Work Text:
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
The Master was writing in the book of prophecies as he heard Luxu enter the room. Luxu’s footsteps were quiet, but he’d found that since turning into a Nobody his hearing had enhanced and he heard each step perfectly. Of course, the problem with having his hearing amplified wasn’t with knowing when his apprentices were coming up behind him.
The Master carefully placed his pen back in its ink stand and mentally braced himself for the Iadmireyou, you’reamazing, you’resopretty, or wanttofuckyou that he would often hear as whispered emotions underneath his apprentice’s normal words. It was common for students to admire their teachers, and, hey, he was a good looking guy, and he’d been a teenager once too, so he’d ignore the fact that two or three of his apprentices were thinking unsavory thoughts his way. Completely natural and forgivable, so long as no one actually said or did anything about it.
The Master turned around in his seat and caught a contemplative, yet dazed look on Luxu’s face.
“What’s up, Luxu?” Luxu looked completely confused by the Eårth slang.
“Master?” Iloveyou. Oops, well, that wasn’t good. Maybe he just imagined it…?
“Luxu… say something.” He cautiously commanded.
“What do you want me to say?” IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou.
The Master visibly grimaced before hiding his mouth behind a hand and turning around. This was not good. As a responsible adult, he should turn Luxu down now before his feelings could grow any stronger . But a heartbroken Luxu might mean an “unwilling to go along with the plan” Luxu. Which was more important? Helping the Realm of Light? Or a teenager’s feelings? He supposed he could always turn back time to before Luxu had what ever self revelation Luxu had had. But could he bear the thought of knowingly manipulating someone’s feelings like that?
He placed his head in his hands and hunched his shoulders defensively.
“Luxu… you shouldn’t…” but the words “fall in love with me” stuck in his throat and wouldn’t escape. What was the right decision here? He dug his fingers into his scalp. He didn’t know.
“Master?” What’swrong? He felt Luxu’s hand on his shoulder and sighed deeply. Let’s just pretend he never heard anything at all.
~~~
Xigbar lead the amnesiac Demyx down the corridors of Never Was toward Vexen’s lab, so that the Nobody could get a clean bill of health before being introduced to Xemnas. He hadn’t said much to his former Master, trying to act like a stranger and play it cool. But he’d also noticed the curious, odd glances Demyx had been giving him.
“Um… hey.” The dirty blond finally got out. “Would you do me a favor and say something?”
“What do you want me to say?” Xigbar asked, baffled. The younger-looking man grimaced before hiding his mouth behind a hand and turning away, in a move so reminiscent of the Master, Xigbar couldn’t help but wonder if he had his memories after all.
“We’ve never met before, right?” The blond hunched his shoulders. “So, you shouldn’t…” he trailed off, and Xigbar wanted to shake him in frustration.
“What?” He growled.
“Be in l—” Xigbar never heard the end of that sentence as Demyx smacked into Saïx who’d just stepped out of a portal outside of the lab.
“You must be a new Nobody,” the blue haired man sniffed. “Has Xigbar explained to you what we are?”
Xigbar rolled his eye. Of course he’d given the spiel. Although, to be fair, Demyx had looked like he was concentrating on something else.
“No…?” Demyx smiled uncertainly. Saïx leveled a Look at Xigbar.
“We are Nobodies. Beings with no hearts. That means, we feel no emotions.”
“But—” Demyx tried to interrupt.
“We have the memories of emotions, but do not feel anything ourselves.”
“But—” Demyx tried again.
“There are no ‘but’s. The sooner you accept our lack of emotions, the sooner you’ll be able to fit in.” Demyx only gave him an aggrieved look. Saïx seemed to think this good enough and left, probably to rat to Xemnas about what a terrible job Xigbar did explaining things to the new recruit. The silence between the two left standing outside Vexen’s door was a bit awkward.
“If we don’t have emotions,” Demyx said quietly, finally. “Then how are you in love with me?”
“What?” Xigbar spit out, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut, and tried to suppress his rising panic. “As if! Like you said, we’ve only just met.”
“But I can hear it!” Demyx insisted. “Every time you speak, there’s an undercurrent of ‘Iloveyou’ and now there’s one of ‘don’tpanic’ because you’re clearly panicking!” He stepped closer, furious, and Xigbar swallowed, wishing Demyx’d take just one or two more steps and be in kissing distance. “This is freaking me out, man. I may not have my memories, but something tells me it isn’t normal to hear other people’s emotions like this, and having a complete stranger think that he’s in love with me is fucking weird.”
He knew, Xigbar suddenly realized. All that time, the Master must have known about Luxu’s feelings if what Demyx was saying were true. All that time, and he’d said nothing?! A wave of pain swept through Xigbar and he swayed, his vision going dark for a moment, as he realized the implications of the Master knowing his feelings and saying nothing. Had he just been a pawn this whole time? Well, fuck that. Xigbar pushed Demyx into the wall and stormed away.
~~~
Uh-oh. Demyx heard the voice as he slid down the wall. He checked the back of his head and his sight swam from what was probably a sizable lump. At least it didn’t seem to be bleeding? We need him. The voice continued. It wasn’t Demyx’s inner voice, but it sounded just like it, and briefly Demyx wondered if he were actually schizophrenic, but had just forgotten.
Suddenly, life became a VCR on rewind. He felt himself stand up, saw Xigbar walking backwards toward him and turn around, felt his own body move forward, and so on. They were re-enacting the last few minutes in reverse, without sound. He felt his mouth move, saw Xigbar’s lips flap, but the silence rang shrilly in his ears.
There was a pause and with the pop of Saïx’s portal closing, time returned to normal. Demyx was relieved to hear the hum of electricity coming from beyond the closed door next to him. He stumbled toward the wall, one hand catching himself, the other reaching to feel the lump still very much on the back of his head.
“Hey, are you okay?” IloveyouareyouokayIloveyou.
“I’m fine. I seem to have bumped my head.”
“How did you do that?” Suspiciousdoesithurtdon’twantyoutohurtloveyou. Xigbar’s eye was narrowed with suspicion, but his tone was casually curious.
“I… I don’t remember.” Demyx kept his gaze at his feet, feeling ashamed.
~~~
Demyx never heard the voice again and he never rewound time again. He never told anyone he could hear emotions, so no one ever believed him when he insisted they had hearts.
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Ahaha. The stories have progressed from everyone but Demyx being a jerk, to most people other than the OTP being a jerk, to Demyx being the jerk. This progression was completely unintentional on my part. The snippet will probably be no romance and no jerks, so at least there’s that?