Remember what I said about April 24th in my other VaniRox fic? (Total shameless advertising right here, haha!) Well it's April 24th in my time zone now, which means that GIFT FIC FOR TheAnnoyingVoice SHOULD BE PUBLISHED NOWWWWWWW. Enjoy, hun! And, of course, everyone else! :D
A/N: This story is very much inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairytale 'Hansel and Gretel', ideas from TheAnnoyingVoice (who graciously lent me her purple skies, pink clouds, puppy Fenrir and Sephiroth in a dress cuddling a eight foot teddy bear), and I just ran away with whatever came into mind at the moment. Fluff, crack, the occasional WTF-moment, I've got it all. I enjoyed writing this, and I hope you'll enjoy reading this. Happy birthday, Heidi-chan! :D A/N end
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Candy Castle
A Ven/Rox fan fiction
One-shot
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Ventus is the sort of person who relates to the Powerpuff Girls best. "Sugar, spice and everything nice." sums him up nicely, and everybody can't resist but to want to snuggle him to death. Ventus smiled a lot, laughed a lot, and made a lot of friends. He was popular, good-looking and had a great (if slightly gullible) personality to boot. He would be the prince all the girls would love to fall in love with.
And then there's Roxas.
It isn't fair for Roxas, really, having had his sense of self-worth totally destroyed after being known as "Ventus' baby brother" for the past eight years of his life. That was only because people used to talk to them as one person before the age of six. After starting elementary school, though, Ventus shone bright and he just had to sort of trail behind his brother.
Not that Roxas was any less good-looking. It's just that Roxas was the quiet type who didn't really laugh much, but had the cutest smile ever. He was smart, fit and occasionally, fierce. He was the prince's brother all the guys (or brothers of aforementioned girls) would love to fall in love with. He had his own circle of fans, but they didn't declare their love for the younger Strife brother, because it wasn't their style to do so.
Declaring undying love through various means was more of the older Strife brother's fan club's style, in all seriousness.
So Ventus remained ever popular, and Roxas remained ever serious, while half the world population of teenagers fell in love with either one of them. Sometimes they got a little greedy and fell in love with both.
However, this story doesn't start with either of them falling in love. It starts with a bowl of cereal.
Roxas likes Cheerios, despite its name, because it had five different sort of grains, and taste pretty good for something made out of oats, rice, barley, wheat and corn. Four out of those things he wouldn't eat voluntarily on normal days, which goes to show how good it is, for Roxas to eat it loyally every day if he could help it. Unless Ventus made pancakes, of course, because Ventus makes the best pancakes.
Ventus likes Frosties with a generous helping of sugar, despite Frosties being unbearably sweet already. Sometimes he switched the sugar with chocolate powder, so that he gets sweetened chocolate milk with cereal bits in the mornings. Occasionally he gets bored of all the mind-numbingly sweetness of sugar and decides to make pancakes, because maple syrup sort of sweetness is not as mind-numbing. It numbs the teeth, which is an improvement over numb minds.
Roxas wonders if all the sugar consumed in the mornings is the cause of Ventus' permanent happy state. He also on occasion wonders the consequences of taking away Ventus' Frosties and sugar and chocolate powder and maple syrup, and instead forcing Ventus to eat a bowl of good, wholesome Cheerios. He never dares to try.
So each morning Roxas would grab the two black-and-white cereal bowls and put his box of Cheerios conspicuously on his brother's side of the table in hopes that Ventus would clear his mind with the Cheerios Roxas doesn't mind sharing. With Ventus, of course. Anybody else who dares take his Cheerios without permission is going to see stars. Alas, Ventus would always walk in blearily a few minutes later, put the box of Cheerios back on the shelf absently and grab his Frosties instead. Two years of doing the same action had put him on autopilot.
There wasn't anything particularly special about the day they would forever call 'the freakiest day of our lives', except that Ventus stabbed himself in the nose with his toothbrush in the morning. Apparently brushing teeth on autopilot is not a good idea if you're tired enough to fall asleep at the sink. Roxas remembers he laughed long and loud about that, with Ventus looking decidedly confused and put-out.
Ventus ate his Frosties with chocolate powder, Roxas washed up, and they went to school together.
Somehow on the way there they managed to get lost (despite taking the same route for two years), and Roxas blamed it on Ventus, because Ventus was side-tracked by a passing squirrel and Roxas chased after him.
Ventus blamed it on the squirrel, because it "wasn't my fault that squirrel had a deep blue streak down his back! No squirrel dyes their fur blue! It was so awesome! And shut up, Rox, stop pretending like you weren't interested."
