Maggie Daley Park, Chicago, Late Tuesday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

The last few days had been pretty packed with stuff- from finding rings, to getting the engraving done, to visiting all the usual touristy spots (and some not-so-usual ones, because cryptozoologists).

Today's agenda included outdoor ice skating on the skating ribbon, followed by dinner in a dome ignore the fact that said domes are apparently closed for the season. THIS IS FICTION AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT.

There was a party at the Carmichael later that evening, of course, but for now? Liam and Verity were enjoying some time to themselves (well, if you didn't count the crowd at the park.)

"Should we get hot chocolate?" Liam mused, looking at the stand thoughtfully. There was a bit of a wait until it'd be their turn on the ice, and hot chocolate seemed like a good way to fill the time.

[ooc: NFB for distance, for the wiiiiiiife and a heckuva lot of SP.]

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[arboreal_priestess]

"See, look how fast you picked up on that one," Verity teased. "I don't have to hide my life from you. That's worth a hundred missed jokes, easy."

[firstofitskind]

Liam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Bet you could’ve found some nice boy who’s into cryptozoology, if you looked, though. Maybe even one who doesn’t... doesnt dissociate,” because thanks to those regular therapy sessions, he had a word for that now, “every so often.”

Did that maybe bother him more than the ‘not getting jokes’ thing? Yeah. Yeah it did. They’d had that discussion about him not having something ‘wrong’ with him because of it, and he’d taken that to heart, but... it was still there.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Maybe," Verity said, shrugging again. "So? I found this one. And I love him. And disassociation and bad at my kind of humor isn't enough to make me stop. I love your kindness, your compassion, your excitement at learning new things. The way you let the mice boss you around. The way you like it when I boss you around. Those are the things that matter to me."

[firstofitskind]

"So we're circling back around to be being an idiot," Liam said with a sigh. "Good thing you put 'tell me when I'm wrong' in your vows."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Almost like I know you enough to make those vows about us," she said, winking at him. "And not about some kind of hypothetical perfect relationship."

[firstofitskind]

"You know me better than anyone," Liam confirmed, tone fond. "And- I'm working on being okay with not-perfect," he added.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Good," Verity said. "Because I'm not perfect. And you're not allowed to show me up on this whole 'perfection' thing." She grinned at him for a minute before her expression grew serious. "I fell for you, Liam. Not some pretend version that doesn't actually exist. You."

[firstofitskind]

“Perfect or not, that’s never not gonna make me feel like I won the goddamn lottery, falling in love with you, having you love me back,” he told her.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And that's why I married you," Verity said, clinking their rings together. "Because that's what's important to me. That feeling that we both won more than we could ever hope for."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam was still pretty sure that he'd gotten the better end of that deal, but he was successfully repressing the urge to say as much, at least. It was date night, and date night wasn't for wallowing in insecurities.

"Almost our turn," he said, nudging her gently and nodding at the line ahead of them, which indeed, now only consisted of a handful of other couples waiting to go on to the skate loop.

[arboreal_priestess]

"How'd you learn to skate?" Verity asked. "Inherited the talent from your folks, or...?"

Nice, low-key way of asking what she actually meant, she thought, since they were in public.

[firstofitskind]

The little smile Liam aimed at her was confirmation that yes, he thought that was perfect. Totally innocuous sounding, and yet they both knew what she really meant.

He nodded.

"My mother, anyway. S- my father, you wouldn't have caught him dead doing something so frivolous," Liam rolled his eyes.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Yeah, well, you could fit my concern for his opinions into a thimble and still have room left over," Verity snorted.

[firstofitskind]

Liam’s feelings on the matter were far more complicated. They’d never gotten along, but there had always been a part of him that ached for his father’s- positive- attention.

“He was always serious. Driven. Even before... before we worked together. I think the only person who ever saw something beyond that from him was Deedee,” he told her.

[arboreal_priestess]

Of course they were. Verity only knew the man through stories, after all. But those stories were enough to hold him in general - and specific - contempt.

"I'm glad you had your mom's influence as well," she said, squeezing his hand. "You can be serious and you can be driven, but there's so much more to you for me to love."

And so there.

[firstofitskind]

Not that Siobhan Beckett's choices had always been the right ones, either. But she'd made them for what she believed were the right reasons.

"What about you?" he asked, as they stepped out onto the ice. Liam's first few strides were a bit on the wobbly side, because yes, he was aware of the mechanics of skating, but this was his first time actually doing so. "When'd you learn to skate?"

The Pacific Northwest didn't generally get cold enough for it to be a popular outdoor activity, but skating rinks were also a thing.