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Rei had always been curious about Ven’s brother. Really, practically everyone was curious about him, or at least that was as far as Naminé said. He was a recluse, a strange fairy who only ever seemed to make an appearance far after the sun had set. Not very many people were familiar with him, as far as Rei knew the only close friend he really had was his brother.
He’d seen them hanging around a few times, and by hanging around he meant he’d watched the two of them bicker, which often seemed to include Ventus getting thrown out of his brother’s house. Physically. Ventus seemed in pretty good spirits about it all, dismissing it all with a shrug and an offhand remark about his brother’s “quirks”. Rei didn’t quite understand it. After all, the closest thing he had to a sibling was Riku, and even then they were more like unfortunate doppelgangers.
So after a while of talking back and forth with Naminé, he’d talked to Ventus about it. Sure, he could’ve asked one of Ven’s friends, Terra and Aqua had both met his brother before, but to be quite honest they both scared him a bit. Ven was friendly; easy to approach and easy to talk to. He could be a little all over the place, but Rei was used to that enough. Maybe they weren’t exactly friends, but he was friends with Naminé, and she was practically the only friend Rei actually had and spent time with regularly.
The second he’d meekly said he might like to meet his weird mystery brother, Ven abruptly stopped mid-vaguely-off-topic-tangent and absolutely lit up. He grabbed both of Rei’s hands, practically buzzing on the spot.
“Rei! That’s a fantastic idea! I’ve been trying to get Vani to make friends forever, but he hates trying to meet anyone, and barely anyone wants to meet him. This could be good, for the both of you! Naminé’s always saying you need to get out more, and he needs some friends,” Ven paused, then made a face. “Vani-Wani usually thinks he’s too good for friends…but he might like you!”
Rei hesitated for a moment. Ventus’ brother seemed a bit prickly, and Ven had spoken the most kindly of him that he’d heard yet. “Do you really think so?”
“Of course! I mean...maybe. It’s worth a shot, and he’s due for some company anyways.”
And that was how Rei ended up being pulled away from his work the next evening by one very enthusiastic light fairy. He shot an apologetic look to Naminé, but she simply shrugged and giggled as he was very much dragged away by Ven.
They sped across what must’ve been half of Pixie Hollow, Ventus humming to himself and Rei now a little thankful he was being pulled along considering he didn’t think he’d be able to keep up on his own. He thought that maybe later he should ask Roxas if he was playing favouritism with the fairy dust.
By the time they reached the little shaded tree that Ven’s brother lived in, the sun had started setting. Rei was a touch nervous, but Ventus seemed confident enough. He near aggressively rapped on the door, which prompted a yell of “ WHAT! ” from inside, and Rei felt like his stomach was twisting into knots just watching. As lighthearted as Ventus was about it all, he really didn’t feel like being thrown out of a window. He tried his best to smile or at the very least look polite, even as his hands were fidgeting behind his back.
When the door did swing open after a little more yelling that Rei couldn’t handle paying any real attention to, it revealed a somewhat dishevelled looking fairy. One he’d never actually seen up close. He’d barely seen him at all. Ventus grinned.
He made one broad gesture, from Vani to Rei. “Vanitas, Rei. Rei, Vanitas.” He looked quite proud of himself, like just introducing someone to his brother was a task all it’s own.
Vanitas looked more surprised than anything, and Rei couldn’t really help staring back at him like an idiot, neither actually saying a word. It was weird, seeing him like this and not just as some mysterious distant figure.
He almost squinted a little; he looked weirdly like Sora? The same messy, spiky hair, just darker, not to mention how his shirt was a little reminiscent of a jacket Sora used to wear. But there were differences too, Vanitas wasn’t Sora’s brother after all, and his face was more-so the spitting image of Ven’s. Just with added bags under his eyes and a frown in place of his brother’s near perpetual smile.
Finally, Vanitas opened his mouth with a rather eloquent, “Who the hell is this?”
Rei startled, looking away as if he’d somehow already offended him. He tried his best not to frown, nervous that might make an even worse impression. Ventus sighed.
“I thought you might want to meet someone,”
“Meet someone?” Vanitas made a face.
“Like a friend?”
“Who would even want to talk to me? No one likes me anyways.”
Vanitas crossed his arms, leaning against the door. Ven huffed and firmly planted his hands on his hips, even standing on tiptoes for the height advantage. “You should have friends that aren’t just me!”
“Yeah, right,” he rolled his eyes, “I absolutely need more friends to come to my house so that I can kick them out,”
They continued bickering, Rei trying to tune them out and not laugh when Vanitas puffed his cheeks out at something his brother said. It was starting to become less nerve-wracking and more funny, seeing them argue back and forth; watching Ventus try to loom over Vanitas as if they weren’t the same height, and then Vanitas starting to motion with his hands, straightening up from his slouch to try to go toe to toe with his brother. Then they were both yelling, both aggressively gesturing and Ventus even starting to flutter a little higher in the air as if it made a difference.
Rei hid a smile behind his hand when Ven grandly gestured with one hand. He was obviously over-acting, not that Vanitas seemed to notice.
“Fine, if you don’t want to make any friends, then I’ll take him back! And you can stay home alone!”
Vanitas looked scandalized at that. “No way! Shut up!” he walked around his brother to tug Rei by the wrist. Rei jolted, but didn’t fight him, which was likely for the best. He glared at Ventus, bringing Rei back around with him. Ven stifled a laugh. “Can it! I’ll make friends! We’ll…we’ll be the best friends you’ve ever met! Just you watch!”
And with that, Vanitas let go of Rei and stomped back into his house, and Ven finally lost it. “Well, we got ‘em,” he giggled, nearly stumbling in the air. “Have a nice time, introduce yourself, get to know him a bit! He’s not usually that bad, I swear,”
At that, Rei laughed, just a little. He nodded and waved Ventus off, turning and following Vanitas into his home. He simply watched as Vani angrily boiled the kettle, grumbling something about “stupid Ventus, stupid stupid Ventus,” and really, he was almost a bit adorable like that.
When he actually caught sight of Rei, still politely standing by the table, he stopped awkwardly. He stared a moment, kettle in hand, then, “Oh, um, you can sit down? Make yourself comfortable, I guess?”
“Not many visitors?” Rei asked softly, even if he damn well knew the answer.
And surprisingly? Vani laughed. “Yeah. Oh yeah . Just my stupid brother, and sometimes his stupid friends.”
“I’ve got a stupid brother too, kind of.”
“I guess we could make a club,” Vanitas sounded beyond sarcastic, but somehow no less sincere.
“Guess we could,” Rei snorted.
Ven was right, he wasn’t so bad. Maybe a bit prickly, but somehow, that didn’t seem like too much of a bad thing? At least not to Rei. Then Vani brought over two cups of tea, as if it was the only thing he knew how to do when he had company over. That was almost a sad thought; that he’d had company that seldom, even if Rei had known before he was a recluse. Vanitas almost seemed a little more friendly once he’d sat down with his own mug.
Rei sipped at his tea, and honestly smiled a bit even as Vanitas watched him do it, almost warily. He slowly lifted his own, and hummed when it wasn't over-steeped (that was how Ven always made it, and that was where Vani had learned in the first place).
"It's nice," Rei said, and the other startled a little.
"Uh, thanks?" Vanitas sounded almost painfully awkward. He ran one hand back through his messy hair, and that was endearing somehow.
Rei smiled a little wider into his mug and thought maybe Naminé had been right too, that it was a good idea to get out more.