((Trigger Warnings: Discussion of multiple forms of child abuse.))
Pao
It was still pretty early when he woke up, and since she wasn't awake yet he carefully wriggled out of her grasp and slipped out of bed. The "no shirt" thing he decided the night before was biting him in the butt now, so he spent a few seconds scrounging for a shirt and a jacket in the dark (hopefully without waking her) before heading out to the kitchen to make her breakfast. He could manage eggs, bacon, and pancakes without burning anything down, thankfully. How good it would be was his biggest concern...

When he was done he found a tray and put everything on it, cup of tea included, and made his way back to the room.

Aria
When he left her arms, she was still pretty solidly asleep, and almost immediately started questing for him with her hands. It didn't take long for her to find his pillow, instead, and she pulled it against her, face buried into it because it was warm, and had a hint of the scent of him in it. She settled back down, perhaps not as solidly as before, or as she would in his arms, but still sleeping.

When he came back, she would be completely curled around his pillow, in fact.

Pao
He set the tray down on the nightstand on his side, a warm, if slightly amused, smile on his lips as he watched her hug "him" with all of her sleeping might. "Damn, I love this girl, I swear..." he muttered, still smiling as he carefully sat on the bed, one arm propping him up as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Rise and shine, beautiful," he whispered before kissing her again.

Aria
The first kiss got her eyelashes fluttering some, and the words with the second kiss earned him the sight of her eyes slowly opening, with sleep-confusion making her look a little hazy for a long moment. She blinked, slowly, processing that she was not, in fact, cuddling him, but his pillow, and she blushed, half sitting up, and looking at him in confusion for a long moment.

Finally she gave him a sleepy smile, and said "Good morning, Rhys... Why..." and then she noticed the tray on the bedside table, and her eyes widened a little, before she gave him a sweet smile, her hand sliding to caress his.

Pao
His smile was steady as he watched her, gaze full of love, and waited patiently for her to fully wake up. The brunette chuckled at the blush and moved to help her sit up all the way. "Morning, love," he replied and was about to go on when he saw that she saw what he'd gone and done. And he sweetly smiled back, taking her hand and giving a squeeze before lifting it up to give it a kiss.

"You've been making me breakfast this whole time, just thought I'd try and surprise you. Give you a little extra time in bed." Rhys carefully reached for the tray and picked it up, setting it down so it was within her reach. And then he picked up the tea and offered it to her.

"I can't guarantee the taste of any of this, though."

Aria
The kiss to her hand got the shiver it usually did in response, but a soft smile, and she made sure to give his cheek a soft caress before she let her hand drop. While he grabbed the tray, she snagged her glasses, so she could see properly, and leaned back, watching him, a smile of love and amazement on her face.

His words earned a soft chuckle, and she murmured "That you did this for me is... wonderful, love." She took the tea, and sipped it, slowly, eyes half closing for a moment. She loved tea, and that he had worked that out so quickly warmed her as much as the tea warmed her belly. She finally set the cup on the tray, and began to eat.

And she was enjoying it. It might not be what she could make, or anything, but it wasn't bad, and it just meant a lot that he'd done that for her.

Pao
He was happy to watch her eat what he made this time, not as his teacher but as the person he intentionally cooked for because he wanted to make her happy. That she wasn't gagging was very much a big bonus.

And as he sat and watched he couldn't help but think about her parents again and what their deal was. Why they hated her and treated her as awful as they did...he wanted to know, but he didn't quite want to ruin her breakfast so instead he gave her knee a little tap.

"Finish eating, babe, and just leave the dishes. When I get back I'll eat and do 'em up real quick. Just have a slow, relaxing morning, yeah?" He was already up and headed for the door, but he turned back and shot her that bright smile. "See you when I get back."

Aria
She blinked at him, at the tap, always amused that he used that as way to get her attention. She sometimes wondered if he knew how sensitive knees could be, especially when handled by someone a person was attracted to. She didn't say anything, though, just tilted her head in a quiet query.

His words earned a soft sigh but she nodded in response. "All right, love... I admit, this is one thing I can't wait to get home for... I miss running with you." She gave the outside wall a dirty look, as if it were to blame for all the snow out there, before looking back at him with love in her eyes. "Have a good run, though, babe."

