Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a gentle smile on his lips as he turned his attention back to the breakfast, content to listen to her speaking and rummaging in the background, grabbing fruit and plates and whatever else she needed to set up their meal on the counter top. It felt almost too domestic like this, like they had just crawled out of bed to eat breakfast together, and a deep, aching longing spread through his chest.

It was okay, though. Beside it was a hope, flickering and small, but real.

His gaze broke and looked down at her as she was suddenly there, bumping into his arm to try and get his attention. Levi didn't know if she realized where his thoughts had been, but it was endearing to know that she had drawn him out of those thoughts even if it wasn't intentional.

"You're welcome," he repeated back, finishing up the pancakes and turning the stove top off as he settled the last one onto the short stack he had been frying up. He crossed back to the counter, set it down, and leveled his bright eyes on hers.

"Thanks for agreeing to come. I know you didn't owe it to me but I'm really glad that you're here. I hope you know that."

It took a lot of self control to stop him from slipping his arms around her and forcing her to stay close to him; that chaste, teasing kiss made his skin light like fire and in an instant he could remember the way she tasted, how her flesh felt against his, how her breath sounded next to his ear. It was impulse, he knew, and when she finally turned away from him he grit his teeth so that he wouldn't break his promise to behave.

It was hard, especially since he had no idea if this was all a tease just to see how well he could hold his composure. How good was Levi at denying himself all the things he wanted? Pretty damn good, he thought, because he was dry as a bone in every ******** sense of the world.

"Yeah," he mumbled, rolling his shoulders back, "let's eat."

He had spent a long time on breakfast after all.

The mossy haired man reached for his plate and scooped a couple of pancakes onto it, followed by bacon. He had his syrup open, tipped up, and was spreading it across everything in maybe a bit smaller portion than he would have normally used. So a normal person portion.

"Do you want to sit at the bar or the couch?"

Well, how was he meant to argue with that?

He shook his head a little as he plodded after her, sinking down into the couch and settling his coffee on the table. His plate rested there long enough for him to dig around in the cushions to find the remote and then he was pressing the power on and dragging his plate back into his lap so he could start shoveling it in his mouth.

"Is there something you wanna watch?" He didn't have cable, but he had everything else. He liked the sound of the TV in the background while he worked or late at night now that he was trying to avoid the things that he would have usually been doing in the wee hours of the morning. Life was boring but at least he still had netflix.

At his feet, Sly cried softly and brushed his side into his shins, as if to remind him that he had him, too.

"Stop begging," he mumbled around a bite of bacon, even if there was a smirk on his lips, "you're such a ham."

Levi felt Sylvester slip past him as he was flicking through to Netflix on the tv and he barely spared a 'tut' beneath his breath at the immediate abandonment. Levi was no match for bacon. It was fair.

"Easy," he mumbled, scrolling down to the food channels and searching until he found what she wanted. He wasn't much for cooking shows but he didn't hate them. If it made her happy, who cared? The episode flickered to life and he set the remote down before he immediately began digging into his pancakes.

At his feet, Sly rose up onto his back legs and leaned with his front ones into the couch. One paw reached up and out, trying to knock the bacon out of Jade's fingers.

"The problem is that once you start doing that, he never stops, so I hope you're ready to be his appointed bacon supplier. He's relentless."

Levi smiled brightly at her with mischief in his eyes at her quip. Some quick remark bubbled on his tongue and he almost said it before he swallowed it instead; it was too much, he thought. A year ago he would have made a joke about her having to be here for breakfast more often and made the implication she would have to work for it if she expected him to get up and cook all the time, but he didn't.

He did, however, lean forward and catch her lips with his - it was salty and sweet, a little sticky, but his fingers clasped her chin and he refused to let go. Levi spent not a single breath thinking about it this time; there was only the perfect, hungry crash of his lips into her. The recovering man could withstand a lot with his newfound, practiced patience but being like this, pretending life was normal and easy and letting himself hope, it was a little too much.

When he finally drew back, it was was a ragged breath, and he twirled his fork in his opposite hand idly. The fingers on her chin only dropped once he had sat back straight. While it was tempting, much too tempting, to stop breakfast early he knew what she said and understood the boundaries in place.

"Sorry. You said I could kiss you."

The smirk on his lips was a little apologetic but mostly just a lot pleased with himself.

Levi was not far behind her as he settled his plate atop the table, ignoring the backdrop of the television he had turned on for her and dismissing Sly's flighty panic as they both shifted unexpectedly. He knew he would be back, the scavenger always returned.

"Just one more," he didn't know if he was telling her or himself. It was steady and precise for someone whose eyes were alight with a barely contained passion and he was slipping closer before he could really convince himself he was in control. This time a hand caught her at the small of her back and pulled her close as his lips dipped.

When he caught her lips, it was hungry and passionate, less sweet than the first time. How many times had he kissed her and taken her for granted? When had been the last time? The thought struck him harder than he expected it too and his fingers curled tighter into her jacket, sinking into the fabric to feel the heat of her skin beneath it.

In all the hours of his miserable, sober existence, he had been too afraid to hope that she would want him so much as this.

To his surprise, and delight, she didn't try to stop the hunger as it bubbled up from him and tried to consume her. She sank into him, dug fingers into his hair, and he could hear his heart beating against the back of his sternum in a steady crescendo that begged, more, more, more..

And it was that which stopped him, that which raised all the alarm bells and made him part his lips from her awkwardly. He gasped in the fresh air like it might sober him but all he felt was the chill from the draft and the way her body counteracted that, warm beneath his fingertips. It took a lot of effort but he withdrew them, looking more sorrowful and sad that he had bothered to let her see. Recovery was just denial and wanting tampered down beneath stubbornness.

"That's enough," he mumbled, forcing a smile for her sake, "we've got rules."

He was already reaching for his plate and casting a suspicious, threatening glance at Sly where he was sitting at the opposite side of the coffee table. Wide, green eyes stared up at him innocently and Levi immediately began examining both plates for which one he had been eating off of.

It was easier than facing her, anyway.

Levi felt her gaze on him like a cold front, sinking over his skin and setting all his hairs on end. He plucked a piece of bacon from his plate and munched on it to distract himself, savoring the salt on his tongue and the crunch of the meat in his ears. At least it chased away the taste of her; a bittersweet note.

The people on the TV were saying things, talking about food, all s**t that he really didn't want to hear as he sat there feeling sorry for himself. It was getting tiresome to deny himself over and over and over and considering he had never been much better than a spoiled only child, it was souring his mood. He took another bite of his bacon, ripping a mouthful away from the end he held in his hand. It was cranky, a little angry, but he would be alright.

"Mm," he swallowed, roused from his pouting by her voice next to him again. "I wouldn't be oppose to it, honestly? It might be nice to have someone here to keep us focused anyway."

And he meant it when he said it. At least with someone else around they wouldn't have to be in positions like this, no matter how temporarily perfect they seemed.

"I guess figure out when he's got a free afternoon or night or something? We can meet here if you want, or wherever. I don't know what's easiest for him."