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Whether it was because he was really digging the scritches or because he heard his owner bounding down the steps, Sylvester thought very little before he butted his head against her elbow and crawled right into her inviting lap. He turned in the space of her crossed legs once, twice, three times - then plopped down with a content, vigorous purr vibrating through his chest.

It was just in time for Levi to enter the room and find his ex-girlfriend alone, with his traitorous cat.

"Heeey, Sly, that's not cool." He walked forward and leaned his long arms on the back of the couch, watching the pair of them and playing up the offended look on his sharp face. "I bought you to comfort me, dude, what's this treachery?"

Sly blinked his single eye at him, impassive, and flipped the tip of his tail where it draped over the swell of her thigh. He didn't seem to care at all for this accusation; Jade was warm and he liked scritches. It made Levi laugh despite the air of offense he was trying desperately to hold onto and in the end he just shook his head, sending his damp locks flopping down across his bright eyes.

"I should have known, he's the most shameless thing I've ever met."

"I mean, not just anyone," he commented thoughtfully as he rocked back and forth, still bent over the back of the couch with his eyes locked on Jade and how content she was with his cat. "He doesn't really like Chase at all."

Levi was pretty sure that Sly was much too wise to tangle with that beast.

"Yeah," he shrugged, nonchalant about how quickly he had showered. He didn't want to admit that he was too anxious to be far from her or that he was wary of wasting the time he had to be here. Hell, even looking at her in her comfy clothes and Sly curled up in her lap was too much of a domestic dream for him to handle in that moment - late in the night with his one-eyed pal curled up on his chest, he had always wondered what it would be like to have Jade there too. A solemn look stole over his face before he could banish it and his only response was to stand back up and turn to the kitchen. At least with his back to her, she wouldn't be able to see his faltering.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to stay here forever then. I guess he's not such a traitor after all." He called over his shoulder with a voice lighter than he felt, then headed to begin pulling things out of the fridge.

Sylvester didn't seem to care whether Levi was there or not as he rolled back against her stomach and butted his head into her elbow again, begging for attention.

The warm, bright laugh that bubbled out of her was enough to bring the smile back to his lips and beat back the bit of lonely darkness he had let take him for a breath. The counter was slowly becoming littered with different things; eggs, flour, milk, bacon. Then he was pouring water into a coffee pot and scooping out grounds, moving through it all mechanically like he had done in a hundred times.

Truth be told, breakfast foods were some of the easiest to cook and though not always the most healthy, he felt more confident in himself. Levi had never been particularly accomplished as a cook. He'd never been one to suffer for money at the position he held in the company but his bank account was still a lot more happy with the amount of times he had cut out ordering food now.

"You've uncovered my master plan, Argent," he mumbled as the he shut the lid of the coffee pot and mashed the on button. When he turned around, he gave her an amused look over the counter where she was sitting with the great fluffball, "lure you here with my charming good looks and keep you with my cat. It's foolproof."

A low laugh echoed hers and he was turning again, setting a pan on the stove and letting the blue flame of his gas burner flicker to life. In no time, he was deep in the machinations of frying bacon and the room started to fill with the scent of meat and coffee.

Which seemed to be enough to finally coax Sylvester up and from Jade's lap. He left without a backward glance and rounded the corner to cry up at Levi, butting his head against the back of his legs.

"Oh now you want my attention, hm?"

"I've got to impress you again somehow, don't I?"

He was smirking lightly as he turned around, leaving his sizzling bacon to fry unattended while he set about measuring dry ingredients into a bowl. He seemed, so far, to be a very a**l cook - he scooped his flour and leveled it off, dropping down to make sure that it was even before he dumped into the bowl. It was a testament to his critical eye and honestly right on course for his obsessive behaviors.

The man hadn't missed the way her shirt rode up to bare a patch of smooth skin or the swell of her hip as she leaned one into the counter near him. He was just a lot better about not commenting on it as his eyes danced across her stomach and hip and then finally up to her eyes.

"Um," he rolled his eyes up and away from her as he thought, hand poised around a bottle of vanilla extract. "I've been learning to cook, I also started practicing guitar a little again which I honestly haven't done since highschool, and honestly? Video games. I've been playing a lot of the really mental based ones like Kerbal Space Program and a little bit of City Skylines."

He shrugged, then poured his vanilla into the spoon he had selected, dropping it in and reaching to begin cracking eggs.

"I'm trying to stay clear of, I dunno, something like six addictions right? There's a lot of time left to fill once you take all of that away, even with better sleeping habits."

