A/N: Bet you weren't expecting an update to this fic of all the things I'm working on, huh? You can thank GuiltyKingOumaShu for giving me motivation to work on this one again. Also as a note, this chapter doesn't have KH3 spoilers, but there's a good chance that later chapters will reference events in KH3, though for a number of reasons it won't follow that plot super closely. The main focus of this whole fic is still what Vanitas and Aqua are doing with their lives, but like with the previous chapters of this fic, other KH characters will still be around from time to time too.

For those of you who are interested, here's my predicted fic updating schedule:

-Alternate back and forth between chapters of Stroke of Midnight and Dancing Around the Truth (Danny Phantom fic), with a possible sequel chapter to Necromancy thrown in

-Go back to Contingency Plan (which only has two chapters still, rip) and alternate chapters of that and this fic, based on what I'm feeling at the time

-Possibly revive More than Bread, which I'm sure none of you care about I'm having thoughts about again

-No spoilers, but seeing Demyx in KH3 made me want to add something onto Will Prank for Food… yeah...

Anyway, other note, this chapter is… awkward. Yeah. Long story short: Vanitas finally gets the sex talk for real. There's nothing graphic though, and the majority of the talk is summarized rather than flat-out explained. This story will contain no actual sexual content but it is discussed. So, anyway, there's your warning.

Special thanks to RevengeRevisited for betaing this chapter!

Castle Oblivion wasn't at the top of Vanitas's list of favorite worlds. In fact, it was almost at the bottom, right below Disney Town and just an inch above the Keyblade Graveyard. At least Disney Town had ice cream to balance out the world's painful brightness.

But Castle Oblivion had free washing machines. So here they were.

"I get why we didn't come here sooner," Vanitas said, lying flat on a bench in the industrial-sized laundry room. This place did an overkill job of catering to Aqua's needs; together their clothes barely filled two of the room's twenty-something washing machines, and that was only because Aqua insisted on separating the lights and darks. He lounged in his dark suit (which couldn't be washed anyway) while Aqua wore a set of white button-up pajamas. Apparently everything this Castle generated was white. Aqua could've changed the color, but there wasn't much point when she'd just ditch the clothes again after the laundry was done.

"Why's that?" Aqua asked, sitting down next to his head and running her fingers through his hair. He smiled.

"Too much white. Think I'd go crazy if I had to live here."

"Me too." She chuckled. "Being stuck here for a while wasn't too fun. I thought you might say it was because you could feel Ven here. Can you feel him at all?"

Her voice held a hint of longing — she still missed him, of course. Vanitas knew better than to feel jealous of that by now, much as that was easier said than done. If Aqua didn't care about her friends, she wouldn't be Aqua.

He shook his head. "Ventus isn't here. I mean, his body might be, but his heart isn't. I would know."

"You're right… we still need to find Sora, don't we?" She sighed. Vanitas swung his legs off the bench and sat up.

"That's where Ventus really is." He nodded. "Figured we'd run into him too by now, honestly."

"Me too. I hope nothing's happened to him." Aqua's brows drew together. "No one else has been able to track him down either, as far as I know. Not since Kairi went to warn him about the Organization."

"He was fine then, right?"

"I think so. And Riku said it's normal for him to forget to check in."

"Then I bet he's fine," Vanitas reassured her, combing his fingers through her hair. She rested her head on his shoulder; now that his body had begun growing again, he was closer to her height, making the position a little more comfortable than it used to be. "If he's anything like me, nothing's gonna take him out that easy."

"You're probably right. It's just… it's hard being so close to Ven, and not being able to do anything to help him," she said. "I hope he'll forgive me. It's taken so long…"

"Of course he'll forgive you. You guys are friends, right? Besides, I bet Ventus couldn't hold a grudge if his life depended on it." Against anyone but me, anyway. He didn't look forward to facing his other half again… but Aqua needed him. And whether Ventus would remember or not, he'd helped Vanitas. He owed it to him to help him wake up.

"You'd be surprised. One of the last times I saw him…" Aqua winced. "I made some mistakes then, too. Even before the darkness took hold of me."

