It had never been a problem before, but then she'd never fallen asleep wrapped up around another person since she'd gotten her body back. Maya woke up hot. Worse than hot, she thought she might actually need another shower. Cafas wasn't long gone from bed, it'd been his moving around that drew her up out of a peaceful sleep, but it wasn't until he was gone from the room that Maya convinced herself that it wasn't worth it to try to get back to sleep. His side of the bed was still warm and that made the bed too hot with no snuggles to make up for it.

Maya tossed the covers back and disappeared into the walk-in closet until she found an oversized shirt. She'd half expected Cafas to be in there since it was big enough to get lost in, but since there had been no metal manipulator, her next guess was the kitchen. She made the bed in sloppy haste compared to her usual, too impatient to be out the door.

She wasn't surprised that Cafas hadn't elected to stop and put clothes on. He was less than enamored with them and becoming an actor had only further stripped him of his modesty. Pun intended.

Maya wolf whistled as she approached. "Breakfast and a show?" Only there was no breakfast. Well, that was something Maya knew how to fix, at least, and it was a good excuse to slip into the kitchen space alongside Cafas. Not that there wasn't enough room for 10 or so people, but she found reasons to touch him when applicable. Sometimes even more beyond that.

"What're you in the mood for. I made sure to stock up before you got in so there's eggs and bacon and cheese. Toast? No. That's carbs." Maybe just toast for her then.

>>"Breakfast and a show?"

Cafas' stretch smoothly transitioned to a flex, biceps and shoulders bulging. He threw in a little butt-cheek dance too, because it amused him. Hands found their way onto his body as they always seemed to, only served to further inflate his ego and encourage his behaviour. For the sake of dignity he limited himself to one or two poses, hitting as many muscle groups as possible. His abs were a little less than impressive that morning, but wine and carbs did that to a guy. Cafas twisted on the spot, taking Maya by the hips and pulling her gently closer. "What I really feel like is ice cream. I'm pretty sure that's not on the cards though, so an everything omelette would be amazing."

The ice cream really is a step too far.

"As to toast, well, I don't have to work for a while, so really that is down to you," He slid his hands over Maya's and dragged them onto his stomach. The kiss that followed was as deep and intense as the morning breath would allow, "How much do you want the abs?" Because Cafas wanted to do whatever got him the most attention from Maya. He enjoyed the touching, innocent and otherwise. He'd given up so many great foods to sculpt his body. He could be perfectly functional as an X-man with a bit more fat on him. So he preened when it was acknowledged. He was certain that was why Maya did it so often. Then again, maybe she just really did like it that much.

She'd certainly seemed to.

His showboating got the gigglesnort it deserved. And a piteous attempt at offense when he'd grabbed her hips and reeled her in. She tried to slap at the fridge door to shut it since she was no longer halfway inside. No point in ruining the cold things. There was no telling how long she'd play voluntary prisoner to this Cafas trap.

"I don't think we have any ice cream anyway." Now that she could feel, extremes were not what she sought. Cafas traps, however, were right in prime comfort zone. Maya squiggled around in the circle of his arms until she could hear his talk of toast face to face.

How much did she want his abs? That was a surprisingly difficult question to answer. What were abs, again? He'd kissed the sense right out of her.

"Ice cream at the corner shop?" She could dash out and be back before he knew it, but that required a degree of separation she wasn't yet willing to allow. "Or we'll go with the foods that'll help you live the longest and happiest. A Nice balance. Spinach and bacon in that omelette." That was part of everything, right?
Omelette cooking required hands so she gave him one last squeeze and worked to find her way to where the mixing bowls were.

The corner store no doubt involved getting dressed, and while Cafas wasn't entirely against the concept, the timing just wasn't right. He's only been up for a few minutes, strolling about his own home with the breeze on his butt. His house had been much breezier since Maya had unofficially moved in, though some days he suspected the more inquisitive gusts were not entirely natural.

Maya slipped from his grasp just as the thought was returning to him. Cafas' eyes narrowed in her direction as a breeze passed over him. the kitchen really shouldn't have been getting much flow.

