Every Saturday, Like Clockwork

Chapter 2 – The dating game

Demyx’s group of friends all stopped chattering amongst themselves as Matt approached. They stared at him curiously, a couple of them whispering amongst themselves. It was Near who greeted him first, saying, “Hello, Matt,” as Axel swung an arm around his tiny shoulders, grinning cockily.

“Near,” Matt replied with a polite nod, before he turned to Demyx. “Hey, can I talk to you?”

Demyx cast a nervous look at Axel, who nodded and shooed him off. Chewing on his bottom lip, Demyx agreed and the two of them stepped away from the large group, where they wouldn’t be bothered.

“Sorry about mistaking you for someone else,” Matt told him right off the bat. “And sorry about staring at you. I’ve been wondering, though- if you wanted to go out some time, to dinner or a movie, or whatever you’d like to do. I’m not incredibly rich, so I can’t take you to some place incredibly fancy, but…”

He was cut off when Demyx began to laugh lightly, shaking his head. Confused, the redhead awaited an answer, which he got soon after. “I wouldn’t want to go some place incredibly fancy, anyways.” He smiled sweetly, before nodding. “I’d like to go out with you. And I forgive you for mistaking me for someone else. I told you, it happens a lot. I don’t have the attention span to go see a movie, I’m afraid. Why don’t we go out for pizza and hit an arcade?”

Matt stared. “You were sent to me from heaven, weren’t you?” He asked. Demyx laughed again.

They headed back to their group and Demyx introduced the rest of his friends to Matt.

Roxas was a short blonde who looked like he could be a freshman in high school. He had an arm around the shoulders of Namine, a blonde who looked around his age. Next to them was Leon, who was taller then Axel, with shoulder length brown hair and a scar across his nose. Cloud stood beside Leon, blonde hair spiked in a way Matt didn’t even know was possible. Linda was Cloud’s younger sister, had light brown hair, and a drawing book in hand. Then of course there was Axel and Near, who both waved.

“You hang out with Mello, right?” Roxas asked as he spun locks of Namine’s hair around his fingertips. “My twin brother, Sora, is dating Mello’s friend Riku.”

“Riku mentioned that,” Matt confirmed, feeling rather uncomfortable. He didn’t like big groups, preferring to hang out with only Mello. His best friend was the opposite, the social butterfly- he enjoyed large groups and being the center of attention.

“Mello and Roxas are rivals,” Near explained. “Mello and Roxas compete for the leads in the school’s plays. Mello usually wins.” Roxas glared at him, but Near ignored it.

“I’m always the villain,” Axel purred.

“What is Matt’s major?” Near inquired, curling a lock of hair around his fingers, the same why he had in the library.

“I’m a photographer,” Matt informed.

“You should take pictures of Demy,” Axel laughed, clasping said dirty-haired blonde on the back. “He’s an excellent model, right, Leon?”

Leon gave a short nod in response and Matt glanced to Demyx in question. Smiling, Demyx explained, “Leon is a photography major as well. So is Cloud. I’ve done some modeling for the two of them. Not too much, but I’d do it again.”

“He’s a great figure model too,” Linda piped up, motioning to her drawing book. “I’ve drawn him quite a bit.”

“Can we stop talking about me?” Demyx asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Come now, Demyx,” Axel laughed. “You know we’re just trying to warm up to your date by telling him all your embarrassing stories!” Demyx pouted and Near gave his boyfriend a look, causing the redhead to laugh. “He’s my best friend, I’m allowed to embarrass him!”

“I have to get to class,” Near informed as he grabbed Axel’s arm and looked at the watch wrapped around his wrist. “Come on, Demyx- we’re going to be late.”

They bid farewell to the group and left. Matt spared a wave to the people he barely knew and headed back over to his own group of friends, where two new people had taken seats.

“Welcome back, Cinderella,” Mello commented with a smirk. “Obviously it went well, seeing as he introduced you to his friends.”

