[FIN] Broken Bonds

[TawnyAngel]

"Seriously," Taavi agreed fervently as he wiped a smudge of syrup off his plate and then licked it off his finger. "It's so good to be doing something I love again, and also the pay is a lot better! Not that I've seen any of it so far but um, now I will!" He should buy a nice Christmas present for Lauren this year. He'd kind of despised her for a long time but that hadn't been fair of him; she'd only been a toddler when he'd left and hadn't done anything to him on purpose, he'd resented her just for being born. She'd be seven now, what kind of stuff did you get for a seven year old?

"All good things!" Zevran agreed with a soft chuckle and a nod of his head. Once he had finished his last bite of pancake he sighed in contentment and continued; "Well I think now I may as well be off to do my shopping, is there anything you need picked up particularly?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He nodded again, smiling at his friend and roommate. "Yeah, having a job you enjoy helps tremendously when you're going through something shitty, so now it'll only be better. Plus better pay - that you actually get to spend yourself - always helps," he added a bit ruefully. His job paid well too, he just.. hadn't seen how well it paid in two years. It was kind of exciting to see again just how much money he'd have to spend on himself, on his friends, on whatever he felt like spending it on...

Like dinner for Zev. ...and Taavi. Yes, both of them. Of course.

When the shorter blond stood, Abel banished the brief flash of disappointment he felt and instead dutifully considered the question. "I don't think so, really," he said with a shake of his head. He was going to go change and then go shopping... "Oh, you know if you need to do laundry or something you can do that here, yeah?" He asked, looking up at him curiously. While it had been somewhat of a random question, especially given Zev had asked about shopping, it was sort of relevant. Sort of. "But I don't think I need anything, no. D'you?" He asked, turning the question on Taavi.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi shot Abel a curious look when he blurted out about laundry, but maybe Zev's apartment complex - he assumed he lived in an apartment - didn't have a laundry room? Using a laundromat all the time really did add up so it was a sensible offer, just kind of random. "Oh, um, no thanks nothing I can think of," Taavi replied with a smile for Zev. "Thanks for asking though."

"De nada," Zevran said and gave a slight wave of his hand along with the friendly dismissal that there had been any trouble.

As for Abel's offer; "Oh, thank you," he smiled and nodded, "that would be most useful, it is quite dull sitting around in a..." Zev frowned breifly and gestured again, this time to indicate that he was searching for a word. After a moment he concluded; "Laundry shop? It would be much nicer to wait here, and also save money."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel stuck another bite of pancake into his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully while the pair spoke. Taavi didn't need anything either, and.. "A laundromat?" The blond supplied helpfully once he'd swallowed. That made sense, he'd forgotten those were a thing... He hadn't used one in a few years given his apartments always had units in them, but Zevran's obviously didn't. Not even close. Oh well, he'd made the offer and he didn't regret it. "No problem," he said with a slight shrug and an easy smile. "I'm sure it'd be a lot less boring doing it here for free than paying to do it somewhere else." And he wouldn't have to buy detergent or anything, or worry about... well no, he'd still have to worry about toting it home, but he wouldn't mind driving him so he needn't walk with a bag of clothes all the way home in the cold.

"Alright," he said, figuring that was about it as far as questions went, especially since Zev said he wanted to shop early to get the best seafood before all of it sold, "we'll see you in a couple hours then I guess? If neither of us is awake then Sonia'll open the door for you, so don't come up the fire escape this time," Abel warned mock-threateningly with a wry grin as he pointed at him with his fork. He then speared his last bite of pancake, soaked up the rest of the syrup on his plate and then paused for a moment with the fork raised. "By the way, it's sweet of you to make such a nice dinner for us," he said innocently, then stuck the piece of pancake into his mouth.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi fought down a smile at the phrase 'laundry shop'; it was a fair guess but kind of cute.... Or sweet as Abel might say, he had definitely done that on purpose.

"Alright, I shall come by the door like a civilized person," Zevran agreed with a grin, he would have too many bags to want to come up the fire escape anyway so-

And Abel was calling him sweet again. Zevran's grin vanished and an embarrassed smile took its place as a blush started to bloom in his cheeks again. "Oh, well, you're most welcome," he said with a laugh, which he hoped sounded less nervous to Abel and Taavi than it had to him. "And I like cooking, as I have said so really it's no trouble... Ah... and I will be going now. See you both later!" With that said he turned away and hurried to find his coat and boots before the blush got any worse. Abel thought he was sweet. He really was a very strange man. A very strange, very endearing man.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He had absolutely done that on purpose.

As Zevran's face abruptly reddened, a broad smile spread across Abel's face. "See you later," he replied rather than torment his flustered friend further, watching him hurriedly ready himself and leave. He really was adorable...

...and he hoped he was warm enough with his new winter clothes. He was glad he'd agreed to go shopping before.