"Then you'll fix them." He said matter-of-factly, but she didn't seem to be listening.

"And if we haven't found Terra by then… when he finds out what I did to Terra…"

"Hey." Vanitas wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. "That wasn't your fault, alright? Terra's going to be fine. We got Saix back from the Organization, so we can get Terra back, too."

As much as he'd never liked the brunette keybearer, Vanitas would do everything he could to make sure he came back in one un-Norted piece. No one deserved what had happened to him. What Vanitas himself had been a part of doing to him… but it was too late to blame himself now. What he'd done while working with Xehanort was in the past; all he could do was try to fix it.

"You're right… it's just being back here in this place… it makes me think about them," she mumbled into his shoulder. "It reminds me of everything that happened. Everything I was too weak to stop."

"Not being able to stop Xehanort doesn't make you weak," he said firmly. "No one's been able to stop him for good yet."

That didn't seem to cheer her up, but she didn't say anything, just adjusted her head in the crook of his neck. Unsure what else to do, he rubbed her back soothingly the way she'd done to calm him before. He thought it might have helped, until he felt the warm water droplets seeping through the fibers of his suit.

"Hey," he said softly, twisting on the bench so that one leg hung off each side of it. Now facing Aqua, he lifted her chin. Her cheeks sparkled with the tears that flowed down them.

"I'm fine, Van," she said, voice tired. "I will be, anyway. Once all this is over."

Call him impatient, but Vanitas didn't want to wait until all this was over to see her happy again. Not that she was crying all the time, but ever since the fight with Xehanort last week, she'd slipped into more bouts of melancholy. Vanitas hated not knowing how to cheer her up. Void, she deserved to be happy; she was working so hard to control her darkness and save everyone around her. No one should have to handle that kind of pressure.

"Forget about 'all this' for a moment," he said, waving a hand. "You can't fix everything by yourself anyway, so let Lea and Riku and the others worry about Xehanort. What do you want to do now? What would make you happy?"

She blinked at him, tears still dripping from her eyelashes.

"I'm not sure I can just forget about everything, but… a break would be nice," she admitted, looking away. "I'd like to save Ven, but since we need Sora for that, I guess the next thing would be… having a place to stay. A real place, not just moving between inns and camping. Not that I mind sleeping under the stars, but having a real home again, with showers and a washing machine and everything — I think it might help."

Vanitas's brow furrowed. "But didn't you say we couldn't live together? Something about rumors and… stuff?" He didn't want to admit that he'd been pretty confused about all that. The last thing he wanted to do right now was make her explain that awkward conversation again.

A hot blush stained her face.

"People are probably going to spread rumors regardless. I mean, look at what happened a few days ago, when everyone thought you were one of Xehanort's vessels. There's no point in worrying about what other people think anymore."

Somehow the look on her face said that any new rumors would be just as bad as that one. But how could living together make any rumors like that? If anything it would just show that Aqua really trusted him, right?

"Unless you don't want to," Aqua said quickly, her face even redder than before. "I don't mean, I'm not trying to ask you to sleep with me, that's not — light, I am so bad at this." She closed her eyes.

"What? Aqua, no, don't worry." He squeezed her hand. "I think… there's just some things I don't understand. I'm glad you've tried to explain stuff to me and all, and no offense, but I think someone else is gonna have to help me. I don't want to do anything stupid and make you feel bad."

"I — you know someone else you could ask about this?" Aqua laughed a little in surprise. He shrugged.

"I helped de-Nort Saix. He owes me a favor." From what Aqua had told him before, it was usually a parent who gave this 'talk' to their kids. But for Aqua it had been Master Eraqus, and Vanitas didn't have a parent figure at all. Still, it felt like it probably should be someone older who explained it to him, especially since Aqua had such a difficult time talking about it. It was the only subject that had gotten more awkward as they grew closer, and he couldn't even say he knew why.

"You think Saix will—? Well, I guess you know him better than I do. He's back in Radiant Garden now, isn't he?"

Vanitas nodded before standing from the bench. "Might as well go try to talk to him now, while I'm thinking about it. I don't think any Organization members will find you in here while I'm gone." He smiled at her, and she returned it.

