Authors Note: NOW WELL I HOPE YOU ALL ARE ENJOYING THIS STORY. I FINALLY UPDATED IT AGAIN.
Thank you to everyone who is leaving reviews and adding this story as favorite, you guys are awesome! :D
And I'm just letting you know now that this chapter will end in a little angst. o.o
BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY :D
I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, that spell check couldn't find~
After about an hour of light skimming through books and looking through shelves of multiple books, Ventus and Riku sat at a table drinking some water and having fun doing some quiet chit-chatting and playing paper football. The occasional compliment a flirt thrown here and there.
Riku was just about to take his shot with the piece of paper through Ventus' fingers when the front door opened and Ventus heard a very familiar voice groan saying "Oh maaaan" with annoyance clear. Ventus looked at the sound of that voice to see his older brother Demyx walking in in a slouch.
Riku shot it a little too hard when he realized that Ven wasn't focusing on the game. He looked at where he was looking and noticed the tall blond stranger at the door. "Who is he?" He asked.
Ventus sat there for a minute dumbstruck, "That's my older brother, Demyx..." He blinked "What the crap is he doing here? This is the last place he'd ever want to be" He stood up and walked over to Demyx. Riku sat at the table and waited.
"Demyx" Ventus quietly called as he approached his brother "What are you doing here?" He asked quizzically.
"Mom and Dad are punishing me for eating all the food this morning" Demyx sighed "I have to go pick up some books they've been wanting to read" Demyx looked around "It's amazing actually how I even remembered to get here"
"Yeah... you haven't been here since we first moved to this town" Ventus scratched his face recalling the memory.
"I know..." Demyx stood up straight "So wait... didn't you have a date here or something?" Demyx asked "Who's the lucky guy?"
Ventus turned around and gestured towards Riku sitting in his chair making some more paper footballs for their game. "Thats him"
"Well I like the kids hair. He's good looking, does he have a brother my age?" Demyx asked smiling
"Well I don't know about a brother, but he does have a cousin who works here." Ventus pointed over to Zexion sitting at the counter. He was reading a book "He seems like he's your age..."
"A bookworm, huh?" Demyx held his chin in thought "Well... He's cute, I'll give him that" Demyx smirked "I'm gonna go ask him for some book finding help~" Demyx looked at Ventus and winked as if he was asking 'if you catch my drift'.
"Good luck on trying to score with my date's cousin. I'll be over there" Ventus nodded and then walked back to Riku.
"So, why is your brother here?" Riku asked as he came back.
"Parents made him" Ventus stated simply as he shrugged and grabbed a paper football. "I hope you don't mind that he's about to go hit on your cousin" Ventus nodded his head at the two at the desk.
"Well, I hope he doesn't mind that my cousin kind of oblivious to that kind of stuff and even if he does realize it, he isnt easy to get" Riku turned to look at his cousin. The two older men were talking at the desk, Demyx whispered something into Zexion's ear and caused him to blush a bit. "Wow... your brother must really know his stuff, I've never seen Zexion blush before"
"Eh... he's been with a few guys here and there, but now he's just interested in commiting to someone. He never has before, so I wish your cousin luck if he gets stuck with him. He can get a bit much sometimes."
"Zexion is a big boy, he can handle himself" Riku laughed and looked back at Ventus. "Hey Ven, you wanna come with me real quick to the store to pick up some groceries?" He asked nicely.
"You mean like, go and get them, then bring them to your house?" Ven swallowed a little nervous.
"Yeah, I dont want to cut our date short, but I also have to work on my responsibilities while I'm living with Zex. So I figure, I just combine the two..." Riku looked at Ventus "If you're okay with that...?"
"Y-yeah, sure, I don't see why not" Ven agreed and they walked out the door.
Ven and Riku spent the entire time at the grocery store playing around with the shopping cart. Ven stood on the end of the cart while Riku pushed it, much like a five year old would with their parent.
Ven would get pushed near the shelves and grab what they needed and then put it into the cart.
When they finally got all their bags and done the shopping, They started making their way to Riku's home. At first Ven was a little skeptical about going, but he did want to help out.
Riku opened the door with his keys, and they walked inside. The house was actually very clean despite the fact that two men lived there. They brought in all the bags they carried and set them down on the island in the kitchen. They started putting things away and no matter what, they always had a conversation going.
