[FIN] New Years Date

[BlackFireKitsune]

New Years seemed to sneak up on them - or at least, it did to Abel - and quicker than he even realized, barely a scant few days after returning home, the taller blond found himself preparing for his first actual date in who even knew how long. Preparing, worrying, agonizing, fretting, anticipating... It was still such an odd feeling, having his head and his heart argue so fiercely over something when they'd always agreed on everything before now, and that was another knot in his stomach on an evening when he already had so many. And for what? A date. It was only a date, why was he so anxious about it? It wasn't as if it was with someone he barely knew, that he wanted to impress, that he wanted to think well of him; it was with Zevran, who knew him well and accepted him for who he was, who he loved spending time with in every manner of the word and who he felt more comfortable with than anyone else.

Maybe that was why he felt so anxious.

When he finally finished readying himself and Isaac - the latter took much less time than the former - Abel triple-checked that he had the invitations, grabbed a few things and headed down to his car. A short drive later left him not near any warehouses of any kind, but in front of a motel whose address he double-checked to make sure this was the place Zevran told him to meet him at. He checked again; it was. Once assured that this was the right place, Abel pulled out his phone to shoot his friend a quick text letting him know he'd arrived - rather earlier than intended, but hopefully the other blond wouldn't mind - and then sat debating whether to wait inside or outside the car. Normally he waited inside, but tonight was a special occasion, so maybe he should get out and wait..?

Isaac lay curled up on the passenger seat, watching his human with fond amusement dancing in his eyes. He was excited for the evening too, of course - he'd even agreed to wear a lavender bowtie to match Abel's tie - but it was always entertaining to watch the blond worry over more inconsequential things like this.  

[TawnyAngel]

He was going on a date.

He had been on a lot of dates in the past either in the course of his work or because he'd been asked and been happy to accept a free meal or drinks but this was the first date he was going on because he had asked somebody he actually wanted to go out with. That was probably why anxiety was twisting his stomach, it was unfamiliar and that was often unnerving.

It was unnerving how excited he was too.

Choosing a suit had been difficult but in the end he had chosen a mid blue tuxedo with black accents. It had what was apparently called a shawl lapel - he hadn't known that but he did know enough about suits to know that at least it fitted him well. The white shirt he had needed to buy, the dress shoes too but perhaps they would be useful again? Perhaps. Discreet gold cuff-links and a gold watch worked as accessories and happily he had not needed to buy these, he had won him more than just the tickets for this evening at that particular card game. He had hesitated for some time over what to do with his hair and eventually settled on half tying it up with a ribbon that matched his suit. With all of that prepared... well there wasn't anything else to do was there? He was ready, as was the freshly brushed Clara who sported a ribbon bow like the one he had in his hair.

Zevran exhaled and stepped out of the bathroom to find his phone, wondering is Abel have left his apartment yet. When he located the phone, left on the bed, he discovered that not only had he left he had arrived outside some five minutes ago. Zevran muttered a curse, picked up his bag and hurried out of the room. Suddenly his heart seemed to be beating a lot faster and his mouth felt dry; he was excited, and nervous, and he had no idea at all what he was doing. It would be fine though, he knew Abel and he knew that Abel liked him just for being him, he didn't have to impress.

He was still nervous though.

At the door of the motel building Zevran exhaled heavily and then smiled down at Clara. "Well, shall we?"

When he stepped outside he spotted Abel immediately, he was standing by his car waiting for him in the cold. Zevran raised a hand in greeting and hurried towards him, trying to fight down the feeling of butterflies that had been fluttering around inside him since about lunchtime.

He was going on a date.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While his gray suit didn't fit him quite as well as it did when he'd first bought it years ago, it at least fitted better now than it would have a scant few months ago. Ever since he'd gotten to know Zevran better he'd been eating better, and especially so once Patty left and he could afford proper food again. His shoes still fitted perfectly, and the lavender tie settled over a white dress shirt and a matching lavender handkerchief tucked into his front pocket completed the look. Why handkerchiefs were a good accessory he had no idea, but it matched and looked nice enough - or so he thought, anyway - so that was all that mattered.