She watched him leave, and only once he was out of sight did she go back to eating.

Pao
It was already mid-morning by the time Rhys finished cleaning up in the kitchen and showering, and since he was still in a very good mood he had snuck up behind Seren and playfully picked her up, carrying her to the couch to just snuggle up to and warm up with underneath a blanket.

Aria
She had been standing at one of the windows, gazing out at the Winter Wonderland, or at least the freezing cold expanse of snow, that the outpost was dead in the middle of, utterly lost in her thoughts, which made it quite easy for him to sneak up on her... When he scooped her up, she eeked, startled, almost panicking, and then laughing at him. "Goof!" She said, and then snuggled in close once they were under the blankets.

Pao
"Your goof," he shot back before giving her a little kiss. "Your goof that you love." There was a hint of pride in his voice when he said that, and again he gave her another kiss, lingering a bit before pulling away and relaxing into the couch. "I figure we could just relax like this before shutting up in that observation room for who knows how long again."

And then he grimaced. "Or before we have to go outside to check on the gizmos set up by the lake."

Aria
"Yes... my goof that I love very much..." She murmured before the second kiss, and kissed him back, sighing softly but happily. His comments made her make a face. "I'd rather 5 hours of sitting on my a** in that room then going to freeze said a** off trying to check on the goddamn frisbee things for a mere five minutes." She sighed and pressed a soft kiss to his neck, before resting her head on his shoulder, arms around him.

Pao
He wrinkled his nose at both those ideas, though that quickly turned into a small smile when she kissed his neck. "I'd rather 5 hours like this," he replied as he settled his arms around her as well.

"We could technically stay like this in the observation room..." he mused. "And then I can go out on my own to do the routine checks so you can stay all warm in here."

Aria
She mmm's softly, cuddled into him more, and says "Yes, five hours like this would be more then delightful. I wish we could just stay here on the couch for the rest of the day. " She sighs and nuzzles into him, closing her eyes for a minute.

His words, though, made her smile. "I mean we could, yes... If you think it won’t be too distracting for us both?" She wondered about that... Cuddled in like this was very comfortable. "And you're just utterly spoiling me today, love."

Pao
His smile softened as she cuddled into him, eyes full of love for the woman in his arms. "We'll do that on leave," he said, very matter-of-fact. "And it shouldn't be? The thing beeps, and we won't be making out the whole time." The brunette chuckled and gave her a little bit of a squeeze. "We could though, if you want."

"You spoil me, too, most days. I can't really do much more than massages and maybe decent breakfasts, and since I can do both here..." he shrugged and leaned down slightly to give her a kiss on the forehead.

Aria
She couldn't resist nuzzling his neck a little, mmmming softly, enjoying the scent of him. "Definitely something to do on leave, just relax and snuggle for hours." She arched a brow, and chuckled at the 'whole time' bit. "Mmmm making out on duty... How terribly naughty that would be."

The forehead kiss earned another mmm sound, and a smile, her eyes opening again to gaze up at him, meeting his beautiful green eyes. "I just think of it as taking care of the man I love, honestly... And what you do is more than that. You keep me centered, you remind I have a good reason to live... You help me help myself."

Pao
He smirked at the word "naughty," wondering if making out really counted for the kind of thing. Then again, it was during work hours so...maybe. "All the more we should go for it?" Rhys shrugged, half serious, half joking. "I highly doubt anyone's watching, and if they are," he shrugged again, "we can give 'em something fun to watch."

He locked eyes with her, quickly getting lost in her very captivating blue eyes, though they softened a bit as she spoke. "I mean I get all that," he said, smile small but still full of affection. "But physically doing things for you, I wanna do that, too. You definitely do both for me, so I just wanna...you know. Do the same."

Aria
She began to laugh at his logic, her eyes closing in her delight and amusement. "Well we can certainly give it a try if you would like, my dearest. If we get taken to task, or I hear that someone was watching, it'll be the last time on duty, however." She shook her head, amused, and opened her eyes again.

His words made her flush happily, and rather then verbally replying, at least initially, she leaned up to give him a soft, and slow, loving kiss, trying to silently show him she felt he did more the enough for her in her mind, but that she appreciated what he wanted to do, too. Finally she broke the kiss to murmur "If it makes you happy, Rhys."

