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[occultatum]

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[occultatum]

I saw.

[perfectible]

[ She can't say she isn't glad that Nick didn't come to try to help her. It was already humiliating enough without the idea of other people seeing it or intervening.

She's still embarrassed now but she's not in the middle of it now, it's a little less raw.]

I'm sorry, the last thing I wanted was for people to have to see that.

[ She's still hurting. ]It was humiliating.

[occultatum]

You don't have to apologize to me.

Come on, Cooper. I'll sleep on the couch. Reggie can chaperon.

[perfectible]

I feel like I do. I feel like I'm always coming to you with my drama.

I'm sure Reggie would be thrilled.

Really, Nick. It's okay. This place is safer and you're both already settled. Bellamy already said I could stay there.

[occultatum]

As long as he got to stay on the couch with me? He'd be pretty pleased.

Do you want to take Moose?

[perfectible]

I wouldn't mind an escort to Bell's place.

[occultatum]

Me or the dog?

[perfectible]

I meant you but maybe the dog can come along so you won't walk back alone.

[occultatum]

Tell me where you are.

[perfectible]

In the kitchen of the Gray.

[occultatum]

[He doesn't teleport, for once. He comes in a few minutes later.]]

Hey Cooper.

[He says it, and he offers a hand.]

Come on.

[perfectible]

[ She pulls her bag on over her shoulder before taking his offered hand.] Thank you, Nick.

[occultatum]

[She looks so unhappy. He just smiles slightly, and holds her hands tightly.]

You'll have to lead the way, you know. I don't know who Bellamy is.

[perfectible]

[ She genuinely is unhappy and she's too tired to hide it at the moment, to put on that face she's been so well-trained to put on.]

Right, [ she says it sheepishly before leading them towards the exit and getting them out of the bar before she manages to find the urge to speak again.]

I hate this place.

[occultatum]

Because your boyfriend is with someone else?

Or because you're expected to be okay with it?

[He genuinely wants to know.]

[perfectible]

All of the above, [ she says softly.] And the way the city keeps throwing things at us.

[occultatum]

Throwing things like this war.

[It's an oddly quiet moment. Nick will teleport home, but that doesn't mean that any of this is going to be easy. Still.]

Explain something to me. Something about mortals. Why is monogamy so important?

[perfectible]

I don't know. Maybe because our lives are shorter? Or we're more insecure. [ She glances down at the ground for a moment.]

Haven't you ever loved someone so much that idea of losing them makes you breathless? Makes your heart ache? Because it's not even that he's with someone else, it's just... that girl? Lucy? She seems to be everything I'm not anymore. And the way he was acting with her, the way he was looking at her, it's how he used to look at me and maybe it just makes me realize that I'm... broken.

[occultatum]

Yeah, but.

[He has been jealous of Harvey, sure. He felt it. But it didn't feel the same the way it looks here. It's not that he minds that Sabrina has more than one lover.]

Now, you have to remember that I'm not...good with love. Until a few months ago, I never felt it. So it seems to me that if I love someone, and they love me, and they also love someone else, it doesn't...diminish that feeling.

It's not a finite resource, right? Isn't that what everyone says?

[But that said:]

You're not broken, Cooper.

[perfectible]

I think sometimes it can be. [ Love can fade, grow weak. Isn't that right? Isn't that what happens? That's what she's been taught, that is tv and movies and books tell her, you cannot possibly love two people at once, something has to give.

When he tells her she's not broken, she shakes her head.]

I am.

[occultatum]

Do you think he's done with it? With loving you?

[He looks at her, and he considers her for a long moment.]

What makes you say that?

[perfectible]

What if he decides that I'm too complicated for him, not the person he fell in love with?

[ She looks at him then.] I don't know, I just feel broken.

[occultatum]

Do you think you weren't complicated at any point?

[He doesn't really think that.]

You're not. You're exhausted, and you're here. It's not exactly easy.

[perfectible]

No. And I know that relationships aren't easy but it still feels so hard sometimes and when I saw him with Lucy... it just felt like I was losing him to someone better.

That won't change, that's what's hard.

[occultatum]

To someone better.

[He snorts a little.]

I don't think that's what was happening.