Strum a Melody for Me: chapters 5
Title: Strum a Melody for Me
Pairings: Zexion/Demyx, Axel/Roxas, Larxene/Marluxia.. (more to come)
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: PG14
Warnings: Language, Mild Violence, BL, Intelligence mixed with Insanity
Chapters: 5
Summary: Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he’s got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became college roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen. Wait… why is that last one a problem? An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion’s point of view.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Zexion, Demyx or anyone else… as much as I wish I did sometimes.
Chapter 5 “Not Strapped In”
“The world's a rollercoaster and I am not strapped in. Maybe I should hold with care, while my hands are busy in the air. Saying, I wish you were here.”
-“I Wish You Were Here” by Incubus
Fall break.
I should be happy beyond belief according to most of the other college students I knew. Not many colleges had a fall break, and most didn’t have it for a week like us.
However, I was not happy. Not in the least bit.
And it only miffed me more that I had no idea why.
“Zex, you’ve been staring out that window for a good ten minutes. What is wrong?” Lex crossed his arms as he stood between the window and I.
I raised a brow, “My zoning out means something is wrong?” I pondered aloud at his odd logic as if I was questioning his sanity.
Lexaeus mimicked my expression but didn’t move otherwise.
I sighed, knowing my mask wasn’t fooling him, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, so just leave it be.”
“Not the usual?” He titled his head slightly referring to my recurring depression at my deafness.
“No, not the usual.” I answered with a scowl, although, I know I was being illogical toward Lex’s usual logical approach to problems. As if to confirm this, Lexaeus knit his brows together at my expression, and I felt another wave of confusion threatening to consume me.
I felt familiar footsteps vibrate the floor boards. My mother had wandered in with a plate of apple slices, which she set carefully on the table nearby where I was resting a hand. She waited until I turned and looked at her with an upward twitch of my lips before she flashed a bright smile back and left.
“Thank you, Mrs. Gainsborough!” Lex called after her retreating form, using her maiden name which she had never given it up, gaining him another bright smile from the hallway as she rushed to get dinner ready.
I sighed as I reached for a slice of apple. My mother had become very quiet since I lost my hearing. It was like she didn’t bother to make any sound just so I wouldn’t feel left out. I thought it was unnecessary, but secretly enjoyed that for once everyone was at a disadvantage, the same as me. I knew Lex somehow had figured this out and never complained about her silent ways- not that it was like him to complain anyway.
Lex’s large hands interrupted my thoughts as he quickly signed out a question: “It’s something important. What’s wrong?”
I paused, my hand hovering over the applies, then retreating to my side.
I could feel my mother’s light footsteps nearby and knew he was trying to keep this a private conversation so not to worry her. Back when I had first lost my hearing, the doctors had told my parents it would be a good idea for me to learn sign language. I had been avoiding Lex during that time but one day he showed up to my American Sign Language class and sat down next to me. We learned it together and although I had also learned to read lips and could still speak aloud, we often used sign language to hold private conversation.
I frowned, and quickly signed back, “I told you already. I don’t know.”
His muscled frame set itself in a chair nearby and he gave me a look, and then signed: “Figure it out then, and tell me when you do.” Then he looked away and munched on an apple slice as we watched some neighborhood kids play outside.
I snatched an apple slice from the plate and nibbles on it. Peanut butter. I smiled lightly; my mother always knew how to cheer me up.
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I shuffled along the sidewalk, stopping only to watch the scraggly teenagers stare back at me as they ate lunch. I must have looked quite silly with my pale jeans, black converse, blue windbreaker and my neon green bulky headphones. However, I didn’t care what I looked like. I didn’t have to worry about the danger of Talk because this wasn’t my highschool anymore.
A girl’s waving arm caught my attention as she grinned brightly, “Zexion!”
I waved back politely, regardless of the fact I had little idea who she was, and glanced at my watch. Lunch time was over. When I glanced back up, I saw everyone’s head turn and feet begin the long strides toward the next classroom that would bring only boredom and misery upon its company.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of gelled up blonde hair. I whipped my head around and stared wide-eyed at the young man. Tidus raised a brow at my odd reaction. “What’s with you, Zex?”
