was probably in the middle of a project. He was always in the middle of a project.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"The library, of course." Of course. "The ONE DAY when it's finally not crowded with riffraff who don't take their studies seriously..." I had always thought that I had a rather low opinion of humanity in general, but that had been before I met him.

"Consider this your warning," I said. It was only fair to offer something of the kind, but I didn't want him running off before I could find him.

"What?"

I hung up. Made one last check, locked the door behind me, headed down the stairs.

The morning air was refreshing, though of course it was going to get uncomfortably hot later in the day. If we were going to be frolicking about outside, this would be the best time to do it.

I made a purchase on the way to the library, hid it in my bag, then walked inside and found my target happily scribbling away in a notepad, with a laptop sitting nearby and stacks of books taking up the rest of the table.

"Hello, Vexen."

"Oh, it's you," he said absently.

"I made a promise to some people today."

"Could you go away? I'm busy now."

I ignored him and continued. "It will get rather dull fulfilling it by myself, and you're the only option I have on such short notice."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Put the books away, we're going to the Independence Day parade."

"Are you mad, Saïx?" he said indignantly. Despite everything, I couldn't help feeling a slight wisp of affection for the vocabulary. We could relate on that level, at least.

"A little harassed, yes, but mad, no. Please don't argue, I'd rather not force you."

"I'm not leaving," he said defiantly. "Surely you don't imagine I would give up this prime opportunity to get some quality work done, do you?"

"Vexen. Let's please pretend that we are normal human beings, just for today."

"Go adopt some canines, or whatever it is you do when you're not interrupting me."

I drew in a deep breath. Even after all this time, I wasn't very good at this...the Speech was so instinctive, I was still not entirely sure how to control it, other than crudely willing negative thoughts at other people. But to tailor what came out of my eyes to make it more effective on those who were accustomed to it...

'I'm lonely,' I thought, hard. 'You're lonely, too. Come with me, leave the dust behind, let's step out into the sunshine together...'

He was rigid, staring at me. One hand groped unsteadily to drag the notepad closer. "Determination, longing, impatience, affection," he was muttering under his breath, scribbling the words down. Was that what he saw in my eyes? ...Affection?

"Surprise, horror, disgust..."

Focus, Saïx. 'Come,' I thought again.

It was obviously having an effect on him - he was cringing like most people did whenever I looked at them, or like people who were used to me did when I was angry at them. (Everyone except Axel. Axel, for some reason, seemed to have an almost complete immunity, which could be as much of a relief as it was infuriating.)

"Got it," he finally said triumphantly. "You may cease now." He reached for the computer.

"This isn't an experiment, Vexen. I really do want you to put the books away and accompany me."

"It's a holiday!"

"Exactly." Was this what Axel felt like whenever he annoyed me into socializing?

"This is preposterous. I am older than you-" By four months. "-and therefore have seniority, you can't pressure me into participating in something I have no interest in!"

Yet, ten minutes later, we were walking out of the library together, Vexen making a long string of complaints that I did not attempt to stem. I rather thought he was entitled to it.

"...absolutely ridiculous, precious time being wasted, you have no idea how close I am to discovering the-"

I dug out the paper bag of kolaches and silently offered it.

"What is that?"

"Breakfast. Which I assume you didn't eat before dashing off to the library first thing upon awakening."

"How I take care of my body is none of your business," he said haughtily, digging out one of the bread-wrapped sausages.

"I already have to put up with my brother forgetting to feed himself adequately, I really don't need it from you, either. Your face could use some filling out."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Only that he'd grown unhealthily gaunt since the beginning of the summer. It hadn't been nearly this bad when we were still living together - though, granted, when we were roommates, I'd looked after him a lot more than I'd ever expected to have to look after someone my own age. Redirected energies after having gotten so used to taking care of Xion, perhaps...

"No matter. We'll stop by your place so you can drop off your books, then go find out where to register."

"You owe me for this, Saïx."

"Pass the bill to my siblings. It's their fault we're both out here, not being hermits."

"How do you tolerate them?" he wondered, taking another kolache.

"Practice."

"I never had siblings," he said thoughtfully. "I wonder what it would have been like...utterly miserable, I'm sure."

