itsjustagamerp | Confessions of A Pair

Like Aqua, Terra had no idea how this was going to go. She'd tried to see if the library had anything on the topic, but between the sudden outbursts of singing and the general state of anything on the Satellite, she hadn't exactly had much luck. So it was going to have to be one of those things that she took as it came, and with any luck it wouldn't go so badly as to be entirely a mess.

She hated moments like these, when it felt like she didn't have something under her feet. But there really wasn't anything for it, as she took a seat next to Terra. Waiting really wasn't the best option, not that this felt all that much better.

And Ven ran in about five minutes later, in his normally cheerful mode of operation. He had no clue what was coming; all he knew was that he was going to get to spend time with his family, something that was always appreciated.

"Hey! Just a second." He moved over to the cabinets and the food machine to start punching stuff in, eventually ending up with a tray of his favorites (the vast majority of which were healthy, don't worry Aqua), then making his way over to the table where they were and plopping down in a spare seat, taking up his fork. "So what's going on?"

Terra twirled some pasta on his fork as he waited for Ven. He wondered which of them should go first. He realized Ven's question was the perfect segway but Terra was reluctant to be the one to start this conversation.

"Not much, just the constant singing thing is still going on," he paused and then lifted the fork to his mouth, "Aqua and I wanted to talk to you about something too. It's just never really been a good time until...now I guess." He then took a bite. It was totally NOT a ploy to get Aqua to continue the conversation by having his mouthful. Well, okay, maybe a little one. But he felt like Aqua would be better at breaking this to Ven.

Better? Surely Terra hadn't forgotten her disastrous attempt to explain secret admirers to Ven? No, she wasn't going to be all that much better than Terra, in the long run.

"He's right," Aqua answered with a nod. Even now wasn't necessarily the best time, given the fact that people were still breaking into song. But since her options were sitting in silence while Terra finished his bite (awkward at best) or manning up and being the one to break the news (awkward, but also helpful) Aqua took a deep breath before answering Ven's question. "See, Terra and I are... well, we're sort of... dating."

And Ven wasn't stupid, especially around these two; they'd all lived together long enough for one of them to tell when the others were trying to keep secrets (or, more specifically, failing to keep them) or feeling awkward or sad or anything. So when they didn't smile and answer right away, Ven knew something big was coming. His own smile gradually faded the longer they didn't specify anything, being replaced with a look of slight apprehension.

He was not, however, in any way prepared for that.

"D...Dating?" His own food had now lost any and all appeal. Ven didn't get more than one bite of his chicken before Aqua's words hit, and he put down his fork entirely to pull his hands under the table and clench his fists. Why was this happening, did they...

Biting the bullet was probably an apt metaphor here. Terra almost immediately picked up on Ven's changing mood. The fact that he wasn't scarfing down his food like a wild animal was a big clue after all.

Terra set his own fork down, his appetite not doing so well now that the news was out. He stared at his plate though, "It...doesn't change anything really. Being here, after everything that happened to us...it made me realize how I've felt for Aqua is different than what I originally thought." Not to mention several meddling people who forced them on this path in a way, or at least, forced it to come about earlier than it might have naturally.

For her part, Aqua had barely touched her food even before Ven had arrived, and like the other two her appetite had all but vanished with the news properly out. Whoever had said that things would be better with it out might have been right, but that didn't mean it was going to be comfortable.

"He's right," she agreed. "We're still family. That's not going to change because of something like this." It might have meant things would shift a little, but that was all. The feelings weren't even really new. They'd just been forced into the light sooner than they might otherwise have been. And really, that was all for the better by Aqua's reasoning, although she wasn't about to mention that to anyone.

For his part, Ven heard their words... and didn't exactly buy them. Family, huh? He might have been naive, but he knew family didn't go around dating each other.

Whatever they were... it wasn't really family, now.

He kept his gaze focused on his plate, his stomach doing backflips in his midsection as he couldn't force himself to look up at either of them. Ven being silent was a huge warning sign, and he knew it, but he just couldn't make himself speak...

Terra thought back to how Zidane had reacted when Terra had tried to explain the family concept. It weirded him out a little, but he wondered if family was the right term. It was...certainly difficult to come up with something else but he knew his feelings for Aqua were different from his feelings for Ven, though both were equally as strong and comforting to him.

It was because of this that he looked at Ven with worry. Ven...didn't seem to be taking it as well as Terra had hoped. Actually, let's be honest, if Terra had thought that Ven would take it well, they would have told him immediately. Ven just...didn't handle change well. Terra couldn't blame him, not after what he knew Ven had been through. But still, he had hoped Ven would have taken this better.

The silence was unnerving. He glanced at Aqua before looking back at Ven, "Ven are you...say something, okay?"

