When they first meet, neither of them has a beard. Anders still unable to grow one, and Karl unable to grow a proper one. It comes out uneven, a strange hairy pattern on his face that he carefully removes each morning.
The first thing he notices about him is his anger. It is in a hallway with a templar at each arm, all but dragging him through the corridors. He is fighting back even though he must know that it is futile to do so, sputtering insults in a language that Karl understand, but the templars thankfully does not. His hair is light and hangs loose around his face, and he tries to kick the templars at every other step. He is feisty.
They first start talking because they are both Anders, and the younger of the two has an accent so thick that his attempts at conversation with the other apprentices frequently ends in awkward, confused silence. But with Karl he can switch to a language they both know well enough when he lacks the words for things, and Karl supplies him with the translation for the language he needs to learn. He has no trouble with understanding the accent, but cannot quite remember when he lost his own. Perhaps hearing the language he still dreams in should make him long for his old home, but for the most part it only fills him with fondness, fondness for words that sounds harsh but are not, fondness for the boy who tries to seem harsher than he is. He is still homesick, and unable to accept being locked up, forbidden to venture outside as he wishes, denied of bedroom windows and even privacy.
They sit next to each other in the lower bunk, preferring to practice Anders' reading there rather than in the library, where it would be more apparent that Anders has not yet mastered the skill. Here, close together and with hushed voices, other's are likely to assume something else, as laughable as the idea is. Anders – who guards his birth name like a treasure – is much too young, still retaining the round cheeks of childhood as well as an inclinations towards juvenile temper tantrums. He has freckles, and forgets to brush his hair in the mornings. Karl likes to tousle it, the way he would do with a younger sibling, making the tangles even worse. Karl's attempts at growing a beard still only results in strange, uneven patterns, but next to this Anders he almost feels old, and somewhat like a mentor. It almost makes him feel at peace.
When he finally manages to grow a proper beard, Anders is out of the tower, on the run. Karl feels a peculiar surge of pride.
When they drag him back, Anders is still unable to grow a beard, still kicking and struggling and throwing insults, but there is no longer anything childish about him. The way he moves is different, his smiles are sly and the accent is gone. He is charming.
He jokes with the other apprentices, plays pranks on the templars when he thinks he can get away with it, is flippant when it comes to his studies and is only serious in secret, next to Karl, sitting closer than ever before. In the hallways, in the library, in the dining hall and in the classrooms, Anders radiates confidence. When they are alone, as alone as they can be in the tower, there is a shy hesitation in the way that he reaches out to stroke Karl's beard.
When they first kiss, Anders' chin is slightly fuzzy.
When they first share a bed, he plants kisses all over Anders' face, and light stubble brushes against his lips, the beginnings of a dark blond beard.