Welcome to Gaia! ::

Life was beginning to feel more normal. Levi had settled into his lunch dates with Jade once a week and their afternoon guitar lessons were one of his favorite things to look forward to. Sometimes he would see her when they ended up at the same work function and sometimes their scheduled meetings were the only times he saw her at all. It was different than it had been, less needy and new, less frantic and obsessive than what they had first built, and he schooled himself to remember that they didn't need to know everything about each other, nor did they need to keep tabs throughout the day to prove that they were committed to doing this again. It was hard when his very nature dictated that he seek her out and shower her in affection but that was the old, younger, foolish boy and he was going to prove that he was a good man.

Isaac came more often than he didn't and while Levi had, at first, resented their agreed upon chaperone, he had come around quickly to his presence. He really was an agreeable guy and he knew his stuff - Levi was learning faster with him - but, more than that, he made the time he spent with Jade about much more than lust or longing. He had helped them make it about life again.

Today was no different than any of their other sessions; he had his guitar set on the kitchen counter, a fridge stocked with drinks and a pantry full of snacks that they couldn't possibly eat in the time that the two guests were with him. It didn't stop the little patter of his heart beneath his sternum while he sat on a barstool, waiting.

Luckily, Sly was there to pester him.

Levi sighed pointedly at him as he butted his head into the man's shoulder and stepped in front of him, across the phone he was diligently staring at. It blocked his entire view as soft, grey fur slid across his nose and ended with a tail curling happily beneath his chin - just before he turned and did it again.

"What am I going to do with you, hm?"

The annoyance was feigned; he had stopped obsessing about his phone and her for a moment.

Seconds before Levi heard the knock, Sly jumped down from the counter and abandoned him seemingly without reason. He had a breath to act offended as he turned on his stool; his mouth parted to say something snide that the cat wouldn't understand, that no one else would hear, and then he heard it.

"Well, that explains a lot."

He slid off of the stool to follow Sly, rounding into the hallway just in time to see the door slide open and expose the pair of them against the backdrop of the afternoon sun. Sly plopped down directly in front of them with a loud yowl at Jade, per usual, and Levi stopped to lean his shoulder into the wall instead.

"About time, he's been going nuts waiting on you."

Specifically the cat, not himself.