Mae tossed and turned all night, and Vaan was unable to stay asleep for more a few minutes. Both were having nightmares, Mae's of mysterious musicians, and Vaan's of faceless figures and pools of blood.
The next day both of them silently agreed to never, ever speak of these happenings unless they absolutely had to be spoken of.
Instead, they decided to take a day just to catch up on homework, and of course made sure to tell the others about their plans. The day was completely whiled away, and even most of the night as they worked on the projects that wouldn't be due for a long while yet. They soon realized they had been up until midnight, and as such, they got to sleep as quick as possible.
Though once again Nightmares plagued them.
Thankfully, the next day, the two of them felt good enough to go into town and visit the others. Vaan decided to visit Gregg, while Mae decided to visit Bea.
Bea and Mae went to fix a furnace, but Gregg managed to convince Vaan to go commit a 'crime' with him.
Gregg and Vaan met up with a man named Steve, who seemed to really dislike Gregg, though pretended to like Vaan until the arctic fox took out his contacts to rub his eyes, showing his heterochromia. The two blue lenses were meant to hide the genetic oddity, but itched badly.
Of course, Steve had noticed, and stole his contacts to probably pawn them off later, and when Vaan figured out he ended up punching a hole in the wall. Steve ran while he could, and Gregg cheered him. Thankfully Vaan put on sunglasses to avoid people seeing his eyes, having always been sensitive about them, knowing people didn't like these types of differences.
They met back up with Bea and Mae after taking a massive mechanical head back to Gregg's apartment. The four of them chatted a bit about what they'd been up to.
Mae asked him why he was wearing the sunglasses, and he growled out something incomprehensible about Steve Scriggins.
"Ugh, what did he do?"
"Stole my lenses.."
Mae froze for a full minute as Bea asked what that was supposed to mean. Then, Mae growled angrily. "I'll beat him to hell," she mutters, though calms herself when Bea and Gregg ask, yet again, what they meant.
"Um… Well, Vaan wears contact lenses."
"Does he need them to read or anything?"
"No…"
"Does he have eyesight problems?" Bea asked once again, looking Vaan in the eyes.
Vaan stepped back away from her slightly, not liking the intensity of the gaze.
Then, Gregg stole his sunglasses, and Vaan shut his eyes immediately.
"GUYS! Stop! He doesn't like people seeing his eyes without the stupid lenses in!" Mae shouted angrily. Gregg blinked a bit in surprise, and looked at her in shock and embarrassment.
Bea, though, shrugged it off. "Gregg stole the glasses. I wasn't going to look if he didn't want me to. But I'd like to know at least. It'd be cool if he had like, heterochromia or something. Maybe that could be his Harfest costume."
Vaan almost opened his eyes in shock at Bea's admission, and he mumbled something incoherently.
"Guys, if Vaan decides to tell you, then he will. But give him back the glasses. Bad enough his only Contacts got stolen…"
"A-actually, could we just… go and get something to eat? I don't care what…" Vaan whispered, pulling on a hood over his head and a billed hat to help hide his eyes, which almost glowed despite the darkness.
"Sure. How about we go back to my house? Mom and Dad made Tacos."
Vaan nods a bit, and smiles, despite it being unseen.
The four of them headed to the Borowski residence to eat. Both Candy and Stan were surprised to see Vaan hiding his face, and Bea commented on Steve's theft when they asked Vaan if something was wrong.
"Oh that boy goes too far! We should just tell Molly what he's done and be rid of him!"
"Candy, we can't get him unless we find the contacts with his prints on them."
"I-it's okay, Mr. and Mrs. Borowski, I'll just get new ones tomorrow morning. I'll just go to the mall and pick them up."
"Dear, we can't let theft like this stand. That boy has been too much trouble for far too long. And with Harfest tomorrow, he might plant the evidence on someone else."
Vaan winces imperceptibly.
"But you four should not bother with that today. Okay, dears? Go on upstairs and have fun."
The other three almost had to drag Vaan to keep him from arguing further.
"So, Vaan, why the suggestion for all of us to eat together?"
"Well, besides the fact that I knew you were hungry… I guess you guys kinda deserve to know… just, please don't freak out…"
"I promise I won't freak out," Bea replies, and Gregg agrees. Vaan nods, and takes down his hood and hat, and reluctantly opened his eyes, revealing the red and green irises. Gregg's jaw dropped, and Bea blinks in surprise.
"That is so cool dude!" Gregg exclaimed, smacking him on the back. Vaan winced slightly, but also felt relieved.
"Told you they wouldn't care, bro~" Mae sing-songed, smirking.
Bea's head jerked around to look at Mae in shock. "Bro?"
"Mae! Why'd you do that!"
"I wanted to prove a point. Besides, we can't keep this a secret now they know about your fancy eyes."
"I will bury you alive."
"You tried once. Failed. Badly."
Vaan grumbles. "Alright, fine…"
"Dudes, just tell us already!"
"Fine! Mae and I decided to become blood siblings. It happened after she had a mini panic attack and I was the only person who could help her. From there we were friends, then best friends after more incidents, and now siblings."
"Blood… Siblings?" Bea asked, frowning, her cigarette almost falling out of her mouth.
"Yeah! Basically, you cut yourself on the wrist a little, and then the other person does, then you hold the cuts together for a bit as the blood transfers between the two. Then you both tie this little ribbon around your wrists until the blood soaks it, or stops, whichever comes first. If the blood soaks the ribbon all the way, you succeeded in becoming siblings. If the blood stops first, then you aren't compatible as siblings," Mae explains.
"That. Is. So. COOL!" Gregg exclaims, grinning. "Do you have the scars still?"
Vaan rolled his eyes. "They don't leave. It's a physical representation of the bond."
"Mind if we ask to see them?" Bea asked, a slight smile present.
Mae nods. "Sure, you can see 'em." She hold out her left wrist, while Vaan holds out his right wrist. Two perfectly copied marks existed, one for each of them.
"Didn't that, like, hurt you? Or, y'know, make you sick?" Bea asked.
"Nah, the only pain was from the two open wounds touching."
Vaan nodded in agreement. "Aside from that, though, we also vowed neither of us would get hurt while the other is around. It's worked so far."
Mae nodded. "That's partially why he came back to Possum Springs with me. Oh, by the way Bea, did you know they have online college?"
Bea blinked a bit. "Really? Does it cost the same as normal college?"
Vaan interjected then, commenting, "No, it's cheaper. Less need for books and uniforms. Also, Mae is going to get a job after she gets finished with this semester of school."
Mae pouted. "That was going to be a surprise!"
"So was our sibling-hood. And we were supposed to tell your parents first. So too bad."
Both of their friends were looking between the two in equal parts shock and awe. Of course, it made sense, since bombshells were dropping left and right. Vaan noticed the looks, and immediately began laughing his tail off, while Mae snickered, and asked the two if they needed a ride home.
Bea and Gregg agreed, knowing the dangers of being out alone.