"Probably not. But, Van—" An awkward look passed over her face before she sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at talking about this. I knew it was something we'd have to discuss eventually, but… thanks for not making me do it this time."

"And I'm sorry I look like an idiot because no one ever taught me this stupid stuff." He shrugged. "This isn't normal, I get that much. But we'll be okay, right?"

"Right." She smiled, looking relieved. "Take care, Van."

He bent down to place a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Only if you do, too."

XXX

Vanitas bounced on the balls of his feet, letting out a breath as he stared at the unadorned apartment door. He felt naked standing there in his dark suit. He'd forgotten to change before leaving Castle Oblivion, but his new clothes were still in the laundry; what was he supposed to wear? Aqua probably could've made the Castle whip something up for him, but he'd already landed in Radiant Garden by the time the thought occurred to him. The familiar tightness of his suit only added to his quickly growing anxiety about the whole situation.

This is stupid. If Aqua can't even explain all this relationship stuff, why would Saix be able to? He was a Nort, he might not even know about it; what am I supposed to say, anyway? "Tell me why it's a big deal if people are naked?" What if I just sound stupid and then Saix won't even be my friend at all and—

He punched the doorbell before he could talk himself out of it. He couldn't keep making Aqua uncomfortable with his ignorance. Still, he let out another hissing breath and glanced down the hall, as if someone would come walking down the stained carpet to save him from his coming embarrassment. No one did, of course. And then a voice called from inside.

"Door's open!"

Vanitas froze. That didn't sound like Saix, it sounded like… he muttered a curse. Lea. Why did it have to be Lea? Vanitas hadn't talked to the man since he'd accidentally released the Unversed on him last week. He hadn't realized the two of them lived together; why was it okay for them and not for himself and Aqua?

Bad idea bad idea bad idea—

Right when he was about to say screw it and take off down the hall, the door opened.

"Sheesh, these walls are like paper, I thought you'd hear— Van?" Lea's eyes widened.

"Vanitas to you," he corrected automatically.

"Vanitas, sorry. Didn't get that memorized." He chuckled awkwardly, then scanned Vanitas up and down. "So, uh… what's with the getup?"

"Laundry incident," he not-quite-lied before taking in Lea's appearance — his explosion of red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and he wore an orange tank top and short plaid shorts. Had the fairies finally gotten him some new clothes, or was his fashion sense just that bad? Vanitas bit his tongue before he could insult the man out loud; he didn't have time to argue right now.

"Is Saix home?"

"Oh. Yeah, he's here. Didn't know he was expecting… anyone." You, his voice seemed to say. But he held the door open for Vanitas to enter.

Stupid stupid stupid idea — Saix, you better be able to help me…

The apartment was small, but to Vanitas, it might as well have been a castle. Worn-in couches with clothes strewn over them, a wobbly kitchen table, peeling floral wallpaper that even he could tell must be centuries out of date. The only thing that looked like it belonged in this decade was a red laptop plugged into the wall outlet and sitting on the floor.

"Nice place," Vanitas commented. Lea shrugged.

"Hey, the electricity works nine days out of ten, and I can power the water heater myself. Isa and I don't exactly have munny for much else."

"Huh? No, I— nevermind." Vanitas sighed; apparently he'd come off as sarcastic, but he'd meant it. This place looked like a home.

"What about you?" Lea asked, spinning a wooden chair around and sitting in it backwards. "You and Aqua find a place to hole up yet?"

Vanitas drummed his fingers on the table. "Actually, that's what I'm here for."

Lea raised an eyebrow. "If you're wanting to room with us, you're gonna be disappointed. We've only got two beds, and contrary to popular belief, Isa and I aren't sharing."

"You really like to jump to conclusions, don't you?" Vanitas huffed, stealing a chair himself. "And who's Isa? I thought Saix lived here."

"He doesn't really go by that name anymore," Lea said, looking away. "Saix was his name when he was in the Organization. Isa's his real one."

"Oh. Okay." Vanitas shrugged. "I just came to ask him a question. That's all. No need to freak out at me again."