"You know, Ven. I wanted to thank you for doing this with me. It was a lot of work and Im sorry" Riku apologized
"Oh don't worry about! I'm happy to help!" He replied with a smile after putting another can in the pantry.
"I would usually ask Sora to help me with something like this, but not since- Oh, nevermind" Riku stopped his sentence right when he was about to say too much.
"Since what happened?" Ven asked curiously.
"Something between me and Sora happened about a year and a half ago" Riku shrugged.
"What was it?"
"Well..." Riku motioned for Ventus to follow him into the living room and they sat down on the couch next to each other. "You see what had happened was at that time, Sora and I were hanging out, just the two of us, and well, I opened my big mouth"
"Okay, Sora and I are still the best of friends, no matter what. And I'm so grateful for that, but you see what happened was that one day after school, he and I went to our island, it was really calm day. We just sat in the sand and well..." Riku looked away from Ventus for a minute and took a deep breath and sighed "I told him... I loved him"
Ventus looked at Riku and gave him a sympathetic smile. "You loved him, huh?"
"Yeah... we've been best friends since we were little and then one day, I just got a crush on him, out of the blue. It just developed bigger over time. He was such a dork..." Riku chuckled. "At first he didn't take it very well. He wasn't mad, he was just a little awkward for a week.."
"Really?" Ven smiled.
"Yeah, he said he couldn't accept them, but he still accepted me and he still loves me like a best friend. So, we're okay now, and about half a year later, he started dating Kairi. So I'm happy for him" Riku stretched out his arms over his head "So you see, this is kind of why I've been looking for someone new..." Riku's aquamarine eyes shined past his bangs at Ventus.
Ventus' breath got caught in his throat, he swallowed nervously and kept the stare. Everything seemed so quiet and they both started leaning in together. Their lips finally met in a very soft kiss and they held it there for about a minute.
Ventus was very happy, he actually smiled a little bit into the kiss. That was until the image of him and Vanitas kissing crossed his mind. His eyes opened wide and pulled away abruptly. Riku was a bit surprised, but Ven apologized saying he had gotten a text message. He pulled out his cell phone and "read" the supposed message he had gotten. "My mom wants me home, I have to help her with something..."
"Oh, thats alright, I can walk you home" Riku offered as he stood up.
"No! No, thats okay!" Ventus jumped off the couch and offered that Riku stay in his own comfy home. "I'll get there faster if I go by myself" He smiled.
"Alright then, I'll talk to you later?" He asked.
"Most definitely, I'll text you" He breathed in "Well, I had fun, but I'll go now. Bye!"
Ventus calmly but quickly walked out the door and closed it behind him. Damn it, why did I just think about Vanitas? That wasn't cool, Ven... He thought scolding himself. He started walking down the block before he got so frustrated with himself and started running home.
Vanitas was taking a calm walk outside, trying to just breathe and thinking about the entire deal with Ventus he had. How was he supposed to just stop being such an ass to him in school without people asking questions. It was obvious to everyone that he was a bully. It wasn't obvious on how easy this deal was going to be met.
He could just be absent for a while, but that wouldn't necessarily help his grades to keep him out of military school, now would it? Because he knows as soon as he goes to Military school, he'd be away from Ventus again, and he didn't want that.
Just as he was about to turn on a corner, the blonde male himself appeared and bumped into him. A little too hard, causing both of them to fall over. Ventus, landed awkwardly in between Vanitas' legs while sitting on his as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head trying to make sure there wasn't a bump. Vanitas sat up himself a patted his chest to get rid of the dust and dirt that might have collected. He smirked down at Ven when he realized how they landed.
"Well speak of the devil and he shall appear" He said.
"Oh damn it, I really didn't want to see you right now" Ventus sighed.
"That actually hurt my feelings a bit" Vanitas replied mostly sarcastic. Mostly. "What the rush, tiger? What's the problem? Someone trying to kick your ass that isn't me?" He joked.
"No. Nothing like that" Ven lifted his hand and winced. "Oh great, now I got a scrape on my palm..."
"Let me see that" Vanitas grabbed his hand and looked at the slightly bleeding cut on the palm. "It doesn't look that bad..." He took his palm and brought it to his mouth and slightly licked over some of the blood. He kissed his palm and Ven blushed as red as a tomato. His heart beat started racing. He took back his hand and stared at Vanitas in disbelief. "Hahaha, your face" Vanitas smirked at him some more.