Aqua's own experience with families didn't really have any semblance to what they seemed to share, but... given her limited experience and they way they'd all but grown up together it really did seem like about the best term for it. Ven was still important, even if she and Terra had realize there was more than simple friendship between the two of them.

Unfortunately, despite Terra's glance in her direction, she had nothing particularly useful to add to the conversation. She knew the general gist of her thoughts on the matter, but actually putting her thoughts into words was a different matter entirely. Even if she wanted desperately to find the right words to keep Ven from being silent even longer. It was simply that she didn't know what to say.

"Please?"

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to say it. All he knew was that there was a churning in his gut, and the only thing he could relate it to was... the time in Radiant Garden, when Terra and Aqua had stood on different sides, and their little family had fractured before his eyes. They'd overcome it, yes, but it hadn't been easy, and they'd had those bonds to help-

And now the bonds weren't there. They were different. All of a sudden there was something else between the two of them and he wasn't a part of it. Granted, he didn't want to be a part of that, but... It had always been the three of them, together.

Now it was two-plus-one.

"...Th-That's great," he finally managed to say, very quietly, still not looking up. "That's... r-really great, guys." Ven couldn't tell them they couldn't do this. He wasn't that selfish at all, and it was clear this was important to them - how could he say anything other than that? But Ven didn't realize that his tone of voice was at its absolute least convincing, and the sadness, loneliness, everything was showing completely.

He had to get away. He couldn't stay there any longer. He quickly stood up, still not looking at either of them and leaving his barely touched tray of food right where it was.

"I-I gotta... gotta go... training, you know, even here, can't stop- I'll see you." And then he was gone. Even without their powers, Ven still ran like the wind, and the door to the cafeteria bumped behind him barely two seconds after he started moving.

But it wasn't great. Terra wanted to stop Ven, to try and explain. But what could he say that Ven would believe and that would make it better? Maybe Ven just needed time? Terra wasn't sure about that, Ven would probably make it worse with his own thoughts.

Terra moved to get up, but Ven was already across the cafeteria. Damn the boy was fast. "Ven!"

It was too late. The doors were already closing. Terra dropped back into his seat, food pretty much forgotten by this point. He put his head in his hands, "Great. Now what do we do?"

As much as Aqua liked the idea of simply letting Ven have time to get used to the idea, she was also pretty sure it wasn't going to be the best plan. Ven had to already be having doubts about the whole thing, and no doubts were going to be solved by sitting on them, she knew that much. Better to simply address them and be done with it.

Which was a nice thought, but it didn't give her any more of an idea of what to do in this situation than Terra had.

She sighed as the doors swung shut, food now all but forgotten. "I'm not sure. Unless tracking him down is going to work?"

Terra frowned. Ven had chased after him when he had left home, it only seemed right that Terra should do the same now. Terra put his hands on the table and rose to his feet, his expression one of determination.

"We have to get him to see that we still care about him as much as before. That means we have to go after him," Terra replied. He started across the cafeteria but paused and turned back to Aqua, "You coming?"

Ven hadn't been the only one following Terra once he'd left either, even if Aqua had had a very different set of reasons for for it than Ven had. But regardless of how different things might have been between then and now, she wasn't about to leave Ven to think they'd been meaning to abandon him and she was on her feet before Terra had even finished speaking.

"Of course I am," she answered with a nod, as she came to stand beside Terra. "He should hear what we have to say from both of us, not just one."

He smiled with relief. He knew Aqua would come with him. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before heading for the door. They needed to figure out where Ven would have gone. It didn't seem likely he would be in his room, not when it was so close to his and Aqua's.

He hesitated as he thought about it. There was really only one deck that was most like home that would probably make Ven feel less lonely or discarded and that was the Nature deck. "Come on, I have an idea."

Aqua smiled softly at the gentle kiss. Even with their relationship being something closer to formally announced, the kisses they shared were still something of an unexpected pleasure. Still, as nice as they were they had a friend to find, and she nodded at Terra's words.

"Lead the way."

Terra was still getting used to them himself. He had to remind himself that that was what was he was expected to do as a boyfriend, right? Honestly, he felt better when he was just holding her hand and hadn't QUITE gotten used to sharing a kiss yet. But it was becoming easier to do and less self-conscious. That was the biggest problem after all, Terra's self-consciousness.

He led the way to the Nature Deck, walking with a determined stride. As soon as he stepped out onto the grass he called out, "Ven! We need to talk for real this time!"

Everything that Aqua had read on the matter (which wasn't all that much) had said that was what people who were dating did. So she could only suppose that was exactly the case, not that she happened to mind much. Even Terra's self-consciousness in doing it was something she didn't mind seeing. It made it... sweeter, somehow.