Once the door shut behind him, Abel calmly pushed the plates aside before he plopped his arms on the table and buried his face in them with a soft groan. "s**t," he said in a muffled voice.  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel hid his face in his arms the laugh Taavi gave was almost a cackle. "Adorable! I definitely did not expect that," he said with a broad grin. "I'm going to guess you didn't either?" No if Abel had known before he would probably have kept doing this at intervals, he did seem very fond of Adorable-Zev. Now he wondered why that could be!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No," came the miserable, muffled reply. "I just..." Abel groaned softly again as he squeezed his eyes shut, though that didn't help anything, not even a little bit. He could still see the blush in Zev's cheeks, the way he spluttered and struggled to process what he'd heard.. "Taavi help me, he's cute. Just... s**t."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Can't," Taavi replied cheerfully and reached across the table to pat Abel on the head. "You're trapped in cute-Zevran hell, there's no escape. Did you see the blushing?" He knew Abel had seen the blushing, it had been pretty obvious, but he wanted to see what Abel would do when he mentioned it. Not that he was enjoying this enormously, not at all!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel groaned louder. He remained hunched over the table for a few more moments before abruptly pushing himself back up into a more proper sitting position, aiming an incredulous and somewhat helpless look at Taavi, "Did you? You can't tell me that wasn't ******** adorable. I literally never thought I'd say anything about him was cute or adorable but -- s**t." No, a lot of other adjectives were applicable and had always come to mind first - like flirtatious and attractive, among other more inappropriate things - but now... "I don't even... He was blushing so hard, like..." ...he'd never heard the word 'sweet' before. Or cute, or adorable or anything. No, but he'd had to have heard them plenty of times, he knew exactly what they meant. He'd known immediately what they meant, so why...? Had he never heard them in reference to himself before, or maybe not since he was a child? It was an odd thought, to be sure; no, surely someone had called him one of those at some point, at the very least when he was young. Kids usually were cute and adorable - though not always - so surely...  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi shrugged, still grinning like a pumpkin. "Yeah, it was ******** adorable. I guess it doesn't really fit with his image hu? Like, at all." Was that why he got so flustered, because he didn't want to be seen as sweet or anything?... No it hadn't really seemed that way, he'd smiled at it just now, it just seemed to ruffle him a whole lot. "It's like the opposite of flustering a shy sort of person by telling them they're really hot or something," Taavi decided aloud with a shake of his head. "And completely adorable," he added.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah... No, it doesn't really," he agreed with a slight shake of his head, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow. After he'd first met him, after he'd seen how uncertain he was with Abel's kindness and helpfulness, the taller blond had wondered if Zev wore a mask to hide what he was really like. Now, though, he liked to think he knew better than that; now he likened it to two halves of the same coin. There was no mask, no attempts at seeming like he was something he wasn't to hide anything -- he just was, and one side of him just happened to be vastly different than the other. He'd become intimately familiar with the more confident, salacious side of him, but more and more he was seeing the more vulnerable, uncertain side. He thoroughly enjoyed the one, but this one was.. more endearing. And adorable.

s**t.

"That.. pretty much describes it perfectly, yeah," he agreed without hesitation, then sighed and rubbed his face. "Aaand completely adorable.." s**t.  

[TawnyAngel]

Heh, Abel really was having a hard time with this! And he was sure that totally had nothing to do with any slightly more than friendly feelings he might have for Zev, nothing at all.

"Yep! He could hardly even get a sentence out in the kitchen. Adorable." As he spoke Taavi got to his feet and started to pile the plates up but once he had he didn't go straight into the kitchen because he wanted to see how Abel would react to running that through his mind again.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"You should've seen him the first time," Abel said, his hands still covering his face. "Forget a sentence, he could barely get two words out. I was worried he was going to drop the pan or something." The memory brought the feelings back, his desire to hold him, how hard it was to breathe...

...s**t.

No, he didn't - he couldn't - he hadn't since he'd moved here, had sworn he wouldn't for the benefit of everyone involved, he could not--

And yet here he sat with his head in his hands, feeling as if he'd just gotten hit by a train of feelings. Damn it. Maybe if he just.. didn't admit it...

...it wouldn't change a single thing. s**t.

With another groan he flopped back onto the table, his face in his arms again. "Help me," he begged again, his voice muffled. "What am I gonna do?"  

[TawnyAngel]

...Was Abel actually asking him for advice or was it a rhetorical thing? Taavi put the plates back down on the table and patted Abel on the shoulder. "Um... well I'm not sure if you were asking me or not, but if you were.... Err... well I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to answer?" He had not necessarily made the best choice in the past in this sort of thing. "But?... Err... I mean, you like him right? I mean, like like.... I should not be using the phrase like like, I know, but you know what I mean?" Oh sweet Arceus he was really bad at this but he was going to do his best all the same! Looking back Abel had tried to give him relationship advice he just sort of hadn't listened because... well because he was an idiot and he'd been scared of doing anything that would upset Sasha.