#(glares at the case study of vanitas)

[shy-sapphic-ace]

Why are anime intro/outros such bangers,,,

[fairy-writes]

MORNING ROUTINE

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

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Requester: @straykidsnerd255

Prompt: A fluffy, domestic imagine with Noé from Vanitas

Word Count: 0.7k

Fandom(s): The Case Study of Vanitas

Pairing(s): Noé Archiviste x Reader

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Female!Reader, Domestic AU

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Your morning routine begins with Noé.

You wake up wrapped tightly in his arms as his nose is buried in your hair. He’s still fast asleep. His white hair is mussed and unruly, not at all how he carefully styles it every morning when he actually wakes up. 

But Vanitas didn’t have anything planned today, so you had him all to yourself. 

It’s a pain to get out of his hold, but you’d been dating him for a year and known him even longer than that. Getting out of his bear hug was child’s play for you now. Putting your hands on his entwined arms, you push down gently. He shifts in his sleep but doesn’t awaken. 

But slowly… ever so slowly… his arms move down your waist until they get caught on your hips. You push a bit harder, but when Noé almost wakes up, you stop. 

So you shimmy your hips and push gently until you can awkwardly clamber out of his arms and stand upright. You replace your body with your pillow, and Noé is none the wiser. He rolls over in his sleep with an incoherent mumble. You spy Vanitas on the other bed of your shared hotel room, pitch-black hair sticking up in all directions as he sits up and glares around the room. 

Neither of the boys are particularly joyous when woken up in the morning. 

“What do you feel like for breakfast?” You whisper, and he grunts, lying back down and covering his head with the blanket. You can’t help but giggle but stifle the noise when Vanitas peeks his head out again and turns his nasty glare onto you. 

The next part of your morning routine is simple. You wash your face and hands and rifle quietly through your luggage for clothing for the day. You pick out a simple violet dress and matching shoes and change in the bathroom, tossing Noé’s shirt that he had lent you for sleeping onto the bed once you’re done. 

Paris is just beginning to wake up as you walk down the slowly brightening streets. The sun is just peeking over the horizon, but you don’t stop to admire it as you typically would. 

You’re on a mission. 

A mission to get breakfast back before the boys wake up. 

Well… wake up for real at least. 

There is a bakery near your hotel room, but you wanted to try one just down and across the road. The locals had raved about it when you talked to them last week. Though there is already a line forming before the doors have even opened. 

So you get in line and hope you can make it back in time before Vanitas and Noé wake up. 

It takes about an hour, but you get a box of pastries and tiny cakes, pay, and head back to the hotel room.

You open the door and find Noé standing there, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and his hair sticking up every which way. He still holds your pillow in his free hand and frowns when he spots you dressed and holding a pastry box in your hands. 

“Wassat?” He mumbles, and you laugh at his sleep-addled words. 

“Breakfast.” Now go get changed and you can have some.” You nudge gently and he visibly brightens when he smells the still-warm pastries in the box. 

It doesn’t take long for the scent to entice Vanitas out of bed either. As soon as you set the box down and go to check on your boyfriend, you see Vanitas moving around under the covers as if trying to hype himself up to get out of bed. 

Noé all but bounds out of the bathroom, dressed and ready for the day. He wraps his arms tightly around your middle and peppers you with kisses. You laugh and gently push him away before reaching behind you into the box and shoving a pastry into his mouth. He stops, chews once or twice, and absolutely melts with adoration. 

Looks like you mission is accomplished. 

[tomodachi-to-koibito]

*lord ruthven says or does anything*

me: "STOP PRETENDING TO BE GOOD NATURED OR KIND, YA SKANK!"

*shakes water bottle @ screen*

[havvki-writes]

Vanitas Can't Photosynthesize

Stupid name, fun one-shot :) meant to post this yesterday...

Fandom: The Case Study of Vanitas Ship: VaNoe Tags: M!Slash, domestic, fluff, hair-brushing, cute, denial of feelings, leaf piles Citrus Scale: Orange! Spoilers: none! Word Count: 943 AO3 Link: right here! Notes: I decided it would be fun to write an Autumn-themed one-shot, haha!

---

“You’re such a child.”

“You have no room to talk.”

Vanitas grumbled into his palm as he sat propped against his knee, eyes icily glaring at the wall ahead of him. Pouting his lip, he rolled his eyes as Noé sat behind him, the mattress dipping under his weight as he crossed his legs. He plucked one of the many leaves from Vanitas’ locks and sighed.

“Listen, I didn’t think your hair would be such a... a magnet,” Noé admitted, picking out more of the foliage from between the strands.

Scoffing, Vanitas leaned deeper into his angular pose, clutching his crossed ankle in his free hand as he resigned himself to Noé’s preening. “Then you shouldn’t have pushed me in the pile to begin with!”

“I didn’t push you, I pulled you—I jumped in it too!”

“Why would you even want to do that in the first place?”

“Because it’s fun to jump in a pile of leaves, especially the crunchy ones.”

“Country Bumpkin.”

“City-Dweller.”

As Noé continued to remove the sticks and crumpled leaf debris from Vanitas’ catastrophic introduction to rural traditions, the taste of remorse began to creep along his tongue. Of course he fought against rolling around in tree decay, but Vanitas fought against everything—that’s just who he is. And it’s that abrasiveness for anything under the moon that made it especially difficult for Noé to tell when he had struck a nerve. A real nerve, not a superficial one. Noé’s brows set in a firm line.

Why did Vanitas have to be so difficult to understand? At its core, it was this trait that defined Noé’s captivation with him.

Picking out the final leaf, Noé swept the remaining particulate into the trashcan at Vanitas’ feet. “Is that it then?” Vanitas asked, turning enough for Noé to see the blue hue of his irises. He paused, transfixed by the iridescent color. Vanitas chuckled softly. “What’s the matter now?”

“Well, I wanted to brush it too,” Noé admitted, fidgeting with his fingers for a moment.

“Why the hell would you want to do that?”

“Because your hair is pretty, and I’d like very much to continue feeling it.”

“Quoi?!” Vanitas jumped up with such force that he startled Murr from across the room. “That’s disgusting, you imbecile!” he shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Noé as he looked up at him.

Noé sighed. “I still find you horribly detestable, if that helps, but I’m not going to blame your hair for having to grow on your dumb head. Just let me brush it for a bit!”

“Ugh...” Snarling to himself, Vanitas clenched his fists at his sides. “You’re such a... Fine, but just for a minute.”

Sitting down in front of him again, Vanitas slouched heavily with his arms wrapped tightly around his chest as Noé beamed to himself for getting his way. Reaching over to the trunk at the foot of his bed, Noé fished out his bristle-brush before returning to his prior position. Vanitas heard Noé giggling behind him, and felt a burn igniting his cheeks as his heart thrummed.

With a soft touch, Noé loosened his ponytail, running his fingers between the strands as they cascaded down Vanitas’ back. The cut was asymmetrical at best, and a total hack-job at worst, but it was definitely befitting of the man’s character, and he couldn’t help his grin of amusement at the sight.

As the brush ran through his raven-dark hair, Noé found himself mesmerized by the sight of Vanitas sitting exposed before him. With gentle hands he continued the rhythmic motions, Vanitas sitting silently with his back towards him, blue eyes downcast as his fingers gripped the fabric of his coat tightly.

