Last night, my brother Sora snuck out to a college party organized by the fraternity Chi Gamma Nu. It was a dumb decision made by a dumb teenager, but that's not what I'm writing this to talk about.

While there, Sora got hurt, and thankfully, I was called for help. A toxicology test turned up a drug named midazolam in his system, a common date rape drug. One that was slipped into his drink by a member of Chi Gamma Nu.

This is tragically common. Sometimes they use tranquilizer drugs like midazolam, sometimes more common substances like alcohol, but the intent is always the same. I've already reached out to members and representatives of Chi Gamma Nu, and none of them are willing to so much as help find the person who drugged my sixteen-year-old brother. They will always protect one another over the victims.

My brother is lucky; he had a friend who could call for help, a brother to get him out and take care of him, a family who can get his side of the story heard. Many others don't have that luxury. I'm not asking for anything of anyone reading this right now; you can't give us justice, and you can't help. But I am asking for you to take a moment and think about who the next target will be, and who will come to defend their attacker. And once you've thought about it, I'm asking you for your support. Which, in this case, means giving my brother the space he needs.

Thanks for your understanding.

The text was far longer than Ventus had anticipated when he'd first had the idea, but it was a fitting caption to the picture he posted to his previously barren social media profiles. That picture wasn't a tragic one; it was one he had taken with the twins the day before. A family still together in the face of near tragedy. Sora and Roxas had approved the text and the choice of picture, and if his grandfather had a problem with it—well, he didn't care about that. But his lack of response almost felt like approval.

He posted it as soon as he was back at DSU that evening, and it didn't take long for the post to make as many waves as the pictures from the night before, or his grandfather's own official statement. The next day, Ven was back to his full schedule of classes and schoolwork, and by the time afternoon rolled around with his Economics class, it was no surprise that Peter cornered him once again.

"Not cool, man," he said. Three other guys—likely from the fraternity as well—surrounded him, and among them was Yozora, holding himself at the back of the group. "You didn't have to drag us in like you did."

"You didn't have to let a sixteen-year-old to your party," Ven retorted, then turned his eyes to Yozora. "Or to let him do what he did. Didn't stop you."

"Dude, nobody cares about the underage drinking," another boy said. "I bet your brother didn't even face any consequences, did he?"

"We sure didn't," Peter added, "even though there's evidence that a lot of people there were under twenty-one." It felt like bragging.

"Am I supposed to care?" Ven said, fuming. "You let him in because you're so fucking desperate to connect with my family, like you tried to do with me. Well, congrats: now my family knows who you are. Now deal with the consequences."

"You implied we're all a bunch of rapists, man," Peter protested.

Ven crossed his arms and stared him down, defiant. "Was anything I said in that post wrong?"

"Of course it was!"

"Was it? So you're not protecting the person responsible?" Ven tilted his head. "You don't know how midazolam ended up at the party at all? You're not covering for anyone?" He leaned forward, and Peter recoiled as Ven said, barely above a whisper, "If I were to, say, dig deeper, I wouldn't find anyone else willing to allege anything against a Chi Gamma Nu member?"

"Hey!" the fourth boy protested. "Chill out, dude!"

Instead, Ven turned to him, narrowing his eyes. "Any skeletons in your closet, dude? If I were you, and I didn't, and I wasn't okay with drugging kids, I would try to make sure my name is clear." He tilted his head, and finally moved his gaze to Yozora. "You know, from what I gathered, the whole thing was orchestrated by someone outside the fraternity, so really, I'm surprised you're not using the obvious scapegoat to save your own necks."

"Man, you really gotta knock it off," Peter said. "You don't know what could happen. Chi Gamma Nu is an institution."

"I'm a Destiny Islander. The last time my people faced an American institution was slavery. Look which one of us is still around." He shoved past Peter, and headed out of the auditorium.

The truth was, Ven had no idea if he would manage to bring down Chi Gamma Nu. He hoped he could get some semblance of justice, but his main intent had been to get the heat off of Sora. And at that, if nothing else, the statement had been successful.

His altercation with the frat boys left him somewhat shaken, but had renewed his anger, too. Terra commented on it as soon as he was in the dorm room, and Ven couldn't help but rant at him for half an hour before he found a semblance of self-control.

When he finally ran out of ways to voice his impotent rage, he grabbed his telescope and a blanket, and headed out of the room to knock on Vanitas's door. Vanitas took a minute to answer, cranking the door open with an annoyed look that softened as soon as he saw who was outside.

