Romance Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Friends With Benefits ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Bioware.

It started with a question and a bottle of Aggressio wine.

They were sitting before his fire place enjoying the warmth of the orange, dancing flames and the conversation of a valued friend. The bottle was held suspended, not touching his lips and seemingly forgotten, as he regarded her with a slight curving of his lips and a raised eyebrow. “Really?” he asked.

“Really,” Hawke confirmed with a rising blush.

Fenris took a sip and passed the bottle back to her, still considering what she had told him. She accepted it and took a deep swig, while warily regarding him. Holding the bottle, and rolling it between her palms, she said, “It was my seventeenth birthday.”

“And you decided that stripping down to your smalls, dancing with a chicken, and passing out in the middle of the Imperial Highway was the best way to christen your first day of being an adult?” he asked, taking the wine back from her.

Her flush deepened as she exclaimed, “I was drunk and I wasn't the only person to wake up naked and in the highway! There were at least six others there with me.”

Fenris chuckled and leaned forward to lean his elbow on his knee as he asked, “I suppose, then, that all six of you danced with the chickens, howled at the moon, and painted the inn red together?”

Hawke smiled at that and accepted the bottle back. “Actually, no. Before any dancing took place, my friends managed to convince me to profess my `Maker forbidden passion' for Chanter Devons to him and ask if he would join me for a romp in the haystack.” She smirked at the memory. “He was absolutely horrified and we fled before he could answer, to continue on and dance with chickens.”

He shook his head, his lips curving slightly in amusement. “I can hardly see how a `romp in the haystack' with you would horrify anyone,” he said and she smiled as she took another sip.

When she handed the bottle over their fingers brushed. “Oh, anyone?” she asked, warmth flooding her stomach.

“Perhaps,” he returned with a growing smirk.

Hawke leaned forward until her breath feathered across his lips and hesitated, studying his intense green eyes. He simply watched her and waited, though his heartbeat had picked up a pace. The contact was simple, the merest touch of her lips to his, before she pulled back, once again flushing. Fenris set the Aggressio aside and reached a clawed hand across the space between them to cup her cheek and draw her back, laying a soft kiss on her lips.

Hawke sighed at the feel of Fenris' mouth on hers, warm and insistent without being rough. As the kiss deepened, lips and tongues teasing, they moved closer until their bodies were pressed together, separated only by cloth and armor. Their legs curled to the side and they leaned into each other, providing a counter balance to the other. Hands found purchase against rough fabric and slipped beneath to tease and explore, wander and caress. Wherever she touched bare skin, the lyrium of his markings lit beneath her fingers.

The tie to her robe was tugged free and the first clasps of his armor came undone. Their breathing picked up as the kiss broke and his lips drifted down to trail a path of along the curve of her neck. Heat began to curl in her stomach and she gasped when he slid the shoulder of her robe down her arm and kissed the skin of her shoulder that her under-armor did not cover.

Snick!

They barely noticed the noise, lost in in the feel of each other as they were. Her hand slid into his silver hair and held his head against her neck as he began to work loose the leather ties of her armor, his pace neither hesitant nor rushed as he slid deft fingers in to cup her breast through her smalls and run a thumb over her peaked nipple. She bit back a moan when he switched his hand just so and…

“Well, I came here looking for Broody to inform him of a new job, but I can see I'm interrupting something. Shall I return at a later time?” Varric asked with a smirk and they startled apart, faces flushed and breaths still coming in strangled gulps.

“Ah…no…no, that won't be necessary…I was…uh…just leaving,” Hawke muttered, pulling her robe back over her shoulder and making to stand.

“You sure? You're one of the people I needed to track down, anyways, Hawke,” Varric asked, inspecting Bianca for non-existent scratches. She stopped and looked at him. “I could always go track down the other people needed for this job first and come back later…”

“Yes, dwarf, we're sure,” Fenris returned, snapping the clasps to his armor closed once more. “What is this job you speak of?”

Varric looked up from Bianca and his smirk widened. “Oh, you know, just the usual: Bandits raiding the coast, kidnapping noblemen's daughters, pet dragons, traps, illegal smuggling, life and death situations.”