Xigbar’s zebra-like head made its appearance a moment later as he slung his arm around Tidus’s shoulders, giving the blonde a grin before turning and blinking at me, “Didja drop out already, Zexdude? I figured Xaldy would be first, ‘cause he always was talking ‘bout that pub he wanted to open…”
I just shook my head, carefully leveling my expression, so my confusing feelings of sadness wouldn’t show. “Fall break.” I replied curtly. Xigbar was in the crowd that Lex and I had eaten lunch with and he was actually supposed to have graduated with us, but hadn’t bothered to finish his senior project. In consequence, he was left back a grade, which was fine with him, as zebra-head had been planning to drop out anyway.
I blinked at Tidus as the smaller blonde leaned his head back against Xigbar’s green army jacket. Apparently I’ve missed a lot over the course of a few weeks.
I stayed and talked with Xigbar and Tidus, neither of which seemed to care that they were missing class, and caught up on some events going on, although most of it was nothing I cared about. “You mean Mrs. Heartilly gave up teaching?”
Tidus crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against Xigbar’s taller but lean frame, “Yea, everyone said, though, that she was trying to find some guy she’d fallen for.”
Xigbar took a long drag from his cigarette, “The dude is obviously gay for that Strife guy.”
The blonde scowled up at the zebra-headed teen, “Who’s this Strife dude? You didn’t tell me about that.”
“It’s so obvious though.” Xig’s laughter quickly dissolved into a hacking cough from years of smoking.
I glanced between the two guys, “I know a kid named Strife in a few of my classes.” I stated, remembering Roxas’s last name from the few times I had glanced at the class list.
“Strife’s got kids? HA! I knew it. Mrs. Heartilly had better hurry and grab her Squall before he tangos with a married man!” Tidus’s eyes had an odd sparkle to them. Ah, a romantic then. I shifted my sight to Xig, whom had turned thoughtful, and slowly a grin came over his face.
We talked for a few minutes more before Xigbar “suddenly” remembered something and promptly dragged Tidus off, probably to show him the benefits of “tangoing” with an unmarried man.
In the end, I watched my highschool for a bit more, waiting under the bored glaze of the few lucky students to own a window seat. I eventually left, still refusing to wonder why I had been distressed when Tidus had turned out to not be the blonde I was expecting.
I was getting used to avoiding certain trains of thought.
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“Zexion.”
“Yes, Lexaeus?”
“I’ve found someone. Someone special.”
I knit my brows together. “Ah. Good.” Not sure what he wanted from me.
Lex was watching me from the corner of his eye as we sat by the window again. He practically lived here when I was around, my mother always said. I had papers strewn across the table: various stories and essays I had been working on. Lex gently held a small novel between his large muscled hands, one thick thumb marking his place as his thoughtful eyes watched me.
I met his sight, although I couldn’t read his expression any better for it. He seemed to find was he was looking for in my face and he shifted his sight back to his novel.
“You’ve found someone too.” He stated, knowing I was still watching him.
I felt my face react in a heated flush, but my mind remained as confused as ever. He edged his eyes towards me and yet again, read something from my expression that I couldn’t find in his.
“Don’t let them pass you by.” Lexaeus’s gentle eyes stared hard into mine, “The worst thing is for them to never know.”
I was just about sowing with my brows as Lex’s stern gaze held mine.
We both looked away, each used to this form of silent communication that we have done since even before my accident.
Some things never change.
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And some things do.
They were driving me insane, which was a hard thing to manage.
Specifically, theses dreams, for they couldn’t possibly be anything else, that would tantalize me with something that my knowledge of would never translate to awake thoughts, leaving an odd longing for something I didn’t know.
Every morning I would wake in a sweat, not out of fear, but out of effort to keep myself in the dream… and every time, that split second before you’re fully awake, I would mourn the something’s loss to the daylight hours.
As the fall break went on, the dreams only became worse and worse. I could barely stand to go into my own bedroom, because something was missing.
Mother said it was just my “restless spirit”, but I knew that the “thing” was connected somehow to college and was probably something I had left behind there.
I could only hope they would go away when I returned to my dorm.
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I really didn’t need this after the possibly worst night of sleep I had ever gotten.
Demyx was merrily carrying various boxes and bags as he wandered into the room, a bouncy girl at his elbow as they chattered at hyper speed.
