[FIN] Coffee Catch-up

[TawnyAngel]

Eheh, he did know that. Despite the previously filthy tone of the conversation Zevran suddenly found that he had to stop his grin from going silly and fond. There wasn't much he could do about the slight heat he could feel in his cheeks but that he would just have to live with. "Ah, I do know that!" he agreed cheerfully and with a cheeky wink that he hoped would detract from the blushing a little.

Ada, not especially familiar with physical cues of human emotion yet, shook her head and went to curl herself up in her favourite chair. Yes don't do that, there would be nobody to pay the bills, she said, but her mental voice did perhaps carry just a small tinge of affection. Only a small one though.

Dith, who was very familiar with physical cues of human emotion, got to his feet and turned away from the couch to hide his own smile; it was quite funny that the first time Zevran showed any hint of embarrassment was when Abel said something that could be taken as innocent... Oh. No actually that was quite sad.

"I am rather harder to kill than that!" he replied with a soft chuckle as he checked the samovar and set out the cups ready. "And no. not that I've found so far. I wouldn't be worried if somebody of the meatball persuasion who I was interested in came along though. Sometimes," he shrugged, "things just happen, if they're good things I find it's best to just go with it. There, I think this is ready. Would everyone like tea? I can get coffee if you'd rather." He'd sort of assumed the conversation had happened while he'd still be trying not to get speared but it was entirely possible that Ada had just decided for everyone now he thought about it, she was still getting the hang of 'polite' as in actually being polite not just using nice words.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ahhh, would he ever get tired of seeing Zevran blush like that? He didn't think that he would. Without bothering to hide how fond his own grin became, Abel took full advantage of Ada heading to her chair and Dith readying the tea to squeeze his boyfriend closer. Lifting his free hand he smoothed it over one of his blushing cheeks, then leaned in to press a tender, lingering kiss to the other one. He hadn't meant to make him blush, but he would never complain about doing so. Not in a million years.

With the moment fully taken advantage of, Abel leaned back a little - but only a little - and aimed a grin at the back of Dith's head. "That's good! And what a coincidence that is, that's what happened to me, almost exactly. I wasn't ever interested until I met someone of just such a persuasion. I'll take tea," he added, even though he preferred coffee. Tea was already made though, and therefore required less effort, and that was the important part.  

[TawnyAngel]

As Abel pulled him closer Zevran happily snuggled against him and curled his feet up beside himself so that his knees rested a bit against Abel's thigh. He was glad that neither Dith nor Ada were looking when Abel touched his face, not that he should mind them seeing - he didn't think he would have minded in fact - but... but somehow it just felt more special for being private. "I am very persuasive!" he said aloud. There was no good reason why it should feel more special for being private but recently he had given up on trying to understand his own feelings; just go with it seemed a good phrase for him as well as for Abel in that way.

"I was fascinated by your samovar so I wanted to try tea from it," Zevran replied, now peering over at Dith with interest. "I don't know how much of the strong tea-stuff to have in a cup though."

Dith glanced over his shoulder at Zev and Abel; the two of them had cuddled up together quite closely now. "I can imagine you being persuasive Zev," he said with a smile. Where had Zev come from and where had he got all of those scars, all different kinds and ages. And he obviously wasn't all that used to people saying sweet things to him, but he was quite used to talking openly about sex. And people taking his clothes off when he was drugged.

Somehow he didn't feel as though there would be any answer to his questions that he would like.

"I can just make you an average cup to start with if you like?" he continued, turning quickly back to the samovar so that he could frown a little in private. "Ada, the usual for you?"

Yes, a little milk and one sugar, came the reply.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel let out a contented little sigh as his love curled up against him. "You are very persuasive," he agreed as a fond smile crossed his face. Perhaps he could persuade Zev to take a nap together later, or at least snuggle together somewhere for a while. As nice as this was, they couldn't exactly snuggle comfortably on Dith's couch. Not that they even should.

"Ah, I admit I don't know how much of the tea-stuff to add either," he went on, using his boyfriend's turn of phrase as he watched Dith and the samovar with keen interest. "Would you mind making an average cup for me too?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Zavarka," Dith said cheerfully, followed by some other gravelly words in Russian which included 'samovar' but probably nothing else Abel or Zev would recognise. As he started to fill the cups he continued - presumably translated - "Zavarka, with ten to one water from the samovar, is the perfect cup of tea." With all four cups filled he held one out towards Ada - she beckoned it over and gripped it delicately in her rather less than delicate hands - before putting the other three on the tray and carrying them over to Abel and Zev. "You might well want milk, maybe sugar or honey too," he said with an explanatory nod. "I just have honey but I'm told it's an acquired taste." Personally he thought that milk was an acquired taste - with coffee, yes; with tea, definitely no.

As Dith started to speak Zevran perked up with interest, he did enjoy languages and the way this one flowed was quite unfamiliar. "Ahh, you will have to teach me some of your language!" he said with honest enthusiasm as he accepted one of the cups, blew on the surface, and took a curious sip. The flavour was... basically like black tea - a little smoky? Not unpleasant but vastly improved by a bit of sugar and milk, which he took for himself with a word of thanks. "I do love languages," he continued slyly as an idea popped into his mind. "I am told I have a very adept tongue!"

Over in her chair Ada made a low soft yowling sort of a noise, which was probably a groan.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ten to one? That sounds pretty strong. Ah, thank you," he said as he gratefully accepted the cup of tea from his friend. At first he mimicked his boyfriend, blowing on it a little before taking an experimental sip. Yyyep, definitely a bit strong, in a couple different ways, so he set it down on the table so he could doctor it a little. As he did so he shot a smirk at his boyfriend. "No comment on that, but Dith's Russian," he offered, as it sounded like Zev was quite interested in the language he'd spoken. To be fair it sounded interesting, but he still only knew brief snatches of Spanish, hardly anything to be truthful. Trying to add a third language on top of that just seemed silly when he barely even knew the second he was more interested in learning.

