A/N: Thanks: Amulet Misty, piyo-nii, HawkRider, and Darkfairy102. :)

~ "If I asked you what you think of pretending to be my girlfriend for a while, what would you say?" ~

59) Black

It was a quiet Wednesday for the most part. This time, Vanitas had decided to pop up unexpectedly at Aqua's, much to her sagrin, because she wasn't really dressed to be seen. Thankfully, the dark-haired man had not uttered a word about her moogle PJs.

It was weird how she felt slightly (okay, very) attracted to Vanitas, but at the same time it made more sense than anything else in the world. From his black hair, to his piercing golden eyes, everything about him was just beautiful in a dark way. The black and gold contrast really suited him.

Not only that, but every time their eyes would meet, she would feel this strange sensation near her heart. To be honest, it had been like this ever since that day at the Moogle ice-cream shop… She knew what it was about, though, and she couldn't believe that she was actually falling for someone like him. The more time she spent with him, the more she was able to forget about Terra… And it didn't even feel wrong.

Even if he didn't say it, Aqua could tell from the way he was behaving that Vanitas was still a little peeved because of her looking through his phone's messages a few days ago. She couldn't blame him, though; she would've reacted pretty much the same, if not tell him that she never wanted to see him again. Save for that weird message that turned out to be about a soccer match, Aqua had found nothing suspicious in his phone. Vanitas told her that he'd forgiven her, but she couldn't shake off the guilt at the realization that she'd upset him for nothing...

"What," Vanitas demanded bluntly.

Aqua blinked. "Huh?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"N-nothing. It's just… I want to forget about Terra, but I don't think I can do it without your help," she blurted out, before she could stop herself.

Thankfully, he fell for the semi excuse.

"Why me?"

"Because I trust you."

This earned her a rare smile, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "But you'll see him practically every day."

"I said that I was going to try, not that I was going to succeed on the very first try. You're the one who needs to help me and support me."

"Oh really now?" Vanitas said, raising his eyebrow. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

Aqua sighed, looking down. "I was hoping that you'd figured something out by now," Aqua replied truthfully.

It was quiet between them for a moment, but then... "Well, if you insist… If I asked you what you think of pretending to be my girlfriend for a while, what would you say?"

She gave him a surprised look. The fact that she had not expected that question, made him smirk.

"Why should I do that?"

"Because you totally want me," he said jokingly.

She blushed and opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words.

Vanitas, however, went on as if he didn't notice anything weird about her behavior. "And because nobody will suspect that under that pretty layer of yours, you hide such dark secrets. Moreover, it'll make Ventus shut up about you telling Terra how you feel."

"And what's in it for you?" she wondered, because the Vanitas she knew would never do anything kind for free.

"For one, Sora's being nagging at me to go out more. I want him to shut up about my personal life. The same goes for the rest of the world. I figured, if I get myself a girlfriend, fake or not, they'd finally leave me the hell alone."

That actually made sense, she mused.

Both of them were watching Stitch, who was sleeping peacefully in the far corner of the room. Like Terra, it had taken a while for the blue pet to warm up to Vanitas. According to Vanitas, the furry animal was just trying to defend his territory, but Aqua thought that maybe Stitch didn't like men in general; even when the delivery boy showed up, he would growl at him until Aqua closed the front door or until he backed away, scared and awkwardly. As of lately, Stitch even allowed Vanitas to pet him, which meant a lot.

"Suppose I say accept your proposal, then I get to decide how far we'll go in this whole "relationship"?" Aqua asked.

"Yes."

"And there's no catch?"

He shook his head solemnly. "Not this time."

But she couldn't help but feel that there was something more going on here. It just didn't add up. That was when she realized…

"You like me!"

He let out an uncharacteristic snort at that, along with a perfect roll of his smouldering eyes. "Please. Don't get too full of yourself now, Missy."

"No, don't deny it. I know it's true. The way you treat me differently than everyone else and… Gosh, why didn't I think of this earlier?"

And for some reason, this idea only made her more light-headed, in a good way.

"No, that's bull-"

He was interrupted by Aqua herself when she kissed him square on the lips. He tasted like hot chocolate and cream, probably just like her.

She let out a soft sigh, before leaning back again. "Then why are you giving me that look?" she whispered, looking up at him.

Vanitas didn't reply, but even from this distance she could tell that his pupils were dilated.

"You kissed me back too. Don't tell me that that kiss did nothing to you at all…" she tried again.

Again, he said nothing. The difference was that this time, he did pull her closer to him. Now, it was him who initiated the kiss.

Suddenly, he stopped and withdrew quietly.

Surprised, Aqua opened her eyes. "What is it?"

"I just remembered something; I have a rule for us, too."

"And what might that be?"

"No nicknames for either of us."

He sounded so serious that Aqua couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Why not?" she asked

"Because I don't like them."

"Oh, come on. I think Vani is a cute nickname for you."

His frown on his face said that he couldn't possibly disagree more. With a disgusted look on his face, he said. "No, it isn't. I'll break up with you if you ever dare to call me that in front of anyone."

"That's funny, because we aren't even dating for real."

"Very funny."

Aqua let those words sink in, before asking quasi innocently, "So then it's okay if I call you Vani when we're alone?"

"Only if I can call you Aku-wa in return."

She made a disgusted face at that. "I think I'll pass."

"Just what I thought."

A/N: Sorry for so much dialogue and so little description!

Next chapter: He couldn't possibly have been more calm when he announced to everyone that Aqua and him were 'officially' a couple now.