[FIN] Broken Bonds

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel nodded again, considering the topic. "Swift would look great as a Ninetales, and I get the feeling he'd be really pleased to evolve. He'd be bigger," he noted with a smile. Bigger, stronger and better able to help his friends.

But Zevran's response prompted him to chuckle, his lips curving into an amused grin. Oh yes, he could definitely get him a Christmas present.. and find something nice to cook for him. That sounded like a nice idea. "Well if you insist," he said with an expressive shrug, though he leaned over to plop his arm around the shorter man's shoulders in a sort of half-hug and offered him a warm, grateful smile. "Thanks. I really do appreciate you always cooking for us." And his cooking was good too; he would still appreciate it even if it were bad, but it was delicious. That never hurt.

"Mmn," he hummed as he took another sip of coffee, then spoke again once he lowered the mug and swallowed, "I should call Mom before I forget. I'm like.. ninety -nine percent positive she'll be thrilled about the visit but I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't ask first." Now where did he leave his phone...? Maybe in the bedroom. It was funny how little he needed it at the moment; Alyssa was gone, and the two people he texted most often were in the same room with him. What did he need his phone for?  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran enjoyed the hug for a moment with a contented noise to match and then he abruptly snagged a spatula and started to herd Abel and Taavi out of the kitchen. "Go, go, shoo! Abel talk to your mother, Taavi go and shower. No offence."

"Oh! Err, well, none taken!" Taavi laughed as he happily went along with the waving of the spatula. "I guess I haven't since.... Whenever it was, before Alyssa showed. Patty!" Her real name had been Patty! For some reason that name had always sounded like a fart to him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ack!" He held up a placating hand, his grin broadening. "Alright, okay! I'm going," the blond said as he chuckled and quickly retreated from the kitchen lest he incur the shorter man's culinary wrath. "Patty indeed," he noted to Taavi with another brief chuckle. "Not such an attractive name as Alyssa, yeah?" No, it definitely wasn't.

With Zevran cooking in the kitchen and Taavi busying himself with his shower, Abel scooped Isaac up in his free arm as he headed into his bedroom to make his phone call, though not before kicking the door mostly closed on the way in. He'd waited far too long to call his parents, but at least now he had some good news for them. Not that he'd go into much detail if any, of course, but a Christmas visit - with the friend who brought Isaac home - was sure to be good news to them.

After a longer conversation than he'd meant to have, Abel emerged from the bedroom again with an empty coffee mug in hand and Isaac trotting along at his heels, the pair heading towards the kitchen. While the Espeon could do little more than sit and watch, the taller blond had other ideas in mind. "Hey," he said as he rounded the corner, curious to see how things were going. "I know you said you could handle it, but are you sure you don't want any help?" After how much Zevran cooked for them, the least he could do was try to make it easier or alleviate as much of the work as possible.  

[TawnyAngel]

Left to himself Zevran had put his hair up out of the way in a little bun, he didn't usually bother to do so but it was rather flyaway this morning and after pushing it out of his face for the third time he had relented and found a hair tie. With his hair pulled up the back of Zevran's neck was visible, as was the tattoo that adorned his skin just below the hairline, the curving black lines seemed to suggest the shape of a bird with its wings outstretched in flight.

"Ah, Abel!" Zevran turned around from the cooker with a smile on his face and also with a streak of flour across the inked lines where they crossed his cheekbone. "You could get out syrup and things, that would be helpful. There are three pancakes done so far and this one is nearly done too." He had about enough mixture for two pancakes each he thought, not a huge breakfast but hopefully enough to satisfy for now.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Zevran had his hair up.

It was such a simple, inconsequential thing; something he never really paid attention to in most people. For some reason now was different. Now his eyebrows rose a bit as he stood there for a good few seconds longer than was probably polite, because Zevran had finished talking and had suggested things for him to do. Rather than do any of them at the moment, a few seconds later the taller blond set his empty mug on the counter and leaned his elbow next to it, and something between a smirk and a smile crossed his face as he continued to watch his friend. "Sure, I can do that no problem," he said, his expression starting to lean more towards 'smirk,' "I just want to enjoy the view a bit longer first." And he had some flour on his face which did absolutely nothing to detract from his appearance. In fact it was a little endearing somehow, though he wasn't quite sure how.

Damn though did he look good with his hair like that..  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel stopped to lean on the counter instead of heading to the cupboards Zevran arched an eyebrow and started to smirk too. "Oh? Well don't let me stop you, a good view should always be appreciated to its fullest." It was always good to know one was a distracting sight. Zevran blew Abel a kiss, winked at him, and then turned back to the cooker. Ah, and good timing, the pancake was just about ready to turn; Zevran shook the pan slightly to check and when the pancake moved freely he tossed it over onto the other side.

From outside the kitchen the noise of running water stopped, though it was entirely possible that this went unnoticed.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"See, I knew you'd understand," he said with a chuckle. Oh yes, he appreciated the hell out of this good view.

