[Fin] Lovely start to the day

[BlackFireKitsune]

His free hand trailed up the shorter blond's arm, around his shoulder, brushed past his collarbone before resting on the side of his neck so he could run his thumb along the line of his jaw. "Only a little bit," he murmured as he leaned forward to steal a quick kiss - or a not so quick kiss, he wasn't going to be picky.  

[TawnyAngel]

Not so quick had been Zevran's plan, he could have happily drawn the kiss out for quite some time had he not been rudely interrupted by a knocking on the front door. Zevran gave a groan of disappointment and sat up properly and then swung his legs out of bed. "Taavi do you think?" he asked, though wouldn't Taavi have a key? "Or post? I shall get the door, to save you getting up in too much of a hurry." As he spoke Zevran stood up, stretched briefly, and located his pants where he had dumped them the previous night.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The knocking on the door quickly drew Abel's attention as well; unlike Zev though, the taller blond sat up abruptly and let out a hiss of pain as the sleepy, injured muscles in his back stretched suddenly, sending brief, searing pain throughout the area. Out of habit his hand went to the much smaller spot on his chest - that didn't really hurt much at the moment, but he couldn't reach the spot on his back - and he cursed under his breath. He'd have to wait a minute or two for the pain to subside before he could get up, and then he'd have to take pain killers and hope they started working quickly...

Out in the living room Sonia and Caleb quickly jumped up and trotted to the door in tandem, the former pausing with her claws over the handle while the latter stuck his nose to the crack beneath the door, and both sets of ears perked to catch any telling sounds on the other side. The fire-type's tail wagged a bit though when he caught Taavi's scent on the other side of the door, so he stepped back and Sonia unlocked and opened it to admit him.  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah, s**t, this was exactly what he hadn't wanted. Door forgotten for now at least Zevran dropped his pants again and moved quickly around the bed to sit down next to Abel. "Hey, I've got you," he said softly, reaching up to give his friend's shoulder a gentle squeeze as he watched Abel's pained face with an expression of concern etched into his own. "Just breathe, it will pass." Abel knew that of course, the words themselves were not important but the saying of them felt so.

It was fair to say that Taavi looked terrible, really terrible. He was wearing yesterday's rumpled clothes that reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, had no coat, was unshaven and his thick hair was wild and unbrushed. He looked as though he had been crying, though he wasn't any longer as he stepped inside with barely a glance for the assembled pokemon.

Without pausing to so much as take off his shoes he headed into the kitchen and started opening cupboards at random, searching for the bottle of brandy because getting drunk again sounded like about the only thing he could cope with right now.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sonia and Caleb exchanged baffled, concerned glances - Sonia's moreso than Caleb's - and the Zoroark closed and locked the door before trotting past the kitchen and towards the bedroom.

On a subconscious level Abel appreciated Zevran's presence, but the sudden pain and his frightened, racing thoughts prevented him from really noticing him or responding right away. Was it Alyssa? No, it couldn't be, she never dropped by this early... So was it Taavi? He thought for sure that he would've stayed with Sasha until late morning, early afternoon maybe, so probably not... No one else had any reason to be knocking at his door though, and knowing his luck it probably was Alyssa--

The distinct lack of any growling or snarling from his pokemon coupled with the soft creak of the door opening sent a wave of relief through the blond, even as his wound continued to throb painfully; Taavi was home then, not Alyssa. But that begged the question: Why was he back so early? Maybe Sasha had stuff to do, it had been rather short notice after all - or he assumed it was - so maybe it wasn't all that strange after all.

With this thought in mind he willed his tense, pained body to relax, and he focused on breathing for the moment. His free hand sought out Zev's wrist and his fingers curled around it gently, less for support and more as a way of letting him know that he appreciated his presence and concern -- now that he was aware enough to realize it. "Getting stabbed sucks," he said, his voice soft and mildly frustrated but mostly just pained, as he reached for his bottle of pain killers and the water bottle beside it.

At that moment Sonia appeared in the doorway, her gaze seeking and finding her human. The look of pure concern etched all over her face gave the blond pause, and Abel's hand hovered over the smaller bottle on his bedside table as he looked at the dark-type, faint confusion entering his expression. "What is it?"

She pointed out into the other room, a creeping anxiousness mixing with the concern in her demeanor as she let out a worried, confused whine.