Levi paused where he was whisking together the pancake mix and glanced up at her offer. He remembered that she played even if it had never been the focus of any of their days or goals with her channel but he had never gotten the chance to actually watch her do it.

"I mean, I'm really rusty..." he trailed off, then glanced back down at his batter as he set back to whisking it. "But I would like that, if you're up to it? Everything about us before just felt like we were an extension of work. Not that it was bad, it's just hard to relax with you when I feel like we're putting on a show for fans or filming for your channel. Just having something for us would be nice."

The whisk was tossed into the stainless steel basin of his sink before he turned with the bowl he was using and set it next to the stove. Bacon was flipped, oil was poured, and the first pancake set to bubbling in the small frying pan he had been heating. It was only then that he pulled his eyes back up to hers; he knew when he did that his face was too raw because his heart was aching in his chest. Everything about this was so mundane and normal, as if he hadn't nearly died, as if the last words he nearly heard were hers with tears in them and a curse for him on her lips. His throat constricted and he drew an unsteady breath.

"This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, Jade." His face was solemn; he was tired of smiling and teasing. It was a record, he was sure - it couldn't have even been 9AM yet. "Pretending we're something other than what we were, it's..."

He shook his head as his words trailed off. A hip leaned into the counter and his arms crossed over his chest defensively.

The tall, lanky man could feel his mood plummeting and whether or not it was all the tension with Jade alone or a combination of her and the crash of protein and energy he had taken earlier, he couldn't say. He tapped the back of his knuckles against the counter and let his eyes drop to the floor as her words washed over him.

They weren't what he wanted to hear. He felt vulnerable and too open, exposed and raw in ways that he ******** hated. There was a little voice in the back of his mind, though, that told him that it was not bad to feel that way - emotions were meant to dissected and digested. Most days he wanted to beat his head into a wall to stop those ingrained diatribes that haunted him but today he knew that he needed it to remind himself.

"I know," he sighed at last, reached out to flip the pancake in the pan. "I just didn't ever think that this would even be a thing to consider and now that there's this maybe hanging there between us I can't stop this itch under my skin every time I look at you."

Truth be told, he felt like he was getting a headache from the tension he carried from just trying not to touch her. He forced a weak smile back onto his lips and leaned off of the counter so he could reach up and open the cabinet with his coffee mugs.

"Obviously it's time for coffee, I'm getting cranky."

With his back to her, his teeth grit. His hand was poised over his favorite coffee mug but didn't descend. Dimly, he was aware that she would know he was avoiding what she had said but he couldn't bring himself to turn around just yet. He knew his eyes would be angry and hurt and he closed him so that he wouldn't force her to look up at that raw, impulsive reaction to her words.

Jade was trying to help, he knew it.

He drew in a slow, steady breath and finally set his coffee mug on the counter, followed by another one that was clearly for her benefit. When he turned to look at her, he seemed raw but in control of himself, even if all he wanted to do was punch something out of frustration.

"Do you honestly think I'm better off without you in my life?"

Long fingers drummed into the granite of his countertop as he leaned back against it. He didn't know what he could say to make this situation okay but he felt... what? annoyed? angry? let down? He felt he was owed his pain and anger, his suffering and aches. Ignoring things had gotten him into the bind he had been in the first place and he knew that Jade was the only thing that had pulled him back out.

"I walked out of a darkness that could have killed me because of you, Jade. You standing next to me isn't going to make me want to go back to it. I'm just... frustrated and confused. I think I'm allowed that."

"I mean, that's just it though, Jade? I don't know what we should do."

A sigh fell between them but he had the forethought to reach out and scoop the pancake out of the pan and onto a plate. Another batch settled to cook and he looked back over at her where she stood, frazzled and looking so out of place in a space that he had once thought felt more warm with her in it. It made his stomach flip.

"Jade," he pushed himself away from the counter and moved closer. There was a deep regret already for having said anything at all but he knew he couldn't hold those thoughts in, either. They needed to be voiced because they needed to do more than just play at being okay and fine. Two slender hands reached up and braced on either side of her face - it was gentle, but not intruding. He made no move to hold her close or kiss her, he was still standing at his full height and staring down at those beautiful, deep blue eyes.

"I want you more than anything in this world. If you said you wanted me right now I would drop whatever this act is we're playing at. So when you feel like you have an answer to what we are, or what we aren't if you decide that instead, then I'm here." His hands slipped away slowly, falling to his sides, "but if you're gonna wait for me to tell you that I'm stable or that I'm confident that I've got my s**t together, then I might never have a green light for that. It's not like I just... get to cross a finish line and say I'm all better."