[closed, complete]

[sitar_rock]

Characters: Demyx (sitar_rock) and Axel (burningsheets)
Date/Time: December 19, evening/night
Location: A bar :D
Rating: PG (may possibly change later)
Summary: Demyx is depressed at the thought of Zexion possibly leaving, and goes out for a drink with Axel to get his mind off it.

Comments

[burningsheets]

Quickly stepping inside to thaw a bit, Axel raised an eyebrow. "Don't know about you, Dem, but I kinda like whatever I'm sucking on to not freeze my tongue off. Especially in this weather." He jerked a thumb towards the chilly December air outside.

He watched his friend get ready for a bit, looking over the apartment- surprisingly neater than he expected- and bending over to scratch one of Demyx's cats. He had no idea which one this was, but it wasn't that much different from petting Kit, he supposed.

"You know, Dem, sometimes I remember why you took yourself out of the market," Axel replied dryly. "With opening lines like that." Reaching a hand up, Axel traced a finger around one of his closed eyes, feeling the slight puffiness of slightly darkened skin beneath it. Shit. Did he really look that bad? The eyeliner probably helped disguise some of it, but he hadn't been getting much sleep lately, what with Asch in the hospital and the shifts he and Kadaj had been taking with him. And it was winter. He never got any proper rest during winter.

"I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, that's all," Axel said flippantly, punctuating it with a big yawn. "Are we going yet?"

[sitar_rock]

Typical Axel; but at least the comment made him grin a little. That was one thing about Axel, he could always cheer him up. "Well, I guess I can share that sentiment." The other was scratching Melody-- who apparently was an attention whore tonight-- and Demyx shifted a bit before nudging him away from the door and motioning for Axel to head outside again.

"Heh. Yeah but you have to remember, I was normally the one being hit on, not the other way around." Closing the door behind them, he locked it quickly, then tucked his hands into his coat pockets. "That's obvious. If you were sleeping properly you wouldn't have saddlebags under your eyes like that."

Moving down the hall, he glanced sideways toward the taller man. "So where are we going?"

[burningsheets]

"That's because you never know which one to choose first, right~?" Axel winked playfully as he stood up, dredging up his last reserve of energy. He followed Demyx outside, checking that his zip was all the way up before stepping back into the cold.

"Port Royale. The crowd's pretty mixed, and it's halfway reputable, just so you know. More importantly, they've got the best rum on the rocks this side of town." Axel shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets, relishing the warmth of the fleece lining.

"So, what did you feel up to, tonight~?" He asked, starting to walk down the street. "And...You know I can take care of Emotastic if he's being a bastard, right?"

[sitar_rock]

Port Royale... that sounded familiar. Maybe he'd gone there before. Probably with Axel, if he had, since the redhead was the only drinking buddy he had. Ah well, it didn't matter. "Sounds good to me. Anywhere with good drinks is great right about now."

Then a pause as he considered Axel's question. "Mm... something strong. Gotta get my mind off things." A vague smile, and he shook his head at the other question-slash-offer. "Nah... it's not his fault." Turning his eyes downward, Demyx walked with his eyes on the snow-covered pavement for a few moments. "I'm the one who sucks at relationships. If I wasn't so bad at commitment, if I wasn't so fucking scatterbrained half the time all this wouldn't be happening... guess it serves me right."

He sighed. It was strange to say those words out loud; he'd gotten used to thinking them, but not sharing them with anyone else. Really, what had made him think his time with Zexion would be different from any other relationships he'd had in the past?

[burningsheets]

There was ridiculous, then there was Demyx. "And how'd you get to that conclusion, Sherlocke? Seems to me that being you wasn't a crime." Axel reached out a hand and rapped his knuckles lightly against the side of Demyx's head.

Sure his friend had never been the most together of people- partly why he had never really seen his relationship with Zexion as a match made in heaven, but hey, he wasn't one to talk. Trouble in paradise seemed to be taking a toll on his friend, either way. If Axel looked like shit, Demyx couldn't be that far behind. He could practically feel the stress radiating off the lifeguard in waves.

"Anyway, didn't you say you've been fucking monogamous all this time? Doesn't seem like there's any lack of ass exclusivity to me."

[sitar_rock]

Demyx swatted at Axel slightly when the other rapped at his head, then sighed. "I dunno, I haven't been around much and everything..."

He was frowning when he spoke again, glancing sideways at the redhead. "It's not about me sleeping with other people or not. I mean, I haven't been, but it's not as if he thinks I am or anything." Not everything had to do with sex, after all. "I think we've just kind of... started drifting apart."

It was hard to explain, but things just didn't feel quite the same as they had before, for the majority of the time he and Zexion had been together.

[burningsheets]

Blinking (as much from surprise as the frigid air), Axel tilted his head. "Well if it's about not being physically close by, then it is about sex, isn't it?" he remarked, tone blase and mouth quirked.

"But...It's pretty natural for people to cool off, every now and then." Heh. Wouldn't he know it. "If all else fails you can just teach him all those lovely little tricks I've been telling you to use."

It wasn't that far from the bar, now. Axel stopped walking for a moment, right beside a lamp post and looked back from where he'd been slightly ahead. "If he did go... what would you do, Dem?" he asked quietly.

[sitar_rock]

"It's not about sex." A frown, then a sigh. Demyx rolled his eyes at Axel's comment. "There's nothing wrong with the sex."

Oh yeah, and how was he supposed to explain where he'd learned said tricks? Not that it was any big secret the kind of company he kept, or the fact that he and Axel had been known to hook up on occasion in the past.

Then a pause at the redhead's next quiet question. Demyx's steps stopped, and he frowned, brows furrowing. He bit his lip absently, almost anxiously, then sighed quietly and with a shrug.

"If he left... honestly? I don't know..." He really didn't; though he supposed, maybe, he would just go back to the way things had been before, as much as possible. It wouldn't be the same, though. "I guess... there wouldn't really be much I could do, right? So..."

[burningsheets]

"Nothing wrong, aside from not getting much of it," Axel agreed amiably, "really, Dem, sounds like housewife blues to me."

He sobered up a bit at Demyx's next answer. "So you'd just let him go?" It wasn't really a question.

Axel supposed that somewhere between then and now, they'd both learned you simply can't hang on to people, even if Axel was the only one who'd ever learned not to let them get inside in the first place. The right thing to do... was there ever one? Either way, it probably wasn't going to cheer Demyx up any.

Sliding his hands in deeper into his pockets, Axel stretched a little, humming slightly. "Not saying it'll happen or not, but you gotta remember, Dem, something like a relationship is a two-way street. It's never just one person's fault."

Walking back a step or two, he slung his arm around Demyx's shoulders, tugging him close. "Come on, the bar's right around the corner- let's grab some seats before some other fucker does and get drunk." He grinned fiercely. "I'm challenging you to a shots war. Loser has to buy a round."

[sitar_rock]

Would he just let him go? Demyx supposed so. It had been a long time since he'd figured out that clinging to something didn't help. That didn't make it easy to let go, though. Sometimes he wished things hadn't changed so much for him over the last year. It was easier when he wasn't trying to keep a stable, serious relationship, especially since it turned out he sucked at it.

"I know, I know." An absent shrug, and he offered a faint grin in return to Axel's when the other slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. "Heh. Haven't done that in a while. Think you can still drink me under the table?" He figured probably, given how much he normally didn't drink.