BioWare own everything! I'm just playing in their dragon and darkspawn-filled sandbox.
Chapter 14 - With Your Heart in My Hands
"Carver? What in the Void are you doing in there?" She yelled through the bathroom door doing over-the-top hand gestures that couldn't be seen by the blue-eyed Hawke on the other side "Some of us need to pee before our bladder's self-combust!"
"Just go outside!" He shot back "Plenty of bushes to hide behind"
"I'm a girl you idiot! I can't just… go outside. Come on. Open the damn door!" she banged her fists against the wood, bouncing from foot to foot. "If you don't come out by the time I count to 3. I'm blasting the door down with a fire-ball. One….. Two…."
The door flew open before she could get to three. Carver stood in the doorway in his favourite sleeveless beige tunic with the collar popped up, brown leather pants and long black leather boots with his fringe slicked into a slanted spike still fumbling with the buckles of his dark yellow-brown wool and leather pauldrons.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Hawke asks, peeking around her brothers' biceps and into the bathroom eyeing the small space with suspicion.
Confused he says, "The last time I looked, which was only a couple of minutes ago… I look the same as always"
"No. This guy kinda does looks like you but is more handsome and clean man and Carver is just a scruffy little boy that is always covered in dirt and blood"
"I'm not a little boy anymore, Hawke" He said, doing up the last buckle on his vambrace and chuckling lightly, "Only you could offer a complement and then insult me in the same sentence"
"So why are you dressed like that then? Going out drinking with the boys? Sneaking out to meet a girl... is that something this new Carver would do?"
The youngest Hawke was too busy trying to think up a plausible reason why or where he was going he hadn't noticed her step closer so they were standing almost chest to chest.
"Well, as much as I would love to hang around and give you the birds and the bee's talk….." she trailed off and danced around him. "I really need to pee, so we'll talk about it another time. Goodbye. Good luck. Remember to use protection little brother" she said grinning like a madwoman at him before she slammed the door in his face
For a long moment he stood gaping at the closed door mortified at the words that had just came out of his older sister. "Maker I hope he does kills me so I don't have to ever hear that…" He mumbled to himself once he pulled his jaw off the floor.
He found Bethany in the living room in front of the fire with a book in her hands. She looked up over the pages when he cleared his throat. "Do I really look that different, Beth?" he asks with a lesser amount of bite his voice usually carried.
"Apart from the new hair style and the being squeaky-clean you look just like you always do" she smiled up at him "I'm sure the special someone will be impressed with your effort" not daring to say the elf's name because her sister could hear them talking through the thin walls.
"If this turns out not to be what you keep insisting it is and I make a fool out of myself…. I am never speaking to you again. And if I'm right and I… don't return I want to say I love you and thank you for being so understanding of this… situation" He planted a kiss to her cheek and headed towards the front door, he paused in the doorway, turning to her once more. "Not a word."
She put her right hand over the left side of her chest "Twins honour" she said and made a gesture with her other hand like she was zipping her mouth closed and tossing the key over her shoulder into the fire-place.
He hovered in the entrance to the clearing watching Leto have a fist-fight with an invisible enemy while he ran through that speech he'd spent the last few hours trying to perfect one more time. He only hoped the elf followed the script he'd wrote in his mind.
A twig snapped under his boot when he shifted his footing.
In one fluid movement Leto pulled Mercy from his back and pointed it in the direction of the noise.
Carver held up his hands, stepping out into the clearing so the moonlight could reveal his face to the elf "Relax, it's just me"
"Sorry" he lowered Mercy "You startled me. You're early. I wasn't expecting you for another hour or so"
He shrugged, "You know me; I have no patience when it comes to swordplay"
"Who said this meeting had anything to do with swordplay? he questioned keeping his features blank as possible. "I could have asked you out here to watch me turn into a werewolf, howl at the moon and make you run for your life"
Carver wasn't fooled.
The mischievous glint in his eyes and the slight pull of his cheeks told him Leto was joking with him. "Nice try, elf"
"Well, since you here early you get to help me warm up for the thing I wanted to show you" he changed his stance suddenly and swung his blade at the youngest Hawke.
Carver bounced back arching his body away narrowly missing the tip of Mercy as it passed his stomach. "What in the Void was that for!?"
"Just keeping you on your toes." He said simply and swung again this time aiming for the shins, Carver jumped over the blade. The elf paused long enough for the younger male to pull Grace from his back before he swung his great-sword again "You did say you wanted swordplay"
The two blades collided with a screech of metal and a grunt.
