Flushed

by Stripe

Summary:

A personal challenge to attempt a ficlet for all 120 possible combinations of couples among the trolls and kids.

Notes:

Welcome to my series of challenge fics! As it says in the summary, the goal is to eventually have 120 ficlets of all the possible pairings between the sixteen "main" characters of Homestuck. Admittedly, I'm not much of a shipper, but this seemed like an interesting challenge in characterization, and I figured it'd force me to take me out of my comfort zone a bit, which is always a good thing for improving writing. Hopefully the results will be somewhat enjoyable to read, as well.

The order of the pairs is random, chosen by a random number generator, so the next chapter will come as a surprise to both you and me. So I guess we'll just see how this goes.

Chapter 1: Rose/Equius

To him, she is perfect.

Everything about Rose Lalonde is precisely as it should be. She wears her nobility outwardly, displaying that gorgeous violet font for the world to see. She carries herself with the proper grace of one with her place on the hemospectrum, and uses the language befitting her position. There are times when he secretly daydreams about her speaking to him, commanding him with those beautiful words she always employs. Of course, he can never share these daydreams. They are too improper.

For as perfect as Rose Lalonde seems, Equius cannot simply ignore that she is human. An inferior, despite her noble grace and demeanor. While he can watch her and pretend that her skin is grey and her hair is black, it is impossible to ignore the truth, especially when her candy red blood slips through her skin. It could be as simple as an accidental prick from her knitting needles, or just a stray scratch from an imp, but each time he sees her mutant blood (even if it is perfectly normal for her species) he can’t help but draw back from the screen in near shock as his stomach churns uncomfortably.

It isn’t fair, he thinks. She should have been born a troll of noble heritage on Alternia. Then she could live up to her true potential rather than being trapped behind that eerie peach skin of hers. Yet life does not work out favorably, he finds, and frequently those who have noble blood do not deserve it, and vice versa. So it goes.

He reaches for another towel.

Notes:

This was definitely a challenging first pair, especially considering this was the first time I'd ever even thought about writing Equius. Hopefully it isn't too painful!