After dithering for some time over whether or not to wait in or out of the car, he finally opted for waiting outside the car. Waiting outside the car entailed him leaning against its cold surface, his phone on one hand - he had got the right address, hadn't he? - and his vape pen in the other, from which he took the occasional hit to calm his nerves. He'd burned through the vanilla flavor rather quickly and had refilled the device with some kind of berry flavor that he also wasn't too sure about. He still wasn't sure about the vape pen itself, but he liked to think it was slowly growing on him, either because he was forcing himself to like it or because he really was starting to like it anyway. It definitely had its benefits; he didn't have to worry about an open flame subject to whatever wind was blowing at the time, his lungs already felt clearer - or perhaps it was his imagination - and it was much more convenient than cigarettes. He could take a few quick hits and be done with it, slip it into his pockets; he couldn't do that with cigarettes. Maybe he'd like it more once he found a flavor he really liked; he hoped that was the case.

...this was the right address, wasn't it? No, it definitely was. Maybe he was just too early, hopefully Zev wouldn't mind...

And no sooner had he begun to wonder about his friend, there he appeared with Clara in tow. All the nervous excitement and anxiety came to a head, whirling and tumbling around in his stomach now that the moment had arrived, they were going on a date. When had he last been this excited, this nervous about going on a date with someone?

But then just like that, all the nervousness and anxious melted away the nearer Zevran got, and Abel found himself smiling warmly, eagerly, as his friend approached. "Hey," he called, pocketing phone and vape both, and for the first time he found himself unsure if he should hug his friend or if the more appropriate reaction was to... maybe let him get into the car first? Open the door for him? ...on the other side. No, yep, nervous butterflies were back, although in much fewer numbers than before because hot damn did Zevran look perfect in that. ...not that he ever really didn't look perfect, but then again his opinion was rather biased. "Sorry if I was a little early. You ready to go?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Abel looked good, the grey suited him and the flash of colour from his colour and pocket square complimented his eyes. "Ah, hey," Zevran echoed with a slightly nervous looking smile. What should he do now, did they hug or-? He tugged at his cuffs and smiled again. "No, no it is fine. Honestly I didn't even see your message until I had finished getting ready, I just needed to grab my bag and- oh, should I put this in the trunk?" Zevran hefted his large leather holdall for emphasis and smiled again. "You look very nice I should say, the suit... suits you. You know Spanish has far fewer of those words which sound the same but mean different things." There were still some but he was quite convinced that there were fewer than in English, tricky language that it was.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seeing Zevran's nervousness calmed his own somewhat, for some reason, and Abel's smile softened. "Oh, yeah, lets put it in the trunk," he agreed with a nod, then opened his door to lean in for just a moment; the trunk popped open the next. Abel shut his door again before circling around to push the trunk all the way open for his friend to put his bag in, a soft, almost shy smile still on his face. "Thanks. You look great. Really great," he amended. "We've gotta find more excuses to get dressed up and go out places, I... You look really great. More handsome than usual, which is saying something since you're always handsome. In my biased opinion, anyway," he added with a shrug. He wanted to hug him, to kiss him, to touch his cheeks, but found himself too nervous to do so, but why? Why was he hesitating so? He hadn't hesitated this much since Patty was around and he had to watch what he did or said... and he'd always been so comfortable with Zevran. Maybe because they were on a date?

They were on a date.

The fact made his stomach twist into another impressive knot, but he couldn't even begin to regret anything.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran found himself laughing as he put his bag in the trunk not because anything was funny, it was just pent up nervousness that had to got out somehow. "Thank you, I was quite pleased with the suit; they had more choices in my size than I had expected so choosing took some time. Ah." Zevran cleared his throat and reached out to capture one of Abel's hands in his own. "Thank you for coming to pick me up, I am looking forward to tonight a great deal." More than he should but he still didn't care about that; he wasn't going to worry about what any of this meant, he was just going to enjoy it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

On one hand he kind of wished he'd been there to help him pick out a suit, not because he disliked the choice or thought he needed help or anything, but because he mostly just wanted the opportunity to see Zevran in a variety of suits... but then again, seeing the end result was probably much better. Even with the feats of acrobatics his stomach was performing he was still enjoying himself, and they'd barely even started their date; a fuzzy warmth spread through him and widened his smile when Zevran took his hand, and he happily intertwined their fingers as he shut the trunk again with his free hand. "I've been looking forward to it too. Quite a lot, in fact," he admitted as his free hand reached for Zevran's cheek this time, and leaned down a little to brush his lips against the other man's forehead, his movements careful and hesitant, as if uncertain whether he should be doing anything of the sort at the moment. But he did anyway, because how could he not? He looked so great, even in the poor lighting of the motel parking lot; he could only imagine how stunning he'd look in the proper atmosphere.

