Behind The Facade

Since he started school he had gone to class, gone home, done his homework, sit for himself in the darkness and then sleep. After a deep soul search, he had decided that he were not getting all that he should out of school life, and he also needed the extra hobby, or he would bore himself to death. 

Thus when he saw a teen with similar ebony coloured hair as his own standing by the board looking thoughtful, Vanitas on a whim felt the need to approach him to see curiously what kind of activities these fools signed their lives away to, perhaps even persuade the dark haired man to sign up for something he'd very likely fail at. "Looking for something in particular to waste your time with?"

Too sexy---

At his feet there were empty cans laying down, and beside them were used spray cans. Paint leaked from the round spout, staining the ground as he tapped his foot along to a tune only he could hear. The foot tapping stopped when he noticed a black haired boy was nearby- the one who wouldn’t stop pestering him in the hallway a while ago.

Pacing from one end of the piece to the other Vanitas hummed softly. “Isn't it missing something though? Seems a little bright without the balance of dark.” Stepping back Vanitas kicked over one of the cans of spray carelessly. “Or was something that obvious what you were hoping to figure out on your own?” The teen smirked, crossing his arms over his chest smugly. “Tell me I'm wrong.”

"It’s almost cute how simple you are, yet you try oh so hard to make yourself seem like a complicated person. But, as you can see Vanitas. There is no bag here. Now how are you going to feed your interest if the object that has your attention is no longer within your reach?"

“There is, one thing you might learn about me though.” Turning his head towards Joshua golden eyes met lavender. “There's no fun in giving up so easily. I don't need to find out now necessarily, why rush something when we can keep playing this little game, it might keep you on your toes.” Whatever it was Joshua certainly felt it important enough to keep it well hidden from prying eyes, was it perhaps something that would be confiscated or potentially land him in hot water should he be found with it?

 ”I don’t know why you’re so proud, I was merely joking.  Why limit yourself to a stereotype?”  He had leaned on his hand watching the other stare into space as the raven idly pondered about things.  Vanitas was obviously wasting time to make Xemnas grow angry and yell at him, which he was determined not to do.  It appeared that the other was a child and wanted to win this little game of theirs.

But Xemnas didn’t lose.

"You know the more excuses you make it seems like you’re hiding behind a facade of breaking the law to avoid failing.  You can never reach any height without trying Vanitas." The silver-haired male analyzed his statements more before smiling, "You like lying don’t you? It makes you feel safe." His smile twitched before it turned into a smirk, "Let’s play along with your scenario- one, even if you did steal a motorcycle, I doubt given your attitude you would have gotten past the police.  We both know how they judge oh so easily.  But let’s ignore that- if you did, and succeeded, why does it matter?  It just proves you’re reckless and a thrill-seeker."  Xemnas considered these facts and chewed at his lower lip absent-mindedly daydreaming about riding on a motorcycle behind someone…the vibrations.

Orange eyes looked back at Vanitas, “That sounds like such a good set of decisions.  You didn’t want to inform yourself and now you won’t inform me about anything, what a circular problem you create. Almost like a dog chasing its tail trying to accomplish something.” He was at least comforted to know he amused him somehow.  That was progress in its own way, “I’m so pleased to know you’re entertained by my ‘distress’, which isn’t really there due to me enjoying this conversation so far.  But do continue to torture me, prepare me for the verbal guillotine, master of words.”  The older male was interrupted when Vanitas stole the bowl of caramel and started fishing for his churro that had been abandoned before, “Charming. Get your fingers right in there.  Your manners are godly.” Distracted, Xemnas watched him toss the bakery into his mouth and swallow it quickly without enjoying the flavor.  He could tell Vanitas was gazing back at him to bother him but the eyes watching him as that tongue ran over each digit made him squirm.  Xemnas had yet to realize how orally fixated he was, as his own habits of chewing his lip in thought or licking his lips when he was aroused were unknown to him.  Instead he was forced to maintain the gaze as the color and heat rose in his cheeks and carried to his ears.  

