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Normally someone coming home wouldn't make Quinn think twice, not with a Guardian cat and three Senshi living there. But it did seem awfully odd that either of her roomies would come in through the front door when there were so many full-length mirrors conveniently located pretty much everywhere in the apartment. She leaned back in her computer chair, looking over her shoulder to glance at whoever it was that walked through the door.

An eyebrow raised when she realized it was Veer who, as long as she's known him, has never come through the front door to her recollection. That's when she first noticed the blood on the collar of his shirt. When she spun in her chair to fully face him, she saw the blood on his chin, followed by his bruised and swollen face.

"Jesus ******** Christ," she said under her breath as she pushed herself out of the chair and made her way across the apartment to him. She grabbed his chin with her hand and tilted his face upwards then side to side to get a good look at him, not nearly as gently as she should've been. Her lips turned downwards into a deepset frown, concern quickly sweeping across her face.

"This needs to stop," was all she said as she stared up at him.

Quinn knew all too well what it felt like to have a busted up face, and when it happened to her over a year and a half ago she promised herself and her team that it wasn't ever allowed to happen to any of them. That thought alone made her expression soften, her fingers now just barely flitting over his cheekbones.

"I don't know what the hell happened when you were gone, but ever since you've been back you've been out looking for trouble. And I don't mean like, regular trouble! Every night you come back worse off. I'm... Worried about you. As your Captain and your girlfr--" she stopped herself, then corrected, "your friend."

She made her way over to the freezer and took out an icepack, something that she found they needed in this household more often than not. Wrapping it in a cloth, she stepped back over to him and gently pressed it to his face, hoping that he wouldn't force her away even though she was sure as s**t it would hurt.

When Veer took the icepack from her hand to readjust, she went back over to the fridge. "I know your eye got busted up too, I ain't stupid and you can't hide it," she called over her shoulder.

Quinn quickly made her way back over to him, took him by the hand and pulled him over to the couch, shoved him ever-so-gently to get him to sit down, and put a beer in his free hand. "You look like you need it."

Truth be told, with all of the other bullshit in her life, girlfriend would be nice. But much like the fact that Quinn refused to ask him out initially, they would probably dance around the subject until she finally snapped or he brought it up himself.

She sat down facing him, legs crossed under her while she examined the damage. She shrugged her shoulders slightly in response to his reply. "I dunno. Find a hobby. Either that or at least be productive when you're patrolling and getting your a** kicked. Have a mission when you do it, try to accomplish something." She wasn't very good at pep talks. "Find something you're passionate about and then at least s**t like this isn't for no reason." She studied him for a moment, "I target and kill Knights," she added nonchalantly. "That's why I disappeared. After my first kill."

Some part of Quinn hoped that her bringing it up may convince Veer to open up about what the hell happened to him- although she knew it wasn't very likely. Another part of her just felt that it needed to be said... Because if there was any chance of this being more than friendship again, he needed to know what kind of person she really was, and that she may not be the kind of person he wants to be with.

Part of Quinn wanted to poke him really really badly. But she refrained, because a teeny tiny part of her deep down knew it was probably a pretty bad idea.

She leaned in a little bit closer to get a good look at him, "I think it's broken. You should like... Snap it into place. Or go to the hospital and get it set so it heals properly."

Her eyes shot up to meet his, not quite realizing how close she actually was to him. She sucked in a breath and held her gaze for a moment in silence... Until he opened his big fat mouth and his comment made her lean back, roll her eyes and punch him in the arm.

"So you left for 6 months over Warcraft, huh?" She wrinkled her nose, "You really are more of a nerd than I thought." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You don't need a guild to play. And you can get a new job, you goof," she continued to babble to distract him while she leaned in close a second time.

This time both hands raised and, before he had time to protest, she placed her thumbs on either side of his nose and pressed as hard as she could to snap it back into proper alignment. As she was doing it, with his face still in her hands, she closed the distance between the two of them and pressed her lips to his in a rough kiss- ideally to keep him from screaming because she was sure as s**t that must've hurt.

And also probably because she just really really wanted to kiss him.

Luckily for the both of them, there wasn't a whole lot that bothered Quinn.

It was strange how she could feel it all under her fingertips; the pain that shot through him, the whimper, the tenseness. When she broke the kiss she leaned back slowly, her eyes studying his. Eventually, her hands followed suit and dropped from his face to her lap.

Maybe that was a bad idea.

"I'm sorry. For your face and for kissing you, I mean." Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of rosy pink. "I sort of assumed and I should probably not assume things so I'm sorry. I just.... Missed you. This. Us, if there was much of an us before I fell off the face of the Earth." She didn't realize that by the time she stopped talking, her fingers were entwined in the ends of her hair nervously.

"I hope you're not mad..."

It wasn't like Quinn to particularly give a s**t if she made someone mad, but apparently with Veer she actually cared. It made her feel weak and vulnerable and completely off-whack but the butterflies doing acrobatics in her stomach post-kiss almost made her not mind.

Quinn's eyes widened, surprise and uncertainty clear on her face when she immediately noticed the tears welling in Veer's eyes.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Did she make him cry?!

She stared for a moment before deciding that it was in her best interest to ignore it for the time being (and poke fun at him about being a big baby later... And pretty much all the time thereafter).

"You said you couldn't afford to go to the doctor. I just... Provided you with a much cheaper alternative," she grinned broadly at him. "And it was just not so bad? Maybe if you weren't crying I'd make more of a move."

Okay, so maybe it was time to poke fun at him now rather than later. She has just said a whole bunch of mushy s**t that she would typically not say to anyone, and he cried and said it was just okay. Definitely the right time to make fun of him.