Vanitas POV

I wandered into the living room feeling pissed off at the world, nothing too unusual. I spotted an unaware blonde sitting on my couch and figured I could make use of him. I leaned over the back of couch, grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him fiercely. I got an indignant squawk for my efforts, but I refused to let him pull away. A strong slap to my cheek finally made me release him. Not Ventus then.

"Fuck Vanitas! You could at least ask beforehand!" Roxas snarled at me.

I sneered back at my boyfriend's twin.

"I don't see Sora anywhere so what does it matter?" I retorted dropping down next to him.

Roxas merely kept the glare.

Technically, I was dating Ventus and my twin Sora was dating Roxas, Ventus's twin. The four of us being identical to our respective counterparts made it a little difficult at first, until I decided it wasn't a big deal if I confused the two blondes. Sora hadn't been happy the first time I made out with Roxas, but they all eventually got over it. At this point, after six months of us together, if one happened to mistake the other twin for yours no one cared. Just don't let your actual boyfriend catch you.

I glanced over to see what Roxas was watching on TV and was disappointed by an old movie I'd seen a thousand times. He seemed determined to ignore me and kept an unconvincing interested look as he stared forward. Boredom was not one of my strong suits and he knew this. I felt no compunction therefore against reaching over and grabbing him bodily to set in my lap. I caught his mouth with mine before he could protest. Roxas fought me for a minute, then relented and kissed me back hard.

The nice thing about the blonde twins? They were as different as me and Sora were. Ventus was caring, gentle and liked to let me protect him. Roxas would mouth back at everything, had an attitude that threatened to rival mine and was up for rough play. I exploited this happy fact by devouring his mouth mercilessly and getting a moan of out of him when I ground against him harshly.

Roxas dug his hands into my hair and tugged downwards insistently. Knowing what he wanted I made him demand silently for a while before I pulled away to nip down his neck. I couldn't help but groan as he started to rock his hips against my lap. I sank my teeth into the juncture of his shoulder, breaking the skin and he gasped loudly. I set my mouth on him and worked on leaving a nice dark mark. I'd get hell for it later but I didn't care.

My cell phone vibrating in my pocket brought our activities to a crashing halt. Roxas jumped off my lap with an angry huff and stalked out of the room. I cursed loudly and dug my phone out, pressing the 'talk' button.

"What!" I snapped.

"Morning to you too precious." Axel drawled sarcastically.

"Did you want something?" I asked rudely.

I was now raging hard and from past experience I knew Roxas wouldn't let me touch him after being interrupted. Little bastard. Ventus never left me cold like that.

"Are you guys coming tonight?" He demanded.

I sighed angrily. Did he have to remind me every damn day? His lover Demyx had a big gig tonight and the red-head had been pestering me all week about showing up.

"Yes! Only if you stop fucking calling me about it." I replied shortly.

There was a pause and I could almost hear him thinking.

"I must have interrupted a hot make-out session." He guessed without apology.

"Matter of fact you did asshole. Roxas already left and isn't coming back."

I slipped off the couch and made my way back to my room, well mine and Ventus's room. The almost foursome thing was made all the more interesting when we all lived together.

"Ugh, didn't need to know that. You guys know that's just messed up right?" Axel sounded appropriately disgruntled.

"Like I care. Later." I hung up the phone and tossed it on the pile of laundry.

It was a good thing my friends were as unpleasant as I was, I probably wouldn't have any otherwise. Not that it really mattered to me. I never went out of my way to socialize. Nonetheless there were a few people that stuck around, the four of us had a small batch of mutual friends as well as our own. I couldn't really stand any of the others' friends.

I managed to amuse myself for the next few hours until the other two showed up. I had forgotten that Ventus worked today. I was lying on the couch, game system in hand when the nicer of us all came home.

"Hey Vanitas." Ventus smiled at me and leaned over me upside down to get a kiss.

I was always a bit softer with Ventus than his counterpart. Sora gave me a greeting which I ignored as he walked past us. Ventus straightened away from me, only to come around and sit in my lap, which had me stifling laughter at the deja vu.

