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"But...but what if he says no? He's so quiet and secluded! What if he just thinks I'm annoying?" a tall, blond male whined, tortured oceanic eyes glancing over at a half-wall in the courtyard of their high school to see the short, intelligent male hiding behind his book, hood and hair. The poor blond was so torn. He had had a huge crush on the quiet, brooding "emo kid" since he had transferred here from another school. The slate-haired male had tested into the school and was placed a year ahead, which would make him in the senior year with Demyx and his friends even though he was one year younger. He was seventeen, almost eighteen, while Demyx was turning nineteen in two weeks.

"Demyx, stop being a wuss and just go ask him to Prom already! The worst he can do is say no!" the shorter, exasperated blond told him, rolling deep blue orbs at his friend's antics. Really, the guitarist needed to get a grip on himself. He was older than the little emo, yet he acted like he was in middle school. "You're running out of time to ask him, ya know. You gotta have a date by next Thursday. The dance is next weekend, remember? On your birthday?" Demyx whimpered. That was the worst part, he thought. The fact that the dance was on his birthday made the fear of it going horribly even more terrifying.

"Him saying no is what I'm scared of!" he squeaked out, terrified. Then he rounded on Roxas, a mock-angry look on his face. "If it's so easy, then why don't you go ask Axel to Prom, huh? Hypocrite!" he smugly accused him, folding his arms across his chest. He smiled in victory when his friend turned a light pink...then whined when he punched him in the arm. "That hurt!" he complained. The shorter blond rolled his eyes with a scoff before shoving Demyx towards the small male enjoying his book. Demyx squeaked again, looking back at him with a terrified expression. He couldn't do this. He knew he couldn't...

"If you don't do it, I'll do it for you," Roxas threatened him, now angrily glaring at him since he mentioned Axel. He watched in sick satisfaction as Demyx regretfully made his way over to the emo. His expression lightened into a soft frown as he watched. He just wanted Demyx to actually have someone to attend a dance with that was an actual date this time. Sure, Demyx had fun hanging out with all of his friends at the dances, but he could tell that the blond got lonely whenever the slower songs came on and he had no one to dance with. It made Roxas sad to think about. Demyx was such a good guy. He wouldn't hurt a fly--in fact, he actually got mad at Roxas once for smashing one against the car window. When he saw an animal stranded in the middle of the street whether it be a turtle, a frog or a deadly snake, the blond would get out and help it get across the road however he could. He practically had to close his eyes when he passed roadkill. He always put his friends' needs before his own and tried to be friendly to everyone, including the people that picked on him or tried to start fights with him. He had apparently heard from someone that Roxas had stayed home one day with a stomach bug and headed straight over to his house after school. He had sat with him until he felt better and refused to let Roxas do anything for himself. He even played the shorter blond a song on his guitar. Roxas loved hearing the blond play. He was such a good musician and put his heart and soul into the songs he wrote and notes he played. Roxas sighed softly as he plopped down on a bench and waited, hoping the scene would play out well.

Nervously, Demyx approached the shorter male, a bright blush spread across his cheeks. "U-um, excuse me?" he asked, eyes almost tearing up as he could almost feel the intense glare he was about to receive. It terrified him to be rejected by this small male, and he wasn't even sure why. Maybe it was because he tried to hard to make people like him... He stared down at the ground before squeezing his eyes shut, taking a deep breath, and was about to look up and just flat-out ask him to go to prom with him...until he met his eyes. His own widened and he was struck with terror. He couldn't do this. He just couldn't. He couldn't be rejected. Eyes tearing up, he whimpered, squeaking out a meek, "I-I'm sorry!" before running off to the bathroom in the art hall. He locked himself in a stall and threw up, sobbing softly as he did so. He was pathetic.