"Feel like coming to the roof with me?" Ven asked, holding up his telescope.

Vanitas raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you have work to catch up on?" he asked. "Because I have it on good authority you didn't do much of that over the weekend."

"Screw that," Ven said. "Come on. Just for a short while?"

Vanitas didn't put up much of a resistance when faced with Ven's pleading look, and a few minutes later, they were back on the roof of the residence, Ven curled up against Vanitas.

"Everything okay?" Vanitas asked after Ven's umpteenth sigh. "I can't help but notice you're not even using your telescope.

"Eh. I've been better." He shifted his position, lying down on the blanket and resting his head on Vanitas's lap. Immediately, Vanitas threaded his fingers through Ven's hair, stroking gently. With a deep breath, Ven attempting to relax, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. At the back of his mind, his recent talks with Sora came back—on how they were all messed up in different ways. And if Sora needed to talk to someone, maybe Ven did too. "I ran into frat boys today."

Instantly, Vanitas tensed up against him. "Did they hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine." He reached to put his hand over Vanitas's, hoping to calm him down. "They made some veiled threats, but I don't think they'll attempt anything. It's just posturing—trying to intimidate us and make the problem going away for themselves."

"You should still be careful around them. You never know."

"Don't worry about me. I just needed to tell someone."

"If anything does happen, will you tell me too?"

"Yeah. I promise." He breathed again, feeling lighter this time. "It goes both ways, you know. You don't need to shoulder all of my problems without sharing any of your own."

Vanitas didn't reply immediately, he staring off in the distance instead. Still, there was an air to him that made Ven wait for something more. "I can wait," Ven said. "I've got the perfect view from here. The stars are framing your hair; it's really beautiful."

Vanitas laughed softly, and looked down at him.. "You sap."

"I'm allowed to be a sap. I love you."

"Oh, corazón."

"And I love that pet name. Even if I think you started using it as a joke, I unironically love it. In fact, I don't know if I'll accept anything else from now on."

"Careful what you wish for. You just might get it." Vanitas chuckled. "I know you like it. Why do you think I keep using it?" His smile lingered on his lips as he looked up, and Ven sensed a shift within him. "It's about my foster family. I'm still processing what they tried to do."

"It was—a lot," Ven said.

"It was more than a lot. It was reckless. I think they saw it as a last resort."

"Did they really think it would work?"

"I could have. That's the scary part." He kept stroking Ven's hair, but Ven started to wonder for whose comfort the gesture was intended. "I could have believed it. I could have believed that I was better off with them, because I couldn't be left on my own without making a mess of things. And I think that was the point—either that, or destroying me completely."

Ven took his free hand between both of his. "Vanitas—"

"When I moved out to come live in the dorm fulltime, I thought I was out. But now I realize, as long as they have a connection to me, it'll be an open door they can exploit."

"So what're you gonna do about it?" Ven thought he knew what Vanitas was alluding to, but he didn't want to be the one to bring it up.

"I—have an idea. But I'm not sure I can afford to go that far. That's the scary part."

"If you need any help—"

"I know. You're here." He breathed deeply. "I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around it sometimes. But I'm starting to believe it."

Vanitas had been right about the amount of schoolwork Ven had been putting off, tragically; he spent the rest of the week in a hurried blur, trying to his best to stay afloat—and, if he were honest with himself, mostly failing. The weekend was in sight, and he would probably be spending most of it working too. No make-up date for him just yet.

But Friday afternoon, after Spanish work group, Ven had to leave DSU. Brain had requested to meet again, and Ven had no intention of wasting any more time than necessary.

"You sure you don't want me to come along?" Vanitas asked, not for the first time that day. He'd offered to be there to provide Ven's input in real time, and Ven had been forced to refuse him. While Ven was grateful for his unflinching support, and Vanitas certainly seemed to be committed to them, Ven couldn't take him for granted—not for something as important as his brothers' custody. And now he had another reason to keep Vanitas away from this place.

Ven didn't want to explain that reasoning out loud, though. He didn't think their relationship was so weak as to randomly collapse, and he certainly didn't want to sow any doubts in Vanitas's heart—not so close after the last weekend's events. "I'm sure," he simply said. "Besides, it's probably just a debriefing. No need to waste your time with it."

"It wouldn't be a waste of time if I was with you," Vanitas said, but he kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. "See you later," he whispered.