I adjusted my headphones, wincing as they crushed the piercings in my ear against my skull. I had just gotten used to not having to wear my blasting music since my mother and Lex had preferred me not to flaunt my continuing “deception”, as they claimed it, around them.
I ran my fingers through my hair in a nervous habit of mine. I moved my personal belongings back into my dorm awhile before, Lex helping again of course. Lexaeus had left me a novel, from his huge collection, telling me that it might help me with some of my “decisive problems” as he was calling them.
Now it lay open upon my desk, at first glance looking like a nonfiction manual with the chapter title: “How I Paid For College”, but within the first page it had proved to be nothing of how it looked.
Of course, now I was ignoring any form of words lining the pages as I pretended to read, but shot glares at Demyx whenever he wasn’t looking. How dare he bring a girl here, I fumed. Granted, Larxene had already been in here, but I hadn’t invited her.
The girl was two heads shorter then Demyx, which made her just about the same height as me (which had proved to remind me yet again how short I was, proving to further annoy me) and had short black hair with a bright yellow cloth tied as a headband. I couldn’t make out whether she was supposed to be dressed in costume or really had meant to look like a bright yellow and black ninja.
They both were chattering so fast (I hadn’t noticed before but now I noticed the New Yorker accent pulling at both Demyx and the girl’s lips, which explained the speed of the chatter) that it was actually hard to keep up with my lip reading, on which I had always prided my speed and accuracy.
Too many things, which separate would only annoy me, together had managed to combine with my utter lack of sleep and get my slow temper to begin its burn. And when I felt my eye twitch as I watched Demyx continue to ignore me for the chatter running between him and the girl, I knew that I was losing it.
I needed to calm down before someone was hurt.
I jerked myself from my chair, stuffing my i-kod into the pocket of my trenchcoat. I walked stiffly to the door, slamming it behind me, without bothering to look at Demyx or the girl.
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“Larxene. I need to talk to you. NOW.” I growled through my teeth as the female in question finally opened the door of her dorm.
She just stood there and blinked at me, shock outlining her face for a moment. “Whoa. Something I did, Zex Mix?”
“No.” I grunted with my eyes narrowed. “Is there something I need to know, Lark Bird?”
Her expression suddenly relaxed into a truly Cheshire grin. “Well,” She gave me a wink, “I am standing here in only my bra.”
I blanched, anger leaking out through my cheeks in a bright red burn. My eyes started to lower but I quickly whipped my whole body around to face away from her.
As my mind tried vainly to catch up with the current events, I jumped at a light tap on my shoulder, growling as I turned to fix Larxene with a glare.
“I asked whether it was important enough for me to bother dressing up again?” The blonde sneered as my eyes dropped and I realized she still hadn’t covered herself up. I squawked and began to turn away again, but she caught me by my shoulder.
Panic rising as I squirmed in her tight grasp. She leaned down and her face grew closer to mine. Thud. Thud. Thud. I felt her pulse race in her fingertips as she gripped me tighter, the individual muscles loosening and tightening in response to her brain’s chemical signals. I was so caught up in my fear and the pulses running throughout her body, detailing it out in my enhanced sense of touch, that I didn’t realize for a moment that she had lifted up my mop of hair from my face with her free hand.
“So… This is what Lexaeus was talking around in his letters… Your accident was on the news, you know…” Her electric eyes drifted to me and must have seen my reaction to her touch written all across my face. “Oh.” She snapped her hands to her chest, letting them then fall to her sides. I knew she had continued to speak, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Striking the opposite wall with my back, I slowly slid to the floor, my chest heaving. I knew that must have been noisy, but I couldn’t get myself to care. I was too concerned with breathing in and out.
A hand shoved into my hand made me gasp sharply before I turned a wide-eyed glare on the electric blonde who retracted her hand as her eyes met mine.
Her mouth twisted into a deep scowl. “You know. I thought we were friends, yanno.”
I gaped at her, trying to formulate some sort of response, but my memory of sounds had left me in my panic. I could no more speak then a blind person could paint.
She crossed her arms over her half dressed state, “Why did you never tell me about your accident?”
