Vanitas woke up in the absolute worst mood. He sat up in bed with a huff and scratched at his side. The room was dark and quiet, and his golden glowing eyes flashed over to his wife's side of the bed where she remained submerged in blankets. Vanitas sneered, imagining that she incurred a nasty hangover from her 'night out' as she was terrible at holding her liquor. He was incredibly envious at the fact she got to stay home all day and be useless in bed. Lucky Bitch, he thought.

He rolled out of bed and turned on the light. He made it a point to make as much noise as possible as he gathered the clothes he was planning on wearing to work and even opened and closed the closet/cabinet doors with more force than usual. Vanitas wanted to wake her up. He wanted her to know how irritated he was with her.

There was little movement under the mountainous bundle but merely that, and Vanitas could only scowl even more. Typically, he hated Xion waking up with him and pestering him. The day before he actually enjoyed his morning alone too. However, now that he knew she was throwing a fit, something inside of him was itching to force as much interaction from her as possible. He didn't know what it stemmed from and the urge came and went as Vanitas found his mind bouncing back and forth between wanting to embrace his-sort of-newfound freedom and the other part wanting to stick her troublesome nose back under his heel like she was a misbehaved dog. He thought that maybe if she went back to groveling it would knock her down a few pegs where she wouldn't dare to patronize him or talk down to him like she did the previous night. It was a mindset born purely of spite and was devoid of logic in all forms, but Vanitas was nothing if not spiteful.

Vanitas went to the bathroom, intentionally leaving the bedroom light on and slamming the door behind him. He growled to himself in the shower as he scrubbed his scalp aggressively and recounted the previous night's events, specifically what Xion wore on her outing.

"She looked like a damn hooker." He spat, even though there was no one in the room to hear or help validate his feelings. "What kind of thirty year old woman wears that crap? The skirt was practically riding up her ass." He complained.

In the heat of his bitterness the irony was lost on him, given that the type of women he goes for had similar senses of fashion. Though, as he scratched at his scalp even harder he couldn't help but picture in his mind Xion, drunk off her ass, grinding on some loser. His movement paused and he stared down at the tiled shower floor, where he tugged at his locks until soap dripped into his eyes and snapped him out of his frozen state.

"Fuck." He hissed, flushing his irritated eyes out with water from the showerhead. The stinging pain seemed to break him out of his momentary lapse in…what? Jealousy? Definitely not. Vanitas hasn't been jealous over Xion in years. There was nothing about her to even be jealous over as she hardly stepped foot out of the house…until now. Vanitas rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

Hell no, definitely not. I want her off my hands as soon as possible. I don't care how it happens. He rationalized in his head.

Vanitas eventually emerged from his shower and went back into the bedroom with only a towel wrapped around his hips, he was using another towel to dry his sopping wet hair and noticed the light was still on. It either hadn't bothered her enough to turn it off or she was merely pretending it wasn't.

"Hmph." He scowled before deciding to leave his used towels on the bed, knowing she hated when he did so.

Xion was a pest about cleaning the house and keeping things tidy, and he knew she would surely whine about it or pick them up herself, she couldn't resist. He got dressed for work while he stared at the mound, waiting any moment for her to make some kind of indication that he had woken her up. This was one of those times he was intentionally being over the top to pick at her. Yet, when he had finally finished dressing she still had yet to stir. Vanitas left his mess, including the bathroom and bedroom lights on along with all the doors open, and headed downstairs where he proceeded to make even more noise in the kitchen. Before he left for work he went back upstairs to peek his head into the room once again and found the lights still on as well as his scattered towels and dirty pajamas where he left them. He tried to deny it, but he couldn't help but feel irked by her lack of defaulting to her old habits, especially with something she was so anal about like the tidiness of the house.

"Xion." He called, crossing his arms. There was no response and he started to wonder just how hung over was she? He approached the side of the bed. "Xion." He repeated, but once again elicited no response. She usually slept like a rock but even he knew she would have woken by now from the sheer obnoxiousness he was putting on.

After a few moments he went over to her side and pulled the comforter back, where Xion curled into a ball in response to the loss of warmth. Xion squinted her eyes from the light flooding her vision and removed an ear bud from her ear. She was listening to fucking music again. When did she even put those on? He wondered.

"Vanitas…" She groaned. "What is it?"

"I've been calling you." He spat back at her, annoyed with her lack of acknowledgment of him.