Hawke pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Another nobleman needs us to do his dirty work, then?” she asked.

“Of course. We're leaving in three hours,” Varric said brightly. With a sly smile, he added, “Use the time wisely,” before slipping back out the door and closing it with another snick!

They waited exactly ten heartbeats before they glanced at each other and burst into laughter. “Varric and Isabela are the worst gossipers. Ten silvers says the entire group will know before we even depart,” she said, parting her robes so she could deftly straighten her armor again.

“Twenty says they know by the time we arrive,” Fenris countered.

“You're on,” she smirked.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the Hanged Man to meet up with the rest of their party, Varric and Isabela had their heads bent together and were fervently whispering about something. Upon seeing Hawke and Fenris arrive, Isabela's face fell and coin immediately swapped hands. Anders, for his part, looked intent on ignoring the both of them while Merrill looked thoroughly confused.

Hawke glanced at him, a thoroughly chagrinned look on her face while she could saw the faintest trace of a smirk playing about his lips. Before they could say anything, Isabela sighed dramatically. “Two wonderful hours the two of you could have spent together all sweaty and naked and you have to go and show up,” she said with a sad shake of the head. “You just had to go and ruin my perfect little daydream.”

“Isabela!” Hawke exclaimed, blushing bright red.

“Oh, so there is something going on,” she said, her expression turning to one of wicked delight. Hawke decided to close her mouth right then and there and ignore the pirate. Fenris, for his part, seemed to be unaffected by Isabela's banter.

“Now, now, Rivaini,” Varric said with mock chiding. “I'm sure regardless of whatever various states of undress they find themselves in, its none of our business.”

“Is there anyone else that we are waiting for or is this everyone?” Hawke managed to grit out before they could progress any further with that line of conversation.

Anders pounced gratefully on the distraction and answered, “This should be everyone.”

Hawke looked around their little group again and raised an eyebrow. “Tell me we aren't stealing anything,” she told Varric.

“We aren't stealing anything.” He grinned and they both knew it was a lie.

The corner of her mouth twitched up. “Forget I said anything.”

Sometimes, the best way to blend in was to be known. Three mages, two rogues, and a warrior moved through the night of Kirkwall with relative ease. They were known well enough by the city that no one paid them much mind as they slipped out a side entrance and simply vanished and if passerbys were questioned later, they would be able to honestly answer that they had no idea which direction the little croup had taken.

The job itself was simple and straight forward. They had been hired by a child mage's family to steal the boy back from the slavers that had taken him captive on the Wounded Coast. Isabela located the trail of the slavers and she and Varric took care of any traps that they came across while Fenris and Hawke dispatched any guards that had been set to keep watch and left Anders and Merrill to look after their defense and health for the duration of the fights. It would have been a simple enough matter to slip through the shadows to retrieve the boy, but as always happened with their little group a fight ensued and the slavers wound up dead.

The boy was well enough when they found him tied in one of the more secluded caves and they dispatched the guards that had been set to look after him except for the fact that he was a thrall of the blood mage present. She took the longest to kill as she kept hiding behind her captive, but with five people intent upon her death she hardly stood a chance as they gave Isabela an opening to use stealth and slit her throat from behind. With the fight over and valuables thoroughly scavenged from the corpses, courtesy of Isabela, they were free to move away from the scene of the original battle and tend to their wounds as well as wait for the last of the blood magic to wear off.

They found relative safety in the form of another cave where the Wounded Coast and Sundermount met. There was a small stream of fresh water and woods to hunt from. Once they were sure that the cave was giant spider and other sources of annoyances free, Hawke settled the boy and wrapped him in one of the thicker coats that they had managed to scavenge for their impromptu camping trip.

With the boy settled and no longer attempting to carry out the blood mage's final order to kill them, Hawke hovered over him, released the bonds she had used to secure him, and muttered a few spells to take a closer look at the damage that had been done. The boy stared at her with wide, uncomprehending eyes and sat utterly still while her fingers ghosted over his cheek, tracing one of the blood tendrils that held his magic and will fast. It was a messy kind of spell that she had only ever seen once before and that had ended with rather horrifically.

