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There had been no immediate destination in mind when Zeke had set off walking with Hikaru still slung across one shoulder, and her towel draped over the other. Back towards the training field, the buildings, up along the path that lead down to the beach, but where was really still yet to be determined.

"Came all the way out here just to cheer for little old me?" He finally said, as the sand gave way to sidewalk. "Sweetheart, I'm touched." It was almost a purr, deep and rumbling through his chest and back, beneath those small hands. "I didn't know you cared."

He'd known he'd made an impression on her at dare night. Managed to gain some level of her trust, but at the time he'd wondered if that had been a circumstantial thing. He'd been sweet to her, treated er kindly in the middle of what had been an uncomfortable situation. Away from that, there was no way to know for sure if that fondness would linger.

He supposed he had his answer now.

Her insisting he wasn't old had him snorting softly, but it wasn't like she was wrong. Just because he felt older, that didn't make it true. It was also hard to linger on that thought when she was stroking his ego so expertly with her sweet sweet words. "You flatter me." But he sounded pleased anyways, the smile leaking into his voice.

"But I'm really not a gentleman." He supposed, on that evening, he had acted the part, but he had a hard time seeing himself as such. Self degradation, or maybe just a keen self awareness. "Kindness alone doesn't make you a gentleman, sweetheart."

He thought on that for a moment, and then took a definitive turn towards the dorms. It was probably about time the talked. He'd meant to seek her out sooner, but between the labs and the infirmary he'd been fairly tied up with duties, and in the off hours, well, he needed his sleep. There was plenty of time now, though.

"Flattery is always welcome and encouraged. I doubt very much that my confidence needs that boost, but one does love hearing wonderful things about themselves." He was, he'd acknowledged a long time ago, a bit of a narcissist. It'd cooled some since coming here, but I'll have did die hard.

Her counter point was a valid one, and he gave a small, thoughtful not. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it." For those closest to him, and those that had captured his interest, there would be a certain kindness that was otherwise not shared. If he didn't care, it just wasn't there. Not a disingenuous thing, but very selectively handed out.

He paused briefly at the double doors, adjusting his grip on her legs to maintain her balance, then let himself in, turning towards the stairwell that lead up or down. They went up. His room was one of the first, and he had to fish his key out of his pocket to unlock the door.

It was spacious inside, neat and organized—minus the half full coffee mugs resting here and there, forgotten. All in darker colors, earth tones and wood grains.

Turning sharply just inside the door, he bent to set Hikaru on the couch, then closed the door softly behind them.

He took the time to shrug out of his coat and hang it on the hook beside the door, toeing off his boots one after the other. All of it methodical and habitual, as if it were rare for him to walk through that door without taking a moment to complete this small ritual. It was a matter of comfort, and to the Life, there was very little more important than that.

It was only as he'd finished this, tugging his tee-shirt back into place, that he turned back to the girl on the couch, grinning down at her. "Thank you." He moved a coffee cup as he slipped between the table and the couch, carrying it over to the kitchen and dumping out the cold remnants in the sink. "It's a little sparse still, but I haven't been up here that long yet."

Turning, he settled his hips against the counter, palms laying on the cool laminate beside them. "Thirsty?"

He flashed her a toothy grin. "Either of those would be lovely." If not for the caffeine, Zeke was fairly certain he wouldn't have been able to maintain the hours he kept between working in the labs, and picking up shifts in the infirmary. The latter being the more demanding, and usually resulting in the man spending an afternoon completely lost to the world while he caught up on missed sleep.

It would have been easier to give up the infirmary shifts, and that had been his plan when he'd first decided to move from Mist to Life, but now that he had, he found himself reluctant to do so.

Glasses were in the cupboard to the left of the sink, and he grabbed one out, filling it from the tap on the front of the fridge before returning to the couch to offer it out to her. "Here you go." His knee came up as she took a seat, body turned to face her with his arm slung across the back of the cushions.

"They settle you down in the basement?" There just weren't that many rooms available on the first floor. People upgraded on occasion, but the influx of trainees superseded that.

"Really, I'm not picky. Anything that hasn't been burning in the pot for hours on end." Or tampered with in the Life labs. Relatively harmless experiments or pranks, but ones Zeke was keen to avoid whenever possible. He preferred the coffee from the break room in the infirmary. "And can't say I've tried civet. Never seemed all that appealing, given the origin."

Auburn brows twitched upward at the room number, and a very faint smirk slid along his lips. "Lucky you, indeed. Say, how's the bed feel to you? I thought it was ridiculously comfortable, but then, I was usually falling into it after a twelve hour shift." And usually not alone. Trainee beds were small indeed when all the occupants were on the tall side.

Most definitely done other things in it.

"Small island, I suppose. Even still, it's quite the coincidence." He watched her with amusement, quite enjoying how easily the color seemed to rise in her cheeks. Poised and demure, but a wealth of emotional reactions, and Zeke was finding he rather liked seeing the effect he could have on her with the simplest of interactions. It made him curious.

Curious enough to reach out. Warm fingers brushing the curve of her ear as he tucked a long strand of hair behind it again. And his hand lingered there, soft against the edge of her jaw. Hazel eyes watching her face, gauging, as he traced that gentle curve down to her chin, and the lightest of draws to coax her closer. A suggestion rather than a demand.

Questions, instead of a warm body in his lap, but he didn't withdraw his hand. It wasn't a completely unexpected question, and that she'd picked up on his and Ever's connection the other night made him think better of her, and her perception. She had a sharp mind and a keen eye.

"We are," he'd confirm with a smile, thing tracing along the line of her jaw in slow strokes. "But we're also not exclusive." He wondered, briefly, how often people feed that line to potential bed partners, and how many of them were sincere and sure in that fact. "We've been a thing for three years, and there have been others for him, and for me." Monogomy want a concept Zeke was against, not really, but it wasn't one he preferred. Ever shared that view, had in fact demanded the lack of exclusivity.

"There's also another girl, a Life trainee named Harley." She and Ever were more than just friends with benefits to Zeke. "You won't be the only one I spend my time with, or my bed, but you're not just some conquest, either." The smile had faded, and tanned features were serious now. "I won't treat you any differently than I do now, whether you want to cross that bridge or not, and I won't lie to you, either."

It'd be up to her.