Admittedly, when it came to feelings and emotions; or moreover, showing either of these, Liesel was definitely the more open. Erik kept things rather close to his chest, he didn't want people to see that underneath all that anger, and bravado, there was a genuine person there. Yes, he may have been made into this person through the events of his past, and from what Shaw had inflicted on him, but through it all, the same teenage boy who sought to caring after a much smaller girl was present. Only, it was a bit more than care now, wasn't it?

Erik had left Liesel for a few years, it wasn't one of those dramatic things where he needed to find himself; he knew who he was, and what he was, but he needed to find a start on this mission. Once he had gathered sufficient leads, he had sought her out; only, he didn't think she'd have moved on with her life. That wasn't to say he was expecting her to be waiting for his return, unchanged, but he hadn't expected her to have an apartment and be sort of dating someone. Erik had nothing against William, other than he probably didn't understand Liesel as much as he presumed.

Despite Liesel believing otherwise, Erik hadn't been ignorant to her feelings for him, or his feelings for her. He found it hard to express emotions which weren't anger based, purely because the people who were close to him, his mother, father, sister and uncle had all been taken away from him. Everyone he had ever loved, had died. When he lost everyone, he didn't believe he was able to love someone again.

But then there was Liesel. He had been witness to her growing up from a malnourished, small and fragile girl; to a slightly awkward, uncertain teenager, and now to a still awkward, but beautiful young woman. And she was, her auburn hair cascaded in loose waves which framed her face, her green eyes were by far the most striking he had ever seen and it was always so hard to look away from them. They could vary from a calm emerald, to bright, vivid luminescent green in seconds, depending on her mood. She was still shorter than him, but then she always probably would be. Which Erik liked, he quite liked the fact she was so much smaller, more for the fact that when it came to holding her, she seemed to get enveloped in his arms nicely. He could hold onto her, feel how well her body fitted against his, and she usually always buried her face against his chest or under his neck and it seemed for the world, that she was protected from anything. Which was true; he would protect her from anything.

She knew him, better than anyone ever would, and she understood him. They were on very similar ground, and she had been most patient, calm and understanding of him. Despite of their fallings out, she could never stay mad, because she loved him. Erik was better at showing emotions and feelings through actions. It wasn't like he couldn't voice them, it was hard, whenever he thought he had found the time to, the words never wanted to come out, and he'd end up saying something else. It was like Liesel knew though, she'd always look at him with a knowing smile, yet not mention it and answer whatever he had said.

This though, this night was their last one before facing off against the one man who had been so detrimental to how they both grew up, saw the world, and in part reacted and treated other people and situations. Erik knew Shaw wouldn't take Liesel from him, because he would have to rightly kill him to do so. Likewise, Erik was rather certain that Liesel would actually fight with everything she had if it meant keeping Erik by her side.

But, Erik honestly couldn't think of another time where making his intentions, his feelings known would be more fitting than here and now. From Liesel's rather uncertain hands skimming down his arms and holding onto the material of his top, Erik was rather sure that she hadn't been this close to someone, not even that so called boyfriend. Kissing, hugging, hand holding was all well and good, but this was a new frontier for her, not for him of course. Was it slightly egotistical to be somewhat proud, not smug, of being Liesel's first time? Erik didn't believe so as such, the way he saw it: he'd been Liesel's first for everything else really.

Listening to the quiet laugh which suddenly came from her, Erik looked up from her neck and smiled. "What? You tickled me!" She said, putting her hands to her mouth to hide her grin. Tickling wasn't what Erik was going for, but he couldn't help but smile and shake his head. He gently moved her arm aside and leaned back down to continue kissing softly at her neck, Liesel's laughter died down rather quickly and was soon replaced with a small gasp, Erik felt her body press up against his as her hands held onto him.

Erik's eyes slid to a shut hearing that, pausing he looked back up at her. He looked over her expression, her cheeks reddened slightly as her eyes looked darkly at him. She was watching him curiously, her eyes following him as he leaned on his elbows above her. He felt her give the slightest of fidgets to accommodate him, he had taken to laying between her legs no sooner had they first fell back against her bed. He felt one of her legs wrap over his as she reached up and brushed his hair out of his face. Regardless of her hands cupping his cheeks, Erik leaned down and rested his forehead against hers, his blue eyes stared into darkened green ones, he smiled softly when he felt her nestle upwards against him.

