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]

“Hmph,” Liam pouted, but only for a second, because in the next moment he was pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Love you.”

[arboreal_priestess]

"Love you, too," Verity said, snuggling into him. "This is...Everything about everything is better because you're with me."

[firstofitskind]

“Partnership, babe,” Liam said. “Thank you. For knowing that I wanted this even though I couldn’t figure out how to ask.”

[arboreal_priestess]

"If you think I haven't spent the last few years figuring out exactly what makes you smile, you haven't been paying attention to me," Verity said, voice warm and loving.

[firstofitskind]

“Paying attention to you is one of my favorite pastimes,” Liam said, offering her one of those smiles just now.

[arboreal_priestess]

"That's one of the reasons we're so good together," Verity murmured with a soft laugh. "Because we pay attention."

[firstofitskind]

"Wouldn't want it any other way," Liam said firmly. The portrayal of marriage as some sort of 'trap' or otherwise terrible fate? He'd never understand that.

He shifted slightly, smile creasing into a slight frown that had nothing to do with the topic of conversation and everything to do with the fact that he could feel something lumpy behind him as he leaned against the back of the couch.

[arboreal_priestess]

Or 'the old ball and chain'? Verity didn't just love her husband, she liked him. That was why they'd gotten together in the first place. "Yeah, I - what are you doing?"

[firstofitskind]

"There's something..." Liam reached back behind him to grab the offending object, and then held it out in front of him, frowning quizzically at it.

"What the hell?"

The offending object, for the record, being a plushy rabbit... with soft, velvety antlers?

[arboreal_priestess]

"A stuffed jackalope?" Verity said, tilting her head at it in confusion. "Where did - is that yours?"

[firstofitskind]

"Where would I get a stuffed jackalope?" Liam pointed out. "Why would I have a stuffed jackalope?" Let alone have one without Verity seeing it before?

[arboreal_priestess]

"A souvenir from that chupacabra-run museum?" Verity suggested, answering exactly one of Liam's questions with no good clues to answer the the others.

[firstofitskind]

"I mean, yes," he had to concede. "But no. This isn't from the museum. It's not mine."

That wasn't entirely true. Just like the island had decided the blanket forts everywhere needed to be a thing, so too had it decided that Liam did in fact need a stuffed animal of his very own.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well it isn't mine," Verity said, confusion shifting towards amusement. "Finders-keepers?"

[firstofitskind]

"What am I supposed to do with a stuffed jackalope?" Liam wondered, still on the 'confused' page himself.

... Though the fingers of one hand were kind of absently running over those velvety antlers, shut up.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Same thing anyone does with a stuffy," Verity said with a small smile. "Cuddle it. Squeeze it. Snuggle it."

[firstofitskind]

"But aren't they for kids?" Liam argued.

You know. Like blanket forts.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Aren't blanket forts?" Verity asked, raising an eyebrow.

[firstofitskind]

"Well, sure, but..." it was different! Somehow!

[arboreal_priestess]

This seemed like it was one of those times where the best plan was to sit with that eyebrow still raised and wait for Liam to stumble himself out. "Go on," she invited.

[firstofitskind]

"I wouldn't have built a blanket fort on my own," he reminded her. Hell, he wouldn't have gone into an already constructed blanket fort on his own.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And you wouldn't have bought a stuffy on your own," Verity agreed. "And?"

[firstofitskind]

"We built the fort because you wanted to show me what it was like," Liam said. "And- I wanted to see," he admitted. It was easier to admit he wanted to experience those little bits of 'childish' things when it was someone else's suggestion, absolutely. "This," he nodded down at the stuffy, "is just here."

Liam had plenty of weapons, a good number of clothes, and lots of books. What he didn't really have were things.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And?" Verity said again. "Do you like it?"

That was a valid reason to have something, Liam.

[firstofitskind]

“It’s soft,” Liam admitted. “Feels nice.”

So... yes.