Xion blinked as her eyes adjusted and she looked over to the alarm clock, it read 6:44 am. "Vanitas, it's almost 7…won't you be late?" She asked, glossing over his statement.

Vanitas seemed to realize that too, as if he had been allowing himself to get too distracted by Xion's antics…or lack thereof. "Ugh, whatever." He scoffed and dropped the blanket where it was, storming out. Even if Xion had acknowledged what he said he didn't have anything to follow it up. He was just irritated and he wanted her to stop being so dramatic. She was clearly going through a mood and taking it out on him. Was it because he smashed the bottle? Most definitely. But Vanitas wasn't quite ready to accept his guilt in full yet, he still felt like she pushed him to the edge. Still, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of remorse and bite his bottom lip as he headed down the stairs. He had no time to dwell on it even if he wanted to though, because Xion was right; he was going to be late if he kept fucking around.

Vanitas grabbed what he needed and headed out to his motorcycle, secured his helmet, and took off.

His mood never improved though, and his coworkers noticed the stark contrast between that day and the previous one. Vanitas being angry was more like the status quo however, so no one really asked.

It was another day of no notifications on his phone, he even restarted it once to make sure it wasn't some sort of connection issue. Still, he didn't dare reach out to her first. He didn't want to actually hear from her, he told himself.

After fuming for most of the day Vanitas finally decided he was being ridiculous. The pendulum that was his emotions was finally swinging back around and he resolved to wash his hands of the situation. Whatever she's doing, she'll get over it soon; He thought, and if she doesn't she'll regret it when she sees it's not working.

The black haired man sighed at his desk and leaned back in his chair, he needed some fresh air. So, for lunch, he decided to walk to the nearby bench area just outside the building. It was a small triangular patch of grass enclosed by a sidewalk that had one or two benches on it. It faced the parking lot and street where Vanitas watched the occasional car drive by. He hardly went out there due to the preschool that sat directly across the street from his workplace but because it was Saturday he didn't have anything to worry about. It was nice, really. The breeze and the sunshine helped to ease his nerves.

Why am I getting so worked up? Why am I letting her get under my skin? He questioned himself as he leaned back on the bench and stared up at the deep blue sky. So what if she's being weird, maybe this just means she's finally done clinging onto me every damned second. Vanitas closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Maybe he was just looking at this all wrong. Sure she was being hypocritical but instead of getting upset he should embrace it, right? If she begins to leave him to his own devices and separate emotionally from him then there may just be a chance for him to figure out an exit strategy that won't leave him homeless and destitute.

"Vanitas?" A soft voice piped up and his golden eyes snapped open. He lifted his head to spot the brown-haired transfer from weeks prior he had attempted to chat up, she had her lunch box in her hand and was standing there a bit awkwardly. Vanitas couldn't resist the pan-up view of her clothed curvature, especially in that pencil skirt; but, he said nothing as he was more confused that she was choosing to converse with him, especially after she avoided him when she learned he was married.

"Oh, uh…yeah?" He raised an eyebrow. She only pointed to the bench.

"Do you mind if I sit? I usually come out here for lunch." She replied. Vanitas was surprised and wondered why she didn't just sit elsewhere, but he was not gonna deny the opportunity. He sat up fully and scooted over.

"Sure." He nodded, and she sat down. Though instead of going for her lunch she pulled out a cigarette from a box in her sweater pocket and looked at him almost expectantly. He only stared back, puzzled. "You have a lighter…right? I see you smoke sometimes." She said with the cigarette between her teeth.

Vanitas quickly nodded again and pulled out his lighter, she leaned forward and moved her hair back as he lit her cigarette. Her hazel eyes met his gold ones and the moment felt oddly charged and intimate. Vanitas would take it as the sign that it was, but he couldn't help but make his confusion known.

"Okay, what's the deal?" He asks. The woman, Yuri, raises an eyebrow herself and gives a small smile as she inhales.

"What deal?" She asks, exhaling the smoke.

"You seemed pretty set on never wanting to speak to me again." He replied.

Yuri seemed to shrug, but her expression was cheeky. "I never said that."

It was true, she didn't. But, based on the rumor mill and the fact that she did ignore him for a while clued him in that she was turned off by his marital status and attempts at flirting.

Vanitas couldn't help but let out a smirk of his own as he crossed his arms. "But you DID avoid me like the plague."

