"What am I doing?"
With every step Ven took away from the bar, he felt more doubt creeping in. He was walking alone at night, going off on little more than a blind hint and his own raw intuition, and hoping to find Vanitas. What if he was wrong, and Vanitas hadn't gone after Yozora? What if Vanitas didn't even know he was—seemingly—the one responsible? What if he'd gone after his foster brother instead, or something else entirely?
He was so busy ruminating his own thoughts, he almost missed the noise when it reached him. It was a metallic clang—like something being shoved against a metallic object. Something, or someone.
The sound came from a side alley, and Ven rushed into it blindly, all senses of self-preservation on hold. He recognized Yozora from afar from his distinctive hair, just before Yozora was thrown back against a Dumpster again. He collapsed to the ground in a heap, dazed or knocked out cold, Ven couldn't tell.
His attacker was a sinister figure, all shrouded in darkness, a hood covering his head and a mask pulled over most of his face. But Ven recognized him in the shape of his body, in the way that he moved—though he'd never seen him exuding this much raw fury. And when Ven stepped in, catching him by the shoulder before he could hit Yozora again, the boy turned to him, his eyes glinting gold even in the alley's low light.
"Stop!" Ven shouted, and Vanitas froze, then recoiled, as if burned by Ven's touch. "Please stop," Ven repeated, and his system was flooded with so much, raw relief, that he felt his forces quickly draining out of him.
"Ventus?" Vanitas tugged the mask down, uncovering his face. "You don't understand. He's the one who—"
"I know. But whatever it is you were planning to do to him, you have got to stop."
"He deserves—"
"I don't care what he deserves!" Ven cried out. "It's you I'm worried about! You don't have to do this! You deserve better than to go down for this!" He stepped forward, slowly, waiting to see Vanitas's reaction. When he didn't move away, Ven stepped forward again, until he was close enough to take Vanitas's wrists in his hands. "Come on," he said. "We need to talk."
"What do we do about him, then?"
Ven glanced back at Yozora—he really was knocked unconscious, blood smeared across his face. "Terra's at the bar. I'll tell him to pick him up." He took out his phone and started texting. "See what we can get out of him. He's not gonna get away with what he did."
When he put his phone away, all aggression had melted away from Vanitas's gaze, leaving behind only the threat of tears. The gaze he cast on Ven was hopeless, desperate, and completely, utterly defeated. When Ven tugged at his arms, he followed without resistance.
They came out of the alley, and Ven saw Terra in the distance, coming his way. He acknowledged him with a nod, then led Vanitas the other way—back towards campus. Ven didn't dare let go of Vanitas at any point, not even to readjust his grip, so he kept holding on to his wrist instead. He wasn't sure what he was afraid of, exactly; now that his momentum had been cut off, Vanitas moved like he'd given up. Ven had hoped Vanitas would say something, anything, to help Ven figure out where he should start, but that didn't appear to be happening.
After just a few minutes, they were on the edge of campus, and Ven paused at the entrance to finally face Vanitas. His heart ached at the sight of the haunted, lost look in Vanitas's eyes; gently, he reached out and pushed his hood back, taking the time to smooth out Vanitas's hair for him. Vanitas didn't meet his eyes, but he didn't struggle away from his touch, either. That looked about as encouraging as things would get right now.
"I told you that he lied," Ven finally said. "I have proof. And I told you to stay safe."
"I was never in any danger," Vanitas mumbled, a hint of defiance returning to his features—if only for a brief moment.
"Our entire relationship happened because I was able to see past your reputation, Vanitas," Ven reminded him. "You can't fool me. This was you being self-destructive."
"What about it? Why do you even bother?"
"Did you hear what I just said?" Ven asked. "Your foster brother lied. That DNA test has to be a fabrication." He paused. "There was some truth to it. I did have a twin—but he died in the hospital. And you are just another baby, born that same day, that Xehanort Ansem took in for the express purpose of weaving this lie someday." He took out his phone, flipped back to his email app. "Claire found you. Your birth certificate. Your birth family." He paused, somber. "I'm sorry, Vanitas. They're dead. But they existed—and they weren't my parents."
Vanitas glanced at the screen, blinking rapidly as if trying to chase away tears. "How do you know this isn't the fabrication? A paper trail he made at the time?"
"Then let's prove it once and for all," Ven said, remembering Roxas's suggestion. "You know how to run a DNA test, right?"