No more words were passed between them while Grace and Mercy smashed and grinded against each other in the most aggressive sparring session they'd ever had.
Leto kept coming at him from all different directions and with each swing he seemed to be throwing more force into it. The elf didn't appear to be tiring even after close to an hour of this constant assault but Carver was starting to struggle parrying the blows his arms and legs aching from taking on the aftershocks of Leto's aggressive attacks.
His lungs were on fire, his throat felt raw from all the air he was trying to force down it.
"Alright, that should do it" the elf decided suddenly driving his blade into the dirt and catching Grace mid-swing in his gauntleted hand "Sit"
"I'm not a dog!" Carver barked breathlessly, trying to tug his great-sword from the Tevinters iron grasp
"You need to be still for this. This trick could kill you if you move." He said a somewhat dark rumble in his voice "Just sit down." Carver didn't really have a choice when Leto let go of the blade he fell unceremoniously onto his backside. He looked up at the elf with a beyond confused expression.
Leto knelt at his right side, grabbing Carver by the chin and forced their eyes to lock "Do you trust me?"
"You're acting really…" he tried to find his words under the elf's fire-y gaze. He swallowed nervously but didn't break the eye contact "…strange. Are you feeling okay?"
"I am perfectly fine. I just –" he sighed, "please answer the question. Do you trust me, Carvy?"
"Yes" He answered honestly without hesitating "I trust you Leto 150%"
"Good" The Tevinter smiled "I need you to listen to me very closely for this to work. Whatever you do, do not freak out. I need you to stay completely still. Do you understand?"
"…Yes"
The elf undid the buckles of his left gauntlet and blue eyes followed the hunk of metal clatter across the grass. He felt the other hand snake around his back and come to rest against his shoulder blade. What in the name of The Maker is he up to?
Leto rested his un-gauntleted hand that was glowing a bright blue over the pauldron covering the left side of the raven-haired boy's chest. "Are you ready?" he asked "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. This will just feel…. weird"
"Uh, sure…" He couldn't hold back the waver in his voice. He was nervous, he had no idea what the elf was going to do to him but he still trusted the Tevinter enough to let him do whatever he wished.
A moment later he felt something warm touch and move along his collar bone. Carve furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. Leto's pointer finger was touching him through his pauldron….? "W-what the…?"
Carver looked up when Leto didn't say anything back his were eyes closed a look of intense concentration on his face.
One by one he could feel the elf's fingertips slip through and touch his clammy skin and soon the entire expanse of his palm was covering the Swordsman's left pectoral. His mind wondered off to a day dream he had earlier of the elf's hands on his chest as he kissed him… Was Leto about to do that? His heartbeat quickened.
He tried focus on his breathing as the fingers crept across his skin like they were searching for something.
They found it.
Carver gasped when he felt the fingers penetrate his flesh. He stared wide-eyed at Leto's hand disappearing inside him. He expected to feel pain but he felt none of it just an odd tingling warmth that was slightly uncomfortable as it melted through his bones as easy as though they were passing through air.
Leto could feel Carver's wildly thumping heart every time the organ expanded, lightly bumping against his fingertips. 'Mine' the voice him head claimed, fingers inching closer so he was all but holding the organ in his hand.
He knew in this moment the elf could easily crush his core without any effort.
His body was torn between acting on instinct to flee this intrusion and heading the elf's words and staying as still as possible.
"Leto…." Carver gasped breathlessly.
When Leto heard the almost-frightened plea in the other boys' voice he slowly backed his hand out being extremely careful not to knock anything. Once his hand was out of Carver he made a face at the blood-soaked digits and then turned his gaze on the teenager who was 50 shades paler than he usually was.
A heavy silence hung over them.
Green orbs watched Carver franticly undo his pauldron and his hands fly under the fabric of his tunic checking the flesh for a gaping hole he was sure should be there but… wasn't.
The weird sensation of Leto's hand lingered and Carver was unsure if he wanted to throw up, cheer, pass out, break Leto's nose, hug or even go all-out and kiss him.
Feeling too many things at once a headache started to pound on his skull.
Leto stood and offered his gauntleted hand and the blue-eyed Hawke eyed it suspiciously for the longest time before he took it and let the elf help him to his feet.
Well, this was definitely not how I expected my night to go..
Leto opened his arms for a hug.
Noticing his blood dripping from the hand that held his heart only a moment ago the shorter male moved back slightly eyeing the elf with caution.
