Anders groaned and rolled his shoulders, stiffened from being hunched in one position for so long - he might have to apply a small rejuvenation spell later.
How long had he been writing?
He glanced at the candle... Andraste's knicker-weasels, four hours?
Danny would be mad, Anders was sure of it. He'd promised to come to bed after an hour. Four hours...that meant - he counted on his fingers - it was way past midnight and so, technically his Name Day.
He smiled to himself, remembering Danny's cake-making effort last week. It had been the first time anyone had bothered about his Name Day in years.
A smile still played on his lips as he made his way to the bedroom, but it turned into a frown as he found it empty. Not only that, but the bed covers were perfectly made, which suggested that Danny had not slept in the bed yet tonight - he could never make the bed neat like this if his life depended on it.
"Danny? Where in the Blight are you?"
No answer.
This was just getting odder by the minute. Then his eye caught a piece of white card placed on the pillow. On it, in Danny's beautiful handwriting read: "Come to the garden when you are ready. Love you. D."
The garden, eh? Well, why not - it might be nice to sit in the cool night air for a bit before bed.
Anders made his way downstairs, opened the backdoor to the garden and stopped in astonishment. The garden was lit with hundreds of tiny lanterns strung in the trees which made the little space an oasis of light surrounded by darkness. There was a bottle of wine and a bowl of strawberries on the table to the left of him and Danny, who grinned like the cat who got the cream, stood beside it.
"Danny, honey - this is amazing...wow, thank you!"
Danny's smile widened - his surprise had worked!
"Happy Name Day, sweetheart. You were working so hard and I wanted to make something special for you. I- I actually got you a real present this time. Go on. Open it."
Danny held out a square white box tied with an orange ribbon and finished with a huge bow on top. Anders rolled his eyes at his lover's penchant for extravagance wherever possible and accepted the box. It was not as heavy as he had thought at first glance. He lowered the box to the ground with care, undid the ribbon and opened the lid.
For the first time in his adult life, Anders could not think of anything to say. Inside the box was a small orange kitten. It - she, by the look of it - meowed and looked up at him with huge blue eyes and he was lost.
"Oh aprettykittyyesyouare...come here, little one. Awww, she's so cute!"
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Danny smiling at him.
"I take it you like your present then? What are we going to call her?"
"How about...Ginger."
Danny laughed.
"Ginger it is - Thunder will be pleased, at least I hope so. Come on then, you two. Strawberries for everyone."