I always have a soft spot for the less touched upon characters, especially those with a very good relationship between them. And, despite the amount of slash/yaoi/whatever I enjoy, Red and Purple has always and will always come off as two best friends with a rich history between them. And what's a great friendship without some major wrinkles between them? XDD

Complex
2. What a Feeling
Virgo

1. An entity made up of three or more interrelated components.
2. A group of individual structures known or believed to be anatomically,
embryologically, or physiologically related.
3. A group of related, often repressed memories, thoughts, and impulses that
compel characteristic or habitual patterns of feelings, thought, and behavior.

Emotions were not things Irken bioengineers spent a lot of time on. In fact, passed the fidelity toward their race and aggression to everything else, Irkens weren't given much else in the terms of emotions. That meant, however, that these things tended to develop on their own and had tendency of being occasionally, well, not good.

Conceit was good example. Because of their ability to continually crush anyone they came across, Irkens as a whole were rather boastful and self absorbed. Boredom was another dangerous one because when they weren't attacking anyone they really didn't have anything else to do. And because the before mentioned programmed aggressive tendency, the Irken race found that a good (relatively speaking) way to relieve boredom was to entertain themselves- most of the time it was by abusing someone else.

Other emotions also cropped up through experience and Purple was beginning to experience a new emotion that he neither had a name for or liked feeling. And it always came in regards to that… Red guy.

When Purple was a smeet, he realized that he was processing things faster then the others around him. His height shot up dramatically and people deferred to him. To Purple that only meant one thing: he was a natural leader. And when he saw the Almighty Tallest Flitch on a view screen for the first time welcoming him and his vat-mates into the world, he knew that wanted to be THE leader. He was going to become the Tallest.

And it was going better than he planned already. Moved to a class 10 years ahead (most vats on Irk were used to produce technicians, infantry, pilots and other drones, invader vats were complete once every five years) it seemed not only was he going to be the youngest Irk to graduate from the elite Invader Academy, but also graduate the top of his class.

"Ow! Sunnuva-"

That was the plan anyway. Except this RED guy kept getting in the way!

Purple growled, rubbing his jaw. The legs on his pak straightened, the back two kicking him forward and the front ones jabbing out, attempting to either pin Red down or skewer him. Pivoting on a spindle, Red's spidery legs whipped out. Purple barely dodged them with an intricate dance of ducking and jumping.

Slamming his weight on four points on the ground, Purpled lunged up, seeing an opening in Red's defense. And didn't see the fist that hooked around and slammed him against a bulkhead. Surprised by the attack, Purple flailed and hit the wall badly.

Something broke.

The rest of the class gasped loudly as Purple waggled what was left of his forward left leg. Red towered above him, gloating, and Purple glared messy death at him.

How DARE he! Not only did he beat him (never, in Purple entire time in the academy, was he ever beaten in a spider battle), but BROKE a leg as well! That bastard.

"You're gonna pay for that." Purple said flatly. Right before he launched himself at Red.

Not expecting an attack from a downed enemy, Red caught his adversary with his gut and both tumbled to the floor. They rolled, punching and cursing, spider legs scrabbling as they tussled.

"Not again." Their instructor moaned before motioning the monitors to help him. After successfully untangling the gangly metal legs and discerning whose body parts were whose, the monitors pulled the two apart as they still cursed and flung insults at each other.

Instructor Tet raised his eyes to the ceiling (Irkens didn't believe in benevolent gods because their race got away with so much, they didn't believe in vengeful gods for much the same reason). "If anyone's listening, you suck."

Rubbing his slender hands over his face, Instructor Tet sighed. "This is the fourth time this month I've had to separate you two from some fight or other." He gave the two bruised students a pleading look they couldn't meet. "Can't you not take everything so damn PERSONALLY? I'd hate to have to take this much higher, the both of you have so much potential- I don't want to see your records ruined because of something like this."

Not knowing what to say, Red and Purple sat silently.

"Honestly, why do you keep doing this? Do you hate each other? Is that it?"

"I don't hate him." Purple blurted out before his teeth could clamp shut. The other two looked at him in amazement. "Er, I mean." He traced little abstract lines on the seat. "That is, I don't hate HIM. I just… hate losing. Especially to him."

One of Instructor Tet's eyes narrowed. "So… You're just frustrated that he's just as good as you, then?"

Purple snorted. "He's just in the way right now. It won't stay that way, though. I won't let this guy ruin my chances to become the next Tallest."

"HAH!" Red barked. "YOU? YOU become Tallest? Don't insult me!" Crossing his arms, he glared at younger Irken. "Letting someone like you beat me is the one thing that makes my skin crawl."

