Chapter Two: The Movie

[backinthsaddle]

Today was the last day of finals for Cole, and it's with a silent sigh of relief that he heads home, ready to ditch the books for the summer. Not that he'll stop studying altogether, but a break is welcome after the week long cramming session.

Liam doesn't appear to be home once he gets back to the apartment, but he's slowly been getting used to there being someone else living there, and she isn't really the going-out-and-about type, at least not right now. So he makes a little noise on his way in, so he doesn't startle her.

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[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She chews at her fingernails, nasty habit, trying to stop. "I think," she says, solemnly, "that this is my new favorite movie."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"You think so?" he asks with a bit of a smile, and it's a bit of a shock to realize that what she just did was cute.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I do. Well rounded characterization. Cute boys. Justice. No dumb love interest girly. What's not to like!"

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Not a big fan of shoehorned-in romances, I take it." He's never really understood the point of those, especially the entirely gratuitous ones. Though he's not averse to a good hero-gets-the-girl story.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, definitely not. And... um. I don't really understand romance at all." She leans in, just to whisper, "I still close my eyes at kissing scenes." She thinks this makes her a baby, so she's too shy to say that aloud.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"...huh." It's a very neutral huh, since it's not really something he'd expect of most people, and wonders if there's a reason for it. Not that he's going to ask, though. "I bet there's all kinds of terrible B-movies out there with no gratuitous romance that we can watch next time."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

Vic feels like such a kid sometimes. "I'd like that. But, ah. If you wanna watch a kissy movie, I can always just cover my eyes for those parts. You don't have to change your movie choices for me or anythin'."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"What about Star Wars?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, those movies're pretty good! Not my favorite sci-fi, but I like 'em."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"So what is your favorite scifi?" he asks, leaning back a bit. It's definitely good to see her this relaxed.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I love those old episodes of Doctor Who. And Star Trek is high quality concentrated awesome. Picard, more than Kirk. What do you like? Sci-fi-ish, I mean."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"I'd have to agree with Star Trek, but I have to say Sisko was the best captain. And I'm a bit of a superhero geek," he admits, as if it's a shameful thing to say.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Oh my gosh, I am too!" She grabs his arm in her excitement. "Batman is, like, my one true love. I'd put a ring on his finger today."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Thought you didn't understand romance?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I don't, but Batman supersedes all that." A pause, she considers. "I understand love. I've been in love before. A few times."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"So... by romance, you mean more the... lovey-dovey sort of thing? Flowers, jewelry, et cetera?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"And the expressions thereof, yeah. Like kissing and stuff. I mean, I've kissed guys on purpose before." Heaven knows what 'not on purpose' means in this scenario. "It's just, I dunno."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He considers that. "More the feeling than the doing?" he asks, uncertainly.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Yeah! That's it, exactly. I feel very strongly, but I'm... not so good at expression. And that was even before... uh. Before you-know-who."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"There's got to be some way to do the whole emotional expression thing... do you write? Draw?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I do both of those things," she says, with a shy smile. "Not since...." Not since the most recent abduction.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"...because you don't feel like it, or because you don't have any supplies?" He doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, but he's getting it into his head to get her some art stuff if it's the latter.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Both. I haven't been able to go back to where I was living and get any of my stuff. I was living at a few places at the time, switching around, never sleeping in the same spot for over a couple months. And... and I just look at a blank page and wanna crawl back into bed. Into couch, rather."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He's not sure what to say to that, worried about saying the wrong thing and making things worse. "Anything I can get for you?" he offers.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

With Victor, you rarely have to worry about saying the wrong thing. "Gosh, no. No, I'm just fine. It's weird. So much of my life has been about creation and now I just feel hollowed out. Put on pause, you know?"