"We need a cool ship name," Vanitas said, offhand, and Sora did his best not to blush too hard in front of the camera. He covered the sudden urge to flail in his seat by reaching over to correct Vanitas' needle position against the sides of cloth he was currently sewing together. Which was a terrible idea, really, because it meant touching Vanitas and he'd already discovered over a week of coming over that touching Vanitas in any capacity was just not good for his heart.

"Oh?" he chuckled, proud that at least his voice was even. He hated to think it, but he'd gotten good at hiding his emotions in high school, when his two closest friends had started to date after dating him separately. Pretending everything was just fine was really the only way he'd survived getting over his crushes for them both. Not healthy, of course it wasn't, but it did save him quite a deal of drama and embarrassment in the long run.

But with a camera pointed at them and Gere's judging look, he felt a little more under pressure. The cat, at the very least, knew he was lost on Vanitas pretty good, he was absolutely certain of that. And their fans were getting wise (and how embarrassing that had been to see). Vanitas hadn't been joking about his comment section being full of enthusiastic shippers.

"VoidSkies?" Vanitas put out there, obviously taking it all in stride. Ventus had been utterly right about him, in that he'd never assume Sora would be in the least bit interested. As it stood, Vanitas seemed to think it was all hilarious. Which it was, but still. Ouch. "BlueGamer? Nah, VoidSkies, that sounds much more badass."

"Don't encourage them," Sora swatted at him. Vanitas flipped him off and for a moment it looked like they were about to get into a slap fight, but instead refocused on his sewing and victoriously tied off his thread and cut it. Sora couldn't stop a smile even if he'd wanted to. "Looks good."

"Damn right it looks good," Vanitas puffed up proudly and held it up to the camera. "Look at this adorable little shit."

Sora giggled and touched the corner of the tiny cat shirt. He'd drawn up the plans for it, done all the measuring and cutting, but it was always a thrill to see the design come to life. And it was, in fact, rather adorable.

"Only the hemming left," he told him, grinning. "I told you, you could do it."

"Shut the fuck up," Vanitas said in his typical deflect and Sora hoped he wasn't imagining the fondness in Vanitas' voice. He flipped the fabric to the bottom edge and frowned in challenge. "Okay, show me how to hem this shit."

Sora did so, the way he'd walked Vanitas - as well as the viewers - through hand sewing a mini shirt. There were more applications for it than just a shirt for Gere to wear, of course, such as a shirt for a teddy bear, which Sora was sewing in time to demonstrate the stitches, and that was the idea of their collab. Sora had had viewers asking him to make a tutorial and a few others that had asked for a hand sewing demonstration, given they were new to craft and didn't have access to a sewing machine. Tie that all up with spending time with Vanitas, Sora could only call this all a big win, even if his fans were only going to ship them harder and that meant only more mortification later on.

At least Vanitas was taking it well. Sora wasn't sure what he'd do if Vanitas had been disgusted. Dig a hole under his house and live there for the rest of his life, probably. Small mercies.

Vanitas got to work on the hemming, looking adorably determined about it. Sora had to focus on his own hemming to keep from gushing. Though that meant meeting Gere's eye from where the cat was curled in his lap, gaze all knowing.

Could cats smell crushes? Crap. Good thing he couldn't talk.

Sora distracted himself from the tip of Vanitas' tongue poking through his lips by looking up at the camera to explain his own hemming and how much fabric to use, as well as a couple different stitches that would hold the hem strongly. When Vanitas made a frustrated noise, he leaned over to help him straighten out his stitch line, then grinned as Vanitas finished going around.

"And you're done," Sora said, insides a mess of pride and affection.

"Fuck yeah," Vanitas said, giving the shirt a few experimental stretches before folding it right side out, showing off the skull and crossbones of the fabric he'd chosen. "Told you it'd be awesome."

"I never doubted it," Sora laughed, tying off his own hemline. He set down the shirt as Vanitas called Gere over to try it on. "How's the fit?"

"Looks good," Vanitas said after a moment, wiggling it onto his cat. Gere looked unimpressed, but allowed his owner to move him this way and that to check that the little shirt wasn't too tight. Vanitas shot a grin at Sora that was all teeth. "Looks damn good."

"It does," Sora grinned and reached over to pet the grumpy cat. "He looks so handsome!"

Gere sniffed the fabric and sighed, purring at Sora and laying down in Vanitas' lap, obviously not willing to bother with the contraption fitted over him if it meant he could nap some more.

"And there you have it." Sora held up his little shirt he'd made to the camera and went into the closing he'd scripted, though it was interrupted by Vanitas telling their fans to vote on a ship name for them. Cheeks burning, Sora got up to shut off the camera and check the footage. He rewound it until their shopping trip from the day before came up and felt himself smiling as it paused on a frame of Vanitas gaping up at a full rack of yawn with a look of disgust at the sheer amount of rainbow there was.

Thankfully, Vanitas' voice snapped him back to present before he could mush into a puddle of goo. Man, he had it bad. "Got it all?"

Sora shot him a thumbs up. "We're good."

"Thank fuck," Vanitas flopped back on the cushions they'd yet to remove from the studio floor. Gere made a grumpy noise of protest then moved to Vanitas' chest to lay down, purring.

