Yo! Nichiyo here. I'm kinda stuck on The Sea of You and Me since I lost the draft of the chapter. But I'm out with a Zemyx to appease your souls. But, while I was typing the beginning of the second half of this, my computer restarted so it's not as good as it was before since I forgot what I wrote. The basic idea of the power to see the red thread is based off of Koyubi wa amaku sasayaku by Suzuhara Hirono. But just the concept. Everything else is completely original.
Disclaimer: It may be my birthday today, but no one's going to give me Kingdom Hearts for my birthday. Therefore, I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Phantasmagoria
Definition: a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination
He could see it.
Pools and pools of red scattered like a spider web all across the floor. Sometimes, he would be afraid of tripping over them and landing ungracefully on his face, but whenever he touched them, his fingers would pass through. It was merely an illusion, yet it could mean so much. He'd often stare at his own finger when he was bored, tracing with his eyes the bold red outline of the thread tied onto his pinky, and he always would wonder who was connected to the other end.
He had not known what the red threads had meant when he was younger, but once he had asked his grandmother since she knew everything, of course, since she was old. After a brief look of shock on her face, she had commenced to tell him the legend of the red threads of fate, which said that people have a red thread tied to the pinky of their left hand. And that same red thread is linked to another person, connecting the two as soulmates. After his grandmother told him this, Demyx's eyes fell to his grandmother's hand, bare of any red thread itself.
Confused, the blonde had furrowed his eyebrows as he gave his grandmother a look as if to ask why, but the old woman merely replied, "I found my soulmate long ago, Demyx. Your grandfather." She looked wistfully to the shrine of his grandfather placed in the corner of the room, "But he's been long gone for years."
His grandmother was the only person who knew of his power to see the red thread. Yet, when he went home that very day and looked at his parents' hands during dinner, he could not bring himself to mention how the red thread of fate did not connect his mother and father together, but instead, led to different directions. Maybe that was why, ten years later, his parents had gotten fed up with each other and had gotten divorced. He now lived with his grandmother in a small traditional house on the edge of busy Tokyo while his parents paid child support.
"Demyx!"
"Wha?" he craned his neck to look at the person looming above him. Realizing it was just Roxas, the blond allowed his head to drop back onto the table in the little café that they were currently in. Roxas raised an eyebrow at him as he merely shook his head. Lately, Demyx had seemed much more tired than usual, and frankly, it was beginning to worry Roxas. Usually, the idiot would be bursting with energy and would be bouncing around the place. Thanks to his energy, he was one of the more well-known waiters of the quaint little café. Right now, his shift had ended about fifteen minutes ago but he was still loitering around since the café was one of his most favorite places to hang out at.
Roxas cleared his throat, "So, uh Demyx, could you just maybe…take over my shift? Please?" He made a pouting face in aid to his verbal plea. "Me and Axel have a nice date planned out for our two month anniversary. So could you help me out again?"
"Sure I will," Demyx nodded as he noted the again that Roxas had mentioned. He would be happy to help the two out anyway. Of course, since he had set the two up in the first place. It just happened to be that three months ago, Axel had sauntered into the café, and blatantly had hit on Roxas as the blond was taking his order. Demyx had been talking to Roxas, but despite his conversation, he had noticed Roxas's red thread had pulled tight and it was connected to the new redhead who had just walked in. Demyx, taking advantage of the situation, encouraged his fellow waiter to go take Axel's order. At the two's first meeting, Axel had merely smirked with a sort of love-sick look flickering among his eyes while he blatantly hit on Roxas. After finishing his cappuccino, the redhead had left, but not before he had slipped a piece of paper into Roxas's hand and said, "Call me." With a scowl on his face, Roxas was prepared to throw the number into the trash, but Demyx stopped him, telling him, "I think you should really call that guy. He's a good match for you." Frowning, Roxas raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Are you crazy?' but after Demyx's persistent bugging, the boy finally called Axel, partially due to the fact that Demyx was known throughout their school as the "Matchmaker", famous for setting up happy couples (due to his ability to see the red threads but nobody had to know that). One thing led to another, and Axel and Roxas started going out with each other. Demyx honestly had never seen Roxas as happy as this ever, and hell yes, the boy owed him not counting this newly obtained shift.