Once they arrived at the nature deck, Aqua followed Terra out onto the grass. "I know you probably don't want to right now!" she added. "But it really is important!"

They knew him too well. Ven quickly scrambled to behind a bush from where he'd been sitting next to the pond, but his cambot was still lurking around from ignoring his orders once again. It hovered over where he'd been sitting, turning between the two new people and where Ven had gone - not meaning to give away his location, but worrying about him. Cam really liked its master. Ven wasn't saying anything, but all they had to do was follow the little bot's unconscious directions.

It didn't take long to find Ven's location. Terra had the right deck and it wasn't hard to miss the cambot hovering near a bush. He glanced back at Aqua and motioned with his head towards the bush.

Quietly he approached. The thing about Ven was that he would probably run off again and he was MUCH faster than either Terra or Aqua. Terr had to be sure he caught the kid before that happened.

Without a word Terra jumped the bush and grabbed Ven into a bear hug, picking him up and out of the bush. "GOTCHA!"

Aqua nodded at Terra's gesture. They'd never catch Ven if he kept running, especially when there was so much space to run to. So she kept equally quiet as she followed behind, veering slightly to one side, just in case they did need to actually catch him.

Fortunately, there wasn't any need to, as Terra scooped him into a hug. That was at least one thing taken care of.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hopefully Terra had a good grip on him, because Ven started flailing like a fish on a hook. His arms were trapped around the bicep, so he couldn't do more than wave the lower half of them, trying to break free, but his legs were kicking pretty damn hard. Hopefully he didn't accidentally crotch-shot Terra, but it was a possibility. "LET! ME! GO!"

Terra may not be as fast as Ven or as flexible as Aqua but Terra had strength. Which mean Ven wasn't getting out of that bear hug easily. Even then kicks and squirming weren't going to do much against Terra. Terra realized the effect Ven's kicks might have and adjusted his grip so that it would be harder for Ven to kick him in the most sensitive area of all.

"Not. Until. You Listen." He growled, keeping a grip on the squirmer.

Of all the ways Aqua could have seen this ending, she had to admit this hadn't been one. It wasn't surprising, on second thought, but it wasn't something she could say she'd been expecting.

"We really do mean it, Ven," she added as she came up behind Terra. "Will you stay here and listen if he puts you down?"

Indeed, Terra's strong enough to basically be squeezing the air out of him. Ven was steadily losing air, not exactly rapidly but it was becoming noticeable as his yell disappeared and his flailing slowed down.

"Only if you- stop- choking me!" Those are his lungs, bro!

Terra glanced over at Aqua. Well, it's not like he could talk to Ven while he was choking to death. "Deal."

He released his friend and stepped back. He was holding up his end of the bargain, he could only trust Ven would do the same. It wasn't like Aqua had her magic so she could cast Slow on him or anything. "Now. Let's try this again."

Even if she had her magic, Aqua might not have cast Slow on Ven. If he was already doubting where he stood with the two of them then it didn't really seem... right to force him to stay like that.

So really, the only thing left was to hope that Ven really was going to hold up his end of the bargain. "I really did mean it, you know. About still being family."

Ven seriously debated bolting again when Terra put him down, and tensed up as if he was going to do just that - but Terra had given his word, so Ven would, at least for the moment, keep his. He was still tense, though, and while he wasn't glaring at either of them... his expression was pretty close to one.

"That's not family. Family doesn't date."

Terra sighed, "No. Ven's right. That's not family."

Terra lowered his gaze to Ven, giving him a serious look, "But we're not family Ven. We're something stronger than that. The feelings I have for Aqua...they've been there awhile I just...never had the courage to bring it up. But Ven, that doesn't mean I love you less, it's a different feeling. It's...well, Ven you're the most important person in the world to me."

Terra glanced back at Aqua, she could jump in any time she wanted. Terra continued, "Putting a label to it...maybe that's what messed things up. But you both have very important spaces in my heart."

There was a moment of silence before Aqua sighed as well. As much as she did like the convenience of the label... things had changed, and she couldn't - or shouldn't - keep trying to fit something into a structure that clearly wasn't right.

"Maybe it was," Aqua answered with a slow nod, "and I guess I didn't really help either. But Terra's right. Even if what I've been calling it isn't the right word for it, you're still important to me, Ven. To both of us."

Oh god, he wanted to believe them, he wanted to so much - they'd been through so much together, before coming here and since then. But the fact remained, they hadn't told him. It was that almost more than the fact that they were dating which was hurting him, thanks to all the revelations about his very nature that had been kept from him for so long. All he wanted was for people to be honest with him - and to Ven, even though they hadn't lied about dating, this still wasn't being honest.