On the other side of the cave, Anders was tending to a stab wound that Isabela had been unaware of until he started looking after her while Varric tried to convince Merrill and Fenris that a game of Wicked Grace was in order. Fenris twitched away from so much magic use within such a small space with the muttered excuse of finding firewood.

Hawke glanced at him as he stalked past her, muttering about mages and magic. Then, she looked over at Varric and smiled her most charming smile. Varric eyed her with suspicion. “Would you be so kind as to go with him and make sure no one tries to attack us in the case that we've accidentally discovered another nest of slavers?” she asked sweetly.

Fenris paused at the mouth of the cave and glared at her. “I am fully capable of taking care of myself,” he not quite snarled before stalking off and leaving a flustered Hawke to try and recast the spell that had snapped beneath her fingers in her moment of distraction.

Varric sighed and stood up, slinging Bianca over his shoulder as he did so. “And here I hought this was going to be the perfect moment to put the wax to Bianca,” he said, throwing a grin at Isabela who returned it.

Merrill looked between them, momentarily frowning until Hawke called her over to take a look at the magic snaking its way around the boy. Kneeling beside the humans, she cast several spells in rapid succession. “Oh, ooohhhh,” she said. “This is bad. Very bad.”

“What? What is it?” Hawke asked. “I know that it's a spell that binds his magic and his will, but what else does it do?”

“She made a very nasty deal with a pride demon,” Merrill murmured. “Her hold over him has faded, but the demon's influence remains even though he can't take over without the aid of another mage.”

From across the cave, Isabela sighed. “Don't tell me we rescued an abomination. Does this mean that we'll have to fight another demon tonight?” she asked, flexing her newly bandaged arm and flashing Anders a flirtatious smile.

Anders frowned and got to his feet so that he could hover behind the other two mages. “He can't be possessed, otherwise the demon would have already made itself known. I've never heard of another mage making a deal with a demon on behalf of another mage. Is it possible that the deal was struck inaccurately and that it won't hold once the blood magic fades entirely?”

Merrill was shaking her head before he even finished speaking. “Watch,” she said and muttered something in Elhven before dark, red, twisting spiderwebs became visible over the boy's entire body. There were two, interconnected webs that seemed to be feeding off of each other with one growing fainter the longer they stayed connected. Hawke touched the thread she had been tracing earlier and frowned as Merrill continued, “The brighter web is the demon trying to gain control and the weaker web is the blood mage's magic fading. When her magic fades the boy will wake up, but the demon's hold will remain. He won't necessarily be possessed, but it is likely that the demon will be able to influence him.”

Hawke's hand lit with magic and, before they could stop her, she touched one of the brighter strands twining around the boy's neck. The strand flared angrily and clashed with her magic for a moment before its glow receded, its strength bleeding into the air around it. She looked at them and grinned. “It's just like what happened with Keeran. All we have to do is break the magic before the demon gets in too deep.” Her eyes flashed to Anders and her smile widened a bit. “And you don't even have to start glowing this time around to save anyone.”

Anders chuckled weakly. “Yes. Being able to save someone without provoking Justice is a nice change.”

Merrill seemed torn when it came to severing the connection with the demon. She wanted to save the boy, of course, but she also had questions that she felt could only be answered by one of the Fadekind. “Oh, but-” she began but Hawke fixed her with a Look and the words died before they were fully formed.

“If you aren't going to help us then you can go stand guard with Isabela,” she said with a pointed look at the pirate. “This is going to take us awhile so we'll need to make sure that no one tries to interrupt us in the middle.”

“Come on, Kitten,” Isabela said before Merrill could say anything else. “I've been wanting to teach you that new version of Wicked Grace for a while anyways. Let's leave these two to do all the droll work while we have a little fun.” One eyebrow raised over the other and she grinned in a wolfish manner that, after a moment, had Merrill blushing.