"Because you're awful." She nodded, puffing on her cigarette. "Anyone who so obviously does what you do is awful." Ah, so she was mad, Vanitas thought.

Vanitas rubbed his chin. "So why are you talking to me now?"

"Well, after some time I figured maybe you had your reasons and it wasn't any of my business. Given that we're coworkers now I should still be civil." Yuri looked at the empty school across the street, Vanitas did not follow her gaze.

He let out a low chuckle and looked at the ground before leaning back on the bench and spreading his arms around the back of it, something she didn't seem to mind. "Y'know. Being civil would be to offer me a cig if you're gonna use my lighter."

Yuri said nothing for a moment but turned to look at him. She took the same box from her pocket and opened it before handing it his way. Instead of reaching for it with his hand he leaned forward and grabbed the offering between his teeth rather slyly. He then took his lighter out once again and lit the cigarette. Yuri didn't say anything about this either, and for a while the two smoked in silence. Vanitas couldn't help but gaze at her from the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure if anything was still on the table but he couldn't help but fall back into his usual tricks.

"Can I ask about it?" She spoke up, Vanitas presumed she meant about his marriage. He's had potential matches that asked before that knew and he always went down one of a few routes depending on the type of girl he was chatting with. Just like with that Kairi chick, he liked to wiggle his way in from whatever angle worked best. That could have meant saying anything from 'their marriage was over and he was just waiting to sign' to 'Xion asked to open the marriage after admitting she was falling out of love with him' if he wanted extra sympathy. Though Yuri was a slightly different case as he knew his coworkers all but confirmed that he was just a sleaze. It wasn't like she was the first one in his office he tried hooking up with.

"Why so curious if I'm so awful?" He laughed, wondering what excuse would best suit someone that likely already knew something similar to the truth.

"Well, I guess I've never met someone so obviously trying to sleep around despite being tied down. Really makes you wonder what someone is thinking." She arched her head back and blew smoke upwards into the air. Perhaps she was intentionally being alluring to try and lower his guard in order to dig around his psyche. Though Vanitas was the king of mindgames, and if that were the case he certainly wouldn't have given up that information without something in return.

"It was like you said…." Vanitas looked her up and down once more before finally facing ahead, his eyes bore into the lot of the empty school across the street and his smirk faded into more of a bleak stare. He puffed from his own cigarette once more. "It's none of your business." He concluded, having chosen to reveal nothing at all.

Vanitas decided to skip the bar that day, for some reason he just wasn't in the mood anymore. Instead of his usual later time this time he arrived home around 3pm. He sat on the shoe bench by the door and kicked off his work shoes. He took a deep breath and leaned his head back. The house was quiet again just like it had been for the previous two days. His golden gaze scanned down the hall towards the stairway, around the livingroom and towards the archway leading into the kitchen-no sign of life. That time he chose not to give it any more thought besides a huff as he loosened his tie and headed upstairs.

He was somewhat surprised to see Xion laying on the bed and scribbling in some sort of notebook. She seemed relaxed at first, as she lay on her stomach with her bare feet kicking up in the air; but she slammed the book closed the moment he walked into the room. Unlike before, she seemed to acknowledge him this time.

"Vanitas, you're home early." She remarked and sat up on her knees, almost as if she was attempting to play down suspicious behavior. Vanitas looked around the room and saw it was clean and vacuumed, his towels and discarded clothing from this morning picked up. A part of him sort of felt weird for intentionally leaving that for her to pick up, but the other half pointed out this was a sign she was going back to her old ways and likely couldn't help herself. Something about that revelation put him at a sort of smug ease.

"Yeah." He chuckled and put his stuff down, his eyes wandered to the composition notebook in her hands. "What's that?" He asked as he plopped down on the edge of the bed.

It was the first time in what felt like a while that Xion wasn't tuning him out with music, it was like she was forced to respond to him and he could tell she was slightly uneasy. Perhaps she was set off by his early return? Technically he was on time but he just chose not to go drinking after work, which was seldom. Still, the slight shift in power back to where it originally was only inflated his ego that much more. It felt like he still had ways to get around her feeble attempts to switch up the status quo. It may have been something he hated, but in moments like that he preferred her clingy desperation over her newfound 'totally unfazed' pretense. It proved he still held power over her.