Pao
The brunette simply nodded. It was fair enough that they stop for the reasons she listed, so he sighed rather contentedly and focused on just being there, with her, for now and...at least a few more days. He was dreading the ending of this fairly blissful week already.

He sank into the kiss, feeling every bit of the emotions she was trying to convey through it until she broke away. "You make me happy, Seren," was his very brief and murmured reply before he caught her lips in another tender but very loving kiss. It was another long moment before he pulled away, breathing a bit heavy as he smiled. "I really could do this all day," he said with a little chuckle.

Aria
She closed her eyes at his words, a happy expression in her face, because every time she was reminded that she made him happy, her heart felt like it was swelling with joy. His kiss made her wrap her arms a little tighter around him, shivering a little from the depth of the emotion. By the time he broke the kiss, she was taking slow, deep breathes.

"So could I, love, so could I." Her eyes opened again, and she slide her fingers up to caress his cheeks softly. "Sadly, we have duty but... let's make it more interesting today, as per your suggestion, yes?"

Pao
Rhys leaned into her touch, smile soft as he nodded. "Sounds like it'll be a good time," he smirked and gave her a quick little kiss. "But then, time with you is always good so the kissing's just a bonus." And then another kiss. "A... really, really huge bonus." And then another. "Pretty much the best kind of bonus, not counting what we can't do yet."

Aria
She laughed at his words, kissing him back each time, her eyes crinkling with amusement at his silly but honest words. She could not argue that kisses with her boyfriend were a definite bonus... better then bonus pay in her head, and bonus pay was ******** awesome. His last words, though, had her lips quirking up in a small smile. "That will come in time. When it does, I will do my best to make that the best bonus I can give you."

Pao
He could really only nod at her words. It was easier to say now, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't suck to admit that this was where his boundaries were for the time being. "I know, love," he answered softly and kissed her once more. Short and sweet and as a quick thanks that she was so willing to wait.

When he broke the kiss again he hugged her a bit tighter against him, smile widening. "Is it weird to think that a guy like me is still a virgin?"

Aria
She kissed him back, a happy and soft murmur slipping out of her lips as they kissed. When he broke it, her fingers just slipped up to caress his face lovingly, her eyes full of how much he meant to her. She didn't mind the wait, she only minded if he got hurt again.

His words earned a slight quirk of her lips. "If I had found that out before I knew your story, I possibly would have been surprised, yes... You're gorgeous, you were a football player, and you've just a hint of 'bad boy' to you, with that distance you usually keep between you and others... All of those combine to make someone most girls would find quite enticing. But I don't care... Indeed, when it happens, I will be honored and flattered to be your first."

Pao
His story...the words caused the brightness in his smile to fade just a little bit, and he had to fight to keep himself from sighing about it again. The fact that he was still messed up by what happened to him as a kid was obviously a huge setback, and probably the worst part about it was that he never tried to work through it because he'd never really bought into the whole falling in love bit until Seren came along and made him want to at least try.

"My teammates did think I was really weird," he said, again leaning into her touch for a bit of comfort as he cleared his head of those unpleasant thoughts. "But yeah, they didn't know my story so I never took it badly. It was what it was kinda thing?"

And then he paused and reached up, mirroring her gesture and gently cupping her cheek. "Speaking of, what's the full story with your parents, exactly? I know they're pretty ******** up from everything you've already said about 'em but if there's more..." he frowned, thumb gently caressing her cheek. "If there's more and you wanna talk about it, I mean, I'm all ears."

Aria
She saw the way the brightness faded, and leaned up to give him another gentle, comforting kiss, because she just wanted to make him happy. He was her happiness... She wanted to be his. His words made her make a face. "Eh. Your teammates can go ******** off for all I care. You weren't weird. Lots of people choose that path for many reasons... Religion, health, whatever, and no one should judge you for it. Having sex, or not having sex, was your business and yours alone."

His question, however, made all the brightness drain from her face. She sort of collapsed against his chest, and sighed softly. "The hardest question of them all... Finally we get to it." She takes several slow, deep breathes, her eyes closing as she tried to figure out where and how to start this messy tale. It took another minute before she began to speak.