The little blood mage rose to her feet, stuttering, and allowed Isabela to draw her to the mouth of the cave where she promptly produced a deck of cards she had borrowed from Varric. Anders knelt beside Hawke in Merrill's place and frowned thoughtfully down at the boy. “You know, if we return him to his parents in Kirkwall, the Templars are likely to find him and send him back to the Circle.”

“I know,” Hawke answered with a sigh. “But let's worry about one thing at a time and break the demon's hold on him first, shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, she showed him what she had done and, together, they set to breaking the web of blood magic that held the boy.

When Varric and Fenris returned an hour later with an armful of wood each, Hawke and Anders were still working side-by-side to unravel the web while Merrill and Isabela continued with their game. Isabela looked up from her cards and fixed Fenris with a curious look when his footsteps stalled at the sight of the two mages working in concert with their magic. “Blood magic still has a good grip on the boy. They're breaking it apart one piece at a time,” she explained when distaste settled over his features.

Merrill craned her neck to look at the over her shoulder and caught Varric's eye. The dwarf simply shrugged and moved past them so that he could deposit his firewood within the cave and observe the mages as they worked. “Blondie isn't glowing,” he observed to no one in particular. Glancing at Isabela, he asked, “How long they been working on him?”

She looked back to her cards and shrugged. “About an hour. They started not long after you two left for wood,” she answered. Glancing at Merrill's bet, she grinned and doubled the bluff. “Kitten, you really need to work on not blushing when you try and best me at my game.” Merrill simply giggled at that and displayed her hand.

Fenris stood in the mouth of the cave for an uncertain moment before he walked in and deposited his armload next to Varric's. He eyed the pile and then looked back out at the dying sun that touched the trees surrounding their little campsite. “We will…need food for…later,” he said and walked back out to find something to hunt.

“He really doesn't like magic,” Merrill observed before returning to shuffling the cards. None of them noticed the way that Hawke's wrist twitched a little in response to the comment.

Varric and Isabela exchanged glances to which the former pirate rolled her eyes and sighed as though put upon. “I suppose someone has to go with him and make sure that gorgeous body doesn't get scratched up by anything with less than ten digits,” she said, glancing at Hawke and finding only disappointment when the other woman only continued to work.

Merrill looked flustered for a moment. “Oh, but this game was so much fun.”

The dwarf simply flashed her a grin and said, “Don't worry, Daisy, I'll teach you how to tell when Rivani here is cheating at this new Wicked Grace after you help me start the fire.” Merrill took to the task a little too enthusiastically as Isabela sauntered out after Fenris and by the time the fire was arranged and crackling merrily away, Varric was nursing three burn marks and had nearly lost his eyebrows twice. Still, his spirits remained unhampered when he began to teach Merrill a few of the tricks he and Isabela used for the game.

Two hours and night had fallen by the time Anders finally slumped over, exhausted. The child mage was conscious and aware when he withdrew, but still not entirely free of the blood magic. Hawke's hands kept moving through the spell and working and with it she kept up a steady stream of dialogue that kept the boy from panicking as she asked him yes or no questions about Kirkwall and ever so carefully reassured him that they were not the slavers and that she was not trying to strengthen the blood ties to the demon. She very carefully explained to him what she was doing and how she was doing it and bit-by-bit the fear began to lessen in the boy's eyes.

When Fenris and Isabela returned with several packages of fresh, bloody meat, the boy's eyes widened and a wail of terror escaped him at the sight of the blood. Her companions watched in rising horror as the last string she was working on suddenly tightened around the boy, flared a brilliant shade of crimson and issued an angry hiss that was somewhere between a crushed snake and a wet cat. The web bonds that she had been working so diligently on started to strengthen again as power bled over from the remaining strand.

Hawke began to work faster, a smile on her lips and comforting words that barely made sense pouring forth to reassure the boy. Sweat gathered on her brow once more and slithered down once dried paths. The hiss turned to a cackle even as the boy's scream died beneath Hawke's endless litany. Her companions hovered back uncertainly with their weapons clutched in their hands, but she never showed any sign of letting up on her assault against the blood magic and, after a while, the cackle turned to a wail before the final thread snapped entirely and Hawke sat back on her heels and smiled triumphantly at the boy.