His hopes came crashing down at the look that lingered in Vanitas's eyes. "And what if that's also a lie?" he asked weakly. "You don't know him." He raised a hand to his eyes. "He altered my body for one thing—who knows what else he could have done? What if—" His voice wavered, but after a second, he continued, a tear rolling down his cheek. "It's like you said. The Ship of Theseus. I've had to change so much just to survive him, how can I even know who I am anymore?"
"Vanitas." Ven put his hands on Vanitas's shoulder, hoping he could help him calm down. "Listen to me. He lied. It's that simple."
"You don't—"
"I do." Ven shook his head in frustration. This was clearly not the problem, and he couldn't let himself overfocus on it. "Maybe you're right. Maybe you're like the Ship of Theseus. Like my telescope. But you know what? That telescope works great. And it's my father's telescope. Not because of some intrinsic value it's carried through all the changes I made to it. Not because of something it does now. It is, because I choose to believe it is."
"Ventus, what're you—"
"You wanna know who you are? You're kind and loyal to those you love. You're strong, strong enough to survive the abuse you've been through, strong enough to take care of your sister, and strong enough to want to help me and my brothers too. You wanna know who you are? Look at the people who love you. That's your family. Not the people who had power over you and abused it."
"Easy for you to say that," Vanitas said. "Your family are actually good people. Except for me."
Ven shook his head. "Vanitas, I love you."
"Stop it!" More tears finally broke out of Vanitas's eyes, this time in an uninterrupted stream. The sight of them, the sound of Vanitas's voice breaking, was almost enough to kill Ven on the spot.
But he persisted. He took Vanitas in his arms, and said, "You're stuck believing what they made you believe. That nothing good could happen to you. All I need is for you to believe me when I tell you that they're wrong. Please believe me."
Vanitas went slack in his arms, and Ven held him as he cried.
When Vanitas stopped crying, he didn't look comforted to Ven, but at least he didn't seem quite so hollow anymore. He looked at Ven, his eyes still thoroughly uncertain, but his voice was firm when he said, "Okay. Let's run that test. I need to see it for myself."
It took realizing Vanitas wasn't heading back to the residence for Ven to realize he meant to run the test right now. "At three in the morning?" he couldn't help but say, but Vanitas only shrugged.
The Biology building came into view, and Vanitas's badge opened the gates for them. Ven didn't question why he was able to access the facilities at night—it definitely didn't strike him as normal, but he didn't think Vanitas was open to questions right about now.
Even in the dark, Vanitas moved into the building with familiar ease, leading them into a lab Ven had never seen before, standing in front of a series of machines Ven was thoroughly unfamiliar with.
"How long is this gonna—"
"With this equipment? Just a couple minutes." He turned on one of the computers in the lab. He picked up cotton swabs from a nearby drawer, stuck one in his own mouth, then turned to Ventus. "Open up."
It was all Ven could do to obey, and watch as Vanitas inserted the two samples into one of the machines. For a moment, Vanitas's focus was on the machine as it whirred to life. But finally, he turned back to look at Ven.
"Thank you," he simply said. "For—not giving up on me."
Ven nodded. "We might have to talk about you going to beat up a guy in an act of vigilante justice, though."
"You decided to date the bad boy." The smirk that came to Vanitas's lips was weak, but hearing his sarcasm returning was still enough to make Ven tear up as a nervous chuckle tore from his throat. Still, Vanitas hung his head with a heavy sigh. "It was stupid. I was—I needed to do one good thing for you. I—don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't shown up."
"I'm glad we don't have to find out."
"Me too," Vanitas admitted with a self-deprecating scoff. He leaned back, half-sitting on the desk where the computer rested, and for a moment, he went silent, deep in thought. Then, he finally said. "In a way, I'm kind of glad to know they're dead." Ven blinked in confusion, and he added, "My biological parents. If I had a family, and they left me with him—It would have felt a lot worse, I think."
Ven sidled up next to him, and gently took his hand. "You do have a family," he said. "You have your sister. And me. You said so yourself."
Vanitas looked at him, and slowly nodded. "The people who love you, huh?"
Ven nodded, hoping his body language conveyed how much he had meant that. "That's what matters." The machine beside him made more noise, and a wry smile came to his lips. "Can I ask you for something?"
