sinful_lynx

Title: Flip the Pages
Fandom: Loveless/FMA
Characters/Pairings: Ritsuka; Ruby
Rating: PG
Warnings: RubyKitty! Who really shouldn't a surprise, considering it's a Loveless!verse drabble...
Author Note: Ritsuka! I've only ever written Soubi before, so... forgive me! D: I hope he's okay and that Daddy enjoys this.
Summary: It isn't always black and white, how things go, like they are in the world of books.
Disclaimer: Daddy made my icon and Ruby is hers and Ritsuka/Loveless certainly aren't mine.

It isn't always black and white, how things go, like they are in the world of books. The white paper and the black lettering are the things that he often finds the most comfort in, especially when he's uncomfortable. It's plain, clear, understandable. The world of books doesn't lead him astray to the point of it actually hurting.

Introducing oneself to an entire group of people who don't know, who can't possibly understand from the get go, is more horrifying than a favorite character in a book dying by the hands of a friend or relative. This world is new to him, these people not like the ones back home. Here, ears and tails are considered innocence, considered first chances. Mother always told him that he was different, that there was no one out there like him and to stay alive and happy, he needed to cut contact out.

Alex wasn't quite sure what to do, or where to go, but he certainly didn't think that, when he had finally gotten away from that sort of lifestyle, that he would be here... in this place with people who look just like him, who are freaks and they don't care, aren't beaten up on the streets or ridiculed for having extra things that mom said humans didn't have.

A part of his heart breaks a little as he finally takes his seat after a long, awkward pause after his introduction that makes him wonder, makes him curious as to whether they even listened or cared to hear his name, at the very least. The teacher begins the lesson and Alex knows that paying attention is essential to making it past his first day, but he can't find solace in the words that sound mechanized. There's no feeling behind them, they're simply there to bore holes into the heads of the students.

... much like how Mother had. Now that he knows that others exist, that there are people who can only accept his differences because they, too, possess them, he wonders what else his mother told him that was a lie. What else did she say that couldn't be trusted? Why did it hurt so much to know that she had lied to him, locked him away... had purposely stolen any hopes of finding friends?

He still loved mother anyway. Of course he did. He couldn't hate her, bring himself to be angry with her. She had her reasons, she wanted to protect him. Even if it did hurt, that ache would soon fade because he knew, somehow, that mother wasn't a terrible person. She was kind and maybe a little lonely. Maybe he'd go see her, after school let out.

As the day goes by, Alex only knows the world of his book, the world where mother didn't lie, the world where he's not really all that different, the world where everything's pleasant and peaceful because that is how he wants it to be. The only way to accept the inevitable is to break it up and endure each tiny bit. He stood up and gave his name. That was his goal for today. Tomorrow, he will work on making friends, perhaps someone will strike up a conversation. He is content to be alone, of course, he's spent most of his life this way, but he does wonder what it would be like if he had more people to know. Would it be nice to be invited somewhere?

Lunch comes and he's found a nice little corner in the classroom to sit and bury his nose, ignoring the world and creating his own. It's not that he doesn't want to be bothered, but he doesn't expect anyone to want to bother him and he doesn't want them to feel the need that, just because he is there, he needs constant attention. They're all friends and it's perfectly fine for him to sit out of it and not be a burden to them.

"Is it a good book?"

He blinks for a moment, unsure of just what it is that has brought him out of his little world. He remembers him from this morning, remembers how he didn't look all that interested, but not all that bored either. He seemed to be in a world all his own too, a world that, whether he would ever admit it or not, Alex was just a little bit curious about. What went on in the worlds of others? Did their stories make as good of one as they did in his books? Did they have happy ones or sad ones?

He's unsure of how to answer, but he slowly nods and lowers it so he can show this boy, this person who came from no where, that he's truly making an effort to listen, even if he worries that, when this conversation is over, he'll have lost his place. "Y-yeah. I like it."

The boy sits down and pulls out his own book, a thick tome that looks far more advanced than a twelve year old boy should be able to comprehend. "Sometimes, the idiots over there get too loud and its hard to read," he says as if it's nothing, flipping to a page with a bookmark inside, crudely drawn, only a thin slip of paper. He slips out what looks like an extra and passes it over. "Yuiko made a bunch of them, I guess. I'm never going to need them all."

He blinks, ears perking up at it. It's simple, a little flower next to a puppy with a sun beaming down, a bright smile on it's yellow face drawn in black. "Thank you."

The boy shrugs it off, dismisses it easily and stares down at the pages of his book as if the world doesn't exist any longer. He takes the hint to be 'now shut up' or 'i'm done with you' and he falls silent, pouring over his own little book and more than curious to read what it is that the strange boy beside him has taken up. His eyes stray a few times, his place in his book lost, though he knows that even if he tried to continue, he'd never be able to concentrate on it.

"Aoyagi Ritsuka," he offers absently.

Alex flushes, scrambles around for what he could possibly say. He already introduced himself this morning, so a second time would be pointless, right? When he doesn't answer, it seems to get the other's attention.

"This is where you say who you are, isn't it?"

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm Alexander Rubens..."

Their conversation seems to end there, but he is as content with its conclusion as Ritsuka seems to be. He knows nothing except for this boy's name, but his first encounter with someone outside his tiny circle of friends, provided by Maes, Alex is a little proud that he made his own little effort to talk to someone today. He may not be the best of friends with Ritsuka, but with this new life, he's positive that there will be plenty more chances.

His black and white worlds, his paper and print, seem to be coming to life right before him. Color isn't so bad.