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.

Comments

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Okay. Okay, cool. Thank you." A shy, scared little smile. Her heart feels like it's trying to escape through her sternum.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He doesn't want to get up now to get one; it feels like it'd be breaking the moment, or something. "You're welcome."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

Victor doesn't know what to say so she starts scratching at her arm again, under her sweater, subtle little scratches, not even really noticable unless you've seen her do it before.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Do you want to watch something else?" he suggests. "Since we've still got popcorn left and all. We've got all the Star Trek movies."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I'd love that," she says, with a shy curl of a smile, scratching right by that knobby wrist bone of hers.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Old Trek, or new Trek?" he asks, getting up only to switch out the DVDs. "Or we could marathon them all. No one can stop us, right?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Gosh, any." She hugs onto her knees, resting her chin between them.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"New Trek it is. First Contact, just for you."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"First Contact is my favorite," she murmurs, reverently.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He's secretly pleased that he picked her favorite, totally on accident, and he pops the disc in and returns to the couch. "It's definitely got the best music out of all the Star Treks."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"And the best costumes. I love that grunge scene." She runs a hand right through her hair, all tangly, and wild.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He sits close enough that she can lean on him again if he wants, a bit on accident, but he doesn't move when he realizes. "The Borg Queen's creepy, though."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"She iiiis. She looks like one of those blind cave spiders. Uh... kauaʻi cave wolf spiders, that's what."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"And when her skin melts off, she looks like the Terminator," he agrees.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Totally! It's advanced stuff. And I love Data so much. I guess I relate to him a little."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"You look nicer than he does though."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Oh, gosh, no. Have you seen me? My arms? My... everything looks like my arms."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

Oh boy. He goes a little rigid, afraid that he's hit some of her buttons. "That's not what I..."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I look nice," she says, matter-of-factly, without a hint of hurt in her voice. It's just Fact. "I wasn't pretty before I got cut up, and I'm not pretty now."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind your scars," he says, a little quietly. Still afraid he's going to hurt her.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She slips her sleeve up, runs her fingers along the ridges of them, the valleys, the peaks, all that rigid tissue. Some of it smooth. Some wrinkled. Some so it has no texture at all, bone white, looking like discolored skin. "I can't bear to look at myself, and I don't know why," she says, after a long pause.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Does it remind you of... that?" he asks carefully.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Not directly," she says, equally as carefully. She's trying to work it out as she talks. "It... uh. It just makes me feel worthless. Damaged goods. It... I feel ugly. I can't remember a time when I didn't. Before... you-know-who, before him, my self-esteem wasn't exactly stellar. And now I just feel... like nothing."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"I don't think you're nothing." He doesn't know how to reassure her, has no experience dealing with this sort of thing, and he wants to do anything to make it better.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She rests her index finger on the biggest ridge on her forearm. "Thanks." She swallows. "I shouldn't be bugging you with this. You're young and all."