After a minute or two of the soft strokes, Vanitas was pained to report that the experience was not as unpleasant as he had anticipated. In fact, his posture loosened as he continued, and his eyelids drooped heavily with the metronome of his motions.

“There, all done!”

Vanitas jerked awake at the announcement, urging his expression to match the disgust he showed earlier. “It’s about time,” he said, rising to his feet in a stretch. As he leaned over in a dramatic toe-touch, he felt a weight on his shoulder as the bundle of hair fell onto his cheek.

“I braided it for you—I thought it might be fun...”

Standing upright, Vanitas admired the smooth pleats as he twisted the tied end between his fingers. Without his active attempt to maintain an air of contempt, his countenance slipped into a state of genuine appreciation, a softness appearing behind the usual harshness of his eyes. A blush rose to his cheeks.

“...It’s not bad, for a vampire.”

“Thank you! Domi taught me how to do it! Isn’t it pretty? It’s kind of difficult to do, but once I did it a few times it became a lot easier—”

As Noé continued to ramble on about the braid, Vanitas flipped his newly styled hair over his shoulder; upon closer inspection, he noticed it veered noticeably to his left.

“Oh, sorry, your hair isn’t symmetrical, so it’s going to mostly hang on one side. It’s still straight though if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Why would I care if it’s straight?”

Oops.

At that, Vanitas ducked his head and dashed for the window, clambering outside like an animal escaping its enclosure.

“W-Wait, Vanitas—!”

Before he could get another word in, Vanitas had already disappeared beyond the windowsill. Sitting on the slanted roof, Vanitas ran his thumb over the folds of the braid as his heart hammered in his chest and disgustingly human thoughts rushed through his mind.

[complicatedandstained]

The Other Day at Hot Topic: Do No Harm

It feels a little bit like the role of Vanitas has been recast halfway through their shift. 

The guy has started doing his work like a regular human being, going as far as offering to help Roxas finish restocking the piercing display and then not giving him shit about it. 

Although, to be fair, this could be because Vanitas was losing patience. Roxas, admittedly, has absolutely and entirely no idea what he is doing. Aqua had assumed Roxas knew a lot more about which metal stabs through which piece of skin than he does. 

Actually, Vanitas has taken to not talking to Roxas at all. He has his headphones back on and, if his volume is any indication, is doing his damnedest to broadcast his music throughout the entire store. Roxas has to refrain from singing along when Fall Out Boy comes on. 

But either way Roxas slices it, it’s a definite improvement. 

And then this super old man comes in, chugging along on a walker with balloons tied to his wrist. Orbiting him is a chattering, hyperactive, wholesomely chubby child, the kind of child you kind of want to hug. 

The old man has a scowl etched onto his face like it’s been there a while. He almost immediately begins to grumble about the low lighting and the loud music and the tight spaces between the aisles that make navigation with a walker near impossible. 

The child is wearing an extremely yellow Wilderness Explorer uniform, and explore he does—every square inch of the store seemingly all at once. He bumps off of display cases and walls like a human pinball, poking at the cheeks of stuffed animals and brushing his hands through the fabrics.

The old man continues his complaining from the front as he eyes the display cases, muttering about the dark colors and the flimsy material and the skimpy cuts. 

Vanitas keeps glancing between the two of them from his station near Anime where he’s restocking the Hello Kitty plush. Roxas imagines he’s examining camera angles, trying to decide who would be easier to take out first. Another glare the old man’s direction, and Roxas decides to step in, before his coworker does.

“Hey there! After anything in particular today?” Roxas asks. He’s halfway through adding new buttons to the magnetic boards of the display case by the register, and he holds out a handful with a smile. “Button?”

The old man looks taken aback. “Thanks, but,” the old man offers a quiet smile in return, tugging at the lapel of a worn suit jacket, where he has a round, pop bottle cap of his own pinned, “I have the only button I need.” 

Roxas feels a strange tingling in his chest at the sudden softness in the gruff man’s tone. Someone special must have given it to him. For a split second Roxas pictures Axel, hands splayed, eyes bright, telling him about stained glass windows.  

The conversation shatters as a childlike someone shouts, “I found it! I found it!” followed immediately by the sound of several hundred small boxes crashing down, and then a delayed, much quieter, “Uh-oh.”

“Russell…” the old man groans, shutting his eyes. 

The old man has stopped near the entrance, as he cannot easily navigate the tight passages between Hot Topic’s displays, so Roxas nods to him. “I’ll make sure he’s alright.”  

Roxas power walks through the aisles, until he gets to the wall-length Funko Pop display. Half a shelf is on the floor between Vanitas and the chubby, adorable scout, who has a single box clutched to his chest.

“This is the one!” The child beams and waves the box close enough to Vanitas face that Roxas is concerned the kid will lose a finger. “The Snipe! I found it!” 

Roxas freezes as Vanitas’ face twitches. With rigid movements the guy yanks down his headphones, says flatly, “Congratulations.”

Compared to all the potential curse words Roxas feared would leave his mouth, Roxas considers this reply basically praiseworthy. 

Vanitas eyes flit down to the mess again, his arms crossing, and the kid notices. 

“I am sorry about the mess,” Russell says, his bright voice painstakingly articulate, like maybe English isn’t his first language. Russell frowns, his dark eyebrows dipping low, troubled, dimples appearing in his round cheeks. “I will help you clean it up though!”  

Roxas takes a step forward, fully prepared to bodily restrain Vanitas if need be. 

“Psh.” Vanitas swats his hand toward the pile dismissively. “I’ve seen worse.”

Roxas is ready to give Vanitas a promotion at this point.

“Why don’t you go show Gramps your weird-as—weird-butt...bird thing.” 

“Okay!” Russell nods purposefully and then frowns, laughs. “Mr. Fredrickson is not my Grandpa though.” Vanitas’ face scrunches in mild confusion. “Oh?”

“Mr. Fredrickson is my best friend.” 

This is perhaps the single sweetest and saddest thing Roxas has ever heard.

With another radiant smile missing a couple key teeth, the child hugs his find to his chest once more and toddles off to the front of the store, chattering to the box, “I think I’ll call you ‘Kevin.’”

And for just a second, before Vanitas slips his headphones back on, with a slightly miffed shake of his head, Roxas thinks he sees Vanitas smile. 

*

Vanitas’ headphones have been off for a half hour now. Once Roxas had checked out Russell and Mr. Fredrickson, the Hot Topic workers set to doing serious damage control on the Pop Funkos. This entailed extensive sorting by platform, movie, and sale price, and some minor bickering about characters belong where, which made it abundantly clear that Roxas is the bigger nerd of the two and that Vanitas knows a weird amount about Star Wars.  

“God.” Vanitas passes Roxas the last couple obscure collectibles and whines, “Ordinarily, I’d just shove them all back on the shelf, and be done with it. Fucking kid. Fucking Axel. Fucking…” He leans forward to fix the one box threatening to fall back over. 

Roxas had thought Vanitas wanted to get fired, and now suddenly he’s vying for employee of the month. He shakes his head, sliding a hand in his pocket and looking out across the empty store.  “I don’t get you.”  

Vanitas lifts an angry-looking Hello Kitty penguin plush from the ground beside him and stares into its eyes like he sees some wisdom there. “You think I should just shut up and do my job, right?”