"...Only partially miserable. Then, after a while, you get used to it."

"Fascinating," he said clinically.

When we finally figured out where people, mostly other college students, were gathering to sign up, I drew back behind Vexen and let him do the talking, a habit which my friends were all used to (much as it annoyed some of them).

"Hi!" the young woman with frizzy pigtails said brightly. "Here to sign up for the parade?"

"No," Vexen said bluntly.

"Yes," I corrected, giving him a warning glare.

The girl got a good look at me for the first time and seemed to freeze. I lowered my gaze to the ground again.

"My associate here is forcing me to participate," Vexen sulked.

"Ask for the clipboard," I growled.

Vexen held out his hand imperiously. She handed the sign-up sheet over without a word, her eyes still fixed on me. He signed his name in an illegible scrawl, then handed the registry to me. Saïx Acerbi, I wrote. I snapped a picture with my phone and texted the proof to my brother. "There, are you satisfied now?"

"yaaaaaaayyyyyyy send us pix of u in parade later k? rox says hi xi says ilu"

"You three are impossible." I looked up to find the girl still staring at me, as Vexen took notes on her reaction.

"Your eyes," she whispered. "They're very..."

"Yes?" Vexen said eagerly when she failed to finish her sentence. "Very what? What descriptor would you use for them, exactly?"

With a mental sigh, I folded my arms, looked her in the face for the first time, and waited. ...And remembered my brother's advice to smile, so I did.

She gulped. "Th-They're amazing," she said nervously.

"Really?" Vexen laughed. "That's an unusual one. Fascinating..."

"My girlfriend likes them, too," I tried. I've found that saying such things sometimes has favorable results.

Sure enough, her eyes widened. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, we were not able to be together today, so I'll have to do something nice to make it up to her later."

Her face changed to that expression of wonder that it always does whenever they...'unlock' me, as Xion would put it. I quickly looked away. Sometimes I don't know which is worse, the way they cower in terror or the way they seem to be able to read my mind. I wish so often that I was normal.

"Ohhh...can I?"

I quickly moved back out of reach. "No. Please." Call me unreasonable, but I do not like it when complete strangers try to touch my face. It seems to be a natural reaction with the women, especially. "...She wouldn't like it." Jasmine would think it was amusing, actually, but she wasn't here right now.

The girl actually giggled, her previous fear of me gone. "Sorry. Didn't mean to pester you. Oh! I sure did get distracted; here you go!" She rummaged around in a box and handed each of us a sash and a flag. "Just put these on, and then you can go wait over there with the others. There's refreshments, feel free to enjoy yourselves and get to know everyone! We'll be starting in about an hour."

We did not exactly 'get to know everyone,' but after a while I stopped 'hiding' (as Axel would have put it) and ventured to initiate conversation. With a woman I had long known from her job at a coffee shop near my old dorm building, but still. She was a talkative person who soothed her nervous friends and readily accepted us into her circle, so that the time passed reasonably pleasant enough.

"Why aren't you back home with that adorable little brother and sister of yours? Sounded like they miss you whenever you're gone."

"My academic performance warranted boosting..."

She laughed. "You always have such a funny way of talking. And you, sugar? You taking summer school too, or just working?"

Vexen stared. I was willing to bet that he had never been called 'sugar' in his life before.

"Vexen is also enrolled in summer session. We used to be roommates, back at Tram."

"Is that so! Well, I remember you now, honey; only you had a bit more meat on your bones, then..."

"What is she saying?" Vexen asked me blankly, as if she was speaking a different language.

"You need to eat more."

In the general shuffle and confusion of the parade's start, I lost track of our pre-event companions, and reached out to grasp hold of Vexen's shirt without thinking.

He stared at me. "What are you doing?"

I quickly let go. 'Trying not to lose you.' "Let's move farther up where there's less people."

"I feel ridiculous, wearing this thing." He tugged contemptuously at the patriotic sash that had been slung over one shoulder.

"Well, so do I, but we'll look stranger if we're not festive." I took a photo for my siblings' sake. "Satisfied with my humiliation?"

"totally smokin!"

