[FIN] Broken Bonds

[BlackFireKitsune]

Trapped indeed! Abel continued tickling for a few more moments but soon enough the amused, mischievous grin faded to a warm smile, he slouched a little more in his chair and he carefully positioned one of Zevran's feet so it wouldn't fall on the floor - unless he wanted it to, of course - so he could focus on the other foot, working his fingers in slow, deliberate circles. Taavi was still in the other room, so maybe... Hm. "I'm still interested in your birthday," he said aloud, though he kept his voice soft just in case, "whenever it is. But since it's already passed, I guess I'll just have to make up for it for Christmas, yeah? And plan ahead for next year," the blond added as he grinned. The expression faded back to a smile a moment or two later as he continued massaging the shorter blond's foot. "I hope you're not too upset that you just can't possibly go home tonight," he joked. Oh yes, of course there was no possible way he could go home, not even a chance of it. It wasn't like he could walk in the rain or anything silly like that.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmmmh." Zevran sighed, relaxing more in his chair just as Abel did and half closing his eyes as the firm but gentle fingers worked on his foot. "I suppose I don't mind staying," he said, smirking briefly at his rather large understatement. "As for the other matter..." Zevran opened one eye fully to check that Taavi wasn't returning but no, the doorway was clear. "I do not know," he continued with a shrug as he half-lidded his eye again. "I have papers which state something around the middle of September but they were invented after the fact as it were. It was never a matter of any importance so you have nothing to make up for, though I appreciate your thoughtfulness." Abel was always thoughtful, kind, funny, gentle.... No, he didn't mind having to stay the night at all. He wouldn't mind if he had to stay a lot more often in fact.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A soft breath of a laugh escaped him at Zevran's response. Didn't mind indeed... "That's good," he murmured, just barely resisting the urge to add because I don't want you to leave yet. He really didn't, not when it was pouring outside and he'd have to walk through the cold rain to a cold warehouse... He could get sick.

Plus he rather enjoyed his company too.

"Ah.." Abel frowned thoughtfully as he worked on pressing the heel of his hand into the bottom of Zevran's foot, massaging the muscles there as he pondered what he'd just learned. He didn't actually know, he only had papers created later - papers whose creators may have just guessed or picked a date at random - to go by. Why did he have papers like that? Did they not have official papers to go by - or did they not make use of them? No, if he'd needed some kind of papers then surely there'd be official papers used somewhere in the country... So what about his parents, did they not remember? ...did he even have parents? He'd never heard him breathe even a word of any kind of family, so maybe he didn't. Was he an orphan then? What kind of situation or circumstances had he grown up in?

A thousand different questions buzzed around in his head as his thumbs pushed firm lines from the ball of his foot up towards his toes. Rather than ask any of them he said instead, "Every time you answer a question, you always give me like ten more. You keep making me more and more curious but I won't ask more questions if you'd rather I didn't. I appreciate you telling me though," he made sure to add, because he really did. Zevran wasn't obligated to tell him anything if he didn't feel like doing so, and yet he usually did. "Birthdays are important though, either way, and yours is no exception now. Hmm... Do you like whatever date is in the papers? You could always pick a different day in September if you prefer one over another. Or hell, you could probably pick a different month even if you wanted. I don't see why you should have to go by what someone else picked for you, if you don't want to."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran let out a soft groan of contentment as Abel continued to work on his foot, the fingers felt good and the questions... he did not mind the prospect of more questions, he could always decide not to answer them. "I am a man of many talents, and equally many mysteries," he said and a smirk curved up one corner of his mouth in the wake of the words. His life was quite a tangled mess in parts much of which could not be shared but he could share some of it, Abel had shared something quite momentous tonight so could he not give away some of his own secrets?

After a fairly brief, very thoughtful silence Zevran continued; "I don't mind if you want to ask more questions, only not here." Taavi would come back sooner or later and though he liked the young man he had no intention of letting him hear any of this. "As for the date, I suppose I do not mind it?" Zevran shrugged and opened his eyes again to meet Abel's gaze. "As I said I have never given much thought to it so one day is no better or worse than another. I suppose it makes the most sense for me to live with what I have been given, it is what most folk do one way or the other wouldn't you say?" Abel thought his birthday was important. That was... that was a nice feeling. "Perhaps you should choose it," he said, and nothing in his expression or tone suggested that he was anything but serious.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Now why did he have to go and make noises like that? Abel drew in a deep breath and sighed quietly, watching him sit, relax, talk; his eyes traced the curve of his lips as he smirked a little before moving on to the line of his jaw. ...yes, he didn't mind having him stay longer, not in the least. "Heh. I enjoy and appreciate all of your talents and mysteries," the taller blond said as he gave Zevran's foot a gentle pat before setting it on his knee and moving to the other one.

