[FIN] Broken Bonds

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah.." That explained it. "I know how you feel, I really do. I think he'll still come back though; don't give up," he said, attempting to sound encouraging as he offered a sympathetic smile and reached over to give his uninjured arm a gentle squeeze. For both their sake, he really hoped Valour would come back or be found soon..  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi smiled, a little wanly but it was still a smile. "Hey, maybe our good luck will continue right? We must be due some. Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket, now I can afford to waste a little bit of money. Like... Maybe it'd be weirdly comforting to spend money on something that's less likely to happen than Valour coming back? If I think it's worth me buying a ticket then I have to think it was worth hoping he'll come back right? Does that make sense?" Taavi sighed and rubbed his face, some of the weight seemed to lift back off him as he did so. "Anyway we've got plenty to celebrate, and when he makes it back we can tell him all about it." He should make a habit of saying when instead of if, maybe that would help too.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"After all the s**t we've been through, I hope more good stuff will happen," Abel said with feeling. While that was a big positive thing to happen - probably one of the best things, really - he hoped that things would keep improving. A fond smile crossed his face as Taavi went on. He always did have so many words to say, as Zevran so eloquently put it. "Yeah, that makes sense. Him coming back is a lot more likely to happen than winning the lottery, yeah? And I really do think he'll come back. I just hope it's sooner rather than later," he added as he reached up to rub at his face a bit. Why was he still tired? He was tired of being tired.

"Yeah," he agreed with a tired smile, "we do have a lot to celebrate now, don't we? We can actually buy good food to celebrate wi.. Dude." His hands flopped down onto the sheets and he looked at Taavi wide-eyed with suppressed excitement. "We could go out to celebrate. Like, actually go to a restaurant. Not even a cheap one, we could go to a nice one if we wanted." How crazy was that? It actually felt a little sad to be so excited about being able to go to a restaurant - and actually eat, not just watch Alyssa eat - but after having all of his excess money taken from him for two years... What else was he going to do with all his money now that he could actually keep it?  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh!" Taavi perked up again considerably and waved his hands in front of him as he tried to line up the next sentence. "Yeah we should do that! I get paid on uhhh, Friday? Yeah, Friday." And he didn't have to withdraw it all and hand it over. Alyssa was dead. Probably he shouldn't be happy about that but he was and he didn't feel even a little guilty. Some people just made the world a worse place. "So, we should pick somewhere. Oh, man, I don't even know what I'd like to go for..." Taavi frowned for a moment and then laughed briefly. "Not sushi," he said, shaking his head. "I've gone off sushi."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel laughed a bit, the sound coming out light and airy. For the first time in two years, smiling and laughing felt so easy to do, and he did both almost without thinking. "Yeah, me too. Man... I don't know where to go either, I'd be fine with almost anything... but no sushi is fine by me," he added with a small, wry grin. "Well we have until at least then to think of where we want to go, so we've got time." As he spoke he pushed the covers off - unlike Zev, he had at some point during the night found sweatpants to put on - and swung his feet down onto the floor, though he didn't stand just yet. Was he too tired to get up and walk around? After sleeping off and on for he didn't even know how long, he hoped so. "Ah, Zev should come too," he added as the idea struck him, and he looked to Taavi for his opinion. "The least I can do to thank him for all his help is buy dinner for him."  

[TawnyAngel]