Either way, they lost the squirrel, they lost their way, and Roxas lost his left shoe.
"Shit." said Roxas, eyeing his shoeless foot. His dark blue sock-clad toes peeked up at him. "This is all your fault."
Ventus ignored him and looked underneath some low bushes. The squirrel was gone. Poof, just like that. "I'm sure," Ventus stated with confidence, "that was a freakin' ninja squirrel. He had the attitude."
"I'm sure you know all about attitudes." muttered Roxas.
"Well, we lost him. Damn, and I was so hoping to keep him as my pet. That would be so cool, y'know? My ninja squirrel!"
"How about we go back now and try to find my shoe?"
"How the heck did you lose a shoe?"
"I was trying to keep up with you! I'd much rather lose a shoe than lose my brother! Who else is going to make me pancakes?"
"Oh, please, give me some credit. I know the way home from school."
"You get lost in a supermarket!"
"…Well, yeah, but you must admit, they're so big!"
Roxas muttered crossly under his breath. He turned around and hopped away, destroying the some-what dramatic exit. Ventus trailed miserably after him.
Ventus had followed the squirrel into a park, in a part of the city they didn't frequent. Even so, Roxas was completely sure they've been zapped into an alternate universe, because he couldn't find his shoe, he has never seen anyplace like this before, and they've passed the same park bench three times. Roxas sat down heavily on the park bench and frowned. Ventus picked a few flowers before following suit.
"Well?"
"We're lost."
"I know that. You're the guy with the awesome sense of direction I wasn't born with. Which way do we go?"
"I mean, I don't know. We're really lost this time. I can't even find the way out of this bloody park."
Ventus looked around him. "Park? This looks more like a bloody forest."
Roxas looked up and his jaw dropped. Now he was a two hundred and seventeen percent sure that they've been zapped into an alternate universe, unless a small scattering of trees and small bushes managed to grow into a centuries-old forest within two and a half minutes. Roxas groaned, and buried his face in his hands.
"Roxas! I found your shoe!"
Roxas snapped his head up quickly, only to see Ventus waving his hands frantically a little ways down. "Hurry!" he called, "The dog is getting away!"
…Dog?
Roxas hopped as fast as he could after Ventus, which honestly wasn't very fast at all, and continued to hop awkwardly for about three minutes until he lost his footing and crashed rather painfully onto the forest floor. This is when he noticed that the sky was purple. It was the pastel sort of light, feminine purple, and equally feminine pastel-pink clouds floated lazily overhead. It clashed dramatically with the lush dark greenery of the forest, but Roxas didn't have the best color sense in the world, so he didn't mind the fact that the colors clashed horribly.
What he did mind was the fact that he's been zapped into an alternate universe, lost his shoe, left alone by his brother, gotten into a painful fall, and was currently on his back staring at a very gay sky. He felt like crying.
"Roxas? I think you need to see this."
Oh great, here comes Ventus with even better news! The tone of voice implied it would be something Roxas didn't want to see, but Roxas swallowed his misery and got up anyway. He'd just point out the very gay sky to Ventus later, when he calms down a little more.
He spared the sky a last look, then shuffled slowly to his brother's side. In front of them, was a big house…
"My shoe!"
Ventus blinked twice, and by then Roxas had already rushed forward to yank his shoe out of the big grey dog's mouth. It was damp, but Roxas still put it on. He made an appropriate expression as he did so.
"Rox, your shoe sort of wasn't the point."
Roxas analyzed the house again. The roof was covered in what appeared to be bright red screws, only with consistent diameter, lined up neatly. The walls were a dark golden color, the texture similar to that of smooth mud. The front door was a darker brown, with small holes placed evenly. The windows sparkled with a dim quality that looked like slightly fogged-up glass. The window panes (or what Roxas suspected was the window panes, since they didn't really look much like window panes at all) were made of round, glaringly colorful opaque colors. The edges of the entire house was lined with a white substance, but Roxas couldn't quite tell its purpose. A certain Christmas-y smell permeated the air.
"…Pine-scented air freshener?" Roxas guessed, not being particularly good with scents either.
Ventus face palmed. "No, you idiot. That's gingerbread!"
"What, the door? The door looks more like a biscuit. And it's not shaped like a fat stickman, so I don't think it's gingerbread."
"The house is made out of gingerbread!"
"Oh. Ohhhh. Wait, so the roof is- Are those Twizzlers? Good lord, man, those are GIANT twizzlers!"
"Damn. I didn't notice that. I was a little too preoccupied with the giant lollipops."
