There was something about Dark Pit's seaside home that made all of the tension in Pit's body melt away. It wasn't like slipping into a hotspring, where it was cleansed and almost banished. Here, it was as if he was encouraged to just let it go. To just be. To be honest, there wasn't much he had to be tense about lately, but he still felt the relaxing effect when he came to visit.
Dark Pit was in a state of moderate dress, with his chiton held up only by his belt. "So, what's new?" he asked, tending to the fire.
"Well, the Centurions are shaping up nicely into new squadrons! There are a bunch of them I don't recognize. I think they'll be ready to patrol soon -"
Dark Pit clicked his tongue. "What's new with you?"
Ah. That wasn't just small talk, it was a question. One that Pit had to actually think about, because Dark Pit wanted a real answer.
After about a minute of consideration, all Pit could say was, "Not much."
Dark Pit's expression slid into the beginnings of an unamused snarl.
"I'm serious! I'm trying to think about what I've been doing lately that's any different, and, well, nothing!" Pit hoped that the other angel wouldn't take his raised voice as irritation. He took a few even breaths just in case. "Nothing is really...happening, or going on, really. With me at least."
Dark Pit's wings stirred restlessly. His mouth squirmed, like he was fighting a frown. "I was hoping that you'd have more to say after you've spent so long not being Palutena's underling, honestly," he muttered.
Pit stared at his feet. He had a seat so that he wouldn't be swaying as he shifted his weight. "Honestly..."
"Yeah. I want to know. It was a big deal to work up to your freedom, so I want to know what you think about it."
"Honestly? Honestly? I'm...I'm kind of bored," Pit sighed, flopping onto his back. "Freedom is nice and all, but I don't know what to do with myself half the time."
Dark Pit's wings stretched for a short second. "You could do anything you want."
Pit's face screwed up with a frown, and he struggled to make his thoughts clear to himself before he gave voice to them. "Sure, but I have to decide that every day! Of every week, of every month...there's only so much of 'oh I want to play video games' or 'oh I might fly around over here' that I can do before I feel, I don't know..."
Dark Pit blinked at him.
"...Useless."
Dark Pit's fingers flexed, but his expression remained level. "You're not useless," he said quickly.
Pit covered his eyes. "But I'm not doing anything! I want to feel useful!"
Dark Pit frowned. The dancing firelight made his expression seem to move a lot more than it actually was.
"Do you want Palutena to make you do things?" he asked, but there was no malice in his voice.
Pit's first instinct was to blurt out an affirmative, and his wings pushed his body up so he could give voice to it. But, that seemed reckless and not a smart idea around his other, so he sank back to the floor wordlessly. Then, with another deep breath, he said, "Yeah, I do. At least I wouldn't feel like a lumpy sack of feathers so much."
Dark Pit shuffled over so that he was sitting next to Pit's face. "Do you like the way Palutena treats you now?"
"Heck yes! I mean, duh, we're lovers! I get to love her and get loved back! And we're still friends! You know, like how I am with you!" Pit said, tapping Dark Pit's leg with a fist.
Dark Pit observed Pit's fist mutely. He gave the other angel a little nudge with the tip of his wing. "You're doing lots of things with Palutena lately, huh?"
"I guess. What, do you want me to talk about them?"
Dark Pit's hesitation made Pit sit up. Dark Pit was staring off at nothing in particular, his lower lip slightly drawn.
"How does she treat you?" he asked after a long moment.
Pit tipped his head. He never really considered that much, but he had a good idea of how to phrase it. "She treats me as an equal."
"Are you comfortable with that?"
Now there was a question. Pit's wings pulled close to his body. "...Why wouldn't I be?"
"Mmh," Dark Pit rolled his shoulders, wings flexing as well. "You say you want her to tell you to do things. Like you still want to work for her."
"Yeah! Those things aren't mutually exclusive, you know!"
"They are," Dark Pit said in a firm voice. "I work for Viridi. We're not equals."
Pit studied Dark Pit's expression, a sad frown touching his own features. "...I don't think so. But we can agree to disagree," he said quickly, not wanting to start an argument.
Dark Pit looked away. The fire popped amiably in the silence. Pit sidled closer so that they could cup their wings around each other. Eventually the frown faded from Dark Pit's face.
"Palutena is a goddess," he said, barely above a whisper.