"You know I wouldn't ever hurt you, don't you?" Erik asked quietly, lowly even from his voice not being used for a while, his natural accent slightly slipping in as he spoke. Unlike Liesel, he had all but eradicated having an accent, there were a few times when it would appear, this being one of them. Seemingly hearing it appear again had her looking at him fondly. Erik knew him speaking their native language was something she liked, he didn't know why, she just did. Him seemingly pretending didn't settle well with her, she didn't know why he'd want to get rid of something which was not really that much of a big deal.

She nodded, making their noses slightly brush against each other as she looked at him surely. "Ja, I know." She whispered back, arguments...neither truly meant what they'd shout at each other, not really, deep down both knew things said in the heat of the moment were just that, they weren't meant to have a grudge held, words can sting and that is what their slight arguments were meant to do.

Erik nodded, seeing as how she was looking up at him with an understanding look. Liesel could be a bit oblivious sometimes. It was a little annoying at times, but Erik could see she understood; she sighed and pushed at him, sitting up she turned to kneel by his side. Erik just watched her as she grabbed hold of the hem of her top and pulled it up. His eyes drifted to her ribs, still lightly bandaged, more for support than anything, but even still, bruises could still be seen peeking over the top. The bralette she had on was more forgiving than a bra, but the elastic narrowly missed where the top of the bandages started. She looked at his face and where he was looking, leaning forwards she placed a hand to his shoulder and pushed him back, flicking her hair over her shoulder and simply moved closer, hesitating a moment before placing her lips firmly against his.

Erik reached up, his fingers threading into her hair before feeling her weight shift and lay against him, easily taking over, he rolled her onto his back. Seeing as how she was getting slightly more confident with her actions, and her earlier words, Erik just took the initiative and commenced furthering the moment on. No, it wasn't really his intention to have this happen, on the eve of finding Shaw, but he stuck by it: what better time? No one knew what tomorrow would bring; would they succeed? Would they not? Would anyone get hurt, or possibly worse; die? There were so many variables, no one knew for certain what would happen tomorrow, if the worse did happen, then Erik definitely wanted Liesel to know how he felt about her, and actions did always speak louder than words.

----

Waking up to the gentle, yet distinct feeling of a tickling sensation, Erik's eyes slowly opened, only to shut again when the bright sunlight which was filtering through the window blinded him. Taking a moment or two to recover from that disruption, he slowly turned his head to the side. One arm laid outstretched to the side, with Liesel seemingly laying on it. Her back was to him, with her tussled hair trailing across the pillow and his arm. He turned slowly onto his side and looked over her shoulder.

She was rather simply tracing the tattooed numbers on his forearm. Yet hearing movement from behind her, she looked over her shoulder at him. She smiled slowly before stopping, and taking to just extending her own arm and slipping her hand into his. Staying like that didn't last long, before he moved. Managing to get his arm free from underneath Liesel, he propped himself up onto his elbow and leaned his head against his hand.

She just blinked slowly and wrapped the duvet around herself as she laid on her back and looked up at him. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. "Good morning. I feel like I should say something, or else we'll just keep looking at each other. And though I cannot deny, you are quite nice to look at, it's a little strange. So yes, good morning." Liesel had to break the slightly strange silence which they were currently surrounded by.

"Good morning." Was the ever simply spoken response given to her by Erik. She rolled her eyes again, she wasn't expecting anything major in return really. Looking back to him when he simply moved some hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He seemed rather lost in thought, and she didn't exactly wish to interrupt whatever thoughts were going through his mind.

Believe her, she had been awake for hours. First in confusion, because she woke up to being held onto rather tightly. Not so tight that it was uncomfortable, but rather tight in a protective way. It was comfortable, and warm, and she really didn't wish to move yet did to turn onto her side. At that her eyes simply stared at the dark wall opposite, before looking downwards slowly at the sight of scattered clothes. At this she inhaled deeply and exhaled. Yes, she was not too certain really on that. Well she was, she wasn't an idiot, but that was just so sudden. Sudden, but she wasn't complaining.

