“Vanitas? Why is your hair down?” Ventus tilted his head and furrowed his brows, just a little confused. Vanitas looked different, softer. He looked softer without spiked hair.

            Vanitas glanced over at the blonde, his crooked smile sending shivers down his spine. “Mm? ‘Bout time you got up. The others will be here soon. Go get dressed.” Confused, Ventus did as he was told, turning down a hallway just behind him, walking deeper into the familiar house.

            “So… who’s coming over? And where am I?” Ventus began to question the boy in front of him, unsure what exactly was going on.

            “Pretty much everyone. And you’re at mine and Sora’s new place, duh.” Ventus nodded, somehow everything made sense, felt familiar, normal. “I guess it’s not much of a surprise you don’t remember, since both you and Sora showed up drunk as hell last night.” The ravenette’s eye twitched, and Ventus smirked, barely able to hold his laughter in.

            “Did we? Oops.” The door opened as Ventus burst out laughing, much to the other male’s annoyance.

            “Sorry we’re late! We couldn’t find each other,” Sora laughed, suddenly beside Ventus as their friends streamed in; Riku, Axel, Naminé, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Kairi, Aqua. Pretty much everyone, just like Vanitas had said.

            “Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!” the group of friends chanted, laughing as the flustered brunette planted a big wet one on his boyfriend.

            “What the heck is going on…” Ventus murmured, searching the eyes of each person in the room. They had all just been in the kitchen, when did they settle down in the living room?

            “No idea. Your friends are idiots.” Vanitas answered the blonde, causing Ventus to jump at his sudden presence. The ravenette took a sip of whatever was in his cup and settled down next to him, not giving it a second thought. Warmth seemed to radiate off the unusually soft spoken male and Ventus smiled, inching closer to him, suddenly feeling much braver than before. Vanitas glanced at him, raising a brow, but not moving away, turning his attention to the group in front of him.

            “Oh, why don’t you just kiss already!” Axel groaned, earning a few snickers from around the room.

            Vanitas scoffed, rolling his eyes and mussing up his hair. “As if.” He laughed, dismissing even the thought of sharing something so intimate with the boy next to him.

            Ventus frowned, focusing his gaze on Sora as he tried to avoid staring at Vanitas. Something inside him hurt, ached. Like someone had reached in, and tore his heart out, crushing his stomach and bruising his lungs in the process. It was a dull, painful throb, pulsating throughout his entire body, from the end of his toes to the tips of his fingers to the crown of his head. He pushed out a low, shallow breath, calming himself before tears had a chance to spring into existence.

            “Would it really be so bad if we kissed?”

            The others had already stopped paying attention long before Ventus whispered out the simple question, his focus returning to the ravenette, wondering if he had heard, torn between hoping he did and hoping he didn’t.

            His eyes widened, just slightly, and he looked away form the blonde, blush threatening to creep onto his face. Ventus’ face was already a pale pink, gradually getting darker as he realized Vanitas really had heard him.

            Then, it happened so fast. Vanitas wrapped his arms around the blonde’s neck, pulling him close and pressing his lips to Ventus’, slowly, carefully, as though afraid to break him.

            It took a minute to register, mentally, but the blonde’s arms were already wrapped around Vanitas’ waist, pulling him closer, holding him tighter.

            Ventus shot up, breathless, heart racing, face heated to the point of boiling. “Wha… what just…. what…” as the dream came back to him, Ventus jumped off the bed he had been laying in just moments before. “Where...? Oh, right, right… what was… no, nope, never mind, it’s out of my mind now. Yep, totally not thinking about it.”

            He exited Vanitas’ room, starting down the hall, then down the stairs, into the kitchen.

            And there Vanitas sat, at the table, taking a sip of black coffee and thinking about how to continue whatever he was working on. An article, probably.

            Ventus stared, and stared, and stared, uncertain that this was actually happening.

            “What the hell do you want?” the ravenette’s eye twitched as he looked up at the blonde, who happened to be disturbing his peaceful morning.

            “I’ve never seen you with your hair down.” Ventus muttered, face flushing as he hurriedly turned away.