SAD SOULMATE AU

[crimeson]

[So hey, Kaine is being released from prison! But first he's gotta meet his parole officer. Of course, Kaine is in a pretty high security class, so they probably assigned him some hardass who'd shove him back in prison at the drop of a hat...

But when he's brought to the meeting room, the door opens on a handsome redhead balancing his chair on two legs, hands folded behind his head. He's in uniform for now, looks pretty nice all buttoned up, but his vibes are still so casual when he brings the chair back down on all four legs and raises a hand in a wave.]

Heya!

Comments

[crimeson]

You'll feel better than if I bullshat you one.

[markofkaine]

[He lets his eyes fall closed for a moment..]

I already know I can't get by on smarts.

[crimeson]

You ever gotten the chance to try?

[markofkaine]

My brother's the genius, not me.

Those genes didn't exactly pass over.

[crimeson]

Christ. You don't gotta be a genius, darlin'. I know I'm not.

[he is though]

[markofkaine]

[uh. Turns to look at him, perplexed]

"Darling"?

[crimeson]

...No good?

[markofkaine]

[Flatly,]

Do I look like a 'darling' to you?

[Obviously not, he's a pissy grouch and a hulking freak]

[crimeson]

[blinks]

Yes.

[markofkaine]

...





You need your eyes checked.

[crimeson]

I can read the plates on a car from a quarter mile away, I really don't.

[markofkaine]

Fine. Your brain, then.

[crimeson]

[sighs and sits up.]

Look. Where does this come from? It doesn't seem like normal self esteem issues.

[markofkaine]

[Stiffly,]

I'm a felon and a freak. Anyone would have to be nuts to think there's anything darling enjoy that.

[crimeson]

Remember lil ol' me? Noted former mercenary? Not exactly a deterrent.

What makes you a freak?

[markofkaine]

[looks away, muttering]

You know how I know I don't have a soul? It's not just about the mark.

I was never born.

[crimeson]

...

[pats the couch cushion next to him.]

Tell me about it?

[markofkaine]

[I'm Not Looking At You While I'm Being Melodramatic]

Stolen genetic material and chemicals, aged up into the shape of a man and churned out of a vat... that's all I am.

That's why I have no records. I've never been to school - only a few hazy memories that don't belong to me. I was never a child.

I'm not even a real person.

[crimeson]

...Okay. So. I've worked with the Black Workshop, and those kids are perfectly real.

[hashtag homunculi]

And it's not that you're not smart, it's that you've never gotten an education. Makes sense. Don't be so down on yourself.

[markofkaine]

They're kids. They've got their whole lives ahead of them.

[He puts his empty glass down, lost in thought]

When I grasp at... warm memories - if I can even hold onto them... nothing belongs to me. That wasn't me they loved. But I was-- made, to love them.

There was no place for me in their lives, or in the world. How could you call that living?

[crimeson]

...You've had it real hard.

But that doesn't mean you're bad.

[markofkaine]

No, but everything else does.

So don't try to-- flatter me. Whatever good you're seeing, it's from someone else.

[crimeson]

It's not flattery, fuck! It's seein' another human being and liking him!

[markofkaine]

[i still don't get it]

What, just because I'm not the worst roommate in the world?

[crimeson]

Because I like you! It doesn't have t'be complicated, fuck!