Not giving them the chance to get into it (yet AGAIN), their instructor stood up abruptly. "That's it! If you two get into ANOTHER fight- any fight, I don't care! –I'm sending you both back to your original classes and writing the both of you up! I'd hate to sink so low as to use an ultimatum, but I've had enough having to reprimand you for something so trivial! So just do the best you can and keep your pride out of it! You have all of five years until you graduate and the rest of your lives after that to gloat. Do you both understand?"

Shrinking back in their seats and eyes growing large, the two let out a weak "Y-Yes, Instructor" before he let them return to the squad bay, proverbial tails between their legs.

It took a little less than two weeks for Purple to fix his pak and throughout that time he was unable to participate in any more sparing sessions. He was asked on several occasions if he wanted an engineering team to fix it for him but, personally, Purple didn't trust them.

Paks were, literally, an Irken's life. It held a backup of it's host's brainwave patterns, their occupational information, identity, jet boosters, high energy cutter beams, spider legs, short range communications and a gel helmet for short periods of time spent in space. And, most importantly, the host couldn't live without it attached to them for more than an hour. If the host should lose consciousness the pak- after deeming if the host was well enough to continue –could jolt them awake again. To have someone else messing with something so important made Purple sick to his stomach.

But, as he worked, he pondered. In some deep recess, he suspected he didn't actually hate Red though to verbally confirm it still shocked him. Purple knew what hate was- it was the sickly feeling he got whenever he thought of not being the best. It set fire to his brain and sent claws tearing apart his nerves one ending at a time.

No, Red invoked some other feeling entirely. It was more something that set his teeth on edge and brought little insects to scour his innards. And when he gloated with that stupid, shit-eating grin of his, Purple's skin felt pulled too tight, like his head would explode if he didn't get the frustration out.

That, Purpled frowned, was his one weakness. He got frustrated easily and that lead to making mistakes- which Red would ultimately utilize. Perhaps this was just to be taken as a good growing (pardoning the pun) experience. With Red as his rival, it not only brought out this surprising weakness but also gave Purple the chance to overcome it. After all, he wouldn't settle for anything less than top seat.

Five more years of enduring. Flexing his repaired leg and frowning in thought, Purple nodded with finality to himself.

He could do that.

When Purple set his mind on something, nothing could stop him. So when he translated all the intense dislike (he still hadn't been able to find the proper adjective for this new emotion) for Red into the determination to get ahead, he took a great deal of relish at the dumbstruck look on Red's face when the results of the next exam came in.

Red responded by winning the next sparring sessions and exam.

Throwing themselves utterly into their training, the years passed in a blur of rising scores and growth spurts. Their classmates and instructors could only sit back and gape at the two towering figures.

It was during this period that Purple's emotions began to shift. No longer was Red's presence a constant pain inside his head- he grudgingly began to enjoy the competition if not just to silently brag over his victories –instead, he found that this elusive emotion was starting to be directed to the Irken around him. They were, to put it bluntly, incompetent. They made too many stupid mistakes, were too easily distracted and- for Irk's sake –they were all so short! As much as he hated to admit it, Red WAS the only one even close to his level, the only one whom holding conversation with didn't break his brain.

"Creepily enough, I know what you mean."

Red got the bottom bunk this time. All he did was kick Purple in the shin and claim it. Purple let it go with no words and a wide grin. He supposed it was the least he could do after the embarrassing defeat Red had recently been dealt by his hand.

"And the worst part is," Purple continued, gazing blankly at the ceiling, "that we're supposed to be one of the best classes in recent history."

"Kinda makes you afraid of what the fleet's gonna be like."

"If we're lucky, we'll be ordered to infiltrate some poor sod of a planet before too long."

Red snickered. "I should hope so. Only the best Invaders get field work and there's supposedly no one as good as we are."

"Man, things might get a little boring if that's the case."

"Don't worry, Purple. For all the trouble you caused me in training, when I become the Tallest, I'll be sure to keep you busy."

"If your little dream world keeps you safe at night, dream, dream away."

They lapsed into a sudden silence that felt far too heavy and lacked its usual tension. Red pattered his long fingers against the bedding and Purple shifted above him. Then, suddenly struck with an idea, Purple rolled toward the side and peered down at Red.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Asides from the default, how many emotions do you know?"

Red blinked. "Like… experienced or know about?"

"Know the names of."

"A few, why?"

"I got one that, for the life of me, I can't name. It's like a slow burning in my brain, like if I don't do something I'm just going to snap. It makes me… not really angry or mad, just really, really, uh-"

"Annoyed." Red said helpfully. "Sounds like annoyance."

Rolling the word around in his head, Purple decided that the emotion fit the word fairly well. "Annoyed, huh?" He nodded. "Hmph." Looking down at Red again, he gave a bright, cheery smile that completely belayed the sharp challenge in his eyes. "You're a really annoying bastard. Night!"

He rolled over onto his bed and stretched out to sleep- feeling more content than he had in a long, long while. At the unexpected statement, Red utterly failed to sleep and cursed Purple for his last victory of the night.