At six forty eight in the evening, a teenage boy with messy blond hair and blue eyes walked up to the gate of a normal looking two story white clapboard house. He looked like he had been in a bad fight, his cheek was swollen, there were cuts and bruises all over his face and body, the most prominent injury being his crooked nose, black framed glasses somewhat askew and having a bit of a time staying on his face. His clothes were covered in his own blood, dirty and torn, his white shirt and part of his green jacket ruined. The sound of the door opening reached the ears of the other resident of the home, Roxas glancing away from his game for a second to look at his brother, focusing back on the video game before his attention got taken away entirely to focus on the other blond, jaw dropping and eyes widening when he registers the state he is in.
"Ventus?! What the hell happened to you?! You look like shit!"
Ventus snorted, immediately regretting it when his nose throbbed. "You don't wanna know the things I had to do Rox," he said, voice sounding off as he wiped some of the drying, yet thick red blood off his face before pushing his glasses up, the optical enhancers somehow unharmed, "any food left for me?"
Roxas pursed his lips, setting his game controller down and getting up from the brown leather couch, "chicken, but it's cold now since you've been gone for so long." He narrowed his eyes, "Ven, tell me what set Vanitas off this time. Why the hell are you black and blue?" He asked fiercely, grabbing the elder's jaw and looking his face over in worry.
Ven rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "I was walking home alone when him and his gang came walking up to me...."
***
"Well, if it isn't the Bubble Boy!" Vanitas sneered, standing ahead of a kid with long hair pulled into a pony tail on his right, Xigbar and his cousin Xaldin on Vanitas' left. Ven sighed and slowly turned around, "what'cha doing by yourself Venny~?"
It was common knowledge, at least to most, that Ven was the safety kid. His parents had raised him to be cautious of everything, use hand sanitizer for everything, things like that. Because of this, Ventus was called "The Bubble Boy" by a lot of his peers, because if he could, he would be having a bubble around him and protecting him from all dangers.
That was most people however, there was another side of Ven not even his brother knew about.
Ven took a step back, "I don't want trouble..."
"You got trouble pretty boy," Vanitas growled, gold eyes almost flashing as he stepped forward, "I seen you get that A in math today, think you're so smart don't you ya' fuckin' faggot?"
Ven shook his head, "that the best you got?"
Van snorted, march over while his two lackies smirked behind him, "I got some more for you weakling..." He grinned cruelly, "I'm gonna beat your face in so bad, your own family won't be able to recognize you!"
Ven's eyes widened, his heart started pumping in his ears, his chest screaming from the exertion. His breath froze in his lungs. At first, he was terrified, his mind racing before the adrenaline kicked in and he narrowed his eyes, bringing up his hands.
"I'm ready for a fight...make it a good one Vani," he replied.
Van grinned wide and ran at him, Ven squared his shoulders with his chest exposed and ready for it. Vanitas swung around with a left hook and broke his nose, knocking Ven off his feet before the trio of bullies ganged up on him and started kicking him. Ven hid his face in his hands, both to protect his head and to hide the grin twitching at his mouth.
"You like this don't ya'!?" Vanitas snarled, getting on his knees and continuing to punch him, "scream! Cry! I know you want to fucker! Do it Ventus!"
Vanitas kept demanding he break as he hit him, cursing Ventus' name for everything he was worth, and Ventus took it, not giving Vanitas the satisfaction of even a whimper, even when Xaldin kicked him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. After a few minutes the three of them let up and stepped back, turning to walk away. Ven got to his feet, blood all over his face and his clothes. But instead of getting away, Ven ran at him and Vanitas turned around just in time to get his own nose punched and broken, stumbling back and cussing up a storm as he held his nose. He looked at Ventus as he took out his two lackies, kicking Xaldin hard between his legs and decking Xigbar, busting his left eye and knocking him out. With no more witnesses, Ven licked the blood off his face with a sick grin, Vanitas dropping his hand with the same smile.
"I'm ready for a fight Vani, a real one..."
***
Of course, Ventus didn't tell Roxas all of this, just that Vanitas beat him up. This side of him, even Roxas wasn't allowed to see, the part of him that loved a good fight, liked the pain involved and loved getting dirty. Vanitas knew though, he was the only one who knew, the only one who could give Ventus a damn good fight.
As said before however, Roxas had no clue about this, so the blond growled and said the thing a sane person would tell someone with an bully, "call the cops! Tell a teacher, do something Ventus, you don't need to put up with this!"
Ven sighed, "I can't do that, telling a teacher would just make a situation like this worse and you know it. Calling the police..." He looked away, remembering something before shaking his head, "Vanitas doesn't need that. You don't know what his situation is."
"That doesn't justify him beating the shit out of you Ven!" Roxas snapped.