Roxas frowned deeply as he watched the blond run away, the other male watching him do so. He let out a harsh sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Oh, Demyx... "Hey, Axel..," he mumbled to the redhead that was now behind him before he could even let out a smart comment or greeting or whatever Axel was prone to do. "Dem's upset..," he muttered once again and looked lazily up at the gorgeous redhead who was looming over him. "He wants to ask that Zexion kid out to Prom--you know, the one that got transferred in?--and I finally got him to go and speak two words to him...but he ran off. He probably went to puke in the bathrooms..." He sighed once again and averted his gaze from those beautiful acidic eyes. "I just want him to enjoy himself the whole time at Prom this year. Every other dance he's just gone with friends and danced with, like, everyone...but he's never danced to a slow song with someone special, ya know? And he's a really great slow-dancer. I danced with him sophomore year at Homecoming so he would have someone to dance with. I mean, I know slow dancing isn't all that complicated, but...it felt like he was in tune with the music. It felt like he was the music. And it was like he knew when I wanted to be held closer. And his arms were so comforting and warm, and he looked and smelled so nice. Anyone would be lucky to have that happen to them...I know I was. And he's so sweet and caring... He needs someone to keep him from being lonely, I think..," he told Axel in a soft voice, looking over to him when he felt the redhead sit beside him.

Demyx's whole body froze up as he hunched against the wall of the bathroom stall. A quiet, almost awkward-sounding voice was filling the room. Had...had Zexion followed him in there? His hypothesis was confirmed when the male introduced himself to him. Demyx fiercly attempted to wipe the tears off of his face and stifle the hiccups that had formed in his chest. God, why was he such a baby? Why couldn't he just do things like a man would instead of babying around all the time?

Taking a deep breath, he reached up and unlatched the door. He slowly cracked it open and blue eyes deep as the ocean peered out at the short male curiously. He had taken his hood off, Demyx saw. He liked him without his hood, he mused to himself. He was so cute and adorable and Demyx just wanted to hug him until those beautiful gray eyes popped right out of his skull! Okay, maybe not, but close! He wanted to be closer to him, even if it just meant talking to him and getting to know him better. But...he was never really great at actually approaching people--especially people he had crushes on.

Sucking up his pride, he said slowly and quietly, "I...I'm sorry for bothering you." There. He spoke to him and answered his question in one go. "M-My name's Demyx...if you wanted to know," he added thoughtfully. It was polite, he thought, to give one's own name in return when someone introduced themself. He looked down at the floor in thought, feeling kind of stupid. He wanted to just crawl into a hold and die somewhere. Damn Roxas for forcing him to go and talk to him...

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Roxas only smiled a little to himself when the redhead's fingers coursed through his hair. He didn't bother beating him off this time. He wasn't really in the mood. Though, Axel's presence did make it a little better...until he began to shoot down Roxas's words. The blond frowned and looked up at him, brows knitting together. "It's worth a try, though, isn't it? If you don't go for the opportunities presented to you, there's so much more you'll regret not doing... Everything's worth a try. You never know if you'll like something or if something would turn out fantastically if you don't even try at it." At this point, Roxas was staring intently into Axel's beautiful green eyes. They were electric and never failed to send a chill down Roxas's spine. A good chill, of course.

"Anyway," he began again, tearing his eyes away from the redhead's. "How's your search for a prom date coming? You've probably had people crawling at your feet begging for you to take them, you and your sexy self," he said in a joking manner as he hid the hurt and truth of what he just said behind the joke. "I honestly don't see how you don't have a date already. Surely you just can't pick from so many good-looking beggars?" he inquired, a small smirk on his lips. Then, with a glance to where the emo had once sat, he commented, "He's gone..."

Demyx looked down at Zexion’s hand unbelievingly. Could he really reach out and touch him? This seemingly unreachable male in front of him that he was sure thought him stupid for even attempting to speak to him? He reached his trembling hand up as well, but dropped it again as the bell rang shrill through the silence. His eyes widened as the slate-haired male turned and high-tailed it out of the bathroom. It took the blond a few seconds to realize that he was alone in the bathroom then his brain clicked on again. He about tripped over himself as he rushed out of the bathroom, snatching his bookbag up off of the floor of the stall as he ran. He watched the back of the short male he was previously talking to disappear through the crowd of rushing students. Blindly, Demyx shoved through the masses, calling out Zexion’s name as he did so. He got a few good stares and looks as he knocked people out of the way. He had realized that Zexion did speak to him. He followed him to speak to him. He wanted to speak to him, too; he didn’t think he was a freak. He didn’t even know he was stupid. he had to take a chance. He had to be like Roxas and take a ******** chance.