Abel hadn't even registered the sound of banging cupboards until he took a moment to listen, but he didn't want to wait long enough to sit and think about it. He could think and theorize all he liked, or he could go and see for himself how Taavi was doing; Sonia had, and judging from her reaction, something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but there was something, something apart from how what he'd expected once he learned Valour had been stolen. Spurred by this realization, Abel shifted and pushed himself to his feet, his pain killers abandoned as he hastily got to his feet. He stopped long enough to make sure he had pants - shirts weren't as important - before heading into the other room. The wound in his back hurt, it practically burned with each beat of his heart, but as much as it pained him it wasn't important at the moment. "Taavi," he called out into the rest of the apartment; he knew he was here, even if he couldn't see or hear him, "what's wrong?" Was it Alyssa? Did she do something to him when he was already dealing with something so horrible? She had, hadn't she? Oh Arceus, what did she do this time?  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmh," Zevran kissed Abel's shoulder briefly in sympathy, "it does. Drugs are good though." There was still quite a bit of paella left that he could have with the pills too, always best not to have them on an empty stomach.

But then Sonia was standing in the doorway with an expression Zevran hadn't seen on her face before that he recalled, the Zoroark looked worried and then she let out a little whine; something was wrong. Zevran realised that whatever it was it wasn't the kind of wrong that you fought because if it was Sonia would have done that but the prickle of anxiety that ran down his spine at realising the idyllic morning was not so any longer made his fingers itch for a weapon to grasp out of habit.

It was pretty obvious that Abel was seriously worried too, he got up and left the room without even taking any of the pills he'd been reaching for.

Zevran flexed his restless hands, got back to his feet and went back around the bed to retrieve his pants for the second time that morning.

By the time Abel emerged from his bedroom Taavi had found the brandy, he left the cupboards open as he headed into the living room and pulled the cap off the bottle with his teeth. "Yeah, I'm here," he said, spitting the cork out onto the floor. He then took a deep swig from the bottle, coughed, and flatly announced; "I got dumped."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel halted abruptly halfway through the apartment at the sight of Taavi. There were so many red flags popping up in his mind, so many things wrong with this picture that he didn't even know where to start. He mentally wrestled with all of them at once before a winner emerged; he stepped forward and gently curled his hand over Taavi's, both as an offer of comfort and less obviously as a means to keep him from drinking more of the bottle -- at least for the moment. "Dumped?" He echoed somewhat hollowly; the word sounded unfamiliar and foreign in this context, as if it wasn't even relevant. Taavi had gone to spend the day and then evening with his boyfriend; him being dumped didn't enter into that equation at all. It couldn't. There was no way. But his friend's obviously disheveled, terrible appearance argued otherwise. "What happened?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Dumped? s**t, on top of everything else? Poor Taavi. This was definitely not his area however and so Zevran lingered in the doorway to Abel's room.

"I don't know what happened," Taavi replied, his voice edged with pain and his hand trembling slightly as he clutched the bottle in a tight-knuckled grip. "We walked around, we drank, we smoked - and the cigarettes were awful - and then we went to a motel and- and when I woke up Sasha was gone. They left me a note." A note. After a year and a month that was all he was worth. What had he done wrong? Or not done right? What had he ever not done that Sasha wanted?... Taavi's eyes were drawn to the figure in Abel's doorway; well other than that what had he not done?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

And again, so many red flags popped up, so many things that were so wrong that he didn't even know where to begin. There was no way. There was no way Sasha could be that selfish, that thoughtless -- that heartless. And yet...

"What do you mean 'we'? You don't smoke," the blond pointed out gently, hoping he was wrong despite the fact the unmistakable scent of cigarettes clung so strongly to Taavi; he held fast to both Taavi's hand and the bottle, even as he felt it tense considerably under his fingers. They drank, Sasha had smoked - he still held onto the hope that Taavi had not, although he was wondering how futile that hope was - and then they'd gone to a motel. And then Sasha had left Taavi to wake up to a note, alone. After everything he'd been through -- after everything he'd been through, his boyfriend was just going to dump him just like that? "No, he couldn't have..." But he had, a little voice in his mind interjected. Abel frowned and shook his head. "He really just... left you a note? He's gone?" His free hand lifted to rub at his face. There was no way -- no way. What kind of person would do that? What kind of person would do that to Taavi, of all people?

Sonia, Isaac and Tabitha lingered nearby, each with concern etched into their features.  

[TawnyAngel]

"I smoked," Taavi replied hollowly, "Sasha thought it would make me feel better so..." So he'd done as he was told and the decision and the stink clung to him thick and awful. He shrugged, explaining his helplessness with the gesture. "I wanted to think they hadn't done it too, I must've read the note twenty times but it still says the same thing." How could it say what it said? Why had Sasha done this to him? A note, just a piece of paper and it was over?

Taavi half-heartedly tried to pull his hand back from Abel, muttering; "Want to sit down," as he did so. Long distance, he hadn't wanted long distance, he wanted to live together.