"You know I'm not sure it counts as one omelette any more once it has six eggs in it." It certainly couldn't be cooked as one in his pans. A frittata perhaps, or a huge serving of scramble, but certainly not a single omelette. Throw in bacon, vegetables, cheese on cheat day, leftover chicken when it made it to morning, it more or less rounded out to 1200 calories. Toast would bump it up further. It was a great way to start a day, but he knew he should have been spreading it out more.

Wouldn't need that mid morning protein shake...

It wouldn't do to let Maya do all the work. She'd do it, but he wasn't about to let her. On his way to the knife block and cutting boards, bacon packet in hand, Cafas flicked the back of Maya's shirt up. "Mmmmm" He hummed appreciatively, twirling into place at the bench and dropping the packet of bacon with a plastic slap. "Boy I love bacon." He continued innocently. He retrieved an onion, bell pepper, garlic, a small array of fresh herbs, tomatoes. He crossed back to the fridge for the spinach, and distributed a squeeze under the shirt on his way back.

Wash hands, begin chopping. Bacon last, of course. No need to taint all Maya's vegetables.

"So, how's my boy been?

Somehow Maya had just kept cracking eggs. She'd been going through the motions and Cafas must have been listening to keep better count than she had. Oh dang. 6 eggs? She glanced into the bowl and sure enough there were yolks a plenty. The carton doubly confirmed it. That was what she got for paying attention to her aerial sense and teasing him rather than buckling down to just make breakfast.

"We'll make it work." She splashed milk in and pulled spices down from the cabinet. So, so many spices they'd accumulated. Cafas had an impressive array before, but it was a tad ridiculous at this point. She set about getting the pan and everything else in place between fits of whisking. Maya had to admit, things were quite a bit more simple and straightforward when she was solid.

"Mmm. Bacon first? Then fry it in the gr-ease!" He flipped her shirt! "Rude." She wrinkled her nose at him in a playful way that told him that he wasn't in trouble... yet. Had the range been on that'd be a different story. Maya had nothing against bacon, personally. She just wasn't used to it.

> "So, how's my boy been?

"I think Ro's gonna be taller than me, easy. He can count to 100 and has zero motivation to learn to read." By her tone, that was irksome. "He asked about you every night I was at the Mansion which was most. Kid's probably climbing up the walls since he knows you came in last night."

He peered over at the egg carton "Make it work? Did we run out? Oh, right, yeah, no I need six for breakfast now, trying to add weight." He'd been shredding for the role for so long, it was no wonder Maya had a lower number in her head. He needed to bulk though. Time on set, bad diet, lack of rest, he'd last five pounds of muscle over the shoot that he needed to find again. Perhaps need was a strong word. He wanted to find it again. Nothing dissuaded bad guys, or attracted action roles, like muscle mass.

Can always use more mass on the arms and chest. Ooh, I hope I didn't lose too much flexibility. Damn. I should test that.

He tapped his knife on the cutting board, knocking most of the clinging onion off as his eyes streamed. "Well that's what you get for telling him. Or I guess what your dad gets." He scraped the onion onto a plate and moved on. Really should have done it last, instead he flipped the board and wiped the knife on a tea towel. Some day he'd learn to cook efficiently. Possibly. Maybe. If he played a chef or something. "I'm glad he's excited though. I miss that little rascal. Or big Rascal. How tall was Seb? He getting it from there?" Bell pepper seeds everywhere. Every single time. Cafas sighed and tried to wipe what he could into his palm. "You think maybe if we read to him more? I dunno, you probably already do. Maybe he needs glasses?" That was something he'd seen once online. Kids from disadvantaged families suddenly keen on learning once someone bought them glasses so they could see.

"Anyway, I was thinking bacon last, so you didn't have it through all your stuff. I mean, if you want oil, butter works if you're not worried about saturated fats. Olive oil is healthier but... Well I've never had it taste as good." He kept chopping, having disposed of as many seeds as he was able. Inevitably they were still just about everywhere. Just less densely.