My gaze dropped to the floor and shattered against the tiles. Small sounds forced themselves free from my near-forgotten lips, “I… di-didni’t… me-an…”
Larxene’s brows knit together, her gelled hair bobbing for a moment as she tilted her head to the side. Beginning to recover from my panic, I noticed the flash of understanding dart through her facial expression. I sighed, knowing already what was about to happen.
“Lex was right then?” Her eyes narrowed as they watched mine zip across her lips.
I plucked my hair free from behind my ear, letting it hide my mauled face. “Sorry for not telling you, Lar. I barely told Lex.” I answered stiffly, “It wasn’t something I wanted everyone to know.”
“Hell, Zex, I had my theories… but I never thought you actually…” She trailed off, her normally sadistic self having a hard time figuring out how to react. In the end she settled for a frown at me, “So you’re deaf.”
“Since the accident.” I answered her silent question.
“No hearing at all?” She made a vague gesture at her own ears.
“None.”
“Why the headphones then?”
“It keeps everyone else from figuring it out,” I frowned, picking invisible dusk off my pants, I rose silently from the floor.
Larxene offered a hand to help me, but I shook my head, “Please don’t touch me.”
Her eyes light up momentarily, then darkened, “That was what Lex was talking about then… Your ‘new phobia’, he called it.”
I ran my fingers through my hair nervously, “Lovely.” I replied flatly.
The blonde blinked and turned her head around, looking into her dorm, her head at an angle that I could barely read her words but I could see her yelling something to someone.
When she turned back, she knit her brows at my confused expression, and then her face relaxed. “Oh, you couldn’t hear him… right.” She tilted her head to the side slightly.
I shot her a perplexed look, “Who?”
“Marluxia,” I must have had an odd expression on my face because she suddenly looked highly amused. “Jealous? You are my ex, after all.”
I rolled my eyes, “I’ve been your friend for longer.” I muttered, “Just surprised...” Tilting my head slightly and giving her a look, “You usually don’t get back together with people you’ve dumped, especially those who cheat on you. Actually, you usually try to string them up by their gizzards, really.” I rested my fingers on my chin, holding it up by its elbow resting in the palm of my other hand. “I knew you went too easy on him.” I raised my brow at her, “You must actually like him.”
She had the dignity to blush, but the lack of it to grin wickedly. “Of course I like him. Why else would I be standing here in all my shirtless glory?”
The sudden blood rush to my face was enough to nearly knock me out. I had clearly forgotten that she was only half-dressed, and the sadistic girl that she was, she purposefully leaned closer to me, not enough to set off my phobia, but enough to have her cleavage clearly in my way.
Reacting, obviously, to another call from inside her dorm, Larxene suddenly forgot me in favor of yelling back to Marly, “Do I have to show you again who the bitch is in this relationship, m’dear?” She sneered then called out again, “Plus, guess who is wearing pants right now and who isn’t.”
I think I made some sort of squeak or a squawk, that probably sounded more like a dying bird then anything I wanted drawn in relation to me. But, regardless, Larxene must have heard and turned around to face me again, her arms crossed and her face twisted in a smirk, “What’s wrong, Zexyplexy*?”
“T-M-I, Lar! TMI!” I squawked like that dying bird again.
The blonde just laughed, “My dear Zexion, you’re so-” She whipped her head around, “SHUT UP MARLY, I don’t care what you’re doing with your tongue- Zex, look, I’ll see you later, okay?” She tossed her hair back with a hand, then used the same one to flip Marluxia the bird, still smirking at me. “Take care, shortie.”
I jerked my eyes from her chest and rolled them, “See you, plughead.” I shoved my hands into my pockets and started down the hall, turning around only after I felt the slam of her door through the floor.
Studying her closed door from where I stood, my lips tugged into a frown. I shrugged then and wandered down the hallway. “Lark’s always so much help.” I muttered darkly, but my lips tugged upwards slightly in a morbid smile, “…Well at least she got my mind off my own problems for a bit…”
“Ew.” I let a shudder run through my frame, “Of course, Lar had to do it in the worst possible way…” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I wandered around the dorm, “There really are far too many closeted fruits at this school. It’s amazing anyone here gets any work done at all.”