"Is that- Icing! The white stuff is icing!"
"Don't! Don't eat it, Roxas!"
"Why the hell not? Oh damn, I was wrong. It's not icing."
"It's… not?" asked Ventus uncertainly, frowning.
"No… It's whipped cream! Like, how awesome is this?"
"Haven't you heard that fairytale? The one where two kids find a house made of sweets, then they eat it, then- then- a witch captures them and eats them alive!"
"Fairytale, Ventus." Roxas said, waving his hands in a dismissive manner.
"Dammit all, Rox! Then how the hell do you explain the house made out of sweets that you are eating, by the way, and you should really stop it, in the middle of a freaking forest?"
"How do you explain the purple sky and pink clouds?" Roxas countered, swiping another lick at the whipped cream when Ventus looked up at the sky.
"Shit. What the-?" and that was when Ventus got bowled over by the big grey dog, who had, till then, been sitting quietly, looking at the two boys getting excited about the house (they all tend to do that. Get excited by the house. Personally, Fenrir found the smell a little disturbing.) and one of them wearing the shoe that made squish noises. The biscuit-door opened, and suddenly Fenrir was on high alert, getting off the floor and zooming into the house so fast he may have accidentally knocked into one of the boys. Countless years of experience allowed the man coming out of the house to step aside and avoid collision, however.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the two boys, one of them who was currently eating his house and wearing a shoe that went squish. "Well. Looks like you've met Fenrir."
Roxas was a little scared of the man who had long silver cascading down his back like a waterfall. Horror stories of young boys being sodomised and murdered flashed in his mind. However, the man had said that he had food inside, "therefore do not eat more of my house" and had ushered the twins in. Ventus and Roxas hadn't declined, but that was partly because they had a long, thin sword pointed at their chests. Sephiroth closed the biscuit door behind him.
Fenrir came bounding out from the back of the house when it heard the door close, then stopped abruptly and looked pointedly at the two blonde boys. Sephiroth shrugged his shoulders and brushed past them, motioning for Fenrir to move aside. The dog did, and flicked his tail high in the air. Ventus and Roxas followed Sephiroth, albeit a little hesitantly.
"Would you boys like something to drink?" asked Sephiroth.
At this point, it would perhaps be wise to mention, again, that Sephiroth is not a friendly person. At heart, he tries to be, but he just cannot be a friendly person. He is, however, a perfectly nice person. He just lacks the rosy cheeks and easy smile, despite trying to appear more homely in a pink dress. And getting an apron with lace. Although to be fair, Sephiroth dislikes the lace. Instead he wished he had some semblance of domestic sowing skills, so he could replace the lace with ruffles. Alas, he does not understand the way of the needle (despite being extremely skilled in the way of the sword, which is, technically, the way of the needle, only a couple of times larger), nor does he have the patience to learn, so he suffers silently. Sephiroth tries very hard to be the sort of person people like instantly (he has been greatly influenced by a certain happy puppy), but he just cannot do it. People run away when he smiles. This is why Sephiroth does not smile a lot. The thing they say about people's smiles being the best thing on earth is a lie, and those who say that have never met Sephiroth.
Ventus and Roxas nodded politely, deciding that they'd do whatever pleased the scary-looking man then try to leave as soon as possible.
Sephiroth handed them two small mugs, and told them to drink their fill at the chocolate brook. They nodded, then went out the back door in the direction Sephiroth pointed.
"Ven," Roxas whispered, not wanting to be overheard. "Let's get away from this place."
"But," Ventus whispered back, decidedly worried, "we have to return his mugs, at the very least."
Roxas stared hard at his brother.
"Could you please pick a better time to be goody and righteous?"
Ventus sighed, glanced back at the candy house, and ran a distressed hand through his hair.
"Alright. Lead the way, bro."
Roxas followed the chocolate brook downstream, because that was where civilization was. In the normal world, at least. He hoped that despite the purple skies and pink clouds, there was still some semblance of logic, like civilization being downstream. The giant mushrooms convinced him otherwise, however. So did the smoking caterpillar, who, when asked, rudely told them to go away, but point the next girl they see in his direction. Ventus had plucked some candy canes off a bush with bright yellow leaves and was currently sucking on one, while Roxas licked his moodily.
"It's like we're getting nowhere." he said finally, biting away the top.
Ventus scanned the horizon. "I see smoke. That should mean people!"
"Where?" Roxas perked up considerably at the mention of 'people'. He was rather sick of sweets.
