Pao
Eggs, bacon, and toast--the most domestic feeling breakfast, and Rhys was happily scarfing down a plate. The morning had been as normal as normal could be at the outpost; a freezing cold run followed by a bath and now breakfast. If it wasn't for the fact that they were here to monitor that one spot near a tree along the side of the lake for any supernatural activity, it kinda just felt like they were on a nice vacation.

While he sipped his coffee, though, his thoughts went back to these kinds of mornings he had growing up...and then he wondered what it had been like for Seren, who was currently sitting across from him. He blinked and then cleared his throat, setting his mug down before putting more food on his plate. "Babe," he started, giving her a thoughtful glance. "You said I could ask questions, right? I kinda just thought of one." He paused, a little concerned look crossing his face before continuing.

"Were your mornings quiet, like this, before?"

Aria
She was quietly eating, enjoying the peace of breakfast with him. Seren had a large cup of tea next to her, not having been in a mood for coffee this morning. The feeling of domestic comfort was enough to make her relax and not worry about what the world would throw at them today, not until it happened.

Then he spoke, and his comment about asking questions made her shoulders tense. She had meant it, but it did mean she had to talk about... the past. She tilted her head, in a silent invitation for him to continue, despite the tension in her shoulders. His question, though, had her sigh softly, and she sat her cuppa back on the table, and pushed her slice of toast around, trying to figure out how to describe it.

Finally, she said "As a little kid... when I was too small to cook for myself, no matter how much I tried, mornings were... simple enough, I suppose. I was gotten up, dressed, fed, and then left to my own devices to the extent my Mother could manage. Once I was old enough that I could manage it, I was... expected to prepare my own food, and eat it. Never too much, and never to get in the way." She was staring at her plate, trying to not think too hard about what she was saying.

"Once Dai was born, even more so... And I often was expected to prepare meals for him, too, once he was eating solid food." Her voice was pretty blank of emotions as she spoke. "Occasionally even for all of them. Cook it, serve them, get out of the way. That kind of thing... I... only ever had quiet breakfasts after they boarded off the door to the main house, and those were even more lonely."

Pao
He had started eating again when she began speaking, assuming the answer would be easier to listen to than it turned out to be. About halfway through he put his fork down and washed down his last bite with a little bit of coffee before listening to the rest with quiet concern and sadness. Much like his own admission on their first night there, she sounded like she was disconnecting herself with what she was saying just to get through it all. So when she finished he reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to give her what bit of comfort the gesture would offer.

"I'm..." he started, then sighed and held back the urge to start badmouthing those people. Because they were still her parents, and he sensed, based on her reaction to the way he described his parents, that deep down she still loved them to some degree. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, love. And I'm kinda sorry I asked...having to dredge it up...I know it's tough..."

Aria
She held his hand, and slowly took a deep breath, and another sip of her tea, before she looked back up at him, a slight, wistful smile on her face. "I know, babe. I know you don't want to cause me pain, or anything. And I said you could. I meant it... In the long run, it's better you know."

She picked up her toast, and chewed on it, a little meditatively. "Just not easy to talk about, or think about. I probably will never find it easy. Doesn't mean I don't want you to ask the questions you want to ask."

Pao
He gave her a comforting, if apologetic smile and squeezed her hand again, his thumb caressing it slowly. "Yeah, in the long run. I still feel bad asking, or at least...knowing you went through so much..."

He paused and looked into her eyes, still smiling weakly. "It hurts for me to hear, I guess, knowing I can't do anything to make it better for you."

Aria
She gave his hand a soft squeeze, looking lovingly but solemnly into his. "I understand. I feel the same, knowing the things you've told me." She lifted their linked hands, and leaned to kiss the back of his. "But knowing you're here? Having these quiet, peaceful times with you are... Incredible. Maybe the past hurts but it means the here and now is... all the more amazing with you."

She ate some more of her food, watching him quietly after that, wondering if she was making sense. It made sense in her head, but sometimes she wondered if she was jumbling the messages she was trying to get across.

Pao
"Yeah, pretty much how I feel..." he said, taking his turn to kiss her hand this time. It made perfect sense to him, what she was saying, since aside from specific events they both grew up in basically the same situation--on their own with no one to rely on.

He finally let hand go and went back to his plate, wondering how to push the conversation in a much lighter direction.

Aria
Some hours later, while they were stuck in the observation room, she came back from getting them both cups of water to drink, and settled into her chair. She was gazing absently into the screens, looking lost in thought. She placed his cup in reach for him, then settled back to sip hers. Finally, she glanced at him, and with an amused look, she said "You know, you've mentioned you were into sports but..."