"I missed you." He said quietly and leaned forward again.

I had worked last night, so we hadn't seen each other yesterday at all. I paused my game before thoughtfully setting it aside so I could crush him into my chest. Ventus made a quiet, pleased noise and I deepened our kiss without hesitation.

"Are we still going to that thing with Demyx?" Sora called from the hallway.

We continued to ignore him and he sighed in exasperation. I blocked him out and focused my attention on my lover, who I would never tell that I had missed also.

"Yeah, we're supposed to leave in an hour." I distantly heard Roxas answer my brother.

"Let's grab some dinner before we go. Hey! That means you two have to stop sucking face!" Sora yelled coming over to our couch.

Ventus and I parted in annoyance.

"'Sucking face'? What are you fifteen?" I scowled at him.

"Be nice." Ventus sighed at me.

Yeah, that was a losing battle he should give up. Sora's impatient look finally got us up and within fifteen minutes we were piling into Roxas's car. I saw Sora giving Roxas a strange look as he was driving and couldn't help the smirk. My brother was trying to remember when he could have given Roxas the purple hickey he was sporting on his neck. He glanced in the rear view mirror and I showed my teeth. Sora scowled and muttered to himself.

Ventus POV

We hadn't had a chance to get out as a group for a while so I was excited as we pulled into the club. Demyx's band consisted of him as the lead singer/guitarist, Sora's friend Riku on bass, and Vanitas's friend Larxene on drums. I got along with all of them rather well, even though Larxene scared me just a little.

Sora and Roxas led the way up to the bar and I stuck close behind Vanitas so we didn't get separated in the large crowd. Demyx's band had a bit of a local following so there were a lot of young people waiting for the opening song. Vanitas kept his hand on the small of my back as I hopped up on a bar stool next to my brother and I smiled to myself at the action. He thought he was such a badass but if he really didn't care would he look after me so closely?

"What do you want to drink?" He asked in my ear.

I couldn't help but shiver as his breath tickled me unintentionally. I ignored his smug look but shrugged in answer to his question.

"Did you see Hayner on your way in?" Roxas poked my leg to get my attention.

I shook my head and he huffed in irritation. Sora was already watching the stage, probably looking for Riku.

"Oh my god you look so alike!" We heard a feminine voice squeal behind us and turned to look in amusement at our friend Namine.

She stepped close to give me and Roxas hugs at the same time and I laughed at her as she gave us both kisses on our cheeks. Namine is normally very quiet, except when she drinks she seems to channel her more vibrant sister Kairi.

"Get some new jokes Namine." Roxas teased and tugged on her blonde hair.

I could feel Vanitas roll his eyes and leave to go find Axel. I wished that he could like my friends too, but I tried not to let it bother me too much. Namine took Vanitas's vacated seat and started a conversation with me, as Roxas and Sora moved closer to the stage. The band started to set up and I smiled at Demyx's enthusiasm as he tripped and almost fell over his microphone cord.

"I think Axel needs to stop letting him have caffeine." Namine said thoughtfully.

I laughed in agreement. Demyx is one of all of our mutual friends, because you can't help but like his near childlike personality. It's just a few minutes before the strings of their first song filter through the giant speakers and after that anything else is lost in the music. I enjoyed the first few songs with my only female friend before I started to wonder if Vanitas was simply going to abandon me for the whole night.

I had hoped we would spend most of the night together even though we were in a group setting. We hadn't been seeing much of each other lately because of our work schedules. I had of course not failed to notice the marks on my brother and Sora's annoyed look and I knew what it meant. I wasn't jealous and didn't truly mind, it's just that I wanted his attention for myself today.

I managed to convey to Namine over the pounding music that I was going to go look for my lover. She just smiled and gave me a 'shoo'ing motion. I grinned at her, then started trying to make my way through the hoard of twenty-somethings enjoying the show. I glanced at the stage at Demyx singing his heart out, Larxene pounding away with a vengeance and Riku's stereotypical long haired headbanging, complete with a gaggle of girls by his corner drooling. Sora had informed me that Riku took advantage of the bass player persona and was never wanting for a girlfriend.