He caught up to him just before he seemed to be entering his first block and called his name again before getting hold of his upper arm. He spun him around and, adrenaline pumping into his head and breathing hard, gasping. “Will...Would you--” he took a deep breath then continued, “would you go to prom with me?” he asked, eyes full of hope and light. “We...we can figure out rides and everything later, but I’m not going to get the courage to do this again, so, however inconvenient the timing is, I had to ask. Will you go with me? To prom?” Realizing he still had a grip on his arm, he quickly let go and took a step back, giving him a little room after he was sure he startled him. He tightened his grip on the bookbag thrown carelessly over his shoulder as he waited for him to come out of the slight shock and answer. No matter if he said yes or no, he still built up the courage to ask him, and that’s what Demyx was proud of.

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Roxas frowned at Axel at his words. “I won’t be!” he called after him, trying to get his attention. He sighed when it didn’t work and picked up his bag, throwing it over his shoulders. “‘You could just go with me, Axel. We could go as friends.’ Why couldn’t you just say that? It would be better than knowing he had an actual date,” he grumbled to himself, walking off towards English. Looks like I’ll be going alone this year.., he thought, shoulders slumping a little. Unless it doesn’t work out between Dem and that quiet guy. Then I guess me and Dem could go together as friends. We could dance again. That’d be nice. Though… He sighed once again as he plopped down in his seat, got his things out, and propped his chin upon his hand as he stared into space. He thought about how it would feel to dance with Axel. He wa so much taller than Roxas, but it would give him just the right amount of space to rest his head against the redhead’s collar bone and wrap his hands around the thin frame, resting his palms, fingers splayed, against those sharp shoulder blades. And he was so warm and always smelled wonderful… A soft smile crossed his lips as his eyes unknowingly closed.

He was brought back to reality rudely as someone knocked his arm from beneath his head. He caught himself just in time, head almost slamming down on his desk. He scowled back at Seifer, the guy that had for some reason despised him since middle school. He honestly had no reason to. Roxas wasn’t popular, Seifer was; Roxas didn’t get all the ladies (like he would want them), Seifer did. The only thing that Roxas was better than him at was grades, and that’s just because Seifer didn’t even seem to try to do his work. Roxas tried...he just didn’t do a great job most of the time. He was too busy daydreaming for most of his life to care about which nineteenth century author wrote what or memorize equations and formulas for things

The hope in Demyx’s eyes slowly died as Zexion continued to stutter out his words. He had scared him. The poor boy looked petrified, and it was Demyx’s fault. His shoulders slumped, heart rate slowing. That hurt a little more than I thought it would, he thought to himself sadly. “O-Oh, no, it’s okay. Really I just wasted yours. Not your fault,” he forced out of him out of courtesy to Zexion. He waved his hands in front of him slowly, carving a smile onto his face to hide the hurt. “It was inconsiderate of me. I don’t even know if you… Well, I don’t even know you. It was stupid. Don’t worry about it. Maybe I’ll just see you there,” he rambled. When he could see Zexion was still backed up against the wall and looking uncomfortable, he took a step back. “Sorry, uh,” his voice wavered a bit. “I’ll let you get to class. Talk to you later?” he asked a bit timidly now, blindly looking at Zexion’s figure, the outlines blurry in his unfocused eyes. “Bye,” he mumbled, giving a small wave before he blindly sprinted to class.

Psychology, how ironic. He entered the classroom, hoping it was even the right one, and sat down behind Axel. “Sorry, got caught up in traffic,” he had mumbled as he passed the teacher. He immediately went through his routine of getting his things out and setting them on the desk. “I’m so stupid,” he mumbled loud enough for Axel to hear. “I knew I shouldn’t have tried. But I got the courage to talk to him, so I guess that’s good,” he continued in the same deep, low voice that just seemed void of emotion. “Grew some balls for once.” He made his own mouth twitch at the corner before fading back into a straight line.