Which... they should probably get going. With that thought in mind Abel stepped back, but rather than move away from his friend, he held his hand and pulled him towards the passenger side door and opened it for him. "Well of course, what kind of date would I be if I made you walk to my place first? I mean I know I'm terrible and all, but I'm not that terrible," he teased, his smile still warm and affectionate. When the door opened, Isaac stood and hopped into the back seat to make room for Zevran. He had no desire to be sat on now or ever, thank you.  

[TawnyAngel]

It made sense of course that Abel had been looking forward to tonight, he would not have agreed to come if he didn't like the idea, but it still made him happy to hear it aloud. That along with the kiss Abel pressed to his brow brought a slightly silly grin to Zevran's face and he willingly followed Abel around to the side of the car.

As Abel opened the door Zevran chuckled softly. "Ah, a gentleman tonight again and only a little terrible I see. Thank you." He was quite capable of opening doors for himself but the gesture was still pleasing somehow, people never went out of their way to open doors for him.

Once he had climbed into the car Zevran folded his hands in his lap and found himself wondering what he ought to do next. He had been on plenty of dates in the past but none like this, this was a real date and he wasn't quite sure how to handle that. At least Abel seemed a little uncertain too, it was reassuring not to be alone in that. Exactly why Abel should be nervous he wasn't sure, he must have been on many proper dates in the past, but whatever the reason it still made him feel better... But then again it didn't help him with what to do now.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once Zevran was seated in the car, Abel shut the door for him before opening the back door to admit the Growlithe. "You look gorgeous tonight too Clara. Are you ready for this fancy-as-hell party?" And then once the fire-type hopped inside as well, the blond shut her door and headed for his own, taking out his vape pen for a quick hit and then pocketing it before getting inside. Why was he so nervous? He could understand being excited, because how often did he ever get to attend a ritzy party, but nervous?

"Alright," he said once he got in, shut his door, fetched his keys and buckled himself up, "let's go find that party, yeah? I think I have the address right but I might ask you to be navigator if I get lost -- if you don't mind," he added with a brief, mostly warm but somewhat hopeful smile at his friend, as he turned the car on and guided it out of the small parking lot and onto the street.  

[TawnyAngel]

Clara bwuffed at Abel and wagged her tail with an added moment of tongue lolling for extra confirmation that yes, she was excited! She was excited to go anywhere with her people. Once inside the car she clambered carefully past Zevran so as not to get any fur on his nice suit and into the back beside Isaac.

"Oh, of course," Zevran returned the small smile and nodded as he buckled up his seatbelt, "if we need I can put on the sat nav on my phone. It is quite amazing what phones are capable of these days, especially here outside Thedas." A lot of things outside Thedas were quite amazing. While Abel drove Zevran settled back in his seat, turned slightly so that he could watch his friend's face and found for once in the time he had known him that he couldn't think of a single thing to say. "Ahh... So are we going to behave ourselves or shall we try to tread the line of almost scandalising people?" That was a start! Conversation, it was always easy with Abel he just... he was nervous, still, and it was silly but he couldn't help it. He really wanted Abel to have a good time tonight, if he did... if he did he might agree to a second date? He hoped so. This wasn't just a bit of fun to Abel was it?... Hum, so if he hoped that then it was not just a bit of fun to him. This mattered.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The downside to driving the both of them to the party was that he couldn't just focus on his friend the whole time, he actually had to pay attention to silly things like other cars or pedestrians or stoplights. "That would be helpful, yeah," he said with a short nod. "I know which part of the city it's in, I think, but I don't know where it is specifically. Phones can do some pretty amazing things nowadays though, can't they? Do they only have lame phones in Thedas or something?" Thedas intrigued him as much as it always had intrigued him, and the fact it intrigued him only intrigued him more. On the whole it sounded like a thoroughly unpleasant place to live or to visit, so he had little interest in it in that sense. But it was where Zevran was born and raised - albeit poorly, in the latter case - and where he'd had twenty-plus years of life experiences, and as he was interested in Zevran, he was interested in where he came from and what he'd experienced there. Funny how that worked.

