"You know, I really hate armor sometimes," Alistair muttered. Anne raised her head from where she'd been wearily contemplating her sword as she cleaned the blood off of it.
"Why?"
"Because you look like you need a hug; I know how much you hate it when we have to fight hounds, and hugs are impossible with armor. And we don't have time to strip. And when we do have time to strip, hugs are usually not on our minds so much as, uh, other things." Alistair flushed at his last words, his hands awkwardly waving in the air to convey the words he wasn't speaking.
She stared at him for a moment, and then laughed, her mood lifted nearly as much as it would have been had he been able to give her that hug. "Hugs are nice," she agreed, then smiled slyly. "Although, I have a certain appreciation for you in the Warden Commander armor we found in Soldier's Peak." His eyes widened in pleased surprise and she winked at him. "You are very handsome in that armor."
"Is that so?" he asked, his voice taking on that confident purr that surprised her every time. "Well, I'll have you know that you are incredibly adorable in that helmet with the horns, the ones that curl?"
Anne wrinkled her nose. "I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to look menacing in that, not adorable."
He grinned at her, his eyes dancing. "Who knows? Maybe the darkspawn have an aversion to cute, and it strikes fear in their cold, shriveled hearts."
She laughed, picturing them fending off the ravening hordes with fuzzy rabbits and stuffed toys. "I think the war would go much differently if that were true," she said, grin fading as she reached out a hand out toward him.
He took it, lacing their fingers together, and she raised it to her mouth, dropping a kiss on his palm despite the blood and grime caked into the crevices. "More importantly perhaps, I am fond of your armor because it keeps you safe. I would sacrifice more than hugs for that benefit."
His answering smile was soft, before a mischievous glint slipped back into his eyes. "Then we just need to get Wynne and Morrigan to create magical armor that allows for hugs, but can stop any blow."
"I'm sure they'll get right on that if we ask," Anne said dryly, and Alistair laughed, then kissed her fingertips before dropping her hand so they could both return to the gruesome work of post-battle cleanup.
Anne almost wanted to broach the topic with Morrigan, just to see what the other woman's expression would have been before she stalked off in disgust. There were many ways to lift one's mood after all, and the prickly woman's reactions to her and Alistair's relationship rarely failed to amuse.
Although honestly, she would have rather had self-cleaning armor, however many hugs she missed out on.