Six eggs. For breakfast. For just Cafas.

Maya debated putting the pan she had in hand back where it belonged, but ultimately decided against it. She could just do three omelettes in a row. Or four, if she made one for herself.

> "Well that's what you get for telling him..."

"Hey. You try withholding information from a persistant 5 year old next time I'm out of the country." Her tone said it better than her words. He could try. She had no difficulty believing that he would end up in a similar situation.

> "...How tall was Seb? He getting it from there?"

"Sebastian was— is, I guess— shorter than I am. But you've seen my dad. He's like 6'8"." Or 6'4", but a little hyperbole never hurt anyone as far as how much Maya looked up to her dad. "Ro is as tall as the light switch." Maya motioned with an eggy whisk and just barely caught a drip in time. "That's what made me realize he was getting up there. I remember when he couldn't even reach a light switch, even on his tippy-toes." Way back in the days when she'd hoped that Sebastian would come back.

> "...Maybe he needs glasses?"

"Shoot. What if he needs glasses?" Did they make eyewear that would fit over a developing muzzle? The front bone structure of his face was growing outward in clearly inhuman ways. "As if the way he looks isn't foreign enough." It was a mother's right to worry about her kid. Even if he didn't need glasses, now she'd worry that he did and her brain was already driving down all the avenues where that might go poorly. And now, wasn't she a bad mom for not realizing that he might need glasses? She hadn't even thought of it! An abnormally long-winded sigh bounced around the kitchen.

Maya got the pan heating and went for the butter. From Cafas' ramble, it sounded like butter was their middle ground. They had some filling to cook.

"So what about you? Meet anybody crazy on the plane ride?" She was gonna get every detail she could from him, no matter how mundane.

Cafas yawned into his bicep. He wasn't so worried about Rowan with glasses. Worst case, he could get contacts right? He didn't exactly know if children could wear them, but Rowan wouldn't be a child forever, and hopefully could get by only using them to read until then.

>>"So what about you? Meet anybody crazy on the plane ride?"

"Mostly I just slept," He started, tossing his knife into the sink in a gentle arc. He let it simply drop from the top of the basin. "I think the seats near mine were glad for their headphones, judging by how dry my throat felt." He couldn't have been the only person there that snored, and he didn't think he snored offensively. Then again, how would he know?

Calley. That's how.

"There were the usuals at airports, still pretty sparse. Mostly X-men recognition. That'll change once things start to release again." Dusk was still the last big movie he'd been involved with in terms of releases. Everything was due in the coming couple years, "Selected for additional screening as always," He adopted a satirical authoritarian tough guy voice, "Sir, step this way. Sir, our drug dog is just going to check you, have you had any contact with illegal drugs recently? Sir, we're going to swab your luggage, have you been near any explosive materials recently?" Cafas rolled his eyes and dropped the act, "I know it's just the job and all, but the profiling is unreal. Plus I'm never sure how long that stuff lasts in cloth or whatever, so I always end up explaining why I've been around explosives."

"Sorry. Every time, right? Oh, Daisy Ridley says she thinks you're awesome. She's the main character jedi girl. She says she identifies with the air, got a tattoo of the alchemical air symbol, plus she likes your girl power but also anti-violence combo. Anyway, I think she'd be pretty jazzed to meet you." He paused and did a double take at himself, "Jazzed? Okay, yeah, jazzed." He shook his head, grabbed the dishes that weren't needed, and walked them over to pre-wash. "How 'bout you? You meet anyone new recently?" New York was so full of comings and goings, you left for a few months and suddenly several new important-to-know people showed up.

"It's always surprising to me how fickle people are, but I guess you've done more X-men work lately. Movies take time. All that." She stirred the omelette filling with gusto. "It's not bad to be known for protecting people, I guess." Image, image, image. She really needed to stop reading Alfie Jr's emails.