The drive downtown took Ven past the X-Blade Industries building, and when Ven parked at the bottom of the towering skyscraper where Brain's office was located, he couldn't help but notice it was just across the street from Organization XIII's laboratory. He hadn't even paid attention to it during his last visit, but since his last interaction with the younger Xehanort Ansem, seeing the father's company right there felt like an ill omen.

At the very least, he was even more glad he'd decided to come alone.

In a sense, the meeting was exactly the kind of letdown he'd told Vanitas it might be. Even though Brain had made progress—and he was more than happy to hear that Ven's brothers had voiced their assent, and would likely be able to testify as much if needed—there was, ultimately, no actual change just yet.

And yet, at the same time, it felt momentous. Not only was Ven actually going through with this, but the next step was to notify Eraqus. Once Ven left Brain's office, he knew that there was now an invisible countdown hanging over his head, until the moment his grandfather found out about his intentions.

It was a disorienting mix of emotions, one that lingered with him all the way back to the residence. And it was just as disorienting, when he stepped into his dorm room, to find his roommate and his boyfriend, side by side on Terra's bed, playing a game together on his Playstation.

"I know you guys don't hate each other anymore," Ven said, "but—this is new."

Vanitas shrugged. "I just wanted to be here when you came back. Terra's the one who suggested we play together while we waited." In spite of his nonchalant words, Ven noticed that he wasn't looking away from the game—neither was Terra.

"Turns out," Terra said, "cleaning up after his mess made me understand him better."

"Do I dare ask," Ven said flatly.

"You know, like, what you see in him."

"Are you going to try to steal my boyfriend? I'm going to need a heads-up if you guys are gonna hook up."

Vanitas laughed at that, earning himself an offended glare from Terra. "Hey! Don't act like it's that absurd!"

Vanitas paid him no mind; he put down his controller and held his hand out towards Ventus. "Come here, corazón. You know you're the only one for me."

In spite of his dramatic show of annoyance, Ven couldn't resist coming to him. Vanitas brought him down to kiss him, and Ven soon found himself sitting on the floor between Vanitas's legs, resting his head on Vanitas's lap. He told them about the meeting with Brain, and how it felt to know this was real and happening—even if he still didn't know if he would be successful.

They voiced their support, and the conversation drifted from there. They kept playing, and Ven was content to watch them and talk to them, to just hang out and be together for a while. He'd had so very little time to do this so far.

The buzz of Vanitas's phone rang into his ear. Absently, Vanitas fished it from his pocket, and held it out to Ven. "Can you check it for me? We can't pause right now."

The gesture held more implicit trust than a dozen declarations—at least as far as Ven was concerned—and he took the phone with silent reverence. "It's Xion," he said. "She's just asking you how my meeting went." He paused. "You told her about it?"

"Should I—not have?"

"It's not that, it's just—" He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. He probably would have shared something this big in Vanitas's life with his brothers, too, so he wasn't sure why it surprised him that Vanitas would do the same with his sister—or that she would care enough to follow up. "I don't know. Just surprised is all."

"You can answer her, if you want. Give her a firsthand account."

Ven hesitated for just a second, then shot Xion a reply—making sure to sign it so she'd know it was from him. They exchanged a few more messages after that before she was caught up to speed.

"I should probably tell the twins too," he said, exiting Vanitas's messages app by reflex. But before he could hand Vanitas his phone back, he paused when he saw his wallpaper. Vanitas's lock screen had been a picture of him and Xion at a concert for as long as Ven had known him, but he hadn't seen his home screen yet.

Whatever it used to be, the picture it was now was one Ven knew all too well, since he'd taken it. It was the two of them right before their date at Maagho, looking dapper in their suits—and out of place dressed to the nines in a college residence. The picture Vanitas had picked was one where they were both looking at one other, mutually distracted by each other in-between other photos. There was a glimmer in Vanitas's eye in the picture that Ven hadn't noticed at the time—and his own smile was bright and warm.

"Well, damn," he heard Vanitas say. "Now I'll never be able to get away with calling you a sap again. I've been exposed."

Ven chuckled, and looked up at him. "It's a nice picture," he said, cautious. "Not sure it's our best memory, though."

"Isn't it? We look hot as hell. The restaurant was amazing." He paused. "And I got to see the lengths you were willing to go for me."

It wasn't how Ven expected him to frame that night, but it made sense to him nonetheless. "As did I," he said. Or at least the lengths Vanitas was willing to go for his brother—which was just as good, if not better.

"Now who's going to hook up," Terra taunted them from the other side of his bed. Ven blindly picked up a pillow and threw it at his face.