MHA #6 Saturday Afternoon

[arboreal_priestess]

So, with the past week, Liam had had plenty of time to experience being around blanket forts, but Verity was pretty sure he'd still never had the fun of building one. So she'd sent him out to the store for some snacks, citing a long-overdue call with Sarah for why she couldn't accompany him and after said call (in which she harangued her cousin to at least talk to Artie, for god's sake, and also to come back to Baltimore), she stripped all the linens off their bed and grabbed everything from the closet and left it all in a giant pile on the floor for Liam to spot when he came home.

Shut up, this was totally for Liam's benefit and not at all because the past week had Verity feeling nostalgic or anything.

Comments

[firstofitskind]

... Yeah, that absolutely tracked.

"Well," he bit his lip, surveying the living room. "If we're watching TV in this fort... should the couch be inside or are we supposed to be on the floor?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Technically, there's no wrong way to build a fort," Verity said, knowing Liam's fear of Doing It Wrong. "But laying on the floor is closer to the spirit of the fort. Also, the couch is far enough from the TV that the roof might dip down and obscure our vision."

[firstofitskind]

"Okay," Liam nodded, absorbing that information. "But we could flip the couch around and use the back as a wall?"

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity snapped her fingers and grinned at him. "Now you're picking up what I'm putting down," she told him. "Let's flip that around. Though we're also gonna take all the couch cushions off first so we have stuff to sit on."

[firstofitskind]

"More comfortable than right on the floor," Liam agreed, moving to take the couch cushions off.

And stack them neatly according to whether they were seat cushions, back cushions, or the throw-pillow style, because he was that type of nerd.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity watched him, mouth twitching. God, her husband was positively ridiculous. She adored him.

"We're also going to have to find a way to give ourselves a little height," she said as he finished. "A floor lamp works, but only if it's never on." ASK HER WHAT COULD HAPPEN, LIAM, GO ON. ASK. "Tacking it to the ceiling usually works."

[firstofitskind]

"... You tack the floor lamp to the ceiling?" Liam blinked at her in momentary confusion, not realizing those were unrelated statements.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm just going to give you a minute," Verity teased, draping the sheet over the back of the couch.

[firstofitskind]

"...Oh," Liam grinned sheepishly, a blush coloring his cheeks. "I get it."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity's expression was all fondness. "Knew you would," she said, voice more warmth than teasing. "Which is good, because you're the giant who gets to do the tacking."

[firstofitskind]

"Weren't you making fun of my height, like, a minute ago?" Liam demanded, already grabbing one of the sheets.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'll I'll do it five minutes after you finish tacking the sheet to the ceiling," Verity teased. "If you're worried you won't reach, you could also lift me up on your shoulders."

[firstofitskind]

"If I'm worried I won't reach," Liam repeated with a scoff. "You just wanna feel tall for once."

Theirs was a relationship built on love and respect!

[arboreal_priestess]

"I spend most of my time at the lofty height of 5'8 and you know it," Verity snorted. "I'm just classily offering if you want my thighs wrapped around your ears."

[firstofitskind]

“Not generally the part of my anatomy I usually associate with anything to do with your thighs,” Liam admitted with a grin.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I know for a fact I've wrapped my legs around your head before," Verity said sweetly. "Leg up?"

[firstofitskind]

“Yes, but my ears aren’t usually the part anyone’s focusing on,” Liam retorted with a laugh, bending down to boost her up.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity balanced on Liam, one knee resting on his shoulder, and tacked the sheet to their ceiling. "Okay, this'll give us some height, but tacks aren't exactly load-bearing, so we've gotta be careful about tugging on it," she said. "Otherwise, everything will fall and also there will be tacks on the ground."

All of this wisdom she was sharing with you, Liam. You were saved from learning it the hard way.

[firstofitskind]

Liam winced, because stepping on tacks was not his idea of fun, no.

“What about using the chairs from the kitchen table to make the other walls?” he wondered.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Those can overbalance and fall over backwards, especially with heavy blankets," Verity said. "We'll need to anchor them with other heavy stuff."

She grinned at him, eyes sparkling. "But the table..."

[firstofitskind]

"Such a versatile piece of furniture," Liam grinned back at her.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Why else would we have put such importance on it?" Verity teased, though her teeth found her lower lip. Look, she had some fond memories of that table, dammit. "That might make for a good foundation for the center of our fort."

[firstofitskind]

Mmm, yes, Liam was right there with you on the fond memories, Verity. Although right now? He eyed said table critically. “So long as I can sit under it without having to hunch over,” he mused. Look, that was one of the many tests they hadn’t put it through.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity's smirk was that. "Sounds like a tall person problem to me."

[firstofitskind]

“You married this tall person,” Liam reminded her. “That means you’re legally obligated to make sure all blanket forts are tall-person friendly.”