"Just follow the river. You were right, Roxas! You're a genius!" Ventus said excitedly, then pulled his younger twin along by the arm. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, I can't wait to get there!"
Roxas tried to walk as fast as he could with a squishy shoe, and soon the source of smoke was in sight. It was-
"The candy house." Ventus said, upset, when he was close enough to make out the small house in the distance.
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Roxas, confused.
"It's the candy house- I don't believe it. How- but- we walked away from the house, how are we back here?"
Roxas squinted. It was true, the candy house was there, giant Twizzlers and whipped cream and all.
"Damn." said Roxas. And he walked towards it.
"Wait, you're going back?"
"Yeah. I mean, we can't find our way out of this place at all. We're just coming back to the place we started. It's like this place doesn't want us to leave."
"…that's kind of creepy."
"Yes, it is."
"But what do we do?"
"We'll talk to Sephiroth, hope he doesn't eat us, and ask if he knows how to get back."
"Oh. Sounds like a plan."
"Damn straight it is."
Sephiroth was manhandling a giant teddy bear in the porch when they arrived. Manhandling, because 'cuddling' is just too weird a verb to use around Sephiroth.
Sephiroth didn't seem too surprised to find them here.
"Hello again. I see you guys didn't manage to get home."
Roxas shook his head. "No, we didn't. You were expecting us to run off?"
"Of course." Sephiroth said, and set the giant teddy bear against a gum tree before sitting down in between the bear's legs. "They all do. I suppose it's only the instinctive thing to do, after arriving here for no particular rhyme or reason. Of course, if circumstances were different and had I been the one to walk into a different world, Masamune would dance again."
"Er." said Ventus, slowly backing away to hide behind Roxas. "That's… an interesting thought."
Sephiroth sighed glumly. "However, that is not the case. I am now confined to this treacherous land of gluttony with only Fenrir as company. After disposing of the first few humans to stray into my path, I have learned that their dead bodies only served to decay the land and stink up the river. Therefore the rest would be my honored guests. Not to mention, Fenrir is not much of a conversationalist. Tea?" he offered, producing a china tea pot from thin air.
"Er. Might as well. Thank you." Roxas accepted, and motioned for Ventus to sit down next to him on the grass. Ventus did, albeit with a little more self-consciousness and mild suspicion (Roxas could tell the whole 'people being killed and dumped into the river' part bothered him).
"I assume you have questions. Ask, I shall answer to the best of my ability."
"How do we go home?"
"Hmm. This is a question that even I have not the answer to. Think, young man, that if I knew the way out, would I still be here?"
Ventus pouted. "Damn. Was worth a shot, though."
"But you said there had been other people, right? Obviously not considering the ones you, er, disposed of, but you mentioned other 'honored guests', didn't you?" Roxas added hastily.
"That is correct. However, I do not know by which means they managed to leave, just as I do not know by which means they arrived. Tell me, how did you get here?"
Roxas scratched the back of his head. "Well, I dunno. We were running 'bout the park and suddenly everything just changed. It was like walking into a different scenery altogether."
Sephiroth leant back into his bear, satisfied at Roxas' answer. "There. That is your answer. You do not know either."
"Do you think," Ventus asked, slowly, after the brain-storming session with Roxas, "that maybe we should run around this place, really really fast, and hope we run through the fabric of time and space to get home?"
Roxas leveled a blank stare at Ventus for a suitable amount to time to properly project his feelings across before turning back to his tea. "I'm going to get sick from all these sweets." he said, shaking the cup mournfully.
"But tea is supposed to be good for you."
Roxas sighed. "Sure. Green tea. This is full of creamer and sugar and condensed milk. It's a wonder Sephiroth doesn't get diabetes in this place."
Ventus gasped. "Maybe this place defies all laws of science! Like walking backwards when we're going forwards! And not getting diabetes, despite the massive intake of sugar!"
"…and the sky didn't tell you that already."
Ventus scowled at his brother. "Shut up. I just want to go home, okay?"
Roxas stared thoughtfully at the scenery around him, knees drawn up to his chest, and didn't reply.
Ventus huffily collapsed on the pastel-colored floral fabric couch. Fenrir looked at him, unimpressed, and went back to scratching himself leisurely on the gaudy pink carpet. Sephiroth stopped knitting long enough to take in Ventus' black cloud of sulk that was slowly staining the couch and carpet, and Sephiroth, never one to make things harder for himself for the sake of others, asked him to go away before leaving a permanent stain. Ventus teared up at that, and kidnapped one of the floral cushions before running to the kitchen. Sepriroth was glad that he didn't need to do double duty of laundry for the week.