It was crowded so close that I figured I'd be lucky to find anyone at all, much less Vanitas. I started searching for bright red spikes since Axel was so tall he usually stood out in a crowd. I was jostled roughly and mumbled an apology, but was surprised when someone grabbed my wrist. I turned and had to glance up at the man's impressive height. The blonde looked more pissed off than the situation warranted.

"Watch it bitch." He growled at me.

I frowned at him but didn't reply verbally since I knew it would be a waste. I tried tugging away from his insistent grip and he sneered before shoving me away from him. I would have stumbled from the force except the bodies around us were too tightly packed, forming a throbbing wall. I righted myself rather confused at his anger and quickly slipped away from him in case he decided to prove his point further.

I finally reached Axel and was happy when I saw Vanitas right where I thought he'd be. I smiled at them both and my lover reached out to tuck me against his side. Axel just nodded at me since he was focused on Demyx on stage. I couldn't help but rub at my wrist that creep had yanked on, it was a little tender and I had a feeling it was red as well but the club was too dark to tell. Vanitas luckily didn't notice, he was really overprotective and I didn't want a fuss made about it.

Roxas POV

The guys were putting on an awesome show and we were having a blast. I managed to mime to Sora after a while that I was leaving for the bathroom, he just kept jumping with the pit we had moved into. Instead of trying to dodge through the crowd I just shouldered my way past people and once I was towards the edge they had noticed and moved away preemptively. I was always called the twin with the attitude for a reason.

I saw Axel and Vanitas by the wall and was curious because the red-head was always right in front of the stage when Demyx sang. Then I realized they were able to maintain eye contact if he wasn't right at the singer's feet and still made it seem like he was paying attention to his fans. I was surprised that Ven wasn't clinging to Vanitas though, he never liked being on his own when we went out places. Namine couldn't very well protect him from anything, little slip of a girl that she was.

I shoved open the men's room door without much thought but my brain stuttered to a stop momentarily at the sight before me. I had found Ven. All I saw was red.

Sora POV

It took me a while to realize Roxas had been gone much longer than necessary. We hadn't had our customary make-out/groping session in the middle of the pit, thereby starting a chain reaction of either a wannabe orgy or fist fight. The band was almost done with their set too. I caught Riku's eyes and shrugged at his silent question. He always approved of our antics. I figured I had to find Roxas if we wanted to get the show on the road. People weaving was a specialty of mine so I made quick work between the stage and the restrooms.

I could make out a lot of noise from the men's room which was impressive with the bass pounding at ear bleeding levels from the speakers. Mildly concerned, I opened the door and let out a yell in shock.

Ventus was on the floor, covered in bruises and a fair amount of blood, he was conscious and cradling his right wrist with pain etched into his face. Roxas was in the middle of a dangerous fight with a tall blonde who was obviously the cause of Ventus's injuries. Without thought I threw myself into the equation and tackled the stranger to the floor. From there it was a mess of fists, block, attack, protect Roxas's back, repeat.

Together we knocked the man out and stood panting for a few moments. I blinked the sweat out of my eyes and wiped some of the blood off my face before turning to see Roxas crouch down by Ventus patting him carefully with trembling hands.

"Think we should take him to the hospital?" I asked trying to keep calm, because if I started freaking out the other two would follow suit.

Roxas took a deep breath and seemed to gather himself.

"Go tell Vanitas to get the car, we'll drive him there ourselves."

"And this thing?" I asked nudging the unconscious blonde with my foot.

Roxas's gaze was beyond frigid.

"I'm sure once they see Ven someone will find a place for him." He muttered darkly.

