[FIN] Pancake Party

[BlackFireKitsune]

A hand found his but it withdrew before his fingers could curl around it, leaving him feeling somewhat disappointed -- mostly in himself. It wasn't forgotten, at least not for him, and as Zevran turned away to grate the lemon Abel frowned a bit. No, it wasn't forgotten; not something so thoughtless as what he'd just said. He couldn't forget it that quickly, even if he wanted to. Zevran was too kind, and the taller blond couldn't help but feel completely and utterly undeserving of that kindness.

All the same he stepped behind his friend and carefully slid his arms around Zev's waist - he didn't want to bump his arms or anything to disrupt his actions and possibly make him injure himself on the grater - before he rested his forehead on the shorter blond's shoulder. It necessitated a bit of slouching, but at the moment he didn't really care. He just hoped his friend didn't mind. "It makes perfect sense," he reassured him gently, "and I just... There's a lot of things on my mind. Too many things and this is just one more, and I don't..." I don't want to deal with it anymore. There were so many things on his mind, so many things on his conscience weighing him down that made it feel like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders, and it had only grown heavier with the weight of more awful things, not lighter. It was tiring, and though he always tried to keep the helpless feeling at bay, parts of it peeked through the cracks at the moment and traces of the weariness he always tried so hard to ignore seeped through. He was so tired.  

[TawnyAngel]

Don't what?

Zevran set the grater and lemon down on the chopping board, twisted around in Abel's embrace and wrapped his arms around him in return. If there was anything he could do about the things weighing Abel down his friend would have told him by now and it would be done. "I'm here." It was better than nothing, and at least he could make sure Abel ate well - Taavi too. He wished he could do more, that he could just wave his hand and make it all go away.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Zevran turned around to return the hug, and Abel tightened his hold just a bit, his fingers curling into the fabric of his friend's shirt. "Thank you," he murmured into his shoulder. He was so tired, so tired; he just wanted to take the weight he carried every day and just set it down for a while. Even a minute or two would be fine.

He stayed like that for a few moments, taking the opportunity and warm, comforting embrace to mentally pick up the pieces, patch up the cracks and pull himself back together. It was selfish of him to seek solace for his own problems when Taavi was dealing with Valour missing - or at least he felt it was selfish - so he pushed himself to be okay, to be fine, because in comparison he was fine. It was fine, everything was fine. If he told himself that enough, if he convinced himself enough, eventually it would be true.

He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of pancakes, of eggs and bacon, of Zevran, and when he exhaled he straightened up and withdrew from the embrace, offering his friend a wan, tired smile. The cracks were fixed, the long-suffered weariness was gone -- at least from sight. "Thanks," he said again in a more normal voice, though not without a good deal of appreciation for the hug he'd suddenly needed so badly, and he hooked his thumbs into his pockets. "Is there anything else I can do to help with breakfast?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah, and so now everything was fine again. It wasn't of course but who hadn't played a little game like that from time to time? Smile as best you can and ignore it, hope that it goes away. Zevran smiled back; "Any time."

Breakfast though, what could he ask Abel to do? It was only a guess but he felt as though his friend wanted to be useful right now. "Could you take those cooked pancakes and the rest of the egg and bacon through for me?" Zevran smirked a little and poked Abel lightly in the stomach. "And eat another one yourself. After that if you would like you can cook some of the sweet ones while I eat, and concentrate on the fruit."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, sure," Abel agreed readily with a nod, though his wan smile took on hints of a smirk as he was poked. His hand lifted to curl around the offending finger for a moment, his own fingers playing over Zevran's hand for a brief moment before they withdrew again. "Alright, I'll have another one." So saying, he picked up the plates he needed with some amount of juggling involved, stuck his tongue out at Zev briefly, then headed out into the other room.

"I've got a delivery of more pancakes," the blond announced as he approached the couch, then carefully set down the plates and dishes on the coffee table. As he picked up one pancake and set it onto his own plate, he glanced from Taavi's plate up to his face. "I can make you a second one if you want?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran stuck his tongue out too and waggled it suggestively as Abel departed before turning back to the lemon.

Taavi looked up when Abel spoke and smiled weakly. "Oh, hey, didn't see you there. Um. I'm still working on this one thanks but I'll have a sweet one when they're done? Is there any syrup for Vanessa to try on one of the pancakes though?" Abel was having another one; good, they could both use it. With this in mind Taavi speared the next bite he'd been putting off and brought it to his mouth; eat, heal, train.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well, eating slowly was better than not eating at all, so the blond smiled gently and set about doctoring his own pancake. "Alright, that sounds good. And I'll see if I can go find some once I'm done.... There," he finished abruptly with a pancake now accompanied by a healthy amount of egg and bacon, then straightened up and headed back into the kitchen. It took but a moment to fetch the maple syrup and offer Zev a brief word of thanks - and it also took a moment to decide that giving him even a quick kiss at the moment was still not appropriate, as much as he wanted to - before he headed back out into the living room.

