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This is the Next Life
A quiet clearing of the throat roused Axel and Roxas, and they reluctantly stepped away from each other, only to see the amused green eyes of Isa and the dancing in place, squealing visage of Demyx.
“Lea.” Isa nodded in greeting. “Rox…as? Or are you Ventus?” The blue haired teen was puzzled.
“Er, both, actually.” Ventus gave a sheepish smile.
“Do you guys know each other? How come you have two names? Are you Lea’s boyfriend now?” The dirty blond babbled. “That’s Isa. I’m Demyx, by the way!”
Ventus gave Lea and Isa a puzzled look. How come they had their Somebody names, if Demyx still had his Nobody one?
Lea shrugged, wrapping an arm around Ventus, and whispered in his ear, incorrectly guessing what Ventus was questioning. “We don’t know either. Isa and I were born remembering, but if Demyx remembers, he’s very good at pretending he doesn’t.”
He then spoke louder for Demyx’s sake. “This is… well, as he said, he’s both Roxas and Ventus. It’s complicated. We used to know each other… a long time ago. As for whether he’s my boyfriend, I guess that’s up to him.” Lea’s eyes twinkled. Roxas blushed.
Roxas turned toward Hayner and Xion. “Guys, this is Ax, Lea, er, Isa, and Demyx.” He turned toward the people standing, “This is Hayner and, well, Sora, but currently Xion.”
“Sora has DID,” Hayner inserted, trying to be helpful. “Xion’s fine, but you might want to be careful around Vani—”
“Hayner!” Ventus snapped, but it was already too late, Sora’s body language changing to something more arrogant.
“Oh, look, wittle Venty-Wenty’s found one of his boy-toys. Now you just need Terra to complete the set!”
A hand reached out and smacked Vanitas upside the head.
“Vanitas, stop picking on Ventus.” Olette calmly retracted her hand.
“Sorry, we’re late, guys, what’d we miss?” Pence added.
“Ventus’s got himself a boyfriend.” Hayner nonchalantly remarked.
“On the first day of school? Already? Why does my head hurt?” Sora whined.
“Is there enough room here for everybody?” Olette asked, eyeing the already crowded table Ventus and Hayner had managed to get.
“Why don’t you sit with us at the upperclassmen tables?” Demyx enthused. “There should be plenty more room.”
Lea rolled his eyes. “You just want to sit closer to a certain somebody, don’t you? Just ask him out already.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Demyx answered, falsely prim, but his eyes were tellingly averted.
“Demyx has a crush on someone? Demyx?” Roxas questioned in a low voice, so that only Lea could hear.
“Yeah, you’d think it’d be Xigbar or maybe Zexion, but no. It’s some kid totally unconnected with our previous lives. See the kid with the black, fluffy hair, sitting by himself in the corner? That’s him.”
Roxas looked over and completely didn’t recognize him. If he squinted, something about the guy’s aura might remind him vaguely of Xigbar’s hypothetical third cousin or something, but that was as familiar as he got. Roxas moved his gaze away, completely missing the small smirk the unknown boy gave the group.
Demyx led the way to the upperclassmen tables, which were indeed less crowded, the uncertain freshmen following behind uneasily, as Isa and Lea strolled over.
Demyx found a table which was perfect for sending furtive glances in a certain direction. The only problem was the silver haired kid sitting alone smack in the middle.
“Hey, can we sit here?” Demyx asked.
“I’m waiting for my friends, but as long as you keep two places open, sure.”
“I’m Sora!” Sora introduced himself to the boy, hands behind his head, his usual easy grin lighting up his face.
“Sora, do you remember me?” The silver haired boy asked piercingly. Roxas and Lea exchanged glances and raised eyebrows.
“No?” Sora frowned. “Did you meet Vani or Xion? I don’t share memories with them.”
“Never mind.” The sitting boy scowled, before shaking it off and smiling. “It’s nice to meet you, Sora. I’m Riku.” Ventus commiseratingly patted Riku’s shoulder, while Roxas smirked. Revenge was a dish best served in another lifetime.
The group sat down, Demyx with a clear view of the unknown boy, Lea with Isa and Roxas on either side, Sora next to Riku, and the other three across from the rest. There were two spaces between Riku and Demyx, making the dirty blond suspiciously cut off from the rest of the group.
“Guys,” Demyx hissed. “Can’t you clear the spaces on the other side of Riku? I’m totally obvious here.”
Isa rolled his eyes. “Good.”