He was actually a little bit surprised that Abel had pants on, but then again he'd probably been too exhausted to do very much. "Oh, yeah!" Taavi agreed, turning slightly to continue looking at his friend now he'd sat up. "We definitely owe him dinner for all the dinners he cooked for us." Plus the lunches and the breakfasts... and whatever he and Abel had done the other night. He wasn't sure if he wanted to ask what had happened, he wanted to know but he didn't really want to ask. "Plus, you know, I had fun the last time I went to dinner with him! It just ended kiiiind of awkwardly, and suddenly. Heh." That had been so, so awkward. He still felt stupid for not realising what was going on... but maybe Sasha should have made it clearer from the start. "Maybe we could go to a bar or two after we eat as well? Nothing high key, just a few drinks? Oh! We could get Thai food maybe? Or we could go for curry, curry is always good!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, exactly," he agreed with a nod as he pushed himself to his feet - yyyep, okay, cool, he was good and not about to fall over or anything - before he walked to his dresser to pull out a plain short-sleeved shirt. "I owe him a lot at this point, especially after the other night. Honestly," he began as he looked over at Taavi, seriousness, weariness and a hint of worry for what might have been seeping into his expression, "I couldn't have done it without him. I wouldn't have been able to make it that far on my own, or do all of that on my own -- this wouldn't have ended nearly as well as it did if he hadn't come too. So," he went on as his tones grew more positive and he pulled the shirt on over his head quickly, a soft smile returning to his face, "dinner is the least I can do."

Oh yeah, that whole mess. Abel shot Taavi a wry grin. "He is fun to hang out with, but that was a shitty circumstance in which to do so." Your beloved boyfriend not telling you or asking you ahead of time about something so important? Or better yet, just not even knowing the answer would be a resounding 'no' after dating so long? Ugh.

The taller blond walked the few steps to the threshold of his bedroom and leaned on it as he peered into the rest of his apartment for wherever Zev had gone. As he looked, he raised his voice so the shorter blond would be able to hear him wherever he was, "Zev, quick question: Thai or curry?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi's smile faded again and in its absence a serious expression edged with worry was left behind. He nodded slowly, trying to imagine and trying not to imagine what had gone on and what Abel had needed Zev for during it. Maybe he would ask later? Or now, maybe?

Feet planted on the floor and eyes cast down as Abel turned away to call to Zevran Taavi gnawed his lower lip and fiddled with his hair, trying to work up the courage. "Can... can you tell me what did happen?" he asked quietly after a few moments, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Mmh?" Zevran stepped out of the bathroom with his face half covered in foam and a razor in his hand. "I stole one of Taavi's razors," he explained as he gave the implement a wave, "and I would say Thai, though I do like both! Are we going out?" That would be rather nice, he hadn't eaten out properly since.... Egh, yes, that evening. Zevran's smile remained unchanged as he shivered internally at the blurred memories he did have, and the blank where he had none. Things could have been very different.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Two very different men spoke to him in two very different manners at more or less the same time, and it took Abel a moment to prioritize based on who would take longer to respond to. "Thai it is then," he said with a nod and a thumbs-up over the razor before clarifying, "we're planning on going out for a celebratory dinner, maybe on Friday? Over the weekend sometime, at least." With that done he waved at him to finish shaving, lest he get shaving cream all over the floor, then turned back to Taavi.

If he had belt loops he would've hooked his thumbs into them, but he settled for tucking them into the pockets of his sweatpants instead as he frowned and hummed thoughtfully, pondering how best to detail the night's events. He didn't want to tell him everything, of course, things he didn't really need to know... Things like Zev conveniently having a lockpick set, or Dirksen's exact wording about the favor Alyssa asked of him, or how he'd asked if Abel had wanted to kill her instead.. He probably could tell him most of it though, and just leave out the more.. sensitive bits. "Well, I was.. a little out of it that night, though you probably already know that," he added with a rueful smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck as a frown replaced the smile almost immediately. "I had a hell of a time keeping up... I got sick a few times too," he admitted with a slight shrug, "so sometimes I wasn't exactly.. in the right frame of mind to be able to remember everything. Zev was though, so even if my memory was fuzzy about certain details, he remembered them. We followed her from here to a few different places; some shady-looking building that turned out to be where she worked, a cafe somewhere, and then to her decked-out condo, but she locked the door before we could get in after her. His Drifloon helped us get in though, so we snooped around in her living room and in her office for a bit before she came in to use her computer for a few minutes. After she left, though, Zev was the one who remembered one of her passwords, and after we got back out with the info we found on her - about how she was stealing from her employer - he remembered how to get back to the building so we could bring the guy what we'd found. We didn't exactly get the warmest welcome, of course," the blond said with an airy shrug, "but we weren't hurt or anything, and in the end he was grateful to us for letting him know - and pissed at her, of course - so he let us go with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to blackmail you and me anymore."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ooooh, that sounds excellent!" Zevran replied with a grin, and then ducked back into the bathroom to finish his shave.