"My parents had very sincere plans for their lives, and that included their children. They expected their first born to be a boy. To the point where they insisted that as soon as gender was supposed to be tellable from the tests, the doctor should do so. Though they never outright said it to me, I think if they'd known I was a girl, they would have aborted. The doctor said male."

She took another breath, before continuing. "The estimated delivery date was sometime in Mid-April, a day my parents considered Auspicious. Instead, I was born on April First, a girl, and my parents were furious. They named me a beautiful name, a beautiful word... But from the time I got home, until they realized it might make trouble for them if I didn't answer to my own name in school, they called me Jeoju, a word in Korean meaning 'curse.' I was... often blamed for things going wrong... But things were not as terrible as they could be. I was mostly ignored and neglected... But I had a bedroom, and just enough food. Then she got pregnant again." She shivered softly, remembering. "I was... moved to the basement, so there would be rooms for Dai and guests."

Pao
When her faced drained basically all of its color he knew this story would be incredibly similar to his own, at least in the way that it affected her, so he was preparing himself to just offer her as much comfort as she would need. His arms wrapped entirely around her, holding her safely against him, one hand comfortingly stroking her back as she spoke.

As she continued to speak he could only sigh and continue to hold her, giving her the silence to breathe and compose herself as she needed to. He just wanted her to know that he was there to listen, to comfort and to alleviate as much pain as he could in whatever way he knew how, as long as she needed him to.

Aria
She sighed, after a pause, then continued her story. "The basement was a nightmare for a five-year-old girl who had the ability to see Shadows. It had many dark corners, and it was extremely difficult to light it all... And with the number of lamps I was allowed, there was no way." She said 'allowed' in a very deliberate way, making it very clear that was the important word here. "I had nightmares, regularly, and was told not to wake anyone else, especially not her, as she was pregnant." She brushed her hair back, then continued. "When Dai came home, I was... discouraged from over interacting with him, unless I was doing duties such as aiding in his care, or babysitting... Responsible, they were... They had a five-year-old girl babysitting their newborn."

"I was expected to cook, and clean, to aid around the house and 'earn my keep'. I was also expected to not eat too much, because it was expensive and they needed that money to care for little Dai. As we got older, I was pushed more and more away from Dai, because they saw very quickly that Dai was fond of me and they objected... Especially once he started being afraid of the dark. I was told to keep my cursed self from him... I was told that the shadows, you see, were either a sign I was mad, or more proof of my curse, that I was causing the home to be haunted with shadow monsters. So I had to try not to encourage Dai to visit me, even when he was scared in the night of the shadows, because... Well, we'll get to that." She sighed, saving the worst piece for last.

"It got nastier as I got older. I was told bluntly I had to do well in school, because there was not a chance in hell that they would pay for college, or anything at all, once I turned 18. Finally, for my fifteenth birthday, I was seated at the table, and told I was far too expensive to feed and had to get a job to lessen the costs. That was how I ended up working at Burger King, and how I met my exes." She paused, taking a breath before the worst.

Pao
Again he was silent still, his chest tight as he listened to the hurt in her voice from all of this. And he just hugged her close, occasionally kissing her forehead or stroking her hair or doing something to remind her that he was still there. It was hard to resist the urge to comment about how screwed up he thought here parents were, to treat her that way ever since she was born, but he knew it wouldn't help any so he did his best.

When she paused he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, hoping it would be some form of comfort she could gain strength from. "If you need to take a break, babe," he murmured, eyes and expression just full of worry and concern for the pain she was going through as she rehashed all of this.

Aria
She appreciated his comforting and his presence... But she also was very focused on the things she was saying, because if she got too distracted, she might not have the courage to continue. When he offered her a break, she gave him a weak but loving smile. "If I stop now, it will be harder still to continue later. But thank you, darling..." She took another deep breath before she continued.

"You already know what happened after I met Mical and Terri... And how all that went down." She paused, then said "So one other thing started, about a month after Dai came home... And I suppose that the one good thing that came out of it was that this thing stopped." She began to tremble, just a little, against him. "So a month after Dai came home, one day I heard my father scream 'JEOJU. GET UP HERE.' He'd never yelled at me before to come like that, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I went up, and found out that Dai had developed croup. I didn't even know what that meant, but apparently it was all my fault. My father screamed that I needed to be punished, and took me to the living room. He made me kneel in front of the fireplace, on the bricks there... and demanded I take off my shirt."

