A/N: Just a little story I wrote while watching Iron Man 2 xP. Happy Easter, everyone!
"Hawke, what the hell are you doing?"
Hawke's head shot up in surprise; she hadn't realized she was being watched. Fenris was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching her with one eyebrow arched, amusement warring with confusion and curiosity in his emerald gaze.
"Dyeing hard-boiled eggs," she answered, turning back to the plate of boiled eggs and the bowls full of vinegar and food coloring. She wasn't quite sure where Bodahn had found the food coloring, but he had seemed to whip it out of nowhere when she'd asked for it earlier that day. One of the things she loved about Bodahn was that he rarely asked questions at her strange requests.
"Why?" Fenris asked, moving silently into the room and leaning against the wall next to the table where she was working. He watched her with that intensity that always seemed to linger in his emerald gaze. She hesitated.
"It's an old family tradition," she replied softly after a moment, her usually bright blue eyes dulled with wistfulness. "Mother used to do this with us every year."
"What does this accomplish?" he wanted to know, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
"Hell if I know," Hawke said, rolling her eyes as the sadness vanished from their icy depths, to be replaced by a fleeting smirk.. "Although I assume it still had some kind of significance a couple centuries ago. I guess it's just some sort of spring tradition." She frowned at the eggs then. "Mother used to help us dye the boiled eggs, and then that night while we were asleep she would hide them and leave out sweets for us. When we woke up, we would have to find all the eggs before we could eat the candy." Nostalgia brought a soft, sad smile to her lips; her gaze was slightly unfocused as she revisited memories from years long passed. Fenris watched her silently, his inscrutable green gaze still brimming with that intensity that told her he was listening closely. "She used to tell us that it was a "spring nymph" that would hide the eggs and leave out the candy, but it didn't take very long for me to figure out that it was actually her. I played along for a couple more years before Carver figured it out as well, then the stubborn idiot refused to help find the eggs. Bethany was really upset." Her smile was a little rueful now.
"I see," Fenris managed, although she could still see his slight bemusement. She chuckled at the expression on his face.
"It was nothing more than a custom, Fenris. It wasn't magic or anything," she told him. "I assure you, nothing about food dye is magical." She lifted a vial of the stuff up to eye level- his, not hers, which meant she was holding it above her head- so he could investigate it. He peered at it closely, and she had to disguise another smirk. She set it back down on the table when he realized she was teasing and rolled his eyes at her. "Look, aren't they pretty?" she added, holding up one of the colored eggs that had already dried after being dipped in the food coloring. It was a sky blue color, similar to that of Hawke's eyes. He looked at it for a moment before his sharp gaze snapped back up to meet hers, his expression unreadable.
"Have I ever told you," he said suddenly, "that blue is my favorite color?" A startled expression flashed across her face, and she arched an eyebrow.
"No, I don't believe you've ever mentioned that," she mused slowly, setting the egg down again. "Although I can understand why you never got around to it, considering that we spend most of our free time killing things." He chuckled, despite himself. His eyelids slid shut briefly, and it was almost as if a candle had blown out when the brilliance of his eyes was hidden momentarily.
"I prefer light blue," he informed her, his eyes opening again, and he gazed directly into her own eyes, judging her reaction. "A little deeper than sky blue, though. Like melting ice." She blushed under the intensity of his gaze, although she couldn't help the smile that turned up the corner of her mouth. He smiled crookedly back at her, his expression warm.
"Ironically, it's one of my favorites, too," she answered with a more open grin, turning back to the table once again. She dropped one of the hard-boiled eggs into a bowl of violet dye. "Although, personally, I adore green. A light green, not forest green. Kind of... the color of grass on a warm summer day. You know?" She heard his deep, approving chuckle behind her, and her heart stuttered in her chest the way it did every time he laughed like that. Still carefully keeping her gaze away from him, she went on with a secretive little half-smirk, "If you're done staring at my ass, you're more than welcome to help me."
"I was not staring," he insisted, his tone still rippling with laughter as he moved up beside her and picked up another egg with his long, slender fingers.
"Admit it, you enjoy my curves," she teased, bumping him with her shoulder.
"You're insufferable, Hawke," he informed her affectionately as he dunked the egg into the dark blue dye.
"I know I am," she answered cheerfully. "Hm, I think that was probably the nicest compliment I've gotten from anyone all day. Next to, 'Hawke, you're a bitch.'"
"Well, it seems that some people haven't been paying you enough attention today, then," he commented quietly, glancing at her sideways. "You're also very beautiful." Her gaze twinkled back at him before she retorted.
"Told you that you liked my curves."
He sighed.
The next morning, Hawke lay sprawled on her back in her bed, one arm flung across the other side of the large bed, which was decidedly empty. She squinted upat the ceiling, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth as she yawned widely. Fenris had, mysteriously, refused to stay with her again the night before, claiming he had "business to tend to", which was bullshit as far as Hawke was concerned, but she had let it go when she saw the strange, enigmatic gleam in his eye. Evidently he was planning something, and she decided it was his business whether he wanted to tell her or not. She'd probably figure it out soon enough anyway. She yawned again as she rose to her feet and shuffled across the room to her wardrobe. She yanked her robe out of it and wrapped it around herself before she padded barefoot downstairs to get breakfast.
Hawke was undoubtedly at her clumsiest early in the morning- she was definitely not a morning person. Thus, she was stumbling when she walked into the dining room, and unsurprisingly her foot rammed into something hard.
"Ouch, dammit," she sighed. She bent over to pick up the thing she had bumped into. She gazed at it, uncomprehending for a moment. Then her jaw dropped when she realized what it was.
It was an egg.
After another moment, she recognized it as the light blue one she had shown to Fenris the previous day. A slight smile played on her lips as she realized what he had done, why he'd been looking so mysterious when he left. She lifted her gaze, and now that she was paying attention, she saw several colored eggs poking out behind bits of furniture. She glanced over at the table then and saw a woven basket containing what looked like bits of hard candy. She laughed aloud, out of sheer pleasure.
"Oh, Fenris," she breathed, a tear sliding down her cheek- whether it was of joy, sadness, grief, wistfulness, or some combination thereof, she couldn't tell. She knew he had done this for her, and she was still amazed at the lengths her elf would sometimes go to in order to make her happy.
Memories assailed her as she strode around the house, looking for the eggs: she saw Bethany, with black pigtails, squealing when she found the first egg of the year; young Carver, yanking on Hawke's own long black hair when she caught him stealing one of her eggs, and then his expression when she punched him in the stomach; the taste of the sweet, hard candy on her tongue and the stickiness of it on her small hands as a child; and her parents, watching their egg hunt one year with loving smiles, Malcolm's arm wrapped around Leandra's waist.
That was before Leandra's hair had turned gray, and it had used to be a very beautiful auburn color; Hawke herself had ended up with her father's pitch black hair.
Their little spring tradition had been a stupid idea to them back then, but now she wished she had relished the chance to spend time with her family and enjoy the little gifts that they rarely got, because money had always been so tight. And now she was basically alone; she had no family to spend time with.
Hawke found herself seated on the ground before the fireplace, cradling the colored eggs in her lap. Despite the tears cascading down her cheeks, she wore a warm smile. She stroked her dog's fur absently as she gazed into the fire, gaze unfocused again.
Their was a stirring of air beside her, and she felt rather than saw Fenris's long frame folding into a seated position at her side. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and his arm snaked around her waist.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
"Happy spring, Hawke."
She smiled at the sound of that. Maybe she wasn't alone.