She scratched her head a little, then said "You never told me what sport was the one you were playing? If it doesn't bother you, I mean. It just sort of occurred to me."

Pao
Rhys had his eye on the monitors to the point that his vision had gone a bit bleary, so when she got back with some water he was glad for the distraction. He really, really wished he brought that book to read at this point, but he took the cup with a quiet, "Thanks, babe," before sipping it and closing his eyes for a second.

When she spoke, he opened his eyes and looked over, clearly still a bit dazed but otherwise alright. "Oh, uh, football. That b*****d of a coach got me started in middle school, but high school was my escape because I didn't have to go to that rec center again and I just kept playing at school." He rubbed at his eyes for a bit as he turned his chair to face her.

"How come?"

Aria
She glanced him over, curiously, somehow not having thought of him as a football guy, but just quirks her lips up in a smile. "Don't know. It just popped into my head that you'd mention sports, athletes, etc... But never anything specific, and I guess it simmered in the back of my head until now. I just was curious, mainly." She paused, then chuckled, shaking her head.

Her tone turned wry and a little teasing. "Never would have, back in school, pictured myself as dating a former jock... I was too busy being a science nerd."

Pao
The daze slowly faded, replaced with just amusement by the time she took on that teasing tone. "Still a jock," he said, and rather proudly too, "I never gave up sports, just switched up my focus." And while many would consider CrossFit not a sport, he was not among them. "And kinda took on fitness as a lifestyle in general."

He rolled over, gently bumping into her chair in the process, and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. "You're still kind of a nerd though, babe. I bet you could rock that sexy messy bun and glasses look."

Aria
She chuckled softly at him, sipping hey water. "I suppose. I just always associated 'jock' with high school. But whatever. You're my jock, and that's what matters to me." She gave him a bright smile, and shrugged. "And yeah, you're good at it, the whole fitness thing."

She blinks, and then laughs at him. "I already rock the glasses. I just wish I could skip, sometimes. But ya think? Maybe I could try it, see what you think of the look." She leaned over and kissed his nose.

Pao
"You do rock those glasses, babe." He smirked, imagination perhaps running a little rampant when she said she might possibly try for his benefit. "I'm serious, though. Hot librarian Seren," he went on, waggling his eyebrows very suggestively. "Not gonna lie, it's maybe one of my hot buttons. And imagining you in it..."

Playfully, despite being dead serious, he gave a low, very impressed whistle.

Aria
She blushed at the 'hot librarian Seren' comment, and even more at the whistle, and couldn't resist getting up to give him a kiss, slow and loving, before pulling back to return to her seat for duty. "Mmm I'll have to see if I can... put something together, then. Hot Librarian is more than just glasses and a messy bun, after all." Despite her blushes, she meant it.

If he liked the idea of her dressing up that way for him, well... She'd have to do something about it.

Pao
He leaned up and into the kiss for however long it lasted, and when she pulled away he had to fight the urge to just...keep her there and keep on kissing her. At least he got to watch her very briefly walk away, though, and that view was pretty nice, too, so he pulled that bright smile just for her. "Oo, and the way you blush, too. ********' perfect, wow..."

Then he paused, a more serious tone taking over for a second. "I love you 'cause I know you're not just teasin' me when you say that, but you should probably wait? Until, you know..." and he didn't sound upset or too disappointed this time, especially knowing she was willing to try something like that just for him. Just stating a little fact, a little reminder. "I wasn't kidding about it being a hot button, but if the night ends like that night...yeah."

Aria
She fanned her cheeks, because every damn compliment just made the blushes get redder. She took a sip of her water, trying to calm the blushes down, feeling so good about herself, and him, and... Their relationship, but still at the same time feeling awkward cause she was blushing. He was so good at making her red, it was amazing.

She tilted her head at his next comment, and simply reached across the distance between them to take his hand. "I wouldn't do that to you, Babe. Once we've gotten there, we'll have all the time in the world to explore fantasies like this for us. I'm not trying to rush you, after all."

Pao
It really was adorable to him to see her blush like that, adorable and amusing and just generally amazing. He would never have thought he could get those reactions out of anyone, really, though to be fair he also never noticed if he had before because he hardly ever paid anyone any kind of attention.

With a soft smile he took her hand and gave it a little squeeze, nodding. "I know, baby. I trust you, just sometimes I get carried away? So maybe catching myself sooner would make it easier on the both of us." Almost as soon as he said that, he raised a brow very, very curiously. "I'm not the only one with fantasies, right?"

Aria
She slowly managed to get her blushes back under control, glad he didn't feel the need to take that photo he'd mock threatened her with some time ago. Instead, she simply caressed his hand, gently, enjoying the physical connection with her boyfriend.