He brought his attention back to Roxas, who threw off his work jacket as he quickly walked out the door, shouting, "I owe you one!"
'More like five,' thought Demyx. "And I better get paid for this!" He shouted towards the closing door.
Demyx sighed. Lately, he'd been depressed, thinking that he would never find his soulmate. Maybe she was across the ocean and in another country. Maybe she had gotten married to someone else. Or maybe perhaps he had no soulmate and there was no one at the end of the thread. Even though he was plenty happy helping others find their happiness, he felt lonely. And he hated that feeling the most. He had continuously felt the pangs of solitude when he was little. His parents had never given a damn about him but instead were always focused on their own goals and gains. And people wondered why he was so close to his grandmother. Back in those days, she was the only one who would take care of him. But now, the two were in a tight spot concerning money, despite child support. Bills had to be paid. Living in suburban Tokyo wasn't easy, and there were school fees in addition to that as well.
So Demyx worked in Oathkeeper, a popular café smack dab in the middle of Shibuya prefecture. It was particularly noted for having mostly cute boys as the workers, with the exclusion of Tifa, the owner, Kairi, the chef, and Aerith, the cashier. However, Oathkeeper's usual patrons were young teenagers of both genders. The male waitresses and entertainment at night drew in the girls, and the number of girls brought in the onslaught of guys.
"Demyx!" Sora shouted from the kitchen. The brunet poked his head out of the doorway and pointed to a tray full of drinks and snacks on the counter, "Take these to the customers. And go take the orders already. That guy on the left table's been waiting for a while."
Cheerfully nodding, Demyx made his way over to the counter and grabbed the tray making sure that he wouldn't trip on anything in his way. Carefully balancing the tray with his right hand, he grabbed a pad and a blue pen. As he made his way to the table of an obnoxious couple whose red threads were not connected to serve them their food, Demyx felt a slight tug on his left hand. Thinking nothing of it, Demyx made his way past a customer while noting to remember to take his order after he got rid of the tray. But now there was an even stronger tug on his finger, and slightly annoyed, he peered at his left hand to find the problem. To his surprise, the red thread was pulled taut.
'But that means-,' he thought while walking, while his eyes followed the path of the red thread, and he turned his head to see the red thread lead to the customer on the left. Were his eyes kidding him? The red thread of fate connected him and…another guy. And it just wasn't a guy at that. No. It had to be a particularly good looking guy who was interestedly reading a book by Kafka. All Demyx remembered of that guy was that he wrote something about cockroaches. Ew.
While his head was turned, Demyx failed to notice the chair in front of him. He tumbled headfirst over the chair, the tray was accidentally tossed into the air, and he somersaulted a couple times before landing on his ass.
Luckily, somehow none of the glasses had broken and the dishes were fine. But he didn't think that the couple didn't want their food now with the sandwiches and pie strewn onto the floor.
"Demyx!"
Tifa poked her head out of the back room, where she had been calculating expenses though Demyx would rather say that she was probably lazing about and reading manga. The woman gave him a stern look as if to sharply reprimand him. Tifa shook her head and observed the damage.
"At least you didn't break anything this time. Since you're busy, tell Sora to clean up that mess. I think he's probably secretly calling Riku on his cell now instead of working anyway."
"No I'm not," Sora yelled from back in the kitchen, "I'm texting him."
Tifa glared at him, "Would you prefer your pay docked? Because I'm sure you won't mind the missing money since you're so obsessed with your little boyfriend."
"No ma'am." Sora sped off to the closet for a mop. Tifa could honestly scare the crap out of anyone.
Well, Sora would probably take care of the whole food incident. And he had to wait for Kairi to cook up some more sandwiches and drinks. So that just led him to…oh shit. The blond looked back to the guy sitting comfortably at the table. And what was even worse, the grey-haired man was staring at him, and faintly smirking amusedly at him too. Grabbing the pad and pen that had slid under one of the tables, he got up to make his way to the customer.
Demyx kept fretting. What if this guy didn't like him? What if they didn't get along? What if he thought that Demyx was weird? What if- oh wait, he had made it to the table.