"About that…" Lea ruffled his hair, still avoiding Vanitas's eyes. Hopefully it wasn't because the gold made him uncomfortable. "I don't say this a lot, but... sorry. I don't know what happened at Scrooge's place, but Isa told me what you did for him. You can't be half bad if you could pull off that. So… thanks."

For once, Lea met Vanitas's eyes and smiled. He blinked, unsure how to respond. People didn't thank him. He didn't do things that people could thank him for. This had been his plan though, right? To prove he wasn't one of Xehanort's vessels?

His face heated slightly as he shrugged.

"You believe I'm not a Nort, then?"

"I didn't mean to call you a Nort," Lea said quickly. "I'm not the best at words. I just meant — well, fine, I wasn't sure you weren't a Nort. But I didn't mean to call you out like that."

Well you still did, Vanitas wanted to snap. But it wasn't like Lea could fix that now, and the apology was honestly more than Vanitas had expected.

"And I didn't mean to set those Unversed on you," he begrudgingly admitted.

"Unversed? Is that what those monsters were?"

"Yeah. They're… let's just say they show up when I'm not feeling great. Usually I can control it, but sometimes I can't." His tone was clipped; that was more than he wanted to say. It would help keep people from accusing him if they knew his Unversed were usually an accident, though.

"Huh. Sounds kinda like Isa's whole berserk thing," Lea said; Vanitas couldn't tell if he was supposed to hear it or not. "Anyway. You mind if we start this whole thing over? Since you did help save one of my best friends, and I really don't want Aqua coming after me for insulting her boyfriend…"

Lea grinned expectantly. Could it really be that easy, though? Were some people that willing to forgive?

"Guess I'd rather not have Aqua mad at me for snapping at one of her friends, either." Vanitas reluctantly smiled back. He hoped it looked like a smile, anyway. It must have worked, because Lea stood and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, man. I'll see about getting Isa for you. Thought he'd come out by now…"

Lea disappeared down the short hallway leading to three rooms. The one he knocked on was on the right, directly opposite an open door that led to a disaster zone. Who had enough stuff to make a mess like that?

"Isa? You remember Vanitas? He's got a question for you."

The door opened, revealing the man Vanitas was looking for — though he almost didn't recognize him in the gray t-shirt and sweatpants he was currently wearing. He also held a half-finished bowl of ramen that he set down on the kitchen counter before taking a creaking seat at the table across from Vanitas.

"You came back," Isa said as Lea grabbed a soda can from the fridge.

"What, you're surprised?" Vanitas squirmed in his seat. Should he not have come here? Was there some other social rule he'd missed?

"I suppose I simply… didn't see why you'd bother."

Lea took a gulp of soda while not-so-discreetly elbowing him. "Enough with the emo stuff, man. You deserve friends just as much as the rest of us."

"Are we… friends, then?" Vanitas asked. He really didn't know how it worked. Ventus made friends with everyone within five minutes of meeting them, but that was Ventus. And Saix had turned down his offer of friendship before, right?

But Isa smiled, his green eyes seeming much more alive than the last time Vanitas had seen him.

"An enemy of Xehanort is a friend of mine."

Vanitas grinned; he'd take that. But then he remembered why he was here, and the grin turned to a grimace.

"I'm as ready to get rid of the old man as the rest of you, but that's not why I'm here." He fidgeted with the hem of his skirt. "I… uh…" How was he supposed to ask this? Aqua made it seem like there were so many rules around talking about these things. But then again, he'd never cared much for rules, had he? If Lea had forgiven him for accidentally siccing the Red Hot Chilis on him, then surely they could handle a stupid conversation. Might as well just get it over with.

"I need you to teach me about sex."

Lea spit out his soda, rather dramatically spraying Isa in the face. The blue-haired man blinked, sighed, and grabbed the edge of Lea's shirt to wipe off the liquid.

"Hey!"

"Suck it up, Lea," Isa said. Under the soda spray, his face was slightly red, the way Aqua's always got when talking about this. "Are you going to answer Vanitas's question or not?"