Ah, so he wasn't averse to more questions? That was nice, actually. He'd been so curious but had never really wanted to pry, but curiosity was getting the better of him lately. It was good to know that he could ask more. "Later, then? We could even make a game out of it," he suggested, his lips curving into a smirk.

Oh.

The smirk disappeared as a rather surprised, uncertain expression crossed his face. His hands temporarily stopped massaging Zevran's foot as he watched him curiously. "You.. want me to pick it?" Surely he'd rather pick it himself... and yet he'd sounded quite serious. Why though? "I can if you'd like me to."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Later, and I am always open to games," Zevran agreed with a soft chuckle, flexing his toes slightly as Abel took hold of his other foot.

Abel's expression of surprise was met with one in turn from Zevran though he realised a moment later that perhaps he should have expected Abel to be so, birthdays were obviously important to him and they were fixed concrete things that you knew as well as the back of your own hand. "Well I would never have given it thought had you not mentioned the matter, so why not? I am sure you would pick a pleasing one." Perhaps Abel didn't want to, perhaps it was too strange a thing to say? "But it was only an idea, I will not be hurt if you would rather not," Zevran added, his expression of uncertainty giving way to a slight smile.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Even though Zevran smiled at him, Abel couldn't help but remember that look of uncertainty. It wasn't as pronounced as he'd seen it before but it was still there. What kind of friend would he be if he saw it, recognized it, and dismissed it? What reason would that give Zev to show that side of him again? He had no desire to discourage his friend from sharing his uncertainties.

Abel's surprise and curiosity faded to another warm smile as his hands resumed massaging his friend's foot. "Nah, I can pick one." The taller blond hummed idly as his thumb worked slow circles on his heel, his other hand curled around the top of Zev's foot to hold it in place, and while his unfocused gaze was focused down at his hands, his thoughts roamed elsewhere. September... The middle of September, supposedly, so he should probably stick to something around there... but what? Hmm.. "How does the eighteenth sound? September eighteenth?"  

[TawnyAngel]

So he didn't mind choosing? Zevran's smile brightened a little. "September eighteenth," he echoed with a nod, "I like it. I shall remember it." So he had a birthday now, on that was chosen for him by somebody who cared about him not merely selected at random as a date to fill in a blank. It wasn't important, wasn't something he had ever thought about before but... but....

"Thank you."

Zevran's smile softened a little and his gaze flickered down. It was quite silly but he suddenly didn't feel that he could meet Abel's gaze, not because he was unhappy in any way just because this was all too nice. He felt as though he would wake up in a minute but what a silly and unimportant detail to dream about; birthdays didn't matter to people like him, successes mattered.... But he wasn't in that business anymore, he wasn't sure where his life was going at all, but right now he was happy and he would take that for what it was.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I'm glad," he said honestly, his voice soft, his own smile softening a bit. He'd remember it too. "You're welcome."

What a day this was; seeing him blush, get flustered, learning his birthday, and now getting to see a shy smile from him... It was almost too much. Warmth bloomed in his heart and brightened his smile, and he happily continued with the foot massage, occasionally glancing back up to trace the lines and curves of Zevran's face.

Why was he so cute? Why had he only just noticed today?

What was he going to do about it?  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi had been lurking in the kitchen for a while, drinking a lot of water and occasionally glancing out to see if Abel and Zev were still talking. There were definitely advantages to having your own place! If he did he could just slip out and leave them to it buuuut he kind of needed to go past them to pee and then go to bed in the room they were being adorable in.

When he finally spotted a gap in conversation Taavi took a deep breath and made himself step back into the living room. "Uh, sorry to interrupt!" He waggled his fingers in a little wave. "I err... I was going to turn in in a minute. So... why don't you two take the wine and er, 'go to bed' and I'll clear up here? because I interrupted you." And your foot massages by the looks of it? He had been kind of wondering what was going on under the table there.

Zevran might have said something else or might just have watched Abel's smile for a while but as it was they were very politely interrupted by Taavi. What had he been doing in the kitchen all of this time? Perhaps it was better not to ask.