The boy trembled and then threw himself into Hawke's arms. She “oomphed” with the impact but allowed the force to propel her back into a sitting position. She sighed in relief and stroked the boy's head while she continued to talk to him. Anders was the first to approach her, lay his staff to the side, and raise hands that were already lit with healing magic to her shoulders. Merrill was the next to approach them and when she knelt beside them she inspected the boy and the fading traces of blood magic.

“All good,” Merrill and Anders announced together. Merrill pressed a hand over her mouth and giggled while Anders simply smiled a small smile and rose to his feet.

“It's not completely gone, but the blood magic is fading and he should be back to normal in a few days. There are no traces of the demon, either, so I think we can sleep safely tonight,” Merrill said with a satisfied smile.

She nodded, but said, “Still, it'll be better if we set up a two person watch for the rest of the night just in case.”

“Hawke,” Anders said and she tilted her head back to look at him. “You'll be fine. There are no residual side effects other than mana depletion. Rest and food will take care of that before the night is out.”

A playful smile lit her eyes as she said, “Yes, Ser Doctor. Whatever Ser Doctor commands.”

His face lit a brilliant shade of red before he took his staff in hand and retreated to the other side of the cave and sat in front of the fire with his back to her. She smiled and shook her head before glancing to their other four companions. Isabela was helping Varric pick up the scattered while Merrill took up a seat next to Anders and attempted to draw him into a conversation he steadfastly refused to take part in.

Fenris had his back to her while he picked up the hastily discarded packages of deer meat and carefully pulled the bits of dirt and assorted filth off of them and tried to salvage what he could, but she could read the lines of tension in his body like she could her own and she sighed. It was going to be a very long night, indeed.

Somehow, Isabela and Varric managed to pry the boy off of her and allowed her to curl up beside the fire for a few hours of sleep. Merrill became quickly enamored with him and took to his care with all the awkward tenderness that only she was capable of. Isabela and Varric were content to sit back and watch the scene play out as she tried to figure out what he wanted to eat even as he refused to speak a word to anyone. While they watched, they also put their heads together and eyed the trio by the fire.

Anders superstitiously cast a light sleeping spell on Hawke to make sure that she slept until someone woke her and eyed Fenris distastefully while the elf sat on her other side and glared right back at him. They had long since come to the silent agreement that Hawke's wellbeing came first and that their dislike for each other could flare to life when she was awake. That did not, however, mean that they took kindly to the presence of the other or even that they couldn't communicate, in their own silent ways, their mutual dislike.

The staring contest continued until Isabela finally broke away from Varricand stood, stretching in a way that thrust her chest forward and sighing when neither male so much as batted an eye in her direction. “Well, come on, healer boy. You and I have first shaft…I mean, shift,” she said, grinning when the tips of Ander's ears turned red.

“What about you and Varric or you and Merrill?” he asked, never taking his eyes off Fenris.

“Daisy is asleep, Blondie, and there are three mages and three non-mages,” Varric informed him as he made himself a make-shift bed. “The pairings will be better this way. So, unless you really want to wake Hawke or Daisy and the boy currently wrapped around her, you'll have to take first watch with Rivani here.”

Anders shifted his gaze to Hawke and, for an instant, his features softened at the sight of her sleeping peacefully. He reached to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear only to have his fingers swatted away by a clawed hand. Said claws remained poised protectively between him and Hawke. Anders swatted Fenris' hand away in return, but Isabela laughed before either could do more than glare.

“Well, come on, healer boy, let's go before you rip each other's clothes off,” she said and even Fenris blushed lightly at that one. Her face took on a speculative look for a moment. “Now there's an image. Mmmmmm…” She dragged a sputtering Anders outside, leaving a grinning Varric and bemused Fenris behind.

“A round at the Hanged Man says I find them clothesless under the moon later?”? Varric offered.

Fenris grimaced. Before he could say anything, though, Hawke cracked one bleary eye and raised her head a fraction, looking around for Anders' lost heat at her side. Her eyes lit upon Fenris and she practically slithered into his lap, stretching out her legs and making a contented sound as she settled her cheek against his leg and hip. She was asleep again before her third breath after she had loosely wrapped her arms around his waist.