"Uh, he came here to ask you, dude. I've given enough Life Lessons in my day."

"Which is why you're obviously more qualified. Particularly on this subject."

"Look, I know you don't ever want to sleep with anyone, but you're still better at the whole talking thing. Besides, it's not like I have any, uh, practical experience, either."

"But you do have experience explaining difficult concepts to children," Isa pointed out.

"I'm not a kid," Vanitas butted in. "It's not my fault nobody ever taught me about this stuff."

Lea set down his soda, still avoiding Vanitas's eyes. "Are you trying to tell me you and Aqua aren't already, you know–"

Isa didn't even pretend to be subtle as he smacked Lea in the chest.

"Not everyone's relationships must involve physical intimacy, Lea. Surely you know that."

"Yeah, well… they've been roaming the worlds on their own, it's not too much of a stretch that they'd be…"

Isa fixed a glare on his friend, who quieted. Vanitas was left even more confused than before.

"Look, I just want answers," he said in exasperation. "Aqua apparently can't teach me about this, and Xehanort sure as hell never did. I just want to know what this is all about so Aqua will stop being weird about it. That's all."

Isa and Lea shared a look. Vanitas could practically see the battle in their eyes over who was going to answer his question. He thought Isa was winning, but then surprisingly he sighed and backed down.

"I suppose it would have done us well to have been taught by someone other than Xigbar…" he said under his breath.

"Xigbar? Braig-Xigbar?" Vanitas asked. Aqua had told him that the old man was a Nort; why had he been the one to talk about this to Isa and Lea?

"Yeah. Please don't remind me." Lea gagged. "Anyway, have fun with that. I'm going to Merlin's."

With that, he threw on his black trenchcoat and a pair of pants that had been draped over the couch, barely remembering to shove his boots over his feet before he was out the door. His soda was left forgotten on the table. Saix sighed and took a long drink from it.

"Alright, Vanitas. I will be giving a purely biological and anatomical explanation, as I have no experience with the matter myself. I will also be assuming that you are looking for a heterosexual standpoint considering your relationship with Aqua, though you are welcome to correct me on that if necessary."

Vanitas rubbed his forehead, wishing he had a soda too. He was already pretty much lost, and as much as he just wanted to try and absorb Isa's lecture without looking stupid, he'd have to ask a few questions if he wanted to come away with anything useful.

"What does 'heterosexual' mean?"

Isa paused, looked down at his soda, and held in a sigh. "This… may be more difficult than I realized."

"I'm sorry I'm an idiot, okay?" Vanitas snapped. It was a good thing his ego could take a few hits, but this was still getting exhausting. "It's not like anyone tells me these things."

"No, trust me, I understand. More than you might know. But as for your question – heterosexual. It means you are sexually attracted to someone of the opposite gender. So, girls for you."

Okay, that he could mostly understand. Aqua had explained the differences between girls and boys, at least on a surface level. His face reddened as the circumstances that led up to that conversation came to mind. But what was sexual attraction? 'Attraction' was like, wanting to be close to something or someone, right?

"Okay. So. I want to be with Aqua. I love her. What does that have to do with sex?"

"For most people, those two concepts — romantic love and sexual attraction — are highly connected. However, this isn't the case for everyone."

"I am so lost." Vanitas dropped his head into his hands with a growl. Couldn't Isa give him a straight answer for once?

"Let me put it this way: sexual attraction is not the same thing as love," Isa explained. "However, I'm told many people choose to pursue a relationship based upon it."

"Why?" He asked sincerely.

Isa chuckled and shook his head. "That's the question, isn't it? I'm really not the one you should be asking about this."

"You're the only one I can ask," he grumbled. "What, do you not know what it is either?"

"I do in theory." Isa clasped his hands around the soda can. Vanitas wanted to steal it and chug the thing; maybe the sugar would give him the energy to deal with this useless conversation.

"Fantastic," he muttered. "Can you at least tell me in theory?"

"This isn't exactly pleasant for me either, you know," Isa grumbled in return. "I should have let Lea handle this, though I doubt his explanation would have been much better… Anyway, sexual attraction is usually defined as being physically attracted to someone. It tends to manifest as both emotional and physical sensations. The simplest comparison I can make is to hunger, but instead of desire for food it's desire for sexual contact with a certain individual."

