[FIN] Some News

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Wha-- Really?" He asked, his eyebrows lifting quite a bit before a pleased grin that also somehow looked shy spread across his face. "I dunno, I just didn't think you would." Although now that Zevran pointed it out, it seemed obvious. Glaringly so, almost, that of course he'd want to. Why wouldn't he? Still, the knowledge set his heart fairly glowing with a sort of giddy happiness. "Ah, someone close to me... Isaac? Taavi?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ahh, did you not?" Zevran's expression softened and he turned his hand over palm up on the bed, flexed his fingers out towards Abel. "These days I find that you are very often first on my mind and you are last too, just before I fall asleep." Everything he had never thought he could have, everything he knew he didn't deserve, had told himself he didn't even want... Love was definitely for fools but he no longer minded being a fool.

"And you have guessed correctly twice more," Zevran concluded after a brief pause, still smiling tenderly over at Abel. "You are good at guessing after all it seems?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Without hesitation Abel's hand reached for his boyfriend's, brushing over his palm before curling snugly around his fingers, and his gaze dipped down to their hands as a warm, almost shy smile stole over his face. What had he done to deserve such loyalty, such love from his best friend -- his boyfriend? Did he even deserve it? Probably not, but he wasn't about to argue, especially not when Zev looked at him like that. Ahh, would he ever tire of his love looking at him so fondly? He hoped not. It always made him feel so loved, filled his heart with a giddy feeling and made him feel as if he could walk on air... made him feel like he was the best person in the whole world. Or at least the luckiest.

"Ahh, what a coincidence," he said once he found his words again, returning Zevran's tender smile with one of his own as his free hand reached up to run his fingers through his love's hair, his colorful gaze tracing every inch of his handsome face so full of love and affection, "I think about you those times too. And in the middle of course, and before, and after... All the time, really," the blond went on with an airy shrug as if it were a matter of course, but the deep fondness in his smile betrayed the affected indifference. "And I suppose I am good at guessing. This time. I'd like to think it's because I know you pretty well now... though hints always help," he added with a brief chuckle.  

[TawnyAngel]

"And those are the only times you think of me?" Zevran smirked just a little, squeezed Abel's hand and leaned into his fingers as they caressed his hair. "Well now I am hurt and insulted. You should make more hours in the day just to think about me more." He squeezed Abel's hand again and raised it to his lips to kiss the knuckles. "And you do know me rather well, it is true." Better than anyone else alive now. Perhaps Abel had known him better even before... before. He was not the same person he had been when he had left Antiva, the person Taliesen had known.

Zevran exhaled slowly, pushed thoughts of his once-closest friend away and smiled at Abel again though the expression now looked a little plastic. "And are you going to ask about your prize?" he asked in tones of gentle tease.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I'll get right on that," he said with a chuckle, and when Zev lowered their hands after planting a kiss on his knuckles, he pulled their hands close to he could kiss his boyfriend's in return. "How many more hours should I add to a day to spend thinking and dreaming of you? Three? Six? Twelve?" And despite the smile on his love's face there was something... wrong with it, something off. Something had bothered him, but what? Did it have something to do with how well he knew him? ...hadn't Taliesen said something about that in those texts? Something about knowing him well, something to do with the city and the sea. Was that it? It might be or it might not, but at the very least that point was when his expression changed, subtle as it was.

Setting that line of thought aside for now without commenting on how well he knew his love, his smile widened a bit and he gave Zevran's hand a fond squeeze. "Yes! What's my prize? I hope it involves you, you're my favorite."  

[TawnyAngel]

He could see Taliesen's face, twisted by fury, and then the spurt of blood....

But he was here and now not there and then; he blinked the image away.

"I think try twelve to start with, you can always add more later if it's still not enough," Zevran replied airily. "And as for your prize," he smirked at Abel, "your prize is a kiss! And you can also choose what I should draw next when you have looked through my sketches so far."

What had happened to Taliesen's body? Was he still just lying there? Crows seldom got decent funerals, who would bother to burn a broken tool on a pyre and to scent the air with sandalwood? Even knowing that it was normal to live and die like that he felt cold and sick at the idea of his friend being treated like that, just a cast off thing to be dumped somewhere or left to rot.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Twelve it is," Abel agreed readily, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his boyfriend's forehead, "and those sound like excellent prizes..." ...was he okay? Really okay? No, that was a stupid question, of course he wasn't, not after everything that had happened. But at the very least, perhaps he could distract him from it at least a little. With that thought in mind, Abel dipped his head down to brush his lips against his love's for that kiss.  

[TawnyAngel]

Despite all of that, despite everything, he was still here and so was Abel.

When their lips met Zevran's kiss was urgent and his hand tightened on Abel's as he tried to just exist in this moment, to think of nothing beyond it. They were both alive, what more could he ask than that? He was lucky.

