[Fin] Weekend Getaway

[TawnyAngel]

"Ahh, you read my mind my friend," Zevran replied with a sly smirk. "However did you manage to do that, when I was so very inscrutable?" Ha!

Lunch was indeed delicious, enough to take away hunger without leaving him feeling bloated and so ideal before a dip in the water.

The water that he was heading to very quickly because all he was wearing was a rather small pair of swimming trunks and it was cold.

Zevran made an expressive noise as he reached the edge of the pool and then sighed in contentment once he had climbed in and sunk up to his neck. "Ah, agreed! The early start and the cold walk was definitely worth it for this," he said as he sat down on the ledge beside Abel, though unlike his boyfriend for the time being he opted to keep his arms underwater in the warm.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He couldn't help but chuckle at Zev's eagerness to get into the water - not that he could blame him with how chilly the air was - and once he was in, Abel slipped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders - and in the warm water - and leaned in to kiss his temple. "Right? This is awesome. And we get to do this whenever we want for the next few days."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hummmm," Zevran agreed contentedly as he relaxed against Abel's side and looked up at him thoughtfully with his head cocked slightly and his hair tied up in a messy bun. Life was good and he felt...

He had been doing a lot of thinking over the last few days, about the relationship he found himself in and about Abel's previous relationship. He still couldn't understand why Abel wanted to be with him but all evidence pointed to it being the truth and so maybe... maybe there really wasn't anything to worry about so long as he continued as he was. Be charming, terrible, fun, and... and thoughtful and other such things that his mind still slid away from, like trying to mix oil with water. If he did that then there was no reason things would go terribly wrong, and there was also no actual need for him to think about the future as anything but an abstract thing that would slide into the present at its own pace. There was too much of it, potentially, for him to consider so he would avoid doing so! That probably wasn't normal but it appealed to him for the present, and the present was what mattered.

So.

With all of those thoughts he'd had over the last few days he found that he felt... Curious.

Eventually Zevran said; "Did you ever do things like this with Molly? Weekend trips to exciting locations I mean."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Quite unlike Zevran, for once Abel's mind was relatively empty as his eyes slid shut and he simply relaxed in the blissfully warm water, his arm still loosely wrapped around his boyfriend's shoulders to keep him close. Several long, quiet moments passed before Zev spoke up and Abel's eyes fluttered open again, and he aimed a curious look at the shorter man. His thumb ran over Zev's shoulder a couple times as he turned a thoughtful expression onto the steaming water surrounding them before replying with a small shrug, "Once in a while, yeah. We both worked so we could afford to go on trips whenever, but our schedules weren't as flexible as mine is now, so we couldn't really take them too often." While he didn't mind it one bit, he was a little surprised that the first thing Zev wanted to talk about now that they were here was Molly.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran chuckled and leant his head against Abel's shoulder. "Ahh, not at all like me then! My... schedule is very flexible, as of course you are well aware." So they had been comfortable, but perhaps hadn't been able to spend as much quality time together as they would have liked? Perhaps that was lucky for him. "What did she do, and you, if you don't mind the question?" He didn't wish to compare himself to her but he was curious, Abel had spoken well of her but never in much depth. What sort of a woman was she to capture his heart as she once had?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While he was tempted to move his arm so he could run his hand over Zev's hair, he stopped himself because his arm and hand were rather damp at the moment, and with how his boyfriend had tied up his hair to keep it dry, he had to assume he probably wouldn't appreciate the attention. Instead he settled for resting his cheek atop Zevran's head, a warm smile spreading across his face despite his deeply flirtatious tones. Much as he loved the shorter man's more inappropriate side, it was just so nice to have a few days alone together, where they could focus on each other. "I'm well aware of how flexible you and your schedule are," he replied with a brief chuckle. "And I don't mind at all. I did much the same there as I do here, which was fortunate for me, and Molly was a design consultant. Home design consultant," he amended with a lop-sided shrug so he wouldn't disturb his boyfriend, "though I dunno if she still is or not." A lot could change in just a few years, after all.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Home design?" Zevran snorted a laugh, which he quickly stifled enough to say; "I am not laughing at the job, it sounds very nice, I am just thinking of what she would make of where I live. Mmh, would she be polite enough to call it... rustic? Industrial chic?" As hilarlity subsided Zevran reached up to grasp Abel's shoulder loosely, the one he wasn't already leaning on of course. "How did you meet?" Okay, perhaps he was comparing himself to her a little but Abel was happy with him so surely it was alright? He wasn't about to hear that Abel had made a mistake and was leaving him right now, immediately.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The laugh was entirely unexpected and Abel shot a confused glance at the shorter blond, but it lasted a moment before morphing into an amused smile. "Oh, probably, yeah. Something like that, at any rate." His other arm shifted so he could curl his free hand around Zevran's arm, his grip a little chillier than his other hand -- at least for the moment. "How we met..." His expression grew a little more distant, a little more thoughtful as he cast his mind back. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. "I went to a little cafe on my lunch break one day, but it was busy and all the tables were taken. One of them only had a cute girl sitting there by herself, so I went over and asked if she'd mind if I sat with her, and by the end of my lunch break she'd given me her number. It wasn't anything fancy or interesting, but," and then he shrugged, as if the action finished his sentence for him.  