Ventus gave the younger a harsh look, "nothing justifies abuse of any sort Roxas...but I can tell you one thing, what I'm going through is nothing compared to other people who deal with so much worse."
'I at least want it...'
***
At six forty eight in the evening, a black haired boy with gold eyes was walking home, blood on his clothes and hands from a broken nose, and licking the blood off his lips from the sucker punch to the face that Ventus had given him. Like every night however, he was afraid to go home. His dad would be home, he knew, and most likely drowning his troubles in whiskey bubbles again, and looking for trouble of his own. He won the fight with Ventus, like always, even though picking a fight with him made him feel worse than dog shit afterwards, he needed the release and Ventus gladly provided it. But at least that was a fight he could win, even though he knew Ventus let him some days. This though, he could never win, and he wasn't sure he wanted to win this particular fight either; if it wasn't for Sora...
He walked up to the gate of a house that was in desperate need of repair, brown clamp board with boarded up windows and trash littering the yard, beer cans and whiskey bottles being a part of the litter. The lights were on, so he knew his Pops was awake. Vanitas snuck around to the side, making sure to stay out of site of the windows, before reaching a window that was dark and knocking lightly on it.
The window opened and a head of spiky brown hair popped out, blue eyes wary before they set their sight on gold. Sora quickly looked around and waved him in anxiously, Vanitas climbing in before someone mistook him for a burglar or something along those lines. Sora scrambled back to the head of the bed, hugging his knees and the fourteen year old looked so much younger, eyes wide in fright as they looked at the door that has a chair jammed under the knob. Vanitas glanced over as well and grimaced, sitting on his knees on the dirty old sheets and whispering very low so as not to be heard,
"It's bad tonight ain't it?"
Sora nodded, whimpering, "he's got the hard stuff out. I've been hiding in here, but..." He looked at his elder and gasped, saying a bit louder than he meant to, "you're hurt!"
Vanitas shushed him, glancing at the door and waiting until it didn't seem like their old man would come banging on the door, "I'm fine, nothing I can't handle." He smiled reassuringly.
Sora bit his lip before nodding hesitantly, "you need to get cleaned up though before we have to go to school..."
Van waved him off, "I'll handle that when I get to it, don't worry about it. You just worry about-"
Loud thumbing comes from down the hall, followed by a gravelly voice, "VANITAS! SORA! WHERE ARE YA' YOU FUCKIN' FAGGOTS?!"
Van winced, shaking his head as he whispered, "stay here, if it gets bad, climb out the window."
"Vani-"
"VANITAS!!!"
"Just stay quiet! I'll handle it." 'Like I have since we were kids...' He couldn't help but think, climbing off the bed and carefully walking to the door. He pulled the chair away from the knob and eased the door open, looking out.
A tall man with brown spiky hair in a tank top and jeans stood in the living room, a bottle of whiskey clenched tight in his fist and his back turned from the hallway. Van took the chance and slipped out, quickly giving his little brother the signal they had made up a long time ago to block the door off again before closing it. The click of the knob seemed to echo and the broad shouldered man looked behind him, blurry gold eyes setting on Vanitas.
"There ya' are, get in 'ere ya' good for nothin' shit stain!"
Van scowled as he walked into the living room, keeping his distance from the intoxicated man who was his mother's sperm donor, "what do ya' need Pop?"
Even as he was ready for it, he wasn't able to stop the second sucker punch to his face in the same day, knocking him back into a ratty old recliner. He was knocked out for a few seconds, at least that what it felt like since he blacked out for a moment. "Don' fuckin' sass me smartass!" The man snarled, "good fer' nothin cunt! Ya' aren't worthy ta' look like Sarah!"
Van grimaced, holding his cheek as he glared up at the man looming over him, "your mother was a treasure! You and your dipshit of a brother are lucky ta' be on this earth cause a her!" His father ranted, "anyone else woulda tossed ya' in a fuckin' dumpter an' left ya' ta' rot! Yer' lucky I let you little freeloaders stay in my fuckin' house!"
He backed away, grumbling, "ain't got no job, your grades are shit, and ya' can't even get a good woman ta' give me a grandson! Yer' worthless pieces of shit on my shoe, ya' know that?!"
Van gritted his teeth, getting up from the chair and spitting blood out of his mouth from his cut cheek, "momma woulda left ya' anyway old man! She would be disgusted with how you've been treatin' us! You fucking broke Sora's arm when he was four dad! For wanting to go on a fuckin' playdate!!! Momma woulda hated your guts and you know it! Even if I had a kid I wouldn't want him hanging around an asshole like you!"
