[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

[sitar_rock]

Demyx couldn't help snorting at that, grin still in place. "Suuuure you have." Axel and "best behavior" generally didn't go together, in his experience. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, of course, but that didn't make it any less true.

The redhead cracked the seal, opened the bottle of rum, and Demyx sniffed the air experimentally. It didn't smell bad. Molasses and spice. Axel pushed a shot of the alcohol toward him; the blonde picked it up. "You just want me to spill my guts and get all weepy-drunk." A joking tone; he knew that wasn't what Axel had in mind.

Either way, it sounded like a plan to him. Demyx rolled his eyes, downing his own shot only a breath after Axel swallowed his. "I don't need you to have a handicap." Shoving his glass back toward him, Demyx stuck his tongue out a bit, then; "mm... I guess it's been a while now, since things started changing, with me and Zexy."

Propping his head in his hand, he lifted his eyebrows in question. "What about you? You gotta talk about what's bothering you, too. And don't say nothing, it's obvious. You look like hell."

[burningsheets]

"You gotta trust me a little more, Dem. I'm the one who hauls your ass home and all," Axel teased, fully aware that his best behavior might not be the best standard. It wasn't that he couldn't- it was just that life taught him it wasn't worth it. He winced, tucking that thought away. Man, he really needed to get drunk.

"Yeah, you mentioned that bit. And I told you, I haven't been sleeping well." Scoffing, Axel poured them both another shot and drank. The rum burned pleasantly down his throat and he felt the beginnings of a buzz stir slightly. Either this stuff was stronger than he thought or he was more tired than usual.

"It's winter. I always hate winter. It's too cold for me to get any proper sleep- you know I've never been at my best this time of year, Dem. And that's not counting looking out for a friend in the hospital," Axel said, carefully choosing his words. If Demyx called his hedge, he'd think up of something for the next round.

He gestured towards the other's shotglass. "Been a while? Then you both must've had some sort of sign, right?"

[sitar_rock]

"Aw, come on, you know I trust you." Then a chuckle when Axel refilled his glass, and Demyx downed it quickly, wincing a bit. Setting the empty glass down again, he licked his lips absently. "And anyway, you shouldn't talk about my ass like that, Axel, it's not for you anymore."

Other people would probably find their friendship... unconventional, at best. But that was fine with Demyx, and, he assumed, also with Axel.

"Haven't been sleeping well." He repeated, sending Axel a supremely disbelieving look. He did know that his friend didn't like the winter, but while a lack of sleep might have been a part of it, he was sure that wasn't the whole story. He reached across the table, taking a turn at refilling both shot glasses. "I think I call bullshit on that half-ass excuse."

Setting the bottle down again, he considered. "Mm, I don't know... we both got busy at work, and then by the time I worked everything out so I had more spare time it'd been a while and things didn't feel quite the same." A shrug.

[burningsheets]

"Did I say I was after it~?" Axel rolled his eyes. "Believe me, if I were after your ass, we wouldn't be leaving at all." As it was, Demyx and housewife's relationship should be eternally thankful that Axel still had his principles. Sure rules changed if Emotastic ever left, but he wasn't about to speed it along.

Axel sighed. He hadn't really expected Demyx to buy it, but it would've been nice. "It's not like I'm lying," Axel said, before taking up his shot glass. "Cross my heart and hope to die if I do," he continued, lips curling as he downed the rum.

"Look, my new job's 6p.m. to 3p.m., right? Then I take a nap and take over for Ka-hime at the hospital. That's gonna end soon, with any luck, but I swear Asch needs to be strapped to the bed if he insists on exerting himself. It's not like I don't understand not letting-- his father get his way, but he's not gonna be any help like that." Axel covered, cursing the slight slip of tongue and hoping Demyx hadn't noticed it.

"Anyway, no offense,Dem, but what did you like about the housewife anyway?"

[sitar_rock]

"Yeah yeah, I know, if you want someone you just go after them." An amused tone. Demyx downed the alcohol in his glass, then shoved it toward Axel again. "Aaaahh~~" Stretching a bit, he felt his back pop as some of the stress from the previous few days began to lift.

Propping his head again, he surveyed Axel for a moment. Yes, it was obvious he wasn't getting enough sleep, and he had heard something about Kadaj and someone in the hospital, but he was sure that wasn't it. Though he was starting to feel a pleasant buzz from the rum, Demyx wasn't drunk yet; he did notice Axel seem to pause and catch himself at something... but after a moment of consideration, decided that he wouldn't press that issue. It wasn't as if he even knew 'Asch' anyway.

