"We're home!" Roxas called as he and Ventus entered the house. Their Mom already seemed dead to the world, it was Friday after all. She must've started early.
"How was school?" Their Father asked, but both Roxas and Ventus knew that he didn't really care about the answer. It was amazing he was even coherent enough to ask.
"Dad, we're out of school remember? Christmas?" Ven asked gently.
"Oh right…"
"Where did you two go then?" Even asked.
Ventus looked at him funny. Of course Even was here. He often came by on Fridays. Usually because his parents didn't have to go into work the next day, so they could do as they pleased. "What does that matter to you?"
"Ven! Don't be rude. Even's been very generous today." Their Father added though he was starting to sound tired. No doubt in a little while he would be off in his own little world like their Mom.
"Sorry." Ven answered. "We went to the library."
"Do you like books Ven?" Even asked looking somewhat excited. Ven only looked for the fastest way out of this conversation. He didn't really like Even, the way he was always around, kind of creeped him out. And he never got high with his parents. Just watched and tried talked to him and Roxas.
"Sometimes." He answered. "The library is free." He added.
"Well, maybe Santa will bring you some really good books this year for Christmas. Have you been good?"
"Santa's not real." Ven pointed out. "I'm going upstairs. Night Dad."
He received no answer from his Father and only grabbed Roxas's wrist to pull him upstairs. They shut themselves in their room and Ventus locked the door. He didn't trust it. Not with Even being here.
-XxX-
"You fell again? What a klutz." Vanitas snorted. The black haired male made himself at home in the chair by his bed every time he came over. Since he'd met the other boy Vanitas had come to see him three times a week.
"It's not my fault my legs gave out on me." Ventus defended. He watched as Vanitas took out his phone and responded to a message only to get another one immediately after. "Sorry, are you busy?"
"Nothing that can't be avoided. It's just one of my friends." He answered.
A knock at the door caught both of the boy's attentions. There was an older man with blonde hair and a scruffy looking beard that didn't quite match his suit. Vanitas noted he sort of looked like a homeless man who dressed up for an interview. His pants were creased as though he'd tried to iron them and failed and his tie was crooked. The black haired male raised his eyes at him. He looked very much out of place coming here…not that Vanitas looked like he did belong. His black jeans and red button up shirt definitely didn't fit the atmosphere. But they were his best clothes. Not that he was trying to impress anyone of course. He ignored Xion's new message in favor of looking at Ven. Did he know this guy?
"Oh, hi Luxord." Ventus smiled softly, though it wasn't like his usual smiles. This one was more like the smile of a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar that was trying keep out of trouble.
"Good afternoon." Luxord spoke with a British accent as he walked inside. "It's been awhile, you're looking pretty good for a sleepy-head." He commented lightly. He glanced at Vanitas the pulled up a chair to the other side of Ventus. "Cloud called me the other day and I thought I'd come see you. I kinda wanted to talk to you about some things."
"I'll go." Vanitas offered. He got the feeling that he probably shouldn't stick around.
"Don't!" Ventus reached out and grabbed his hand dropping it almost instantaneously after realizing what he'd done. "I mean…you don't have to go. This shouldn't take long."
"I'll wait outside then." He answered. "Promise, I'll be right back." He added lightly tapping the blonde's forehead with his knuckles on impulse. The action made him blush and he excused himself from the room.
"You always were really good at making friends." Luxord commented as soon as the other boy left.
"He's a volunteer. It gets boring here, so I like it when he comes by."
"You mean lonely." Luxord smirked.
"I said boring."
"I know what you said." He added. "I also know what you say and what you mean are often two very different things. I already talked to your Doctor about the insomnia. He said they won't administer it to you anymore considering the circumstances, but only if it doesn't affect your health. Since you're a minor if he deems it necessary to put you back on medicine, he can do that."
"Thanks."
"Are you dreaming about it again?" He asked.
"No. Just…that medicine makes the dreams more vivid, more real. I haven't dreamt about the incident, but I have been replaying memories with him in them in my sleep. When I wake up it takes me awhile to realize that it wasn't real." He explained.
Luxord nodded. "It's hard dealing with this kind of stuff. Someday you might have to try, a little bit at a time." He patted the blonde's hair then let his hands fold into his lap. "Actually, I wanted to ask about the accident while I was here."
"Sorry to disappoint." Ventus smiled softly. "I had a feeling that was why you were here, but I can't really tell you anything more then I told the police and the Doctors. I don't remember. I don't even remember getting to school that morning, let alone getting into a fight or falling out of a window. Sorry."
"You understand why we're worried about it though?" He asked. "What do you remember before the accident?"
"I remember walking to school with Roxas."
"What'd you have for breakfast?" Luxord asked.