Once he'd had his fill - or rather, once he'd realized he should probably do something other than stand there and stare at him - he headed further into the kitchen and had every intention of brushing his fingers against the back of Zevran's neck as he passed, but the marking there caught his eye and gave him pause before he even raised his hand. "Oh, hey," he said, his tones curious as he traced the lines with his eyes first before gently brushing his thumb across it, "I didn't know you had a tattoo here."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Did you not?" Zevran replied with a chuckle as he shifted comfortably at the brush of Abel's thumb. "See now I still have some surprises in store for you. I think you have now found all of the tattoos though, I do not have any lurking on my scalp or anything of the sort. Not at the moment that is, I rule nothing out." He had already decided that, should he be cursed with thinning hair in later life, he would shave it all off and have something lovely done to compensate.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Nope, I didn't," the taller blond said as he leaned down to press a kiss onto the tattooed skin, then moved to finally retrieve the requested items from the cabinets. Once he'd gotten out the syrup and other things and set them in a relatively neat manner on the counter, he turned to appreciate the view again. "Your hair looks good like that, by the way. I'm sure you knew that already, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to state the obvious." So saying, he leaned in to plant another kiss on the side of his neck. Zevran having his hair up was nice for two reasons now; not only did it look good, but it made it much easier to kiss his neck.

"Oh, before I forget," Abel said, changing topics as he leaned back against the counter, hooked his thumbs into his pockets and offered the shorter blond a small grin, "I told Mom about how you've been helping us out so much, all the lunches you made for us and stuff, especially the ones for Halloween. She said that that sounded like the cutest thing."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmh, perhaps I shall wear it up more often if this is the treatment I receive," Zevran purred as he arched his neck to enjoy the kisses.

When Abel continued however Zevran's demeanour changed abruptly; his smirk vanished and he turned to the taller man with a wide-eyed stare, pan in hand. "She- what? I don't, I hardly think that-" As he spluttered and stammered his way though the sentence a distinctly pink flush started to spread its way across Zevran's cheeks. "I was only- I just thought it would be helpful, that- I- cute?" The blush was very obvious now and Zevran was still holding the pan, though he seemed to have rather forgotten about it in his obvious surprise and complete confusion.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

That was not the reaction he had expected. He wasn't sure what reaction he had expected, but it certainly wasn't that. Surprise crossed Abel's face too; his eyebrows rose and he fell silent for a few moments as his breath caught in his throat. Oh no.

Oh no.

Recognizing and shoving aside the way his heart jumped into his throat, he continued to speak as though everything was like normal, even if he was still surprised and slightly taken aback. "Yeah, cute," he affirmed, a smile spreading across his face again. "She said you must be adorable."

Ohhh no. His reaction had been too cute, but maybe he just hadn't expected it. Maybe it was just a one-time thing... Maybe he'd be better prepared after the first compliment.  

[TawnyAngel]

As it turned out it was not a one time thing, Zevran's blush deepened. "¡Adorable?" he spluttered. Nobody had ever called him cute or adorable before, ¿and why would they because he wasn't either of those things! "I'm definitely not- ¿it is just something anyone would do surely?" The more Zevran was blushing the thicker his always distinct accent became, as though he cheeks and vocal chords were linked somehow. Suddenly Zevran remembered the pan he was holding; he stared at it for a moment and then set it back down on top of the cooker with an uncharacteristically clumsy clatter. "I- I am sure she is simply- why- I have no idea why she would think those things," he concluded, wrapping his now freed arms around himself as he turned back to stare at Abel again.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh no. Ohhh no.. It wasn't a one-time thing, in fact it only seemed to get worse. Oh no, oh no oh no oh no--

By now, after the injures, his poor battered lung, the smoking, Abel was used to struggling to breathe sometimes. He was not used to struggling to breathe because a friend of his was too cute. Ohhh no. Oh s**t.

His smile remained, less because he was happy and in a good mood and more because a smile was the expression he should have at the moment, and he stepped forward to give Zevran's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I think I might have an idea why," he said before he planted a kiss atop the shorter blond's head, then jerked his thumb in the direction of the other room, "I'll go tell Taavi that pancakes are almost ready, okay?"

Once assured that it was, indeed, okay to do so, the taller blond exited the kitchen, walked calmly into the living room, silently collapsed on the couch next to Taavi and pressed his hands to his face.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran stood in baffled, blushing silence as Abel moved towards him first to squeeze his shoulder and then to softly kiss his hair. Adorable. Adorable. "Um- ah, yes yes that is- almost done here," he managed to blurt out as Abel gestured to the other room and then left. Once Abel was gone Zevran turned back to the cooker and stared at the pan for a few moments before giving himself a mental shake and moving it back onto the heat.

Taavi had stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a fresh t-shirt and sweatpants, and with his hair wrapped up in a towel on top of his head only a few moments before Abel came out of the kitchen. Having not heard any of the exchange between the two blonds Abel's silence and the way he pressed his face into his hands made Taavi's stomach drop. "Hey," he said softly as he reached up to squeeze Abel's shoulder, worry etched deeply into his face. "What's wrong?" Everything had been great when he'd gone into the bathroom! What had happened?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

In response to Taavi's touch and his concern, Abel dug the heels of his hands into his eyes as he leaned his head back against the couch, inhaling deeply before letting it out in a brief, quiet whine.