Then he heard the wailing.
Sephiroth bit back the groan just in time, put his knitting down, and breezed into the kitchen, his pink dress swishing intently behind him.
Ventus cried big, fat tears into his hot chocolate. Sephiroth patted his back awkwardly, saying 'there, there' every few minutes in a rare act of consoling others. He didn't have much experience in the field. His usual interaction with others used to include a lot of raging emotions, and quite a bit of him being unreasonably cool.
"The hot chocolate is going to turn salty and cold." he said finally, when Ventus showed no signs of stopping.
Ventus blinked and tried to hold his tears back. "Sorry," he said thickly, then downed the hot chocolate in one gulp.
Sephiroth waited patiently for Ventus to stop coughing.
"Are you feeling sane now?"
"Um," Ventus said, "I'm fine, I guess."
"Really?"
"Well, no, not really. It's just that I think I'm stressed out. No, I'm pretty sure I'm stressed out. I mean, I still have homework! And school! But yet I'm here. And this place, no offense or anything, but this place is so weird! I wanna go home, dammit. I want my Frosties and Rox can have his Cheerios and we can go to school together but we're stuck here, and it's all sweets and I'm going to get diabetes, ohmygod, Roxas is going to kill me for getting diabetes, and you wear a pink dress and Fenrir doesn't like me and Roxas is ignoring me, WHY IS ROXAS IGNORING ME?" Ventus wailed, his tears falling fast now.
Sephiroth raised his arm to pat Ventus on the shoulder again, though he was unprepared for Ventus falling bonelessly into Sephiroth's chest and getting his pink dress wet. Sephiroth hadn't had a lot of physical contact with other people in a way that wasn't maiming, but he was sure that comforting crying teenagers wasn't high on anybody's list. He didn't know what to do, so he just sat there and let Ventus cry. He speculated that Ventus would eventually run out of tears, anyway.
He had severely underestimated Ventus' ability to cry or the sheer unlimited number of tears he had. Ventus was still sobbing noisily into Sephiroth's completely soaked dress when Roxas came into the house. Roxas had then apologized profusely to Sephiroth and hauled Ventus away. Sephiroth had graciously shown him the guest room before going back to his room to change into something that wasn't wet.
Roxas pushed Ventus into the bed fitted with floral-printed sheets, where he rolled around and cried into the cushion (he hadn't let go of it since kidnapping it) a little bit more. Roxas, used to Ventus' bouts of hysteria, just slipped into the bed and hugged his brother tightly, waiting for him to calm down. Which he did. Eventually. Roxas was nearly asleep by the time Ventus finished sobbing, and was shaken awake by a hormonally imbalanced teenager.
"Roxas!" Ventus cried softly, twisting around so that now he was face to face with his brother. Roxas murmured groggily, peeling his eyelids open.
"Whu-?" he said, looking sleepily at Ventus. "Whadya want, Ven?"
"Aren't you worried at all that we'll be stuck here... Forever?"
"Even if we are... At least I'll still have you, Ven." Roxas said simply, giving his twin a gentle smile.
Ventus felt his heart beat escalate. "Roxas... I'm glad you're with me."
Roxas pulled his brother closer, nuzzling his face. At least Ventus had calmed down enough so that he wasn't hyperventilating.
"Roxas... I don't want to stay here. What if we die here? What if we never go home? Sephiroth is going to let us rot in the chocolate brook!"
"You're just being paranoid, Ven. Of course we'll find a way home, somehow."
Ventus bit his lip worriedly. There was something about being stranded in a land of saccharine and deceptive pastel skies that made even Roxas' comforting hugs insufficient. Ventus needed more than their usual needed an absolute oath of love.
Oh god, the sky was getting to him.
"Roxas...?" he asked uncertainly, heart pounding loudly. "I've never been kissed."
Roxas let out a small chuckle. "Nonsense, Ven. We've kissed plenty of times."
"Yeah," Ven struggled to compose himself and properly get through to Roxas, "Small pecks, but not real... kissing. With... tongue. And the fireworks and the time stopping and things."
Ventus felt Roxas tense and was suddenly aware of the potential utter damage his words had on the situation at hand. He tried to squirm out of Roxas' arms, heavily embarrassed, but Roxas tightened his grip on Ventus firmly. In one swift motion, Ventus was on his back, staring into his younger twin's face above his. Roxas' spiky bangs hung around his face like a curtain, drawing shadows onto his face. His lips parted slightly and Ventus focused solely on the perfect shape of his mouth.