"You can ask for anything," Ven said. "I thought it was clear."
"Kiss me." He hesitated, then nodded at the machine. "Just in case?"
Ven considered refusing. This was clearly just more of Vanitas's self-doubt resurfacing, and he didn't think it needed any encouraging.
But at the same time, he really wanted to kiss Vanitas. So he did it anyway. He came forward, took Vanitas's lips with his own, pulled him into his arms, ran a hand through his hair. He pried Vanitas's mouth open with his tongue and kissed him until Vanitas felt like he was melting in Ven's arms, then kissed him some more, until Vanitas was leaning against him completely for balance. Until Vanitas's hands found Ven's back and touched him, as desperate for contact as Ven felt.
When the machine going silent, Ven knew it was finished. Vanitas broke the kiss, but he didn't immediately leave Ven's arms. His eyes remained fixed on Ven's face, as if trying to capture the moment. Ven could guess that he was preparing himself, in case he needed to say goodbye.
Ven had no such compunction. "Dork," he muttered, before gently pushing him off of him so he could turn to the computer.
Of course, he had no idea how to read the results of a DNA test completely unfiltered. So he just stared blankly at the screen until Vanitas stepped up to his side and read the results over his shoulder.
For a moment, Vanitas was silent—a moment too long, by Ven's estimate. Long enough to make his feel a rush of stress through his veins.
Then he grinned. "Well, turns out we're just two random guys with some traits in common, and my foster brother and father really are evil."
Ven ignored his quip; he threw himself at Vanitas for another kiss.
It took the sound of a security guard in the hallways for them to stop kissing in the lab and finally go back to the residence.
"I should probably go get my car—" Vanitas tried to say, but Ven nudged him into the elevator so he could better press him against the back of it. Vanitas laughed into his mouth and pulled him closer.
They half-stumbled across the hall on their floor, but Vanitas paused before they reached his room.
"What's wrong?" Ven asked, his mind buzzing with excitement.
"Your brother," Vanitas whispered.
"Oh, right. Aqua's with him." Last he checked, she hadn't wanted to move Sora, so both of them were still in Vanitas's room—as well as Riku. "My room?" he suggested.
"Yeah," Vanitas said. "Okay."
Ven shot a quick text to Terra to warn him, and pulled Vanitas towards his room. The two of them hadn't spent as much time in here, since it was just more convenient to use Vanitas's room, and Ven couldn't help but feel a little jittery bringing him here with this intent.
"I'm sorry I freaked out," Vanitas said, breathless.
In response, Ven simply pushed him back, forcing him to sit on Ven's bed. Vanitas looked up at Ven, lips parted and eyes filling with dark wonder, expectant and open and beautifully vulnerable. "You never have to apologize for this." He straddled Vanitas's lap, his knees firmly planted in the mattress on either sides of Vanitas's hips. "It's okay," he whispered in Vanitas's ear, before drifting lower, trailing kisses along the tattoo on his jawline, then up to capture his lips once again.
"But it's not," Vanitas said the moment Ven came up for air. "I should have stayed with you. We could have figured it out together, instead of letting you do it on your own."
Huffing out a low breath, Ven backed up just enough to look at Vanitas in the eye. "Fine," he conceded. "Maybe you're right. But what matters is that you know it now, and that you don't forget it in the future."
"I won't. I could never."
"Then I forgive you." In his mind, there was nothing to forgive, but he sensed Vanitas needed him to say the words.
With a sigh that sounded halfway to a whisper, Vanitas reached to the back of Ven's head, bringing their foreheads together, and closed his eyes. Ven did too, allowing him the time he needed to process.
When Vanitas's other hand slipped under the hem of Ven's shirt, and his hips bucked against him, Ven knew he was done processing. With a sharp grin, he opened his eyes again, and met Vanitas's heated gaze. "Tell me what you need," Ven whispered.
"You." It wasn't much of an answer, but at the same time, it was everything. Ven thought he could build an entire identity around being the person who got to hear Vanitas say that.
Ven was more than happy to oblige. He had never changed out of the suit he'd worn to their date; he tossed the jacket on the floor, and worked the buttons of his shirt open one by one, keeping his eyes on Vanitas and savoring the awe in his eyes. A small frown crossed Vanitas's brow when Ven stood up, but he remained perfectly still, watching intently as Ven toed off his shoes, shuffled off his slacks, pulled off his socks. Ven was hard just from the way Vanitas was looking at him, and there was no hiding it as he stood in his underwear, nor any reason to hide it, so he pulled them down as well, reveling in the positively hungry glint in Vanitas's eyes.