“We’re going out on Friday evening,” Matt informed, grinning. “To an arcade.”

“Cinderella found her prince charming!” The blonde gasped dramatically, before motioning to the newcomers as Matt took a seat beside him. “This is Sora, Riku’s boyfriend.” Sora was obviously Roxas’ twin, despite his dark brown hair, while his twin was a blonde. “And Kairi, the sensible one.” Kairi had dark red hair and smiled sweetly, with a wave.

“You asked out Demyx, right?” Kairi asked. Matt nodded. “He’s a sweet boy. Really timid. But I doubt you want to hear other’s opinions on him, right? You’d rather form one of your own.”

As Matt whistled, impressed, Mello motioned to the girl. “See what I mean? Sensible.”

“When are you going through with your end of the deal?” Matt asked.

Mello’s smile turned into a glare. “I was hoping you’d forget that.”

“His side of the deal?” Sora asked, curiously.

Riku smiled at his boyfriend. “Matt agreed to ask out Demyx if Mello agreed to ask out Near.”

“Isn’t Near taken?” Sora asked. “He’s dating Roxas’ friend, Axel.”

Mello cleared his throat. “Yeah, well… I’m just going to ask him out as a friend.”

“And hope for more, right?” Kairi prompted. Mello didn’t answer.

--

The rest of the week went by rather slowly for Matt. He got to know Mello’s new friends a little bit better- Riku and Sora had been friends since they were little. Riku did not get along with Roxas who, according to the silver haired boy, was sort of a spoiled brat. Kairi was Namine’s elder sister, although Namine lived with their mother and she lived with their father. Misa’s older brother, the one who owned the club, was named ‘L’. Matt met him on Thursday, when he came by Mello’s apartment to pick up Misa, who had come over to rehearse lines with her acting partner.

L was a curious man, who kind of reminded Matt of Near. They both had peculiar qualities about them- so he wasn’t all that surprised when L informed him that Near was his nephew. Misa explained that L was her step bother, so technically she was not related to Near.

He hung out with Near when Mello was in class and Near wasn’t working in the library. Near was a strange person, but Matt quite liked him. He was rather honest and blunt and although he was rather rude at times, Matt liked his company. Near was really the only one of Demyx’s friends that Matt bothered to get to know- Linda sometimes hung out with them, since she and Near seemed to be close, but the others barely paid attention to his existence.

Friday finally rolled around and Matt pulled on his shoes as he heard a knock on his front door. Pulling it open, he let out a sigh of relief. He really hated awaiting things, so the fact that Demyx was standing in his door way meant that the time had finally come, and it was comforting.

“Hi,” Demyx greeted with a smile and Matt returned it with one of his own.

They piled into Demyx’s little blue car and Demyx turned on the radio, after asking if it was alright. Matt smiled as some soft rock came on and Demyx quietly sang to it- neither of them talking, simply enjoying each other’s company.

“What kind of Pizza do you like?” Matt asked, eyeing the menu, Demyx looking over his shoulder.

“Hawaiian is my favorite,” Demyx hummed. “But I’ll eat just about any kind of pizza.”

Matt laughed lightly and closed the menu. “My favorite, too.”

The parlor was loud with children running around crazily, even though they sat in back, but they didn’t really mind. As they awaited their order, they talked to each other energetically.

“I can’t play any sort of music for the life of me,” Matt chuckled. “About the only thing I’m even okay at doing that is music related is dancing. And I learned how to dance through DDR.”

Demyx laughed at that, leaning against the table, his chin resting against his palm. “I actually am not all that good at DDR. I’ve got horrible foot eye coordination, I can’t follow the arrows, its all too confusing for me.”

“It can be that way,” Matt agreed. He smiled. “How did you get into the Sitar? That’s quite a unique thing to play.

“I saw a video on the internet when I was younger,” Demyx explained. “And I fell in love with it. I could already play the piano, the guitar, and the violin, so I saved up and bought and Sitar, and downloaded some lessons.”