Plastering a huge smile on his face, Demyx talked for the first time to the man he was supposedly destined to be with and said, "What would you like to order?"
Honestly, shouldn't their first meeting have been more romantic, instead of just taking this guy's order? Demyx bit his lip, hoping that the red thread was telling the truth.
The smirking expression on the guy's face fell into a more neutral one as he said, "I would like to have a cup of cinnamon tea, and perhaps a green tea cake as well."
Demyx smiled. "Okay, got it." Then he turned and shouted towards the direction of the kitchen, "Karey! Need some cinnamon tea and a slice of green tea cake!"
"How many times have I told you! It's Kairi, not Karey. And it'll be out in ten minutes, since someone decided to spill the last orders."
The blond shrugged, "Sorry it'll be so long. I'm sort of clumsy."
The guy responded, "I'll be sure to call you Mr. Graceful."
"Hey, now that's not very nice. But, oh well. So your order would take a while to get to you. Hope you aren't hungry." Then Demyx suffered a wave of overcoming thoughts, mostly concerning "get to know this guy now". Demyx stuttered, faintly turning pink, "S-so, what's your, uh, name anyway?"
Raising an eyebrow, the customer set down his book, "Well, if you wish to know, my name is Zexion Nakamura. And what is yours, if I may ask?"
Relieved at his success at striking up a conversation, Demyx replied, "I'm Demyx. Demyx Mizugaku." Demyx's eyes flicked over to the cover of Zexion's book, "Since I'll be here a while, we might as well talk. So, Kafka. All I remember about him is cockroaches."
Zexion smirked, obviously interested in this strange waiter that he had just met, "Indeed, how ironic that is. That is the very book I am reading at this moment. Furthermore, it is more about a man has metamorphosed into a cockroach, and is mistreated as a human by his family, therefore, his dignity as a human being virtually disappears."
"Yuck. Cockroaches," Demyx scrunched his face as if to express his dislike towards the little buggers.
Zexion smirked, "Well, if cockroaches are not so appealing, perhaps we should divert towards a more appeasing topic, say, such as school. Where exactly do you attend? I shall be transferring to Jyuusan Kikan Gakuen this following Monday."
Demyx felt his insides twisting and turning. Why did the gods frown on him now? What did he do this time to give him so much bad luck? Zexion just had to be transferring to his school, where he was popularly known as the Matchmaker. Oh the irony. And the person he was destined to be with was going to find out his embarrassing nickname. He really hoped at this point the red thread of fate wasn't lying to him. Because this all was just a really mean joke right here.
"Hey, I go there too! Maybe I could show you around then?" Oh yes, he was an idiot. What the heck was he thinking? Of course Zexion wouldn't say yes.
Zexion's expression brightened slightly, "Why, that would be marvelous. I certainly would be relieved to have someone I relatively know show me around, and the burden of tension and stress accompanied from being a transfer student would be considerably lightened."
Demyx's heart leapt. So this guy didn't think he was an idiot at all. And in fact, this guy was sorta nice and good looking as well. The butterflies in his stomach calmed down. Being around Zexion felt so natural that the blonde was surprised at himself. Excitedly, Demyx delved into their conversation with a smile spreading across his face, where they discussed themselves and their interests, such as music (Demyx preferred rock and pop, while Zexion liked ballads and modern classical), their favorite movies, their hobbies, what animes they liked, and Demyx even shared with Zexion how he lived with his grandmother and the only reason that he was working here in the first place was to help pay the bills. But instead of showing him pity like everybody else, Zexion understood. And Demyx was amazed. He always had felt glad that he was able help himself and his grandmother, much unlike his parents who were self-centered assholes who didn't care about anything else but their own personal goals. He was proud of himself for being useful and being able to do something for himself. Zexion had responded the same, that he should be proud of himself for being a strong human being able to help himself and his grandmother. Zexion didn't try to understand. He did. They were perfect for each other. They were each other's perfect half. Demyx finally understood that the red thread of fate hadn't made a mistake, but instead showed their true connection. The blond unconsciously rubbed his left pinky as he avidly responded to Zexion's question pertaining to his favorite books.