For a second Roxas wonders what the chances are that Vanitas hadn’t heard him and is simply talking to the penguin, but he decides those chances are fairly low. “It’d be easier…” Roxas mutters, fishing a few furry Chococat eye masks out of a cardboard box on the floor to help Vanitas with the display. 

“Wrong. You want to know why I wanted to get fired? This ‘job’ is a waste of my fucking time. I should be studying, interning. Literally scratching my eyeballs out would be more productive than this.” He lifts a Hello Kitty plush dressed as a cheeseburger up and shoves it in Roxas’ face like he’s trying to suffocate him and the plushie both.

Roxas rolls his eyes, and pushes Cheeseburger Kitty away. “Yeah, I’m sure the eyeball scratching pay is great…” I’ll ask Xion’s cat and get back to you.

“Ugh.” Vanitas adjusts a stack of Hello Kitty notebooks (regrettably not burger-themed) and accepts a handful of cat head topped gel pens from Roxas to add to the display cup beside it. This done he glowers at Roxas impatiently. “I forgot you don’t know shit. Look. I didn’t work my ass off getting a full ride to med school to wind up slaving away next to a bunch of sexually frustrated, punk wannabes.”

Roxas should be more offended about the last bit, but his brain gets stuck elsewhere. “You’re in med school?” A smile hits him in spite of himself. “Did they not warn you about the Hippocratic Oath?” 

Vanitas rams his shoulder into Roxas’ not hard enough to hurt, not light enough to be friendly. “Shut the fuck up.” Roxas considers Vanitas’ situation again, wondering why Vanitas is opening up to him now. “So, if you got a full ride, why work here?”

Vanitas sighs and shifts a few Sanrio nail polish sets over, then checks his own glossy white paint. “How much do you know about Xemnas?” Roxas glances up from his digging through the box. “The sexiest man alive?” Vanitas cringes, his fists balling up. “I fucking hate this place.”

“You…” Roxas hands him a couple more boxes of the polish sets, “disagree?” 

“He’s my uncle,” Vanitas says with venom. “He recently collected the family inheritance. He’s only in his thirties, and now he’s rich. Like, the filthy kind.” 

“Oh.” Roxas feels an uncomfortable pang his chest. Basically, Vanitas is telling him someone in his family recently died. So, either Vanitas is actually upset about that, or Vanitas didn’t know them that well and is just pissed he got the short end of the stick. But wouldn’t Vanitas’ parents have been next in line? Maybe they’d all been skipped?  “I’m sorry.” 

Vanitas doesn’t seem to hear him, pushes on, “Dear Uncle Xemnas is supposed to be helping me pay my rent and my bills, but he’s gotten it into his head that I need to learn to ‘be responsible’ and ‘make friends’ and all that elementary school bullshit. So now I’m working this stupid fucking minimum wage job. And if I don’t, I’m on my own.” 

Vanitas isn’t even looking at him anymore, he’s gripping the metal shelf of the display so hard his knuckles have gone bloodless. The sleeve of his blazer has slipped down, and Roxas can see tattoos running up from his wrist, red and blue veins, like his skin’s been flipped inside out. Med school, huh? Inheritance, suspension, friends… 

Roxas wonders if maybe Vanitas was just in desperate need of someone to dump this to. But why me? And how misanthropic do you have to be for your sexy uncle to blackmail you into having coworkers?

Then again, he did try to punch me in the face.  

“I mean…” Roxas considers patting Vanitas on the back with the Hello Kitty in his hand, but stops himself because he doesn’t want either to be ripped to shreds. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Vanitas whirls on him, face contorting. Roxas congratulates himself on the instinct not to give the guy a soothing pat. 

“You would say that. It’s fucking ridiculous. So what if I almost got suspended? I didn’t. So what if I don’t have any friends? I don’t need them.” Vanitas has gotten up in Roxas’ space again, the words harsh and direct, straight in his face. Roxas can feel a little spit fly. Roxas takes a long look at him, taking in what he’s heard, and maybe it’s just because Vanitas reminds him so much of a young Sora throwing a temper tantrum, or maybe it’s the two fights they’ve had earlier, but Roxas can’t bring himself to be angry with the guy any more. In fact, he’s starting to pity him a little bit. Roxas stares levelly, offers calmly, “Maybe friends would help.” 

Vanitas sneers, seizes Roxas’ shirt in his fists. Roxas lets him. 

“Wake up, sunshine. You’re not in elementary school anymore. Friendship isn’t magic. People always let you down. They let you down or they leave. Axel’s going to let you down. It’s better not to get attached.” Vanitas shoves Roxas’ chest and stalks off a few steps, but Roxas, being a black belt, catches himself easily, which seems to piss Vanitas off further when he glances back to see him still standing there. 

“You’re right,” Roxas says. 

“Huh?”

“Nobody’s perfect.” One of Roxas’ hands leave his pockets, lifts in a shrug. “Sometimes my best friends screw up. Sometimes they screw up a lot.” He almost laughs, thinking of Hayner, how many times he’s had to climb out of bed to pick him up, stumbling drunk. “But so do I.” I mean I dated Seifer, for Pete’s sake. He hadn’t thought anyone would forgive him for that, but, somehow, they had. “And at the end of the day, isn’t it enough that they care about me and that they tried?”

Roxas shifts his other hand out of its pocket, bringing a pack of Pop Rocks with it. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Axel. Maybe he is going to hurt me, but maybe our friendship is going to be amazing. I’m not going to let maybe stop me from trying. And neither should you.” 

“Ugh.” Vanitas runs his fingers down his face like he’s trying to scrub it clean. But when he drops them his tone seems more level, “Forget the advice, you’re a hopeless sap.”  

Roxas smiles sadly. “Whatever you say, Vanitas.”

Vanitas eyes him, more wary than annoyed. “You’re setting yourself up for disappointment.”

Roxas shrugs. “Maybe I am. What about Aqua?”

Vanitas stiffens. Roxas feels like he’s just watched his defenses go up, an invisible shield. 

Vanitas flexes his hand against the stuffed animal he’s holding a few times. “What about her?” he says at last.

Roxas keeps his words soft, “You guys are friends, aren’t you?”

“She’s not my friend,” Vanitas counters, words quiet but forceful. His nostrils flare, staring at Roxas and then he turns sharply, like he doesn’t want to look at Roxas anymore, and goes back to shoving stuffed animals onto a shelf with unnecessary force. “She’s a hopeless sap like you. That’s why I’m standing here balls deep in Hello Kitty merch. Doing my fucking job. Tell Axel that.”

Roxas has no idea what to make of this. There’s obviously a lot of shit going down with Vanitas that he doesn’t know the first thing about. He decides it’s time to tap out. Defuse this situation before Vanitas makes with the punching again. 

Vanitas is still waiting for a reply. 

Roxas frowns a bit. “The Hello Kitty thing, or...?”

Vanitas takes a step forward, like a bull stomping its foot before the charge. 

Roxas raises his hands in surrender accordingly. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell him you were doing your damn job. Gees.”

There’s a tense moment as Vanitas considers Roxas’ sincerity and then he nods. “Thank you.” He tosses another Cheeseburger Kitty at Roxas’ face.  “Now fuck off.”

[doubleberry-crunch]

Fight on the Bluffs

This happened during mine and Aqua’s vacation in Destiny Islands following the fall of Xehanort.

