[Fin] Frozen Toes

[TawnyAngel]

He awoke slowly in the comfortable, hazy knowledge that Abel didn't have to work today. Was he just not scheduled or was the shop closed or...? Well it didn't matter, what mattered was that he had an arm around Abel and that he could feel the even rhythm of his breathing. Zevran sighed softly in contentment and pressed a kiss against Abel's skin, if the other man was awake it would let him know he was too but if not hopefully it wouldn't disturb him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Abel drifted back to consciousness, he slowly became more aware of his surroundings and the comforting presence of someone beside him. That same someone sighed and he felt their soft lips against his skin. A happy, sleepy smile spread across his face as he rolled over and wrapped an arm around Zevran before placing a kiss on his forehead. "G'morning," he mumbled, his voice heavily tinged with sleepiness.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmmm," Zevran agreed contentedly and snuggled a bit closer to Abel. "Coffee in a little while?" he suggested through a yawn. This was a very good way to wake up, very good indeed; warm, safe, not hungry, and without anything pressing to do today. "And then we can," he yawned again, "decide what to do today. I feel I need to get outside at some point. No rush though."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Yawns were infectious and Abel couldn't help but yawn after Zevran did, but then he pulled the shorter blond closer and kissed his forehead again. "Mmh, definitely coffee -- in a bit. I don't feel like moving just yet." Or at least he didn't feel like moving to get up; his hand moved to stroke Zev's cheek before his fingers slid up into his hair, brushing through it and smoothing it out. "I think it was supposed to snow last night, we'll have to see how much is on the ground." They'd have to go out and make up for lost time if there was enough; given the climate Zevran hailed from, Abel was quite willing to bet Zev had never seen snow in Thedas, let alone played around in it when he was young. Then again, even if it did snow there, would he have been allowed to?

Abel promptly and firmly shoved such thoughts aside and kissed Zev's forehead again.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oooh, yes," Zevran agreed sleepily and flexed his fingers against the small of Abel's back in appreciation of the kisses. "The most snow I have seen in person was that flurry just when you went away. Fresh snow always looks so pretty in pictures." Perhaps they could go for a walk together, leave footprints in the fluffy white stuff and whatever else you did in the snow, just the walk itself would be nice though.

All of that required moving though and he didn't want to do that yet.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With Zevran's hair laying a little more neatly than it had before, Abel's hand slid back down to cup the curve of his jaw, his thumb idly ghosting along his cheek. "That's it? That's all the snow that fell while we were gone?" That wasn't hardly anything... Huh. Well he was kind of glad if that was the case, because it meant he could be present when Zevran witnessed deeper snow than a brief flurry. "It snowed plenty while we were in Sinnoh, if you couldn't tell from the pictures. We'll have to check how much it snowed here.. in a minute." He snuggled closer to the other man and pressed another kiss to his forehead. "I don't want to get up yet."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmmmmm." Zevran sighed happily and reached up to cover Abel's hand with his own, encouraging him to keep his hand on his cheek. After a few moments he summoned the energy to speak again and continued; "There were similar falls a couple of times, once with quite big flakes, but it all melted when it reached the ground. Invierno has made some of their own but it is very localised. Mmh. People may start noticing that there is often snow on the roof of your building though I think." He was confident that the Articuno could look after itself... well fairly confident, given how he had met them. Oh well, it would be a bold person indeed to venture up to the roof to try to kidnap the wintery bird.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh, he wanted his hand to stay there? How could he argue with that? As if he'd even want to. Abel's sleepy smile softened and his eyes slid shut again, his hand remaining as Zevran bid, his thumb still tracing gentle lines over his cheek. "Mmh, that's too bad, but I'm sure there'll be plenty today..." He trailed off to yawn again before he continued, "And if not, there'll be some sometime before winter's over, I'm sure."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Well we shall see how much there is..." Zevran grinned and propped himself up on one elbow. "Later though, right now I have other ideas." Fun ideas, which began with leaning down to press his lips to Abel's.


Eventually it was later and Zevran had persuaded himself to get out of bed and put on some clothes. "Shall we see about this potential snow then?" he asked with a glance over his shoulder as he headed for the living room.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel's warm, sleepy expression immediately morphed into a smirk. He liked those ideas.


After the fun ideas that Abel wholeheartedly approved of, the taller blond similarly willed himself out of bed and into some clothes. "Yeah, let's see how much there is," he agreed with a nod, "and then I'm gonna make us some coffee." Some good coffee, a fact which still delighted him. No more cheap, gross coffee. Ever.

Out in the living room, Elizabeth and Tania, Abel's newest and most headstrong acquisition, were peering eagerly out the window. In Tania's case, given her short stature as befits a Scraggy, had to climb up onto the couch and lean as far over as she could to see out the window without falling to see all the snow. It still fell in large, fluffy clumps; a good layer of it coated the fire escape as much as was possible to cover a grating, but a much deeper layer coated the windowsills and rooftops of nearby buildings, to say nothing of what lay on the ground.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Fantastic! I could really-" Whatever Zevran had been about to say about how much he wanted a coffee went out of his mind as he approached the window. Huge fat flakes of white were tumbling softly out of the sky, the roof of the building opposite was completely covered and it was impossible to see very much further than that. This was snow like you saw on cards and on TV, he had always thought that such scenes looked rather fake - even the pictures Abel had sent him had seemed unreal - but there it was right outside the window.

"There is quite a lot of snow!" Zevran reported with a broad grin to Abel and a rather excited gesture at the window. "It looks so soft, like cotton." In reality of course it would be literally freezing but they had warm clothes to protect them from that... Though how cold was it out there? There was only so much even a good coat would do. He still wanted to go out in it no matter how cold it was, they might just need to warm up again afterwards. What a terrible fate!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Zevran abruptly stopped talking, Abel's gaze flicked to him in mild concern. That concern was unfounded and promptly turned to fond amusement as his friend stared seemingly transfixed out the window. Oh yes, he was glad it hadn't snowed like this while he'd been gone. "Good!" The taller blond chuckled as he strode across the living room to wrap an arm around Zev's midsection before he pressed a soft kiss to his temple. "Wanna sit and watch it while I make coffee? I'll grab some thermoses and we can change and go out in it. It's still early and it's still coming down, so I don't think all of it will be trampled or messed up yet."

After kissing the other man's temple again he slipped away and headed into the kitchen to prepare the coffee and thermoses.

Elizabeth looked up at Zev and pointed out the window excitedly. "Rraaahhhh!"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran squeezed Abel's arms briefly as they wrapped around him and hummed contentedly when Abel leant down to kiss the side of his head. "Thank you I would like to stay here," he replied with a brief glance at and smile for his friend before he turned his attention back to the window.

"It is good isn't it?" he grinned when Elizabeth gestured outside. "How you seen snow like this before?" he wasn't entirely clear on how old she was, it could be her first winter? Or maybe she just really liked snow.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Charmeleon nodded her head vigorously, an eager rumbling bubbling up from deep in her throat.

Tania leaned over further to press a tiny hand onto the fire-type's snout so she could lean closer to the window. It worked quite well -- until Elizabeth took a step to one side, which sent the unfortunate Scraggy tumbling to the floor in an ungainly heap.  

[TawnyAngel]

She had? Well fair enough.

When Tania fell to the floor with a fwump Zevran repressed a laugh - she wouldn't appreciate that - and crouched down next to her. "You want a better look at the snow? You can sit on my shoulders if you like." Being vertically challenged - as Abel so interestingly put it - could be rather annoying.