Part 1

Habits, particularly bad ones, were easy to make and hard to break. Vanitas was a creature of habit. Moreover, he was an expert in creating bad habits. One might say it came with the territory of being part of the punk rock scene, or even the rock scene in general, but those who knew him knew that Vanitas Fair never did anything by halves and that he'd been developing bad habits as long as he'd been alive.

Bad habit number one was pissing off anything and everything with a pulse, except for three exceptionally strong-willed souls. Even then half the time it was more like two people because, for as much as Lea Caraway, affectionately dubbed "Axel", loved Vanitas, he wasn't entirely immune to the other's dickish ways. Long-term exposure seemed to be the best course of action in being able to deal with Vanitas, but this, of course, was contingent upon the fact that one could endure even short-term exposure to the rockstar. Hence there were only three people in the world who could claim to know him, and Axel was one of those "lucky" few.

Vanitas and Axel had been thick-as-thieves best friends — and occasionally actual thieves — for just about as long as either one could remember — having met during coinciding in-school suspensions, in elementary school no less. The former had a problem with biting their fellow classmates, and Axel had just wanted to see if the peels from the oranges they'd had for their morning snack were flammable. The answer ended up being: Very. Needless to say, Daybreak Academy wound up regretting that day for the duration of their school careers. Causing trouble in and out of school became their bread and butter, and so it seemed the next logical step was to start a band. This may or may not have contributed to bad habit number two, but it was difficult to say either way. It was probably a safe bet to say that Vanitas' second bad habit was something he would have done anyways.

Bad habit number two was simple: Cigarettes and booze. They weren't hard to attain when he and Axel were fourteen and only got easier to attain with age, and by the time their music careers had actually taken off, it was laughable how easy it was to get anything they wanted. Axel was actually mostly to blame for the cigarettes, considering anything and everything involving fire was of interest to the redhead, even if it only had minimal involvement. In this one thing, and this one thing only, Vanitas was simply along for the ride. What started as casual smoking around his friend — which arguably couldn't be considered casual because of how much time the two spent together — turned into an addiction. This was also the easiest of his vices to sate. It didn't matter what his parents said or how many times he was grounded, suspended, or otherwise punished, Vanitas always managed to find his way back to his cigarettes and liquor.

And finally, bad habit number three, another simple one. Lots of mindless sex. A different city, different stage, different girl every night, if he wanted, and most nights he did want. Or rather, he didn't, because there was never a shortage of groupies — dyed black hair, rings of dark eyeliner with red lipstick, quoting his song lyrics back at him with barely concealed earnestness. He'd long since stopped being surprised when they copied his piercings or had cringeworthy tattoos they thought would impress him. He was never even surprised anymore when he looked up and saw another pair of golden eyes staring back at him — the wonders of colored contacts. He'd lost count of how many times interviewers had asked him if gold was his real eye color. "As real as my dick, sweetheart," was his favorite response, regardless if the interviewer was a man or a woman, because it always got them flustered and pissed their manager, Reno, off to no end. For his credit, Axel always went along with it, claiming he could confirm this and inciting a flurry of rumors that the two of them were secretly dating.

They all started to blur together, meaningless hookups and morning afters, always accompanied by Axel's commentary, snarky, but occasionally containing hints that Vanitas should actually find someone to settle down with. But why should he settle down with somebody when all the girls he was able to meet were carbon copies of each other? They obviously thought he had a type, but they couldn't be more wrong about what they thought it was. Vanitas wasn't even sure himself what his type exactly was, just that it wasn't "rockstar groupie". He'd never admit to Axel, at least not in so many words, that he always had a feeling he'd know his type when he saw it, and not a moment before. Needless to say, he hadn't seen it yet.

Not that he was actively looking, considering he wasn't exactly sociable. He was content to keep Axel as his one best friend, Reno as a squawking chaperone, and his parents and nobody else. He was quite content to let his bad habits stay his bad habits. That being said, it didn't mean that he wasn't completely and totally bored with his present circumstances.

The mountainside view out the window of his suite was dotted with trees and, arguably, a stunning view. Or rather, it would have been if he hadn't seen a million and one just like it in the span of his music career. It was just another thing in the multitude of things in his life that blended together, one after the other. Not that he really cared about the view either way. Right now it was only a backdrop to him leaning over the plexiglass balcony railing, naked and smoking a cigarette in the predawn light.

Vanitas wasn't a morning person; at all. He couldn't be, with how late their shows went and then the meet and greets afterwards that Reno wouldn't cancel no matter how much he bitched about it. He swore it was Reno's revenge on him for never behaving himself during interviews, although Reno always insisted it was necessary to present a good public image. Vanitas didn't even need to say that he couldn't give a rat's ass about their image, considering how he acted. It wasn't like they were some prissy boy band trying to cater to preteen girls who kissed posters of them in their bedrooms. The thought alone made him cringe, so excuse him for trying to deter anything that might lead to that kind of behavior.

