[FIN] Playing Pretend

[TawnyAngel]

While Abel was gone Zevran tried not to let himself drift back into thought. Giving his chest a slight poke certainly helped to focus the mind in the present and then he focused on the details of the balcony; tiles, railing.

Luckily Abel was back before he ran out of things to study; he accepted the beer with a smile and murmured thanks and then reached his hand out for Abel to take. "It's lovely; a great view and I like the style of the railings, very art deco. I will have to paint the view before we go, perhaps if it comes out well we can put it up in our new place?" A safe place, his own home, shared with somebody who loved him. He still didn't understand how Abel could especially after what had happened.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

If Zevran hadn't reached his hand out first then Abel would've done so himself; his boyfriend beat him to it though, so the taller blond's hand slipped out to entwine his fingers with his love's. He nodded after he took a sip of his beer. "It really is, and the weather's perfect too. A little chilly still, of course, but it looks nice, at least," he elaborated, then gestured with his bottle out at the clear blue sky and the handful puffy white clouds that drifted lazily across it. "It really is a great view."

A pause, during which he turned to aim a smirky smile over at his boyfriend. "Oh look, I've found a better one. Really though, I'd love it if you did paint it. We can absolutely frame it and hang it somewhere in our new apartment -- actually I'd love it if we did. I think having something you painted hanging up somewhere would make it feel homier, y'know?" And perhaps cozier. His parents - more specifically his mother - had always decorated with all manner of things to make the house feel more like a home. His apartment, though obviously lived-in, was undoubtedly lacking in homey decorations.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran smirked a little at Abel and took a sip of his beer. "Flatterer. You are right though of course." Abel was right, it was too cold, but fresh air still felt like a novelty. Any if he started to feel really chilly he was sure Abel would go inside for a blanket.

"I will try to make the scene worthy of a spot on the wall." Zevran looked out at the view again, sipped from the bottle again. "So much quieter than Camphoreon, I would hate to live here but a peaceful visit? Very pleasant, especially in good company. Good, distracting company." Zevran sighed dramatically; "Not that I can do very much about it!" He was still very much too tired and weak for that, and the pain would take most of the fun out of it anyway. Pity, sex was a very good distraction from almost anything.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"For you, I'll be the world's biggest flatterer," he said with a chuckle, then took another small sip of his beer. A moment or two later he even tore his eyes away from the wonderful view of his boyfriend to the less-wonderful-but-still-good view of the beach sprawling out in front of them, on the other side of the balcony. "It'll be more than worthy to go up on the wall; you'll be the one making it after all." Abel offered his love another smile as he lifted their hands to press a gentle kiss to Zev's knuckles. "But I agree, I wouldn't want to live here. I'm too used to city life. This place is nice for a visit, but," he shrugged again, then grinned. "Nice with distracting company, yes, but there's other ways to be a distraction until you heal up some more."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmh, it's true, you are a distraction in many ways," Zevran agreed. Distracting enough? Hopefully. Zevran picked absently at the label on the bottle with the nail of his index finger; having one hand occupied with Abel's prevented more industrious fidgeting. Why couldn't he think of anything to say? He always had things to say especially to Abel. "Distracting, and extremely handsome." There, that was something at least.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel chuckled a bit, a wry smile curving his lips. "I can be, yeah. But even if I am handsome, you're infinitely moreso," he countered, waving the compliment to himself away with another wave of his beer bottle. While he was more than content to just sit in companionable silence beside his love, Zevran didn't seem to share the desire... unless he was overthinking things again. ...was he overthinking things again?

Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but either way conversation wouldn't hurt anything. "Mom's been harassing me on practically a daily basis on when we're gonna come visit," he said with a chuckle, and gave Zevran's hand a gentle squeeze. After he took another sip of beer he continued, "I keep telling her 'soon' or 'not until Zev's better' but she's not having any of that. I don't think she'll be happy until I give her a hard date... and then you know she'd be on my case about it not being soon enough. I can't win with her," the blond finished with a much wearier sigh than was necessary, coupled with a faintly amused smile. It wasn't as if he minded his mother's insistence, even if it was exasperating at times. No, he was glad to have family being so insistent, especially because it involved Zevran.  

[TawnyAngel]

"I am?" Zevran tilted his jaw a-la 'I'm not a model, the camera turned on all by itself'. "Well if you say it, it must be true!" Truthfully he knew he was in terrible shape, he'd lost quite a lot of weight and a huge amount of muscle tone but he knew that didn't matter to Abel. It hadn't mattered to him that Abel had been similarly pathetic and even more skinny when they'd first met either; he had been different, funny, and that had been enough to spark his interest... not to say that the lovely eyes and a handsome face had hurt at all of course.

