Reason With Thunder

[Trevor Paige]

Trevor watched Erika for a long while. For a moment it looked as though his not-so-subtle suggestion was too ambitious and Erika was either going to pull away or look at him like he was crazy. He almost breathed a visible sigh of relief when she, instead, responded with her own little tidbit of information.

He nodded faintly as he listened. Neither of those things were deal breakers, as he wasn't fond of either himself. "I'm a private person. I don't talk about my home life when I'm working or vice versa." Of course, given that his wife worked tirelessly to heal and he dealt mostly in instruments of death and destruction, it would probably benefit them both if he discussed his business as little as possible. "I also can't sleep without some sort of blanket over me." His brow furrowed as he realized just how childish of a comment that was, especially when it came on the heels of his last confession.

[Erika Paige]

Nodding slowly, Erika supposed she could understand the good part about not discussing his private life. She was a fairly private person herself and hadn't it been for the fact that her last name had changed, the people at her workplace probably would never know that she'd gotten married. The last part had her chuckling though. But there was no chance in hell that she was going to comment on it though. It was however, somewhat... Adorable. In its own way.

"I freak out if things aren't clean and orderly around me," she said and looked out into the air at nothing in particular. She'd always been a very neat person and enjoyed having a system, along with keeping things clean. It was so much easier to go through life knowing where everything was and having easy access to it without having to walk over piles of garbage.

[Trevor Paige]

"I can get behind that." Trevor agreed with a nod. He ran a tight, disciplined ship when it came to his business and his personal life wasn't too far behind. If he didn't keep himself near and orderly, just as Erika had described, his operation would surely go to hell. He may have often conducted business with less than savory characters but that didn't mean he had to associate himself with them.

Trevor fell silent for a long moment as he studied Erika's features. The brief exchange had shown him a great deal. She was just as terrified about this as he was, he could see it in her eyes and even though he took pride in being able to keep his own motivations secret there was no hiding the uncertainty in his own gaze. "The idea of committing myself to someone on such a deep level scares the living hell out of me."

[Erika Paige]

Sighing, the brunette cast her eyes down and pursed her lips. Well, at least she wasn't the only one. "You and me both," she replied and leaned her head against the wall. She closed her eyes. It was almost a little unfair, that the two of them had been thrown into this like this. Sure, they both could have told their parents off for even having such a stupid idea, and well, even Erika couldn't deny that this 'deal' was very beneficial for both of their families and heck, maybe even the City as a whole.

That didn't change the fact that being the person who was stuck in this, sucked. "It is what it is, so I suppose there's little point in dwelling about it now." They'd had their chance to back out and they didn't. They'd might as well make the best of things, right? Even she couldn't quite picture a happy ending at the end of all this, but at least she wasn't shacking up with some serial killer with bodies hidden in his basement... she hoped.

[Trevor Paige]

Trevor had understood from the moment his mother had brought the idea to him how beneficial it would be to all parties involved. It appealed to the overly logical, business center of his brain which made it a tough, but not impossible sell. The combining of the families created one of the most socially and politically powerful conglomerates in the region. Even though it involved Trevor marrying someone he barely knew the sheer amount of power and opportunity that came from it wasn't something he could turn down easily.

"That's true." Trevor nodded a bit as he sighed and settled into the bed a bit more himself. His eyes turned upward to the ceiling of their new home. "It's just an admission. Not dwelling." He chuckled lightly and shook his head. "I've never slept... actually slept with anyone before." There had been other things that went on in beds or on various other piece of furniture around his previous home, although sleeping wasn't necessarily part of it.

[Erika Paige]

Well, that was a little more information than what Erika wanted to take in at the moment, but she supposed this was as good as any. "I used to sleep with a teddy bear, but that's as far as my own experience goes." She understood what he'd meant, but that only made the brunette realize that she was a little out of her league her. Not that she thought that would matter for the time being, if ever, but it was still a passing thought that nagged at the back of her head.

Turning so that she was laying on her stomach, the brunette closed her eyes once again as her head hit the pillow. "If you snore, I'm going to slap you in the face with a pillow," she warned him, opening one eye to look at him. Although she was being serious, she couldn't quite keep the small smile from splaying over her lips. "Seriously."

[Trevor Paige]

There was a moment of silence as Trevor's mind processed the image of a young Erika curled up with a teddy bear in a darkened room. It struck him as a remarkably adorable peek into the life the woman who he was now sharing much more than his bed with and he couldn't help a small smile from touching his lips. "A teddy bear?" He asked, though there was no sarcasm or malice in his voice. On the contrary he found it endearing. "Do you still have it?"

Trevor then let out a low laugh. "As far as I know I don't snore." He said, thankful for that. While he didn't know Erika all that well from a personal standpoint he knew enough to be assured her promise of pillow-laden violence was one he didn't want to test. "I never had a teddy bear. My sister and I spent most of our time with our dad at the plant."

[Erika Paige]

"I do," she admitted sheepishly. "It's at my mother's somewhere, likely packed down with the rest of the stuff from when I was a kid." She hadn't seen the teddy bear in years, but she knew it was there. In fact, she remembered exactly what kind of box it had been put into too. She'd made sure it was in a box where moisture and such wouldn't damage it. "His name was Newt. Named after Newton." Why, she didn't remember.

"Good," she replied with a nod. She then closed her eye again and nuzzled her face against the soft pillow. The personal tidbit of information he offered shocked her somewhat. She couldn't really picture that being the kind of place one would want their children to grow up, but then again, this wasn't exactly a normal kind of world anymore, was it? "How old is she? Your sister, I mean."