Leto stepped closer again and wrapped his arms around Carver, planting a barely-there kiss to the raven locks on the top of the teen's skull, a move he hoped silently came across as - I'm sorry. I care about you, too.
Bethany waited up all night for her twin to return. She was just about to go out and look for him when the front door slammed open and he stepped in.
She noted he was caring his pauldron instead of wearing it, a bruise stretching out from under his collar and his hair tousled and sweaty. She thought for a second he must have actually told the elf and in a whirl of passion they'd shagged out all the bottled up feelings in the forest…. But the way he walked in, dragging his feet, his shoulders slumped, head hung and scowl etched deep onto his face she knew that wasn't the case.
"So how did it go?" Bethany asked enthusiastically, bouncing up to him.
"Fine" he said curtly, shouldering past her.
She frowned at his back, asking softly "What happened, Carv?"
He spun around to face her, anger flaring up in his eyes "The crazy bastard tried to kill me! Look at this" he yanked his tunic up showing his black and blue torso briefly before letting the fabric fall back down.
Bethany gasped putting her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh…. Is it painful? Carver you need to get that treated. When Hawke wakes up – "
"No! Are you stupid? I can't explain to her what happened." he cut her off "I shouldn't have even told you. Maybe I wouldn't have nearly had my heart ripped out of my chest tonight"
"Carver, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think he would react like that…" She apologized to him "Wait… What?"
"I didn't even get the chance to say anything I planned to say before he started attacking me. I was right he wanted to show me a new trick…" he made a face, and put his hand against his chest. "He can put his hands through flesh and bone. He literally just held my heart in his hand"
"Oh how romantic" she gushed, grinning stupidly at him "Don't you see? He can't admit it to you because you're his best friend, one that comes across as this completely straight warrior and he's also dating your sister, he's not so great with his words so that's his way of saying 'I love you too'"
You can't seriously believe that?! Carver scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."
He dragged himself into the bedroom and laid on his bed trying to get some shut eye but sleep just wouldn't come to him.
He was exhausted after being awake all night, his muscles ached after that intense aggressive sparring session with Leto but his heart wouldn't settle nor would his mind.
There was only one way that came to mind that always helped to put him to sleep but that meant more thoughts of Leto and his hand in a place it shouldn't be while his older sister was asleep less than a meter away from him.
Sure she could sleep through an explosion but those tiny unavoidable breathy-noises would wake for sure.
He groaned, frustrated he wasn't going to get any sleep, he pushed himself up onto his left elbow and looked down at his bare torso the skin over his chest and collar bones looked as if it had been scorched, there were long purple-black bruises scattered all over his sides and abdomen where the flat side of the Tevinters' blade stuck him.
He ran his fingers over, poking at the blackened skin expecting to feel that jab of pain that normally comes with prodding at a bruise but his mind just kept sending him that warm weird feeling of the elf's hand moving through the muscle and the feather-light touch on the organ.
He wanted to believe his twin's crazy theory but his brain struggled with the logic behind it – it was too simple but to far-fetched at the same time.
He shivered. Damn that elf has really found another way to get under my skin… litrally
"Your hand better not be where I think it is" Hawkes sleep-riddled voice drawled out from behind him.
He was sure it wasn't. He glanced at the arm draped lazily over his stomach and hip partially hidden by the thin blanket. He looked over at her with a brow raised. "Are you going blind in your old age sister?"
"I am not old!" she gasped, conjuring and flicking a small ice burg at the back of her brothers' head "Big night farm boy? Did you just get in? So tell me about all the beautiful girls you – Whoa! What happened to you? Run into an Ogre on your way home?"
"I don't know" he said slowly, feigning a hang-over and running across his eyes with his thumb and forefinger with a light groan. "It looked more like a really tall angry elf to me but I was pretty drunk and it was dark it could have been anything" he hoped he sounded convincing enough.
"Good to know you can whop dark-spawn ass even when drunk, brother. I'm sure the ladies were impressed"
He cringed, if anyone had seen that fight they'd be more impressed with Leto than myself…
He shivered as the melting ice dripped from his hair onto the back of his neck. He forced a cocky smirk, "You know it." Out of the corner of his eye he could the green glow of healing magic start to fog over her hands he sprung to his feet "Don't even think about healing me." He said backing out of their room "I can deal with this without you"
"Suit yourself." She shrugged, yawning and flopping back onto her bed. "I was just trying to help"