As Abel squeezed his hand and started to talk about their visit to his family Zevran smiled back. "I feel a little guilty I must confess; I think she has sent me some emails, I spotted notifications on my phone but I haven't yet actually been into my box." She would probably understand and not mind though, she seemed a lot like her son in that respect or perhaps it was better to say that he was like her? "I haven't yet finished her recipe book, I would like to have it finished before we go... Though I could leave a few pages at the back? To fill out while we are there."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, you didn't know?" The taller blond countered, his lips curving into a smirk. "It is true, you know I only speak the truth. You are without doubt the most attractive man in the world. It's an indisputable fact," he added before taking a sip of his beer. Was it actually, factually true? Probably not to some people, but it was true to him and that was the only thing that mattered. Either way he didn't think Zev would mind hearing it.

After he swallowed he lowered his bottle and aimed a smile over at his love, enjoying the feeling of his fingers interlaced with Zevran's and just sitting on a balcony overlooking the sea with him. He'd almost died. They both had. "Nah, don't feel guilty about it, I'm sure she doesn't mind waiting. Reply when you feel up to it." Truthfully she was probably more anxious to hear from him than anything... not that he was about to say such a thing and make him feel even more guilty. He had tact sometimes.

Sometimes.

"You know she'll love anything you give her, but she might like some blank pages at the end for.. something? Recipes you guys work on together maybe, or something?" Abel shrugged. "Whatever you think is best would be perfect, I'm sure."  

[TawnyAngel]

"I was thinking that yes; for things we cook, for pictures maybe? She strikes me as the sort who might like something sentimental." Truthfully the whole thing was sentimental, he had more or less accepted that but it was still strange to talk about or hear said about him. Sweetheart.

"I was thinking about something for your father too, and not getting anywhere, but coming here gives me an idea." Zevran gestured with his bottle to the view, admired the view, sipped the beer, and then looked back at Abel. "I could bring a small sketchbook, do some art around the ranch? Would he like that or would he find it too..." Zevran waved his bottle again, more vaguely this time. "Whatever he thinks of people like me."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At that he couldn't help but chuckle. "She is definitely sentimental, so she absolutely adores anything sentimental. Anything you add that you both do together will probably be her favorite, honestly, so that might be a good route to go. Ah.. Sorry my dad's so hard to think of gifts for though," he added, feeling obligated to apologize again. Did Zevran worry about it too much? Hopefully not... but he had a sneaking suspicion he did. The fact that he had to worry about it at all still bothered him and made him feel guilty, but what could he do about it? Not much. It wasn't like he could reach into his father's head and make him change his thoughts and opinions, much as he might like to sometimes.

And then Zev indirectly reminded him of his own drink, so he took a sip as he pondered the idea. "I think if you sketched or painted something he really liked, that'd be good?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran chuckled briefly and shook his head. "Ah, I didn't know that his being difficult was your fault! Now that I do I blame you entirely, though as I seem to have found a good idea I suppose I can forgive you for it." There had not been nearly enough teasing lately, it was good to do that again, and with luck it would turn out to be an idea good enough to win over Abel's father. "I hope I can win him over," Zevran continued after a moment, a slight frown creasing his brow. "I wouldn't wish to cause awkwardness between the two of you."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"You're going to give me whiplash from how fast you're blaming me then forgiving me for that," he noted with a chuckle. As much as he enjoyed teasing his love he found it difficult at the moment, instead feeling his heart slowly being tugged downwards. He worried. Why did he have to worry? Why did his father have to have such traditional views on things? Knowing that Zevran worried over what his father would think made his heart ache, made him feel like he'd failed in some way. Clearly there was something he could have done to alleviate such worries, some way to assure him that it really would be just fine because his father wouldn't mind at all...

Abel gave his boyfriend's hand a squeeze, his expression an apology he voiced a moment later. "I'm sorry you have to worry what he'll think. We've survived much worse than a little awkwardness, if there'll even be any, so please don't worry so much. A little awkwardness never hurt anybody anyway, and it definitely won't hurt him." It wasn't as if awkwardness would end their relationship; there wasn't even a remote chance of that happening.  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh fantastic, now he was making Abel unhappy. It was bad enough that he was boring company at the moment, had he really needed to add more worry to Abel's list?

Zevran put on a wry smile and shrugged. "Truly, it is not your fault and we will deal with it. It is just... ah... I am unfamiliar with it I suppose, unlike the other things we've survived!" He laughed briefly, shook his head and took another sip of beer. "I am sure it will be fine when we actually get there." He hoped, but he couldn't change it if it wasn't fine. He was used to being able to do things to make people he really needed to associate with like him but he doubted any of his tricks would take Abel's father's mind off their relationship.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The worried, apologetic frown morphed into a smile on his face, and he lifted their hands so he could leave soft kisses along Zevran's knuckles. "I know it's not but I still feel bad. I feel bad that you have to worry about something like that -- you shouldn't have to. You should be excited to go visit and see everything, and relax while you're there, not worry about what my dad'll think. But yeah, you're right; everything'll be fine when we get there. I'm still excited for you to meet Mom and see where I grew up," he added, hints of shyness just barely tinging his smile.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran grinned and tugged his hand free, but only in order to trace the contour of Abel's shy smile. "As am I, and if I am ridiculously charming how can he object? You tell him whatever will make him happy to hear, I don't mind." If a specific role fixed things would solve things - an aggressively dominant one for Abel perhaps - then so much the better!