Yet despite the fact that he wasn't a morning person, as soon as his eyes opened in the morning he was rousing himself and getting out of bed, if only to secure a few more precious moments of solitude before his companion of the night woke up. The last thing he wanted was to give her the impression that the night before was anything more than a one night hookup. It seemed to him that if he was still in bed with her when she woke up, it would send the message that this meant something when it meant no more and no less than all the other one night stands he'd had. And besides that, he really needed his morning cigarette. The smoke curled around his hand before drifting off and into the sky while he watched it go.

If his estimation was right, and it usually was, he had a good twenty to thirty minutes before she'd be waking up.

"Vaniboy!"

That is, if it wasn't for one obnoxious redhead singsonging his name and pounding on his door. God, he hated that nickname. Well, not so much hated it as the way he hated Axel screaming it for all the world to hear.

He whirled from the railing, barely pausing to flick the unfinished cigarette from his fingers as he went back inside. Grabbing his boxers off the floor, he chanced a glance at the ridiculously large bed. Some of the tension eased from his shoulders when he saw the woman was still asleep and he quickened his pace, tugging his boxers on as he went.

By the time he got to the door, Axel had gotten out two more "Vaniboy"s and started knocking rhythmically on the door in what Vanitas knew was supposed to be one of Axel's favorite songs but was distinctly unidentifiable. He waited for a lapse in knocks and then swung open the door. Axel's fist stopped with the barest of spaces between it and his best friend's nose. They stood there, expressions polar opposites. While Axel had a shit-eating grin on his face, Vanitas was much less pleased.

"Rise and shine, Vaniboy!"

He pushed past Vanitas into the suite, eyes skimming over the dark-haired girl who was now stirring from sleep. Vanitas growled lowly, glaring at Axel as the other helped himself to the — overpriced, even to them — bottles of name brand juice in the minibar.

"What the hell are you doing here at—" Vanitas glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand "—seven thirty in the goddamn morning?"

"And hello to you, too, why yes, I'm doing great, thanks for asking."

"People are trying to fucking sleep here."

Axel looked past Vanitas, once more lazily glancing around the room. His gaze landed on the open balcony doors where Vanitas' cigarette butt hadn't managed to make it past the railing and was still burning slowly.

"You aren't people, and if you were, you can sleep when you're dead."

Vanitas rolled his eyes.

"Original. Get that out of a fortune cookie?"

"Nah, the fortune cookie said "Yours will be a life of misery and woe"."

The dark-haired man snorted, grabbing a pillow off the bed and chucking it at his so-called best friend. Axel dodged it deftly and it landed harmlessly next to his feet.

"Don't be a fucking drama queen."

"Drama king," Axel corrected and pointed vehemently at Vanitas with the hand that was holding his juice bottle.

"More like court jester."

Axel clutched at his heart, reeling backwards into the minibar. He looked at Vanitas with exaggerated hurt.

"You wound me, Vaniboy."

Vanitas rolled his eyes again and turned away from Axel to find some clothes, only to freeze at what he found waiting for him.

"Vanitas?"

Great. Just great. He'd been so distracted by Axel that he'd actually forgotten about the naked girl in his bed. The morning after always was his least favorite part.

"Oh yeah." Vanitas stiffened when Axel slipped his arm around his shoulders, hunching down a bit so that they were at the same level. The girl on the bed stared between them like a deer in the headlights. "Have we met before?"

Amber eyes narrowed in a glare. Axel knew damn well he'd never met this girl before and he was only mentioning this to get Vanitas riled up. And after knowing each other for going on seventeen years, Axel knew exactly what would get Vanitas riled up. Vanitas scowled and shook Axel's arm off his shoulder.

"Umm…"

"You know damn well you haven't met before."

"Ah, my mistake." Axel resumed rummaging through the minibar, having finished his first juice bottle and seeming completely bored with the unidentified female. That is, until he peered back over at them and spoke again. "Must have been some other dark-haired beauty sans clothes."

Another pillow went soaring across the room, this time smacking Axel dead in the face and stopping his suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"Axel, shut the fuck up or get the fuck out."

It wasn't that Vanitas cared what this girl thought, or knew that she wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last, but he wasn't a total asshole.

"Y'know, I'm starting to get the feeling I'm not wanted here."

"Gee, I wonder why."

"Umm." The small interjection drew the attention of the bickering friends to the door. The mystery girl was standing there, fully dressed, eyes darting around the room as she combed her fingers through her hair. "I'm just gonna go, so…"

"Yeah, alright," Vanitas said, waving a hand in the air and turning away from her.

She lingered in the doorway, biting her lip before opening the door and leaving. Axel's eyes followed her out. Then he looked back at Vanitas.

"Ah, Vanitas Fair, bad boy rockstar, breaker of hearts."

Vanitas scoffed.

"That was entirely your fault."

Axel shrugged, abandoning the minibar and making himself all too comfortable on one of the armchairs.

"Please. As if you wanted her to hang around all day. You should be thanking me."

"We've been over this already," Vanitas said, heading across the room to get dressed himself.

"And we're gonna keep going over it until you got it memorized."

