vanven headcanons

#1

vanitas has insomnia. it takes him forever to fall asleep and when he does he almost always wakes five or more times, jolting awake and gasping for air. falling back asleep is a process that normally ends with him passing out from a panic attack or forcing himself asleep with the assistance of one of his unversed. on other occasions, he'll slink into ventus's bed and lay pressed against the familiar comfort of his other half until he's slowly lulled back to sleep.

he cannot dream as he is not human, but he does need the rest and when he fails to get it his body feels gross and sluggish. sometimes he swears he can dream despite what people, mostly ienzo, have told him. replicas cannot dream, only see memories as they sleep but vanitas does not recognize these memories. perhaps they're ventus'? he's scared to ask.

the bags under his eyes a permanent but he doesn't mind them. ventus like to poke underneath his eyes and tell him to get more sleep. before he was transferred into a replica body his face never showed signs of distress. now he has bags and freckles from the sun, chapped lips, and the occasional bruise to show that he's somewhat alive. 

since he can't sleep most of the time, he's taken to reading at night when everyone else is asleep. at first he'd tried training, but learned very quickly that aqua could not sleep through the night with the sound of keyblades clashing in the near distance. he lays near the window of his and ventus's bedroom and uses the light of the stars to read, or wanders around the castle choosing various secluded spots to curl up in. sometimes ventus follows him and snuggles up beside him to sleep while vanitas reads. the blonde tries to stay awake but he's always been able to fall asleep at a moments notice. vanitas pretends his chest doesn't swell with fondness when ventus's voice begins to slur with sleep, his blue eyes fluttering open and shut as he struggles to stay conscious and always fails.