6, 10, 40 for maddox/vojta teehee :3
OKAY now that the "cooling" system in my home isn't trying to roast me like a nm chile, let's see if my brain has solidified enough to answer some of these asks
6- in what ways do they complement and complete each other
this is kind of the crux of their whole relationship. at the start, they (and their creators) thought it would just be a quick hookup in an afterlife storage closet and they'd never see each other again, because that's all either of them want/have the capacity for. but there was something about them that was magnetic, and all of a sudden they couldn't stop seeking each other out (and taking turns running away from each other).
what it actually is, at its core, is that they refuse to let the other run. there's a self-recognition that happens between them, because their stories are vastly different yet fundamentally similar. the ways that their lives have affected and moulded each of them are things that they don't actively like to face. but maddox makes facing it unavoidable for vojta, and vojta forces maddox to face it too. to use tiago's phrasing, they "draw the ugliness of their lives out into the open so it can be dealt with." they're both equal parts repulsed and compelled by it. and, crucially, there's an acceptance implicit in how they interact that they don't experience with others. it's not being a useful tool for others or being treated as something broken that needs to be fixed, it's something else entirely where there is a desire for care and mutual healing but in a way that doesn't ignore and even loves the violent, shameful, ugly parts of themselves, too.
which is beautiful and also a recipe for a very fucked up destructive codependence. 🙂↕️ which more answers the "complete" each other side of things. in terms of "complement"... of the two of them, maddox is much steadier and more methodical. vojta (of commander "i just had a prophetic vision" shepard fame) is so much quicker to jump to conclusions about what's happening between them and is impulsive to boot. he kind of forces maddox to come to terms with it too, the letting themselves want something of it all and the growing urge to run away together, while maddox (even as he's denying or running or refusing to say how he feels) is grounding for vojta and much more focused on the practical reality of their incompatible lives. this dynamic is, i think, partially due to differences in their material circumstances at the time they meet, with vojta as a fledgling alliance golden boy with imposter syndrome bc of how he got here, while maddox is still very much in the thick of things on omega and has to tread lightly.
10- how vulnerable are they with each other and when are they the most open with e/o
i think i can definitively say that they are more vulnerable with each other than they've ever been with anyone else. BUT your mileage may vary with how vulnerable they're actually being at any given moment. they are both people with impenetrably thick walls up, and there are about eight years of them chasing each other in circles before either of them speaks an honest, candid, genuine feeling. all of their vulnerability and openness is centered around sex. it's where those life-shattering "i am you, you are me" realizations happen, and it's where that acceptance starts, with desire that is equal parts loving and violent.
but i think their relationship is very much one of punctuated equilibrium sparked by big events (usually vojta doing something impulsive) and sudden realizations rather than a steady, gradual building of trust. to date, the most open they've been with each other is a) right after akuze (where, as you may remember, vojta was trying to desert right up until the attack) he went to omega and just spilled his guts to maddox completely and uhhh long story short Events Transpired in a way that had their worlds crashing together inextricably for the first time, and b) after zorya which was the culmination of a lot of things (blue suns? check. EAE? check. maddox's deteriorating health showing itself explosively on the first mission vojta actually invites him on after they've been distant with each other since vojta's return from the dead and thinks he's being manipulated by cerberus when he receives maddox's dossier bc maddox hasn't told him the truth about his amp? .....check).
WHO'S TO SAY where they'll go from there, it's still very much a wip and the story is always growing and changing.
40- imagine them in their best state as a couple what would that look like for them
u asked this one bc u knew i wouldnt know how to answer it didn't u
i think the image both of them would conjure for this would be covered in blood (possibly each other's), doing coke off each other's dicks, and everything is on fire behind them
but really, i DO think they are good for each other in general even if it comes with a lot of new problems (for themselves and Everyone Else). i think their "best" is the moments that they realize they aren't alone and have someone who actually genuinely not only supports them but understands them implicitly. planet-hopping, fighting together, a glimpse of freedom. those moments.
@alongtidesoflight approved:
Ship asks/procrastination fodder