She was so far from complaining. At this a small voice in the back of her head seemed to want to chip in and say: who would be complaining? At this she ran a hand down her face and decided to just leave that topic of thought alone. Instead her thoughts turned to those of today, and what was likely to happen. None of it good, mind. Each which way she thought about it, she knew today would not go well. Something would happen. She had this feeling. She couldn't put her finger on it, she just had some pretty bad vibes.

It seemed though, much like herself, Erik was having similar thoughts. A frown appeared on his face as he slowly laid down on his back and looked to the ceiling. He turned his head to look at her though when she sighed. "May I say...it seems somewhat surreal?"

"That the end is finally in sight? Yes, it is something which has crossed my mind too." Erik replied and watched as she slowly nodded agreeing with him. "Though I believe our end, is a contrast to everyone else's." He watched as she sat up, keeping the duvet to herself, and tilted her head to the side, as if trying to click her neck and stretch out sleep. "But we can't all follow the same path, can we?" He asked while reaching up and trailing a finger down her spine. She instantly straightened up from the feeling and even let out a quiet laugh from the tickling sensation. She looked over her shoulder at him with a smile, Erik merely waved his hand at her before rubbing the final sleep from his eyes. Placing both hands underneath his head, he looked from the ceiling to her when she started to talk.

"Do you think after today, we'll all stay together?"

Erik frowned at this and looked to the window, the sun had thankfully moved so it wasn't shining so brightly through the gap in the curtain. "I don't know." He answered at length. "Would you want to?" He asked hesitantly, not liking completely the idea of an answer. His hesitance merely grew as she looked in thought, she pulled her knees to her chest and leaned her chin against them. She picked imaginary dust off of the duvet, she even straightened it out as it cascaded down her legs. "You're avoiding answering." Erik said bluntly while staring rather intently at her.

"I'm not...there is no avoidance of answering. Just...aren't you a little tired of always moving around?" Liesel asked while looking over her shoulder at him. He sighed heavily, yet did ponder briefly for a few seconds over her question. "Wouldn't you like to stop running?" Liesel asked quietly with a curious frown.

Removing his hands from underneath his head, Erik slowly pushed himself to sit up by her side. "Here? You'd want to stay here?"

"No! What? Why? Whatever gave you that idea?" Liesel frowned and scrunched her nose up at this. It wasn't that she disliked here, or even was overly fond; but there were other places Liesel could think to move to, to call home.

"I was merely asking," Erik smiled and held a hand up in defence.

Liesel sighed and shook her head. "I don't care where I am," Erik looked at her curiously then. Not that she seemed the least bit emotionally attached to the manor. He did perhaps see that she had warmed up to it slightly, since her first arrival. Could she call it a home? Could he ever call it a home? Probably not. The short space spent here was enough for him, that much he knew. "As long as I am with you, I don't really care."

"A cardboard box in an alley seems quite nice this time of year."

"Erik! I'm being serious! Don't joke about this!" Liesel exclaimed shortly yet couldn't help but chuckle a little over his joke. She did though, swat a hand at him, though it was easily caught and held onto.

"No splitting up then." It was more of a statement than a question as Erik looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I believe...as you said, we can't all follow the same path. But...but I believe you and I have been walking the same, if not a similar path for many, many years." Liesel said thoughtfully while looking down at her hand as the grip lessened on it.

He turned and looked at her while slowly nodding, he couldn't help but agree somewhat. They honestly weren't that dissimilar. Leaning forwards he rested his forehead against hers. "First things first, we need to deal with Shaw. Only then can we think about what is to happen afterwards." He said quietly while feeling her nudge herself closer to him.

Much like her, he shut his eyes and just enjoyed the simple content feeling, and the quiet of the space around them. There were no sounds in the air. Though if concentrating enough, the quiet murmurings from downstairs could be heard. The others were up and about, and by the enthusiastic quiet tones, they were seemingly more than up for today. Or rather, a little hesitant and worried, but no less enthusiastic to get today out of the way. All of the training; the hours of concentrating and straining to keep controlled and to properly understand each of their powers, all of that was now going to put to the test. The only thing to hope was that at the end of the day, they were the successful ones, and Shaw and his little group were defeated.

----

Edited: 12/June/2019

Reedited: 19/August/2021