Her hand slid to her back, in a conscious gesture this time. "He proceeded to take off his belt once I had done so, and... began to beat me. I cried, I screamed... He told me if I screamed, more, he'd beat me more. It took time to learn to cry in silence... and then to not cry, though that was something they wanted. Crying amused them." She paused, and said "Them, because mother would watch, and laugh. From that point forwards, if anything went wrong in the house, or to one of the rest of the family, it was my fault because I was cursed, and I would be beaten for it. They tried to get Dai to watch, to learn to appreciate it... Like everything else they did to make him dislike me, it failed. Instead, it terrorized him." She went silent, and pressed her face to his chest.

Pao
He only nodded when she refused him, still doing what he could to comfort her as she went on...to probably the worst part of all of it. Rhys clenched his jaw a number of times as he listened, doing his best to squash down the anger that was already threatening to boil over. But yelling and screaming about it now wouldn't be of any help, and if anything she might just think he was angry at her instead of her parents, so he just held her when she buried her face into his chest, words of comfort streaming out in a whisper.

"But you know you're none of those things," he said finally, still quiet but his tone was firm. "You're not a curse and you didn't do anything wrong and you didn't deserve how they treated you." And just thinking about it broke his heart what felt like a couple thousand times over, so he held her closer still. "And I'm here now and I'm not gonna let anyone tell you otherwise, or treat you like that ever again..."

Aria
She held him tight, unable to respond for the moment because talking about that had, to some degree, put her through reliving it. She had the unfortunate feeling that tonight, he would be woken by her nightmares. There was a good long period where she was just pressed against him for comfort and to try to calm herself.

Finally she spoke again. "Yes, baby... I know. I know they were fools and cruel monsters. I do." She then gave a trembling smile, and leaned up to kiss him, softly. "And I know... I know you won’t let it happen."

Pao
Rhys just held her as she gathered herself, tried to calm herself and bring herself back to the present. Talking about things like this, he knew because he'd done it just the night before and multiple times before, always came with the caveat of going back and almost reliving it. Just remembering was bad enough, which was why he'd fought so hard to not talk about things. Because he hated reliving it, and so he knew very well what might have been swirling around in her head. So he stayed quiet, just whispering quietly until she was ready to talk.

He smiled softly and reached up to caress her cheek, wishing so badly that he could just take her pain away right then and there so she didn't have to suffer through it anymore. Gladly he returned the kiss, then rested his forehead against hers once he pulled away. "Good. And like you're here for me, I'm here for you, too. For anything, you hear me?"

Aria
She had to fight the urge to get all teary eyed, because while she knew he was there for her, and there to support her, at moments like this, it was confirmed even more, and it just was overpowering for her. She held him tight and smiled, a watery but loving smile, as she gazed up into his eyes. And maybe a tear or two leaked out, but she said "I know, Rhys. You're the most incredibly supportive boyfriend, and you're more then I could ever have thought I'd ever meet."

Pao
He blinked, glad that whatever tears that nearly fell didn't and that she was smiling, watery or not. Rhys smiled softly, not quite sure what to say to being complimented so much without sounding like he was joking around. Because right now was probably not the right time for jokes like that. So he reverted back to his quiet nodding to accompany the smile.

"I could say you're the same type girlfriend to me," said the brunette after a long moment, "Supportive, understanding, not judging or condemning me for my past...so to me you're just...absolutely perfect."

Aria
Seren closed her eyes for a long moment to calm the tearing reaction, then hugged him tight. "I'm not perfect, but I'm glad... I can be as close as possible for you. I love you, babe. You're ******** amazing." She sighed softly, wishing there wasn't still duty to face, because she didn't want to move. She didn't want to deal with the rest of the world... But with her luck, the day they slacked would be the day something of note would happen, so she wasn't going to risk it. Tempting as it might be.

Pao
He hugged her close, his smile soft but amused when she said she wasn't perfect. To him she may as well have been, but it wasn't a point he was about to argue. He just replied, "Love you, too," and happily held her for however long she wanted him to. In a little bit they'd be going to get some work done, so packing in as much cuddling time now was, to him, the greatest of great ideas.