He squatted down in front of the coffee table and spread some maple syrup over another one of the pancakes, then carefully folded it over so Vanessa would be able to hold it without spilling any - or at least much of - the syrup. "Alright, here you go," he said as he offered the Lopunny a plate.

Vanessa dropped the edges of the blanket she'd been holding into her lap and eagerly accepted the dish he passed to her. She stuck her nose close to it for a few moments to sniff at it first, then carefully, gingerly picked it up and took a tentative bite. She made a surprised, pleased noise as she turned wide eyes from one human to the other, then eagerly took a second bite of the pancake.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Heh, good right?" Taavi said with a small smile as Vanessa tucked into the syrupy pancake. "I'll have to have some on my sweet one too, and cream and fruit as well. Might as well pack it all on right? Um and Abel, I got a message from work and they're good with me coming back day after tomorrow. Just desk work and stuff obviously but," he shrugged, "means less time off sick right?" It would keep him busy too, and put him in the best place to pick up any news.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Lopunny made another pleased noise in response. she said between bites. Honey was by far superior, but this was still good.

A small, fond smile worked its way onto Abel's face before he stuffed a piece of pancake into it instead. Mmm, pancakes... "Oh? That's good, yeah. I mean I think desk work is pretty boring, but that's better for you to do for now. How long will you have the cast on for again?" Hopefully not too terribly long, but he couldn't remember... Wasn't it something like two months maybe? Possibly?  

[TawnyAngel]

"I'm glad you like it," Taavi replied before taking another bite, one he actually finished quickly so that he could reply to Abel. "Yeah, and I can still work on training my partners even if I can't do anything myself. Uh, about six weeks they said but I have to go in regularly at first so they can take the cast off and clean the bite wound. I guess maybe that's why they gave me this cast, it just sort of clips together so they don't have to make a new one each time. Useful right?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"That's good," he said with another nod as he sliced through his pancake, speared the piece and stuck it into his mouth. As he chewed he pondered the concept. "That's pretty clever actually, especially in your case. You really don't want something like that getting infected, so that's pretty great that they can make sure it doesn't, but also that you still have the cast for it."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, bites and scratches suck," Taavi agreed with a nod. "I mean, least it wasn't a poison type I guess but still. Rather get cut by a steel type any day, at least they're usually relatively low on bacteria and stuff. Are you going to be back at work soon too?" There was rent to be paid and Alyssa to be paid, though of course she'd already know about what had happened to Abel. If she hadn't arranged it he'd... he'd... well he'd be very surprised, that would have to do because he didn't have the imagination for anything else.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh that's true, I didn't think of that," he said with a thoughtful frown, then stuck another bite of pancake into his mouth. A few moments later he replied to the question, "I'm going back tomorrow I think, unless Chris sends me home early. I'll be in the back cleaning stuff and mostly sitting or standing around; light stuff for now. I can't really handle heavy things yet, and I'll run out of breath too fast if I try," he added with a hint of bitterness in his tones. That already happened too easily just from smoking, but the damage to his lung only made it worse. It was more than a little frustrating.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Okay, yeah, good, take care of yourself okay?" Taavi said, a look of concern creasing his tired drawn features. "Don't go and make yourself worse or something, I know it's... well it's not a lot of fun but... but I don't want to see you sick again okay?" Abel could have died, did Alyssa even give a s**t about that? Probably not.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Taavi's sudden concern gave him pause, and Abel couldn't help the surprised look that crossed his face for a moment. He was concerned about him after what happened the night before? This was Taavi, of course he was; suddenly he felt bad he'd given him a cause to worry on top of all the other stresses and awful things he felt. Man, he was just saying all the wrong things today. "I will, don't worry," the blond said quickly, offering his friend what he hoped was a reassuring smile, then shook his head. "I don't want to make it worse, so yeah I'm gonna try to take it easy. At least Chris'll let me work at all, you know how he can be," he went on, his smile softening a bit. "He won't let me do anything that could make it worse anyway, even if I wanted to."

Vanessa agreed urgently as she looked between the two with concern, her mouth full of the pancake that had disappeared from her plate but had coated her small fingers in maple syrup,