Work Text:
Fraternity
"That went well."
Hakkai's pleasantry drops a significant degree. "So it did. And I should thank you for your assistance, such as it was."
Sanzo shrugs a shoulder and lights a new cigarette, uncaring of the fact that Hakkai's tone is so dry he half expects the office to go up like kindling. He takes a slow drag, exhales smoke out of the side of his smirk.
"From where I was sitting, you looked like you had everything under control. It would have been rude to interrupt."
"I'll have you know," Hakkai says, finally, after an icy silence, "that I will not be the one responsible for his education on the follow up matter."
"Says you," Sanzo hums, and leans back in his chair, his hands linked behind his head. "Remember, my only experience is opting out. Holy proviso and whatnot. But you can leave that to your partner, if you —"
Somehow, Hakkai's sigh is deafening despite how delicate it is. One of his many skills, Sanzo supposes.
"— decide to start talking to him, again," he finishes, as if he hadn't noticed. "At least grant the man a proper divorce, or is that still not allowed under the cross?"
Hakkai glares and busies himself with collecting the study materials left behind from Goku's study session. "Don't make me divorce you," he grumbles.
"Annulled."
"Beg pardon?"
"It would be an annulment. Divorce requires consummation of the marriage, first. It'd be clean grounds for one, though, since everyone else also thinks that adding sex into the shared resources and trust part is what differentiates it from a business pact."
He pauses.
"Plus, you know, there's the bigamy."
Sanzo thinks, for a moment, that the sound emanating from behind the notebooks Hakkai has pressed to his face is a muffled scream. He decides to allow his hypothetical ex-husband some dignity, and lets it pass without comment.
Once Hakkai has gathered himself again, he watches Sanzo with one of those Looks he has.
"It is strange to me that at his age, his understanding of marriage was so…"
"He was raised in a cave, Hakkai. The only thing a step below a barn. Why do you think he's like this?"
"And he's away from both, now, unless you are suggesting you make him sleep out in the stables?"
Sanzo snorts. "I have nothing to do with what the little bastard does when he's out of my sight; he wouldn't do half the things he does, if I did. If he's out rolling around in pig shit, he's doing it of his own empty-headed volition.
"My point remains." Hakkai sets the pile of books on the edge of Sanzo's desk and crosses his arms loose over his middle. "He's been living in society for at least a year now, didn't you say?"
"This isn't society. It's a temple. Things are different here."
Hakkai cocks an eyebrow.
"Sorry, was that unclear, somehow? I can see where you might be confused — when the monks here discuss the importance of the love between brothers, they mean —"
Hakkai's expression darkens, though it passes as Sanzo simply continues smoking with a bored, unbroken stare.
"That feels somewhat uncalled for, don't you think?"
"Mm," Sanzo says, a terribly non-committal sound. "It's all equally distasteful, is what I think."
Another silence, punctuated by the soft crackle of cigarette paper burning.
"For such a complicated man, it's impressive how simple your world, Genjo Sanzo," Hakkai says, shaking his head.
"The world is simple, just like the people in it," Sanzo replies, and stubs out his cigarette before standing from his desk with a sigh. "Some just like to pretend otherwise, to justify their indecision. If you stop doing that, things become much clearer, much faster."
Hakkai hums an assent, if a suspicious one.
"But that's merely a word of advice," Sanzo continues, then takes a moment before the light grin tugs at the edge of his mouth. "From a brother, of a kind."