"Yeah well, flat-out lying, and leaving things out of the story are two different things." One finger tapped at the table absently. "So spill already."

Then a moment's pause at Axel's question about Zexion. What did he see in him? What did anyone see in people they loved? At the same time, he felt guilty that he had to even think of it at all. Finally, he mumbled, tone almost embarrassed; "he's got this... dark brooding thing going on. I dunno... and once you get to know him, he's not as standoffish. It's complicated."

[burningsheets]

Humming a little, Axel added, "not that I've seen anyone worth going after in a while." They either came to him, were casual fuckbuddies, or were taken.

"Yeah, the are," Axel agreed, grinning and not adding any more to the thought. After refilling both of their glasses, there was still about more than half of the bottle left- plenty to whittle away at. He drank the shot down.

"What do you want me to say, Dem? That I've got someone I'm mooning over and he doesn't like me back? That I'm going to reform before my dick shrivels up in old age?" Axel shook his head, laughing lowly. "The things on my mind are just what I've always had. They never left. Not when we were still swimming, not now."

He noted the way Demyx hesitated in answering the question. That probably wasn't a good sign, Axel supposed. And dark and brooding? Heh, he would never have pegged that as Demyx's type, back when they were fooling around. That or Axel had overused his gothpunk phase without knowing it. But Demyx was the one who knew Zexion, not him, after all. "So, what's changed? About what you like about him, or him about you? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of things to like about you. Zex never struck me as a completely stupid guy. Dense and boring as hell, though."

[sitar_rock]

"Aw, poor Axel's run out of eligible people in this city?" He was just teasing, the same as always. Axel refilled the glasses, and he took his, but didn't swallow it down right away, instead watching his friend across the table as he spoke. "You're not the type to moon over people... or reform." And Demyx doubted he ever would be. "But whatever's on your mind is pretty obviously dragging you down, you jackass."

The redhead's questions about Zexion were starting to get a little uncomfortable for him-- but it wasn't as if Axel didn't already know pretty much everything about him, so there was no point in balking.

"I think... he's bothered by my past. Heh." Shifting a bit, Demyx ran a hand through his hair, and swallowed the new shot quickly. "You know how I used to be. Hell, we ran in the same circles. And I know Zexy knew about all that, but I don't think he... realized. You know? I think he just thought about it one day, and suddenly the light came on." Then a shake of his head. He toyed with his empty glass a bit. "He told me once a little while ago that he didn't know if it was right, holding down a free bird, or something like that... and I think the thought of me having been with so many people in the past bothers him."

[burningsheets]

"I'm gay; I get by," Axel snorted. Turning his head aside, Axel leaned his cheek on a hand. It probably did nothing to hide his tiredness, but hell he didn't care right now. "Dragging me down, eh?" Axel let his voice trail off pensively. "I'm not sure I don't want it to, sometimes."

"Hmm, so he's basically insecure and shit," Axel said blithely. Leave it to Emoboy to get all poetic about it. "That's pretty crappy. Also, not your fault," the redhead pointed out helpfully. He generously refilled Demyx's glass for good measure.

Swallowing his own drink, Axel decided that yes, he actually did feel the buzz, and his body was getting really properly relaxed for the first time in a long while. Since the season started, even. Fuck winter and the cold and the ice on the streets. Fuck the fact that this happened every single year since he was orphaned. He opened his mouth, intending to tell Demyx about some other trivial complaint, and had the strangest feeling of disconnection from it as it said, "days like these I remember too fucking much."

[sitar_rock]

"Insecure" and "Zexion" didn't seem to go together, but he supposed, if that was how it seemed it could be true. Zexion had never been one to really express his feelings much. "Yeah, but if I was around more..." Demyx sighed, shrugging as he found he didn't really feel so badly about the whole thing anymore... at least not right now.

Licking his lips absently, he tipped the bottle of rum to pour them each another shot. He was actually starting to feel pleasantly warm and numb. The drinks were doing what alcohol does, and doing it well.

Pushing one of the glasses toward Axel again, he studied his friend. "You get like this every winter. It's about when you were a kid, right? Hell Axel, we've been friends since grade school, and you still haven't told me shit."