LGBT Challenge: Demyx

Greetings to you all!

For this weekly challenge on orientation/gender identity, the obvious choice for me was Demyx of Kingdom Hearts, who I head canon as demisexual.

"Hello, I'm Demy and I'm demi!"

Above quote and specific request for me to post this by Vea, lol.

What does it mean to be demisexual? According to AVENwiki, "a demisexual is a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone." <Source>

So where do I get the impression that Demyx is demisexual? Well, let's take a look at his general personality and habits... Mostly from the manga, where he got the bulk of his development.

Demyx is lazy.

From the KH manga

He doesn't want to work at his missions or even just simple tasks assigned to him. He'd rather relax, play music, read comics... Hide in a closet from Saïx...

But the main point of this rather obvious observation is to demonstrate that it is exceedingly difficult to motivate Demyx to action.

What does motivate Demyx?

To be fair, like most people, he's easily motivated by fear.

That's likely what keeps him at the Organization and doing the bare minimum required to get by without being turned into a dusk.

But that's what motivates him against his will. What would it take to willingly motivate Demyx to work?

No surprise here:

Friendship.

* For the sake of your friendship

I needed this page, but the translation was a little off. Whoops!

If he's given a choice, he'll work hard for the sake of friends - even friendships he's not part of! Roxas had a very poor opinion of Demyx and while we can agree exactly whose fault that is (DEMYX), it shouldn't foster much kindness from Demyx to Roxas.

And yet there he is, willing to go above and beyond his normal zero effort... So Roxas can go to the beach with his friends. Close emotional bonds clearly mean a lot to Demyx on principle since he's willing to actually do something in the name of it!

But how does this make him demisexual? Plenty of people place high value on emotional ties without being demisexual.

It's all about heart.

SPOILERS FOR KH: DREAM DROP DISTANCE AND 358/2

Nobodies don't have hearts, but it's confirmed by Xemnas (revived Xemnas, mind you) in Dream Drop that a Nobody can re-grow a heart and the ability to feel. To understand how this works, let's look at Axel at the start of 358/2.

He's everything that King Mickey describes Nobodies to be: lacking a heart but good at faking emotions well enough to be convincing. But as he gets close to Roxas and Xion, his heart starts to form.

only to be ripped out by all the sad in that game and KH2

Anyway! Why did Axel's heart form? He was prompted by the things that mattered most to Lea: being ed, particularly by those you hold dear.

That triggered his heart to develop along with the ability to feel genuine emotions. Considering that template, let's revisit Demyx!

Nothing seems to strike him as overly pressing or important, as we all know. But he's far too expressive and emotional to not have a heart and have had one for quite some time.

No one in the Organization took him seriously enough to consider it. And why would he tell them about it? Exposing a conspiracy about Kingdom Hearts not being needed for them to get their hearts is way too much work for him, let's be real.

But he definitely had a heart throughout the games and books he was in. In the manga, when Saïx explains to Demyx that he has to kill Sora or else he'll kill the rest of the Organization, Demyx hesitates:

"D-doesn't that make him one of us?"

To feel hesitant due to kinship, you have to truly feel. Not to mention forming an emotional connection so important to Demyx that he considered Roxas "one of us" after he killed most of the Organization.

In the games, it takes Sora and Donald rejecting his statement that Nobodies do have hearts for Demyx to finally get serious and accuse Sora of being a traitor. Before trying to kill him--

While there are theories that Demyx was dropping a facade in this scene and showing his true heartlessness, I believe this shows his genuine emotional depth (as in the ability to feel so deeply betrayed that he actually wanted to fight).

The manga has a similar scene prior to their fight (for comparison and reference):

This kind of depth could only be achieved by having his heart for a long time without anyone realizing. Now how did he get it?

Because having emotional connections was the most important thing to Myde just as being ed was the most important thing to Lea. (Note: Demyx's Somebody doesn't have a canon name yet, I just like Myde.)

Exposure to what you value most will get your heart back for almost any Nobody that's retained their human form. For Demyx, this prompt was constantly being near people who were considered just like him and his need to have the emotional capacity to connect with them.

With that in mind, it stands to reason that he would be demisexual due to placing such a high priority on emotional closeness.

There you have it!

Agree, disagree, or feel the need to express a thing? I look forward to your illustrious comments!

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#meta