[FIN] Bobbing for Apples

[TawnyAngel]

He couldn't help but grin at the obvious affection between Abel and Isaac, it felt less and less strange to think of pokemon as a kind of people. Not that he would ever admit that the Fereldens were onto something, they kept smelly snappy dogs... Not like Abel's dog of course, he was a perfectly civilized beast.

"I think we should," Zevran agreed, his grin shifting into a lazy smile. "It does one good to break routines, have some time and space away from the norm." Which was apparently no money and a terrible girlfriend. What was keeping them together? Something owed? Was Abel just trapped with somebody who treated him ill? It could happen to anyone no matter how smart or tough, once somebody had you convinced they were the only way there was where could you go?... And yet Abel was here with him now. Humm. Could he track Alyssa down? Find out a bit more about her? Or might that cause trouble? The tension in Abel's apartment had been palpable until she left.

Zevran took another sip of his beer and shot Abel a wry smile. "Not that I will complain, because it is free, but next time maybe we should bring our own beer. This is fine but it's a little," he waggled a hand from side to side, palm down, "a little fluffy tasting. Too much has been made of a good and simple thing."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, for sure," he agreed with feeling. It was always so, so wonderful to just take a break from everything, especially from Alyssa... He sighed contentedly again as he settled his beer bottle on his knee and leaned his head onto the back of the seat, while his free arm dropped down beside him.

He turned his head and aimed a lazy grin at his friend. "I have to agree. This is pretty good, but," he raised the bottle to his lips for another sip, then settled it back down on his knee, "yeah, it is kind of... Too high class, I think. Plus if we bring our own, we can have more than just the few bottles in a mini fridge."  

[TawnyAngel]

"True," Zevran agreed, smirking and padding across the balcony to sit down next to Abel on the swinging seat. "We could bring a cool box, just disguise it as an expensive suitcase," he suggested, snuggling up against Abel's side with a contented and faintly suggestive noise in the back of his throat. "What do you think would happen if we rocked this chair?" he asked, looking up at the taller blond through his eyelashes.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When the shorter blond joined him, Abel lifted his arm up before wrapping it around Zevran's shoulders to pull him closer, then ever so gently ghosted his fingertips along the other's throat up to his chin. A balcony on such a high floor was private enough, right? Right. Probably. Acting on the assumption that it was, he dipped his head down to brush his lips against Zevran's ear. "I think it's only designed to rock one way," he noted in a soft murmur, "and it probably wouldn't be very comfortable; it's kind of a small chair."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh dear," Zevran replied with a smirk, reaching up to brush his fingers lightly along the line of Abel's jaw. "I suppose we had better not get too distracted yet then. A little anticipation whets the appetite anyway does it not?" With this suggestion he turned his head a little and leaned up for a long slow kiss.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No, not yet," he agreed with a quiet breath of a laugh, his lips curving into a smirk. "We haven't even finished the complimentary alcohol yet; that first, remember? But it really does, I agree," he admitted as he leaned in to press his lips against the shorter blond's, just as eager for the kiss, while his thumb rubbed slow, gentle circles at the back of his neck.  

[TawnyAngel]

That was pretty nice actually. Zevran made a small noise of appreciation into the kiss and knotted his fingers lightly in Abel's hair, maintaining just enough concentration on anything else in the world not to spill his beer everywhere. After what was perhaps quite some time Zevran broke away from the kiss, leaning his forehead against Abel's instead. "We should drink the beer out here," he murmured, "then take the prosecco to the hot tub, yes? After I shower off the pondwater that is; so attractive, no?" he grinned.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel had less focus on the outside world, and even though his bottle leaned dangerously to one side, he'd drank enough by now that none of it spilled. Zevran pulled away and the taller blond frowned a bit; breathing, he didn't need to breathe, that was silly. "Well, I dunno about yours, but," he paused to turn his head and take another sip - the final sip - of his beer, then faced his friend again, "mine's gone. Besides the prosecco, what else is in there again? Vodka and some sodas? That sounds perfect. I'll meet you in the hot tub then, yeah?" He asked, his smirk turning somewhat suggestive. "I don't envy you your pondwater bath, although I don't think it makes you any less attractive."  

[TawnyAngel]

"You my friend are a fast drinker," Zevran chuckled, he still had more than half of his left! Not about to be left behind however he tilted his head back, raised the bottle, and poured the lot down his throat without apparent effort. After a heavy swallow he winked at Abel and got to his feet. "A useful talent of mine, swallowing like that. And it is very hard to make me less attractive," he caught Abel's hand for a moment and raised it to his mouth to press a kiss to the palm of Abel's hand, his gaze locked with the taller blond's. "You get the drink, I will strip and wash up," he smirked, letting Abel's hand go again and heading back inside at a saunter that made his hips swing rather more than was necessary.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Guilty as charged," he admitted with a cheeky grin, then chuckled a bit. His eyes half-lidded and his lips curved into a smirk as he watched the shorter blond, the skin on the palm of his hand tingling briefly where he'd kissed it. "Deal," he agreed readily and stood up to return to the room's interior. Isaac wiggled in the hammock at first, then rolled around, then finally rocked it enough to roll out one end and land gracefully on his paws. Once back on solid ground, he quickly trotted after the pair of humans back into the hotel room before the door could be closed on him. He had no desire to be left outside by himself. No, there were plenty of comfortable places inside, like on top of expensive, fluffy pillows or blankets.


