[FIN] Scars of the Past

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran set down his mug so that he could wrap his arms around Abel's waist and then gave a contented sigh, being close to his friend- his boyfriend always made him feel more relaxed. "Ah, it is worth the effort for you," he said as he gave Abel a fond squeeze. It was and it was... good? It was good, difficult but good; it wasn't just talking about bad things that left you feeling a bit lighter it seemed. Having come to this conclusion Zevran added; "And it is good as well I think; talking has made me think, which again I am not generally known for."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

After taking another sip of coffee Abel set his mug down on the counter beside Zevran's, wrapped his arms around the shorter blond and kissed his temple. "I'm glad," he repeated, because he was glad, he was so glad that Zevran actually talked about things and shared things with him -- difficult things, unpleasant things he didn't like to talk about much if at all, things he didn't really share with other people... A lot of it upset him to hear about it, but he was still glad that Zev shared it with him all the same. Everything that had happened in Zevran's past had made him who he was today, and Abel felt that hearing about it gave him a better understanding of his best friend -- his boyfriend. Both? Both. Both was good. "Mmh, see? Talking is good, and we've already established that you weren't really encouraged to think back in Thedas."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran chuckled and looked up at Abel with a smirk. "Not unless it was dirty talk or banter, those were encouraged! I understand what you mean though, talking about real things." Real things that real people thought and felt, considered and sometimes spoken of instead of pushed to the back of the mind. Being real was rather intimidating, it gave you far more to lose, but to be this happy surely it was worth the risk?

"Mmmh, and our oil is boiling," Zevran observed with another squeeze to Abel's waist and a kiss to his jaw before he released him. "Would you like to pipe some of the churros, or to snip them off? Oh! Yes we will need scissors, could you please grab them while I put the dough into the piping bag?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Of course they'd encourage that because why wouldn't they? Regardless of his thoughts Abel returned the smirk with his own. "You know I thoroughly enjoy both of those -- and talking about real things too, of course," he added, his smirk softening to a smile.

He returned the squeeze and let go so Zev could fill a piping bag with the dough he'd made, and he took a step away to rifle through one of the drawers. "Anything for you," he replied easily, and pulled out a pair of scissors in short order. The question of what he'd like to do required a bit of thought though, and he hummed a little as he deliberated. "Both?" He asked, uncertain, then nodded his head. "Both, I think, though I'll start with the scissors and we can switch sometime? Is that okay?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Although he was rather sad to leave the warm fuzzy-feeling embrace he did have the consolation of picking his mug up again for another sip of the excellent coffee. "Of course, variety is... What is it?" Zevran paused in the action of loading dough into a piping bag, waved a hand vaguely and decided; "It makes life spicy. Oh and we should lay out a plate with paper towels too for the churros to drain on."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"'Variety is the spice of life,'" Abel quoted readily as he set the scissors down and promptly fetched out a plate once Zev mentioned it, and once he laid it on the counter he moved to grab some paper towels to cover it with. A paper towel-covered plate was what Zev needed, so a paper towel-covered plate was what he would have. "Plus I was thinking these seem easy enough - so far, anyway - so I'd like to try and learn how to make them myself."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Variety is the spice of life," Zevran echoed with a smile as he tried to commit the proper phrase to memory... Mmmh, he was probably just going to remember Abel's smile and the sound of his voice. Oh well!

As Abel went on to indicate he'd be interested in learning to make the delicious breakfast snack from him Zevran's face split into a bright grin. "Oh they are easy!" he agreed happily. "This mixture is about... ah, two teaspoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, a cup of water, and a cup of flour. The oil as you see is about three inches from the top of the pan? It should be no higher than that or it can splash out. Now though!" Zevran raised the piping bag and continued to grin at Abel. "Wield your scissors! We want these around four inches long but is it not very important. When I have squeezed that much out just snip, from the height I will hold it there shouldn't be any splashes of oil. I think this pan will take about three or four comfortably at one time, and they should cook in about three or four minutes too as it happens. Ready?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He was glad he'd voiced the desire to learn the recipe; Zevran's face lit up at the thought and it made his heart flutter a bit. His excitement was endearing.