“I’m impressed,” Matt informed honestly. “The most interesting thing I’ve done is hack my grades in high school so I got straight A’s.”

Their pizza came then and they chatted between bites before heading over to the arcade. Matt impressed Demyx with his zombie shooting abilities, while Demyx beat the snot out of his redhead companion at the hand version of DDR. They stayed until the place closed, playing each game at least three times.

They were eventually kicked out and left with smiles on their faces and laughter on their lips. The drive home was spent in endless chatter that lasted up until they were at Matt’s door, where they both grew curiously quiet.

“I had a really great time,” Demyx suddenly said, breaking through the silence. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to do this again sometime.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” Matt replied. “I had a great time too.” He glanced toward the door for a moment before he looked back to Demyx. “Would it be too fast if I asked if I could kiss you?”

It was cute, the way Demyx’s cheeks turned pink and he rocked on the balls of his feet. “Only if I can call you my boyfriend.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Matt agreed, before he reached out and gently placed a hand under Demyx’s chin, guiding him forward slightly until their lips were pressed together.

After a few moments they pulled away and Demyx laced their fingers together, staring rather shyly at their merged hands. Matt just smiled, as if on cloud nine, watching his new found boyfriend for a few moments before the two of them finally bid each other farewell and Demyx practically danced down the hallway and into the elevator.

Once Demyx had disappeared behind metal doors, Matt pulled Mello’s apartment door open and the blonde stumbled forward from where he had been standing, ear placed against the door.

A little shocked, Mello stared for a few moments before grinning. “Can I kiss you~?” He sing-songed, before continuing in a high-pitched voice. “Only if I can call you my boyfriend~!”

“Oh get off it, bitch face,” Matt replied, though his voice held no anger. He was much too happy. Stepping inside, he closed the door and removed a napkin from his pocket, shoving it into Mello’s hands.

The blonde looked down at the paper object, confused. “What’s this?”

“Near’s phone number,” The redhead deadpanned. “I got it from Demyx. We had a deal. Now make the call.”

Half an hour or so later Mello dialed in the number, breathing in deeply. It rang twice before Near picked up on the third ring. “Hello.”

“Hello, Near,” Mello greeted.

“Demyx gave my number to Matt, who gave it to Mello.” It wasn’t a question. Mello cleared his throat. “Demyx told me.”

“Oh,” the blonde answered, rather dumbly. “Well, I was calling to see if you wanted to go out some time.”

There was a few moments of silence from the other end, before Near stated, “Mello knows that I have a boyfriend.” Again, it wasn’t a question.

“I didn’t mean like a date,” Mello lied, inwardly smacking himself on the forehead. “What I meant is that I wanted to hang out with you. You know, like friends do. We’ve known each other two years or so but we’ve never hung out.”

“Alright,” Near replied, before there was some shuffling. Mello presumed he was looking at his calendar, or something. “I am free tomorrow, if Mello is.”

Mulling over the next day in his mind, Mello answered, “I am. Where do you want to meet up?”

“Does Mello know where the Wonderland Café is?” Near asked.

“I do,” Mello confirmed.

Near hummed on the other end. “There’s a bookstore next to it. Let’s meet there.”

Mello agreed and they bid each other farewell before hanging up. Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Mello turned toward Matt. “We’re going to hang out in a bookstore.”

“The boy works in a library,” Matt replied. “I’m not surprised.”

--

Near was standing close to the entrance, looking over a book shelf, when Mello walked in. Spotting the albino instantly, the blonde approached.

“Do you make a habit of this?” Mello asked him in a quiet voice. “Hanging out with friends in book stores.”

“I don’t ‘hang out with friends’,” Near replied, taking a book off the shelf and reading over the back.

Curious, the blonde read over his shoulder. “Does that make me special?”

“Yes. Mello is special,” Near confirmed.

