Welcome to a... special fic ? This will be a set of one-shots, short slices of life set up in an Earth AU (if you're interested in that AU, I wrote some more stuff about it, check my profile!). Unlike my other multi-chap fics, this won't be uploaded weekly, or regularly (I don't mean not often, I mean there won't be a special day for a new chapter), but whenever I have a new chapter to post :p Enjoy!
Was it the day they went to the beach together?
Vanitas sighed. The dumb trio was playing in the water, while he was sitting on the sand, hiding from any direct sunlight under the parasol. He did not want to be here. But agreeing on coming was the only way to get his mother to stop telling him he should go out more often instead of staying in his room. Ven had insisted, too. Ven wasn't a bad person, he wanted to have fun, and he wanted Vanitas to have fun as well. The problem was they didn't have the same conception of fun, and Ventus didn't get that. First of all, Vanitas didn't like much going outside in the broad daylight. He didn't like crowded place. And he didn't like his brother's friends.
Aqua was okay, annoyingly nice and naïve, but okay. Terra, on the other hand, was an over confident jerk who knew better than anyone what was best for Ventus and who never hesitated to compare the twins and to tell Ventus not to follow Vanitas's path. Vanitas hated him. They barely ever spoke, and when they did, it was only when Vanitas made fun of him or when Terra criticized him. It never ended well. The hour-long road trip to go to the beach had been a living hell for Vanitas.
"So you really don't want to come with us?"
Suddenly, Aqua was there, startling him. When did she appear? The sun was so hot she was almost dry already, her blue hair braided around her head still dripping a bit. His eyes stopped at her tattoo, on the side of her ribcage. It was a blue star-shaped charm. Ventus and Terra had matching ones, all on their left side, Ven's being green and Terra's being red. They got tattooed together on Ven's eighteenth birthday. Aqua had drawn the shape of it, and Ven told his brother this was a Wayfinder, a lucky charm representing their unbreakable connection. Vanitas made fun of him for a week about how cheesy that was.
"Vanitas, you do know my eyes are up here, right?"
He quickly looked at her face rather than her tattoo, smirking.
"Don't flatter yourself, I was just thinking about how dumb you guys will feel once you will stop being friends and still have that junk on your skin."
Aqua laughed and sat next to him. "This is a risk we were willing to take. Let's all pray we will be friends forever, then."
"Nothing lasts forever."
He sounded more bitter than what he intended, but he meant it. One day, they would get tired of Ven, or Ven of them, they would start living somewhere else and never see each other again. What was the point of believing in forever? He did not get it.
"So you really came to stay under that parasol for the whole day."
"I came to have peace. You can go back and play with the kiddies. I'll watch the bags. Unless Terra sent you, because he doesn't trust me and fears I'd steal his wallet? I have no interest in his $21.95."
"Of course Terra would never accuse you of… Wait a minute, how do you know how much there is on his… No, never mind. I don't want to know."
He stayed silent, and she stayed silent, and for a moment, there wasn't a sound but the crashing of the waves and Ven's laughter in the distance. Aqua finally turned her head back at Vanitas with a soft smile.
"You know, Ventus really wanted you to come."
"He did?"
"He did. Terra wasn't really… enthusiastic about it, but Ven said it had been forever since the two of you ever did something together. He wanted to spend some time with you, and he insisted until Terra agreed. But now that we are here… You don't really look like you're having fun, are you?"
Vanitas looked away. "Not really. But you did. So go back and have fun with them. You're ruining my meditation moment."
She chuckled. "That looks a bit more like a sulking moment. You're sure you don't want to at least put your feet in the water? It's so hot out there, I'm sure you would enjoy it."
Vanitas glanced at the clear blue sky and shook his head, sighing dramatically. "I would have loved to, but I can't. Have you seen how pale I am? The sun would burn me right away."
Aqua gave him a devilish smile that made him shiver. What kind of face was that? How long had she been able to make such a face? Did Ven know?
She rummaged through her bag and took out a tube of cream. He gulped.
"I would never have gone outside without bringing some sunscreen. You would have loved to? Good, let me put you some sunscreen on and you're good to go!"
"What? Put me some… No way! Get lost!"
She chuckled, already squeezing some sunscreen out on her hands. "It's no big deal, I did it for Terra and Ven, too. You're not receiving any special treatment. Now, don't move!"
It was humiliating. She was spreading the sunscreen on him like she would spread butter on a toast, thick layers on top of thick layers. And yet, he couldn't just ignore the tingling on his stomach as her hands massaged his skin.
"Boop! All done!" She wiped the extra sunscreen she had on her fingers on the tip of his nose with a grin. "Now, before we go back…"
She rummaged through her bag once again. She took out so many things from it he wondered if she was Mary Poppins. After a while, she seemed to find what she was looking for.
"There! Perfect!"
She turned her head towards him, and his stomach twitched as he choked, trying not to laugh. He was almost suffocating, tears prickling in his eyes.
"What… the…"
"What?" She asked, tilting her head like a puppy would. "Is anything wrong?"
"Don't… Don't look at me, please… You are…" And then, he couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing. She had put on some diving goggles, the smallest, the ugliest that could exist, the kind elementary school kids would wear when going to the swimming pool, and she looked utterly ridiculous.
"I want to look under the water, and I don't want any salt in my eyes! It's only fair that I protect them!"
His stomach hurt so much, now. Whenever he tried to catch his breath, he would see her face and start laughing again. He finally managed to calm down, and realised she was staring at him (with her ridiculous face) with a soft smile that made his stomach twitch again.
"I'm glad I at least got to hear you laugh. I was afraid you were really upset being here."
He stared at her, and for a moment, he forgot her stupid goggles, his eyes locked on hers. She really was too kind, especially when he was an self-aware jerk who knew better than anyone that he did not deserve what was best for him and that no one should ever follow his path.
He did not want to move, did not want to speak, did not want to ruin that strange and somehow magic moment that was happening, but Ventus did it for him the second he emptied a whole bucket of cold sea water on his head.
"Last one in the water cleans the dishes for a week!" Yelled Ven, already running away. Vanitas flashed a grin at Aqua, and jumped on his feet, running after his brother.
This was not such a bad day after all, he thought, as the butterflies fluttered in his stomach.
Since the Wayfinders wouldn't have as much meaning in this AU than in canon, I decided they would be tattoos they all got. That's actually something I had in mind for a while, but whenever I wrote about this AU... Nobody ended up shirtless :p Also, as a side story that probably won't ever make it to the real story : Van thought about getting the same tattoo, once, only to piss Terra off, but didn't make it in the end.
I don't have many chapters written for that fic yet, but they will all be about days where something happened between Aqua and Vanitas. It's not VanQua per se, but it's pre-VanQua, I guess? Let me know your thoughts about that :D
