After that night stargazing, Ven felt buoyed throughout the next day, even if he wasn't able to get a moment alone with Vanitas. In love. Those words struck at his heart, making him want to weep and shout in joy all at once.

When evening came and he was back in his dorm room with Terra, it took about five minutes before his roommate called him out about it. "You're bouncing off the walls. What's going on?"

"You know, just. Happy, I guess?" He hadn't shared the details of the previous evening with Terra yet, and wasn't sure he would. Not all of them, at least—Vanitas and Xion's trauma were their own, and their conversation up on the roof was something he wanted to keep for himself just yet.

"Just happy," Terra repeated, skeptical. "I know it's your honeymoon phase or whatever, but this seems excessive."

"We just…had a good time stargazing last night," Ven settled on saying. After all, Vanitas had gotten Terra to let him take Ven's telescope, so he knew about that part. "It was fun. Plus I met Vanitas's sister before that, and—"

"Sister?"

Ven closed his mouth, cursing himself mentally. He hadn't told Terra about Xion yet, had he? "Yeah, his sister. Foster sister. She and my brother happen to be in the same orchestra class."

"Huh. Small world."

Holding back a sigh of relief that Terra didn't seem any more interested in that topic, Ven continued, "Also, Vanitas agreed to go on a date with me."

Terra stared at him for a moment before raising his eyebrow. "And you're this excited about it because it's a surprise that your boyfriend wants to go on a date?"

Scoffing, Ven mock-punched Terra's chest. "I'm just excited period. It's my first date." And Vanitas's, too. "I don't want to mess it up."

"Wouldn't last night count as a date? Stargazing on the roof?"

Ven shrugged. "Vanitas said the same thing. But this is—formal, I guess? I want to take him out to dinner. Stargazing is easy, it's just being nerds together. There's no—pressure."

"Pressure?"

"You know, to be anything more than myself."

"Ven," Terra said, his voice a gentle warning. "I'm pretty sure being yourself is still the expected course of action here. It's why he likes you, right?" He paused. "He does like you, right? It's not just about the sex?"

Ven couldn't help but blush, and had to bite his tongue to keep himself from answering. He loves me. The thought still made him dizzy. "Well, you're right, I guess. What I mean is, I feel like I should prepare more. Do something grander, go above and beyond. Pull all the stops."

"Do I need to look up other synonyms, or are you done?"

"I need—" Ven tried to come up with ideas, but his brain was still lost in a flood of love love he's in love. Dejected, he dropped on his bed, sighing at the ceiling. "I need help."

He heard Terra snort beside him. "All you need to do is ask."


Vanitas had kept his promise from over the weekend: their new relationship status was not going to change the way he treated Ven when teaching Biology. Which was a pain, because Ven's mind had been on many things this week, and doing the prep work for a lab was not been among them.

"Ventus," Vanitas said in a low voice halfway through Friday morning, "is everything okay? I know you can do better than that?"

Ven was pretty sure no one had heard Vanitas, but he blushed anyway. "Been distracted lately."

Vanitas's gaze remained impassive, even though Ven guessed he was dying to tease him. "Take a minute. Breathe, focus, and start over. You still have enough time to get it right."

Pushing down the urge to ask for his help, Ven nodded. "Okay," he simply said. "Okay."

"Seriously, though, is everything okay?"

"Vanitas," Ven whined, trying to contain his embarrassment. "What do you think? I haven't had a single brain cell to spare for classes." He caught himself, hoping Vanitas would drop it. However, seeing the sidelong glance Vanitas was casting on him, an eyebrow raised expectantly, he knew that wouldn't be enough. "Because I spent most of my time thinking about you, okay?"

"Aw," Vanitas said, his voice dripping with bittersweet, sarcastic pity. "You have a crush on me. That's embarrassing." Ven glared at him, making him laugh. "Come on. You're supposed to point out we're dating."

"Shut up." He paused. "Besides, aren't we supposed to—like, report it to HR, or something?"

"Ventus. You're stalling. Get back to work. You've got this."

He walked away, leaving Ven to deal with his random anxiety spike and his lab. With a heaving sigh, he got to work. He did, in fact, got this—at least he was fairly certain of it by the time he left the lab to have lunch. Vanitas caught up with him as he was leaving, settling into a matching pace by his side.

It was the first time they were able to spend lunch together. Ven had suggested doing it on their own, maybe even going off-campus, but Vanitas had insisted that Ven should have lunch with Aqua as he always did on Fridays. "She's your friend," he had said, "and she's on her own. You can't abandon her. I'd be a shitty boyfriend if I let you." Even pointing out that, while supportive of Ven's relationship, Aqua had still admitted to disliking Vanitas not too long ago hadn't been enough to dissuade Vanitas.

Unsurprisingly, Ven could feel the awkward tension in the air the moment they met up with her. "Ven!" Aqua greeted him warmly. Then, as she turned to his boyfriend, "Vanitas. Long time."

"Yeah," Vanitas said, nodding. "How's Fair doing?"

Aqua narrowed her eyes briefly, but managed a tired smile. "He's trying to ask me out again, so—better?"

Ven frowned at the two of them, confused, as he took a seat next to Vanitas. "Um—"

"Fair," Vanitas repeated. "Zack Fair."

"Oh." Zack, as in Terra's former roommate—the one who had dropped out because of the drug Vanitas created. Was this really the best way to open the conversation?

Yet beside him, Vanitas looked back to Aqua, then lowered his eyes. "I'm—glad to hear he's doing better."

Aqua let out a soft gasp, then nodded. "Thanks. It means a lot."

"I bet it does."

