FicWad

/Hi, my name is Demyx/, he mouthed silently to the mirror, watching every detail of the way his lips, teeth, and tongue moved. He wasn't trying to teach himself to read lips because he was afraid of going totally deaf. He wasn't going to lose all his hearing, even if the world had been getting a decibel or two quieter every week; he just couldn't lose it all. But it seemed like a cool talent to have, and it might help him out when he was trying to talk to someone and couldn't quite hear everything they said...which wasn't happening all that often...really...

My name is Demyx, and I play sitar. The differences between mouth shapes for letter sounds could be so subtle - between p and b, for instance...he had to get those down cold, had to get every little nuance perfectly straight, until reading lips was as effortless and intuitive as reading books or reading music. He knew he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box when it came to memorizing anything but music and lyrics, which is why he spent every second of free time he had practicing in front of the mirror. He thought he was pretty competent at reading his own lips, but he always knew exactly what he was saying, and it was way more important to be able to read someone else's lips...

I am Number Nine of Organization Thirteen, and I control water... He was so focused on what he was doing that he must not have heard the knock on the door. He and Axel both got a big surprise when the door opened.

"What are you (doing in) here? Didn't you hear(...knocking...) bonehead?"

Reading Axel's lips, he could fill in some of the gaps when he couldn't make out the words just by listening, though he still lost words here and there. Demyx smiled involuntarily. "Hi, Ax. Sorry, I was kind of distracted."

Axel looked unimpressed. "Distracted doing... (Talk...the voi)ces in your head?"

"Why would I want to talk to them? They're nuts...I was teaching myself to read lips."

(You really have...) Demyx didn't hear a thing; apparently Axel had only been mouthing the words, not intending for him to hear, but he'd still been able to pick out the first few words. He wondered what he really had. "If you can inter (rupt...) -sons for a few minutes, I (...of...) to use the bathroom."

Demyx was too elated to care he was treading on dangerous ground."For what, jacking off?"

Axel glared at him. "Get out of here."

"Fine, fine...Just clean up after yourself when you're done..." He suddenly found himself shoved out his bathroom door, and the door slammed behind him. He didn't care - it worked, or at least it was starting to work; he'd been able to fill in a few blanks, at least. All that practice in front of the mirror was starting to pay off.