Eventually he had to break the kiss for lack of breath but he tilted his head forward so that their brows touched and hoped that Abel would take this as a message not to pull back just yet. "I miss holding you," he said between breaths. "I miss privacy, your apartment, eating together.... I cannot leave this place soon enough." All of that was true, he hoped that perhaps Abel would think that it was what was bothering him right at the moment.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The sense of urgency, almost desperation was not lost on him; Abel's fingers knotted in his boyfriend's hair to keep him close as they kissed, and when Zevran pulled away just a bit, his fingers relaxed a little as well. He was more than happy to remain with their foreheads touching as long as his love wanted. "I miss all of those things too... well, not my apartment, but you know what I mean," he clarified, his expression one of mild amusement despite the faint concern that lingered in his colorful eyes as he gazed into Zevran's. "You'll be out soon, the days'll go by quicker than you think, and I'll be here with you. Taavi too, we'll both be here as often as we can... but right now I'm here," he reminded him gently, his voice softening just a tad, "I've got you." There was more to it than just that he missed the sense of normalcy he had before - being able to hug him when he felt like it, having the freedom to cook and eat together, the privacy they shared in his apartment - but the rest of whatever Zev was feeling didn't really need to be discussed in the middle of his hospital room. Just being there for him would have to be enough for now.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran closed his eyes and nodded. "I know. Thank you." It didn't change the things that hurt but it was a comfort still, to not be alone.

"But!" Zevran cleared his throat and nudged Abel away affectionately with his nose. "Do you want to see my sketches? It is all very rough, just trying to get my hand back in, but I am quite pleased all the same."

As he spoke Zevran opened the sketchpad to the first page; multiple images of Abel's face in varying degrees of completion from 'vague oval' to 'quickly drawn likeness with guide-lines still in place' looked back at him. The top right corner of the page on the other hand, was a rough study of hands. "The mouth is wrong on the most complete one," Zevran said, indicating the one he meant. "I have got the perspective wrong there but these are just practice so I wasn't going to go back and correct it."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

And just like that the moment ended. A smile lit up Abel's face and he lifted his head a bit so he could press a soft kiss to Zevran's forehead before obediently pulling away again. "Of course I do!" He said, shifting his chair as he spoke to move it closer to the bed, and to angle it so he could see the sketchpad better... on the first page of which were a number of familiar faces staring up at him. While he didn't know what he'd expected, it certainly wasn't that. Perhaps one or two, but that many? His eyebrows lifted as his gaze swept over each one, and it lingered on the one Zevran pointed to. "These are really great," he said, studying each in turn after his initial quick pass over the lot of them. "And I'm not saying that because they're of me -- or because you were the one to draw them," the blond clarified, traces of a smirk working their way into his expression that remained more impressed than anything else. There were bits that were wrong, Zev said, and if he squinted he could kind of see them... but in general they all looked wonderful to him. Maybe he was just biased though.  

[TawnyAngel]

Forehead kisses, would he ever get tired of them? It wasn't a part of him that anyone before Abel had paid much attention to, well other than with weaponry and that was scarcely relevant in the context.

"I was pleased to find I wasn't as rusty as I feared I might be," Zevran agreed, never one to turn away a compliment that he felt was due. "I need to practice more but these are a good start. Hands though, I am not so happy with those so I will draw a lot more of them. Next though," Zevran turned the page, "you see that I am not so used to drawing pokemon as I am humans." The double spread was covered with the beginnings of attempts at various different pokemon; the wings of a Butterfree, numerous pieces made up of blocky shapes as Zevran was clearly trying to get down the figure of a slim-bodied quadruped and then a more solidly built one. Finally, in the top right corner of the right-hand page, was a little sketch of Taavi's face grinning excitedly and looking in the direction of the rest of the sketches. "He seems to like them," Zevran said wryly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No, it doesn't look like you're rusty at all from these," he said with a slight shake of his head, still looking over the sketches. The Butterfree he'd tried definitely didn't look as confident as the - well - sketches of himself, but they still--

A bright laugh bubbled up from his throat as a wide grin spread across his face, both interrupting his thoughts, and he shook his head as the laugh faded to a chuckle. "He does, doesn't he? But then again you know how much he loves pokemon, so that's to be expected. Ahh, that's perfect."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran's smile widened a little and he nodded decisively. "But of course! He would be thrilled to be on a page filled with pokemon. Over on the next page," he turned to it, "I have tried to do head shots of Amigo, Isaac, and Clara." Zevran cocked his head and frowned thoughtfully at the rough sketches, none of which looked quite right. "I need a lot of practice," he concluded, looking to Abel again. "I have time to do that while I'm in here though, and afterwards of course."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With another chuckle Abel turned his head a bit so he could lean in and press a kiss to Zev's temple. "Of course he would be! And all of these look wonderful, sweetheart. You have plenty of time to practice, yeah, if you think you need it."