Hayner looked between the dirty blond and the direction of his gaze. “Hey, that guy’s totally looking.” Hayner jerked his thumb at the boy. “If he’s the one you like, I don’t think you’ve got a problem.”
“Can you say that any louder, Hayner?” Pence groaned.
Olette face palmed. “Excuse Mr. Subtlety here, please.”
“Hey, Riku. What’s with the group?” A redhead said from behind him, shifting attention away from Demyx and his crush.
“Kairi, they wanted to sit here. There was room. This is Sora. Sora, this is Kairi and Naminé.” Riku shrugged, and watched carefully as he introduced the brunet. Neither Kairi nor Sora gave any indication of recognition. The blonde by the redhead’s side, however, gave a gasp before closing her mouth and pretending she didn’t know anyone. Roxas gave her a small nod and wave, which she returned with the barest of nods.
Kairi sat down next to Riku, leaving Naminé to sit next to Demyx. The two blonds quickly got into a discussion about art and music. When Hayner next checked, the unknown boy was scowling. He was prevented from pointing this out because everyone else was already talking with someone. He shrugged, and joined the conversation on skateboarding Roxas was having with Lea and Isa.
“So you’re still doing that?” Lea was asking.
“Yeah, with Ventus’ dexterity and agility, it makes ‘boarding even easier.”
“Why are you talking about yourself in the third person?” Hayner put his foot into it again.
“Er…” Ventus couldn’t think of a comeback immediately.
“Sora’s probably confused him enough that it wouldn’t be surprising if he thinks of himself as two different people sometimes.” Pence saved the day.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you two have known each other forever.” Hayner accepted this answer. Half of the table burst into laughter. Even Riku snickered.
While at first, just the other half of the table was confused, everyone else became slightly confused when they heard Demyx’s distinctive higher pitched laugh. At the table’s staring, he said defensively: “What? When people laugh, I laugh. What’s weird about that?” Shrugging it off, everyone returned to their previous conversations.
***
It was after lunch that Roxas hurried after Lea and caught the Junior before he disappeared into the labyrinthian caverns known as school halls.
“Axel!” He grabbed the redhead’s hand and pulled him into a quiet corner, that hadn’t yet been invaded by students.
Lea looked down in amusement at the shorter male and waited.
“About what you said at lunch…”
“What’d I say?”
“About being boyfriends. I’d like that.”
“Are you sure? I’m guessing things are more complicated for you than for me.”
“Yeah. My Ventus side is tired of being alone. My Roxas side is still madly in love with your sorry ass from our last lives. If you don’t mind having both of us…”
“Yeah. I think I can do that.” Lea started to lean over for a kiss, before Roxas blocked him.
“Hey! You haven’t told me how you feel.”
“Roxas,” Lea was slightly exasperated. “When have I ever not loved you? Sure, you also being Ventus now will be an adjustment, but it’s not going to make me love you any less.” Satisfied, Roxas let Lea finish the motion. The kiss was everything he remembered from the last life, and he felt Ventus inside of him relax in relief, finally basking in the feeling of being loved romantically.
Roxas and Ventus had both wondered why they’d been reincarnated together, and now Roxas thought he had the answer. Because only together could Ventus get what he’d been missing. Roxas couldn’t fault his other half for wanting to be loved. In this moment, Roxas felt more complete than he had this entire life, as he and Ventus synched emotions more thoroughly than ever before.
They jumped as the school bell shrilly rang, announcing that they had five minutes to get to class.
Lea pulled away and, holding hands with Roxas, scurried over to the lockers. Once they reached his, Lea reluctantly let go to let Roxas get to his.
“I’ll see you later, Roxas.”
“Let’s meet up after class?”
“I’ll wait outside on the school steps.”
“I’ll see you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
And Ventus walked away, floating on cloud nine.
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Grades:
Freshmen: Ventus/Roxas, Sora/Vanitas/Xion, the Twilight Trio
Sophomores: Kairi, Naminé
Juniors: Lea, Isa, Demyx, Riku
Seniors: ?
I don’t know how it is in most schools, but in my high school, half of the dining room was for freshmen and sophomores, but juniors and seniors could sit there no problem. The other half of the dining room was for juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophomores being allowed to sit there only with permission from an upperclassman. And yeah, if I remember right, the upperclassmen tables were always less crowded.
I swear, Demyx invaded this story like a virus. Whether Demyx actually remembers or not is something only Demyx knows. I could totally see him remembering everything but deciding to pretend he doesn’t.