"Yeah yeah, I just, I need to..." Ventus shook his head to get thoughts together and got up "I need to go home, like right now" He had a look of strong frustration on his face. It was obvious.
"Whoa... Ven, are you okay?" Vanitas got up and gave him a questioning look.
"Please don't call me, Ven." He said and tried to run past him, but Vanitas grabbed him by the wrist.
"Tell me what's wrong, right now" He demanded.
"No!" Ventus got his wrist back "I'm just confused about something, now leave me alone!" And he ran away.
Vanitas stood there for a moment. "If I run fast enough, I could catch him, and get him to talk to me, but that might just make him even more mad at me. Or, I could just ignore him and walk away, and think about how I'm going to need him to stay away from Military school. Hmmm" He thought out loud as he saw the tuff of blond hair running away still. "But then again, if he's confused about me, I'm gonna need to help clear it up" He shrugged his shoulders "Looks like chasing after my old best friend it is" And with that, he ran after Ven.
Ventus hoped that he could really just go home and lay down in bed as he tried to sort out his feelings. Thinking about this kind of thing is always so stressful, he just needed to clear his head.
He ran to his house as fast as his legs could carry him and finally stopped as he was just three houses away. He leaned his hands on his legs and took a few breaths. He stood up straight and took one step before he got attacked with a hug from behind. He didnt see who it was at first until he saw the black spikes appear from the side of his face.
"Ugh, Vanitas, what do you want?" Ven grunted in annoyance.
"I want to know why you're confused. I may be a dick, but I can at least try to help" Vanitas retorted.
Ventus pushed himself away from Vanitas' grip. "Why do you even want to help me?! You're supposed to hate me! But now you're just changing your personality in the blink of an eye. I don't understand you! Things were so much easier to understand when you were a fucking ass!" Ventus turned around and tried running into his house, The door opened and him just running straight up the stairs into his room.
Vanitas didn't go any further after he set foot on Ven's property. He waited outside the house and just tossed some pebbles up at the window he saw Ventus walk in front of, guessing that it was his room.
Ventus was just angry right now and didn't want to speak to anybody. He opened his window and talked down to Vanitas in the front yard. "What?"
"Come on, Ventus. You helped me, now let me help you." Vanitas replied.
"No, just go away" Ventus was so mad that he grabbed the first thing he saw and threw it down at him. It was a book. "I just don't want to talk to anyone right now"
When Vanitas moved out of the way of the book and looked up at Ven who had a really agitated face, he sighed and gave up. "Alright, fine, you win, I won't bother you"
Ventus nodded and closed the window and sat on his bed. He crossed his arms over his chest and started counting to one hundred. It was a nice trick he was taught when he was younger.
Vanitas on the other hand, looked at the book that was thrown at him. It was open on the ground at some random page. I'll just give this back to him later... He thought and sighed. He looked at the first line that caught his eye and it read:
"I'll give Vanitas a chance. One chance, maybe it was the dream I had earlier about him. The same dream I have had about twelve times already about us being friends as little kids. I think it's giving me the little faith I need in him. Oh well. I'll write more down later."
This must be that dumb diary he always has with him. He still has it, huh? Guess some things never change. Vanitas thought. Well, I'm not gonna read anymore than this line. I cant risk anything else. But maybe this will means he remembers me...
And with that, Vanitas took the book with him and started making his way back home.
"Ninty-eight, Ninty-nine, One hundred" Ventus breathed out as he finally hit one hundred. "Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'm just going to write out some things in my journal, maybe that'll help me figure something out"
Ven reached out for his book on his bed-side table but when he didn't see it, he thought back to what he must've thrown at Vanitas. He realized what it was and started panicking. This day went from good to really bad.
Tomorrow at school, he needed to get his book back. He couldn't run, because when he looked out the window, he saw that Vanitas was nowhere in sight. He didn't know where he lived, so all he could do was wait. If Vanitas read anything in his diary, that would be his final straw. His private thoug
hts, are his private thoughts. They make up who he is. His strength and weakness were in that book, he couldn't risk anything.
He took a hot shower to calm himself down and then went straight to his room, he watched some TV. His parents were worried a bit, but Ventus told them not to and they gave him some dinner. He went to bed after eating and slept the night away.