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Vanitas sat glumly in bed as he held a pack of frozen peas to his face, Unversed surrounding him as more were being created. Ever since he joined sides with the guardians of light, he'd been subjected to things he never knew existed. Like getting a 'wisdom' tooth pulled, for example. Whatever that is. He still didn't know what made a wisdom tooth so knowledgeable. Someone explained it to him before he went under for the procedure, but it just went in one ear and out the other. He grumbled to himself as he leaned back against a Bruiser that occupied the bed. He glanced up as the door to his bedroom opened, and in came this ray of fucking sunshine with... is that mashed potatoes? God, he's so fucking sick of mashed potatoes. He scowled as Ventus closed the door behind him.
"Oh? You made more Unversed?" Ventus asked, as he approached the bed, careful to step over a few Floods laying on the floor.
"What do you expect?" Vanitas said, through the gauze in his mouth. The words came out a jumbled mess because of it, and he growled. He took the gauze out so he could talk better, the white fluff ball covered in red. "I just got violated two days ago and my fucking mouth hurts. Of course more Unversed are gonna pop up, idiot."
Ventus sighed through his nose and sat the bowl of mashed potatoes down on the bed, taking a look at the blood covered gauze. "It's still bleeding?"
"Uh, duh ? I got my fucking teeth pulled out, why wouldn't it?" Vanitas tossed the gauze on the floor, startling a Scrapper.
"There's no need for that kind of language, you know..."
"There kinda is, dipshit." Ventus frowned and pulled out his Gummiphone, making Vanitas raise a brow suspiciously. "Who're you calling?"
"No one. I'm looking something up."
Vanitas didn't trust it, and a Red Hot Chili appeared as he felt a stinging pain from accidentally biting down too hard. Vanitas hissed and held the bag of frozen peas closer to his face, to the point he thought his cheek would become numb.
Ventus hummed as he scrolled through articles about what to do. He smiled when it seemed like he found something useful. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Vanitas watched Ventus leave the room, and he stared down at the mashed potatoes sitting on his bed. Some of the Floods were already getting curious about it and tried to take a nibble, but Vanitas took his pain and anger out on them, making them disappear and flow right back into his body. That only seemed to make the pain that much more unbearable, as he clutched his right cheek. Why was he even here again? Why did he let these people talk him into getting his teeth removed? This pain was worse than the shit Xehanort put him through, and that's saying a lot. In his eyes, they're just as bad as the old man. If not worse.
He almost regrets agreeing to come 'home' with Ventus after the Keyblade Graveyard incident.
Vanitas felt like he was being watched as he thought to himself, and he looked over, seeing a Hareraiser staring at him curiously. "The fuck you looking at?" The Hareraiser didn't understand what Vanitas was saying, and instead just kept staring. Vanitas would have done away with its existence too, had Ventus not come back with something else in his hands. Great. Another thing to torture him with. Are these people sadistic, or what? He scoffed at it. "The hell is that thing?"
"A damp teabag." Ventus said, as he closed the door behind him again. "I read online that this should do better with making the bleeding stop. But you should probably eat first. Aren't you hungry?"
"Not hungry enough to eat that crap again." Vanitas crossed his arms and looked away, the metallic taste in his mouth making him want to spit out the blood pooling right onto his tongue. He spat on the bed sheet, a splatter of red obnoxiously mixing in with the green tone of the covers.
"Vanitas!" Ventus shouted, his eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. Vanitas didn't say a word. He only flipped Ventus off and scowled.
"That's for doing this shit to me. I'd rather create countless Unversed and destroy them repeatedly like I did before than deal with this bullshit."
"Wait... that's what Xehanort made you do?"
Vanitas scoffed, refusing to look Ventus in the eye. "Yeah. He said doing that would make me stronger. Giving into pain would help me forge the X-blade with you, so I didn't question it..." Vanitas trailed off, and almost got lost in thought, until he remembered who he was even with. He snapped back to reality and glared at Ventus, who only looked at him with concern. Pity . It made his anger grow. "Don't look at me like that. Why the fuck am I even telling you this anyway? Just get out."
"But..."