Speaking of... "Languages are really cool, I'd still like to learn Spanish sometime," Abel added as he stirred his cup of coffee and then lifted it to his lips again for another curious sip.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ha! I am sure you are," Dith replied to Zevran with a grin and a shake of his head. "I don't know how good a teacher I would be but I can send you links to places you can learn online if you like." Honestly mostly he just didn't have the time to consider giving somebody regular language lessons. Sometimes he thought it might be nice to retire, he could afford to if he wanted.... But what would he do with so much time? Working fewer hours would be ideal but that was easier said than done.

"But yes, Zavarka is very strong," Dith continued to Abel, still grinning as he sat down in his chair again and sipped his tea. "Drinking it straight is not advised, there's more caffeine in it than espresso I think so unless you want to see forever be sure to water it down well!"

A very bad idea was trying to bloom in the back of Zevran's mind, he would try almost anything once after all!... But he should probably not drink the ridiculously strong tea straight at Abel's friend's apartment. He also didn't quite know where Russia was but he resolved to look it up later, it wasn't too important just now.

"I would like that Dith, thank you! Humm, and now we are not so," Zevran lifted his shoulders expressively, "distracted? Distracted. I could start to teach you properly if you like Abel." If he could speak a few snatches it might help with talking to the former apprentices, especially the girl whose English was not very good.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Dith went on about links to sites and things Abel took another sip of his now doctored tea, then hummed a little in satisfaction. Much better. It wasn't coffee, but it was still pretty good, and more than that it was new and different; trying new, different things was usually enjoyable. ...sometimes immensely enjoyable and worthwhile, he couldn't help but think as he squeezed his boyfriend again and leaned closer to press a quick kiss to his temple.

"Ha! It sounds really strong," he noted as he aimed a grin over at Dith. "I don't particularly want to see forever - at least not today - so I think I'll just stick with this for now." ...Zev wouldn't want to drink some straight, would he? No, no, probably not. Hopefully not.

Setting the thought aside, Abel smiled brightly at his love. "Distracted's a good word for it; busy works just as well too, I think, at least for me. Work's been a little hectic recently." And before that they'd been visiting his family, and before that had been - well, that whole mess - and as far as he was concerned, they really didn't have nearly enough time to sit and relax and enjoy each other's company much in between all of it. "But I'd love it if you did. Especially since you're such an excellent teacher," he added with a smirky smile and another kiss to Zevran's temple. What was it he'd told Taavi before? That he was 'very hands on'? Yes, that sounded about right, both because that sounded like something Zev would say and because he was a rather tactile person.  

[TawnyAngel]

Mmmmh, was there anything better than curling up with a hot drink in your hands as you leaned against your lover? Who you actually loved. His life had become really quite surreal since he had arrived here in Kodo.

Zevran sipped his tea and hummed happily at Abel's brief but gentle kiss. "For now!" he agreed happily, suspecting that Abel was wondering if he was going to attempt to drink the stuff; it wouldn't be the first time he had done something unwise for the hell of it.

"And I am an excellent teacher, an excellent many things- Ah!" Zevran snapped his fingers and straightened a little as a thought popped into his mind. "I was going to cook for you Dith, instead of dinner out should we have dinner in our new place once we are moved in? A little - how do you say? - housewarming?"

"Oh! I'd forgotten too!" Dith admitted with a laugh; yes, a thank you for making the bill disappear, which he still hadn't told them the whole truth of and never intended to! Somehow he didn't think either of them would be comfortable with it, they'd try to repay him and... No, just no. "That sounds perfect," he continued with a nod, "and you know I'd be happy to help you move in if I have some free time. I'm good at rearranging furniture."

Not as good as me, Ada put in with an air of satisfaction. She hadn't decided whether or not she liked these two but Dith did and that was enough for her to be prepared to expend a small effort to help them. Besides; I'm free all day every day, a change of scene would be entertaining. If you have a Zoroark who can hide me from gawpers I wouldn't mind lending a brain.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The corners of Abel's lips twitched into a smirk as his boyfriend echoed some of his words. "You weren't thinking of drinking some straight, were you?" He asked. The question was rhetorical, of course, because just from that he could tell that he was. Or at least had; hopefully he wouldn't act on it.

Setting that aside, he nodded promptly at Zevran's suggestion and grinned. "An excellent idea from an excellent man; having a housewarming dinner sounds great. I can help cook, or at least help clean up afterwards. I'll never turn away help with moving though," he added with a somewhat sheepish smile to both Dith and Ada. "We've got plenty of stuff to move, and the sooner we get it all moved the better. I think it'll be nice and hot outside around then, probably, too. Mmh, I don't know if we'd feel like cooking that night, we could always order pizza or chinese or something and then have an actual housewarming dinner another night? And I do have a Zoroark, yeah; she'd be happy to help you out Ada."  

[TawnyAngel]

"That sounds perfect!" Zevran beamed, the prospect of not having to move all of the furniture was a very welcome one indeed. "I would certainly appreciate the help; I am a fan of exercise, not manual labour."

"Well that's settled then," Dith nodded decisively. "Let me know when you have a moving date and I'll see if I can take the day off; I don't often have surgeries scheduled more than a couple of days in advance so I just have to make sure there's cover, hell knows I have enough leave saved up."

Pizza or Chinese are suitable bribes, Ada agreed with a brief nod, carefully concealing her excitement at the idea of stuffed crust ham and pineapple, or crispy beef with egg fried rice.