Museum Visit
Liem and Gwen wanted Bren to relax more, so they insisted he take a break from his work. Bren was allowed to pick the place, however, and of course he chose a museum. Despite Gwen wanting to kill herself, Liem had a good time, especially when they found the First Order exhibit and Liem could look at all the models of ships. He stopped at a “life sized” statue of Kylo Ren, and nearly got thrown out of the museum when he climbed into the exhibit, and inisted Ren was the wrong height. Before long they had called Ren to check it out, and he offered to model for a replacement. But not before seeing the plaque in front of his statue, a plaque that once more reminded him of his biggest regret.
He had left quickly, and even through the mask Liem could guess Ren had paled. Ren was led away to a private room while they waited for an artist to arrive. Liem looked back at the plaque, frowned, and ran after Ren.
“Liem, where are you--” Bren tried to stop him but Liem hurried past anyway
“Don't follow me I’ll be back in a second!” Liem called back over his shoulder. He found Ren leaning against the wall in the small room, helmet off now and staring at it, expression unreadable. Liem ran there but he stopped and leaned against the wall, moving slowly now, and shuffled quietly until he was beside Ren. “So…”
“Shut up,” Ren said, voice barely above a whisper. “For once in your life just shut up.”
“Ok,” Liem said calmly. He had done this before, with Ren. And Ren had returned the favor as well, and it was something they shared that they understood that few others did. So Liem just stood there, and he didn’t say anything, but he was there, and Ren let him stay. Nothing could help, when Ren felt like this, but it mattered that Liem was there. It mattered to both of them.
The artist came eventually and Ren stood on a platform and put on his helmet again. Liem watched the artist work.
“I knew I was right,” Liem said. “I was way past your shoulder, I knew that couldn’t be right.”
Ren snorted, though it came through as just static in the helmet.
“Made you feel too tall?”
“I got dizzy!” Liem agreed, grinning again. “I’ve never been up so high without a pressure helmet.”
Ren laughed at that, and it alarmed the museum worker and the artist. The artist worked a bit faster.
“Why’d it bother you so much anyway? Besides the usually reason.”
“I dont know. I like things to be right.”
“You dont like being lied to.”
“Does anyone?” Liem shrugged. Ren didn’t answer for a minute.
“The ships look good?” Ren finally asked
“Oh yeah, they were great! To scale and actual scale models, and--” Once Liem got going he didn’t stop, but Ren didn’t mind listening this time. It didn’t matter what was said, just being there mattered.