"It's the hair, don'cha think? Or maybe the biceps. Seriously, you're jacked enough that I think your arm might be bigger around than my thigh." And she was more than willing to hop over and attempt a comparison if he wanted. She was so cool using the slang all the hip kids used. She probably never would have heard the word "jacked" if she hadn't been spending so much time at the Mansion. All the little hero wanna be's tried to buff up. "Wouldn't you be cautious about a guy like you too?"

Maya might, or she might not. She didn't always notice those kinds of things. She tried extra hard to notice for Cafas, though. Since it mattered to him.

"Oh wow. Really? I'd totally meet her, but I don't know what she's expecting."

The innards, she deemed done. Maya stole a plate from Cafas' to be washed pile and put them aside in favor of starting the first omelette. She let a little sliver of butter sizzle and then poured from the motherload of eggs. She might just be making breakfast until lunch time.

"There's a few X-hopefuls: one kid who repels water and there's another one who's doing something with sunlight? Juliette has him covered. Apparently he might be bad for my health. There's only a few new adult faces. A few people have cycled through. I must have done this X-man thing too long. It's all really normal at this point. I could probably make a guess as to who will put in the effort and make it through and who's gonna go do something easier." Though, she;d really thought Jude had what it took...

As soon as the egg was just barely set, Maya sprinkled in some more seasoning and a dollop of innards. She folded the egg over and got out a fresh plate. "First one's up!" This, too, was pretty normal. If she'd been at the Mansion, she'd be cooking for a crowd too. The biggest difference was that here, all that food was going to only just the two of them.

Yeah, he knew why he was selected. It didn't make it any less inconvenient or invasive, but he understood. Cafas pulled the dishwasher open manually and started loading dishes from the sink. The morning felt almost like he'd never left. "Imagine she's expecting the kind, beautiful, optimistic, force of nature I may have talked her ear off about." Cafas stared deliberately into the nearly empty sink, red around his ears. He'd really been missing Maya at the time she'd asked. Poor girl.

X-hopefuls. When weren't there? All the mansion kids fancied themselves as future X-men at one stage or another. Still, if X-men were actually putting time into them, there was a good chance they'd make it. For how long remained to be seen though. "Not like we've never imagined retiring. I know what you mean though, it's kinda frustrating to put your time into someone just to have them bail." He'd trained more than a few people who never followed through with the team. "Well, guess I'll meet them eventually, for now, I'm pretty content with current company." He slid the washer drawer closed with his foot.

>>"First one's up!"

"Looks yummy." He whisked the plate from Maya's hand with a quick kiss on the cheek; Then, just to check, he quickly knelt down when she wasn't looking (which he knew was pointless) and flexed his arm by Maya's thigh for comparison. With a satisfied smile he twisted back towards the breakfast bar as if nothing had ever happened. A fork flew across the room into his free hand. Cafas didn't sit, he was perpetually restless, even first thing in the morning, and when he sat he ended up fidgeting more than Rowan. Instead he leaned against the counter, plate in hand. Dinner was another matter, but he never ended a day with very much energy.

He'd only managed a couple forkfuls of the omelette (Which had dragged an appreciative expletive from the Aussie expat) when his body was overcome with a long yawn that left tiny tears clinging to Cafas' eyelashes. He felt like he'd probably not gotten enough sleep, though he couldn't find even a trace of bitterness about it. Still, he was tired, and he'd be willing to bet Maya was too. He knew of only one true solution to their problem that wouldn't make them late for their respective days.

"Hey, you want coffee?"

"Where does Daisy live?" Wasn't Daisy a quaint name? Maybe a stage name? Maya poured another batch of eggs and continued the process.

As to retiring... Maya snortled and then hand to cover her nose and mouth before she died of embarrassment. "Did you ever try to retire? I tried to retire when I was pregnant. You can see just how well that turned out." For all the love and trust that she liked to espouse, Maya had learned to live a little more alert than the common man. "It's like... once you see it, once you see what some people do to other people, then you start suspecting it might be happening somewhere else. Like the Baader-Meinhof of suspicion."

Maya folded a second complete omelette and moved to slide it onto Cafas' plate before tossing in a pat of butter and starting another. There was enough left for one more after this one: hers.