"I said get out !" Vanitas started to throw the bowl of mashed potatoes at Ventus, but Ventus was quick to react and dodge the bowl, watching it hit the door and spill all over the floor. Ventus' eyes were wide, as he nodded, leaving the damp teabag on the bed. His voice was shaky as were his hands as he tried to explain what the teabag was for before quickly leaving.
"P-put this in your mouth! I-it should stop the bleeding."
Vanitas watched Ventus leave the bedroom in a hurry, but not before Ventus picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes. With Ventus gone, Vanitas stared at the teabag and wondered how the hell that was going to stop the bleeding. The blood was starting to taste disgusting, and he was tired of it pooling inside of his mouth. Desperate for relief, Vanitas sat the bag of frozen peas down on the bed for a second, and grabbed the teabag to put in his mouth instead. He put the bag of peas back to his face, and just leaned back against the Bruiser again, staring out the window. He looked out to the mountains that surrounded the Land of Departure, before falling asleep.
The last few days of recovery was absolute hell, but at least the bleeding finally stopped. The teabags seemed to have worked, and Vanitas hated that Ventus seemed to be happy about that. He especially hated that he liked seeing him happy... what was Ventus doing to him? It felt wrong, but Vanitas couldn’t have cared less. Eventually the recovery was over and done with, and Vanitas looked in a mirror, feeling around at the empty socket where his teeth used to be with his tongue. They didn't hurt anymore. The Unversed stopped appearing, aside from a few Floods because now he had a worse problem than wisdom teeth removal... his feelings for Ven have grown over the past few days of recovery. Whenever Vanitas needed anything, Ventus was always there. Whenever he needed food, to have his gauze replaced, or to just... be there for him when he needed it most, Ventus was always there. Even when Vanitas was mean to him, scared him off so often from ever trying to help him, Ventus still tried to be there for him when no one else would.
Aqua and Terra still treat him like a monster. Someone they needed to keep an eye on. Not Ventus. He looked at him like a normal person, and it made his chest feel warm. Pleasant. It was disgusting, but also... enjoyable? Something completely foreign to him that Ventus always talked about feeling. Another Flood appeared, and he looked down at it. Something about this one seemed different, though. It looked the same as an ordinary Flood, but it was more affectionate. It rubbed its body against his legs, almost like a cat. He rose a brow and bent down to pet it, and it leaned into the touch. It didn't try to attack him. It wasn't on edge. Vanitas looked back at the mirror, trying to reevaluate himself, but through his peripheral vision, Ventus could be seen standing in the doorway of the bathroom. Embarrassed, and wondering how much Ventus saw, Vanitas turned around so fast he almost tripped over himself, as he felt heat rise to his cheeks. "Wh-what the hell?! How long have you been standing there?!"
Startled, Ventus blushed, and rubbed the back of his head, his eyes darting around aimlessly. "E–er, uh... j-just a few minutes? I wanted to check on you because you were in here a long time, so I thought maybe something was wrong but you look finegodI'msosorryIdidn'tmeantobargein!"
Vanitas stared at Ventus who still refused to look back at him. He couldn't quite make out what he was saying because he talked too fast for him to even keep up, but he looked to be apologizing? Vanitas stared at Ventus' lips and approached him cautiously. He didn't know what he was doing, but it just felt so natural . He brought his hands up to Ventus' cheeks to make him look directly into his eyes. He held him like that, just getting lost in a sea of blue, before locking their lips together.
It was sloppy, it made his heart race a mile a minute, his hands started to get clammy as he felt Ventus' hands wrap around his wrists. He remembered watching Aqua and Terra do this one time, and Ventus explained that it was called a kiss. Something someone did to show how much they really liked another person. Was that what this was? He yearned for this more than he ever thought he would. Prior to this moment, he hated Ventus. He wanted nothing more than to watch him and his friends suffer like he had suffered. He wanted to forge the X-Blade and take full control of Ventus' mind, but now? Now he was pushing Ventus up against a wall, trapping his hands up above his head as though he'd done this a million times before. Strange sounds left his lips, and Ventus was reciprocating everything . Their chests pressed against each other, he could practically feel their hearts beat in a rhythmic melody, the union Vanitas craved had been this the entire time, and he wouldn't want it any other way.
