Fleur-de-lis

Lie of Omission

John's p.o.v.

Vanitas and I arrive home like we usually do, tired and ready for bed. Van apparently had a frustratingly busy day today and I suffered from the exact opposite. I spent most of the day practically just staring at a wall which was tiring in a completly different way. The climb upstairs was like scaling a mountain but we finally manage to make it to our apartment.

Van goes straight to the bed and collapses onto the mattress. "I'm not cooking tonight." He mumbles.

I chuckle. Their's no way I would've expected him to cook, clean or do any household chores with the way he threw himself onto the bed. "We'll worry about all that tomorrow." I say, sitting on the bed next to him. "But for now, you should at least get undressed."

Van mumbles something into the mattress that's unintelligible but I already grasped the general message he was trying to convey.

"If you're that tired, I'll help you."

Vanitas sighs and barely manages roll over and sit up.

"Arms up, little brother." I command.

He puts both arms in the air, allowing me to pull his shirt off. I toss it to the side and lean in really close to his face as I unbutton his pants. The blush on his face when the realization hits him is priceless.

"Do you want to..." Vanitas starts.

"No. I'm just teasing you." I say, backing off.

Van flashes me an unimpressed look before shimmying out of his jeans.

"How was you day?" I ask, stripping out of my own clothes.

Van lays back down. "Well, I basically had to play bar maid for Aiden and some creepy dude for half the night."

I furrow my brow before climbing into bed with Van and pulling him close. "Why exactly would you have to do that?"

"Bernie decided that VIPs get served by the dancers as an incentive to pay extra for. It's like a select group of people get to experience a gayer, more revealing hooters." Van shakes his head. "This guy in particular was especially fond of Aiden and I. I was mostly kept around for grabbing drinks and for him to leer at though."

"That is creepy." I comment.

"I also saw Roman today."

"Oh!?" That really piqued my interest. What reason would Roman have for coming all the way out here to go to a gay club for.

"Yeah." Van continues. "He brought a date. Apparently he was a fan of mine."

"Roman's dating?" I question. "...Good for him."

"He also said that Azazel and Eve are a lot more heavy handed with their preaching now." Van yawns, obviously barely hanging on. "It's my fault that they're becoming like this. It only happened because I left. I wanna...fix this." He utters his last sentence around yet another yawn.

A bad feeling sinks into the pit of my stomach. "Van. You know how I feel about that. Our parents will do anything to tear us apart...to keep us down. I know it makes you angry when I say this but I think you should give up on ever salvaging your relationship with them."

There's moment of silence that stretches on longer than normal.

"Van?" I question.

I sit up just a little to see that he'd fallen asleep just before I gave that speech. Maybe that was for the best. I'd do anything to to keep Van safe. And now I had a few new options in my back pocket. For Van's sake, I'd made my decision. I'd tell fin at work in the morning.