Vanitas × Noé

Bodyswap

Vanitas unravelled himself from his cocoon of blankets as he did every morning. Noé was still asleep, as always, and the room was still dim. He wandered to the bathroom slowly to fix his hair, though his bedhead felt much less extreme that day. Vanitas yawned, blindly opening the door and wandering into the bathroom.

Slowly he blinked open his eyes to face the mirror. Staring blankly back at him were a pair of purple eyes. Vanitas blinked, suddenly wide awake. He twisted and turned, watching as the reflection mimiced his movements. But he was looking at Noé, not himself. Vanitas raised a hand in front of his eyes, checking that it wasn't just something terribly wrong with the mirror. The hand in front of him was larger and darker than his own. It was Noé's.

"Noé!" Vanitas threw open the bathroom door and stormed back into the bedroom.

"Whaaa?" Noé mumbled, still half asleep.

"Get up you imbecile!" Vanitas didn't have patience for Noé's tendency to sleep in today.

"Fiiiine, I'm-" Noé paused then coughed. "I'm- what's wrong with my voice?"

"It's more than just your voice I suspect."

"Your voice is weird too," Noé said, finally rising from his bed. "Woah. How did you do that, Vanitas?"

"I didn't do anything. I just woke up like this. What did you do."

"Huh? Nothing, how could I have done something like this?"

"I don't know! What do we do?"

"Wait for things to go back to normal?"

"Hah?"

"It happened on its own, maybe it will go away on its own too. Anyway, I'm going back to sleep."

"You can't be serious."

But Noé was already tumbling back into bed. Vanitas wrinkled his nose in disgust as he watched his body wrap its arms around a pillow and hug it tightly. The serene expression on his face also left something to be desired. Vanitas cussed Noé out under his breath but decided to wait until he was awake to address their predicament. So, Vanitas went about his usual routine. He went back to the bathroom to fix Noé's hair. It took a while to decide what he wanted to do with it. Noé's hair was so short it was hard to feel like himself. In the end he slicked it back as neatly as he could, deciding that was the best he could do.

Next, he needed to get dressed. Vanitas was forced to wear Noé's clothes because his own were too small for the body. He did wear his black coat though because it fit rather nicely. Then, he headed onto the roof to wait for Noé. When the vampire did finally open the window to climb up to where Vanitas was waiting, Vanitas felt a sudden and violent urge to throw himself into the street below.

Watching his own body, still in pyjamas, clambering about more clumsily the Noé usually did made him tense up. God, it was disgusting watching Noé pilot his body. He wanted to strangle the bastard but he would never lay a hand on his own lovely neck. When Noé was finally beside him Vanitas growled.

"Why didn't you get dressed?"

"I usually dress after breakfast."

"Yeah, but you're in my body... you're leaving my marks of possession for everyone to see."

Noé looked at himself, "I'm sorry. I'll be right back."

Noé jumped down from the part of the roof they were sitting on and cried out when he nearly fell. He really was overestimating the athleticism of Vanitas's body. Vanitas would kill Noé if he damaged his body because he didn't understand how humans worked. Now that he considered it if he was residing in Noé's body, couldn't he do some pretty impressive stuff now?

Vanitas stood up and looked around. Could he make the jump to the next building over he wondered? It would be much to far a jump for him normally and he wasn't sure if even a dham like Dante could either. Vanitas bounced on the heels of Noé's feet, considering it. If he miscalculated how bad would the injuries be? Should he even try in a body he wasn't used to using? Ultimately, Vanitas felt that his desire outweighed the risks. How could he not take the chance to have the strength of a vampire?

Vanitas walked a little way away from the edge, to give himself a running start. Noé didn't need running starts to jump that far but it was better to be safe than sorry. Vanitas took a stabilising breath and then he was running. Faster than he ever had, faster than seemed possible. He felt powerful, invincible and oh so jealous of the vampires who always felt like this. The edge came rushing towards him but he felt no fear. As he pushed off the roof at the last second his own voice called out to him.

"Vanitas!?"

Vanitas felt weightless as he soared between the rooftops. Time seemed to move slower and he was free of any earthly connection for an instant. Then he came crashing down, landing awkwardly but safely on the roof. He turned to look at Noé, seeing the fear and shock on his face, and grinned.

"I might not want to turn back after this," he smiled.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Why, you could make that jump easily?"

"But you're not me, I'm having trouble adjusting to the difference in strength between us so you must be as well."

"Well, I have all your powers," Vanitas opened his mouth, baring Noé's fangs in a feral grin that really didn't belong on Noé's face. "And I think getting immeasurably stronger is always easier than getting weaker. My job would be much easier if I had this strength."

"You already have that strength."

Vanitas hummed, bouncing a few times before leaping back to their rooftop, landing in front of Noé, fangs still bared. "What do you mean by that?"

"You have me. I don't just follow you around without helping."

"I don't know, I think I like being the vampire." Vanitas tapped his chin.

"But you can't use the book of Vanitas in that body. And that power is objectively much more valuable than mine."

"Fair but it's such fun being you."

"Coming from the man who was freaking out this morning."

"People change Noé. Anyway, do you think I could use your Archiviste abilities? I'd like to take a peek at Jeanne's memories personally."

"No." Noé said. "You don't know how to use those powers and if Jeanne is hiding something it isn't your place to pry."

"Come now, it was just a joke. I would never use these powers, no matter how useful they'd be in the hands of someone with more flexible morals than you."

"Vanitas-"

"I want my body back, don't get me wrong, but I do envy more than your strength though. True, brute force is useful but it's never been my style. Your lifespan though, that's something anyone would want. I mean, you're a year older than me but I'm all but guaranteed to die much earlier."

"Are you worried about dying?"

"I wouldn't say that, I don't expect I'll live nearly as long even most humans. With my involvement with vampires it's a miracle I'm still alive. But, if I were to live through all this I wouldn't want to grow old and die normally."

"I'd still be your friend even when that happens."

"When?" Vanitas snorted.

"You aren't going to die young and you aren't going to hate growing old. I'll make sure of it."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I'm not sure yet." Noé said.

"Hah! Well don't ponder it too much, the future is far away. For now, we must find a way to return to our bodies."

"What if we just wake up in our bodies again after going to sleep?" Noé asked.

"Isn't that a bit too laidback a response?"

Noé shrugged, "If it doesn't work we can just ask Count Orlok for help."

"Fine." Vanitas didn't sound convinced. "We'll try sleeping it off."