"That's… completely useless," Vanitas deadpanned. "I make monsters out of my emotions; Everything can be physical and emotional. And I definitely don't want to eat Aqua, gross." Kissing certainly wasn't the same thing as that, right?

"That's not — you're missing the point, Vanitas," Isa sighed heavily, downing another swig of the soda. "Simpler terms, Isa. You can do this."

Vanitas tapped his foot against the side of his chair while Isa composed himself.

"For the sake of this conversation, sexual attraction is wanting to have sex with someone. Which also for the sake of this conversation, we'll only cover the most basic definition, as well as the necessary safety measures should you choose to have intercourse. I will not be roped into anything beyond that."

"Fine, whatever, just tell me already."

Isa did, over the course of the next several minutes, in much more detail than Vanitas was expecting. He listened, still a little confused at why anyone would want to do those things, but at least he finally knew what sex actually was.

"So… there is a time when people are supposed to not wear clothes? Besides bathing?"

Isa raised an eyebrow. "That's your question?"

"Well, Aqua told me people are supposed to wear clothes." He crossed his arms. "That probably means she's not one of those people who wants to have sex, right? So why was she so awkward about it?"

"Vanitas–" Isa took a short breath, as if trying to figure out how to word it. "I would not jump to that conclusion. She may not want to risk becoming pregnant, or she may come from a culture where people don't have sex until after marriage, or you two may not have been dating long enough, or any number of other reasons. Most people desire sex at some point in their lives."

Vanitas's brow furrowed. "But you don't. And I don't see the big deal, so I probably don't."

Isa paused, looking at Vanitas carefully. His green eyes seemed to see straight into him, as if he could scan him for signs of sexual attraction.

"How old are you?" He finally asked.

"Twenty-eight."

Isa raised an eyebrow, and Vanitas sighed.

"I am. Technically. I was sixteen when I got killed and ended up in the Realm of Darkness though," he admitted.

"Hmmm. You appear about twenty, but even sixteen years would still be rather long to go without experiencing any kind of sexual feelings, even if Xehanort kept you in isolation."

"I look twenty?" Vanitas grinned; it was nice to finally be aging again. Maybe eventually he'd catch up to Aqua's height. "And wait, what do you mean? You're saying something's wrong with me?"

"No, certainly not wrong," Isa said definitively. "Merely different. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not being sexually attracted to anyone, though I'm not sure you should make that discernment so quickly. Have you really never wanted to be with Aqua in that way?"

"I – I don't know, I guess. I didn't even know that it was a possibility…" A conflicted Scrapper peeled itself from him before he could stop it; he winced when Isa jumped slightly.

"Told you. Physical emotions." He grabbed the shivering Unversed by the arm and absorbed it back into himself, ignoring the cold chill that came with it. He wished he could take back the distress on his face so easily.

"That's… certainly something." Isa quickly composed himself. "If this is too uncomfortable of a subject for you, we don't have to continue."

"No," he said quickly, inwardly thankful that Isa hadn't freaked out too much about the Unversed. The last thing he wanted was for his only non-Aqua friend to think he was attacking him. "I need… I need to figure this out."

Isa dipped his head. "Very well."

Vanitas rubbed the hem of his skirt between his fingers as he tried to compose his thoughts. "I love Aqua. No one can take that away from me."

He might have said that a little too defensively, because Isa replied, "Sex and love aren't the same thing, Vanitas. You can have one without the other. It's alright."

He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Then… I guess I just don't get what the big deal is. I just want to be with Aqua. Forever. I don't care if we wear clothes or sleep together or not, as long as she doesn't leave me."

He bit his lip, slightly surprised that those words even came out. He'd never said anything like that to anyone but Aqua. Would Isa laugh at him? Mock him for the emotions he wasn't supposed to have?

"So you really do care for her." Isa smiled sadly. "I almost envy that."