I felt the floor shake with a steady rhythm, and took that as my signal to scurry off, not wanting to think of exactly why the floor was shaking like that…
[/endchapter5]
*(Sexy Plexi by Jack Johnson)
Pairings: Zexion/Demyx, Axel/Roxas, Larxene/Marluxia.. (more to come)
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: PG14
Warnings: Language, Mild Violence, BL, Intelligence mixed with Insanity
Chapters: 5
Summary: Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he’s got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became college roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen. Wait… why is that last one a problem? An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion’s point of view.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Zexion, Demyx or anyone else… as much as I wish I did sometimes.
Chapter 5 “Not Strapped In”
“The world's a rollercoaster and I am not strapped in. Maybe I should hold with care, while my hands are busy in the air. Saying, I wish you were here.”
-“I Wish You Were Here” by Incubus
Fall break.
I should be happy beyond belief according to most of the other college students I knew. Not many colleges had a fall break, and most didn’t have it for a week like us.
However, I was not happy. Not in the least bit.
And it only miffed me more that I had no idea why.
“Zex, you’ve been staring out that window for a good ten minutes. What is wrong?” Lex crossed his arms as he stood between the window and I.
I raised a brow, “My zoning out means something is wrong?” I pondered aloud at his odd logic as if I was questioning his sanity.
Lexaeus mimicked my expression but didn’t move otherwise.
I sighed, knowing my mask wasn’t fooling him, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, so just leave it be.”
“Not the usual?” He titled his head slightly referring to my recurring depression at my deafness.
“No, not the usual.” I answered with a scowl, although, I know I was being illogical toward Lex’s usual logical approach to problems. As if to confirm this, Lexaeus knit his brows together at my expression, and I felt another wave of confusion threatening to consume me.
I felt familiar footsteps vibrate the floor boards. My mother had wandered in with a plate of apple slices, which she set carefully on the table nearby where I was resting a hand. She waited until I turned and looked at her with an upward twitch of my lips before she flashed a bright smile back and left.
“Thank you, Mrs. Gainsborough!” Lex called after her retreating form, using her maiden name which she had never given it up, gaining him another bright smile from the hallway as she rushed to get dinner ready.
I sighed as I reached for a slice of apple. My mother had become very quiet since I lost my hearing. It was like she didn’t bother to make any sound just so I wouldn’t feel left out. I thought it was unnecessary, but secretly enjoyed that for once everyone was at a disadvantage, the same as me. I knew Lex somehow had figured this out and never complained about her silent ways- not that it was like him to complain anyway.
Lex’s large hands interrupted my thoughts as he quickly signed out a question: “It’s something important. What’s wrong?”
I paused, my hand hovering over the applies, then retreating to my side.
I could feel my mother’s light footsteps nearby and knew he was trying to keep this a private conversation so not to worry her. Back when I had first lost my hearing, the doctors had told my parents it would be a good idea for me to learn sign language. I had been avoiding Lex during that time but one day he showed up to my American Sign Language class and sat down next to me. We learned it together and although I had also learned to read lips and could still speak aloud, we often used sign language to hold private conversation.
I frowned, and quickly signed back, “I told you already. I don’t know.”
His muscled frame set itself in a chair nearby and he gave me a look, and then signed: “Figure it out then, and tell me when you do.” Then he looked away and munched on an apple slice as we watched some neighborhood kids play outside.
I snatched an apple slice from the plate and nibbles on it. Peanut butter. I smiled lightly; my mother always knew how to cheer me up.
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I shuffled along the sidewalk, stopping only to watch the scraggly teenagers stare back at me as they ate lunch. I must have looked quite silly with my pale jeans, black converse, blue windbreaker and my neon green bulky headphones. However, I didn’t care what I looked like. I didn’t have to worry about the danger of Talk because this wasn’t my highschool anymore.
A girl’s waving arm caught my attention as she grinned brightly, “Zexion!”
I waved back politely, regardless of the fact I had little idea who she was, and glanced at my watch. Lunch time was over. When I glanced back up, I saw everyone’s head turn and feet begin the long strides toward the next classroom that would bring only boredom and misery upon its company.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of gelled up blonde hair. I whipped my head around and stared wide-eyed at the young man. Tidus raised a brow at my odd reaction. “What’s with you, Zex?”