[TawnyAngel]

He could imagine the scene in a stylised fashion and Zevran found himself smiling faintly. "Ah, well you are devilishly charming so I am not surprised got got her number; you are almost as charming as I am in fact... What do you think is the most important thing about dating? About... couples?" Zevran lifted his head so that he could make eye contact with Abel as he asked this, and a little uncertainty was mixed in with his curiosity now. "I know that must seem like a strange question but," he laughed and shrugged, "I do not have the most normal experience of such things." To date he had been doing what seemed like a good idea at the time with the help of a vague template provided by a variety of media.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"You are definitely the most charming," he said with a fond smile as he pressed a kiss to his forehead. He had so many questions suddenly; why? While he was rather curious, he wasn't about to discourage him or refuse to answer or anything of the sort, because... "Communication is most important, I think," he answered after a thoughtful pause, his thumb idly tracing circles over Zev's shoulder. ...why did he look so cute? "Talking and asking questions and stuff to make sure you both want more or less the same things out of the relationship. If you're both not on the same page with important things, then it doesn't matter how much you might like someone, it isn't going to work out unless someone makes some serious compromises -- and even if they do, they might end up pretty unhappy from them and then it still wouldn't work out. But," he shrugged and went on, "that sort of stuff doesn't usually come up for a while, not until you're serious about the other person."  

[TawnyAngel]

Not for a while; that was a relief, because what Abel had said was more than a little intimidating.... But if he wasn't applying it to them-

"Is ah... is that why you and Molly split?" Zevran looked away from Abel, not because he was nervous this time but to give Abel space to think without having to feel as if he should hide how he was feeling. Perhaps there was nothing he wanted to hide and that was fine too but this gave him the option.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uh," he frowned thoughtfully, not entirely sure why Zev averted his gaze but not finding it anything he should comment on, and tried to figure out how to phrase his thoughts. "Yes and no. We'd always hinted at what we wanted in life and it never.. really matched up that well, but we ignored it for a couple years anyway until we finally had to sit down and have a couple serious conversations about it. She always wanted to settle down, get married and have kids - start a family - but I didn't want to considering -- ah," he glanced around a bit to ensure they were still alone, which they were, before continuing, "things. You know. Anyway, I just.. didn't think the kind of life I'd had until then was one I wanted her to marry, but at the same time I didn't want to break up with her. I couldn't have both, though, and since neither of us could compromise on such important things, she told me that we had to end it and then she left," the taller blond finished with a small shrug. It had hurt at the time - it had hurt so, so much - but that felt like ages ago now.  

[TawnyAngel]

That made a lot of sense. Perhaps if Abel had not had that cloud hanging over them then he would have married her.

"Strange." Zevran turned back to Abel and regarded him with a fond, wry smile. "If you and I had not had... things in our lives we would probably never have met. We would certainly not be sitting here together like this. It is nearly enough to make me believe that everything happens for a reason." Not everything, he wouldn't but that, but perhaps some things did. Abel had suffered a lot and he... supposed that in retrospect a lot of his life had been rather messed up too. Was it silly to think it had all been for a reason? Probably. If not that, then it had been worth it. He was happy. Really, truly happy.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

That was a thought he'd had before - or at least part of one, anyway - and he nodded his head in agreement, still smiling at his company. "You're absolutely right, I don't think we would've met, let alone dated. I only moved here after Molly broke up with me, and if things hadn't happened then I might still be with her - or I might not - or hell, I might not have moved to Unova in the first place and I never would've met her at all. It's hard to know what might or might not have happened if something was different - or a handful of somethings - but I do know one thing for certain," he finished in a serious voice.

A devilish grin banished the seriousness in his expression a moment later as he tightened his one-armed grip on his boyfriend and leaned into him to bring his head - and therefore his hair - dangerously close to the water. His other hand reached up out of the spring and gently plopped against one of Zev's cheeks as Abel leaned in for a kiss to the other. His teasing, playful behavior didn't quite match his sincere tone of voice as he said, "As shitty as things were for both of us, I'm glad we're both here - and together - right now."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran laughed and stabilised himself by gripping the smooth rock side of the spring with one hand, and Abel's neck with the other. "Watch the hair," he admonished teasingly, and then he returned the brief affectionate kiss. "I am glad as well. I cannot think of the last time I was so glad not to have died. Humm... maybe Near Year's, that was rather good as well." And they had another date planned for this next New Year, he would definitely have to be alive for that!