"You should. Aqua's the best," he said simply, grinning in relief. Maybe Isa wasn't so bad after all, even if he used a lot of confusing words.

"Heh. Well. I would recommend talking with her about this. Whether it's easy or not, it's important to communicate clearly about your boundaries and desires when it comes to physical affection. Many relationships end from lack of communication about these things."

Relationships? End? He blinked, only now considering the possibility. There were plenty of reasons he'd been worried about Aqua leaving him in the past – his darkness, his rough words, his tendency to push everyone else away – but he hadn't realized this sex stuff could be that important. Was it even important to Aqua? He had no idea.

"Yeah… I'll talk to her. Thanks." He stood, nearly knocking his chair over in the process.

"Thank you too, Vanitas," Isa said quietly. "I know I'm not the most helpful with this, but it was thoughtful that you asked. It's… nice to be needed."

"...No problem," he replied awkwardly, still not used to being thanked himself. It wasn't such a bad feeling, though.

"Oh, and Vanitas – if you do realize that you don't experience sexual attraction, there is a word for that you may want to know," Isa added. "People like this… like myself, are called asexual. Or 'ace,' if one prefers the shorter form."

"Ace, huh?" Vanitas said under his breath. "That doesn't sound so bad."

He just hoped that Aqua thought the same way.

XXX

"That didn't take too long." Aqua put down the shirt she was folding when Vanitas shuffled into the laundry room. "Van? Was Saix able to, um, help you?"

"His name's Isa now," he said, walking over and crouching by the dryer. He began pulling out pieces of clothing and folding them one by one, placing them in the pile Aqua had already started. The warmth felt good in is hands; it pushed the worried Scrappers deeper down.

"Oh. Well, was Isa helpful then?"

"Yeah. Isa's good," he said quietly. "I'm still kind of confused, but… that might be my fault now."

"...What makes you say that?" Aqua asked, sitting down on the bench next to the pile of clothes. She looked like she was feeling better than before he'd left. Now was as good a time as ever.

"I just don't get what the big deal is about sex," he finally let out in exasperation. "Look, I'm sorry if there's some rule that I'm not supposed to talk about it, but Isa said if I don't then we might…" he swallowed, "Then we might not be together anymore."

He forced himself to look up at Aqua. She was blinking, her mouth parted slightly.

"Van, don't even think that, okay?" She slid off the bench to crouch beside him. Her hands clasped around his, which still held the pair of socks he'd been folding. "You said it yourself. Our relationship might not be the most normal, but we'll be okay. Better than okay."

That assurance breathed more courage back into him.

"Right." He nodded firmly. "So… we can talk about this? And it won't make you mad?"

Her face reddened. "Van, I was never mad — well, except that one time, but we weren't even friends then. Things are different now."

"I guess that was a long time ago." He chuckled awkwardly. "I might still not know a lot, but I was really stupid back then."

Aqua laughed too. "Maybe just a little."

"Hey, just because I said it doesn't mean you get to," he said, but grinned to show he was teasing. If they could laugh about this, they could laugh about anything. The tension drained out of him. "I think I'm always going to feel a little bit stupid, Aqua. No matter what light I've gained, I think I'm still missing something."

He settled back on his heels, his hands slipping out of Aqua's to hug his knees. She tossed his socks aside.

"Just because you don't understand about… about sex?" She asked. He could tell she was doing her best not to be awkward about it, but her face was still slightly red. "That has nothing to do with your light, Van. Nothing. And I haven't… done that either, if that's what you're worried about. I probably don't know that much more than you, honestly."

"Really?" Vanitas asked, already feeling more relieved. She nodded.

"Master Eraqus taught us that it's something special, so you're supposed to save that for someone that you really love. After you're married."

So Isa had been right about the whole 'married' thing, not that Vanitas knew what that meant — but that was a question for another day, probably. Right now something else that Aqua said nagged at him.

"So… if you love someone… do you have to have sex?" He asked, looking into her eyes. He needed to know her answer. "Do you want me to have sex with you?"

If Aqua's face had been red before, right now it might as well have been on fire. He cursed mentally; what did he say wrong? Didn't Isa say he needed to ask that?