> "Hey, you want coffee?"

"Oh, are you drinking coffee again?" His diet was such a yo-yo she couldn't keep up. Maya glanced around the kitchen. She'd pretty much packed away all the coffee stuff. Now where did she put that...? "Uh. I mean yes. I'll totally try it again."

Shoot! Was that egg overcooking? Maya hurried back to the pan she'd abandoned and checked underneath... ah. Maaaybe this one would be hers. She grabbed a plate to quietly squirrel away this less than perfect omelette.

It was lucky for Cafas that they'd gone so overboard the night before. He hadn't eaten for bulking in long enough that his stomach had needed a good stretch. Still it wasn't terribly happy at the prospect of a second omelette. Between mouthfuls he managed an "England." waving his fork towards where he thought his luggage was, not entirely sure if they'd brought it in or not.

All a bit of a blur of skin and sensation...

"Baader-Meinhof?" He tilted his head inquiringly as more food was deposited on his barely cleared plate. he assumed it was some kind of psychology thing. Cafas just didn't have Maya's attraction to book learning. His stomach gurgled uncomfortably. He decided to let it settle before pushing it further.

Setting his plate down Cafas pulled out mugs, his most favourite oversized ones. His stomach would have rolled its eyes if it could. "Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. Well I mean, I didn't necessarily... Stop." Except over filming, where his stress had been a bit overwhelming, and his vain little superstition had really laid hold of him. "Just... Well, just with you." He'd known how ridiculous he'd been, but it was the first time he'd actually said it out loud. He'd almost compulsively avoided it. Cafas opened three different cupboard before finding the coffee. "There you are."

The rest of the stuff was somewhat easier to find. "I uh, I kinda... You remember that META and Abyssi wannabe at Tiffany's?" He set water to boil and went back to eat while it did its thing, sheepishly avoiding Maya's gaze. "Well, en route you said you'd buy me one hundred coffees and... I dunno, we were at ninety nine and..." He sighed and blinked away some tears at the memory, "And I was scared. I thought, maybe, if we never hit one hundred... You know." Cafas had never been more intently fascinated with his kitchen counters. "That you could completely fade. Cos, you know, you promised."

"I couldn't remember who'd bought the last lot, and I just couldn't bring myself to risk it."

The last and final omelette went into the pan. It looked a little heavy on the egg which meant one of the other two egg omelettes she'd cooked was probably a bit under. Ah well. There was always some compromise for cooking in bulk.

"Baader-Meinhof." She confirmed, knowing that he was baiting her into an explanation because he loved her and knew she would love explaining it. "It's a psychology principle where once you learn a thing, you then start to notice it everywhere. Happened to me with the word "nascent" which means it's juuuuust starting to show potential. Then DocProf used it at Ro's check up and there was a commercial on TV. To me, I didn't even know that was a word until maybe a week ago and now there's 3 examples of it suddenly in use."

She had the omelette folded and filled and had shut off the range, but was having a hard time finding a place to put it. Cafas had abandoned his second in favor of rooting about for coffee supplies. She edged the mostly untouched bit of egg aside and smooshed the final and largest omelette into place on his plate from the wrong side of the bar. It only took more than a little stretching in not enough clothes. She was sure Cafas wouldn't mind.

> "You remember that META and Abyssi wannabe at Tiffany's?"

"Was it Tiffany's? I remember the META." She was ready to joke about how few those bots were now, but Cafas seemed oddly serious.

No. Serious wasn't quite the right word. He was emotional, embarrassed. Admitting that he'd done the only thing he could think of and even knowing how little good it had been likely to do. It was the only thing he could have done.

Maya dumped the pan back onto the range and folded herself between Cafas and the coffee. She wrapped her arms around his face which meant she was up on tippy toe and he had to hunch down some. That was fine. "Hey. It's okay now." Though even she felt a bit choked up at the near miss she'd had. It'd been a long road to get there and sometimes, even after a few weeks of solidity, it didn't quite feel real.

