Rebelling
He was perfect.
Everyone thought he was perfect. Handsomer than even the most gorgeous male models; more intelligent than a super computer; impeccably polite and sophisticated; and quite possibly richer than the Queen of England. Yes, from a bystander's viewpoint, Vikram Kabra was the ideal man, the ideal person.
But Vikram, with all his brains, knew he wasn't. He was ruthless; his fellow Lucians would shudder when they passed him. His intelligence was used to be calculating, to figure out the best way to kill a person without being caught. He was cultured and cordial to the point of being haughty and cold. But that was the way of a Kabra.
Being a Kabra meant many things. It meant that he was royalty; that everyone, Lucian or not, was beneath him. It meant that he had to be the best, that failure was not an option. It meant that he had to live up to each and every expectation set for him- and one of many was that he was to be perfect. The perfect son, the perfect Lucian, the perfect Kabra.
Vikram did that. He did it without complaint, without question, without even a moment's hesitation.
Sometimes, though, he hated it. He hated not being allowed to be his own person; he hated the conformity of his life, the way that making a mistake could be the difference between life and death.
And every so often, he just wanted to trade his Armani suit for a pair of jeans, tell his parents to stuff it, and rebel.
That was where she came in.
XxxxX
It wasn't like she was pretty. No; in fact, her features were all rather masculine. But this only made her all the more perfect for the role Vikram needed her to play. Seventeen years old, six months away from becoming a legal adult, he knew that this would be his last chance to have fun in life. His last chance to rebel.
And what better way to do that than to date an ugly, brainless, poor Tomas?
So the next time he saw her, he opened up a little, flirted with everything he had, and won her over. By the end of the day, they had arranged to go to dinner the following Friday night.
The dinner had gone alright, Vikram supposed; she ate like a starved pig, with about as much table manners, but she was sociable enough. She wasn't overly rude to the waiter, even, which in itself was a shock.
At the end of the date, Vikram even went so far as to kiss her on the cheek. Her skin was warm and rosy when he pulled away.
Walking away, smirking only once he was sure that Mary-Todd couldn't see his face, he was too busy reveling over his victory to realize that his cheeks were warm, too.
XxxxX
His plan was working perfectly.
Dating Mary-Todd infuriated his family to no end; Vikram was constantly faced with threats that he would be disowned, but he knew his parents would never go through with them. They needed him; he was the only heir to the Lucian branch, after all, and his mother and father weren't that young anymore.
For her part, the Tomas girl was still completely oblivious to her now-boyfriend's plan. She was under the impression that he actually cared for her, that he was going out with her because he wanted to.
She was so totally infatuated with him that sometimes, Vikram couldn't help but feel guilty.
Mary-Todd really was a nice girl. She had a cheery personality, always seeing the good in life. Loyal and protective, she would do anything for her loved ones. Not to mention, she actually listened. When Vikram talked, she listened to him- not like everyone else he had ever met. No, she genuinely cared about what he had to say. It was so… odd, being able to tell someone anything, and know they would care.
Odd in a good way.
And as Vikram began seeing Mary-Todd in a brighter and better light, and his heart started to skip a beat or two when she smiled, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, this was what love felt like.
XxxxX
She broke up with him.
For days afterwards, he was in a state of shock, walking but not moving, hearing but not listening, looking without seeing. Because for all four months he and Mary-Todd had dated, she had been absolutely smitten with him, so why would she just- just dump him, like he was last week's garbage?
It was her loyalty. That loyalty that he admired so much. When he had formulated his plan, he hadn't taken into account that she would have duties to the Tomas starting from her eighteenth birthday, too. Looking back on it, he was foolish to overlook that factor. It turned out that she was two months older than him, and the day before her birthday, she told him that they couldn't see each other anymore.
She had been kind about it, of course. Very clearly, she had told him that she was sorry, that she wished things could be different, because she really did like him a lot. Vikram, for his part, had just stood there, mutely nodding when it felt like his turn to say something.
Ages after they had broken up and he was still moping, he began to wonder where he went wrong, what Mary-Todd was doing at that exact moment (was she with another man?), why there was a sharp pain in his chest that made him want to punch something.
The last question was the most pressing.
After much research, using the full wealth of the Lucian library in addition to countless Google searches, Vikram came to the conclusion that he was experiencing heartbreak. This, in itself, caused him to spend about a week in a daze. After all, he was a Kabra, and feeling emotions like heartbreak was strictly FLO: For Losers Only.
Yet each time he convinced himself that Mary-Todd was nothing, that he was perfectly fine, that little ache in his chest would come back just that tiny bit stronger, and he found it just a bit harder to focus on anything.
He decided that heartbreak wasn't a good thing, not a good thing at all. And so he vowed that he would do everything in his power to stop the children he knew he would have one day, from some perfect Lucian marriage his parents would set up, from ever feeling it.
Even if that meant not letting them get close to anyone in the first place.
XxxxX
When Natalie decided she loved Hamilton Holt, he knew it was karma.
After all the bad deeds he had done in his life, Vikram knew that some divine force was giving him payback by making his daughter fall for the son of the first (and only) girl to ever make him feel heartbreak. The only girl to make him feel anything, really.
So, of course, he saw Mary-Todd again. Up close. She was the same; ugly but with a beautiful smile, brainless but bright, poor but happy. So, so happy.
How had Eisenhower Holt managed to make her happier than Vikram Kabra had ever managed to?
Mary-Todd had greeted him in her open, not too impolite manner, as if they had never dated. As if they had never met at all. Vikram went along with it; what else was he supposed to do? Just come out with it and say, "Oh, hello, Mary-Todd, did you know I've been secretly in love with you ever since we dated, and that I wish I hadn't been such an idiot?" No, that wouldn't work at all.
So Vikram continued being Vikram. Perfect, flawed Vikram that no one ever listened to. No one except her.
He forever cursed the day he decided to rebel. The day he discovered what he could have had, what could have been.
Not my best, I don't think. But I still like it.
This pairing was requested by Joyce- a.k.a. Cascading Rainbows- and so this fic is dedicated to her. I owe her my utmost thanks, for introducing me to this marvelous crack!ship. Yes, I am now an extreme Vikram/Mary-Todd fan. XD
So, what do you think? Like it? Dislike it? Please tell me in a review, and please don't favorite without telling me why!
Thanks much,
Joelle8