Deviation
Summary: Different people yet the same.
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He likes classical music, the graceful strings stirring calm within him. His emotions will reverberate through his music; he will listen to Wagner when he is frustrated, angry crescendos exhibiting the sense of hopelessness within him. He listened to Wagner many times after Charlie's death. He enjoys the crashing percussion and how the music flits from one emotion to another, much like himself. He listens to West-Coast Jazz when he relaxes, the smooth arrangements soothing his frequently tense mind.
She, on the other hand, slips on a CD of The Who when she's tidying the house, telling him that its a reminder of her youth, stealing her brother's LP's and playing them in her bedroom whilst studying for the all important Maths quiz the next day. She closes her eyes to the sounds of Jimi's voice playing through the speakers, resting her aching body after a particularly trying mission, trying to forget whatever horrors she may have seen. Albums bearing the names of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones litter her music collection in between the pop records that Cassie had given her, trying to convert her "aunt" into following modern music, rather unsuccessfully.
When he makes the trip to the video rental store, he is the stereotypical Air Force man, heading straight to Platoon and M.A.S.H. He watched Apocolypse Now, and had been converted to the acting talents of Martin Sheen. She had seen the obvious opportunity that had arisen, and rented Badlands with Sissy Spacek. He'd mildly enjoyed it but had returned quickly enough to Black Hawk Down and Born To Die before she got any funny ideas and made him watch Top Gun. As he eyes up the relative merits of modern or vintage military flicks, she wanders down the Foreign Films aisle, ticking off mentally all the movies she's rented on nights when working is out of the question. She picks up Etre Et Avoir again and wonders if he'll be annoyed at having to watch it for the third time. Maybe she can persuade him with some fun during the interval. She turns the DVD box of The Pianist and wonders whether he'd enjoy it. But if she's honest, neither of them are ever actually watching the film...
He likes CNN and The Simpsons. She likes the Science Channel and strangely taps midnight re-runs of Wormhole X-Treme!. He watches the conspiracy shows on the Sci-Fi Channel with a grimace, then reconsidering his scepticism seeing as he actually works at one of the "secret government organisations". She "endures" ice hockey, but he sneaks a look at her, and there's definite enthusiasm on her face as Minnesota look as though they are going to draw level.
He likes Mexican and she prefers pizza. He likes beer and she likes diet soda, for the taste or lack of it. He's incredibly untidy and she cleans for relaxation. She's anally retentive, and he's just not. She understands all those convoluted and complicated astrophysical dissertations and despite pretending his IQ is barely above 90, he grasps every word in ten.
He loves her. And she loves him.
They are different people. But the same. And he can live with that.
The End