"Yep!"
"And we're just angels."
Pit nudged Dark Pit's shoulder. "She told me that she doesn't like being held above being able to love us."
Dark Pit didn't turn his head, but his gaze searched the other angel's face. "Us," he said.
"Yeah! She mentioned you, too."
Dark Pit closed his eyes. Pit leaned against him.
"Do you ever have the impression that Palutena is more than you can handle?"
"Mmm..." Pit flexed his fingers and settled for folding his hands together. His voice was soft when he spoke again. "Sometimes I think about how huge she is...you know, goddess of light and all. But it's so much nicer to hold her and love her, you know? It might not be easy sometimes but it's nicer."
Dark Pit poked the fire with a stick. "How old do you think Palutena is?"
"Older than me, at least!"
Dark Pit's expression grew flat. Pit heard him sigh.
"I don't look in her library much, but I don't think there are records of when angels were created," Pit said, straightening so he could rest his chin on his knees. "But that was a long time ago. And she lived for a long time before that, so..."
"You know, Viridi is even older than she is," Dark Pit said.
"What?"
"Right? I wonder why she hasn't overpowered Palutena already," Dark Pit shrugged. He shifted so his head rested on Pit's shoulder.
"Oh, that's another thing Lady Palutena told me. Gods can't kill other gods."
Dark Pit considered this in silence. Pit tipped his head, wondering if there were any other odd questions, but there didn't seem to be any.
"Gosh, I'm hungry. Do you have anything in here?"
"Some leftover stew. That alright with you?"
"Yeah, of course!"
Sometimes, it felt like the horizon in Viridi's realm was more expansive than that of Skyworld. Dark Pit stared off at it, studying the colors of it in pensive silence. It didn't take long for the sanctum's patron goddess to sprout out of the ground some distance away. She walked over to him, staff in hand.
"So what's got your feathers in a knot, silly bird?" Viridi asked, a light smile on her features.
He blinked at her a while, his eyes searching. Then, he walked up to her so that they were standing no more than a hand's width apart. She bristled, dragging a foot behind her. He wondered at that - did she feel threatened? Why?
Then he realized he was looking down at her. That he stood over her.
"How come you're a child all the time?" Dark Pit asked.
Viridi blinked. "Didn't you already ask me this question?"
"Why did you pick a child's form?" he continued. "What sort of advantages does that give you over an adult's body?"
She twirled a finger around the hair that fell over her face. "Use some critical thinking. Animals will make themselves look weaker to lull others into a false sense of security," she said.
"A more effective means of camouflage is to look more threatening than you really are," he countered casually.
"That's if you don't want anybody messing with you."
"So you want people to bother you?"
She sighed loudly. "I can't be completely unapproachable!"
Dark Pit crossed his arms and glanced away. Viridi planted her staff in the ground so she could lean against it. Her brow was pinched together as she closed her eyes.
She seemed to be finished with the conversation, but he still had things to ask. He swallowed softly before speaking again. "Am I just a warden?"
His question made her open her eyes. "What, do you want a promotion? I'd say you haven't earned it yet."
The corner of Dark Pit's mouth twitched. He blinked hard. She stared at him.
"Am I just a warden to you?" he asked in a smaller voice.
Viridi's mouth parted, her expression relaxing. After a moment, she said, "You're Dark Pit. A bit of a problem, but I don't mind taking care of you."
He looked back at her, frowning briefly. "A problem?"
"You keep things interesting. You make them interesting. I want you around."
This quieted him.
"Do you need more buttering up or do you want to do something?"
"I can fly," he said. "Where to?"
"There's a sanctuary that humans are poking around. Just need to make sure that the perimeter is secure..."
Author's Notes:
Sometimes I wonder if it's worth trying to keep working on this because the emotional work I have to invest to complete chapters vastly outweighs the returns I get. Writing a rareship in a dying fandom doesn't seem worth it most of the time.
There was a time where I thought that separating the plot from the fluff stuff was a good idea, so I tried to get all the relationship progression out of the way so I could move onto the plot. But, now I'm not so sure. I think I could definitely weave more plot through the shippy stuff. I might revisit previous chapters and rearrange scenes once I finish Love is Infinite, if the effort seems worthwhile. There are a lot of things that could be written better. In the meantime, here is a chapter that might seem a bit out of place after the last few.