[Trevor Paige]

Trevor nodded, a bit of a smirk creeping not just onto his lips but seemingly into his eyes as well. It was an undeniably endearing and intimate look into Erika's life. It may have been a small thing, but to Trevor it counted as the first truly humanizing tidbit about her he'd been able to hold onto. "Maybe we should see if we can find it." He said with a faint shrug of his shoulders. "Might be nice to have something familiar?" He offered hopefully. He didn't have much in terms of personal affectations to speak of, least of all ones that reminded him of his childhood.

"We're twins." Trevor said flatly, though there was a hint of malaise that touched his voice. He didn't like being away from his sister. The two of them had spent much of their lives together and acted as each other's rock and support structure. Even after reaching adulthood the two siblings remained close. "We were roommates before... all this." He said, waving a hand a bit to gesture to the room around them.

[Erika Paige]

Cocking her eyebrow, the brunette chuckled as she opened her eyes to look at him. "Yes, I'm in desperate need of my teddy bear. That's how uncomfortable this whole situation makes me. Takes me back more than fifteen years." She rolled her eyes, but the amused smile remained on her lips. No, she was way past the time where she needed her teddy bear to comfort her. Sadly.

Twins? She couldn't really picture a female counterpart of the man next to her, but then again, that was probably because she hardly knew him. She felt a little bad about not knowing that much about his family, despite all of this. "Ah," she said and felt the same awkwardness from before creep back in. Wonderful. This marriage had practically kicked his twin out of the house and here she was instead. Just the kind of thing she needed to live up to. "Well, there's plenty of rooms in this house," she shrugged.

[Trevor Paige]

"I didn't mean it like that." Trevor said, his tone lowering. He wasn't upset, more demoralized than anything. "I wasn't trying to make it sound like you needed it." He continued, shrugging faintly as he glanced down to the bedsheets in front of him. "Just maybe something familiar would help this place not feel so... sterile." It was probably a foolish idea, Trevor was thinking that now. They weren't kids even if he felt as lost as one while standing at the alter watching a woman he barely knew draw closer as the music played.

Trevor felt the awkwardness settle over them though he didn't respond in kind. He actually laughed. "I don't think you know what you're offering." He said, a smirk touching his features as he cast Erika a glance. "She's... not the easiest to get along with." The laugh died down and he gave a sigh. "Anyway, she'd probably thinking she'd be imposing." Which, even Trevor had to admit as nice as it would be to have his security blanket back, she probably would be.

[Erika Paige]

"I know," she countered and shook her head. "Relax." Well, clearly humor wasn't her strongest suit. She had to remember that in the future. That, or she had to learn to deliver her jokes in a more understanding way. Although, the misunderstanding probably came from him not knowing her well enough more than anything. It was just another thing to add to the growing list over things they had to learn about their new lives.

Shrugging, the brunette rolled onto her side and propped her head up. "It's a big house. I'm sure I'll hardly notice." And in a way, part of why she'd offered was because she felt it would be so much easier having a third person around, even if that meant having his sister here. It felt as if it would make things less awkward and it could potentially fill many of the awkward silences she was sure would follow.

[Trevor Paige]

"Yeah. Sorry." He offered an apologetic shrug. No, humor was hardly Trevor's strong suit either. There hadn't been much mirth or merriment in the Paige household growing up. Even without the harsh, brutal nature of the world around them there was little in the way of leisure and joy. The kids always had something to do, a task to complete a lesson to learn. It had served the twins well as they got older and went out to seek their own fortunes even if it had resulted in a tepid, somewhat unconventional childhood.

"You'd notice." He assured Erika with a knowing nod. His sister wasn't the most friendly and sociable of people. She'd probably consider it more of an insult than anything else. Though Trevor didn't need to delve too deeply into everything to get an idea of Erika's intentions. "I think we'll be fine on our own." He said, that smirk of his creeping back onto his face. "Besides. We won't be alone long if our mothers get what they want." Humor was definitely not his strong suit.

[Erika Paige]

The brunette decided right then that she didn't like the smirk that seemed to reach the surface more often than not. It made her feel queasy and it made him look like a tool. No, in fact, it made him look more like a shark and in turn it made her feel like a fish out on deep water. Thankfully, the brunette didn't get to delve much further into that line of thought before he offered a line that almost made the brunette's jaw drop to the bed and roll off to the floor.

Almost.

"Ha, funny," she said evenly and wrinkled her nose. "I hope your business doesn't involve giving out jokes, because you're honestly rather terrible at it," she said defiantly, almost sounding like a cross teenager putting her foot down. Though, in a way, she supposed it was more of a challenge than anything else. As if daring him to do it again. Though, she wasn't entirely sure if that was correct either.

[Trevor Paige]

It didn't matter what Erika was thinking when it came to the thin smirk that touched Trevor's lips whenever he was amused, pleased with himself, or seemingly at random. The response his poor attempt at humor had garnered did nothing to cease the smirk, rather it grew, Trevor's eyes gleaming with a certain sense of mischief as he watched her.

"I'm kidding, of course." He said finding the whole thing laughable the more he thought about it. The entire situation was a farce. A game. The stupid whimsy of a few parents who were probably not thinking about their children's best interests when certain decisions were made. "Look. If we think about this, I mean really think about it, how can you not laugh?" His eyes shook as he turned his gaze back to the ceiling. "And still, here we are." He knew dwelling on it all wouldn't help a thing but he didn't have much of a choice. After all, he had gotten married earlier in the day to a young woman he hardly knew. Even someone as coldly logical as Trevor couldn't shrug that off.