Seriously, Ventus' brain screamed at him, what the fuck is this.
"Do you want to be kissed, Ven?" Roxas asked, his voice unnaturally flat.
Ventus gulped and blushed furiously in response. He was aware that he could push Roxas off him, but his arms were jelly and to be brutally honest, the way they were pushing at boundaries was new and exciting...
And completely terrifying.
"Roxas, stop-" he tried to say, but his voice was unsteady and breathy and he gave up talking altogether when Roxas lowered his head to tenderly kissed the corner of his mouth.
Oh my fucking god, Ventus' brain muttered incomprehensibly, then took a long vacation to the land of eternal pleasure. Fuck this.
Roxas made his way from the corner of Ventus' mouth and trailed gently downwards along his jaw, coming back up after a small lick at his chin to press firmly against Ventus' slightly parted lips. "Do you want a 'real' kiss, Ven?" Roxas asked again, eyes gleaming of mischief and darkened with desire, his voice now slightly less controlled.
Ventus didn't think twice and nodded furiously, then took the initiative to smash his mouth against Roxas'.
He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to hear the fireworks even if they were there, since his entire universe has shrunk to only the space that involved him, his brother, and a whole lot of inappropriate touching. He found it quite exhilarating, really. Much more thrilling than fireworks.
And there was a hand gently caressing his waist that made him moan into Roxas' mouth. Roxas didn't waste this chance to slip in his tongue, slowly and carefully at first, then prompting Ventus' tongue to engage in a play of tag. Ventus joined in, very enthusiastically. Tongue tag was much more enjoyable than normal tag. Especially when playing tongue tag half-naked.
Still dizzy from the intense play they were engaging in, Ventus had collapsed into a state of perpetual bliss, his limbs becoming useless and his entire body melting away. He closed his eyes and didn't think anymore, allowing all these new and wonderful feelings wash over him and bring him to a much more satisfying world of pleasure.
Roxas woke up on the wrong side of the bed and nearly fell off. Being used to sleeping on the left side of the bed and hugging his twin like a bolster, he had rolled the wrong way and woke himself up abruptly by flailing. Which was when he noticed that he was on the wrong side of bed, and Ventus was curled up. Which Ventus shouldn't be. Because Roxas had dibs on his body for use as a pillow.
Roxas didn't bother waking Ventus up because he knows Ventus would wake up real soon anyway. When one woke up, the other always would follow. Many people speculated that it was their 'twin' thing. This quirk was one of the things the two boys couldn't properly explain away, and therefore acknowledged that they both did have some sort of twin telepathy going on.
Roxas remembers Ventus voicing out once before that maybe it was Roxas being naturally loud and would therefore wake him up from sleep all the time. He had been especially careful not to breathe too loud around Ventus for the entire week after that.
Ventus stirred from sleep, opening his eyes slowly.
"Morning, Ven." Roxas said, leaning over to plant a smooth kiss on his twin's cheek. Ventus muttered unintelligibly and fumbled clumsily. He was jolted wide awake by the sudden pain that coursed through his spine.
Sleep left him in an instant, leaving his mind empty and blank. For half a second he couldn't remember anything, then he felt his twin's arm hugging him securely and scenes from the night before filled his head.
His blush rivaled the red of the giant Twizzlers.
"Does it hurt really bad?" Roxas asked, leaning over him in concern. Ventus wanted badly to move back, but the pain had paralyzed his lower body for the moment.
"Um. Yes, it does." he said finally, in a much smaller voice than he was used to. Let me die of shame now, he thought mournfully. I conned my twin brother into sexing me. I should burn in hell.
He wasn't all that prepared when Roxas swept him up in a big, gentle hug. "I'm sorry, Ven. I promise to go gentler next time."
Ventus' mind broke. Next time? There was going to be a next time? What does that mean? Was it consensual (of course Ventus enjoyed it, but then again, Roxas didn't hate it... did he?), was this not a one-time thing? Did this not all start because Ventus, I mean, what the fuck was I thinking, seriously, wanted to try a real kiss? And then...
Ventus jumped as he felt warm breath ghosting past his ear.
"Are you feeling okay?" Roxas asked, leaning close.
"...No, not really." Ventus admitted, raising an arm to scratch at his cheek nervously. "I was just thinking, about last night."
Roxas instantly moved back to a safe distance, the look on his face turning unreadable. "You were thinking?" he forced out, firmly not looking at Ventus.
Ventus was a little worried about his twin's mood swings at this point, but he ploughed on. "Did you... like it?" he asked hesitantly. The look on Roxas' face made him want to bit his own tongue off.
