MHA #6, Thursday Evening

[firstofitskind]

Apparently, there was only so long Liam could actually avoid the apartment, before things like 'needing a change of clothes' became an issue.

So here he was, letting himself in, maybe moving a little more stiffly and gingerly than usual, thanks to the morning's sparring session with Beau. He hoped that Verity was wasn't home, so he could avoid that bit of awkwardness and heartache that was sure to come from seeing her. He missed her, god, so much, but at the same time... he'd just be in the way. She deserved that time alone to heal.

[ooc: for that girl!]

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[arboreal_priestess]

"Am I..." Verity laughed, the kind of laugh that was a stand in for are you fucking kidding me with this shit? "You walked out on me!" she spat. "And then slunk in here to get your shit!" He'd literally just said that. "Maybe they do it different in your world, but in this one, that's pretty much the definition of 'breaking up' with somebody."

[firstofitskind]

"I just meant a shirt or two!" Liam replied, his eyes going wide. "Not everything!"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh okay, well that's better," Verity said, her sarcasm scathing. "Just going to keep avoiding me instead. I don't understand how I could be confused."

[firstofitskind]

He was no stranger to Verity's sarcasm, of course, but usually it was lightly teasing, not... this. Designed to hurt. Or, at least, he'd never had that aimed at him before.

"I'm only avoiding you because I thought that's what you'd want!" he protested.

No, you assumed that's what she'd need. That was different, Liam.

[arboreal_priestess]

She had intended to ask her question in calm, measured tones, so he'd hear how stupid he sounded. But what came out was a lot more...raw. Emotional.

"How could you even think that?" she asked. "I've been - it's been - you just left me. Alone. After...after everything."

SHUT UP SHE WASN'T CRYING.

[firstofitskind]

And he wanted absolutely nothing more than to close the distance between them, and hold on to her tightly. He even took a step towards her, one arm outstretched, before he faltered and stopped.

"Because he's in my head and I don't know how to make that go away!" Liam admitted.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And that really sucks for you!" Verity cried, "But you abandoned me. And I...I..."

A week ago, she would have admitted that she needed him in a heartbeat. But now she couldn't bring herself to say that.

He'd left.

[firstofitskind]

"Oh," Liam said, voice small and soft as it all came crashing down around him, as he realized what he'd done. How he'd hurt her. The last person in the world he'd ever want to hurt. Then: "Fuck."

[arboreal_priestess]

"You just left," Verity said, her voice small. All of her was small right now, not even counting the fact that she wasn't wearing her heels. "Not even twenty-four hours out of the hospital and you were gone."

[firstofitskind]

"I know," Liam said. Truth be told, he wasn't feeling very big himself right now. "I wasn't thinking," he admitted.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And I still don't get why," she admitted, taking a step forward. "That's the worst part. You were talking about having Robert's memories and then you were gone and I don't understand."

[firstofitskind]

"Because," Liam took a deep breath. "I thought- I thought- if I was around, with those memories, I'd just be a reminder about what happened to you."

It... kind of sounded stupid, when he said it out loud like that.

[arboreal_priestess]

"But...but how would I know what you were thinking?" Verity asked, confused.

[firstofitskind]

"I don't know," Liam admitted. They'd just always seemed so in sync, he'd assumed...

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity just looked around a little wildly, at Liam's face, down to the wide-eyed mice that were staring back at them, horrified and heartbroken over this rift between their gods. "Can't we just, like, talk about this?" she asked.

Pleaded, really.

[firstofitskind]

Liam took a deep breath. Forced his eyes to meet hers.

"Yeah," he said finally. "Okay."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity nodded, closing the bedroom door firmly behind her and making her way down the hall to the loving room. The bedroom was too...fraught a place right now. The couch was fairly neutral ground. She sat, hand straying to her knives - a gesture of self-comfort, not a threat - and waited for him to sit.

[firstofitskind]

Two weeks ago, this place had been home.

Now? That air of comfortable familiarity had vanished, and Liam felt like he was moving through molasses as he made his way to the couch. Muscle memory almost had him sit nestled up to Verity, but he edged away at the last second, leaving a good foot of space between them.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time since he'd come in.

"What happened to your face?" she asked.

[firstofitskind]

Safe to say that was not the question he'd been expecting.

"... Beau happened," he admitted, sounding a little sheepish.

[arboreal_priestess]

It wasn't the question she'd been intending to ask, but...his face.

"You just pissing off every woman you know this week?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Robert really that in your head?"

[firstofitskind]

"Please," Liam scoffed. "Like you'd have to go so far as to piss Beau off to get her to hit you." Which had kind of been the appeal for Liam, honestly, that she'd do it without asking too many questions.

[arboreal_priestess]

"...I've never met her," Verity admitted.

She didn't get out much because I am failsauce spent a lot of time in Baltimore, chasing cryptids and nursing her failing dance career.

[firstofitskind]

"She's fun. You two'd get along great," Liam said, a fleeting, though genuine, smile appearing on his face briefly. For a moment, things almost felt normal again.

And then reality settled back in.

[arboreal_priestess]

"So...okay. What the hell's been going on in your head lately?" Verity asked, since that seemed to sum up, well...everything.