The sound of Terra's voice behind him startled Ven, and he turned around just in time to watch Terra walked past him and around the table, sitting on the free chair next to Aqua—and across from Vanitas. He was supposed to be at football practice—that was the very reason Ven and Aqua met up without him on Fridays.

"Hey, you," Aqua said, looking as circumspect as Ven. "I didn't think—"

"Sorry I didn't call," Terra replied, kissing her briefly. "We had to reschedule practice last minute." Ven frowned, and Aqua did too, meaning she was also skeptical. Had Terra cancelled just to be here? "But hey, it all works out, right? I wouldn't have wanted to miss meeting you, Vanitas."

"We've already met," Vanitas pointed out flatly.

"But not as Ven's boyfriend," Terra retorted. He winked and grinned, though it didn't put Ven at ease. "But don't mind me. You were saying? Something about Zack, right?"

His stare bore holes right into Vanitas, to the point that Ven felt compelled to intervene. "Stop it, Terra." Placing a hand over Vanitas's under the table, he added, "You don't have to answer that."

"No, I don't," Vanitas said, still holding Terra's gaze. "But we might as well clear the air." He tilted his head up as if in defiance. "I don't know how much Ven has told you, but I can't afford to feel guilty over what happened to Zack Fair. That doesn't mean I'm not aware of the way he's been hurt—or of my responsibility in that. And—I may have—" He shook his head. "I did speak too harshly about him before. I knew better than to say he was weak for using to avoid his problem, and I said it anyway. It was petty, and defensive, and I did it to hurt your feelings. I shouldn't have done it. So for that, I'm sorry."

It took those last words for Terra's unflinching gaze to melt away, replaced by a troubled twitch and a frown. "You—you're sorry?"

"For what I said about your friend."

"Not helping," Ven hissed, but Terra cut him off.

"Never thought I'd see the day." He scoffed. "Maybe you really are something else."

Vanitas scoffed in turn. "Well, Ven's already ruining my reputation. I might as well take the opportunity to make amends." The two of them held each other's gaze for a moment longer, but there was a hint of a shared smiling blooming between them. Something like mutual understanding, perhaps.


After being overwhelmed by his lab in the morning, and mildly terrified by Terra's sudden appearance over lunch, Spanish work group felt like a relief for Ven—if only because it was Vanitas's turn to squirm a little.

Today, they had to pitch their video essay to Professor Quistis Trepe, and since they were going with Ven's idea, they had agreed that he would be making the pitch. Of course, their entire relationship had changed since then, but Ven had still done the work.

"I thought you were distracted," Vanitas snarked as Ven took out the few documents he had printed.

"Well, I—this isn't that much." A couple Wikipedia articles, a few articles he'd taken from his social media feed over this week, and an older one he'd asked Sora to send him, since he knew that a copy was at home, back in Daybreak. "And I was—enthusiastic about this."

"But not for my class? I'll try not to take it personally."

Ven giggled, and kissed his cheek lightly. "Don't be a drama queen."

"If it gets you to kiss me, I might have to do it more," Vanitas retorted, grinning.

Quistis entered the classroom, quieting their conversation. She went through the motions of starting class quickly, and soon, each group was pitching their essay to the whole class. Most of the topics seemed fairly generic: three film or book analyses, a couple topics of philosophy, and the rest were topics that Ven was pretty sure were taken straight from a list of generic prompts for college entrance essays.

When it was Ven's turn, he stood up, feeling nervous and self-conscious. He was definitely the odd one out, but what if he was the one doing this wrong? Maybe he was getting in over his head, or—

He froze when Vanitas's hand closed around his. He glanced at him, and was met with Vanitas's encouraging smile. "You got this," he mouthed quietly.

Clearing his throat, Ven started his pitch in Spanish. "I—we're going to make our essay about Destiny Islands," he started. In his nervousness, he lost track of the script he'd prepared in his mind. Cursing himself for not printing it out, he was left with no choice but to improvise. "As most of you know, the Islands are a US territory, but it's not a state. It has a rich, storied culture, both from the indigenous population and the Spanish exiles who immigrated into Destiny Islander culture before American acquisition of the islands. In our essay, we'll highlight the ways in which Destiny Islands essentially became an American colony, and the ways in which that legacy of injustice is perpetuated even in the modern day."

Ven felt short on breath by the time he concluded his pitch, and waited for a reaction. He tried to review his own words, wondering if he'd misspoken, which would explain the blank stares he was mostly getting.

Finally, Quistis replied. "Well. That's certainly a well-thought-out idea."

Her switching to English took Ven aback. "It's—something I've thought about before. Not for a school project or anything, just, on my own."

"I see. How come, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Not at all, I'm—" He paused, and glanced at Vanitas. "We're both of Destiny Islander descent. Vanitas is even trying to learn Spanish to reconnect with the culture. So it just seemed like a natural fit for this class."

Quistis adjusted her glasses, thoughtful, and finally nodded. "All right." There was an edge to her voice Ven couldn't identify. "Well, it sure sounds like an interesting, challenging topic. If you're sure you can handle it, by all means."

Deflating with relief, Ven sat back down in his chair, looking at Vanitas again. "Sorry I blurted that out about you, I—"

"It's okay," Vanitas said, smiling. "You did great. Better than I could have."

Ven chuckled. "Ever heard the phrase, 'damning with faint praise'?"

"Ouch," Vanitas said, dramatically wincing. "Remind me again not to be nice to you."

"I could, but you wouldn't stop being nice to me," Ven said, grinning. "You love me, right?"

Vanitas snorted. "Low blow, corazón. Low blow." But he smiled, and Ven couldn't help but blush at his sudden use of a pet name.

"You even pronounced that right," Ven whispered, making Vanitas blush in return.