YBC Challenge: The Last Day -- Black and White

They completed each other in many different ways.

Matt acted as the heart to her mind; there were times in which the black-haired woman remained too cold and logical when the moment called for her to be considerate. He made sure to somehow ‘melt’ her when she had to be melted, when the ice she used to build walls around herself got too thick. When she started to isolate herself from him and the rest of the world, he managed to take her out and remind her that she wasn’t made to handle things alone.

It went the same for A, who acted as the ice to cool him down when he got too into things. Matt’s irritability could skyrocket if too many things rubbed him the wrong way all at once and she knew that. So when he was about to spit profanities which burned like hellfire, A always made sure to use the right words to calm him down and mellow him out. It worked most of the time – but when his fire was getting harder to control, she had to put her foot down and go ice against flame.

There were times wherein the ice could bring frostbite and the fire could leave nasty burns. Both of them knew that – it couldn’t be perfect hundred percent of the time.

When that happened, either of them had to give.

It was usually Matt who regained his senses; the one whose emotions would flare up and then disappear as quickly as they came. Due to this, it was him who tried to defrost A when both of them had an argument or a fight.

Cold reason and a passionate heart were never thought of to work out. People usually thought that the cold could suffocate and the passion would burn too deep and burn out. But the two of them proved wrong, showing that it could be beneficial instead of painful; something that was worth negotiating over and trying for.

Fire and ice.

Light and dark.

Both of them brought their own brightness and their own darkness, and both of them provided the light to the other’s darkness, or the dark to the other’s light.

The darkness wasn’t actually a bad thing.

Darkness, to them, was a form of surrender. On the nights where they would be lying in bed and both of them would remain quiet, either of them would suddenly speak up.

A would talk about her family.

Matt would talk about his work.

A’s surrender would be emotional and tangled, messy to the core. Her surrender came with protest and struggle most of the time, and Matt waited for her to exhaust herself until she gave and fell apart. Her surrenders were never quiet. She cried her frustrations and yelled into pillows to muffle the sound, and Matt would be there, rubbing her back gently and quietly urging her to fall even more.

She was the type of person to keep everything on the inside and let it simmer until it nearly boiled over. Her surrender was something only a select few would be able to sense and see.

She had yielded for him many times into the relationship simply because she needed someone to yield to. And Matt accepted that role, always ready to catch her when she needed it. After all, he had promised to himself that he would this time be ready – and prepared.

Because he had let her fall once without catching her.

He wasn’t going to let himself do that again.

In contrast to A’s, Matt’s surrender was silent and stony. He would rarely speak unless she asked him to; would express his pain and need to give through physical touch. His own surrendering was rare and came at random points, with him suddenly pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her waist while his face would move into her neck.

Physical affection and the need to give in fell different for Matt, and A had learned how to distinguish one from the other. When he wanted to show his love, he was playful. Matt teased her and became grabby with her in private, nipping at her skin and murmuring words that made her blush. When he wanted her to catch him, however, he approached her and remained slack in her arms, the usual warmth that would come from him absent.

She would know. She would know and would bring him to the couch or to the bed and would let him fall apart in his own way, and she would be there to hug him and rub his back.

He wasn’t the type to vocalize his falls, and she understood that.

So she waited until he was ready.

Both of them brought light in their own little ways. When Matt would catch sight of her smiling or when A would see him watching her with those twinkling blue eyes, both would feel the burdens on their shoulders lighten.

The two had their own versions of darkness that had to be battled away.

* * * * *

“Do you know that saying or that belief,” A started quietly, “About the belief that people completing you is basically a load of bullshit?”

“People actually believe that?”

She nodded. “Yeah…” he waited for her to continue and she bit her lip in hesitation, “I like to think that the saying is actually the one that’s bullshit.” Matt blinked. A wasn’t the type to challenge literary pieces as she had lived for them. “People can complete you, you know. I like to think that we’re all somehow incomplete.”

He watched her. A was lying on the bed with her eyes fixed on the ceiling, her mouth pursed in thought. She went on, “That’s why soul mates exist. It’s like the Greek myth where Zeus split people and doomed them to be in search for them for the rest of their lives.”

“The ones who searched for their other halves,” he said slowly. She nodded.

“We are all able to complete others in one way or another.”

Matt shifted onto his side to look at her even more. A was smiling this time, still looking up at the ceiling, but smiling. “Where did this come from?”

“It was just a passing thought.” Her green eyes flicked to him, “Thinking of people who help in your growth. People who complete you, somehow.”

“Do you think it’s just one person or a bunch of others?”

“It’s everyone you meet who can manage to complete you,” she affirmed. A eventually turned to him and he pulled her closer, the cold of her skin contrasting his warmth. “Like how you complete me,” she murmured. “You complete me. I complete you. We fill in each other’s weaknesses and uphold the strengths.” She blushed and he smiled at her reddening cheeks, “We’re neither too little nor too much.”

Matt licked his lips in thought. “So am I enough for you?”

A closed her eyes and lay her head on his chest, feeling his arms secure around her.

“You have always been enough.”

You are more than enough.