"You do engage in quite a lot of contact with those siblings of yours," Vexen observed.

"They don't leave me alone otherwise."

"Has it occurred to you that this kind of thing only encourages them?"

"They're annoying either way." Not really. Not anymore. I spoke out of habit... "I'd just prefer them to be in a good mood when they pester me rather than an unpleasant one."

"Sensible enough, I suppose."

Everyone was walking now. The noise was a little overwhelming, with a roar of cheering from the people lining the road, happy shouts back and forth, and noisemakers blaring. This was not exactly my element. I waved and tried to smile and tried to not look directly at anyone.

"It's such a pointless celebration, if you think about it," Vexen was lecturing at my side. "People would do much better to actually research this nation's history and delve into all the primary sources and later analyses of the revolution, rather than gathering together just to make noise and consume junk food and waste time putting up all these decorations that will just end up in landfills, such as this flag, for example, if you consider just the plastic handle, the energy and resources that went into its manufacture and its environmental impact after being thrown away, obviously added up with all the other plastic trivialities just like it..."

I started tuning him out pretty early on. It became this strange sort of dreamlike experience, walking on and on with the endless noise on all sides and my companion staying close, rambling on in a soothing drone...

I was trying hard not to look at anyone, so my eyes inevitably ended up focusing on the road much of the time instead. I saw the child - a girl, so tiny, toddling about with pink clips fastened in her smooth black hair - before anyone else did, wandering unsupervised too close to the wheel of the float in front of us. Abruptly tripping, falling in the wheel's path-

"That child-" Vexen started to say, but I was already scooping her up in my arms.

She burst into tears. I found myself trembling just a little, to my annoyance, since it was involuntary. Just...realizing how close she had come to harm...the memory of my own tiny sister so strong in my mind...

"Boo boo," the child said dolefully, trying to get a look at her bloodied knees.

"You'll be all right," I said quietly. The scrapes were not deep, the blood was smeared widely across her skin but already drying. I looked around for an adult or older child she should belong to, but no one looked frantic or even concerned. We were still walking. I looked back, but though a few people were staring at us in mild, detached concern, no one seemed suitably alarmed. I don't think anyone other than Vexen and I even realized she had been bleeding; my arms covered most of it.

"Who on earth does she belong to?" Vexen was saying in outrage. "Letting small children run loose like that, completely irresponsible, as if this isn't inconvenient enough without things going wrong on top of that..."

The girl raised her head and met my eyes for the first time. I found myself cringing in anticipation, looking away again. She gave a little gasp.

"Puppy!"

'Why. WHY does this sort of thing happen to me so often nowadays. This is Axel's fault.'

The child gurgled in delight and reached up.

"Vexen," I said, "I have a suggestion for a future experiment."

"What would that be?"

"Find out why so many females who 'unlock my doomgaze' try to touch my face directly afterward."

"I'll consider it," he said with mild interest, watching as the girl happily patted me with her chubby toddler hands. I gave her my flag in an attempt to distract her.

She was a good-humored child, seeming to forget entirely about her injuries as she played with the flag and with my hair and sash, and eventually got a little too active for me to keep hold of. We got her to the clinic station none too soon, I was more than half afraid that she would give us the slip before then, despite the fact that both Vexen and I were entirely focused on her.

"Puppy! Play!" She threw the flag across the grass as if she expected me to fetch it.

I sighed heavily. "Will she be all right?" I asked the nurse who kept eyeing me warily as she rinsed the dried blood from the child's skin.

"I should say so, these don't look serious. Just keep them clean and covered like you'd do with any scrape..."

I didn't bother correcting our relation to the child as I went to retrieve the little flag to give back to her.

The nurse had just finished bandaging her up when her guardians finally came bursting in on us, a huge man with a blue and purple hat, and a much smaller man wearing a green T-shirt with a huge single eye pictured on the front.

"Boo!"

"There you are!"

'Boo?' I hadn't thought that any child's name could surpass 'Rox-my-socks' in ridiculousness, but apparently it was possible.