Abel chuckled a bit as he turned down another street and, since he couldn't pay as much attention to his friend as he wanted, he could at least do something; his glaze flicked to the side briefly to ascertain the whereabouts of Zevran's hands, then reached one hand over to brush his fingers against the other man's hand in an invitation to take it if he wanted to. "Humm, that's quite the question... Though I think we should probably behave ourselves for once. At least at first," he added with a slight smirk. "I've been looking forward to this a lot, so I'd rather not get thrown out too early. Or at all, really. Besides," the smirk spread from his expression to tinge his tones, "there'll be plenty of time for misbehaving afterwards."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmmh," Zevran agreed, his lips twitching into another little smile as he accepted the offer to hold Abel's hand. "Everything there in terms of technology is a few years behind here. Outsider made things are," he snorted and waved his free hand, "they are not looked well upon, on religious grounds. For this reason enterprising individuals and companies will acquire outside items and re-engineer them so that it is Thedas technology and so quite alright in the eyes of Holy Andraste and the Maker. Given the Maker is supposed to have turned away from us and they set fire to Andraste I don't really think either party would much care but there is a lot in it for the Chantry, it pays for influential people and companies to pay their tithes you see." Zevran chuckled softly and stroked his thumb over the back of Abel's hand. "It is a strange place but it has many charms to recommend it too," he said with a trace of wistfulness. There was nowhere in the world like Antiva City but he could never go back there if he wanted to live, and he did very much want to live.

"Ahh, but yes," Zevran nodded, "I definitely do not wish to get thrown out! I suppose people at these events could be rather fussy so perhaps we had better be on our best behaviour. And anyway, a little anticipation whets the appetite does it not?" he concluded with a smirk and with the smirk came a feeling of relief, it really was always easy to talk to Abel.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, yes." An amused smile twitched into place. "I think I remember you saying something of the sort before; outsiders will burn in hell, or something along those lines. That's clever of them to do though, and sounds like it fixes that, ah, problem pretty well." It was an odd way of doing things, in his opinion, but it must make sense there.

Ah, and he couldn't argue with that logic; Abel smirked as he took a page from Zev's book with his simple response. "Mmmh," he agreed, though the reply may or may not have had hints of a suggestive tone in it.

A few quiet, thoughtful moments later he gave the other blond's hand a squeeze, lifted it to his lips and kissed it gently. "Do you ever miss it?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Exactly, you are heathens who never accepted the Chant of Light," Zevran agreed piously, and then he laughed. "People hold strange beliefs no matter where you travel," he observed.

Ah, and Abel asked the question. Zevran squeezed his friend's hand as he raised it to his lips. "I do," he admitted with a slight sigh. "I miss the noise and the life of Antiva City, the familiar streets, the food, the weather, and some of the people. It is strange to realise you can never return to the place where you were born and grew up, not even for a brief visit. I wonder what happened to some of the people I knew there, within the Crows and without. There was this little coffee stall in the great market; since I was nineteen or so I used to go there several times a week and chew over life with Olinda who owned it. Things in Thedas are more..." Zevran trailed off as he seemed to search for the right word, after a few moments he continued; "Personal? Businesses are still largely family owned; everyone knows their butcher, they stand and talk with the grocer while things are weighed, they haggle with the tailor, and so on. I am sure such close connections lead to many more murders and other crimes of passion than you might see here outside families - people are messy! - but as I am far from it now I can feel nostalgic and ignore the dirt and guts of it. But," he shrugged, "for better or worse I shall not see the shores of my homeland again. And Kodo is not without its own charms, now that I think of it." As he said this last Zevran squeezed Abel's hand, he certainly missed a lot about home but he was happy with the trade he had made in the end.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel chuckled a bit as he rounded another corner. "That they do." Strange beliefs in almost everything, religious or otherwise.

The blond hummed thoughtfully as he mulled over his friend's words. It was difficult, almost impossible to imagine not being able to go back to where he was born, to his family... But did Zevran feel the same? He hadn't had a family, not really, and certainly not a loving one... He probably didn't miss that so much, but other things, he absolutely did. How could he not? Whether he wanted to admit it or had ever realized it before, Zevran was rather more sensitive than he let on. "It sounds.. a lot messier, yeah, but also more social and friendly -- on the surface, at least. It sounds like it could be nice to live in, if that's all it was, but from what you've said I know it's not. There's the," he gestured vaguely with their hands, "dirt and guts under the surface, or wherever, so it sounds like somewhere I definitely wouldn't want to live. Visit, maybe, but I'd only go with you -- and since you're not going, I won't either," he said with a small shrug. No, Zevran wouldn't go back anytime soon... He recalled one of their prior conversations about how the Crows didn't particularly like when one of their members left. Not that that was anything to bring up or talk about now, not on their date.

Their date.

Brightening up a bit, Abel changed another glance at his friend as he changed topics. "Mind playing navigator for me for a bit? I'll just end up getting us lost pretty soon, if I try to find my way there myself."