Roxas looked up as Zexion moved to sit in front of him. He had to take a double-take at his face, though. He honestly looked like he just found out his whole family died in a freak accident and it hadn't sunk in yet. Then he noticed the redness of his face, and he got confused. The male sat down in front of him, and it seemed like the whole class was staring him down. That couldn't have made him feel any better. Did Demyx do something? There's no way he did something to hurt his feelings unless it was on accident. Dem would never hurt anyone. Then again, in his nervousness, he may have done something stupid like kiss the guy. We don't even know if he's gay or what. That may have been traumatizing and would explain the blush. He reached a hand forward and placed it on the male's shoulder, leaning forward towards him to speak in a softer voice. "Hey, are you okay? Want me to take you to the nurse's office?" he asked, trying to hint that he would just take him out of the classroom and away from all of these staring people for a few minutes and maybe find out what was wrong. He didn't know the guy at all, but he never saw him with anyone else. The guy really looked like he needed to talk it out with someone before he went and hung himself when he got home.

Demyx looked up at Axel, eyes full of confusion, hurt and ironic sorrow. "I scared him, Axe. God, I scared the s**t out of him. He...he followed me into the bathroom, and we talked a little. Then the bell rang, and he hurried out, and I...I ran after him, and caught him right before he got to class... I...I asked him to prom, and he just looked...he looked scared and...and confused and disgusted...and...and he said he can't...he said he can't go with me, and that I wasted my time..." Tears swam in his eyes as he whispered to Axel what all had happened. His voice wavered. "I...I figured he was going to say no, but I got my hopes up so high. It was a mistake. He was petrified, and... I don't understand, though, Axel. I prepared myself to be turned down, but I don't understand why it hurt so bad when it happened. I don't even know him," he said, dropping his face in his hands to scrub the tears away with his knuckles.

Roxas' frown deepened. This kid really looked like he was about ready to slit his wrists and be done with the world, and Roxas didn't like that. He bit his lip then pulled out a piece of paper. He wrote his number down on it with his first and last name just above, underlined for emphasis. He folded it in half and slid it onto Zexion's desk, leaning forward once again. "Look, that's my number. When you get home or wherever, give me a call or text if you need to talk to someone, okay? I don't like that you look ready to go kill yourself. Everyone needs someone to talk to, and I'm willing to be that somebody for you. I'll leave you alone now. Just...remember that this stranger's here for you if you need to talk." He leaned back in his seat and listened to the teacher talk, obeying Zexion's wish to be left alone.

Demyx looked at Axel in disbelief as he spoke to him. Since when had Axel become a motivational speaker? Wasn’t Demyx usually the optimistic one in the situation? It hit him hard when Axel hit dead-on the fears Demyx wasn’t even aware of. Was that it? Was he scared to try to be in a relationship with this guy just because he liked him so much? Demyx hadn’t exactly been the most faithful boyfriend before, that was for sure. He had a history of having a little somethin’-somethin’ on the side, which inevitably was accountable for the relationships’ downfall. But he had never, never reacted as strongly as he did with those break-ups with people he had known for at least a year as he did with Zexion’s brief, nervous rejection. Maybe he was scared of being in a relationship again. Maybe he was scared that he wouldn’t be able to stay faithful to him and would end up hurting him badly. He didn’t want to hurt him…

Demyx grabbed his stuff and slung his bag over his shoulder as the bell rang for class to end and break to begin. “You’re right, Axe. I am scared. I’m terrified that if anything does come of this, I’m not going to be faithful, just like all my other relationships...but I can tell that he’s special. If I hurt him...I don’t know if either one of us would come back from that, and I don’t know what to do… But...you’re right again, saying it’s not something I would do to just run away. I never give up, and I’m not going to this time, either. Thanks, Buddy,” he said, smiling once again at his friend. “Come on. Break time! Let’s go bug Roxy!” he cheered as he walked out of the room with the redhead.