Vanitas pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and with the other put up his middle finger at Axel, but said no more as he pulled on his clothes. He took his time walking over to the minibar, grabbing an assortment of snacks and his own bottle of juice.

"Don'tcha wanna know what I'm doing here?"

"Annoying me?"

"No." Axel paused. "Well, yes, but besides that."

"Don't care."

Axel groaned and stretched out dramatically across the armchair. Vanitas proceeded to ignore him.

"Dude," the redhead said, sitting up straight in the chair. "You totally need to get laid."

At this, Vanitas finally looked up at him, gold eyes narrowed in a dull stare.

"Are you fucking blind? I just did."

Axel rolled his eyes before pointing emphatically at his friend.

"Yeah, well you need to get laid again. By someone who can get that stick out of your ass. You're an asshat."

"Is there a point to your bitching or are you trying to annoy me to death?"

"Tch," Axel scoffed. "If that was possible, you'd be dead by now." Vanitas glared at Axel silently. "Alright, sheesh. Seriously. Stick up your ass," Axel said with a vulgar gesture demonstrating just how far up he assumed said stick would be.

Vanitas responded by reaching into the bowl of fruit on the suite's table, and pitching a peach directly at Axel's head. His eyes widened and he ducked, the peach soaring past him and colliding with the window with a loud splat.

"Tell me what the fuck you want before you end up as bruised as that peach."

"And destroy this pretty face? You would never."

Amber eyes stared at him with irritation as Vanitas' hand once more hovered over the fruit bowl. Having been on the receiving end of more than one of Vanitas' bad attitudes, Axel could only and grimace and hold up his hands in mock defeat.

"Alright, alright, I give. We're going to a party tonight."

Vanitas almost threw another peach at him right then and there for those words. Instead,he closed his eyes, inhaled deeply through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth.

"No, I'm not."

Axel jumped up off the chair, long legs carrying him quickly across the room to sling his arm over Vanitas' shoulders.

"Sure ya are! What's the point of being famous if you don't enjoy it?"

"I do enjoy it," Vanitas growled.

Axel's hand found the top of Vanitas' head and roughly tousled his hair.

"I don't mean sleeping with a bunch of groupies, Vaniboy. Let's live it up!"

"Live it up by yourself!"

The dark-haired man ducked from underneath Axel's hand, then whirled around to glare at him. Axel was standing with his arms crossed, head tilted back before he brought his gaze back to Vanitas.

"Don't be such an angsty brat and have fun for once in your life."

"I'm not going to your damn party. Go with Reno."

"Big bro is busy trying to keep your dramatic punk ass from giving the band a bad image."

"Well then, he'll be thrilled to hear I'm staying in."

"Oh, he would be," Axel said cheerfully, heading towards the door, "if you were staying in tonight."

"Dammit, Axel, I mean it. I'm not going to a fucking party."

"I'll be back in a few hours, and you better be ready."

"I said, I'm not going!"

His words fell on deaf ears as Axel waved over his shoulder and shut the door behind him.

True to his words, Axel was back at his door later that day, ready and all too willing to literally drag his ass out the door. The desire to spare himself the humiliation of being thrown over the taller man's shoulder — and he knew Axel could from all of their previous scuffles and it was not an experience he wanted to relive — was the only reason that he went quietly. He'd seriously been contemplating calling Reno to beg for him to schedule some dumbass event so that he wouldn't have to go. But oh, how his pride trembled at the thought of begging for anything. Axel and this party were clearly the lesser of the two evils.

That being said, the first thing he did upon entering the hotel's large event room was find a drink, and then find a wall to stand against. It wasn't hard to ditch Axel in the crowd, and the redhead seemed more than content to forget Vanitas to instead dance with a myriad of girls, charming his way through them one by one. Vanitas was rarely one for parties, and on the occasion he did want to go to one, they definitely weren't like this. Well dressed men and women with perfect hair, tittering quietly to each other about he had no clue what. Not that he cared. But he was definitely, just as he had been for the longest time now, bored. Axel was seriously delusional if he thought that Vanitas would enjoy himself here at all.

He nursed his drink, scowling at anybody who looked his way for a second too long while continuing to watch the crowd. As his eyes drifted over all the party goers, the thought occurred to him that he could just leave, and Axel would be none the wiser. One more drink was all it took to empty his glass, and he pushed himself off the wall, ready to do just that when something made him pause.

Or rather, someone.

A girl, perched at the bar, blonde ponytail tousled, skin tight deep green dress, and long legs to die for crossed at the knee.

Vanitas had no desire to watch cheesy romcoms, and he was proud to say he had never seen one in his life. So he was completely oblivious to what a clichéd movie moment it was when he met eyes with her across the crowded room.

A/N: Hi everybody, and my I joyfully present to you: Habitual Sinner! This is the story I've been working on in my downtime and in between chapters of Soul Eater and City Lights. I'm juggling a few different projects right now, and can't promise that any of them will update with any regularity unfortunately, but I hope you enjoy this newest piece all the same! Thanks for reading, and if you have time, please leave a review!