"If I'm so important to you, why couldn't you have told me earlier?" He looked on the verge of tears - he wasn't, but it kind of looked like it, especially with his eyes that were too damn big and the way his head kept drooping. "You guys just left me in the dark about it all, and now you're just... springing it on me like this and I don't know how to take it."

Edited 2012-04-11 01:51 (UTC)

"It's not that we didn't want to, Ven," Terra replied. He did feel a bit guilty, but honestly he was just as new to this relationship idea as Ven was. Even after all this time Terra was still trying to figure things out. How to get Ven to understand that was going to be the issue here. "It took me awhile to, well, admit it to myself and when you came I guess, well, we weren't hiding it we just weren't sure how to break it to you."

He rubbed at his neck, "Ven a lot happened before we all got here. I think...I dunno...I just wasn't sure how to bring it up and then things kept happening here on the SoL that made the timing just bad."

"It's still a new idea to us too," Aqua added. "We didn't really even recognize it until a while after we got here." Long after really, and if it hadn't been for their friends pushing them in the right direction they still might not have recognized there was anything between the two of them, apart from simple friendship. Sure, Aqua might have forever wondered, but that wasn't conducive to anything.

"Really, we weren't trying to hide it from you. It was just, well..." there was a shrug as her voice trailed off in realization of the fact that none of the reasons she could offer would sound like they weren't just excuses. Instead, she simply took a deep breath, and whether she'd intended to or not, the next time she opened her mouth it wasn't to speak but to sing.

"Lost in darkest blue. Endless labyrinths weaving through. Will you stagger on, with no star to light your way? Share with me your tears, all your troubles and deepest fears."

And Ven was going to say something to that, but... oh god. It was hitting again. That singing bug wasn't missing anyone and Ven couldn't help but groan when Aqua started to sing, though he was relatively quiet about it. His own impromptu performance earlier wasn't something he was happy about, mostly because it had been recorded.

"Cambot's still around, Aqua..."

At least he wasn't running away?

Unfortunately Ven this wasn't going to be the end of your torment. It was a joint confession after all and whatever the singing bug was, it was all about getting as many people into the song as possible. Terr was a big part of this conversation and so, without much prompting, he began to sing as well.

"I remember when you chased all my shadows away. Won't you take my hand? Come away with me from this land. Let me give to you, all that you have given to me. Fly horizon bound, find the moon behind darkening clouds. Even far apart, know our souls together will be."

The singing bug didn't much care about whether or not the songs were caught on camera either, and although Aqua could tell that Ven wasn't pleased with the fact that Cambot was still around there wasn't much she could about it either. Sure, she could try to gently shoo it away, but that wasn't any guarantee that it would work and it might well end up looking like she was trying to shoo Ven away. So between one thing and another she could only offer a look that said there wasn't much she could do about the fact before Terra finished and she picked up where he'd left off.

"When the storm draws nigh, dreams will shatter before your eyes. Know that you're not alone. When the battle starts, I will comfort your restless heart. You'll know that you are home. When your stars stop shining; endless vines around you winding, know that you're not alone. I will give my all, so your tears will no longer fall down, down on sorrow's stone."

Ven sighed again, shaking his head - he couldn't do anything about Cam, much as he wanted to. The robot had proven repeatedly that it wouldn't leave him alone if it was feeling lonely or if it thought Ven was feeling lonely, and they'd come to one of those times. If he hadn't promised not to leave, he would've been dragging Cam out of there bodily, but he did promise. So Ven just stood there, at first not processing the words because oh gods people are listening, but eventually he can't help but hear what they're saying, and his face starts to fall just a bit. It's so much what he wants, and yet he can't think of them as having that sort of thing anymore.

Terra could tell that while Ven wanted to believe them he was still struggling to do so. He reached out a put a hand on Ven's shoulder, a gesture that was very familiar between the two of them, "Look into my eyes
all eternity you will find, in this fragile heart, know that you will always belong."

He then reached into his pocket and produced the one thing that connected all three of them: his orange Wayfinder. He held it out to Ven and sang the next few lines, "Shout into the night, show the darkness that you will fight. Hopeless you may feel, but inside I know you are strong."

Even if there had to be a change - and really, Aqua wouldn't be surprised if there did - that didn't mean that were going to stop caring for Ven all together. They'd still be there for him, no matter when or where it happened to be. They would always be friends, and just as Terra had, she pulled out her own Wayfinder before picking up where Terra had left off. She'd made them for a reason and the connection was one she sincerely hoped wasn't so fragile as to be broken by something like this.

"Keep me in your heart, so we'll never be far apart. Let the bonds of love break these chains imprisoning you."

Confessions of A Pair

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