Roxas frowned deeply when he saw Zexion ball up his phone number. That was a bit rude, he thought, considering a stranger just offered to be his vent. He quickly grabbed his things and hurried out after him. He pulled him aside and gave him a slight scowl. “Okay, look, I can understand that you don’t know me, and I don’t know you. I get that, but you don’t have to be such a d**k about it, okay? What if a time came, and you were upset enough to attempt suicide or you got attacked and couldn’t get ahold of your parents or anything? At least you would have someone that was willing to sit there and listen to another stranger’s problems and help you through it, or have someone to call to come and pick you up from wherever you are. If anything, you could have one ******** friend to sit with at lunch or text when you’re bored or something. Next time, think when someone offers a hand and be thankful someone noticed you were ******** miserable and didn’t want to see you go kill yourself like it looked like you were ready to do,” he said, starting out calm and just steadily getting angrier.

When he was done speaking, he realized that he just practically yelled at this guy and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. I don’t even know why I’m so pissed off. I was out of line. I’ve got to go meet my friends in the courtyard for break. You’re welcome to join us in our misery if you’re not too busy being miserable by yourself,” he grumbled as he turned and trudged away towards the courtyard.

He plopped down on the half-wall beneath their tree and groaned as he dropped his bag down at his feet. He hunched over and rested his face in his hands, rubbing at his face. The day was already too long, and he had only gone through one class. He tugged his fingers through his hair and stared down at the brick beneath his feet blindly. Maybe he should just drop out. That would save him some stress, right?

Roxas felt his chest flutter as Axel's voice invaded his mind. He smiled softly up at him, obviously tired of this day and wanted to go home. "I'm just pissed off for no reason. I blew up at that Zexion guy because he looked like he was going to slit his wrists so I gave him my number if he needed to talk about something, and he threw it away. I don't know why it upset me that much. I guess because I have two awesome friends that I could call for anything, and I wanted him to have that, too. I yelled at him because I wanted to be helpful. Isn't that great? Maybe I should get anger management, because I'm some kind of insane," he grumbled, mind still stuck on him "having two amazing friends".

The only problem with that was he wanted to be more than a friend to Axel. He wanted to be his boyfriend, his lover. He wanted to be his prom date, his "Night to Remember". His lifetime to remember. He looked up at Axel again and opened his mouth briefly before closing it again. He wanted to ask him if they could just go together as friends. "Axe...I think you should go to prom, whether you want to or not. You never know, you might find the girl of your dreams there," he told him softly, looking down at the ground again. "That'd be nice, wouldn't it?" He added quietly.

Demyx frowned slightly when he heard that Roxas yelled at Zexion and that Zexion looked really upset. Why would he be upset? He's not the one that got rejected. Maybe he felt bad? Maybe Demyx scared him that much? He glanced around the courtyard, trying to find the small male. He finally spotted him moving towards his usual reading spot.

Quickly, Demyx sprinted across the courtyard towards him. He reached him just as he was sitting down and took a deep breath to calm himself and remind himself that he was going to be positive about this. "Zexion?" He started out, voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat and started again. "Zexion, I...I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to...to scare or overwhelm you. I just get these bursts of courage sometimes, and I have to take the leap then. If I don't, I'll just hide in myself and never speak up. I've learned that it's an awful way to live closed into yourself, so I make it a point to take the chance whenever it comes up. So...how about for now, we're just friends? Or friendly acquaintances? And, here, I'll give you my number," he said, pulling out a Sharpie from his bag and uncapping it. He took Zexion hand gently into his own and wrote his number across the underside of his wrist, his name just below the number. He released his wrist and put the marker away. "And if you ever wanna talk or hang out or...or if your mind changes about prom, you can just text me or call me whenever. I'm kind of a bum, so I'll probably be at home playing my guitar and avoiding homework so you won't be bothering me at all. Ah...I really don't know how to make myself look good..," he mumbled the last bit to himself as he raked a hand through his hair. "And, uh, if you don't want to talk or anything, just don't contact me. I'll eventually get the hint, maybe. I'm kind of dense. ...There I go again making myself look good..." he sighed, giving himself a silly little smile.