Xigbar’s zebra-like head made its appearance a moment later as he slung his arm around Tidus’s shoulders, giving the blonde a grin before turning and blinking at me, “Didja drop out already, Zexdude? I figured Xaldy would be first, ‘cause he always was talking ‘bout that pub he wanted to open…”
I just shook my head, carefully leveling my expression, so my confusing feelings of sadness wouldn’t show. “Fall break.” I replied curtly. Xigbar was in the crowd that Lex and I had eaten lunch with and he was actually supposed to have graduated with us, but hadn’t bothered to finish his senior project. In consequence, he was left back a grade, which was fine with him, as zebra-head had been planning to drop out anyway.
I blinked at Tidus as the smaller blonde leaned his head back against Xigbar’s green army jacket. Apparently I’ve missed a lot over the course of a few weeks.
I stayed and talked with Xigbar and Tidus, neither of which seemed to care that they were missing class, and caught up on some events going on, although most of it was nothing I cared about. “You mean Mrs. Heartilly gave up teaching?”
Tidus crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against Xigbar’s taller but lean frame, “Yea, everyone said, though, that she was trying to find some guy she’d fallen for.”
Xigbar took a long drag from his cigarette, “The dude is obviously gay for that Strife guy.”
The blonde scowled up at the zebra-headed teen, “Who’s this Strife dude? You didn’t tell me about that.”
“It’s so obvious though.” Xig’s laughter quickly dissolved into a hacking cough from years of smoking.
I glanced between the two guys, “I know a kid named Strife in a few of my classes.” I stated, remembering Roxas’s last name from the few times I had glanced at the class list.
“Strife’s got kids? HA! I knew it. Mrs. Heartilly had better hurry and grab her Squall before he tangos with a married man!” Tidus’s eyes had an odd sparkle to them. Ah, a romantic then. I shifted my sight to Xig, whom had turned thoughtful, and slowly a grin came over his face.
We talked for a few minutes more before Xigbar “suddenly” remembered something and promptly dragged Tidus off, probably to show him the benefits of “tangoing” with an unmarried man.
In the end, I watched my highschool for a bit more, waiting under the bored glaze of the few lucky students to own a window seat. I eventually left, still refusing to wonder why I had been distressed when Tidus had turned out to not be the blonde I was expecting.
I was getting used to avoiding certain trains of thought.
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“Zexion.”
“Yes, Lexaeus?”
“I’ve found someone. Someone special.”
I knit my brows together. “Ah. Good.” Not sure what he wanted from me.
Lex was watching me from the corner of his eye as we sat by the window again. He practically lived here when I was around, my mother always said. I had papers strewn across the table: various stories and essays I had been working on. Lex gently held a small novel between his large muscled hands, one thick thumb marking his place as his thoughtful eyes watched me.
I met his sight, although I couldn’t read his expression any better for it. He seemed to find was he was looking for in my face and he shifted his sight back to his novel.
“You’ve found someone too.” He stated, knowing I was still watching him.
I felt my face react in a heated flush, but my mind remained as confused as ever. He edged his eyes towards me and yet again, read something from my expression that I couldn’t find in his.
“Don’t let them pass you by.” Lexaeus’s gentle eyes stared hard into mine, “The worst thing is for them to never know.”
I was just about sowing with my brows as Lex’s stern gaze held mine.
We both looked away, each used to this form of silent communication that we have done since even before my accident.
Some things never change.
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And some things do.
They were driving me insane, which was a hard thing to manage.
Specifically, theses dreams, for they couldn’t possibly be anything else, that would tantalize me with something that my knowledge of would never translate to awake thoughts, leaving an odd longing for something I didn’t know.
Every morning I would wake in a sweat, not out of fear, but out of effort to keep myself in the dream… and every time, that split second before you’re fully awake, I would mourn the something’s loss to the daylight hours.
As the fall break went on, the dreams only became worse and worse. I could barely stand to go into my own bedroom, because something was missing.
Mother said it was just my “restless spirit”, but I knew that the “thing” was connected somehow to college and was probably something I had left behind there.
I could only hope they would go away when I returned to my dorm.
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I really didn’t need this after the possibly worst night of sleep I had ever gotten.
Demyx was merrily carrying various boxes and bags as he wandered into the room, a bouncy girl at his elbow as they chattered at hyper speed.