"Demyx! Food's done," Kairi yelled from the kitchen.
Demyx snapped his head towards the direction of the kitchen in surprise. Shuffling his feet nervously, Demyx spoke, "So, I should really get back to work now. It's starting to get really busy, so I don't think I'll be able to talk to you."
Zexion waved him off, "Go. Otherwise your boss will release her wrath upon you, and most likely you would desire to live another day. It's quite alright. I will see you again come Monday at school."
Demyx nodded, "I guess I'll see you then. I'll be right back to give you your food, kay?" With that, Demyx sprinted towards the kitchen. When he stepped inside, he was met with the visage of Sora, sleeves folded up to his elbows, washing dishes.
"Well, who knew?" Sora said in a singsong voice, rinsing off his hands and reaching for a towel, "The Matchmaker's finally fallen in loooove."
Demyx frowned at Sora, "Shut up Sora. Don't forget who set up you and Riku in the first place. So where's the food anyway?"
Sora jerked his head over to the counter, "Over there. Kairi's in the freezer getting ice cream for some cake."
"Don't even think about swiping any food while no one's in here," Demyx accused while pointing a finger at Sora, "Don't call Riku either."
"No, I won't. I promise!" But Sora still looked shady with his shifty eyes.
Shaking his head, Demyx grabbed the trays and exited the kitchen. Making his way over to Zexion, he served the grey-haired man his food. Zexion peered over his novel and nodded at him in acknowledgement. Demyx felt his heart flittering wildly in his chest. He then unwillingly turned in to serve the other people and to take orders of the new incoming customers. Twenty minutes later, Demyx noticed Zexion leaving the café, so he shouted a simple "bye" to him. Zexion smiled faintly in acknowledgement as he walked away.
Maybe love wasn't as hard to find as he thought.
Demyx panicked as he ran out the door, grabbing his backpack. It was Monday, the day Zexion was supposed to transfer to Jyuusan Kikan, and he was late. So he couldn't spend time with Zexion because he should have made it to school in the morning to have enough time, but no, he'd be lucky enough just to make it to school right before the gates closed. He sprinted straight towards school, only slightly pausing at times to wave at neighbors. He finally made it to school, where the gates were still open and just as he made it on campus, the bell rang. Cursing as he bolted up the stair, Demyx hoped that the teacher wouldn't be too mad at him today and force him to stand outside again.
Making it to the outside of the classroom, he stopped to take in a deep breath. He was only late by about five minutes, so the teacher couldn't really reprimand him as much as usual today. He threw open the sliding door, shouting, "I'm sorry I'm late, Teacher" only to be met with an eyeful of grey and a tug on the red thread.
Zexion. What was he doing in Demyx's classroom?
"Oh good Demyx, you've decided to come to school," sarcastically said the teacher. "I guess you'll just show around the new transfer student as punishment."
Demyx continued to stare in shock as he merely replied a weak, "Okay." The blond went down to sit down at his desk and collapsed at his chair.
"Now, Zexion, you can sit in the seat behind Demyx, who will be your guide today. Demyx, be polite to our new student," Said the teacher, unknowing that Demyx had already planned to show Zexion around.
As Zexion sat in his new seat, he just slightly leaned forwards, whispering, "Why the surprise, I might ask? I had presumed you knew I would be arriving today."
The blonde pouted, "Well, you look much older than you are. I though you were a junior or senior. Not a freshman."
"Looks can be deceiving," Zexion replied as the corners of his mouth title upwards in a semblance of a smirk.
They spent the rest of the class in silence, with Demyx occasionally turning in his seat to see what Zexion was doing. Usually though, Zexion would be neatly taking notes like a good diligent student, which Demyx certainly was not. And the teacher would catch him turned around and chuck an eraser at his head. When lunch finally came around, Demyx invited Zexion to join him and his friends to eat lunch with them near the windows of the classroom. Zexion agreed, and they pushed in another desk so they could all sit together.
Right as Zexion opened his bento and grabbed a rice ball as the others were stuffing their faces, a male classmate ran up to Demyx, shouting his name.
Demyx stood up and waved, "Hey Takanori, what's up?"