"Ah, well that sounds like an offer I could take up," Zevran replied to Taavi before turning back to Abel with a smirk. "And what do you say? Are you ready to retire?" They could talk more freely in Abel's room, and do other things more freely too... He could have quite happily just looked at that smile for a bit longer though. Abel really did seem to care about him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Taavi's sudden but incredibly polite interruption drew Abel's attention and he turned to his friend, mildly surprised but mostly amused. While it was a generous offer and he did want to get Zevran alone - for less innocent things of course but at this point he was more curious about what questions he could ask - he felt rather bad about letting his relatively drunk friend clean up after dinner by himself. "As much as I want to say 'yes, clean up after me Taavi' I think I'd feel a little too bad," he said as he gently set Zevran's feet back on the floor so he could stand up. "So how about I help you clean up real fast first? And have you been drinking water at least?" With how long he'd been in the kitchen, he certainly hoped he'd been drinking water. He wasn't too sure he'd want to know if he'd been doing something else.

As he started gathering plates up, he turned a smirk to Zevran, "I like that idea though. If you wanna take the wine and glasses into the bedroom, I'll be there in just a minute, yeah?" And maybe with a couple bottles of water for after. While he wasn't sure about Zev, he wasn't particularly interested in waking up with a mild hangover - or any other kind of hangover - in the morning.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran chuckled and got to his feet. "I do not feel at all bad leaving you two to clear up," he said nonchalantly, he had cooked so he felt it was a fair trade. Before doing as Abel suggested however he laced his fingers together, stretched his arms up above his head and arched his back with another contented groaning noise. "Goodnight then Taavi," he said as he grabbed the still half full bottle and his and Abel's glasses and sauntered towards the bedroom.

Taavi watched Zev stretch and then watched him go for a few moments before giving himself a mental shake. "Um! Night!" He'd've said 'sleep well' but he didn't know how much sleep would be involved! Taavi then turned to Abel and grinned sheepishly as he started to gather up plates. "I was drinking a lot of water waiting for a chance to come back in. I didn't want to interrupt your conversation, it seemed a bit um... involved?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ohh if Taavi weren't there... and if they didn't have dinner to clean up after. But they did, so Abel joined Taavi in gladly watching Zevran stretch and depart. When he'd finally disappeared into the bedroom the taller blond heaved a contented sigh as he consolidated some of the plates, clearing trash and utensils onto one so he could stack them. "Good, I'd hate for you to have a hangover tomorrow," he said earnestly, glad that Taavi had been drinking plenty of water. "Ah..." Their conversation. Had he heard any of it? From what he said it didn't sound like it but he couldn't really be sure... Taavi wasn't the type to eavesdrop though, even while drunk. "Yeah, it was. I'd tell you about it but that would be rude. Plus you're drunk," he pointed out as he turned to head into the kitchen. No, he wasn't exactly drunk, but after how much Taavi had poked fun at him earlier, he felt like returning the favor a little.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Na, I know, that's why I stayed out there," Taavi replied, giving Abel a gentle nudge with his elbow. "I can be subtle, see? If he'd wanted to talk about whatever it was while I was there he would've." So far as he was concerned Abel and Zev having private conversations that involved quiet voices and a lot of smiling was a good thing. Not that he had an agenda or anything. "And I'm not drunk," he added with a crinkle of his nose. "I'm just slightly merry, that's all."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I guess you can, yeah," he ceded with a chuckle as he entered the kitchen and unceremoniously dumped the plates and utensils into the sink. That was about as much cleaning up as he had any intention of doing tonight, especially with the knowledge of what awaited him in the other room. The chuckle renewed as he gently elbowed Taavi's side in retaliation, "It's a little early for merry-making jokes, but I'll let it slide this time. We did talk about Christmas gifts and stuff earlier, after all." Christmas gifts... What would he get for Taavi? It'd have to be something good, but what? As he pondered this, he grabbed a couple bottles of water from the fridge, tucked one under his arm to free his hand, then gave Taavi an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Alright, take a piss, drink some more water and get some sleep. Night," he added warmly, with a similarly warm smile to match.

With that said, and once assured Taavi had nothing more to add, Abel turned and headed towards and then into the bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind him once he entered. "Alright, dinner's as cleaned up as I felt like at the moment, which wasn't much, but I can just do dishes in the morning," the taller blond announced as he stepped over to the bed. He brandishes the pair of bottles before setting them on the nightstand. "And I brought some water, in case we don't want anymore wine -- or hangovers tomorrow."