The junior started to feel uncomfortable and shifted in his seat as he was forced to attempt to cross his legs and squeeze the growing pressure between his thighs.  Desperate he eyed the back of the restaurant as their server came back and set the dishes down with a smile and vanished again when Xemnas thanked him.  The older male tried to control his urges and shove down his uncomfortable problem by readjusting in his seat again, “Not all of the city is corrupt.”  He wet his lips and avoided the golden eyes he had been entranced by in order to look down at his meal, “Would you say my goal of going into politics is a way into corruption?”  Picking up his knife and fork he started to cut the enchilada and avoided dealing with the sour cream, rice, and beans for now.  He wasn’t sure his body needed more stimulation by watching Vanitas eat messy foods.  Once he was through cutting up his meal for easier consumption he moved to lean on one hip to avoid his problem brushing against the underside of the table.  Although Xemnas was trying to seem uncomfortable due to the seats in the restaurant internally he was panicking about what to do with his situation and if he could manage to peek to see the issue without Vanitas noticing.

“You can call me whatever you want, a liar a fraud, but we're not going to sit here and deny that's something you don't enjoy. Not really knowing yet trying to through specific questions figure out just how much of a bad boy I am, and how much of this bad boy image is true for your personal enjoyment. After all would you have really stuck around if there wasn't something that appealed to you? I can confidently guarantee it's not for my incredibly friendly personality.” Snickering the teen moved forward towards the table once more. “For the record I did own a motorcycle once, and only idiots are caught by the police who make themselves incredibly obvious. Or just those who try to hard and are lacking in any street smarts.” Another pause as he kept his gaze on the man, to make it quite clear whom he was referring to in a clear lack of street knowledge and street smarts.

Without picking up another piece of the oddly delicious fried dough Vanitas lowered two fingers into the sticky sauce, submerging them up to the middle of his fingers before retracting them now dripping in caramel. He was well aware the server had placed their main meals upon the table, and given they smelled quite delicious, however Vanitas wanted to have a little bit of fun with the man first, whilst the opportunity was still there.

Having completely ignored the server, keeping his focus on his dinner partner Vanitas raised his fingers, running the tip of his tongue along their length before letting them partially slide into his mouth, slowly cleaning off the caramel which was dripping somewhat messily from his fingers onto his chin. Sliding them in completely running his tongue over every caramel covered inch of flesh. Once clean he removed the fingers with a pop, cleaning the caramel off his chin before bringing his focus to the dinner before him.

“So, are you going to tell me what the hell we are eating oh cultured one or do I just figure it out for myself?” He was certain he had seem something such as this before, though not one he could eat, perhaps on a billboard advertisement, a newspaper article or simply passing by the multitude of restaurants in his travels. It was one of the many foods Vanitas had seen knowing all too well he'd never have the opportunity to try, so in a way he considered it his lucky day, luck simply pertaining to him eating decently rather than a simple meal of instant noodles and bread. The dark haired teen wasn’t particularly fond of cooking, though he had to try to fend for himself often whilst in his home. He found it tedious and time consuming more than anything, and thus would choose cheap and easy over moderately priced and requiring effort.

Tapping his foot to a silent melody Vanitas considered Xemnas' question, though in his mind he was already firm in his ideals of law and politics. “It depends. Are you going to be one of those people who get into politics, make a bunch of empty promises then decide to do whatever benefits the wealthy whilst the poor continue to suffer. You wouldn't want to break the trend after all it might make you look bad.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, as far as he was concerned there was no good in politics, just a series lies and false hope.

Picking up his fork Vanitas followed Xemnas' lead, however made sure to scoop as much of the meat, sour cream and beans onto his fork as possible before lifting to his parted lips. It was then Vanitas paused. “You're looking a little uncomfortable over there Xemnas, if you're gonna pee yourself at least make some effort to find out where the bathroom is first so I don't have to see or smell it.”

 He didn’t know what to think about the awkward silence that permeated the air between the two. He hadn’t expected the other to open up quickly- why would he? But at the same thing Xemnas was disappointed at the childlike antics going on in front of him.  The younger male seemed intent on dragging out their time together to make him miserable or worse - to give up completely. But he wasn’t going to do that and he had never given up on something he wanted in his whole life.  

