Written for the KH kink meme over on LJ. Prompt was Terra's heartbeat. And sometimes .. I do end up liking the things that I pop out in ten minutes. :'| But only sometimes.

Standard disclaimers apply. Which means I don't own a goddamn thing.

-o-

He notices things. Mostly, the smaller ones. Things that people wouldn't normally think to pay attention to. Things that are easily looked over.

Like the sound of a heartbeat.

It seems a fickle thing, when he first thinks about it - how it changes, flows from an idle thrum to something almost frantic. He listens to Terra's the most, and he doesn't think about why. Not that he values anything about him above Aqua .. but his is so strong, he can't help but notice it.

Like when they're training.

He can hear it even from where he's poised, ready for that downward stroke that the older always starts off with. Low, almost sluggish, and when they begin to move in that easy, almost choreographed dance of theirs, it picks up. Fleeting, skipping beats when he rushes forward, step after step and the swing of their practice blades echoes almost loud enough to drown it out.

But he doesn't think anything could ever be loud enough to drown that out.

And when it's over, and Terra pulls him into a gentle hug - just like every single time before it, and that's something else he's gotten used to - his cheek presses to his chest. He can hear it better, here. This close, when the sound of labored breathing is just as loud as the steady thumpthumpthump behind the safety of ribs. Muted, muffled, carrying through cartilage and bone, lean muscle that stretches and gives when he breathes. It's still just as strong.

And Ven hopes there is nothing that could ever stop that sound.