"Van — oh light, Van." And then, inexplicably, she burst out laughing.

"What!" He threw his arms in the air. "I'm just asking a question! I don't care if we ever sleep together naked or not, so you gotta tell me or I won't know!"

Her laughter turned nearly to cackling. She fell from her crouch into a sitting position, covering her face with her hand.

"Aqua!" He pleaded. "I'm being serious!"

"Sorry, sorry," she said, trying to swallow her laughter. "I just — I love you so much, Van." She finally got control of herself, turning more serious. "I didn't know you felt that way, but I promise that if you don't want to have sex, I will never, ever expect you to. Or expect you to do anything else you're not comfortable with, either. I know I wasn't the best at talking about these things, but I'll try to do better."

Her grin turned to a sincere smile, one that flooded him with light. He could have made a giant Protector out of that smile.

"Thanks, Aqua. I don't know if I would like sex or not," he said honestly. "And I'd never do that to you either. If you don't want it. Like I said, I don't care."

"That's… kind of a relief, actually." Aqua laughed. "I wasn't sure… I didn't know if you'd thought about it, or wanted it. I should have told you sooner that I want to wait until I'm married. I'm sure Xehanort never taught you about that."

"You've got that right," Vanitas grumbled. "You can teach me about being married a different day, though. This is about as much weirdness as I can handle right now."

"Marriage is a less weird subject," she reassured him. "But that's fine. It can definitely wait."

"So… we're all good?" Vanitas asked. All things considered, that had been a lot less difficult than he'd expected. He should have known everything would be alright — this was Aqua he was dealing with. She already knew how ignorant he was; she wouldn't abandon him over that. And she wouldn't abandon him over something as stupid and weird as sex, either.

"Yes, Van." She scooted close and smoothed his hair aside to place a kiss on his temple. "We're perfectly fine."

"Good." He kissed her back on the cheek. "Guess we should finish that laundry, huh?"

She laughed. "I guess so. Oh, and since we talked that through… maybe we could look for a place to live later? I mean, people will probably assume we're sleeping together anyway. I don't care what they think anymore."

"Good thing you don't, because Lea already thought that."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me…" Aqua sighed and shook her head.

"Yeah, Lea's good at jumping to the wrong conclusions. Why's it such a big deal though? If people think we are, anyway? Is that bad?"

"Depends on who you ask." She frowned. "It's none of their business either way."

Vanitas shrugged. That was probably just another on the list of things he wasn't going to understand.

But as he helped Aqua finish the laundry, he realized that didn't matter too much. There were plenty of things he wouldn't understand — like why she laughed when he folded her bra — but he understood the things that mattered. He knew Aqua loved him, and that he loved her, and that they could talk about anything together. That was good enough for him.

A/N: Lots of notes on this one! Vanitas is a sex-neutral asexual, which basically means he's indifferent to actually having sex but doesn't feel attraction in that way. Isa is sex-repulsed when it comes to himself, but doesn't have a problem talking about it. I'm sorry if any of this seemed like it came out of nowhere, but it's actually been my headcanon for a while. I realized that this fic's Vanitas was asexual around the same time I realized I was ace myself. This subconsciously impacted a lot of the way I wrote his interactions with Aqua, and I realized I needed to write this chapter in order for his later characterization to make sense. He isn't aromantic though; his love for Aqua is romantic (though he would probably still have a hard time differentiating between romantic and platonic love). Thanks to Raberba girl, Saix/Isa has always been ace in my mind, I literally couldn't write him any other way. Also, Vanitas may never actually care about identifying as ace himself; if it doesn't come up again it's not because he changed, it's just because he doesn't care as long as he still gets to be with Aqua.

Disclaimer: This chapter isn't meant to be political in any way; I'm just trying to write the characters the way I see them.

I'm sure there's a crap ton of gaps in Isa's sex talk, but I'm writing way out of my comfort zone on this one, it was the best I could do. ^^;;

Lea was definitely just in his boxers, but Vanitas just confused them for shorts; that's why he could just throw on his pants over them.

I think that was everything, I hope you enjoyed this awkward chapter lol