Orange eyes focused on the food being dragged around and it reminded him of a monkey playing with its own shit in the zoo- an accurate image for how Vanitas was acting. Although a donkey seemed more appropriate.

He wanted to vocalize his distress over the situation but that would simply feed into Vanitas’ ego and give him more leverage to continue to bother him. If you alarmed a child that something they were doing was annoying then they will continue to do so with a gleeful smile. 

Ignoring the antics was the best option.

 Xemnas smiled at the other’s admittance of playing the small-talk card. What an interesting mixture of major and minor. If one mastered psychology one could understand their role better, “Oh? I look like a lawyer?” What a curiously judgmental way of looking at him. So Vanitas was used to appearances being important. He noted that.

"Oh now you choose to ignore the law.” The tan student chuckled, “Oh my what a little badass you are. Did you leave your Harley at home and your stolen goods in the dorm or something?” He smiled before taking another churro and biting into it before sipping at his glass of cola, “Please, I didn’t ask you onto this date for a competition. I wanted to know you better. And all I’m getting so far is that you’re being aggressively defensive.”

"For the record-" he quoted the other purposefully, "- my major is Politics and my minor is Philosophy.  I don’t intend on glorifying my interests. It’s just what I want to pursue."  

 ”I wouldn’t of pegged you for a Psych major but that’s interesting. Are you going to specialize in any specific fields like Criminal Psychology or Children Psych or are you just specializing in the Art of Judging Based on Appearance?” He gestured to his own outfit, “I didn’t dress up to show off my money or whatever kind of selfish reason you may think I have- I actually wanted to look nice for you.” The silver-haired male looked down and off to the side for a moment as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I put a lot of thought into what I chose.” He tried to ignore the burning blush on his cheeks as he coughed, “Aren’t lawyers really slimy though? Some of the law students look like they’d stab you and steal your shoes for a good case.” 

“I guess I could say you've pinned me well in a way, well done I just so conveniently fit your little stereotype. Though I could never own such an expensive motorbike so the one I had wasn't exactly mine, nor did I have or have I ever had a legal licence to drive it. I don't need some idiots behind a desk that look like they've aged from how long they've been there telling me whether I can or can't drive. Hell it doesn't even look like they'd know, I know what I'm doing I'm not wasting money just to prove it to them.”

Leaving his lips parted the teen placed the fried dough upon his tongue, before closing his teeth around it to rip of and slowly chew whilst contemplating the other questions Xemnas had asked. The man certainty enjoyed trying to hold conversation with such idle chatter, of which Vanitas chose to continue to entertain until his meal arrived. A free meal was a free meal after all, despite his initial resignation, though once satiated there would be little reason for him to remain.

“And if I was hiding stolen goods in my dorm I wouldn't be sharing that knowledge with you. As for my future, I wont encourage anyone to place bets on it, I don't make promises to anyone whether I'll have the patience to waste my time on further studies when I never wanted to be in school in the first place. So yeah, for now I'm just going to stick to judging you, your frustration amuses me.”

Deciding to throw away his non existent table manners Vanitas plucked the small bowl of caramel sauce from the table, shoving his fingers in to try and fish out the small piece of dough he had lost in their previously. Perhaps it was more the act of wanting Xemnas to feel as uncomfortable as possible to the point of reconsidering whether he'd do this again, than actually wanting the sauce soaked dough. Finding it Vanitas placed the bowl back to the table, throwing the caramel soaked dough into his mouth, then licking his fingers clean, all the while keeping a focused gaze upon Xemnas to see just how the male would react.

From this drabble list.

This is a very late Christmas present to Vanitas, who means the world to me as a friend. I hope everyone likes it, I spent a lot of time trying to keep true to the TTU-versions of the characters.  

Word Count: 42,611 words

Pairings: Xemnitas/Saxel

Contains NSFW

 I still can’t believe I wrote this much.

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