I adjusted my headphones, wincing as they crushed the piercings in my ear against my skull. I had just gotten used to not having to wear my blasting music since my mother and Lex had preferred me not to flaunt my continuing “deception”, as they claimed it, around them.
I ran my fingers through my hair in a nervous habit of mine. I moved my personal belongings back into my dorm awhile before, Lex helping again of course. Lexaeus had left me a novel, from his huge collection, telling me that it might help me with some of my “decisive problems” as he was calling them.
Now it lay open upon my desk, at first glance looking like a nonfiction manual with the chapter title: “How I Paid For College”, but within the first page it had proved to be nothing of how it looked.
Of course, now I was ignoring any form of words lining the pages as I pretended to read, but shot glares at Demyx whenever he wasn’t looking. How dare he bring a girl here, I fumed. Granted, Larxene had already been in here, but I hadn’t invited her.
The girl was two heads shorter then Demyx, which made her just about the same height as me (which had proved to remind me yet again how short I was, proving to further annoy me) and had short black hair with a bright yellow cloth tied as a headband. I couldn’t make out whether she was supposed to be dressed in costume or really had meant to look like a bright yellow and black ninja.
They both were chattering so fast (I hadn’t noticed before but now I noticed the New Yorker accent pulling at both Demyx and the girl’s lips, which explained the speed of the chatter) that it was actually hard to keep up with my lip reading, on which I had always prided my speed and accuracy.
Too many things, which separate would only annoy me, together had managed to combine with my utter lack of sleep and get my slow temper to begin its burn. And when I felt my eye twitch as I watched Demyx continue to ignore me for the chatter running between him and the girl, I knew that I was losing it.
I needed to calm down before someone was hurt.
I jerked myself from my chair, stuffing my i-kod into the pocket of my trenchcoat. I walked stiffly to the door, slamming it behind me, without bothering to look at Demyx or the girl.
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“Larxene. I need to talk to you. NOW.” I growled through my teeth as the female in question finally opened the door of her dorm.
She just stood there and blinked at me, shock outlining her face for a moment. “Whoa. Something I did, Zex Mix?”
“No.” I grunted with my eyes narrowed. “Is there something I need to know, Lark Bird?”
Her expression suddenly relaxed into a truly Cheshire grin. “Well,” She gave me a wink, “I am standing here in only my bra.”
I blanched, anger leaking out through my cheeks in a bright red burn. My eyes started to lower but I quickly whipped my whole body around to face away from her.
As my mind tried vainly to catch up with the current events, I jumped at a light tap on my shoulder, growling as I turned to fix Larxene with a glare.
“I asked whether it was important enough for me to bother dressing up again?” The blonde sneered as my eyes dropped and I realized she still hadn’t covered herself up. I squawked and began to turn away again, but she caught me by my shoulder.
Panic rising as I squirmed in her tight grasp. She leaned down and her face grew closer to mine. Thud. Thud. Thud. I felt her pulse race in her fingertips as she gripped me tighter, the individual muscles loosening and tightening in response to her brain’s chemical signals. I was so caught up in my fear and the pulses running throughout her body, detailing it out in my enhanced sense of touch, that I didn’t realize for a moment that she had lifted up my mop of hair from my face with her free hand.
“So… This is what Lexaeus was talking around in his letters… Your accident was on the news, you know…” Her electric eyes drifted to me and must have seen my reaction to her touch written all across my face. “Oh.” She snapped her hands to her chest, letting them then fall to her sides. I knew she had continued to speak, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Striking the opposite wall with my back, I slowly slid to the floor, my chest heaving. I knew that must have been noisy, but I couldn’t get myself to care. I was too concerned with breathing in and out.
A hand shoved into my hand made me gasp sharply before I turned a wide-eyed glare on the electric blonde who retracted her hand as her eyes met mine.
Her mouth twisted into a deep scowl. “You know. I thought we were friends, yanno.”
I gaped at her, trying to formulate some sort of response, but my memory of sounds had left me in my panic. I could no more speak then a blind person could paint.
She crossed her arms over her half dressed state, “Why did you never tell me about your accident?”