His smile just made her feel good, every time he showed it to her. She loved seeing him look happy in her company. "Mmm I know... It's why I'll remember you said these things to me... But won’t take action on them until we get to the point where it's safe for us to get carried away." She returned the gentle squeeze, eyes soft and loving. "And of course you're not the only one with fantasies." Her tone was pert and teasing.

Pao
The small connection made so much difference and helped him to quickly get over the thoughts that were, despite his efforts, starting to peek in from the back of his mind. Support, he was quickly learning, really did make a difference, and to know that Seren had his back and was willing to wait for him, even work with him, to fix his issues...he couldn't have asked for a better girlfriend. And he couldn't help but always feel like the luckiest guy with all these reminders.

When she confirmed that she did have fantasies his eyebrows went up a little higher and he gripped her hand a little tighter so he could pull himself closer to her. "C'mon, spill, babe. Just one, we'll keep it even."

Aria
She just watched him, enjoying the way they could talk and connect, for a long moment, and then her grin became pert when he pulled himself to her. Hmmm how to respond? What to spill? She considered, her eyes going lost in thought, nibbling at her lip a little. Finally, she leaned her head back, and said "Well you know I have a rope kink... I... would like to find out..." She was very red faced, because while he knew, and he'd just told her his fantasy, this one... sometimes it felt a little too much.

"What it's like to be totally under your control." She couldn't quite meet his gaze, because it felt like she was admitting something bad... Partly because of her issues with abuse, but she did want to find out, because she wanted to be able to let go enough to let him do that.

Pao
Watching her deliberate was very possibly the best kind of torture, particularly when she was nibbling at her lip, so he was paying his fullest attention when she finally started answering. He blinked through almost all of it, starting from when she mentioned her rope kink through to the end. It was surprising but at the same time actually gave him ideas.

"Totally under my control?" he asked once he cleared his head of a few of those ideas. And he smiled, a mix of playful and sly rolled together in the expression. "If my thoughts were displayed on a TV, babe, I'm kinda wondering how red you'd turn." But he had to pause after shoving the rest of those ideas into the "our future" box he had in his head.

"I'm into it," he said with a little nod, "but I wouldn't do anything you're not okay with. You trust me, right?"

Aria
She was basically as red as she could be by the time she finished, so it was probably for the best that she couldn't see what was in his head. Instead, she just bit her lip again, and listened. When he asked, confirmed what she was saying was really what she meant, she just nodded, and arched her brows, suddenly curious, in all the best ways, about what he came up with. But she wasn't going to ask.

It would spoil the sweet, gentle form of torture that would come when he had her in his control, because part of it was the anticipation.

Instead, she simply smiled a little, her blush still present but fading. "I... am glad to hear that. All of that." His last question, though, cooled her blushes fully, bringing her back to that serious/loving expression she got when he said something that she felt needed affirmation. "More then I've trusted anyone, ever, Rhys. I've never wanted to be that... vulnerable... with anyone else.

Pao
He smiled softly and nodded. Trusting someone as fully as he trusted Seren, and being trusted to the same extent, was something so new to him that yes, he did need affirmation sometimes. And he was glad she was always willing to give him that support whenever he needed it.

"Good," he replied, smile turning a bit teasing, "so what's your safe word? For future reference."

Aria
She was always willing to show him how much she trusted him. It amazed her that she could trust someone this much, because she'd never believed she'd give that much of herself to anyone, but the best laid plans and all that... She squeezed his hand again, gently, glancing at the monitors, before looking back at him.

His question earned him a slightly amused look. "Somebody has done some research." She teased him, gently, then said "But I don't have one, as yet. Never needed one before. I'll have to think of something appropriate."

Pao
The amusement on her face brightened up his smile again, and he gently squeezed her hand back. "Kinda like your books, I looked into some things outta curiosity. If it matters to you then I wanna at least know a bit about it."

Gently he brought her hand to his lips before letting go and rolling back to his spot. They were still on duty, after all. "So yeah, you do that, love. Never know when you'll finally get to use it."

Aria
She mmm'd softly, his words making her feel very good. Knowing he wanted to know this stuff for her meant a lot. She made a mental note to start looking up information on things like parkour and football, and CrossFit, in case his interests in them were ever something she needed to understand more about.

She shivered at the kiss, and nodded, ears a little pink. "I'll work on that... and make sure you know before it's ever an issue." She settled back into her chair, thinking about it while watching the screens for the rest of the shift. Right when it was time to finish up for the evening, she got up, wandered over to him, and whispered "Let's go with Mango. I can't imagine another reason to use that word in the bedroom..." Before sliding to go cook.