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Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Vanitas

shadowdive and Ventus

wayfinder
Where: Goldenrod City
When: late evening of March 31st/super early morning of April 1st
Summary: Vanitas visits to his "original self" on the day they were separated. What is this nonsense called a "birth day"? ~~Also Vanitas is still a creep sometimes.~~
Rating: PG for KINGDUMHURTSSS people.
Log:

Six years ago to the day, he used to wear that face; be that person.

The emotional pain that came from the simplest rejection that day still lingers in his mind, but Vanitas has found himself finally coming to terms with it, watching his other half -- no, Ventus, sleep. Something he knows he will be doing for ten years, when he rejoins him.

Frowning, narrowing his eyebrows together enough to all but knit them together, Vanitas refrains from expressing his dislike of that situation on the wall beside him. Turning his attention to the clock on the wall and simply watching the numbers change to indicate that it was now the next "day", he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"We're better like this, aren't we?" he mumbled beneath his breath, turning to soundlessly slip out the way he came; doors are known to creak. Windows... not so much.

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But there wasn't much avoiding the scraping of the window against the frame, which did make Ven stir. Or rather, swat at whatever had invaded his room with his pillow. Whether he was awake or not while doing this was difficult to discern, given how atrocious his aim managed to be.

If Vanitas even caught on to the fact that a pillow was swung in his general direction, that was about as effective as it could be.

Except Ventus' aim sang true today, and Vanitas hadn't quite been expecting the pillow nailing him in the back of the head. Giving a disgruntled, disgraceful "oof!", he nearly slipped to doing the splits against the wall. Rolling his eyes and turning with an outright sigh, he moved to pick up the pillow.

"Stay asleep, idiot."

Vanitas grouched under his breath and threw it back with more force than necessary.

Unfortunately for Ventus, being smacked in the face wasn't condusive to sleeping. Instead, he sat right up and looked around for whatever had just hit him, though he didn't seem to identify his pillow as the most likely of projectiles...

His search halted as abruptly as it had begun when he spotted a pair of amber eyes in the dark, freezing on the spot. As half-asleep as he was, he couldn't help the first connection his mind made to glowing amber eyes amidst the darkness.

"...No, not in Johto, it's not..." He mumbled to himself, shaking his head as though to dispel the thought. There weren't any Heartless there.

That would have been his moment to slip away, to let today pass again like he has let it pass for the last six years.

But Vanitas knows what Ventus sees first thing in the night; he still double-takes for the briefest moment at mirrors when he isn't wearing his helmet or sunglasses. So, he puts an end to the train of thought on Heartless and speaks up.

"No, you're just stuck with me, Ventus."

Ven stiffened at first when he got an answer to his words, but he forced himself to relax. He knew that at some level, Vanitas was bothered by being treated like a threat while they were in this world. It wasn't something he entirely understood, since Vanitas had been so different, but quite a bit of time had passed.

At first he remained quiet and then he let out a small sigh. "I don't know why you don't just say hi or something." Ven wasn't going to acknowledge the implication that anybody was stuck with anybody else.

"I don't say "hi", and you know this."

His eyes were still at their best in the darkness, and that stiff look made his words short. No, they really are better like this; separate. Moving then and stepping one foot up onto the windowsill, Vanitas didn't bother turning to talk.

"Go back to sleep."

Today really is just another day.

Vanitas sure had a thing for windows, Ven couldn't help noticing that. For the moment, he remained where he was, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. Getting things organized for the Guardians was a challenge, and lately, Rockets were up to no good again. Leading was...perhaps not what he was best at. "Why did you come here in the middle of the night?"

He couldn't imagine watching him sleep was Vanitas' idea of a good time.

Pausing, he would have laughed if the question didn't remind him of the why. Keeping his head pointed towards the window, he stood with his one foot up and hands on the sides, but spoke like he was having a normal conversation.

"We've been like this for six years, today."

"Oh, it's...um," Ven wondered if he should call it Vanitas' birthday, after last year. Vanitas didn't seem to be especially keen on the day, nor what it meant, and that left him uncertain.

"So then..." He could only guess, "You wanted to visit because it's that day?"

Was visiting the right word?

"I guess you could say that. I've "visited" every year."

While saying that alone opens a new can of worms, Vanitas brings his foot down from the windowsill and turns a bit to watch his other half through the darkness of the room.

He wants to know what Ventus thinks. Not in another year, he wants to know now.

That came as a surprise to Ven. There were times he'd found Terra or Aqua prowling around his room as though they were looking for something they'd displaced late at night before, but they'd always told him not to worry about it...

"Is there some reason you wanted to do that? The day aside..." Because he wasn't sure he understood the point in watching him sleep, he did that every night.

Edited 2012-04-01 05:46 (UTC)

"Our heart called me back each time."

Vanitas looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't elaborate and instead, leaned his back against the windowsill. He always did dodge the overprotective siblings with an ease like a shadow on the wall, but they had never been his concern.

"Not that it can fix itself now in this place."