Ventus thought for a moment. "Tifa made eggs. And burnt them. Then Roxas made more." He nodded as he thought about the part of the morning he could remember. The television was on the news in the other room as it was every morning, but Tifa shut it off saying she didn't want to hear the politicians squabble. Cloud had left early to open the shop, and he and Roxas passed him on their way out.
"Did you sleep the night before?"
The question caught him off guard and he thought about it. He couldn't lie to Luxord somehow the man always knew. But he guessed that it was a part of his job as a psychiatrist to know these things. And he'd known both him and his brother since they were ten. "A couple hours. I played games most of the night."
"Did you dream?"
"I don't remember." He lied.
-XxX-
Roxas sat at one of the tables in the ice cream pallor on his break. In his hands was a letter that was probably meant for both him and Ventus, though Ven very rarely read the letters even before he was put in a hospital the next town over. Roxas opened it and pulled the pages out. He knew why it was that Ventus never wanted to read these letters. Although he figured Ven thought he didn't. He knew that his brother felt guilty when it came to their parents. Since the older boy was the first one to testify against one of their friends for attempting to kidnap the boys, that friend revealed they were buying and selling drugs. In the end, their parents went to jail and lost complete custody of their kids.
If they hadn't of almost gotten kidnapped by that man, Even; then his parents would never have ended up in jail. It's not like it had been Ven's fault that he had done that, but he understood why his brother felt the way he did. Still jail was a good thing for their parents, they got to go through rehab and everything else. The letters they sent always talked about their progress and how good they were doing, and how much they missed their two boys…
Roxas finished the letter and folded it back up sticking it back in the envelope and into his school bag. Checking the clock he figured it was about time to get back to work so he tossed his bag in the back room and walked up to the counter.
"I'm going on break now." Naminé said. "We're not very busy today."
Roxas looked outside at the rain. "No, it's just doesn't seem like a day for ice-cream."
The bell rang as Naminé walked into the back and a customer stepped in shaking his umbrella lightly outside. "Hi may I help you?" Roxas asked. The man eyed him a moment as if waiting for something spectacular that never happened. The blue haired male then began to glare at him. "Uh…excuse me?"
"You have got to be putting out for him." He sighed looking away as if the sight of Roxas was making him sick.
"What are you talking about?" Roxas frowned feeling a little offended at the abrupt and rude statement. He didn't even know this guy, and he just walked inside his place of work and insulted him. He looked back for some help from Naminé, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.
"You've gotta be, there is nothing else about you that guy would be interested in. Although you are young, he usually dumps brats like you after he bangs them. You must be pretty damn good at it." He added. "So what do you get out of it? Or are you just a slut?"
Roxas's eyes narrowed. "What are you even talking about? Look I have no idea who you think you are but you can't just-"
"Axel. I am talking about Axel, you're really not that bright are you? Although it doesn't really matter to him as long as he gets sex out of it."
Roxas was mad now. Not only was this guy persisting in insulting him, but he was also talking about Axel now too. Axel had never really done anything to indicate he was trying something with Roxas. He'd exclusively stated he just wanted to be friends the first day when Roxas told him he wasn't interested. "You have no right to talk about Axel like that. You don't know anything about us, so you don't get to come into my place of work and freely harass me about it. This is an establishment meant for customers, if you don't intend to buy anything I'll have to ask you to leave."
"No right?" The man snorted. "I think I know Axel better then you. After all, he's my boyfriend. You're just his little side slut."
The blonde snapped a bit hardening his gaze at the man. "Well if you were a good boyfriend, he wouldn't need a slut."
"You-"
"Roxas! I just got off work, so I thought I'd come by." Axel interrupted the bell on the door ringing as he spoke. He was smiling brightly until he looked up and noticed the blue haired man looking angry up at the counter. When Axel saw this he looked confused for a moment. "Oh, hey Saïx…what're you here for?"
"We're leaving." Saïx answered walking away from the counter. He grabbed Axel by the arm and began to pull the red-head back outside.
"Hey wait I-" Axel gave up on stopping Saïx and waved over at Roxas. "I'll see you later!"
With the two older men gone Roxas let out a breath of relief, although it didn't help much. The blonde was hit with so many emotions at once, confusion being one of the highest. He'd been so angry that he just defended Axel over something like that. Still if Saïx was right, and that really was what Axel was after, then he shouldn't have defended the older man at all. Although it wasn't like Axel was pressuring him or anything, they were just hanging out. Roxas put his hands over his face in frustration. "What just happened?!"
-XxX-
Ventus came downstairs to see the door open, Roxas having opened it and Even standing on the other side of the doorway. "Uh…why are you here?" Ventus asked upon seeing him. He hadn't meant for it to sound so rude, but his parents weren't home so he didn't really care.