Ventus woke with a start, his body feeling clammy. His heart was pounding, as though he’d just got done running a marathon, and he wasn’t really sure why. He hadn’t exactly been dreaming of anything intense, especially since he’d just managed to fall asleep not too long ago. So why had he suddenly been ripped from his peaceful slumber? No one was in the room with him, as Aqua and he had been given separate rooms. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on what could have possibly made him wake up when an overwhelming sense of hopelessness suddenly took hold of him.

“What’s…”

Ven clutched at his chest, his heart aching for a moment before it slowly dissolved into what he could only describe as bitter numbness.

Where in the hell had that come from?

Something was wrong, he just knew it. But where, and how, he couldn’t be sure. Slowly Ven got up from the floor and threw on a shirt before heading to Aqua’s room down the hall. He rapped on her door a little louder then he intended, but it did the trick. A slightly delirious Aqua opened the sliding door a moment later, her eyes only half open.

“Mmh…Ven? What time is it?”

“I don’t know…but something’s wrong.”

She opened the door a little more, “What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it…I woke up out of a dead sleep. Then I had this really strong sense of bleakness that slowly just ebbed into a dull ache. I’m not sure what it means, but something isn’t right.”

Aqua frowned, looking concerned, “You sure it wasn’t just a bad dream or?”

Ventus shook his head, “It wasn’t, I’m sure of it,” he paused thinking a moment, “Should we maybe go see if Sora, Riku and Kairi are alright?”

“It’s the middle of the night; they’re probably all sleeping Ven.”

“I know…but I gotta make sure.”

“Alright…hopefully they’re alright. Let me know, okay?”

Ventus nodded and headed out to go check. If memory served, Sora had said Kairi and Riku would be staying at his place that night. So it would be easier to at least check on the three. As he left the inn and headed for Sora’s home, he could feel that ache starting to get a little stronger.

I must be on the right track then…

As he walked the street, that ache became slightly overwhelmed by a sense of dread when he saw Riku and Kairi outside, and they seemed to be looking for someone. Frowning, Ventus quickened his pace and hurried over to them.

“Guys, what are you doing out here? Where’s Sora?”

“Ventus,” Kairi breathed out, looking a bit flushed, “Did Sora come this way?”

“Did Sora…not that I know of, why?”

Kairi and Riku exchanged a worried glance and Ventus felt his stomach drop a little.

“What happened? Did you guys have a fight, or?”

“He got up in the middle of the night and tried to leave. He wouldn’t say what was wrong. When I tried to follow him he gave me the slip,” Riku sighed, looking at the ground, “Now we don’t know where he is.”

“Then I’ll help you look for him.”

Riku nodded, but frowned again, “Why are you out here though, Ven? You were pretty worn out after swimming all day.”

“I’m…not really sure. I just woke up and I felt like something was wrong,” he paused, thinking, “Do you think it’s got to do with Sora leaving?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible. Especially since you two had such a strong connection for so long,” Riku lamented.

“If that’s the case, then we might have a better chance of finding Sora with Ven’s help, right?” Kairi chimed in.

“Worth a shot, I suppose. Kairi and I are going to search over there. We haven’t had a chance to check downtown yet.”

Something told Ventus it wasn’t the right direction and he frowned, looking towards the lush jungle that led towards the high bluffs of the island’s coast.

“Alright…I’m going to go check that way. If we don’t find him, should we meet back at his house?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Riku and Kairi headed off into the downtown area and Ventus took off at a run for the bluffs.

  The tree line was dense, and dark, making it hard to see where he was going. He nearly tripped at least four times over loose tree roots or fallen branches. Finally the growth started to lessen and he could see the cliffs. As he broke through the tree line he spotted Sora and his heart sped up a little. He was on the ground his back to Ventus, but he wasn’t alone. There was a very large Figure standing in front of him near the edge of the cliff. What little light there was from the moon he cast out completely; covering Sora in shadow. He was bearing into the boy with his eyes; his blood red eyes. Ventus felt a shiver run up his back; he’d seen those eyes before, but not in many years.

“Sora!” He called out, running over as quickly as he could.

He bent down to check to see if the other boy was alright and Sora looked up at him, seeming dazed.

“V-Ventus? What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“I don’t know…I guess I kind of sensed it? What are you doing out here? Everyone’s looking for you.”

Sora seemed to shrink back at the question, “I well…”

“He was going to jump,” the Shadow snidely interjected.

Ventus’s attention snapped to the Shadow, “What did you say?!”

The Shadow sneered down at both of them, “Oh yes, it seems my dear Sora thought he could just give up. Why if it hadn’t been for me, he would have perished…”

“Your dear…” Ventus shook his head and looked over at Sora, “Is this true? Did you try to jump?”

Sora shut his eyes and turned away, as if ashamed, and the Shadow chuckled drawing Ven’s attention back to him.

“You see this is why he needs to come with me. He’ll be much better off.”

“Oh yeah?” Ventus growled standing up, “Looks to me like he doesn’t want to go with you either…”

“Who said I was giving him a choice?”

Ventus clenched his fists, “I remember you…from all those years ago. You appeared to M-to Xehanort. You were after me for some reason then, and he wouldn’t let you near me. I’m not going to let you near Sora either…”

Ventus called his keyblade to his hand and it sprang forth in a burst of light, and the Shadow sneered even harder, if that were possible.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with, child. Just like your other half, I see. So reckless…”

Ventus blinked, feeling confused, “My other half? You mean Vanitas?”

The Shadow chuckled, “Oh yes. I’m…intimately familiar with Vanitas. Tell me, how’s he been?”

Ventus clutched his keyblade tighter, feeling his anger rising for reasons he didn’t fully understand.

“Shut up! Just get the hell away from Sora, or I’ll make you leave!”

“It will be amusing to see you try…” the Shadow growled, his eyes narrowing.

Ventus didn’t hesitate; he charged towards the large Shadow man and swung, but by the time his hit should have connected with something, the Shadow had already moved out of the way. Ventus’s eyes widened when he caught a flash of a fist right before it connected with his chest and sent him flying. Ventus landed a short distance away on his back, the air leaving his lungs.

He’s deadly fast…

Groaning, Ventus tried to sit up a bit, waiting for the Shadow’s next attack; but when he looked, the Shadow was gone. A feeling of panic shot through him and he spun around to look at Sora. The Shadow was lifting the slightly listless boy up by the front of his shirt; Sora struggled a little, but didn’t seem to have the energy for such a fight.

“You’re coming with me. No more of this running…”

An intense rage flared up inside him and Ventus found the strength to stand.

“Get away from him!”

The Shadow turned in time to see the keyblade nearly connect with his face, but he managed to avoid it by an inch. He sneered, dropping Sora, who hit the ground with a muted thud.

“Well well, what’s this I see? Vanitas, my pet, is that you?”

Ventus glared, “What are you talking about?”

The Shadow was suddenly in front of him, and Ventus felt his body freeze. Was it from fear or perhaps the intensity of his gaze? The Shadow reached out a hand and grabbed his chin, tilting it up. He seemed to study his features a bit and frowned.

“How curious,” he mused, “The right color, but the wrong person…”

“Take your hands off me, you creep!”

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and leapt out from his shadow on the ground. It launched itself at the Shadow man and hit him square in the face. The Shadow recoiled, clutching one side of his face and Ventus blinked, stunned. The small, amorphous blob landed on the ground and took shape, and it appeared to be an Unversed.

“How in the-”

“So, that’s how you want to play, is it, pet?”