After a few moments of watching the painful scene Zevran quietly turned away and went back into Abel's room to look for his shirt. A note seemed like a rather cruel way to leave somebody, though he had no personal experience of the matter to draw upon to say with any authority. Right now said lack of experience felt very much for the best, if you gave somebody your heart and then they decided they didn't want you any longer how did you recover? A life of shallow encounters was far safer than romance, no such worries of pain and no complications. A great many people seemed to think it worth the trouble though.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

But he knows you don't smoke, he wanted to say. He wouldn't offer you a cigarette knowing you don't smoke. Except he had; to make him feel better after-- No, after writing the note he'd just left so it had to have been before. Yesterday then. Abel was left wondering just how much Taavi had smoked for the smell to cling to him so strongly.

So, Taavi had gone to hang out with his boyfriend, to tell him what happened presumably, and to spend time with him and hope that would make him feel better. It had resulted in Sasha encouraging Taavi to smoke, getting him... some level of intoxicated, getting a motel room for the night, making use of it -- and then Taavi waking up alone to a note. A ******** note, after the night before -- after everything he'd been through already.

Abel removed his hand from Taavi's and held it up in a half helpless, half 'go right ahead' gesture, and pressed both hands into his face. After everything... Even as he struggled to wrap his head around it, something clicked and anger started to churn and climb up his insides, started to burn more fiercely than the pain in his wounds -- pain still present but that he'd all but forgotten in the face of what he'd just learned. "He just... I can't even... I... That," his hands dropped to his sides, balled into fists so tight his knuckles paled considerably; his words gained an angrier edge, a louder volume they rarely ever had, "piece of s**t. After everything you've been through - that he damn well knew you'd been through - after all the time you spent together, all the time you've dated, he leaves you a ******** note? It had better be the best, most amazing ******** note he's ever written in his whole damn life, but even if it was it wouldn't change the fact that he's a worthless coward."  

[TawnyAngel]

Angry voices usually made Taavi cringe at best, internally freak out and seek any way to escape the situation at worst but as Abel's rage very audibly built he just walked over to the couch and sat down heavily. "It's..." He didn't even know how to describe it. Was that really all he was worth? Sasha had said he loved him, said it so often and he'd believed it. He believed it.

"Here." Taavi put the bottle of brandy down on the coffee table, dug a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out to Abel. "Read it, see if it makes any more sense to you than it does to me. I don't... I guess they just couldn't deal with me anymore, with everything that keeps happening and... Yeah, read it." He must have complained too much, been too much of a downer. He'd tried to be upbeat when things had been bad, he'd tried so hard! But it hadn't been enough and now Sasha was gone too.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel stepped closer to accept the note and smoothed it out a bit more so he could read it. It didn't take him long at all given how brief it was, and after reading it for the third time it crumpled in his white-knuckled grip. "What the actual <********> is this bullshit? 'Kisses'? He pulls this cowardly s**t on you and then ends it with 'kisses?!' What the <********> Arceus, I knew he was shitty but I didn't think he was this shitty."  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi shrugged helplessly. "I don't- I didn't see it coming. Should I have?" Had Sasha been unhappy in their relationship for a long time but hadn't said anything? It felt like that from the note, it... it just didn't feel like it had been written by somebody who cared about him. "Couldn't they have just waited just- just a bit?" Taavi found himself stammering over his words as the same questions ran around and around in his head. Had he done something wrong? Had Sasha cared about him at all in the end? Could he have done something differently?

Zevran stepped quietly out of Abel's room again, now wearing a white t-shirt. He wasn't sure how to interact with the two friends or if he should at all... Perhaps he should not, at least not at this very moment. Without saying a word he ghosted across the room behind Abel and into the kitchen, where he put the kettle on to boil.

While he waited for it to do so he pondered the situation quietly. The last he knew, in so far as he picked it up by being over here often, things had been going well. Had Taavi missed signed that Sasha was losing interest or was this a sudden decision on their part? If it was, what had brought it about?

Humm.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As the blond turned to Taavi, all of the anger in his posture and expression melted away, evaporated completely, leaving behind only a cold, empty feeling. Seeing his closest friend like this made his heart ache. He tossed the note onto the coffee table carelessly - it was garbage anyway, just like Sasha - and when he sat down on the couch beside Taavi, he gently slipped an arm over his shoulders. "I don't think you could've seen it coming. I certainly didn't," he began hesitantly, speaking gently as he tried to find the right words to say. "I always got the impression that he was kind of selfish and didn't always consider your feelings, but on the whole I thought he did really care in his own way, and I knew how much you loved him." While all of that was true, for the moment he didn't think it a good idea to go into detail about just how poorly he thought of Sasha. Besides, even if someone was selfish and not as considerate as they could've been, they could still care deeply for another person -- and he thought Sasha had until this morning, and now he wasn't so sure. It didn't sound like he did. "I'm sorry. I wish he'd at least waited for your sake, after everything you've been through."