"Daddy! Uncle Mike!" she said happily as they scooped her up and practically smothered her in joyful relief. Then they rounded on us before we could slip away, but before things could get too awkward or heated, the girl...Boo...wriggled out of her father's arms and trotted over to me.

"Puppy, here." She thrust the flag at me proudly.

She was too young to understand, so I accepted it from her and then offered it again, resting across both open palms. "It's yours. Take it, Boo." It was not like I would have any need of the thing in the future.

She picked the little flag off my hands, inspected it for a moment, then grinned and waved it in my face.

The two men were watching me. "Who did you fellas say you were again?"

"My name is Saïx."

"Puppy!"

"My friend is Vexen," I said, ignoring Boo's humiliating declarations as best as I could.

"Former roommate," Vexen corrected.

"Friend." I looked him in the eye. "Because if not for me, you wouldn't have any friends, Vexen, so I would advise you to take what you can get."

"Hmph, I have no need of friends."

"You know what, I used to think that, also. I don't anymore. Don't learn it the hard way, Vexen."

Boo's father and uncle were still watching us, now exchanging thoughtful looks. "Saïx and Vexen, eh?"

"Much obliged for looking after the munchkin, you know."

"You're welcome," I said.

Boo threw the flag again. "Puppy get stick!"

I tried not to sigh audibly.

"So if you boys don't have any plans, whaddaya say to coming along with us to the company picnic we're having over in Cloudsfair Park?"

Which was how I ended up with two strangers, my cranky former roommate, and a little girl named Boo at a picnic for a company I'd never heard of on the Fourth of July. With Boo sitting in my lap, happily eating a sandwich and dripping blackberry jam all over my clothes, Sully laughing loudly enough to hurt my ears, and Vexen and Mike arguing about something trivial, I raised my phone again to take another picture.

"I made some new friends. What do you think?" I texted Axel along with the photo.

"SO PROUD OF U SAISAI!"

"Shut up."

"Toy?" Boo said interestedly, and I hurriedly lifted my phone out of reach of her sticky fingers.

"No, not a toy. Here, take the sash."

"This is why I don't talk to amateurs," Vexen stormed under his breath, pointedly going over to sit on my other side. "No idea what they're talking about."

"Vexen, it's a picnic," I told him. "You're supposed to be enjoying yourself, not getting into fights with your hosts." I glanced over at the righteously sulking Mike, who seemed to be mollified when Sully offered him some cookies.

"Cookie!" Boo shrieked eagerly, and Sully handed me one which I in turn let her have.

"Who says I'm not enjoying myself?" Vexen snorted. "He may be an idiot, but he brought up several valid points which I need to prove wrong, and I think I have an idea of how to go about it..."

I smiled a little. "Happy Independence Day, Vexen."

"What? Oh. Happy Independence Day, Saïx, or whatever it is you want to hear."

"Cookie?" Boo offered, holding one in Vexen's face. He stared at it.

"Just think, Vexen. You would have never gotten to eaten that cookie if I hadn't dragged you out here to celebrate."

"Well, obviously." He plucked the cookie out of Boo's hand. "I hope you're not expecting me to thank you."

"You could thank Boo, at least."

"Hmph."

"Thank you, Boo," I said for him.

"Yay! Puppy get stick!" Once more, the flag went sailing out into the grass.

"Vexen: new experiment. See if we can teach Boo how to say my name properly."

"Heh, challenge accepted."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: Uh...so I looked it up, and apparently the things that restaurants in my city call "kolaches" are not real kolaches in their country of origin. *sweatdrop* Basically, kolaches are desserts with fruit fillings, but there are several places where I live that sell sausages in bread and call them "kolaches."

Apparently, Beast's real name is not mentioned anywhere except in some obscure computer game. It's Adam. XD

I seriously need to re-watch Monsters, Inc.

Oh, and THIS actually counts as the first time I've written Vexen positively, since last time was technically Even (whom I like better). ^^ Though...you could argue that I still haven't written canon!Vexen positively yet... *sweatdrop*

Speaking of Vexen, I have a feeling he'll be characterized differently at this point in time in the main series - he's supposed to be closer to Belle and the others, for example. For this fic, however, I wrote him in a way that was more suitable, which was okay because this is an AU.