Sora felt himself pudding anyway and sighed, forcing himself to turn away and stuff the camera into his bag. "So what now? More video games?"

"Lunch first," Vanitas started, though it turned into muffled protest as Gere perked up at that word and promptly sat on his face. "I can't fucking get you lunch if you don't fucking move, fucking mob boss cat."

Sora laughed and plucked Gere up, petting the cat's ears. Vanitas shot him a betrayed frown. "Your own fault for spoiling him," he said with a smug look and moved off to the kitchen.

"Like you're any better."

Sora shrugged unashamedly and sat at the kitchen island. Gere hopped from his arms to the countertop and yowled at Vanitas very much like a demanding boss the moment the man shuffled in after them.

"Fucking cat," Vanitas sighed and pulled out a plate of chicken and shoved it gracelessly into the microwave. "Glad I had fucking leftovers."

"Not that it'll be fast enough," Sora giggled and, on cue, Gere jumped down to sit on Vanitas' foot to further demand his food.

"I can't fucking win," Vanitas grumped, but still looked fond and blew on the chicken to cool it a little before putting it on the floor for Gere. "Here, mob boss. Can't say I've never done anything for you."

Sora watched with that warm feeling in his chest he'd had since the first time Vanitas had called him and he'd imagined what it would be like to sit in the kitchen and watch Vanitas cook and interact with his cat. Now that he was here, the feeling had only gotten warmer, brighter, more encompassing. He was in so much trouble and he just didn't care. Couldn't care.

"What do you want?" Vanitas asked, once more sticking his head in the fridge. "Got some taco stuff. Want tacos?"

"Mmm," Sora licked his lips happily. "Yes please."

Vanitas snorted, seeing that, and moved about to get everything ready, which left Sora the perfect excuse to just sit there and watch him. He just hoped he didn't go too doe eyed.

But it was hard. Sitting here, watching Vanitas, hearing him, even smelling his aftershave… it felt like a gift. Like something Sora was lucky to witness. Something for just the two of them. And maybe it wasn't anything special, just Vanitas in his home, comfortable and relaxed, bad mouthing everything he touched, but it felt special.

After all, Vanitas was allowing him to be here, orbit his space. See him this way. Vanitas, who always put up such a powerful front. He was allowing Sora to see him cozy and unguarded. Given his suspicious nature, Sora wondered if Vanitas was waiting for him to take advantage of just that, attack him with his guard down. It's what Ventus had probably done.

Well, it was a good thing he was very much not Ventus.

"VoidSkies, hm?" he dared himself to broach that topic, hating how his cheeks already felt warm. "Think it's a good idea to fan the flames? You're the one always saying our fans are crazy."

"Might as well go with it," Vanitas shrugged. "I've seen some YouTubers being shipped together that opposed it, or refused to acknowledge it. Just a fuckload of drama."

That was sadly true. Sora hadn't seen anything of the like firsthand, thankfully, but he'd heard the horror stories. "That, and it's funny."

"It's fucking hilarious," Vanitas barked a laugh. "People really have nothing better to do than ship us, like what the fuck?"

Sora did his best not to be hurt by that. After all, Vanitas didn't know how Sora felt, probably couldn't even imagine Sora feeling that way about him. That hurt almost more than anything else. But it didn't stop a twinge of bad feelings from rising up, an echo of past heartaches where similar words had been spoken. "Maybe they see something we don't?" he went with, trying to laugh.

"I mean, we're obviously handsome," Vanitas mused. "But seriously, Sora, if any two YouTubers appear in a collab and get along, at least one fucking person starts shipping them. Sometimes without them even doing a collab."

That was true as well. Sora chuckled thinking back on a few of the comments he'd read when their first collab had gone up. Embarrassing to read, but also a bit funny too. Sora could at least see where Vanitas was coming from. It was humorous seeing their fans freak out over them. And it'd only get worse when Sora finished editing their second collab.

Still. "I don't know, it doesn't seem that hard to imagine," Sora said, terrified of each word, but refusing to call them back. "You and me."

Vanitas paused and looked at him and Sora's heart lurched into his throat at how unreadable his expression was. "You're joking, right?" was what he said, eyebrow raising. "You could do so much better."

Sora frowned as Vanitas turned away and went back to cooking, musing not so much on the words, but how Vanitas had spoken them. Like pure fact, like the sky was blue and water was wet. Like he truly believed it and that Sora believed it and the world believed it too.

"You should give yourself more credit than that," Sora said softly, heart hurting for him.

"Please." Again with that offhand attitude. More fact. "No one needs me, and I don't need anyone. So much less drama that way. Now," he added, almost combatively, as though daring Sora to stop him from changing the subject, "if you want vegetables on this, fucking get out. We are a green free zone."

Sora laughed and accepted the taco as was, and let Vanitas go off onto another topic. As he mused around each bite, watching Vanitas get animated with his voice and hands, he wondered at what else Vanitas assumed about himself and about Sora, and saw the challenge Vanitas was posing. Ventus had said he'd have to fight for this and it was painfully clear he would have to. And it most definitely wouldn't be easy. The idea shouldn't have exhilarated him as much as it did.

But then again, his mother had always said he was stubborn. So if Vanitas thought Sora would give up that easily, he was in for a surprise.

He just hoped Vanitas would see, if nothing else, that he was worth the fight.