Fleur-de-lis

My brother's keeper.

John's p.o.v.

Streams of rushing water blast from my adjusted shower head and onto my body in an attempt to wash away the night before. What a fucking disaster. I just stand under the water, still emotionally exhausted. The water begins to run cold which was sign enough that I had been in here for too long. I sigh and turn the shower knobs to stop the water.

Stepping out into the now relatively cold air I grab a towel to dry off with. I look at my condensation covered mirror and wipe some of the water away with my hand. I just stare at my reflection for a moment. I was starting to hate what I saw.

Once dry, I throw on a full set of clothes and walk back into my bedroom and there Vanitas was, on my bed, awake and staring at me.

"Finally awake?" I ask rhetorically.

"W-what Happened?" Van asks, understandably having zero recollection of last night.

"We caught a movie together and you fell asleep in the car on the way back and I just decided to let you sleep over." "Understand?"

Van stares at me in confusion.

"Un-der-stand?" I repeat.

It takes a moment for Van to catch on but he just nods with a "yeah".

"Good." I say. "Grab yourself a shower and get out...please."

"But...what really happened?" Van asks.

"Whatever you took last night wasn't some regular over the counter pill or prescription. I had to get you out of there."

"Oh... Thank you." Van says.

"Don't thank me. Roman paid me to do it. You cost me a date." I say, still somewhat angry.

"I'm sorry." Van apologizes. "Are you...mad at me?"

"Am I mad?! Of course I'm fucking m-" I stop when I realize what he's trying to do. "No." I sigh, barely able to hide my contempt. "I'm not the slightest bit angry."

"It doesn't have to end the way it usually does." Van assures. "I just need-"

"Get out." I interrupt.

Van stays quiet for a moment, but wordlessly gets off my bed and heads for the door. I listen as he goes down stairs and out the front door. I exhale a sight of relief.

"I'm not responsible for him." I tell myself.

[I hate the word homophobia. It's not a phobia. You're not scared. You're an asshole - Morgan Freeman]

Vanitas' p.o.v.

My mind flashes back to my whole trip last night with the demon...well...my demon. I'm not what it said I was. I could be with Roman. I could find ways to live normally with my...issues. But right now my body cried out for torture. I just needed a way to calm down before my mind slipped again. What was today? Friday? I still had school. My situation wasn't ideal. I head towards home. It wasn't too far from Adam's house.

My skin crawled at this feeling of contentment. I needed to get home fast and try to contain myself. I round a block and cut through the parking-lot of a few small businesses till I reached my housing development. After it was just a short walk down the sidewalk and I was at my front door.

I take a deep breath and then open the door.

"Heyy, Van's here." Wiccan calls out.

Everyone was in the middle of their morning routines but stopped momentarily to pass a greeting.

"You won't have enough time to shower, so just change and shower after school." My mom suggests.

Nick and Lilith also seemed to be over, chatting it up with my dad. Nobody seemed to want to question me about last night. I probably had John to thank for that.