"Ahh... I'll try to remember all of that but I'll probably just remember the oil. So we'll just have to make them again sometime," he added brightly, planting a kiss on Zev's temple before he grabbed the scissors again and readied them. "Scissors wielded!" Four inches or so, was it? That wasn't complicated, and he couldn't imagine it would be difficult to cut dough, so he snip-snipped the air to emphasize his response, "Ready!"  

[TawnyAngel]

"We will," Zevran agreed warmly, "any time you like!" Why did Abel snipping the scissors like that make him feel... what was he feeling? It was warm, somewhere deep inside him, and squeezing so tight it almost hurt. His smile broadened and he nodded again. "Let's get started then!"

With him squeezing and Abel snipping they soon had four strips of dough bubbling in the pan, and Zevran returned to the utensils draw to find a metal slotted spoon. "The time is not so important as the colour, we want a golden brown colour," Zevran said and waved the spoon towards the pan happily. "You can always hook them out just a little to see if they look right and return them to the oil if they are too pale."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Perfect!" The taller blond exclaimed. Any time, hm? Well probably not for a couple days, but maybe later in the week, or the week after.

And in a short amount of time they had the would-be churros in the pan of oil. Abel set the scissors down for now since they weren't necessary at the moment, then slipped an arm around his adorable boyfriend's waist as he peered down at the churros as they cooked. "Mmh, and that usually takes around three or four minutes?"  

[TawnyAngel]

This felt so good, he felt light and giddy and not at all like who he had always been. When had he last been that person? He had thought he was happy, he really had, and he had thought everything they had done had been justified by its reasons - punishment, training, whatever it had been - but now with Abel's arm around him as of all things they fried dough togther he found that he couldn't really see the glory he had given it all.

"Mmmmmh," Zevran said articulately as he leant sideways against Abel. "Yes, three or four or perhaps five, I did not check the oil temperature precisely so we shall see but I would guess closer to three than to five. When they are done we can put them on the paper, drop more in the oil, and then roll the first batch in the sugar and cinnamon."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Zevran's eloquent response prompted a warm, happy smile to form on Abel's face, and he gave the other man an affectionate squeeze and a kiss atop his head. "Sounds just vague enough to work with, I think," he noted cheerily. Oh, but they'd need sugar and cinnamon, he'd almost forgot. "Here, I'll get those." With another kiss to his boyfriend's head he slipped away to pull both from a nearby cabinet, then grabbed a wide, shallow bowl to mix them together and thereafter roll the churros in.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Thank you," Zevran smiled as Abel sorted out the sugar mix. After a moment he chuckled softly and added; "It would be dull if instructions were too precise don't you think? If you do things a little differently each time you often find little improvements that you can reuse... so long as you remember what they were of course. That is often a snag I encounter. A little of this and that and cooked for about so long only half considered is not so much help when trying to recreate a masterpiece."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well it does help keep someone from messing up a recipe if the instructions are precise but I agree, it's more fun to change it up every time. Variety and all that," he added with a shrug as he poured some sugar and then some cinnamon into the bowl and began to mix them. "And that can be a little problematic, but then again it gives you the opportunity to keep experimenting every time, yeah? And who knows, you might stumble upon an even better masterpiece than the first one," Abel said as he took the bowl and offered it to Zevran for testing, "and I must admit I do so enjoy stumbling upon masterpieces." The smirk on his face suggested he wasn't talking only about cooking.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Humm, true, that could be a slight setback!" Zevran admitted cheerfully as he took a pinch of the sugar-cinnamon mix to taste; once he had done so he made a noise of approval and kissed Abel briefly on the jaw. "Good balance, you obviously have very good taste but as you are so good at appreciating masterpieces I should not be surprised at all!" Zevran smirked back and picked up his mug again for another sip of the thoroughly good coffee.