Takanori grinned at happiness as he reached Demyx, "I just wanna thank you so much man." He placed a hand on Demyx's shoulder, "Thanks to your advice, I asked out Minako and she accepted! They don't call you Matchmaker for nothing!"
Now Zexion was intrigued, "Matchmaker? Demyx?"
Takanori laughed, "Oh, you're new, right? Well, this guy here," he pointed at Demyx, "is well known for setting up happy couples. So he's known all over school as the Matchmaker. It's really cool."
"Yeah," Sora piped up, "He got me and Riku together, Roxas and Axel, and even Leon and Cloud too."
"If you don't believe it," Roxas chimed in, "Make Demyx stick his head out the window. There's bound to be someone confessing today."
Demyx sputtered as he was dug deeper and deeper into a hole, "Wait a second! I never agreed to this! Why can't we do something more reasonable?"
Riku shook his head, "I think this is much more fun." And with that, Riku, Sora and Roxas dragged Demyx over to the classroom window with Zexion reluctantly following. At that moment, there really was a girl confessing outside to a guy. Her face was stained red from a bright blush, and the guy looked shy at the same time as well. Demyx pouted as he looked at the two's left pinkies, but he smiled in happiness and relief as he noticed they were conjoined by the same red thread. They were the perfect matches for each other. While this was happening, Zexion watched Demyx intently, gauging his reaction.
Demyx leaned out the window, shouting, "Hey! You two! You're a great match!" Then he shouted more to the guy, "Accept her confession!"
The newly formed couple blushed as other people from their classes looked out the window as well and cheered for them since they had been blessed by the Matchmaker.
Roxas smirked at Zexion, "Now you see what I mean."
Zexion, stared at Demyx for a while. The blond's face was red as he realized what he had done right in front of his own soulmate. Zexion saw this however, but disregarded it.
"Well, your hobbies seem to be quite interesting," was all he said.
After a month, Demyx really felt that Zexion was completely comfortable in their group now. Of course, he and Zexion had become extremely close friends. They would talk all the time at school, Zexion would help him out with his homework sometimes, and when Demyx was working at the café, Zexion would always be sure to stop by at least for a little while. Other than that, life was pretty normal, but everything just seemed to be better to Demyx. It was just as his grandmother said. Love makes the whole world even more wonderful.
But Demyx still hadn't told him about the red thread of fate. In fact, Demyx doubted that Zexion believed in that sort of stuff.
Today, Demyx was just sitting around in the kitchen instead of running around serving food. Today was one of the slowest days that Oathkeeper had ever had for some reason. But Kairi was still working busily and cooking up some delicious pastries. Sora barged into the kitchen, and spotting Kairi begged her for a cookie. After a bit of begging, Sora managed to get Kairi to give him a cookie. And as the redhead handed Sora the chocolate chip cookie, he didn't miss the longing look that she sent him. Demyx felt a little bit upset as he saw this.
The matchmaking case between Riku and Sora had been the strangest and most unique one that he had ever seen. A year or two ago, Sora had had a crush on Kairi and not on Riku. But the weirdest part was that Sora and Kairi had shared the same red thread. Yet at the same time, another red thread connected Riku and Sora, but it was much fainter than Sora and Kairi's thread. However, despite this, Riku had worked hard in order to gain Sora's attention and gradually, day by day, the threads shared by Sora and Riku grew more distinct, while Sora and Kairi's faded. Demyx had no idea what to do with these three, but after a couple months, the thread between Sora and Kairi had completely disappeared for some reason one day. Noticing this new development and Sora's newfound attraction to Riku, he managed to set the two up on a date. Riku and Sora were now a happy couple, but Demyx was usually predominately concerned about Kairi. Ever since the red thread of fate had disappeared between her and Sora, Kairi's left hand was bare of any red thread. And Demyx could only imagine the hurt that she was feeling deep inside because she had loved Sora as well.
But this incident only proved to Demyx that the red thread of fate could disappear between two soulmates. People could change their own destinies. Riku had the sheer determination to change his, even though the fates didn't exactly smile on him at first. But now, look where he was. Happy and going out with Sora. And Demyx was scared, scared that Zexion would never love him and the red thread of fate would disappear from them as well as it did with Kairi.