My gaze dropped to the floor and shattered against the tiles. Small sounds forced themselves free from my near-forgotten lips, “I… di-didni’t… me-an…”
Larxene’s brows knit together, her gelled hair bobbing for a moment as she tilted her head to the side. Beginning to recover from my panic, I noticed the flash of understanding dart through her facial expression. I sighed, knowing already what was about to happen.
“Lex was right then?” Her eyes narrowed as they watched mine zip across her lips.
I plucked my hair free from behind my ear, letting it hide my mauled face. “Sorry for not telling you, Lar. I barely told Lex.” I answered stiffly, “It wasn’t something I wanted everyone to know.”
“Hell, Zex, I had my theories… but I never thought you actually…” She trailed off, her normally sadistic self having a hard time figuring out how to react. In the end she settled for a frown at me, “So you’re deaf.”
“Since the accident.” I answered her silent question.
“No hearing at all?” She made a vague gesture at her own ears.
“None.”
“Why the headphones then?”
“It keeps everyone else from figuring it out,” I frowned, picking invisible dusk off my pants, I rose silently from the floor.
Larxene offered a hand to help me, but I shook my head, “Please don’t touch me.”
Her eyes light up momentarily, then darkened, “That was what Lex was talking about then… Your ‘new phobia’, he called it.”
I ran my fingers through my hair nervously, “Lovely.” I replied flatly.
The blonde blinked and turned her head around, looking into her dorm, her head at an angle that I could barely read her words but I could see her yelling something to someone.
When she turned back, she knit her brows at my confused expression, and then her face relaxed. “Oh, you couldn’t hear him… right.” She tilted her head to the side slightly.
I shot her a perplexed look, “Who?”
“Marluxia,” I must have had an odd expression on my face because she suddenly looked highly amused. “Jealous? You are my ex, after all.”
I rolled my eyes, “I’ve been your friend for longer.” I muttered, “Just surprised...” Tilting my head slightly and giving her a look, “You usually don’t get back together with people you’ve dumped, especially those who cheat on you. Actually, you usually try to string them up by their gizzards, really.” I rested my fingers on my chin, holding it up by its elbow resting in the palm of my other hand. “I knew you went too easy on him.” I raised my brow at her, “You must actually like him.”
She had the dignity to blush, but the lack of it to grin wickedly. “Of course I like him. Why else would I be standing here in all my shirtless glory?”
The sudden blood rush to my face was enough to nearly knock me out. I had clearly forgotten that she was only half-dressed, and the sadistic girl that she was, she purposefully leaned closer to me, not enough to set off my phobia, but enough to have her cleavage clearly in my way.
Reacting, obviously, to another call from inside her dorm, Larxene suddenly forgot me in favor of yelling back to Marly, “Do I have to show you again who the bitch is in this relationship, m’dear?” She sneered then called out again, “Plus, guess who is wearing pants right now and who isn’t.”
I think I made some sort of squeak or a squawk, that probably sounded more like a dying bird then anything I wanted drawn in relation to me. But, regardless, Larxene must have heard and turned around to face me again, her arms crossed and her face twisted in a smirk, “What’s wrong, Zexyplexy*?”
“T-M-I, Lar! TMI!” I squawked like that dying bird again.
The blonde just laughed, “My dear Zexion, you’re so-” She whipped her head around, “SHUT UP MARLY, I don’t care what you’re doing with your tongue- Zex, look, I’ll see you later, okay?” She tossed her hair back with a hand, then used the same one to flip Marluxia the bird, still smirking at me. “Take care, shortie.”
I jerked my eyes from her chest and rolled them, “See you, plughead.” I shoved my hands into my pockets and started down the hall, turning around only after I felt the slam of her door through the floor.
Studying her closed door from where I stood, my lips tugged into a frown. I shrugged then and wandered down the hallway. “Lark’s always so much help.” I muttered darkly, but my lips tugged upwards slightly in a morbid smile, “…Well at least she got my mind off my own problems for a bit…”
“Ew.” I let a shudder run through my frame, “Of course, Lar had to do it in the worst possible way…” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I wandered around the dorm, “There really are far too many closeted fruits at this school. It’s amazing anyone here gets any work done at all.”
I felt the floor shake with a steady rhythm, and took that as my signal to scurry off, not wanting to think of exactly why the floor was shaking like that…
[/endchapter5]
*(Sexy Plexi by Jack Johnson)