I nodded once to the twins and left to find mine. Axel and Vanitas were right where I left them, I was a bit miffed that he hadn't noticed Ventus's prolonged absence but it wasn't worth saying. I grabbed his arm roughly and hauled him behind me into the bathroom. He was sputtering until his saw Ventus being supported by an anxious Roxas. In a second he had gathered his lover into his arms in a secure hold and was glaring poison at the knocked out stranger.

"I-"

"Ven's more important! We're leaving now." Roxas cut him off sharply.

They shared a look that I had to glance away from. Then Vanitas was following us out the door with hurriedly yelled instructions to Axel who had rushed over after seeing Ventus. He smiled grimly at our group then set off towards the stage where the band was playing their last song. Knowing the rest of the arrangements were in capable hands I led the way out to the car.

Ventus POV

I sighed in relief as the doctors finally left my room and stopped poking and prodding my wounds. Morphine was my new best friend I realized giddily.

"You did hear them say you'll be here for a few days right?" Roxas asked leaning forward in his chair next to my bed.

I nodded slowly at him. Luckily I hadn't broken anything, a few cracked ribs but the docs had wrapped me up nice and tight so I wasn't feeling it much. No internal bleeding or anything major. I had never ever been in a fight, much less this banged up but it could have been worse. Vanitas had overreacted a bit. He had to be escorted out of the hospital and I knew he was furious, Sora had gone with him to keep him from doing anything crazy. I wish he hadn't flipped out like that, though I did have my brother for company.

"We'll take turns staying with you until they let you come home." Roxas continued seriously.

"I know." I answered with a tired smile.

He held my eyes for a moment before relenting and handed me my ice chips.

"Do you know why he beat you up?" Roxas asked after a few minutes.

I explained about our encounter in the pit. I figured the guy had followed me and waited till I was alone. If he went that berserk for someone bumping into him at a concert I can only imagine how he gets through life.

"I don't think he'll be getting through life that easily from now on." Roxas said mysteriously.

I vaguely remembered him pulling the guy off me and hearing Sora's voice but I can't see the details in my head. Roxas filled me in on everything I was too out of it to recall.

"I'm really okay though, right?" I asked my twin needing reassurance.

Roxas got out of his chair so he could sit on the edge of my bed and run his hand through my hair.

"Yeah," he said quietly, "You're okay."

Vanitas POV

The few days Ven was in the hospital were pretty much a blur to me, Sora and Roxas stayed out of my way, while I locked myself up in my room with a bottle of Jack. I blackmailed the other couple into not telling Ven. I couldn't believe those asshole doctors wouldn't let me in to see him.

I could tell Ventus wasn't sure what to think when he got home, I wouldn't let him out of bed and insisted on doing everything for him. Slightly out of my character up until now , but fuck if I was letting him get hurt braining himself on the coffee table or something...

"I'm fine." Ventus whined at me as I brought him a made up plate of lasagne, Sora's specialty he had saved for the blonde's homecoming.

I raised an eyebrow and carefully shifted the tray onto his lap and set his glass on the nightstand. My lover pouted at me for a moment then seemed to give it up as a bad job.

"If you think I'm leaving you alone after what that- (Ven choked on his lasagna due to my language which I found amusing and worrying at the same time) -did to you, you don't know me as well as I think you should." I smirked.

"You really should be happy no one went to jail over it." Sora agreed from the hall.

"Shut up!" I hissed at him.

"What's he talking about?" Ventus asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." I said glaring at my brother.

Ventus grabbed my hand forcing me to look into his bright ice blue eyes.

"I just don't want you getting into trouble." He whispered.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, though I would use a different word, I leaned my forehead against his.

"I couldn't handle you getting hurt again. I-"

Ventus's lips cut me off before I got too embarrassing. I felt my mind settle for the first time in days. He pulled away with a gentle look.

"I know I'll never get another moment alone anytime I leave the house...probably ever again." He added ruefully, though he was smiling.

"Fucking right." I nodded firmly with a small glare.

He sighed so I kissed him again for good measure. I really didn't want him ever finding out what my friends had done with his assailant, I doubt he'd ever forgive me...but what Ventus didn't know wouldn't hurt him.