Taavi listened intently as Abel spoke, the fingers of his good hand knotting into the sheet's of his friend's bed. When the story ended he was silent for a few moments, trying to work out what to say. Eventually he said; "s**t," and raised his hand to rub the back of his neck. "That sounds... that sounds really intense. I'm really glad you're both okay and, well, you know, that it's all over and.... I can still hardly believe it." Taavi started to smile again then and got to his feet, stretching as he did so. "Definitely need to celebrate!" he added.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah: s**t," Abel agreed wholeheartedly as he rubbed the back of his neck again. "It was definitely... a thing. A really unpleasant thing, and I'm sure I forgot a few things. He definitely was such a big help though, I really wouldn't have been able to do it without him." No, he knew for a fact he was forgetting some things - some on purpose, some without meaning to - but really Taavi didn't need to know everything. He already knew that Abel was in poor condition, so he didn't really feel the need to go into detail about how Zev had had to drive him home after, and support him physically before he collapsed on the floor somewhere. While he did want to fill Taavi in on things, he didn't want to make him worry more than he really should.

"But, yeah, definitely necessitates a celebration. Hey, maybe after dinner that night we could go to a bar for a few drinks or something?" He suggested, focusing on brighter topics. "Dinner and some drinks would be nice." Hell, when was the last time he'd been able to afford alcohol at a bar? Months. Literally months.  

[TawnyAngel]

Thank Arceus Zev had been there then, and that both he and Abel had known what to do. He wouldn't have known what to do, he'd probably have messed up badly and so it was also lucky he hadn't done anything dumb like trying to follow them.

"I could definitely do with a few happy-drinks," Taavi agreed with a slow grin. "I'm done with miserable drinking, I want like - uh - some really nice cider, or sweet cocktails with rude names or something. Maybe a sparkling wine cocktail? We are celebrating."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Heh, me too," the blond agreed once again, his smile morphing into a grin - which promptly turned rather mischievous. "Rudely named drinks, huh? I'm sure Zevran knows quite a few of those, so I think that'll be a fun evening out." Man, now he couldn't wait for Friday...

Or Christmas.

"I think I'm gonna call my mom in a few minutes, after I get something to drink," Abel mused aloud as he turned to finally exit the bedroom, assuming Taavi would follow. "D'you want coffee or something? ...what time is it, anyway?" He hadn't even bothered to check yet. Whoops.  

[TawnyAngel]

"I'll bet he does!" Taavi laughed, trailing after Abel. "If there's something to know about something rude, he probably knows it. And, yeah, great! I could go for coffee... I could really go for a good coffee but we could give the cheap stuff a last send off. Hey, maybe I'll buy one of those super expensive coffee machines that's all chrome and stuff! Oh, um, and it's probably about nine by now, I got out at eight and came straight here." The idea of a nap was a bit tempting but he had grabbed a few hours in the break room so it was probably best to push through and not ruin his sleep schedule.

"What is this about rude drinks?" Zevran asked with a smirk as he stepped out of the bathroom again, now clean-shaven but still only wearing his underwear.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ohh, I haven't had good coffee in.. I can't even remember! Ah, yeah, you could get one. I think I'm good with just my coffee press though, I don't need something that big or fancy," Abel said with a shrug. It may have been cheap but that didn't mean it wasn't still good.

"Ah, nine isn't too bad.. I thought it'd be way later in the day than that," the taller blond admitted as he emerged from the bedroom... only to stop at the bathroom and lean against the door frame so he could smirk at Zevran. And also to lift a hand to run his thumb along the line of his freshly shaven jaw. "We were saying you probably know all of the drinks with the rudest, most inappropriate names that exist -- which will be good to know because we might go out for drinks after dinner on Friday, if you want to come."