Finding the summary of the book somewhat boring, Mello asked, “What makes me so special?”

Placing the book back on the shelf, Near turned to him and stated, “Because Mello actually asked me to hang out.” He then turned back to the book shelf and continued browsing.

Watching as the albino picked out another book and looked toward the back, Mello commented, “There are a lot of books with interesting titles here.”

“I don’t pick a book by its title,” Near informed, putting this book back and turning to head down the isle, Mello following him. “I pick it by the author’s name.”

“The authors name?”

“If the author’s name interests me, I will pick the book from the shelf and read the back.”

Mello hummed. “That’s a strange way to pick out a book.”

Tiny shoulders shrugged as the albino stopped before another shelf. “I am a strange person.”

Agreeing with that silently, Mello began to look over the books. He liked to read, but he always had such a hard time finding books he could enjoy. “I met your uncle,” he informed. “L.”

“I do not know L all that well,” Near informed as he grabbed another book. “My father tells me we are quite similar, but truthfully the only time I spend with him is at family affairs. The same with Misa. Misa and I are close in age, but we have nothing in common.”

Humming, Mello plucked a book off the shelf and stuck out his tongue at the ugly cover, putting it back. “I don’t have any uncles or aunts. My mother was an only child and I don’t know who my father was. I don’t have any siblings, either, though I suppose you could consider Matt like a brother, since we’ve known each other since day care. He’s the closest person I have; I wasn’t very close to my mother. I spent most my holidays with his family.”

“Is it nice to have someone close?” Near asked, his eyes still on the back of the most recent book he had grabbed.

“I don’t think I’d have survived high school without it,” Mello commented. He spared a glance at Near. “Aren’t you and Axel close?”

“I am not the kind of person who enjoys getting close to people,” Near informed, looking toward Mello. “I prefer to be alone. I suppose Axel is the closest person to me. I do enjoy Axel’s company at times, in small doses. At times it is nice to be around his friends, as well.”

Biting his bottom lip, Mello looked back toward the bookshelf. “I don’t like to be alone,” he informed.

A slightly uncomfortable silence fell between them, before Near stated, “I’m done here, if Mello would like to go somewhere else.”

“Why don’t we go get some coffee or something?” The blonde suggested, following Near to the counter where the albino paid for the book he had picked out.

“Alright,” Near agreed.

The two of them headed over to the coffee shop, ordering their drinks at the counter before taking a seat near the window. Mello sipped his Mocha while Near held on to his hot cocoa, watching people walk by the window quietly.

“So how did you and Axel meet?” Mello inquired. Near looked toward him. “Sorry, its just- you two are such an odd pair, I was wondering how it all came about.”

“When Axel moved here,” Near explained. “He needed a place to stay. I had a room available in my apartment and I was looking for a roommate.”

“So you two live together?” Mello asked, forcing the sadness out of his voice.

Near shook his head. “Not anymore. He moved in with Demyx a while ago and I got a different roommate. Her name is Larxene. It was after he moved out that we started dating.”

“I see,” Mello hummed.

Near tilted his head. “What about Mello?” He asked. “Does Mello have someone?”

The blonde leaned back in his chair. “No one like that.”

“Why not? Mello is a perfectly likeable person.”

Shrugging, Mello stared out the window once more. “Haven’t found the right person yet, I suppose.”

With a hum, Near followed his line of sight. “Or perhaps Mello has, and just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Or perhaps Mello has,” Mello repeated. “And that person just doesn’t know it yet.”

--

“How did your date with Snow White go?” Matt asked from his place on the couch before Mello’s X-Box as the blonde stepped through the front door, closing it behind him.

“He and I have absolutely nothing in common,” Mello informed. “We are completely incompatible. If this were an online dating service it would be telling me to run away now.”

Matt grinned. “So you want him bad, do you?”

“Fuck you too, Tinkerbell,” Mello huffed.

“You hate me because I’m right.”

“Yes, yes I do.”