The Shadow chuckled and Ventus took a step back when the Shadow’s form split into three, and two more copies of him seemed to appear. All three rushed him at the same time and Ventus had almost no time to react. He was fast, but the Shadow was faster. For every blow he seemed to inflict, the Shadow got twice as many hits in on him, and after a time they started to take their toll. Without his armor or even anything remotely protecting on his body aside from his night ware, he was getting bruised up pretty severely. Not to mention he was still wore out from their battle with Xehanort.

A swift kick hit him hard in the side and Ventus was sent flying again, the rocky ground cutting into him, leaving him weak when he finally came to a stop. He groaned trying to get to his feet as the Shadow approached him. He bent down to his level and grabbed onto the back of his hair, hauling him up a little. Ventus cried out from the pain and glared at him.

“You know Ventus, you could come with me too. I do admit I miss having your other half around. I dare say I’ve grown quite fond of him as well…”

A trickle of blood dripped down his nose from an earlier blow and he wiped at it with the back of his hand.

“No thanks…”

The Shadow pressed his face into the dirt, “A shame, I’d hate to be rid of such a wonderful pet, but my real prize is waiting for me. And I can’t have you telling anyone where he’s gone. So I think I’ll just end you and save myself the trouble…”

Dammit, I have to do something…

“Any last words, pet?”

Ventus closed his eyes, trying to think of someway, anyway to get out of this situation when an unknown yet familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind the Shadow.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few words for you.”

Ventus cracked an eye open in time to see a familiar, although black and white, keyblade pierce the Shadow through his chest. The Shadow released his hair and looked down at the protrusion, stunned.

“Get the fuck away from my body and never touch me or Sora again.”

The person ripped their keyblade back out, and the Shadow clutched at the wound in his chest. It didn’t appear to be bleeding, but there was a smoky, black substance that was rising from the hole. He growled low in his throat as he staggered to his feet.

“Well played, pet…”

“Call me that again if you want me to cut you in half…”

The Shadow chuckled, “I know when I’ve lost. But make no mistake this battle is far from over.”

“It is tonight. Now get the hell away…”

The Shadow staggered away towards the dark tree line, seeming to melt into the surrounding darkness. Before Ven could blink, he was gone. He finally turned his head to look at who had saved him but they were already fading away. He did catch a glimpse of a familiar looking helmet with the emblem of the Unversed emblazoned on it before the figure had gone completely.

“Vanitas?”

Ventus thought he heard a faint, but snarky ‘you’re welcome’ but he couldn’t be sure. He breathed out, relieved that he and Sora were alright. He looked over at him still sitting on the ground. He seemed to be staring at his shoes, unaware of what was going on around him. Ventus frowned and limped over to him to see if he was alright.

“Sora?” He called, touching the boy’s shoulder.

Sora flinched a little but looked up at him, “Ventus…I…”

Ventus gave him a small, but warm smile, “Hey, it’s alright. I’m sorry if I sounded angry earlier, I was just worried.”

“Yeah…”

Ventus gingerly sat down next to him, “Anything you want to talk to me about?”

Sora looked away, hugging his knees to his chest. Ventus sighed and patted his shoulder.

“We can just sit here too, that’s fine.”

Sora nodded and the two of them sat there for what felt like several minutes before Sora finally spoke up.

“I just…I can’t do it anymore, Ventus…”

“Hm? Can’t do what?”

“I can’t keep pretending like everything is alright. Like I can just smile and walk it off. I can’t do it. Ever since the Mark of Mastery, I-”

Ventus frowned and scooted closer, “Sora, no one expects you to just grin and bear anything. What you went through would challenge even the strongest heart.”

“My heart’s not strong…it was never strong.”

“Of course it is,” Ven insisted, “You’re one of the strongest people I know. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t kept my heart safe for so long.”

“I suppose…”

Ventus sighed, unsure of what else he could say, and scratched at the back of his head. They had been out there for quite a while, and no doubt Riku and Kairi would be getting worried that he hadn’t returned to their meeting place yet. He needed to get Sora back. Standing and stretching lightly he offered the other boy his hand to help him stand. Sora stared blankly at it a moment before finally accepting it. Ven kept a light hold on it as he led him and Sora back to the tree line.

Sora let himself be led about halfway through the path, but when he could see the outlines of buildings through the foliage, he tried to bolt back towards the cliffs. Ventus grabbed onto his hand tighter, causing them both to almost trip over an exposed root in the ground.

“Just let me go!”

“Sora, stop this! Come on, we’re almost back to town!”

“I don’t want to go back!” He screamed, trying to pull his arm free.

“Well you’re not going to the cliffs again,” Ventus insisted, his voice cracking a little, “I can’t let you. I won’t.”

“Ventus please…”

Sora looked back at him, his face covered in tears and snot, and Ventus thought he felt his heart breaking.

“Look I…Sora, if you don’t want to see them right now, I can take you back to my room at the inn. But I’m not going to let you go off and hurt yourself, or worse. You’re one of my closest friends…”

Sora stared at him a moment before he seemed to finally relent. He sighed, nodding, before letting Ventus finally lead him back onto the paved street. They walked a little ways, Sora keeping his head down, as Ventus contemplated on what to do.

I can’t just take him back and not let Riku or Kairi know he’s alright. They’d kill me for sure…

It turned out he wouldn’t have to debate that after all. He glanced down the street to see Riku and Kairi running towards them.

“Sora!”

At the sound of his name Sora finally looked up when Riku called to him. Ventus felt him tug backwards a little, as though he were thinking of running off again, but when Riku was only a few feet from him, Sora froze.

“Sora, what the hell were you doing? Do you know how worried Kairi and I have-hey…hey, don’t cry, what’s wrong?”

Sora’s knees gave out from under him and it took everything Ventus had to keep him from smacking them on the pavement. Riku quickly closed the distance and pulled Sora into a hug as he sobbed. Sora didn’t seem to have the energy to return it, and opted to simply hang limply in the white-haired boy’s arms. Riku shushed him, lightly rubbing his back and sighed before looking up at Ventus. He silently mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him before giving Sora a small kiss on the top of his head. As Kairi finally caught up to the three, she motioned for Ventus to the side. He nodded and they backed off a few steps before she asked him a question.

“Where was he? We looked all over for him.”

Ventus sighed, and took a deep breath, “The bluffs. Only…he wasn’t alone. There was this big Shadow man there with him. He said Sora tried to jump, and he tried to take Sora away somewhere.”

“What!” Kairi covered her mouth for a moment before she spoke again, “Are you sure?”

Ventus frowned a little, “I’ve got the bruises to prove it…so yeah…I don’t know why he was after Sora…”

“He tried to take Sora after the Exam too…”

Ventus blinked, “He did?”

Kairi nodded, “He disappeared. We had no idea where he’d gone to. Then he showed back up when we were getting ready to go look for him outside the tower. He told us someone named…Vanitas helped him get away.”

“I see…”

“Either way…I’m just glad he’s alright,” she sighed, hugging Ventus, “Thank you for finding him.”

“Of course,” he nodded, hugging her back.

“Kairi,” Riku called.

He was hefting Sora to his feet, and nodded for her to come help him. She obliged and walked over to Sora’s other side, putting her arm around his waist. The three friends started heading back, Ventus following behind them. He at least wanted to make sure Sora was back at home safely before he returned to the inn. Though he doubted he would be able to fall back asleep, even as tired and sore as he was; especially not with the nagging thought at the forefront of his mind.