For his part, Fenris looked more than a little uncomfortable but he didn't hiss or push her away as he would have done three years previously. His features softened a little and he lightly touched her sandy, brown hair. Varric, at least, had the good sense to appear preoccupied with settling Bianca next to him even as he took careful mental notes for the latest story he was composing about a fallen noble and her unlikely lover.

Varric and Merrill were the next to take watch and despite his attempted bet with a certain surly elf just hours before, Anders and Isabela traded places with them still fully clothed. Anders didn't do more than stop and study how Hawke had managed to wrap herself around Fenris before he replenished the wood for the fire and settled down for the night. Isabela, for her part, simply smiled at the sight that the pair of them made.

“You're never going to let them live this down, are you, Rivani?” Varric asked as he helped Merrill extract herself from the boy's arms and settle him beside Anders.

“Oh, I don't know. They are adorable like that,” Isabela said with another smile. “I think I'll keep it as blackmail for the next time Hawke tries to drag me out of the Rose.”

The second shift was uneventful except for the few owls that Merrill decided to try and attract down to her. Varric greatly entertained himself that night by practicing with Bianca to take out the owls as they attempted to vandalize Merrill's hair.

When Varric gently shook Hawke awake, she blinked blearily at him and then tried to bury her face back into her nice warm pillow that smelled like…Fenris? Said pillow grunted and a very familiar, clawed hand touched her shoulder. Her face already growing hot with embarrassment, she lifted her head from the crook of his hip and looked him in the eye.

His discomfort had long since faded through the night and he found some amusement in the hot blush that stained her cheeks. “I can take over the third watch myself if you would prefer to sleep a little more. You did deplete yourself quite thoroughly yesterday,” he said by way of impasse.

Hawke sat up, careful not to brush his skin. “Ah, no, I…I'll be fine.”

Varric turned to Merrill and commented, “It's just like that evening two days ago I was telling you about. Waaaaay awkward and they weren't even doing anything this time around.”

“What?” Merrill asked, combing her fingers through her hair. “Hawke was sleeping on Fenris until a few minutes ago and yesterday we were all together and fighting the slavers to get the little boy back.” Her eyes slid to the little boy curled up to Anders' sprawled out form and she smiled fondly. And just like that, her thoughts shifted to a new topic. “Well, aren't they just the cutest little pair. You know, if his hair was just a shade lighter, they could be father and son. Well, the little one wouldn't be host for a spirit, but he almost was. Does that count? Oh, Varric, what was it that you were talking about?”

He sighed as the pair in question slipped outside to take their positions. “Nothing important, Daisy. Get some sleep and we'll be off come morning.”

Free of the cave and its occupants, Fenris and Hawke settled back to back outside the cave. The slight contact of their skin brushing at the close proximity sent her thoughts spiraling back to a moment before and the night before last. It was easier, she reflected, not to have to look at him while memories of how his hand had felt on her breast and how good it had felt when their tongues had entwined floated through her mind. Hawke couldn't help but wonder how far they would have gone that night if Varric hadn't shown up with news of a new job and smirked at them.

With her thoughts so firmly planted on those memories, she suddenly couldn't help but also wonder about the ways in which he would have made her scream. Stealing a glance at him and observing the ridged set of his shoulders left her with little doubt that he would have been the dominant partner that night and would have had her pinned beneath him with his hands…

“Hawke,” Fenris said and she was startled out of her little fantasy. She took longer than necessary to turn her head to look at him and still failed horribly at gaining control of the heat pooling in her stomach and the blush clearly visible in the dim lighting of the moon.

Waking up half draped across his lap with her legs curled around his knees had felt…nice, but he had never allowed anyone so close to him. He had always been so careful to maintain a safe distance from everyone, including her and she was, by far, the person that he was closest to in their motely band of misfits. To have so casually disregarded that had to have seemed invasive and presumptuous of her to assume that just because they had kissed once she could curl up on him whenever she wanted. Granted, she had been asleep when she had done so but that was beside the point.

