The last play the two of them ever see together — sometime after Rufus Barma's irritating little stunt but before Break sneaks off to Sabrie — is one from Break's past. Someone does a production of it every few years or so, and it's the one play Break always refuses to attend, without even bothering to make up an excuse. Knowing he'll probably never get an explanation, Liam simply lets it go, not wanting to bring up things the other man wants to forget. He never goes to see it on his own, either. It somehow feels too disrespectful.
But more and more, Break is getting this feeling that things are beginning to come to an end of some kind, and he remembers how Liam had been so interested in it when he was young…younger. So when the play pops up again, Break takes a deep breath or five and invites him out to see it.
"Is it okay?' Liam asks quietly before he agrees.
"It's fine," says Break. "It was my favorite, once."
And it was, truly; he'd loved it, until the young Miss Sinclair begged and begged her parents to take her to see "the story with the fairies". They hadn't had the time, and so they'd sent her with Kevin. The Sinclair household kept several knights, but he was the one she favored most, perhaps because he was so young and slender and not at all rough and scary like the other knights were. She'd been far too little to understand the bulk of the play and too naive to question it, but oh, how enchanted she'd been by the actors and actresses in their magical costumes, dancing across the stage designed to look like a fairy forest; and how pleased Kevin had been to spend the afternoon seeing the play he loved so much with this bubbly little child that he never quite knew what to do with, but of whom he was genuinely fond.
They'd gone home afterwards to find the entire household slaughtered.
But now there's forty-five years between him and that day, even if to him it's only been fifteen, and it's Liam who's sitting next to Break in the theater. The story is the same and so are the words, but the voices that speak them are different, and the costumes are new. The forest is new. Liam shoots Break a knowing look from the corner of his eye damn near every time Puck appears on the stage, and laughs at all the right places, and Break still remembers every line in this play even though he hasn't gone near it in all that time and it's all so familiar that he begins to lose track of where he is. His past and his present crash together more and more forcefully through the night. It's like storm-driven ocean waves battering him from all sides, turning him around and around until he can no longer tell what exactly he's looking at, and in the midst of it all Break can't help but love the theater and the fairies and all the foolish mortals and Liam especially, with all his heart, even as some part of him is absolutely terrified that he's going to go home and find everything gone again. He has to squash that part down all night long, remind himself not to get lost in his own time.
Then the play ends and the waves stop and he's left sitting there in his chair, wondering if Puck was right and if any of it was just a dream, and what he might do about it if that were the case.
Liam enjoys the play very much, but he keeps half an eye on Xerxes during the whole thing. The other man is distant afterward — not just quiet, distant — and though he doesn't seem particularly unhappy or upset, Liam frets nonetheless, wondering what memories the play may have brought up for him. Break spends the carriage ride back to Rainsworth off in his own head somewhere, in a world Liam knows he is never going to reach no matter how close they are. He seems to come back a little when they reach the mansion, and he lets out a breath he'd probably been holding the entire way home when they get to the door and hear Sharon and her grandmother laughing together in the front parlor. It's late and Liam is spending the night at Rainsworth, and the two of them stop to greet the women before they retire to their beds. Break chats with them easily enough, and neither of them seem to see any reason to worry about him, but Liam knows exactly how diabolical Break can be when it comes to hiding any and all weak spots and he can't quite bring himself to believe Break is really entirely stable just then.
The room he lived in years ago is still reserved for Liam's visits. It's in the opposite direction from Break's. Liam walks with Break anyway.
When they reach Break's door, Liam says, "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" and receives a vague hum in response. He knows he will see Break tomorrow, that's not the point. Feeling a little desperate, he reaches out and tilts Break's face up and kisses him right on the mouth, gently, because even though they've never done this before it's the best thing he can think to do to remind the other man to come back to the world he's living in now.
Break stiffens in surprise at the contact, only for a few seconds, and then chuckles in the back of his throat. He leans into his friend, just enough that the fabric of their clothing rustles together, and lets one hand rest against his chest. It's not a very exciting kiss, and it's certainly not going to fix everything that's knocked askew in his head just then, but it's pleasant and sweet and it really does help. When they pull apart Break scoots forward to rest his cheek against Liam's.
"You don't have to worry about me," Break whispers, because he knows exactly what has just happened. "I'm okay."
"Alright," Liam says, just as softly.
Break gives him a little smile — quiet, but not distant — and playfully flicks at one of Liam's earrings before he retreats into his room. Liam heads to his own, feeling better. Half an hour later he'll wake himself up from a doze when it occurs to him what he's done and a delayed bit of flustering hits him, but Break is in a mellow, pleasant mood at breakfast the next morning, and he never teases Liam about that kiss. Not once.