"It's Christmas!" Even answered letting himself inside and setting down a garbage bag. "I brought you guys some things. You see, on my way home from work today I ran into an old friend. Guess who it was?"
"Barbie and Ken?" Roxas asked sarcastically.
"Not quite." Even laughed and Roxas made a face at Ventus at the sound of it. He sounded pretty stupid when he laughed and the boy's liked to make fun of it when they were alone. "Santa Claus."
Now it was the boy's that laughed. "Did you see the Easter Bunny too?" Ven sniggered.
"How come you two don't believe?"
"We've known about Santa since we were seven." Roxas answered. "But the other kids in our school believe in him so we don't say anything. Aren't you a little old?"
"You're never too old for Christmas." Even answered. "Anyway, here." He opened the garbage bag and let the presents inside fall out. "There's stuff here for both of you."
"Why?" Ventus asked looking at the man suspiciously. Sure they'd known Even for a while. A year now, but they weren't exactly close. He was just the guy who sold to their parents. They also owed him a lot of money. Yet…he still continued selling to them for some reason. Ventus found it hard to believe he was just that nice when it came to him selling his drugs. Roxas didn't seem to notice it though and Ven wasn't really sure how to approach this without alarming his little brother.
"I'm your parent's closest friend." He answered. "After all, they don't have any other relatives and I don't know any other kids around your ages. I always thought of you boy's like my very own nephews." He explained smiling at Ven.
"We haven't known each other that long." Ventus pointed out. "Anyway, you can't keep doing this. Mom and Dad are going to start thinking something is up when they notice new stuff. And the food you keep bringing over. We can't take this stuff, seriously."
"What's wrong with accepting something from a friend?" He demanded. "You parents owe me quite a lot you know, they shouldn't have any qualms with me helping their boy's out. Anyway, it's not like they were going to do anything for you. You should just accept my generosity." Even smiled again suddenly and searched for something in the bag. Finally pulling out a package he handed right to Ventus. "Merry Christmas."
Ventus woke up startled. He didn't even remember falling asleep. But he was pretty sure Vanitas was still here when he had. Now instead of Vanitas there was a note sitting on top of that weird detective book sitting in Vanitas's usual chair. He'd taken off as Ventus drifted of making the blonde feel bad. He hadn't intended to sleep at all let alone in front of someone. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if he'd had The Dream while Vanitas was around. How was he supposed to explain himself after the resulting breakdown?
Ven sighed running a hand through his hair. According to the clock on the wall it was only about one in the morning. And he was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep tonight. He didn't think he could handle another dream.
xYuriChan: So, I've been exceedingly busy lately. I just got a second job, and we had to move again, so. Things just got settled and now my computer has a virus. So until I can afford to pay for the cleaning, my hands are tied. I did however get some of my files on a flash drive, so I've been typing up my stories on my Mom's laptop for now. Which doesn't happen often because...wow my Mom is literally always on this thing. Anyway this is a slightly longer chapter so my blurb is going to be a little shorter! Onto the reviews!
CsillaDream
Sora: Well I wasn't in this chapter, so I may actually be dead.
P13YoLoCrazFan
xYuriChan: Oh my gosh, reviews like yours actually make my day. Knowing that you actually followed this for that long makes me so happy. I'm sorry that I can be sporadic sometimes. I hate to leave things unfinished. I will continue to write this until the bitter end. Thanks for alerting and staying with me!
NaTama
xYuriChan: Thank you so much. I'm so glad you like it! I hope you will continue to enjoy my story.
Soxirth Megs
Kairi: Yay! I'm glad someone likes me! Haha but Vanitas doesn't own me. Sora though...he's doomed.
Sora: That's comforting Kai.
Vanitas: Good. I try to keep people on their toes.
im a god
Vanitas: Does it still hurt? She's a slow hack isn't she?
xYuriChan: And he's mean.
coeur de lune
xYuriChan: thanks! it's fine if the review is short. It's the thought that counts. i just never know how to respond to short reviews so i'm awkward. haha
StephanieMagi
xYuriChan: I remember you! Your review on Bittersweet made me so happy I saved it in my emails to show off to my friends! HAHA I am so happy to have you enjoy this story too and I hope for your continued support.
Vanitas: Hey! It worked out for me in the end.
xYuriChan: The MSEMHF is still open accepting donnations for the whole cast instead of just Sora now. We have learned our lesson.
Riku: I should hope so.
xYuriChan: Thanks for the stash!
8 screamin frogs
xYuriChan: Just like that lol
tisshuuame
xYuriChan: A year? Well I mean it's been even longer since I started this fic. Slowly but surely we're making it through!