She drew breath to apologize, but Fenris spoke first. “You and I are friends, are we not?” he asked.

She blinked once, twice, three times in confusion. Of all the turns that she had imagined that he might take, she had not thought that he would pose such a question. In her continued silence, a light blush stained his features before he turned his head away. “Forget I asked,” he murmured.

“Of course we're friends, Fenris. I'm sorry, you just…you caught me off guard. Was there…something specific that you wished to discuss?” she offered, turning her head away again.

“I…have never allowed anyone too close. When my markings were created, the pain was extraordinary and the memory lingers, but you are unlike any woman I have ever met,” he said softly and a different kind of heat rippled through her and settled any lustful longings she had been harboring before that moment. “With you…it is…easy…to imagine that this is what friendship is supposed to be like.”

She settled her back against his and leaned her head back until she touched the hilt of his broad. They remained tensed for a moment, each waiting for the other to withdraw, before they relaxed and Hawke asked, “You mean…you've never…not even after you escaped?”

“If there was someone before…I have no memory of it,” he admitted and she felt him sigh. “I stayed nowhere for long. Who could I have trusted?” He hesitated and Hawke waited, barely remembering to draw enough breath into her lungs to stay conscious. “I didn't think I needed anyone. Or wanted anyone. Until now.”

Hawke rotated her position until she sat with her hip pressed against his back. She leaned forward and wrapped her hand around his. His fingers wrapped tightly around hers before he turned his head to study her from beneath his fringe of silver hair. Her features softened into a warm smile as she said, “Then I am glad that you stayed and allowed me a chance to get to know you.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed her fingers to his lips while he maintained eye contact. She exhaled sharply at the contact and forgot how to breathe under the way he was looking at her with a mixture of tenderness and something darker that set her stomach to fluttering. A half smile flitted about his lips while he seemed to war with himself. “You are the first person that I have ever trusted to be this close and yet I find that have no wish to lose your friendship even as I desire more from your companionship.”

“Fenris,” she breathed and he turned his body until his thigh was pressed alongside hers.

Cupping his free hand around her cheek, he leaned close and stopped a fraction short of kissing her. His breath was hot on her lips and the look in his eyes burned her to the core. Her hand snaked into his hair and she kissed him with a savageness that bruised her lips. He allowed her to retain the briefest moment of control over the kiss before he took it from her and deepened the kiss, his claw fisting in her hair and pulling her head back to give him better access.

She shifted to her knees and pressed closer to him, but Fenris simply smirked against her mouth and drew back a fraction. A hiss of frustration left her swollen lips and though she tried to tug him back into the kiss, he resisted. “You are a beautiful woman, Hawke,” he breathed. “Is there no one else that has your…attention?”

After another futile moment of trying to fight his greater strength, she sighed in defeat and forced her body to relax against his side. Laying her chin on his shoulder and running her fingers through his hair, she said, “We do not have to stop being friends simply because we desire each other. I've known many people who were friends before they laid together and who were friends after that lust had burned itself out. Sometimes, intimacy is simply a deeper expression of friendship.”

Curiosity settled over his features. “Really?” he asked and she laughed.

With her free hand, she motioned between their bodies. “This may be nothing more than a surface deep attraction that burns itself after one night. Friends *are* allowed to look at one another as potential lovers that might be willing to take nothing more from the act than the physical satisfaction of release without complicating matters. Some of the people I knew had several lovers and though not all of them ended well, there were several that all burned themselves out and settled back into simple friendship as though nothing had ever happened between them at all.”

His lips ghosted over hers again. “And you believe that this is something that could…occur…between us?” he asked.

“Yes, Fenris,” she answered, amusement lacing her tone. Almost playfully, she added, “And I promise not to get jealous if you suddenly develop interest in another person or become involved with someone else as well.”

He kissed her again and then gently detangled himself from her. “You have raised an…interesting point,” he said with a small smile. “I will…have to consider it.” Then, his hand closed around the hilt of his broadsword sitting next to them and he rose, strapping it to his back as he did so. He melted into the night to check the area surrounding them, leaving behind him a rather flushed and flustered Hawke.