"The... sex? Of course I did."
Something in Ventus' heart twanged sour. "So you'll want to do it again?"
"Um, I don't plan on performing celibacy anytime soon, so... yes?"
"With other people?"
They didn't speak for some time, both wearing identical unreadable expressions.
"Ven-"
"Never mind. Forget I ever asked." Ventus gritted through his teeth, partly because he was fighting the pain of standing up, and partly because he was fighting back tears.
"Listen to me, Ven-"
"I said, shut up!"
Ventus hadn't taken more than three steps before his legs gave out.
"You fool!" Roxas hissed, lifting his twin off the glazed wooden floor. Tears leaked past Ventus' eyes. "Don't try to stand if it hurts! Dumbass!"
Ventus allowed himself to go limp when Roxas put him back in bed, and allowed himself an hour of emotional angsting as he wallowed in misery.
Roxas sighed when Ventus curled up into a ball and pointedly faced the other direction.
"Look, Ventus, don't take this the wrong way... I love you, you know that."
Ventus remained firmly silent.
"I just thought, since you brought it up yesterday and everything... I thought you'd be okay with it." Roxas paused. "I didn't really mean for it to go that far, actually, but..."
Roxas heard small, tiny sniffles. Oh fuck. Did he say something wrong?
"I mean, um, shit, how do I say this..."
Ventus mumbled something quietly.
"Huh?"
"You were my first. My first... y'know." he said in a thick voice.
"Um. Well, I'm ...sorry..." Roxas breathed heavily, remorse lacing his tone.
"...I didn't hate it." Ventus mumbled audibly. "In fact, I liked it."
Roxas felt his heart stop.
"I just don't want my first time... to be a one-time thing."
Roxas was speechless. In fact, he was pretty sure his brain wasn't even working anymore.
"You could've... could've told me that- that you didn't want this to happen, Rox, I'll- I would've..." the rest of Ventus' sentence dissolved into the tears he was crying pitifully.
Roxas felt his heart leap into a frantic rhythm again. "Ven- That's not true!"
"I just want to go home, eat my fucking chocolate Frosties and forget this ever happened, alright?" Ventus said bitterly, burying his face into the floral pillow.
"I- but I don't want to forget!" Roxas rushed out, distraught. "This isn't a one-time thing, Ven. I love you, I wouldn't abandon you like that. You know this as well as I do!"
"Of course I know you do-"
"The thing is, I was afraid I went too far last night... I mean, you just asked for a kiss, who was I to really make lo- uh, have sex with you, I mean, what the fuck was I thinking? I'm sorry, it must have been all the sugar- but I didn't hate it! I loved it! I loved every minute of it, alright, Ven? I loved it, I love... I love you. I love you so much." Roxas' words trailed off to an embarrassed silence. "I was just afraid you'd hate me for it."
Ventus shot up with such ferocity Roxas was a little startled. "You idiot!" Ventus roared through his tears, "I'd never hate you! Stupid Roxas! How dare you doubt me like that!"
"This isn't something normal twins do, Ven!" Roxas replied passionately. "I have wanted so badly to do what I did last night with you, but I was even more afraid of losing you as my twin!"
Ventus' pout grew larger as he heard Roxas' words. Then he started tearing up again.
"Aww, shit, what did I say wrong this time?" Roxas asked, panicked.
"Nothing, you incredibly dumb blonde!" Ventus growled. "You just said all the right things."
Roxas heaved a huge sigh of relief, and then laughed out loud when Ventus proceeded to bury his face into Roxas' shirt. "Dumb blonde?" Roxas chuckled. "You just insulted yourself, you know that?"
Ventus aimed a fist at Roxas' stomach, causing his younger twin to double over in pain.
"Foolish younger brother." he muttered.
"You're late." came Sephiroth's cold voice the moment they set foot off the stairs. Both Ventus' and Roxas' skins prickled at the sound of his voice.
"Um. We weren't aware we had a specific time to come down, uh, Spephiroth sir." Roxas said fearfully.
"No, indeed you did not." Sephiroth answered. "However it is already half past ten. It is too late for breakfast yet too early for midday lunch."
Ventus' stomach growled in reply.
"If you don't mind, sir, we can make ourselves some eggs." Roxas said hastily. "We won't bother you."
Sephiroth's face darkened at the mention of someone else in his kitchen.
"Or, we could just wait until lunch. No worries." Roxas squeaked, his grip on Ventus' hand tightening.
"No." Sephiroth bit out firmly, standing up with a wild billowing of his aqua blue dress, despite being indoors. "I shall make brunch. That is what good hosts do. Sit."
