As One
How do different pairs interpret their relationships? "Immaculate" is afraid to examine theirs, and for good reason. Series of drabbles, OC-centric.
I am supposed to be writing a paper. Instead I wrote this. Basically these drabbles will all center around a different (original) pair, and focus on their dynamic and what they think about the role of Sacrifice and Fighter. No plot.
IMMACULATE
Rey only ever wears white.
Matsuzuka thinks it looks stupid, but he would never say that to Rey's face. He believes that there are some kinds of people who can pull off pure white, and some people who cannot. Rey falls in the "cannot" category. His hair is not black or light blonde; it is gingery. His skin is not pale or dark, but a sickly, sallow shade. In the white suit and tie he looks greenish. Like a freshly dug-up zombie.
Men in white are imposing, cold, clean as the edge of a razor. Rey just looks slovenly. He takes care of the suit, but not his hair or face. Matsuzuka has long memorized all the pimples dotting Rey's chin like a constellation.
How Matsuzuka disdains of Rey. Yet he likes Rey too, sometimes. He knews that he's supposed to like Rey all of the time, because he is Rey's Fighter Unit, but truthfully most of the time he finds the boy irritating. He will fight the requisite battles during the night and then he will return to his own house and sit in front of the computer and watch a few episodes of Stargate: Atlantis and go to sleep and forget all about Rey until he has to meet Rey again for the next night.
Matsuzuka attended the Seven Voices Academy, so he knows that this is not the way a Fighter should feel about his Sacrifice. He supposes he ought to be ashamed. But he can't be assed to feel anything aside from light irritation. Even then it's not irritation directed at himself, but at Rey.
"We lost again," Rey says as they walk home together. Rey lives across the town from Matsuzuka, but they depart from the same bus stop, so they're stuck together for a few more minutes. Minutes usually spent in silence.
Matsuzuka just grunts. The night is cold and he longs for the comfort of his room and a bottle of bourbon and an episode of Atlantis. He finds Rey's voice annoying.
"Even though we're Immaculate, Matsuzuka."
Another grunt.
"Do you know what Immaculate means?"
"Without sex," Matsuzuka says, gazing disdainfully at Rey's reddish fox ears and tail.
"No," Rey says, his sallow face coloring. It is an unpleasant sight. "It means without stain. No dirt, no sin. Clean and perfect and pure."
"So?"
"Then why do we lose?" Rey's eyes glimmer. It strikes Matsuzuka how young Rey is-not even out of high school yet. Matsuzuka starts to feel a little sorry for Rey, but not really.
"Who cares," Matsuzuka says.
"You know, I was so excited," Rey says. The words tumble from his mouth, too fast and erratic. "So excited when my name first appeared and I knew I had a partner, somewhere. Someone out there who was just like me. Just as immaculate as me."
Matsuzuka wants to say, you're not immaculate, but he doesn't feel assed to. They sit down together at the bus stop, on the opposite sides of the bench. As always. Doesn't matter because Rey keeps talking, he's not expecting a reply.
"When this name first appeared on my chest I knew I was special. I knew that there was only one person who could understand me and that was the other person who had that name on their chest too, in the exact same spot. Immaculate. I thought for sure...I really thought...I dreamed about it for so long, I mean." Rey swallows. "Dreamed about our first meeting. I was sure everything would...that something would just click, you know."
"Mm-hmm." Matsuzuka wonders what he felt. He was one of the last in his year in the Academy to be bonded, but for some reason that never bothered him. Being bonded always sounded like a pain in the ass to him. It's better being by himself. All alone in his apartment with only his thoughts for company. He feels cleanest like that.
Other people - even his Sacrifice - are too much of a pain.
"I guess...you're not what I expected, that's all." Rey glances wearily at Matsuzuka. He looks a little ill; Matsuzuka remembers that he took a lot of damage in the fight today.
"You're not what I expected either," Matsuzuka says, but that's because he was expecting nothing.
"Immaculate," Rey repeats, tracing the letters through his coat. His finger digs into the cloth like he wants to tear straight through it. "Our name is Immaculate. We share one name. One soul."
"Sure," Matsuzuka says.
"Sure," Rey says with a sigh, and his arm falls down to his side again. Knuckles hit the bench with a little thud. Is he cold? His shoulders shake a little bit. Matsuzuka isn't cold, but maybe he is and he just doesn't notice.
"Tomorrow we'll win," Matsuzuka says.
"Sure." Rey sighs even heavier.
"Definitely," Matsuzuka says.
"Yeah."
The bus rolls in, gleaming slightly under the street lamps. It's Matsuzuka's. He stands up and doesn't look back at Rey as he walks into the warmth and light of the nearly empty bus. As he sits down and untangles his headphones from his iPod, he stops thinking about Rey altogether. What's the point? He has more interesting things to look forward to. His clean little apartment. His laptop, folded neatly on the desk where he always leaves it. Predictable things. Not at all like the Rey he can't understand. He starts musing about which Atlantis episode he should watch this week. He's watched all his old favorites five times already but because he likes them enough, he'll keep returning to them.
Outside the bus, Rey waits. The moonlight gleams off his white suit. He brushes the pad of his thumb against the corner of his eye and then rubs it on his pants leg, and there is a little grayish wet stain. Rey stares at it and says, "Definitely. We'll win."
The stains on his suit are all dried by the time he returns home to his mansion. Because they're just water, after all.
Hey, Stargate Atlantis is a great show.
Anyway, reviews are really, really nice. In the meantime, I will return to writing that paper.