"Ah, this?" She asked dumbly, looking down at her book. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before steeling herself once more. "It's just my diary." Vanitas could feel her attempt to slip back into her new persona, but he was determined to rip her out of it.

"A diary? Isn't that something you did as a kid? I thought you quit it." He replied with a smirk and a deep chuckle. He poked at her with intentional patronizing.

"No…" Xion mumbled, looking down at her book. "I still do it sometimes."

Vanitas scanned her up and down, he could tell by her body language that she was lying. "Come on, babe. You don't have to keep it a secret. I think that's adorable. It's nice that you have little hobbies like that." He reclined on the bed and stretched his arms before folding them behind his head. "Tell me all the girly stuff you write about."

"It's not that kind of diary, I just sort of write about my day." She says, not meeting his gaze.

"Oh yeah? Like what? Like doing laundry?"

Suddenly Xion straightened up and reopened the book; she began writing again. Her voice dropped an octave and lost all emotion. "Like about how I'm feeling."

The shift in tone didn't bother Vanitas much but he did raise an eyebrow. "You ever write about me in there?" He laughed. However, Xion did not respond.

The air was suddenly sucked out of the room and Vanitas's smile faded. "Well?" He asked, but she didn't say anything. Her features were soft and blank, not upset like he thought she would be or embarrassed like he was going for. Instead it was like he was not in the room at all, as if he ceased existing in her world. After a moment Vanitas sat up and stared at her, the implication not lost on him.

"Xion? Do you write about us?" He asked point blank. She paused and her violet eyes stared directly into his, her face was still calm but her eyes were big. For the second time since this whole debacle began he felt his stomach drop. He was irritated she wouldn't give him a straight answer and he had half a mind to snatch the book right out of her hands, but something in his mind told him he may be better off not knowing. He knew that sometimes he could be over the top and intentionally mean spirited towards her but he always figured she just let it go based on how she would grovel at his feet for forgiveness at every perceived slight. In his mind she was the villain and thanks to his hatred for her he always took her to be dim-witted and naive. But…what if that weren't the case? She knew about his bar visits and just kept silent about it, what else did she know? Had she been recording it this whole time? His mind began to flash back to every bad moment they had, everytime he was rude to her, everytime he left her behind, everytime he stayed out to drink by himself to try to pick up other women, the times he WAS successful in having an affair, everytime he cursed her out under his breath, everytime he ignored her, everytime he belittled her, every sarcastic remark he made to patronize her intelligence…all of it… he wondered how much of it she knew or held onto, how much of it she silently wrote down…he wondered if her diary entries were just years and years of him treating her like shit.

Suddenly, he wasn't laughing so much anymore.

Before he could say anything else she closed the book and slipped it back under the mattress, in plain view of him. Was it a dare for him to reach it? A silent plea for him to finally discover the extent of his cruelty? Was this another attempt to get into his head? Xion left the room without another word but he stayed behind.

Vanitas wasn't sure why but he suddenly cared a hell of a lot more than he did a minute ago. He knew he was in a bad situation but that was just thanks to the hand he's been dealt. Both he and-to be fair- Xion, had been through alot. It wasn't his fault she grew to be such an emotional vampire, it wasn't his fault she has issues. He just wanted to live his life and pursue his goals. Yet, she stole that away from him. He wasn't the bad guy. Maybe sometimes when he deliberately got under her skin but he wasn't a bad guy. It was her fault she was so forgiving of his antics in the first place, if she had an issue with it she shouldn't have pushed his buttons so much. It was her fault he threw that bottle.

Why did his chest feel so tight, though?

A/N: Third chapter done! This was a bit of a shorter one but I'm trying to maintain a consistent length mostly. I feel like we're finally reaching a turning point in the story and my favorite parts are coming. We're far from even the middle of the story but like I mentioned in the first chapter, this is meant to be a character deconstruction and I'm about to deconstruct him all over the place. I hope you're as excited as I am.

Also, once again I am sorry if my grammar is irritating. I honestly don't think It's gonna get better but I am trying my best. I write this stuff for fun and just haven't done it in a really long time. I also don't receive much engagement so I figure it's just not that serious enough to strain myself with edits. All that matters to me is that the story is legible and entertaining for my few lovely patrons that do return to read when I post. Still, if it becomes a major issue please feel free to reach out and I will try harder in the future.

Next Chapter: Everything's Fine

Thanks again,

-Toast