He ducked the fist that came at him this time, only to find the whiskey bottle slammed at his temple with enough force to break it. Cuts bled from his hairline, his head pounding and he had to keep his right eye closed to keep the red out of his vision. "Ya' fuckin' piece a shit faggot! Don't go talkin' about your mother like you knew here!" His father spat, "you have no right ta' talk about her cum stain! She woulda been better off gettin' rid of ya' when we was still in highschool! You're nothin' Vanitas! A fuckin' parasite that leached off of her an' now leechin' off a me!"
He whipped his belt out of his pants loops, grabbing Vanitas' arm, "and I'll prove it to ya' you smart ass mother fucker!"
Van's heart pumped loud enough to be heard in his ears, his chest screamed and burned as his breath froze. Van's mind was racing and he was terrified right now, but he refused to give this old bastard the satisfaction of seeing him cower. Vanitas grinned wide with manic eyes, wiping the blood from his nose away and cackling in the fucker's face.
"Bring it on ya' sorry son of a bitch! I'm ready! AHAH HAH HAH HAH!!!"
And Van put his fist up and swung.
***
A few days later, Ventus was walking home from work, finding it odd that he hadn't run into Vanitas at all that day...in fact, he hadn't caught a glimpse of him at school neither. Sora was missing as well, usually you would find the kid spending time with his best friends or Ven's brother, but there wasn't a trace. Beginning to worry, Ven changed his direction and began heading towards the more run down part of town; a place that wasn't a getto per se, but its houses and yards definitely weren't pretty either.
He came to a stop in front of a brown house, hearing noise and crashing. He almost didn't recognize the house, it somehow looked worse than the last time he saw it, but that was fixed when he seen the door slam open and Sora and Vanitas literally fly out the door, missing the porch entirely in their leap to escape. Without even pausing to think, Ven took off running and the two brothers immediately followed after him, their father running out into the yard waving a bottle in the air and cussing them out before running out of steam and walking back into the house, slamming the door behind him.
The boys took no notice of this, running as fast as they could away from the house and the nightmare within. Vanitas caught up with Ven, running beside him with Sora dogging their heels until they got back to Ventus' house.
Roxas looked up when the door opened and Ven came in, scowling when Vanitas followed before his eyes widened in shock when he seen Sora. Now that they weren't running anymore, Ven was able to get a better look at the two brothers, and couldn't help but cringe when he seen how bad the injuries were.
"What the hell?!" Roxas exclaimed, running up to Sora as seeing the busted eye along with the red splotch and swollen cheek.
"Just get the med kit Roxas," Ven said curtly, dragging a silent Vanitas over to the couch and forcing him to sit down, Sora following him and sat down next to the blacket, holding his cheek.
Roxas nodded dubiously, doing what he was told while Ven sat down next to Van, rubbing his eyes, "what triggered it this time?" He asked.
"None of your-" he winced when Sora kicked him, huffing as he said begrudgingly, "Sora didn't do something right, so the old man decided he needed to 'discipline' him."
"I burned dinner," Sora added, sighing, "Vani tried to get the belt away from him and the buckle hit me in the face. Then He and Pa got into another fight."
"Huh, yeah, noticed the bruises and busted knuckles..." Ven commented, looking down at Van's cut up and swollen fingers. He sighed and shook his head, looking sad, "I had hoped you would have tried talking to him and trying to get him off the booze."
"We've tried," Sora said, rubbing his cheek, "he always told us that he would get help and do better, but then he goes back to the store and gets more alcohol."
"He's a lost cause," Van said grimly, "I'm just interested in getting away now. Turn eighteen in a few month, I can get a job and get us both out."
Roxas came back in, having overheard the conversation. He set the first aid kit down on the floor and crouched down, opening it and begin tending to Sora's face, "have you tried calling the cops?" He asked hesitantly, though he suspected what the answer would be.
"No one would wanna help us." Van snorted, "and if they did, they'd just separate us. Once I turn eighteen I might do it, as well as get custody of Sora, bit until then..."
Ven nodded, "you could stay with us until then," he smiled at the brothers' astonished looks, though Roxas didn't seem surprised, oddly enough, "our parents are always out on business trips, so it's just us. You could move into the guest room."
"We ain't no charity case Bubble Boy," Vanitas growled.
"Not claiming you are," Ven replied calmly, "just a suggestion to help you get out. If your dad tries raising a fuss we can deal with it then, our dad's a good lawyer and we can get a hold of him if we need him. He'd work pro bono if we asked."
Van paused, thinking it over carefully, "we'll see...."
***
Two weeks later found Ven and Roxas with two knew roommates.
Ventus still fought with Vanitas. Sora and Roxas always scolded them for it.
But Ven never hated Van for it. He was the lightning, Van was the thunder.
And a few months later, Sora and Vanitas' father was the one who really suffered in the end, getting a thirty year sentence with no parole for assault and battery, and child abuse.