#ANYWAYSSS ✏✏✏

[spaceratprodigy]

Will You Change The Station? 🎙📻 📡

I really was gonna make a new drawing for them but for the time being I'm just gonna keep progressively fucking up this one image bc it makes me laugh ✏

Hiram leaned away, grunting at the interruption emanating from his terminal that was letting him know he had an incoming call.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were expecting someone to.." Faith gestured her hand towards the source of the sound instead of finishing her sentence.

Hiram stood up and began making his way across the room, taking his time as he was in no rush. His eyes became unwelcoming at the thought of having to answer the person on the line.

"No. It's not business related, if that's what you're inferring. But," he sucked his teeth "I was expecting this call sooner or later. Considering you're here, after all."

"What does that-"

"Really?" Hiram jabbed, before she could finish her sentence. The man stopping in place to turn and face her now. He softened his tone, immediately regretting how harshly he may have came off a moment ago.

"Did you honestly think your vicar in shining vestments was going to sit idly by while you ran away to my doorstep yet again?"

"How are you so certain it's him and not anyone else from my crew?" Faith said, her eye contact starting to waver.

Hiram noticed.

"While it is true you're not where you're supposed to be, according to them. I do know for certain, however, that when it comes to you, he'd be first in line to wring my neck–" Hiram sipped from the glass he still held in his hand.

"Even before Nyoka, who is very upset with me right now. She was vehemently against my wanting to see you again."

Faith was no longer looking at Hiram.

"Why would Max even care that I'm here?" Her words finally slipped out, hanging on her tongue longer than she would have liked.

"He made it very clear to me that all I was to him was a pawn in his stupid fucking revenge scheme," she didn't want Hiram to see her eyes starting to betray her "and that everything I felt was one sided.." her voice turned soft, the words barely finding their way out.

Hiram returned, sitting down on the edge of Faith's seat. "My dear, you and I both know that was his biggest lie yet."

"I just.. I don't understand why he would say all of that to me.. especially after.." countless memories of Max filled her thoughts. Every smile, every laugh, every touch they shared "after becoming so close.."

"Faith, that man wouldn't have shown you such an intimate side of himself if he hadn't meant it."

She let out a sigh, wanting to rest her head on Hiram's shoulder, but not allowing herself to share that kind of familiarity with him right now.

Hiram had stiffened when Faith drifted a little closer towards him, feeling a pang in his chest when he could see she was fighting her instincts. His skin grew hot as he tried to fidget with his collar without being noticed.

She did.

Faith felt a yearning deep inside of her. A hollow loneliness she wanted to fill. Wanting to be held, wanting her hair to be played with, craving any kind of comfort.

Her leg began to bounce, fingers tapping at her own glass anxiously trying to distract herself.

She knew Hiram would indulge her, she knew he planted a seed in her heart that couldn't be removed anymore. What she knew most of all, was that he wasn't the person she really wanted right now.

The closeness was stirring the pair up. Finally, Hiram cleared his throat. Trying to find himself again after getting lost in his mind full of what-if's.

"I.." he was trying to pick up where they left off "I don't know what was going through his head, but I think pushing you away was the last thing he actually wanted."

Hiram's eyes rested on Faith. As much as he couldn't stand Max, he cared very deeply about his new friend.

"He had plenty of opportunities before you reached Fallbrook to be honest with you about his intentions. I can only assume he panicked in the heat of the moment when it all finally blew up in his face and he realized the weight of the consequences."

Faith let out a brief, bitter laugh. "He said he couldn't risk me not bringing him there if I knew what he was really planning."

Hiram took another swig from his glass.

"See, that right there is the problem" he stood up now, the air feeling colder than it was on the shared seat "what an infuriating thing for someone to get blinded by. Throwing a tantrum over an old book he can't even read and OSI bullshit."

Hiram lingered next to Faith a little longer, not wanting to disturb their time together.

"I do mean it, I think once it was too late he finally had a moment of clarity and understood how ridiculous he was behaving."

Faith finally locked eyes with him, wanting to speak but struggling to find the words she really wanted.

There was a heavy silence between them, only being broken by the sound of the persisting terminal.

Hiram could tell what she was thinking just by looking at her.

"I don't know why that was his reaction. After seeing how much he had just hurt you, it's hard to imagine he wasn't ashamed with himself and the distance being the only way he could think to keep from hurting you any further."

They both knew it was the distance that had absolutely shattered her. Hiram sighed, knowing what it would mean in the long run to suggest what he was about to say.

"Faith, the two of you need to actually face each other and talk about it. Whether or not you want to keep trying to avoid it, you both mean a lot to one another. Between this talk and my terminal over there that won't shut the hell up, it's obvious neither of you really want to be apart."

Faith felt a shred of guilt in her heart hearing it come from Hiram's voice. She cared very deeply for him, she truly did. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him, but he was right.

She would always want Max more.

Hiram finally continued his path to answer the call that had been waiting for him, hoping he could hide the pain that was trying to creep it's way onto his face.

"He probably agreed you deserve better" he tacked on, not speaking directly to her but being loud enough she knew he wanted it to be heard.

Faith was looking at her hands now, eyes glued to her own still-full glass. She swirled the liquid, contemplating Hiram's hypothesis of the situation. She wondered if Max really was afraid that he'd just keep hurting her by being around, knowing she'd never be the one to want him to leave.

She sat her glass on the nearest table, never taking a single sip.