firstofitskind | MHA #6, Thursday Morning

After whatever the hell had happened on the beach, Liam returned to the apartment feeling incredibly unsettled. He didn't understand what had happened or why, just that there was something going on with bad memories, and, well. Nightmares were honestly a pretty regular occurrence in the Price-Kincaid household, between the two of them.

Honestly, he'd even entertained the idea of just trying not to fall asleep at all. Except that hadn't worked, because even part-aliens who only needed a few hours of sleep a night still needed some sleep.

"You're right, Major. I do enjoy my job." Being held down by the energy field, twisting to see Sandoval's mocking expression before he pressed the button that sent bolts of electricity coursing through his body.

Staying still, so very still, as the needle approached the underside of his jaw. Listening to Zo'or as he spoke to Sandoval as if Liam himself were not even there. "Major Kincaid has been resourceful in the past, but he has also demonstrated discontent with me. I want him searching, but I want him on your tether." And then nothing but blackness as the CVI started to replicate within his brain.

Wrenching, tearing pain, pain so bad he could barely think. Hands holding him down as he screamed and fought to no avail. Another hand jamming a needle into his abdomen, extracting... something. He tried to remember why this mattered but all he could think about was how much it hurt.

Liam woke with a gasp, twisting away from the form cuddled close to his own, not really registering that it was Verity and not just another nightmare construct. He kicked at the blankets, desperate to get whatever was holding him down off, now now now.

[ooc: for the wife and SP!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“Wasn’t I asking you that a few minutes ago?” Liam asked, frown creasing his features.

"You're the one in distress currently," Verity reminded him. "You get precedence."

Liam made a bit of a face. “I’d like to not be ‘in distress’ so damn much, honestly,” he admitted.

Though really, it had been months, even the post-therapy-session related crash had been pretty mild lately.

"I mean, tell that to the island," Verity said, gesturing around. "That's not a you-problem."

Liam snorted softly. "Remind me why we live here again?"

Because the remaining 90% of the time, the island was actually kind of great. And also, the people. The people were pretty damn awesome.

"Because we're suckers for chaos," Verity said with a small grin. "And also adrenaline-junkies."

"There is that," Liam had to admit.

"How you feeling?" Verity asked, voice soft.

"I'm here," he replied, meaning not physically but that his thoughts were no longer overwhelmed by old memories.

"I'm glad," Verity said, pulling him in for another hug. "Want some tea?"

"Yeah, actually," Liam said. "That sounds- really good, right about now."

He may not be actively dwelling on old memories, but he doubted either of them would be going back to sleep for now.

"I'll make you some," Verity said, standing up. She slid her hand through his hair. "Gonna come keep me company? Or were you hoping to be spoiled?"

Translation: do you need to stay close or do you need a few minutes by yourself?

The way he leaned into that touch with something that could almost be called a contented sigh was probably answer enough, but just to make it extra clear:

“I’ll come with you,” he decided.

Verity paused to pull his face in for a soft kiss. "C'mon," she said. "You can make me some coffee while we're at it."

Because she knew Liam felt better when he was useful.

She knew him so well.

"Gonna have to be a lot of coffee," Liam observed, corner of his mouth turning up in an almost smile as he shrugged the sheet off his shoulders. "S'pretty early,"

"Shhh, we're pretending that I haven't noticed that," Verity teased, linking pinkies with him to head into the kitchen. Palm-to-palm contact might still be too much, but this gave him contact while giving him time to decide if he wanted more.

Yeah, he was kind of working himself up to that.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to expect you to join me on my morning runs," he teased gently.

See? She knew.

"Good," Verity said sweetly. "Otherwise I'd have to poison your tea to keep you too sick to run and then the mice would make sad eyes at me."

"Tch," Liam clicked his tongue at her. "You'd poison your own husband? What are we, in a soap opera now?"

"Only a little bit!" Verity protested. "Like, barely enough to even count! Poisoning could be a Price marital tradition!"

“What if I had an especially adverse reaction?” Liam asked, eyes wide. “Hybrid metabolism and all.”

Unlikely, given that his only atypical reaction so far was to painkillers, but then... despite all the times people had actively tried to kill him, none of them had been through poison, so who knew?

"So you're suggesting I should be poisoning you under controlled circumstances, so we know in advance," Verity says thoughtfully. "Weird flex but okay."

There was a slight tightening of his expression for just a fraction of a second before Liam rolled his eyes and shook his head at her.

“And you deny that you’re a giant nerd,” he said, moving over to get started on the coffee.

"I am not a nerd," Verity sniffed. "May I remind you that Alex, Artie, and Sarah exist? They're your nerds. I'm a jock, thank you."

And Timmy was the disaffected loner. Together, they were most of the breakfast club.

"Right, right," Liam nodded. "Because jocks are all about conducting experiments under 'controlled circumstances'."

(no subject)

arboreal_priestess - 2020-09-18 19:36 (UTC) - Expand

firstofitskind - 2020-09-18 19:38 (UTC) - Expand

arboreal_priestess - 2020-09-18 19:47 (UTC) - Expand

firstofitskind - 2020-09-18 19:52 (UTC) - Expand

arboreal_priestess - 2020-09-18 20:03 (UTC) - Expand

firstofitskind - 2020-09-19 00:01 (UTC) - Expand