Isle of Ikea, Sunday Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

"So we're not leaving without getting a bed and some meatballs. Everything else is optional, but definitely those two things."

Verity had been threatening to drag Liam to Ikea ever since the giant snowstorm and she'd seen the empty expanse he called a bedroom. Honestly, Liam? A chair? If their physical relationship ever moved past the whole 'glowing cloud of purple light' thing, Verity figured they'd sometimes want a place to retreat to where they didn't have to negotiate with mice for a bit of privacy.

Which they couldn't do with just a chair.

"Also, considering the size of the store, maybe we should have brought along a couple of guide ropes and maybe a GPS," she added as the doors opened and she took in the sheer size of the store. Though maybe having the entire island being named for it should have given her a clue. "Uhhh...excelsior?"

[For the guy!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

And that was how Liam ended up jumping on to a dick-bed, slinging an arm around Verity's shoulders and holding up his Global to take a bunch of pictures.

[arboreal_priestess]

If only his old friends from home could see him now!

Verity vamped for the Global, shifting easily from sultry to ridiculous as they bounced around on the dick-bed--at least until a guy in an Ikea apron looked over at them and cleared his throat.

"I think we're getting asked to move on," she stage-whispered.

[firstofitskind]

"What if we'd been planning to actually purchase it?" Liam asked the Ikea employee pointedly, who just rolled his eyes. Nobody ever bought the dick-bed.

Nobody ever bought a lot of things here in the nexus of all possible Ikeas.

[arboreal_priestess]

That's because most of the things here in the nexus of all Ikeas were terrifying and and wrong.

Verity got up, giggling and tugging on Liam's hand. "C'mon," she said. "We gotta find you a real bed. Preferably before you decide to buy this monstrosity because you're proving a point."

[firstofitskind]

"Well," Liam mused. "There's always whatever the hell that is, I guess. Is it even a bed if you're not lying down?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"You know, Liam, if you don't want me sleeping over, you can just say so," she teased.

[firstofitskind]

"... What?" Liam looked at her, startled. "No, I do!" Give him a second to realize you were teasing, Verity. "You're the one who suggested we shop here," he pointed out.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity laughed, and kissed him again. "Yeah, but I wasn't the one who suggested the standing up bed. I could see that being the kind of thing you were into."

[firstofitskind]

"I wasn't being ser- wait, really?" Liam made a confused face at her.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity laughed again, sinking down onto what could literally be a lovenest and debated answering honestly versus stringing him along a little more. "No not really," she said, just because his confused face was adorable. "I'm just teasing you, I promise."

[firstofitskind]

"Oh, well, in that case," Liam flopped down to join her. At least until the grumpy Ikea employee tracked them down again to frown at them. But he figured they had a minute or two at least. "This is comfortable," he admitted. "But a bit too big for my space." It'd take up nearly the whole room.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And do you really want anything suggesting you're a bird where Magnus can see it?" Verity asked, snuggling close to him. "But it is surprisingly comfy."

[firstofitskind]

"I dunno, maybe he'd like me more if he thought I was a duck?" Liam pondered.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Too bad your chair needs all that personal space," Verity teased, lacing their fingers together. "It's interfering with your ability to really connect with your roommate."

[firstofitskind]

"Oh well," Liam said. "He's not the one I want to really connect with, anyway."

And speaking of connection... he glanced down at their twined fingers and smiled softly, before channeling a gentle pulse of affection and warmth through that physical connection.

[arboreal_priestess]

That warmth made Verity's heart squeeze in her chest, a little uncomfortable and yet somehow almost as good as dancing her heart out on the stage. "You're so lucky I can't do that," she told him. "You'd never be safe."

[firstofitskind]

"I like to think I'd survive. Somehow," and that soft smile became a full-on grin.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You just say that because you don't have to worry about being in public and suddenly getting a little bit of that--followed up by something a whole lot less wholesome."

[firstofitskind]

"No," Liam admitted. "But it absolutely doesn't surprise me that that's what you'd send in a Sharing," he added.

[arboreal_priestess]

"The word you're looking for is 'incorrigible,'" she informed him.

Incorrigibly.

[firstofitskind]

“You’re right, you are adorable,” Liam said with a nod.

Liam, that was not the word she had used.

[arboreal_priestess]

Still made her smile. "You know, if your plan was to get us kicked out of Ikea without a bed for making out in a nest, it's working," she told him.

[firstofitskind]

"You know, it wasn't? But that's looking better and better right about now."

... No, Liam. You needed a bed. Because future narratives implied you had furniture now. No getting kicked out.

[arboreal_priestess]

"On the other hand," Verity said, hooking a finger around his collar and pulling him in, "we get you a bed, we could go home and make out there and no one can kick us out at all."

[firstofitskind]

"Gorgeous and you're a genius. No wonder I'm crazy about you," Liam said with a grin. He was still gonna lean in for a kiss right now though.