Vanitas × Noé

Falling

With the release of chapter 38.5 I'm quite excited for what's to come next for Vanitas and Noé. I also have an urge to write about them, as is often the case with new chapters. They were just so cute this chapter. They are so close at that point and Vani is trusting Noé more and more as time goes on. Just asfhgjplk I love Jun Mochizuki and everything she writes. Anyway, on to the chapter! It's set during and just after the events of chapter 38.5 so leave if you haven't read it! SPOILERS!!!
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Noé... headbutted... him. Noé headbutted him. Noé headbutted him! Vanitas clutched his aching head, cursing under his breath. This was just like the catacombs. Couldn't the vampire express his anger more civilly? Noé started shouting at him, of course he did. Vanitas had no choice but to yell back and defend himself. Noé was seriously annoying him, saying he should share every half-baked theory that came into his head. Unfortunately, Noé made a point. Vanitas hesitated for a moment, slightly flustered and then words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them.

"AS IF YOU WOULD HAVE BELIEVED ME! A VAMPIRE? TRUST A HUMAN'S WORD!?"

He saw the sad, pitying look on Noé's face but Vanitas couldn't stop the flow of words now. "JUST HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU THINK I'VE NEARLY BEEN KILLED BY VAMPIRES!? ON TOP OF THAT, IT'S ABOUT THE QUEEN THIS TIME!"

"Erm... but I..." Noé tried to interject but Vanitas wasn't about to stop now.

"DID YOU ALREADY FORGET HOW RUTHVEN ALMOST KILLED US, YOU DUNCE!?"

Noé headbutted him again, still as aggressive as ever when expressing his feelings. This time Vanitas didn't recoil from the attack, standing his ground against Noé to regain control. Of course Noé never acted quite how Vanitas planned and, with their faces still pressed together at their foreheads, Noé yelled, "I! BELIEVE YOU!"

Vanitas was shocked and stared at Noé in disbelief. But Noé didn't waver, staring back intensely. Vanitas felt something tug at his heart and he broke out in a cold sweat, suddenly flustered by Noé's presence. He kicked the vampire and yelling at him in order to put some distance between them and to quash the weird feeling in his chest.

He turned away from Noé when the kicking didn't quite succeed in crushing all feeling. At least not looking at him would help. Getting attached to his meat shield was the last thing Vanitas needed.

Then they were getting back to business and Vanitas felt himself getting comfortable again. They were back in familiar territory. Of course familiar territory always involved danger and they were surrounded by wolves. What Vanitas wouldn't give to have a vampire like Jeanne with them at the moment. She could take all the wolves out with no trouble. He had seen her briefly but with everything crumbling around them he had no idea where she was. When the wolves in front of him fell, Vanitas's immediate thought that it really was Jeanne.

But no. The man who landed in front of him was the person he hated most in the world... maybe second most. He had dedicated his life to revenge on the vampire of the blue moon after all. When the man started to speak, confirming beyond a doubt that it was Roland Fortis, Vanitas jumped behind Noé.

For good measure he grabbed onto Noé's sleeve and hid behind him. Vanitas had no ulterior motives. He didn't want to touch Noé. Or feel his, unsurprisingly muscular, arm. Or test if his heart would react as it had when Noé said he believed him (it did). No, he wasn't using Roland as an excuse to get close to Noé. That was preposterous. He was just using him as a shield as always. He really did hate Roland and resented the idea of making conversation or touching him. Using Noé as a barrier was the only logical course of action.

"Noé, Vanitas, what do you say we fight side by side this time?" Roland turned those shining eyes on them and Vanitas nearly threw up.

"Of course!" Noé pulled away to approach Roland.

"Just stay out of my way," Vanitas scowled, trying to put himself as far from Roland and as close to Noé as possible simultaneously.

Sparing the gory details they managed, along with Maria and Georges, to fight off the wolves and protect the villagers of Gévaudan. Now they just needed to return to Chloé and Naenia. And retrieve the book of course. God, if Vanitas had the book on him when Faustina appeared he might have been able to do something. Chloé just had to tuck it away in her massive library.

"Noé, if we want to save Chloé and Gévaudan I'll need the book of Vanitas. It should be somewhere near where Chloé is at the moment. Can you get us back to her?"

"Of course!" Noé picked him up in one arm like a sack of potatoes. Vanitas really didn't appreciate being manhandled and he didn't appreciate that his body involuntarily leaned into Noé.

He was sensitive to the cold! It was just for warmth! As Noé took off running Vanitas had very little to do and his mind wandered. Noé had really figured him out when no one else could, the bastard. He riled him up and got him to spew his feelings like some kind of emotional fool. Vanitas hated vulnerability, he hated that a vampire of all things was becoming so close to him.

Sure, he was the one who originally asked Noé for help but it had been a whim. Vanitas certainly hadn't expected to get so close to Noé. He hadn't even expected Noé himself to stick around, regardless of the book being in his possession. No one stuck with Vanitas. Even Dante, probably the closest thing he had to a friend, only ever hung around him for the money. Noé was earnest and hopeful and naive. Nothing like Vanitas. Cynical since birth as far as he could remember.

He couldn't put a name to his feelings for Noé. Not yet. In Gévaudan those feelings were just starting to be unearthed. Everything Noé had done till that point building up and up and up until Vanitas was falling. Falling hard and fast. Only time would tell if Noé would catch him this time.