Vantias…why did you help Sora? Why did you help me?

Even if he had expected to get an answer, one never came to him.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 11/15/17

SEAN: The November from hell continues – a second week of the month is supposed to be quiet!

J-Novel has a couple of titles to start us off. The 6th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is one of them.

The other is a debut, and may be familiar to anime fans. Outbreak Company is another of those pesky isekai novels, about an anime and manga otaku who ends up trapped in another world.

Kodansha has a ton. The debut digital title (actually already out this week, because Kodansha) is I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World, a shoujo title from the creator of House of the Sun that’s been running in Dessert, about a quiet, negative girl who somehow attracts the attention of the school prince. Wow, we’ve never seen that before.

MICHELLE: And certainly not from Dessert specifically!

ANNA: That sounds so new!!!!!

SEAN: And for digital fans, we also have Chihayafuru 6, Drowning Love 4, House of the Sun 10, Kokkaku: Moment by Moment 2, Magical Sempai 3, and Peach Heaven 9. Phew.

MICHELLE: I’ll be picking of several of those!

ANNA: Cannot believe I need to get caught up on Chihayafuru!

SEAN: Kodansha still has print, believe it or not. We have the penultimate volume of Fairy Tail, the 62nd.

There’s also a 2nd Frau Faust, whose title I recommend singing to the Gershwin song “By Strauss”.

ASH: Frau Faust is the thing! (I greatly enjoyed the first volume and am looking forward to reading more.)

SEAN: The Seven Deadly Sins is glaring at Fairy Tail with jealousy as it releases its 23rd volume.

And UQ Holder’s 12th volume just gives in and straight up has the Negima cast on its cover.

One Peace has a 7th manga volume for The Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has four new titles, with Generation Witch 2, Holy Corpse Rising 4, My Monster Secret 8, and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 5.

SuBLime has the debut of A Strange and Mystifying Story, which seems to have a guy with elf ears, but otherwise sees the typical vaguely predatory BL cover art.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had no idea this series (formerly published by DMP) had been rescued! The first two volumes were pretty good (despite some problematic consent issues), but it seems to have taken a turn for the better in volume three. I’m glad to have the chance to finish the series!

ASH: Sean, those are obviously wolf ears. Like Michelle, I’m glad to see this series being rescued!

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 3rd volume of the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing manga.

Every time we see a new volume of Requiem of the Rose King, it has a tendency to be Pick of the Week here at Manga Bookshelf. I don’t expect that to change with Vol. 7.

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: I do love this series so.

ANNA: It is the best.

SEAN: And we’re at 25 volumes of Rin-Ne with still no plot progression.

MICHELLE: Yep.

SEAN: Yen Press has the rest of the week, starting with the novel line. A Certain Magical Index left off last time with the heroines swapped to the wrong guy. Can they solve this problem and deal with another invasion from the Catholic… sorry, Roman Orthodox church? Find out in lucky book 13.

Durarara!! has an 8th volume, and will likely feature Izaya being smug and punchable, be warned.

And more dead girls arrive in the 2nd Magical Girl Raising Project.

Yen has one debut next week, a new spinoff from Sword Art Online. Called Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, it’s based on a light novel (as yet unlicensed) by the Kino’s Journey creator, and features a whole new cast, I believe.

There are only two manga based on light novels out next week, not counting SAOA. KonoSuba reaches its fifth volume, and Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has Vol. 4.

And there’s a large number of continuing titles, which I will list as follows: Anne Happy 7, The Case Study of Vanitas 3, Delicious in Dungeon 3, Demonizer Zilch 4, Dimension W 8, First Love Monster 8, Girls Last Tour 3, Puella Magi Tart Magica 5, The Royal Tutor 4, Today’s Cerberus 6, and Trinity Seven 11. Of that pile, Delicious in Dungeon seems the most promising to me.

MICHELLE: Same.

ASH: Delicious in Dungeon is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to, although there are a few others in there that I’ve been meaning to get around to reading.

SEAN: Are you keeping up? Or hopelessly behind? What are you getting?

MICHELLE: So totally hopelessly behind.

ANNA: Indeed.

By: Sean Gaffney

[fairy-writes]

Hi! first of all sorry if there are any mistakes, I am not fluent in English so I am using translator. I've read some one-shots you've done and loved them, so when I saw the event I got excited and wanted to ask if it would be possible to request a one-shot, (or a review, whatever makes you more comfortable), of Roland Fortis (vnc) with the song N°29 (Can't Take My Eyes Off You). It's also my first time requesting, so I'm very sorry if I did something wrong! and Congrats on 800 followers!!

CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Fandom(s): The Case Study of Vanitas

Pairing(s): Roland Fortis x Gender Neutral!Reader

Song: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli

Notes: Based on the song, not a song fic because it’s a bit longer, and I don’t want to inundate people with mediocre writing, lol

__________________________________________________________________________

Roland was watching you. 

You could feel it.

Feel his green eyes watching your every move. 

You were currently engrossed in a book, the train you were on rocking gently beneath you. Your lover sat beside you, his book open, but he obviously wasn’t reading. He hadn’t turned a single page in precisely thirty minutes. Not that you were keeping track.

You turned to him abruptly, but his gaze was suddenly on his book. 

So that was his game, hm?

The two of you played cat and mouse with you trying to catch his eye, with him stubbornly refusing to meet it every time. But he wasn’t angry. You would’ve been able to tell if he was. 

It was almost playful. 

You weren’t exactly frustrated, per se, but you wanted to know what he wanted. He only stared at you like this when he wanted something. Time and time again, whether it was a hug or kiss, or something else, he watched you more often than he didn’t. 

You were both Chasseurs, you could take care of yourselves, but you even felt his gaze on you when you fought vampires or other enemies. And it put him in danger. Scolding him had done nothing. He had only said he wanted to make sure you were okay. 

Eventually, you gave up trying to argue with him. 

After a while of this game, you reached your limit. 

“Why are you staring, Roland?” You asked, keeping your eyes on your book. Then, you felt his gaze on you again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, love.” He chirped, and now you turned to glare at him. But your frustration doesn’t stop your heart from racing at his pet name. He knew you got flustered and used it to distract you. 

Just like now. 

“I can feel you watching me. Surely I’m not that interesting.” You reply, and he grins,

“I think you are one of the most interesting people in the world.” He says sweetly, and you feel your ears burn. 

You never do figure out why he stares at you. Not until he tells you on one peaceful night when the moon is high, and you’re both nursing injuries from your latest mission. 

You’re in the middle of wrapping the injuries on his back and around his torso when he speaks. 

“Want to know why I stare at you?” He asks suddenly, and you pause momentarily before resuming. 

“I always want to know. But I accept the fact that I will never know.” You reply. 

Rolan shifts to turn and look at you, taking your hands in his and looking you in the eye. 

“It’s because I love you. It’s because I want to cement your features in my memory if something happens and I can’t ever see you again. I want—”

“Roland, Roland! You’re making it sound like I’m about to die!” You hurriedly cut him off, panic coloring your tone, and he smiles sadly. 

“We live a dangerous life, my love.” He says softly, and you reach forward to cup his cheeks, leaning in to press a kiss to his nose. 

“I promise not to die. I’ll always come home to you. Alright? I swear it. I’ll always come back alive.” You whisper, and his smile brightens before he kisses you.