He stepped forward, and Vanitas reached for him, gently taking his wrist with one hand and tugging him forward. Ven let himself be guided, let Vanitas put his other hand on his hip. He cried out in surprise when Vanitas tipped him over, flipping him until he lay on his back on the mattress. Then he laughed as he pulled Vanitas down into a kiss, even as Vanitas's hand closed around his cock.
There was something strangely exhilarating about the sight and the feeling of Vanitas fully clothed on top of his naked body. A strange mixture of power and surrender all at once, making every languid stroke of Vanitas's hand feel that much more potent.
He was almost afraid to touch Vanitas, afraid he would have to undress him and change this delectable dynamic. Yet at the same time, he needed more, needed to touch him, needed to make him feel good too. So he fumbled with Vanitas's belt buckle, blindly, until it came undone and Ven was able to push his pants down, just enough to grant Ven access.
Vanitas hissed into his mouth when Ven first closed his hand around his cock, yet he also ground into his hand immediately, letting Ven feel the moisture of precome across his palm and the skin of his forearm.
"Eager?" Ven teased against Vanitas's ear.
"Need you," Vanitas repeated, his voice halfway between a mutter and a whine. This time, the words sounded a lot less world-redefining and a lot more immediate. "Protection?"
It took a moment for Ven's heated brain to remember that at all. "Right here." He might have stocked up just in case this ever happened, the box of condoms stashed under his bed. He fumbled to get it without moving out from under Vanitas, took one out of the box, and handed it to Vanitas.
To his surprise, Vanitas unrolled it over Ven's cock, not his own. He then shuffled out of his pants, positioned himself over Ven's midsection, and lined himself up. He was stil half-clothed, his hoodie rumpled and bunched up over his shirt, but the jockstrap he wore as underwear offered easy access, and he seemed too eager to wait any longer.
He descended on Ven in a smooth motion, and Ven gasped at the sudden feeling of Vanitas around him, going with surprising ease despite the lack of lubrication. Vanitas let out a noise that was more a sigh than a moan, though the way his eyes rolled in his skull was eloquent enough.
Vanitas was still for a moment, sitting on Ven, having taken all of him into himself. His own cock hung in front of him, over Ven's stomach, tantalizing in its perfect hardness. Ven yearned to touch it, but he felt the need to hold on a little longer; instead, he reached for Ven's thighs and rested his hands there, grasping at the soft, hot flesh, feeling the hard muscle underneath. He stroked Vanitas's skin, up his legs, cupping his ass, then back down, fascinated and lost in staring at him.
Then, finally, Vanitas moved, slow at first but soon building up speed. Ven couldn't hold back then; he reached for Vanitas's cock, matching his strokes to Vanitas's movements. Vanitas closed his eyes, and Ven lost himself in the hypnotic rhythm of his movements, the gorgeous sight of every muscle in Vanitas's chest contracting to keep his breathtaking pace, the sheen of sweat on his cheat and forehead from the exertion. Vanitas whispered his name, moaned it, screamed it, chanted it like a mantra, and it was sending Ven's mind into the stars.
Vanitas came first, spilling on Ven's hand, his arm, his chest, a stray shot of come even hitting the edge of Ven's lips. As his body tensed up with his orgasm, he squeezed Ven over the edge too, wiping Ven's mind clean as he emptied himself.
Chuckling as he came down, Vanitas rose until Ven's cock came out of him, then dropped on the mattress by Ven's side, squeezing himself in the tiny space between Ven's body and the wall. He teasingly licked at the corner of Ven's mouth, and Ven reflexively licked the rest of Vanitas's come away, their tongues brushing against one another and leading them into a deep, long kiss.
Vanitas had one arm slung cross Ven's chest when they pulled away from each other, and that arm felt like the weight of the world to Ven. He tossed the used condom in the trash, then blindly reached for some tissues in a half-hearted attempt to wipe his chest clean. Vanitas didn't even bother moving, his face pressed into the crook of Ven's neck; before Ven was even done, his breathing had evened out, and his features had softened into a peaceful sleeping mask.
Ven pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, then closed his eyes, letting sleep claim him too.