As Demyx was thinking, Roxas walked into the kitchen as well, looking mildly interested at Demyx. He glanced over to Sora's rabid cookie munching, and causally asked Demyx, "So you're deeply and madly in love with Zexion?"
Demyx's expression resembled somewhat of a deer caught in headlights, "N-no! What makes you say that?"
Roxas frowned at Demyx's response, "Well if the blushing isn't enough to go by, there's also the fact that you stare at him all the damn time as well. For someone who is the "Matchmaker", shouldn't you be able to take charge of your own love life as well?"
"Roxas. It's completely different from when I help other people get together," Demyx replied sadly.
At this point Roxas's expression turned sour, "What do you mean it's completely different? The way I see it, love is love. There's no difference when it comes to people falling in love. If you want it, go for it." Then Roxas's expression changed into a more conniving one, "I think I've got just the idea to help you." And with that, Roxas left the kitchen.
Demyx felt sure that the sinking feeling in his stomach was not good at all.
He'd never imagined that Zexion would confront him on the school roof the next morning. For once, he had made it earlier to school than usual. When he had entered the classroom, he was instantly grabbed by the arm by Zexion and dragged to the roof. When Roxas said that he had an idea, he didn't think that it would lead to this!
Zexion slightly panted from the entire excursion and coolly asked, "Is there any reason that Roxas would tell me to go out with you because you like me?"
Demyx's face exploded into red, "He said that?!" Demyx was about to deny it, but Zexion stared at him, his eyes imploring Demyx to tell the truth. "Well," Demyx's voice fell below to a whisper, "I do. I do like you."
Zexion's neutral expression didn't change, "I see."
"But," Demyx blurted out, "It's all because I can see the red thread of fate linking us together! We're supposed to be soulmates! That's the entire reason that I'm a "Matchmaker". Because I can see when people are destined for each other because of the red thread, and we're supposed to be destined for each other!"
Oh no. What had he just done? He'd just really messed up their relationship. Zexion wouldn't believe him. And this was the first time he had ever told anyone besides his grandmother. Demyx stared at the ground, refusing to look up to meet Zexion's eyes.
The next moment, Demyx felt soft lips against his own. His eyes widened as stared into Zexion's reflective eyes. After the initial shock, he began to kiss Zexion back. It all went downhill to a mere clashing of lips and tangled limbs as the two proceeded to make out against the fence of the roof. As the two broke apart, they were both flushed and panting.
"Perhaps we are indeed destined for each other," Zexion replied in a light teasing tone. And Demyx smiled, linking their left hands together, allowing one end of the red string of fate to embrace the other end.
The bell rang and the two looked at each other, both deciding that cuddling here on the roof was much more important than English class.
As the two walked to their classroom for lunch later, they were met with a couple of comments such as "The Matchmaker has finally been matched!" or "Way to go, Matchmaker!" Demyx blushed as Zexion held his hand even tighter. While Demyx was trying to feed Zexion his tempura with his chopsticks, Roxas looked amused as he merely said, "I don't owe you anymore now."
One could always change their destiny. But in this case, Demyx didn't think he wanted to.
Owari
-
-
-
-
-
I want Demyx's power. T.T I actually like this story, but I feel it's too rushed. One day I will go back and revise this. Much much later. And for those of you who are wondering. Jyuusan Kikan Gakuen Basically means the Thirteenth Order School, or Organization Thirteen School. I just made up Zexion's last name, but Demyx's is a mixture of Mizu-water, and Ongaku-music. I'm thinking maybe I should do a sidestory to this fic one day.
So anywho, it's my birthday! Yay! If Dualism is born on Handjob Zexion Day, I'm born on Zexion x Roxas day… Uh, yeah. No. I've been really busy lately if that's any excuse for my absence. I've also become the officer of my anime club too. I really had trouble thinking of a name for this story. But I was listening to a band called Phantasmagoria and thought, "Hey, what does this mean?" So I looked it up, and it really fits the story concerning Demyx's power. So review my lovelies. It'll be a nice birthday present!