Work Text:
Hermann closes his eyes and relaxes sitting atop the low brick wall surrounding the hillside garden basking in the warm sunset light falling across his face and the bare skin of his arms and chest. A soft breeze off the cove ruffles his hair and tickles the feathers of his partially spread wings.
You bound your wings too tightly again today, Archimedes chides. I feel how they ache. The kaiju gently presses the short-bristled brush through the man’s feathers with a practiced motion of her midlegs. Her long tail curls around her body and rests lightly across his lap.
"It's a necessary evil, I'm afraid," Hermann answers. "I haven't yet found a painless way to hide them." He reaches up to scratch Archimedes' chin where it hovers above his shoulder. She leans into his touch and purrs in her distinctive way.
Newton and Tendo do not hide their tattoos and the other kaiju and I do not hide our spots or spines when guests visit. Why must only you hide an integral part of yourself? she asks. The kaiju’s confusion flows through her connection as she continues to groom her partner’s wings.
"There are those who rather they would hide their tattoos," Hermann replies with a smile as he stretches to rub behind the kaiju's ears. "Visitors expect spots and spines on kaiju and recognize Newt and Tendo’s … markings as decorations. My wings are … different." He pauses a moment in thought. "They are neither expected nor decorations. They mark me as something not quite human and not quite monster."
Archimedes hesitates in her brushing and raises her head out of Hermann's reach. He opens his eyes and tilts his head back to meet the kaiju's eyes.
She pricks her ears in curiosity. You are you as I am I. I do not understand this rejection of difference. Why do so many others not accept individuality?
Hermann sighs. "Humans think in terms of 'us' and 'them,' not 'you' and 'I' as you do, Archimedes," he says gently. "I would be 'them' to most people because of my wings. Therefore I hide them to avoid trouble."
Returning to work on Hermann’s feathers, Archimedes lowers her head and heaves her version of a sigh, a gust of warm breath which further musses Hermann's hair. He smiles indulgently and resumes itching the kaiju’s chin.
It is good, then, we have this island where you do not have to hide, she says, but you must stop binding yourself so tightly when you leave it.
He laughs at the kaiju’s reprimand. "That may not be possible, but at least you are here to care for me afterward. Thank you, liebling."
Archimedes huffs a affronted breath, but Hermann feels how pleased she is with his appreciation as she continues brushing and he continues scratching.