Vanitas lay staring at the ceiling with an arm over his head... he hadn't slept in over 73 hours now... "big brother?"
"Hm?"
"Are you... alright? Did you and Noé fight? Is that why you haven't come from your room?"
"No..."
"Father said you won't even talk to them..."
"I'm just... thinking..."
"About what?"
"Noé..."
"What about him?" Vanitas couldn't help the flutter of his chest.
"Just... him... here.... A secret." The little one jumped onto the bed, staring with excited eyes as Vanitas sat up and let the little one play with his hair. "We... kissed." The little one gasped as he began to shout what Vanitas had just mumbled. "Shhh!"
"Sorry... but why are you sulking if you kissed!"
"I... ran."
"Wha! Big brother! How could you!" Vanitas dropped his shoulders with a shrug.
"That's what I keep trying to figure out..." he paused, reaching up to his eyes... just as they had that night, there were unwelcome tears. "It felt right for a moment, but even so, I was... crying... l-like right now... whenever I think I've got a hold, something drops and I just start... again."
The brother hugged Vanitas from behind. "You should sleep..." He mumbled, tugging Vanitas down, squirming to pull the covers over both of them.
"I'm... probably exhausted..."
"Mhm!"
Sleep didn't come easy... even when the other was soundly asleep, Vanitas couldn't keep his eyes shut... what if Noé hated him now? Thought he was messing with him?
Those are not the thoughts he should have fallen asleep to...
It had been a week since he saw Noé...
The world seemed... off...
His eyes opened from where he'd drifted off only...
He wasn't opening them at home...
Oh...
This again....
Dreams....
More nightmares?
He followed where his body took him, breaking through glass without fear, lunging for somebody and missing...
Staring at a man holding onto a girl... Noé... he recognized those violet eyes from anywhere... though, his clothes were centuries in the past.
He followed the movements, the muted silence of the dream. Racing after him, chasing his own words...
Unaware and limp until he fell back and towards the city streets...
Watching slowly as that ma.... That vampire... came racing after him, securing him, keeping him from dying from the fall... tears trickled down his cheeks...
Memories flooded his mind....
Cold...
He was cold...
Staring up at the scene of his worst nightmares...
There were no static or blurred images this time...
The world was basked in light so brilliantly blue it stung to see. The world was amazingly moving in slow motion. His body falling back, his hands reached to his chest, staring at the wound as he choked with shock.
A familiar face came into view...
Tears were already beginning to pool in his eyes as he dove after, his hand reaching for his... missing by a moment...
Weight toppled onto him as two bodies hit the ground. Scarlet eyes leaking tears...
Oh....
This was...
He had died...
He sat up with a jolt, furiously clearing tears from his cheeks, relieved to see his brother... who... should also be dead... just like he should be... they all should be... still sleeping.
Vanitas took too long to jolt and stand up...
Had...
Had Noé...
Had he been...
Waiting for him.
No... that unexpected look... the tears... this was unexpected... a miracle...
A bloody miracle...
And he had
He had... looked just like him.
Did he mourn for that long?
Hadn't forgotten him... as he'd... he'd asked him to?
Worse...
He kept...
Noé loved him...
And...
That... that hurt the most.
He was the cause of so much pain... so much anguish within Noé, but that stupid vampire had never stopped...
Vanitas swung open the window and found himself on the roof... he was certainly slower than back then...
Completely human...
His feet slipped on the roof shingles, stumbled over jumps... scanning for a hotel with his eyes. He fell a few times on the rain-slick surfaces, brushed it off, and kept running...
He was out of breath by the time he stood staring at the figure of a male staring out into the night, coated in rain.
"Noé! Noé... Imbécile! pourquoi... pourquoi tu n'as pas tourné la page?" Vanitas shouted, watching as the figure before him slowly turned his head to stare.
"Is... this another hallucination? Another dream."
"Non! Non Noé..."
The two stared at each other, tears mixing with the rain dripping past their faces.
Noé was up from his spot on the roof, throwing his arms around Vanitas... holding him close as if he'd be ripped away within seconds. "You... I thought..."
"You're such an idiot Noé..."
"I know... but." Vanitas had never liked sappy talk... so instead he decided to shut the other up... pressing his lips right to Noé's.
His fingers came up to the collar of his shirt... pulling it aside as they parted their lips. "I... Vanitas..."
"Archiviste... tout va bien."
~
They moved inside a bit later... Vanitas looked around before sitting on the bed. "Exactly as it was left..."
"Well... not entirely... It's been modernized, but I kept the layout the same..."
"... don't tell me... y-you own the whole building."
"Oui."
"So that's where the money comes from..."
"Oui..."
There was silence as Noé stared at the closet.
"Do you... want it back?"
"Non..."
"What about your clothes?"
"You kept..." Vanitas chuckled, standing to look at the ceiling, clearing away the coats covering boxes of his... very old things... all kept in good condition.
"I... missed you."
Vanitas had nothing to reply with, but to sit beside Noé and pull him close...
It took a day to move in with him... to get rid of one of the old beds and opt for more room.
A week to settle their adrenaline
A month to make things official
A year to visit Altus Paris...
But no longer than that night to recover what had been lost.
And... it took no longer than that night for Vanitas to snicker and laugh the way he always has... for the two of them to dote over each other.