...I blame myrrh_darkwing over on LJ for this. We were talking about pairings and OT3's and she asked me, "What do Roxas, Xion, Ventus and Vanitas do during the threesome?" I said they probably play some loud music and read a magazine or something and try not to think about it. Later that night (at half past twelve am, actually), the plotbunny hit me in the head with a mallet, presumably causing massive brain damage, and I wrote this.
Warnings: SPOILERS FOR DAYS AND BBS, mentions of an m/m/f threesome, very mild OOC on Vanitas' behalf, slight screwing-over-the-backstory on Ventus, Vanitas and Ventus' heart.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
"Your move, Xion," Roxas said.
Xion peered at their game for a second, then sighed. "I can't find anything," she said, prodding at one of the stones. "I suck at mahjong. How does Mulan manage to be so good at it?"
"Practice?" Ventus volunteered, picking up a three of bamboo. "I think she told Sora that her mother likes that game a lot."
"And it's not like there's anything else to do in the Middle Of Nowhere, China," Vanitas said from his corner of Sora's heart. The others ignored him.
"Anyone up for a rematch? Maybe this time you'll finally manage to win this, Ven," Roxas asked with a smirk, gathering the remaining stones.
Ventus replied with an identical smirk. "Oh, you're going down this time, Roxas!"
"Ah! S-Sora...!"
Everybody froze in whatever they were doing.
After a few seconds, Vanitas spoke up, his voice not hiding a bit of his bitterness. "Let the record show that you asked for it, Ventus."
"Asked for it?" Ventus snapped. "What are you talking about?"
"Looks like Sora is taking the words 'going down' to heart, just not the way you meant it," Vanitas replied.
"They're going at it again?" Xion asked, rubbing her temples tiredly.
Roxas sighed, casting a wistful look at the mahjong-pieces. "So much for that rematch."
"Oh – oh, god, Riku, right there!"
Xion made a face. "Kairi, too?"
There was a heartfelt groan from everyone. As much as they liked having true emotions (Roxas, Xion) or being kept safe while his heart mended (Ventus and, by extention, Vanitas), this part of their existence was one they could have lived a long and happy (un)life without ever experiencing.
As one man – or person, anyway – everyone produced from various hiding places mp3-players and various items to distract themselves with.
"S-Sora-! AH-"
Roxas turned another page in Where's Waldo?, focussing on whatever dubstep song was playing right now. The music was nearing a crescendo, for which Roxas was grateful. It drowned out the sound.
"Kai... ri... o-oh!"
Xion had her legs pulled up to her chest as she read her mystery novel, squeeing to herself when the killer was revealed at last. Yes! She had been right from the start! Sherlock Holmes, eat your heart out! And the music just switched to her favourite song, too, Lullaby For You. It felt like some sort of cosmic pat on the shoulder.
"Ri... you're so - ngh!"
"My secret side, I keep it under lock and key. I keep it caged, but I can't control it..." Vanitas sang along with the music under his breath as another EM-virus met its untimely demise at the hands of MegaMan. This game irked him somewhat. Why was this kid bothering with saving whatshername, anyway? The way Vanitas saw it, revenge first, picking up the pieces later. It was so simple! Well, to him, anyway. Maybe it was different if you had a whole heart instead of just the negative emotions. Maybe. For now, Vanitas would settle for "bucking wild", as Mega insisted on calling it.
"Ngh! Riku... Riku!"
The cheery tones of a Vocaloids song played as Roxas picked up another puzzle piece and inspected the others for a clue as to where it was supposed to go. He had teased Terra a long time ago for willingly spending hours on a particularly difficult puzzle. If he had the chance to talk to his friend now, though, he would apologise for it. Puzzles were great; they gave you something else to keep your mind occupied with instead of, for example, what Sora, Riku and Kairi were doing.
Everyone kept this up for a while until Xion tenatively pulled out an earplug and noted the sound had stopped. She nudged Roxas, tapped Ventus on the shoulder and flung one of the mahjong-pieces at Vanitas. Their various items were put away in companionable silence.
"Do you think we'll ever manage to get away from situations like this?" Roxas asked no one in particular.
"Who knows?" Ventus answered after a moment's hesitation. "The King was planning something, right? It was in that letter. So I guess it won't be long now, right?"
"I wouldn't mind much, but having to do this every single time..." Xion muttered before falling silent.
"Bit rich, coming from the lot of you," Vanitas noted.
Three pairs of identical blue eyes stared at him and three people asked, "What?"
Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Well," he said in a tone suggesting he was talking to a particularly dense three-year-old, "it's not his fault we have to listen in on him. He doesn't even know we can. Besides, didn't you choose to be here because this was where you belonged, Xion? Weren't you never meant to be seperated from him in the first place, Roxas? And isn't he keeping both of us safe until your heart is patched up again, Ventus-call-me-Ven?" Vanitas laughed humourlessly. "I'm not good at the sappy friendship-defeats-all thing you do, but I can do unfairness just fine."
The other three were silent for a second, each knowing that he was right but refusing to admit it for no other reason than a thorough hate of the person saying it. Still, the jerkass has a point...
"...yeah, you're right," Xion sighed, the first to admit it. "Well, I guess he does deserve some happiness for now."
Roxas nodded thoughtfully before grabbing the bag of mahjong pieces. "So, how about that rematch?" he asked Ventus.
Ventus cast an odd look at Vanitas before asking, "Do you want to play too?"
"Me?" Vanitas asked, surprised.
Ventus shrugged. "Like you said, we're in this tigether, right? So we might as well make the best of it while we're here."
"...fine, I'll play. I have to warn you, though," Vanitas said, slipping into a slasher smile, "that I have a very pragmatic approach to winning."
"Yes, I remember," Ventus said, shuddering.
When Sora woke up the next morning, he noted that he felt considerably happier and more peaceful than usual. He put it down to a good night's sleep and the previous night's events with Riku and Kairi and set about to making breakfast.
Notes regarding mahjong: Choosing this game for the fic had a good reason. In westernised mahjong (the version I learned to play), the stones are all piled up and you have to remove pairs. Sometime during KH3, I'm assuming, Sora will have to remove the different layers of memories and stuff to let Roxas and Ventus (and thus Xion and Vanitas) free again. It's not the most brilliant symbolism ever, but I tried?