Some Lovers

A 100 prompts challenge on Fenris/LadyHawke by Marianne Bennet

001: Crash

In their first moments of marital life, Aveline and Donnic made things look so easy. Even though Ariadne Hawke was well aware that the relationship between the guard and his captain had not begun with the same ease, she could not help but approve of Aveline's easy smile, the self-assured way that Donnic held his new wife close to him, and the cheerful good wishes of the crowd. Admiration turned to envy when a certain guest, lingering on the outskirts of said crowd, turned toward Hawke and met the known apostate's eyes with a crooked smile.

Damn it. She quickly looked down at the full skirt of her blue gown, smoothing the silk against her lap, wincing as her palms came into contact with the almost healed gouge in her thigh, a memento of a close call with the Arishok's blade. She tried to focus on the matter at hand –the celebration at that –imagining what Leandra Amell would have to say about Aveline's wedding. Hawke's mother would have smiled over it all, making certain that everything would have gone off without a hitch from some reserved corner of the room. Hawke wondered what her mother would have had to say about the lending out of the Amell Estate –"Something borrowed," Leandra would have said. Something old… Donnic's decrepit mother would perhaps suffice, hobbling about the hall with champagne in hand. Aveline's dress was new and Hawke's mood was certainly blue enough, considering…

"Hawke." He had crossed the room unnoticed while she had been thinking of other things, things that were more appropriate to a wedding. "You look…" he hesitated.

Sad? Heartbroken? Orphaned? Can one look orphaned? Angry? Hurt? Beautiful? You called me beautiful. "You look… happy," he finished his sentence this time.

She flashed him a smile. Good humor was her weapon tonight, a suitable replacement for that ridiculous key-thing that her father seemed to have left her as legacy. "Then the Lord Seneschal's Men lost out on a talented player when Meredith named me Champion."

A crease crossed Fenris's forehead. "I can't see you on stage."

"I'm sure that an apostate actor would draw some attention," she replied. She didn't ask him to sit down and join her; she hoped that he noticed that. She was still angry with him for suggesting that she duel the Arishok to begin with and frustrated with him for… other less public matters.

He sat down anyway, as she knew he would. Even after six years on the run, Fenris liked to flout that no one could tell him what to do. "I'm not entirely certain that I'm supposed to be here," he admitted to Hawke without looking at her.

She shrugged. "You're crashing in a broken down mansion. I'm sure that one wedding seems negligible on that track record."

"I was given an invitation."

"Oh."

"How long did it take you and Aveline to write out all of those?"

Hawke shrugged again, pushing down embarrassment. "Brennan helped. A little. It isn't my fault that Donnic has no sisters to play bridesmaids."

"Only younger brothers wanting to get drunk on your money," replied Fenris dryly, observing said men from across the room.

"How do you know it's my money?"

"Because you have money, Hawke. A guard captain's wages could not pay for all of this." He waved a hand to indicate the room and all it contained: the food, the wine, the indoor fountain. "And you would help a friend."

The corners of her mouth twisted upward despite herself. "The fountain goes back to the de Puis estate tomorrow."

"So I am not the only one who breaks into mansions, never mind steal things."

"You're forgetting that I helped you capture Danarius's manor to begin with."

"True," he allowed with a small, permissive smile. "Although I still remain mystified as to why you did such a thing."

"It's as you just said. I help my friends." She rubbed her palms against her dress's material again, pressed down too hard on that same wound again. She flinched.

He watched her. "I was no friend to you then."

"But you might've been."

"Have you the gift of second sight then?"

Hawke did not immediately reply. Finally: "Sometimes I wish I did." Then, quickly, to hastily change the subject: "Why did you say that you don't think you should be here?"

Seemingly taken aback, Fenris hesitated. "I… I have never struck myself as the sort of person that is invited to weddings."

"We invited Isabela, didn't we?"

"I haven't seen her."

"No one's seen her," was Hawke's response. "But we invited her all the same."

"Good," Fenris settled back into his seat. "Let her see what she is missing out on while she hides in Rivain."

Hawke rolled her eyes. "I'm just surprised that she hasn't shown up. Aveline's wedding night seems like too great an opportunity for her to miss out on."

"I can imagine," he chuckled. "She must be counting on Varric to make up the difference."

"Undoubtedly he'll come up with something." He compared you to an angst-y porcupine when he first heard about us. I can't say that I disagree much.

Aveline and Donnic were dancing again. Hawke watched her friend's cream-colored dress peek out from between guests' backs. "How do you think they do it?" she was suddenly struck to ask. "Other people. Are things just that much easier for them or do they just make it look that way?"

"I don't know," was Fenris's unhelpful but apparently honest answer. He shifted his weight in his chair; the piece of furniture moved all that closer to Hawke. She looked at the now narrower distance between them; wondered if he had done that on purpose. "I often wonder that myself. Do you think they sometimes wonder what you did to make your life so exciting, to win yourself a title and a mansion?"

"They can't know," Hawke answered quietly, "because, if they did, they wouldn't want to wonder."

"True," he turned and his green eyes met hers. "You and I know that living in a mansion isn't always the reward of a happy life."

…

A/N: I read "crash" as the prompt; I thought "wedding." Go figure. But I loved writing this. If the rationale doesn't make sense… whatever. This is what the word inspired me to write. ;)