"At least in this world, it doesn't harm us being this way. At least, I don't think it does." Ven knew Vanitas was reckless, but at least they weren't in worse stead. If things were how they'd be at home, they'd have one body and be comatose.

While Ven didn't regret his course of action, being unconscious for so long wasn't something he felt particularly good about.

"Do you think it's better to be like this?"

Watching carefully through the dark room, those gold eyes hardly blinked, though his eyebrows wound up knitting together again. With the window at his back, it felt just the slightest bit easier to ask; he could always duck out at a moments notice, with that open space behind him.

"I don't know, but...I couldn't really talk to you like this otherwise, could I?" At least, Ventus wasn't sure that he'd be able to. It wasn't something he could know one way or the other, but after their last fight, neither of them was up and around.

"Would you have really wanted to, after all that?"

Curling his fingers slightly into the wood of the windowsill, he still hardly moved.

"I'm talking to you right now, after all that."

It was a simple reply, but it was true. Vanitas was a part of him. Sure, the most negative parts, but that was still him. He couldn't really decide half of himself was just best left ignored.

Relaxing his hands, Vanitas turned his head a little away as if the darkness in the room alone couldn't mask the partial smile creeping onto his face.

"Mm. Guess you are."

He doesn't know where this feeling is coming from, but.. it's almost nice. The conversation is more than just being civil, and while the cynical, nagging voice in the back of his mind says -- The cynical, nagging voice sounds like the old man.

Shaking his head a bit abruptly, the smile comes a bit more freely.

"Ventus, what would you say we are, right now?" No longer enemies, but not quite up to friends; the word still is weird to him, but the feeling isn't so much anymore.

Though he started to ask what Vanitas meant, Ven paused when he got the idea. At least, he thought he did, pondering it for several moments in silence before offering any sort of response. The two of them were a complicated matter in more ways than one.

"I'm not sure what the right word is, but...well, we're not fighting all the time." That, at least, seemed significant enough to him. There had been a time when that was all they did, and a lot of things had changed since then, but the lack of battling didn't escape him.

"Yeah. This is... better."

Sure, they still butted heads on the little things, but they were the little things in a bigger scheme; unless it was Ventus exploring the inside of a freaking mountain. He couldn't help a quiet chuckle in the end though, lifting a hand to scratch his head and absently fuss with a few stray bangs that hung in his face.

"I can't say I ever thought I'd say that, though."

"...Yeah, I wouldn't have expected it either," it seemed safe enough for Ven to admit, since Vanitas had expressed the same himself. The two of them were pitted against each other back home, and that was more or less all there was. "It's nice though."

Ven wasn't the sort that defaulted to fighting anyhow, so if things were more serene, that was good in his mind.

Quiet for a few minutes longer, as if basking in this content feeling, Vanitas moved with almost hesitant footsteps towards the bed. There was the brief weight of a hand leaning on the edge, before he seated himself on the floor near the foot of the bed and shifting to make himself comfortable.

"It's late, you should go back to sleep."

Though the real question is 'do you mind if I sleep here'?

It was true that Ven needed more sleep before morning, but when Vanitas sat down, he wasn't sure what he should do. If Vanitas wanted to stay, he probably ought to have someplace to sleep or something. "I'm pretty tired, but what are you gonna do?"

Sleeping on the floor looked really uncomfortable, no matter how tolerant of unpleasant things Vanitas was.

"Stay here, if it won't be disruptive."

Here, as in, on the floor. Missing that part of the question, Vanitas simply crosses his arms, shifted around until he was more comfortable, and closed his eyes. Usually, he would let Sanaa out and sleep in her wings, but the room wasn't quite big enough.

He can deal with roughing it tonight.

Ven was silent for a time before he scooped up some of the blankets on his bed and dropped them right on Vanitas. Because it hadn't been very warm at night, he had more than enough covers to go around. Vanitas sleeping on the bare floor didn't sit right with him.

Letting out a briefly surprised grunt to the blankets being dropped on him like that, he moves his arms around to unbury himself. Instead of complaining though, he just shifts and sets up a makeshift bed; fold one of the larger blankets in half, roll up a second to be a pillow, and use the third as necessary.

Settling down once the blanket-bed was made, his silence finally turned into a quiet chuckle.

"I probably won't be here when you wake up, but if I am, don't step on me," and thank you.

The last three words made it out in a low, nearly inaudible mumble, but they still made it out.

Those last words, Ven thought he might just have imagined, a sound that was barely audible. Maybe he just thought he'd heard it as he tugged his remaining blanket over himself once more and got comfortable again.

"I don't think that'd happen, but I'll keep an eye out," he replied, stifling a yawn afterward. How Vanitas got by with so little sleep was really beyond him.

With the silence settling around them the way the darkness did, it didn't take Vanitas long before his eyes drooped shut. There was a feeling of contentness he hadn't had in a long time, and it was what finally brought a half smile to his face. Shifting and resettling, Vanitas fell asleep more quickly than he ever has in his life.

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