A while later, long after the majority of Sandalwood's citizens had gone to bed at reasonable hours, Abel leaned his head back on one of the cloud-like pillows with a deep, contented sigh, his eyelids sliding shut. Everything was so relaxing, so comfortable, it really was like a mini vacation. The only downside was that it was a mini vacation, and he had to return to his chaotic life in the morning. In an attempt to put off thinking about it - it was hard not to, especially late at night when his mind wandered and he had nothing to occupy himself to prevent it from doing so - his eyes fluttered open and he turned his head to look over at the other man. "I think you've spoiled me," he murmured as he slipped an arm behind the pillow under his head to get a bit more comfortable. "I'm going to want hot tubs and complimentary mini bars at every hotel I stay at now."  

[TawnyAngel]

It had been a very good evening, very good indeed, and on top of pleasant weariness from that as well as the busy day he had drunk just enough to feel luxuriantly fuzzy.

When Abel addressed him Zevran rolled from his back onto his side and smirked, running his fingers through his tousled hair to get it out of his face. "I am a terrible man, it is true. I suppose we will just have to arrange more nights like this in future, leave it to the last moment to select somewhere to stay to get the best deal. Perhaps bring our own drinks though, unless we are offered some for free." Mini bars in hotels charged far too much but one could always refill coloured bottles or vodka bottles with water, and be away before any of the staff realised. Ah, the beauty of paying cash and not giving the right name. He was however a little more hesitant to try that here, Kodo was not so large a place and he was rather distinctive among its people. Getting arrested for something so dull would be such a drag.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A strict diet of cheap noodles and instant coffee over such a long period of time had left him in a poor state of health, to put it mildly, and the broken ribs and punctured lung he'd sustained early on in the year didn't help matters. Those, combined with the entire day's activities left him absolutely exhausted. Lunch and dinner had helped somewhat, but not too much. Thus he remained on his back for the moment, trying to stay awake but also trying to keep his mind occupied with something other than the slippery, depressing slope his thoughts usually slid down. "Mm, I think that would be fun. Some spontaneity is always a good thing, I think; keeps things interesting," he noted in a tired voice.

His hand lifted and bumped lightly against Zevran's cheek before he stroked a thumb along the curved tattoos there, his sleepy gaze following the lines they formed. Some of the tattoos, he'd noticed, were done over scars, while other scars had no tattoos, and some tattoos had no scars; it left him rather curious as to whether or not there was any logic in it, or if he'd simply felt like putting tattoos in specific places whether there were scars or not. Had the tattoos come first and then the scars, like with his Skarmory? "If you don't mind me asking, why d'you have tattoos over some scars but not others?"  

[TawnyAngel]

...Ahh.

Well with hands going everywhere he supposed the question was inevitable, not from a fling who would probably be too embarrassed to ask but certainly from a friend. Quite a good friend for the length of time they had known one another. He didn't want to lie to Abel but he couldn't be completely frank either.

Eventually Zevran shrugged and gave a faint smile, settling for the middle ground as he reached up to lace his fingers through Abel's. "If there is a mark on your wall that you don't like you paint over it no? I cover the ones I would rather forget with something beautiful, something of my own choosing."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As sleepy as he was, he wasn't so sleepy that he didn't notice the length of time it took for Zevran to respond, and when he did respond it wasn't what Abel expected. His eyebrows rose a little in surprise, and absently his fingers curled themselves around his. "That's... a very good point," he said once he thought of something suitable to say. "I didn't think about it that way." He didn't have such a problem, given all of his injuries had either been internal or hadn't left any scars. ...why did he have so many scars? Half of him didn't want to know, and the other half could tell when someone would rather not talk about a sensitive topic. Rather than asking or commenting further, he left the topic where it was - Zevran could say more if he liked, but he wasn't going to pry more than he already had - so instead he pulled the shorter blond's hand over to plant a kiss on his fingers.  

[TawnyAngel]

He wasn't sure what reaction he had expected but the one he got was fine, neither too much probing nor effusive sympathy. Also, the finger kissing was nice. "It is far away now though," Zevran commented lazily, "and scars heal and fade; if you ignore them long enough suddenly you may realise they've gone all together." Kodo was a long, long way from Antiva and he had been quite careful as he travelled. If the Crows didn't already think him dead, which he hoped they did, it would be very difficult for them to track him here. That did still leave him with one lingering question though, if he was no longer a Crow then what was he? He had no real identity anymore, they had given him that at least along with all of the blood and backstabbing.... Well, forget about it. Tonight he was more than content and that was more than enough.