Roxas and Ventus made themselves scarce into the dining room, where they sat down stiffly. Violent sounds resounded from the kitchen, quieting down before the sound of mild explosions made themselves known. Roxas and Ventus shared looks of terror.
After a few minutes of imagining the worst case scenarios, Sepriroth reentered the dining area holding two plates of steaming omelette.
"It looks... good." Roxas mumbled, eyeing the lightly-browned, expertly wrapped omelette. Ventus said nothing and took his first bite.
"Oh! It tastes delicious too!" he expressed his shock. Then he schooled his face into a face of seriousness. "Of course, I'm sure you're an excellent cook, mister Sephiroth sir."
Sephiroth eyed the two of them critically. "No. I am not. Eat."
The twins ate the omelette as fast as they could, but was never able to properly enjoy the meal due to Sephiroth staring at them as they ate. It was a stressful brunch.
"So do you think we can go home?" Ventus asked Roxas afterwards, when they left the house to walk around the grounds.
"...I do hope so."
Ventus sighed. "I sort of don't miss chocolate Frosties anymore." he said glumly, as he picked some random chocolate berries off a nearby bush. "There's just too much chocolate around."
Roxas stared at Ventus for a while. "You should try some Cheerios." he said, in all seriousness.
Ventus scoffed. "Not a chance."
Fenrir barked an agreement. The twins jumped in fright. "Gah! When did you follow us, doggie?"
Fenrir glared at the impudence of being called 'doggie'. There was a line, and it was just crossed. So he bit Roxas.
"Ow! Fuck!"
Fenrir growled.
Roxas turned tail and ran. Ventus followed not far behind. "Do you even know where you're going!" he yelled at Roxas.
"No! But does that even matter!" Roxas answered, as Fenrir's barking got softer and softer.
"We can stop now!" Ventus said, catching up. "I don't think Fenrir is after us anymore."
They both slowed their steps and took in their surroundings.
"Wait... isn't this..."
"Home!" Ventus shouted suddenly. "We're back!"
The blue sky shined down on them, as though congratulating them on coming home.
Roxas turned back to see only a normal park with a few sparsely planted trees. "We... We really made it out."
Ventus laughed. "We're home! Can you believe it, Roxas!" he leaned forward to plant a soft kiss of Roxas' lips. "Let's go, I want some Frosties!"
Roxas' lip quirked. "Didn't you say you were sick of it just not five minutes ago?"
Ventus denied it vehemently.
Eventually they reached home, but only after taking two different buses and a taxi, because no buses went that way. By the time they got home their wallets were significantly lighter.
Opening the door to their apartment, they felt the relief wash over them.
"Ah. I'm so glad we're home." Ventus smiled.
Roxas nodded his head slightly. "I just..."
"Just wished Sephiroth could get out too? I know. I feel the same way. I wonder how long he's been in that place."
Roxas chuckled breathlessly. "I hope he finds what he's looking for. Then he can go home."
"Mmm." Ventus said. Then he sniffed himself and wrinkled his nose. " I've got to go take a bath, I smell pretty bad."
Roxas' face lit up with a predatory grin. "Want me to wash your back for you?"
In some other dimension, Sephiroth felt this strange urge to sneeze. He didn't, however. Fenrir raised his head from the floor and looked knowingly at Sephiroth.
"Of course I know they have gone home. I could hear them all night long. Hmph. It must be nice to be gone so fast. Most people stay for at least months before acknowledging their deepest desires."
Fenrir made a noise that sounded like a cross between a cough and a snort.
"I understand. But," here Sephiroth gave a bitter smile, "If I were to go, who would take my place? I suppose this is my punishment."
Fenrir growled, the sound vibrating from deep within his throat.
The knock on the door roused the two of them.
"Hmm. It seems that we have a visitor. That was quick. I was expecting perhaps a few weeks' break."
He opened the biscuit door.
"...Genesis?"
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HAHAHA THAT'S THE END FOLKS! Sorry I couldn't help but thow in a little SxG there. xD For the people who don't play Crisis Core, just know that Genesis is this really gay best friend of Sephiroth's who recites dramas every other line. ANYWAYS.
This was a massive project. Although I am actually rather proud that this had no previous outlining and I just went along with the prompt. Oh yeah, and I totally wrote a sort-of implied sex scene! AHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry I can't write anything more explicit, because I'm a good girl like that. C:
Again, happy birthday TheAnnoyingVoice! I'm converting you to VenRokuism, you hear? :3