"Are you sure you want to risk it now?" She wasn't making fun in the least. Maya wasn't willing to risk it if it was important. He hadn't even been there. She'd been thinking to surprise him and that'd been good, but that was just one more bit of control she'd stripped from him. "I'm so sorry. I promise I'm not eager to go down that road again.

"After Sebastian had left... I thought I just had to go through with it. It felt like there wasn't any other choice and it wasn't until you showed up that—" her voice cracked and she held him tighter so he wouldn't see just how choked up she was. As if he couldn't tell just by the sound of her. "That I finally thought 'maybe there's still something worth fighting for.'" What a terrible thing to admit to. She had a child. But at that moment he'd just been one more burden in a ship already underwater.

It was an awfully good thing Maya was tall. For one, she didn't look ridiculous next to him in photos. At least not in height. For another, it allowed for their current position without too much discomfort. Actually, Cafas was willing to ignore a lot of discomfort under the circumstances, for reasons not limited to hiding the silly tears that had pooled in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist, breathing her in and reminding himself that everything was, in fact, okay. He pretended not to notice the tears in her voice, but for the extra squeeze he gave her.

It really is only the shirt...

"I love you." He murmured into her sternum. "And I needed something to make me feel like I could protect you." He continued with more strength. "The thought that I could be powerless to save someone I love terrifies me." Especially if it were Maya or one of the kids. "But I don't think it's healthy to keep this any longer. I think it's time for one hundred. Besides, here you are, all solid and brunetty and filled out. Also, I could really use a coffee." He chuckled, picked Maya up, and deposited her onto the bench amid the coffee cups, plates, and cutlery, potentially onto a spoon. Nope, there it was clattering on the floor. He wiggled his way out of her grip with a pair of kisses left behind. His still moist eyes had a very serious glint to them.

"That said. You don't go resigning yourself to death again, okay?" His voice held plea, not demand, and was softer than his eyes had foretold. "You are a bright point in a world too often clouded in darkness, and not just for me and Ro." He booped her nose with his finger. "You especially can't go giving up with our nascent future ahead of us." He winked, only fifty percent sure he'd used the world properly, but entirely sure he was funny. Behind him, the kettle clicked off. "Probably best if you get that. I'm not wearing enough to be handling boiling liquids. I'll get that spoon before I forget." He moved just far enough back to let Maya hop down then bent for the runaway.

> "I love you."

He could say it every day and she would never get tired of that. No matter how many times he'd insisted last night, it meant that much more this morning. It killed her that she hadn't been able to do anything about her own situation. She knew Cafas was even tougher on himself.

"I love you." His hair tickled her lips as she echoed the seriousness of the moment with her voice. She felt the gravity of his words and it was heavy. The best she could do was listen and continue to run her fingers through his pink hair.

> "But I don't think it's healthy to keep this any longer. I think it's time for one hundred."

She went from supporting him to being supported all the way up onto the kitchen counter top. She rubbed beneath her eyes to destroy the evidence while Cafas untangled himself. He could have just caught the spoon with his power, but they both needed a second to pack it back in, it seemed.

"I was thinking maybe we'll go for a long and boring life. Together. You know... If that's in the cards at all." Funny how that always felt just a little too aspirational. She was still sure Cafas would get bored or get Hollywood. Not even there marriages Maya thought would last were making it.

But! This wasn't a sad moment. They were celebrating 100 coffees now. Maya tried to reshuffle the shirt between herself and the chilly surface of the counter. Perhaps she should have worn more than just a shirt... She took her boop like a woman, but the reuse of today's vocab word pushed her over the edge of giggly.

She hopped down and rubbed her chilly backside while appreciating the view.

"What was I doing? Oh right. The kettle." Maya pat Cafas' rear asset as she scooted past. There was plenty of room. She didn't have to...

But coffee waited for no one. She tried to remember how this all worked.

"Have you ever considered..." It had just occurred to her and she really hadn't thought it through. Now that she'd started, though, she had to go on. "...maybe about adoption? Rowan, I mean."