the reality he faced when she was near
Title: Ugly
Theme: Senshi/Shitennou: Day 16, Chill, sm_monthly , January 2009
Genre: Angst-y
Rating: PG13
Nephrite sat against the tree, enjoying the feel of Jupiter reaching up and toying with his hair. She curled her fingers in his hair and tugged, pulling him down until his face hovered above hers. Smiling coyly, she pursued her lips and met his in a long kiss.
Breathlessly satisfied, she settled her head once more in his lap, as he leaned his against the bark, certain she could feel his discomfort, or at the very least a poke thereabouts down there.
It never ceased to amaze him how right it felt to be with her and how similar they were. Tall, firm, strong, with a touch of romance, and a brunette head.
They fit together so well, it was precision.
All of them did, as a matter of fact. The royalty. The leaders. The fighters. The intellectuals. And them. The physicals, perhaps? Nephrite did not know what "they" were exactly, but he knew they were together, equal, right.
Just like the others. Perfectly snug, like a puzzle.
The perfection worried him. He knew there was no happy ending or "forever and ever." Nothing was perfect, seamless, flawless. Everything had scars and blemishes and faults. Nephrite could not see it, but he knew it was there.
He felt it every time Mercury brushed past him.
A chill, a thrill, a shiver of something.
Goosebumps dotted his skin, tension rankled his body, and a groan sometimes suppressed itself in his mouth.
It had nothing to do with the ice of Mercury.
It had everything to do with the reality he faced when she was near: the flaw in the perfection, the defect in the puzzle, the ugliness he knew was about to surface and spread.
In him and around him, all the way to the "happily ever after" none of them would get to see.
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