He only wishes you had kept your promise. 

[havvki-writes]

Sleeping the Chill Away

VaNoe has consumed me, everyone run away haha

Fandom: The Case Study of Vanitas Ship: VaNoe Tags: there was only one bed, fluff, banter, cuddling Citrus Scale: Orange! Spoilers: N/A Word count: 1,503 AO3 Link: right here! Notes: Sorry for posting this a little late! I finished it last night but I was super tired so I just crashed as soon as I was done haha I hope you like it!

---

“Oh, there you two are!” said Amelia, her countenance sparking to life at the sight of Vanitas and Noé trudging down the hall towards their room door. “I’ve been waiting to give you a message, but I didn’t expect for you to get here at such a late hour,” she admitted.

“Ah, forgive us, Mademoiselle Amelia,” Noé said, always the conversationalist. “We got caught up in some business.”

“You got lost and I had to find you, moron,” Vanitas growled as he shoulders slouched further. “Not to mention it’s so cold outside I even thought of abandoning you a few times.”

A quirked smile adorned Amelia’s features as she watched the two of them argue, their coats covered in a layer of snowflakes and boots trailing icy particulate over the floor. Winter was finally beginning to settle in over Paris, and it could be felt all throughout its inhabitants—much to the chagrin of one particularly irritable vampire-specialist.

“You said you had something to tell us, Amelia?” Noé asked, turning away from a fuming Vanitas to face the young woman standing in front of the door.

“Ah, yes,” she began, fidgeting with her fingers behind her back as she spoke. “Well, I have some good news and some bad news about your room... You see, the hotel is undergoing renovations to accommodate more modern technology, and today some men came by to install a new astermite-fueled furnace in your suite.”

“Thank the stars above, I think I’m freezing to death as we speak.” Vanitas grumbled, gripping his coat tighter over his shoulders.

Amelia looked askance, rocking on her heels. “U-Um, yes, about that...” As the two men stared at her expectantly, Amelia hid her face behind her hands. “There was an accident. One of the gentlemen was unaware of Murr, and, he, um... He tried to get away from him, and knocked the furnace in the process.”

“Ugh, that is just my luck! It broke, didn’t it?”

“The furnace, um, wasn’t the only thing that broke...”

At that, Vanitas pushed Amelia aside—Noé caught her by the waist, steadying her before following his partner—and flung the door open, making a beeline for his and Noé’s shared living space only to find that his bed had been removed entirely from the room. As he slowly turned to face the poor woman, his eyes glared daggers into her soul.

“Amelia?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Where’s my bed?”

She sputtered, looking everywhere except for Vanitas himself, his bitterness cold enough to give the weather outside a run for its money. “It, um, was a casualty, sir.” He quirked a brow, and she felt a chill run down her spine. “Y-You’ll have a new one tomorrow, Monsieur Vanitas! Along with the new furnace! We’re deeply sorry for the inconvenience!” she shouted, bowing her head to the floor.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, Vanitas. Thank you for letting us know, Mademoiselle. You should go get some sleep now—I’m sure you’re quite tired!” Noé said, attempting to soothe the situation. Amelia thanked him for his kindness, bowing at him as well before taking her leave. Noé looked at Vanitas from the corner of his vision as Murr hopped onto his shoulder.

“Just when I was finally going to sleep indoors...”

“You can have mine.”

“Pardon?”

Noé slid his coat over his shoulders, hanging it on a peg beside the door as Murr rubbed his head against his legs. “I sleep inside every night—I can bear a night on the floor,” he said, the nonchalance in his tone irking Vanitas further.

Removing his own coat and other effects, Vanitas’s eyes remained narrow as he said, “That’s not going to happen either, Noé. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

In a swift movement, Noé strode over to Vanitas and looked down at him with an intensity. “You sleep on the roof every night, so sleep in my bed!”

“I refuse!”

“I refuse your refusal!”

“That’s—! That’s not how—!” As Vanitas continued to sputter and gesticulate, Noé merely continued preparing to sleep. Sliding past Vanitas, he entered the bathroom to brush his teeth and change, the man continuing to air his grievances outside the door. The more he spoke, the more Noé began to notice a trend in his speech. It was all “Noé, that’s not how this works!” this, and “Noé, this is all wrong!” that.

As Noé exited the bathroom, Vanitas made his way inside. He was still grumbling to himself on the other side of the door, which, oddly enough, brought a gentle smile to Noé’s face.

Once Vanitas was finished, he opened the door with a flourish. “And another thing—!” he began, screeching to a halt once he saw Noé sitting on the only surviving bedframe. “What?”

“I think you like to argue for the sake of arguing,” Noé admitted, gazing sidelong at him.

“That’s preposterous! What on Earth made you think that?! I have never—” Noé arched a brow, and the words halted in Vanitas’ throat. “Fine, fine. I can be agreeable.”

“Can you? Do you think you can even go one night without arguing with me?”

This was already a challenge.

“Yes.”

“Wonderful,” Noé said, the ghost of a smirk toying over his lips as he turned towards the head of the bed. “Then this is your pillow, and this is mine.”

Vanitas paused.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“We’re sharing the bed, Vanitas.”

A million and one retorts flew this his head at record speed, only to be kept in line by biting the inside of his cheek. “What point are you trying to make here?” he finally asked, cheeks dusting pink as he clenched his fists at his side.

“That you refuse to do what’s best for you unless forced. And so I’m forcing you,” Noé said, his tone surprisingly even despite his words.

He pursed his lips tightly, fighting against the insults searing in his brain and the thundering of his heart against his chest. “Fine, but I get the edge.”

Noé smiled—a genuine smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners—and flopped down against his designated spot beside the wall. As Vanitas went to join the vampire, he tried desperately to maintain a resigned expression. He only hoped Noé knew how to keep to himself at night...

And the two lay in bed together, Vanitas gazing at the ceiling as he lay on his back, Noé doing the same at his side. Even with the layers of blankets thrown on top of them, the room was bitterly cold; the blue hue of the moonlight only made the room feel icier. Vanitas couldn’t help as his body began to shiver, and with his shoulder pressed firmly against Noé’s, he was certain the man at his side was aware of this.

Thankfully, Noé said nothing, his silence releasing a tension in his breath as more shivers wracked his frame. The last thing he could handle at this time was Noé pressing him about his body’s reaction to the cold. Still, did Vanitas really find it so annoying when Noé showed concern for him?

His cheeks flushed crimson. Of course he did! People should mind their damn business, even Noé. The thought alone of Noé showing genuine concern for him was... was...

“Vanitas?”

...Revolting. It had to be, the only alternative being...

“Vanitas!”

Jerking into the present, Vanitas turned to look at the vampire beside him. “What the devil is wrong with you?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he lay stiff as a board.

While Vanitas had been in his anger-fueled reverie, Noé had shifted to his side and was currently gazing at the man with a horrible honesty. His light brows furrowed, his expression pulling taut as he watched for Vanitas’ reaction. “Your teeth are chattering,” he murmured, his voice somehow deeper than Vanitas remembered. “You’re shivering, too.”

“So?” Had he been?

In the silence that followed, Noé’s fingers touched Vanitas’ arm from under the covers—the skin was cold as ice, and his body was shivering so intensely that he couldn’t pull himself from the vampire’s touch. Without another word, Noé maneuvered his arms around Vanitas’ chilled frame, wrapping one over his chest and another behind his shoulders as he pulled the man against him, shifting the both of them so that they lay on their sides.