Then... he felt Ventus' tongue prodding at his mouth. His eyes flung open. What... was he doing? He pulled away as a string of saliva broke from their shared kiss, leaving them both breathless and hot. Ventus, with his eyes half open, looked at Vanitas, confusion clear in his tone. "Vanitas? What's wrong...?"
"I..." Vanitas let go of Ventus' wrists and backed away, the Flood he'd created moments ago sitting at his feet like a lost puppy. He looked down at it, unable to find the words. What was Ventus doing? He didn't understand what that was, but it was weird. He didn't like it. At the same time he did. He started to wrestle with himself about it, his mind going haywire. He glanced at Ventus, and from what he could tell, Ventus realized what he'd done. Yet, Vanitas himself didn't even know what wrong Ventus committed.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to take it that far. Are you okay?"
Vanitas looked back at Ventus, the concern on his face touching. Wait, touching ? First he hated the concern Ventus showed, and now he thinks it’s touching ? Something clearly must be wrong with him. Anger started to rear its ugly head again, and Vanitas scoffed. "Of course I'm fine. Now get out of my face."
Vanitas stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Ventus even more confused than he already was. He looked down at the Unversed who approached his legs and started to rub against them. He blinked. It wasn’t attacking him? Or about to attack him? "That's peculiar..."
The next few days after the bathroom incident, Vanitas huffed as he sat in bed, his arms crossed with Ventus laying next to him. Aqua just got done taking his and Ventus' temperature, and now it looks like he's stuck in bed. Again . "You could have fucking told me you were sick, asshole . Otherwise I wouldn't have kissed you."
"How was I supposed to know? I'm finding out the same time as you are!" Ventus pouted as he felt a sneeze coming on. Vanitas noticed the scrunched up face Ventus made, and he grimaced, as Ventus looked the other way to let out the biggest sneeze of that day.
"Fucking gross! Get out of here with that!" Vanitas shoved Ventus out of bed with his foot, successfully making him land on the floor with a satisfying thud . He heard a small oof leave Ventus, and Vanitas spread his legs to prevent him from getting back on the mattress.
Ventus huffed and looked up at Vanitas, grabbing onto the sheets to help pull himself back up.
"You are not getting back up here. Stay down there on the floor you filthy beast!" Vanitas yelled, just as Ventus stood up. Ventus grumbled, and just when he was about to take back his spot on the bed, a Bruiser started to pull Vanitas out from under the covers and onto the floor. "What the fuck?” Shocked by the treachery, Vanitas growled and started to get on his knees once he was let go. He got back on his feet, his fists shaking as he pointed at the Bruiser with each word he spoke. “ You obey me !"
Ventus couldn't stop the giggle as he watched Vanitas get dragged out from under the covers. Now was his chance to take back the bed. He got back in on his side, and made sure to leave room for Vanitas. He sniffled and patted the spot next to him. "Come on. We're both sick, might as well be sick together. Right?"
Vanitas shot a glare at the Bruiser who only looked back at him as it sat down on the floor. He sniffled and got back under the covers, hating every second of his miserable life. Now back under the covers and next to Ventus, he continued to pout with his arms crossed until he felt Ventus snuggle up to him. Vanitas' brows knitted together, he looked back at him and found his arms wrapped around Vanitas' side. He could hear the soft breathing coming through Ventus' mouth, and the gentle face Ventus had as he slept only made Vanitas' cold heart melt. He swallowed thickly, and looked ahead at the door. His face scrunched up as he felt the inside of his nose being tickled, and he knew it was his turn to sneeze. It was loud and startled his Unversed, but Ventus still had his eyes closed, his grip on Vanitas tightening.
"Bless you." Ventus said, as he nuzzled his face into Vanitas' side.
Vanitas felt his face heat up as he sniffled, and he wasn't quite sure if it was from Ventus being cute, or the temperature rising from the cold. Either way, he hoped they both remained sick like this for awhile, just so he could feel more of Ventus' warm embrace.