Vanitas squirmed for a moment, but the warmth radiating from Noé’s chest was too enticing. He soon allowed himself to be swaddled by his heat, the exhaustion of the day hitting him all at once as he melted into Noé’s embrace. Behind him, Noé nuzzled is face against the crook of his neck, squeezing him tighter as he fell into a deep slumber.

Despite whatever his internal voice might say, Vanitas could not deny the comfort of the experience—and in the back of his mind, in a secluded section untouched by his own fetters and restraints, he hoped the two of them would find themselves in this position once again.

[havvki-writes]

Five-Word Comfort Zone

I woke up and chose depression

Fandom: The Case Study of Vanitas Ship: VaNoé Tags: M!Slash, confessions gone wrong, angst, unrequited love, not soft Citrus Scale: Orange! Spoilers: mentions of scenes from up to Chapter 50, nothing huge--just interactions and such Word count: 1,271 AO3 Link: right here! Notes: not gonna lie, i hurt my own feelings with this one

---

Just say it, say those five words and everything will be okay.

Swallowing against his dry throat, Noé fought tooth and nail against the rapid hammering of his heart against his chest. He forced a chuckle past his lips as he plastered a half-smile on his face. “I still don’t like you,” he said, and then finished whatever it was he wanted to say.

Vanitas would always turn his head away, gazing into the distance with a forlorn look in his eyes and an arm wrapped around his chest. His silence revealed everything Noé needed to know: their relationship had been on thin ice since the start. However, Noé had started to notice the splinters as of late.

That’s the way every encounter with Vanitas that went even slightly below the surface would go. There had been no exceptions to this formula. In the back of his mind, Noé feared what would happen should he choose not to say those five words, those words Vanitas implicitly demanded he say as security against his worst nightmare.

~ ~ ~

One night, as Vanitas sat on the ledge of the bell tower, Noé felt the divide between them lengthen with each painful pulse, the agony wracking against his bones as he stood beside him yet not with him. While Vanitas had gone to this spot for lonesome solace, to gaze at the city as the sun spilled beyond the horizon, Noé had merely followed him like a moth drawn to flame. And as Vanitas drummed his fingers on the cement platform, he began to worry he had overstayed his welcome.

“You’re intruding,” Vanitas said, his words slicing through the stiff air between them.

“I’m sorry,” Noé murmured as his gaze fell to his shoes. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he struggled to steady his breath as the drum of Vanitas’ clawed gloves grated against his ears.

Vanitas threw the vampire a sidelong glare, cocking a brow as he watched him incredulously. “Huh? Since when have you been sorry for intruding my space?”

Biting the inside of his lip, the least he could do was keep himself from getting flustered in front of him. “Look, I wanted to talk to you,” he started, the words creeping up from his throat.

“He’ll never know how you feel unless you tell him.”

It was the same advice he’d given Jean-Jacques at Gévaudan, and yet Noé found himself struggling to heed it. This was so much more difficult than he had anticipated...

“Spit it out then,” Vanitas snapped.

“Oh no, this is a bad time, isn’t it? He’s already angry with me and I haven’t even spoken yet!”

“I was thinking about how fickle life is, and how, if things had been different, it would have been you I had fought back at Gévaudan. I just wanted to say that... I’m glad the man I met on the airship that night called himself a Vampire Specialist and not a Chasseur,” he said, the words gushing out of him with more intensity than he had intended. Chancing a glance down at him, Noé was met with piercingly blue eyes staring back at him. As the last rays of sunlight illuminated his features in a golden glow, Vanitas held Noé’s violet gaze with anticipation. “And I wanted to say that I—”

“Humans are disgusting creatures.”

The words caught in his throat, and he stammered as the words jumbled in his head.

“The thought of someone being in love with someone as horrible as me... it’s absolutely vile!”

Vanitas’ countenance shifted, and as he stood to better meet Noé’s floundering form, his contempt faded away. His heartbeat stopped, frozen in his chest as the icy hand of fear crept up his spine. This wasn’t normal for Noé.

“What’s wrong?”

Snapping back into reality, Noé couldn’t tear his eyes from Vanitas as he watched with bated breath to hear what he had to say. He was transfixed by the beauty of the man before him, and the worry and agony painted across his visage was enough to tug his heart from his chest.

“W-Well, I,” he trailed, a hot blush rising to his features.

“What is it?!”

The desperation in his voice hurt Noé more than he wanted to admit, and it only served as a catalyst to free the words from the barrier of his tongue.

“I-I’m in love with you, Vanitas!”

The silence.

The silence was more than he could bear. It was agonizing, it was torture, it was—

“No you don’t.”

“What?” Who was he to say that? “Yes I do!”

“No, you don’t!” Vanitas bellowed, the gentleness and worry from his previous mask slipping away. “That’s impossible, it’s not true, you do not love me. You don’t even know what love is.”

Of all the emotions Noé thought he would feel if this were to happen, he didn’t expect for irritation to be at the forefront. Without hesitation, he reached out for Vanitas, grabbed his shoulders, and—right as Vanitas attempted to argue—kissed him.

Taken utterly by surprise, Vanitas whimpered against Noé’s warm lips, eyes wide and hands raised as Noé’s grip loosened. As his thumb caressed his cloaked shoulder, Vanitas was struck by a hot feeling behind his ribs. What was this feeling? What had Noé done to his senses? Did he like this?

His lips quivered, unchecked emotions rising to the surface as he clenched his muscles and pushed Noé backwards. Their lips separated with a smack, and his heart only throbbed harder.

“No you fucking don’t!”

Noé sucked in a deep breath, the corners of his lips tugging down despite the bright flush that still adorned his cheeks. His brows furrowed as Vanitas shouted.

“That’s...That’s... That’s just not possible! Humans and vampires are foul, loathsome, disgusting, wretched creatures, and I’m the worst of them all—there’s no way anyone would fall for me, and if they did, it would only mean that they’re even more horrible for thinking I’m—for thinking I’m—!” He sputtered, the words escaping him before he could stop it, the growl in his tone burning its way through each word before screeching to a halt. He couldn’t breathe. “You’re absolutely abhorrent, Noé.”

Each word serrated Noé like a knife until he was nothing more than a bleeding creature before him. His eyes stung with bitter tears, and his throat tightened painfully as he tried and failed to catch his breath.

“Okay,” Noé whispered, unable to speak any louder.

Gritting his teeth, Vanitas turned on his heels and jumped from the tower to the nearest rooftop, nearly losing his footing as he ran over the shingles as fast as his legs would carry him. Noé merely watched as he made his escape, unable to move his body to follow him. Oh, how he wanted to follow him—but something told him we wouldn’t like that. So, he resigned to letting him run.

Throwing himself through the hotel window, Vanitas slammed with shutters closed and drew the curtains tightly before making his way to the entrance and bolting the door shut, locking the chain for good measure, and finally making a beeline to the bathroom. He wasn’t a messy crier, truly, but this entire experience was foreign to him. Sliding down the wall to collapse on the cold floor, Vanitas curled his legs against his chest and wrapped his arms around himself, sobs beginning to wrack his frame.

And as Noé leaned against the brick pillar at his back, and as his own tears began to overflow, he began to wonder if he just had his heart broken.