In the last hour of darkness in Val Chevin, Hawke and Fenris yielded to the spell of the city. It was quiet and empty on the esplanade of lampposts. There were myriad of them on each side between trees, and another row right in the middle. They passed shops, theatres, museums and closed little cafés. The sky was black and starlit as ever under the calm vigilance of the full moon.

"I can't believe you!" Hawke said, grabbing a lamppost and spinning around it. "Andraste, be my witness, I cannot believe this man!"

Fenris kept laughing, hands in his pockets.

"The first thing you do as my boyfriend is kiss another man!" she whined dramatically, climbing on the lamppost and letting an arm out in the air. "And after I let you invade my innocence!"

He held onto his knees. He could barely get any air in or out his lungs.

"What do you have to say for yourself, sire?" she demanded theatrically, hand on her hip.

"I—" he said, raising a finger. He still needed a minute.

"And lo, he laughs!" she said to sky. "There is no heart in this man. He is devoid of heart, I tell you!"

"Propaganda!" he said dramatically, straightening himself. "I have a heart. My soul is immense!"

He went on walking, and she caught up to him by climbing the next lamppost. "What have you to say for yourself, sire? I dare say it's counter-propaganda, whatever he comes up with!"

"I have but one thing to say," Fenris said calmly, as he climbed on top of a lion statue nearby. He closed his eyes, inhaled and widened his arms. "I am a man of pride! If I be damned for that, then damn you all and your prejudices! They but lionise me further!"

Hawke slid down the lamppost, laughing like it was a grand sport.

"Man of pride, would you be so kind as to get off ze lion?" a Guard's voice came.

They both looked at her and her partner, and their big, shiny bows, and immediately came off the city property.

"Sorry about that," Hawke said with a charming smile. "We're just having a big moment."

"Congratulations," the Guard said in honeyed tones of threat. Her partner, however, was snickering profusely. "Move along."

"Right. Yes. My apologies," Fenris said, bowing knightly to them and wobbling in the process. He kept a straight face while Hawke was holding all the laughs in. "Have a wonderful night."

"You too, man of pride!" the other Guard said as they left.

Hawke and Fenris looked at each other and broke into laughter.

"Hope you enjoyed your kiss, man of pride," Hawke said as she took off her sword.

"Whoa, you're not going to kill me over it, are you?" Fenris said, taking a step back.

"No, no," Hawke said, untying the red band around her hilt. She slashed it in half and put one around his wrist. "People just need to understand you're mine, that's all," she said, winking.

"I see," Fenris said. He looked at his wrist, and gave her a smile. He took her by the waist as they walked and she came in, holding him too. "You are enough for me, my dear."

"You should have a coming out party!" she said enthusiastically. Her eyes became big. "You should have a birthday slash coming out party!"

"How about just a birthday party?" he said, petting her hair so she'd calm down.

"I can plan it!" Hawke said, not calming down.

"No, no. We can plan it. I have final veto on everything."

"Absolutely. To the last fairy light!"

They passed more lovely buildings, and one side there was a long ornate fence defending the gardens of another museum. Superb violet flowers and dark green shrubbery leafed through the fence.

"Maker, this place is beautiful," she said with a kind of sigh. "I could see myself living here."

"Maybe you will," Fenris said, looking up at the stars. "Who knows what the years to come may bring?"

"I don't know. Almost everyone I love is in Kirkwall," Hawke said, thinking and exhaling defeatedly. "If only I could get everyone to move here."

Fenris chuckled at the thought. "You'd have to drag Varric and Aveline out of Kirkwall, and even then—"

"—they'd claw so hard on the gates my arms would snap out of my sockets!" Hawke exclaimed in terror.

They laughed together.

"Well… some may follow," he said, smiling a little.

She looked quite disarmed. "You would?" she said, her eyes warming.

"I enjoy following you," he said. He looked up at the stars again. "You take me to strange and wonderful places."

"Oh, I'll take you to places stranger than this," she said, grinning with a flash of the eyebrows.

"Very tempting," he said in a deep voice.

But to her, it was a matter of family. That was her absolute priority, and it would never change. She had no idea what his feelings were on the subject. Just because he knew about her situation now and seemed alright with it, didn't mean he suddenly and magically had any inclination to be a father. She knew he held home and belonging dear to his heart, but home had as many meanings as there were people on Thedas.

"Either way," she said, pondering on things, "If Devon's a mage, we're definitely bolting to Orlais. I thought I was sure before… but after tonight, I'm rock solid certain."

"And if not?"

"If not… why would I leave? Kirkwall's got the world's best aunt and uncle. That's more important."

"Don't say that to Carver. He might seriously hurt you."

"I think Bachelor Hawke is gonna be fine. He was never all that crazy about that stuff."

"He doesn't have to be," Fenris said. "That boy has had opportunity after opportunity to spill your secret in front of us and he's never done it. Not even when he hated you. To me, that's a dedicated uncle."

Hawke stared at him and, suddenly, a sadness overwhelmed her. "That's why he still hated me…"

"What?" he said.

"Why he still hated me when he became a Grey Warden. I'd hoped that it would bring us closer, but he almost shoved me away. It hurt me too much at the time to see the truth." Her head fell down half-way. "I thought why would he still be so mad at me, considering he finally got his own path, and one he did dream about as a young boy?" She shook her head bitterly. "It's because he can never have a family. Even if he wasn't ready to, he at least had us. He was going to move out, sure, but he'd still live in Kirkwall. Still help me find Devon. I mean, that was our plan. And, sure, who knows… eventually, he may have wanted to give her a cousin. The options were there, until the taint and the Wardens ripped those options apart." She covered her forehead. "Damn… I'm a fucking idiot."

"You should tell him that," Fenris said. "I think it would mean the world to him."

"That I'm a fucking idiot?" she said, laughing.

"Just… all of it," he said, smirking.

"I really should," she said sadly, pensively. "I could tell him after this," she said, looking at him. "If you have one more, albeit short, journey in you."

He smiled, rubbed her arm. "Well, you took me to a wonderful place. I was already bracing myself for the following strange one."

"Speaking of family and following…" Hawke said, bracing herself too.

Fenris looked at her attentively.

"Do you… see those two together?" she said in a less than confident voice.

Fenris hoped she'd ask this question. Terrified too, he was terrified of her asking that question. But it was all very tiring, keeping so much inside him. It was time to let some things out. Ironically, things about the future were easier on him to let out than things about the present. The very overwhelming present.

"Before I answer that, if I may ask…" Fenris said, looking at her. "Do you see your family becoming bigger?"

"Bigger?" Hawke said, her eyebrows rising violently. "You mean…"

"Not now, of course," Fenris said, clearing his throat. "I mean, in the following years, potentially. I might even be ready to have sex by then," he said jokingly.

Hawke… died. Her eyebrows annihilated her forehead and ascended to the Maker's side, while she fell into the Void and got swallowed by the heat death of the universe. Space-time contracted and contained itself into an ever-shrinking pocket, until it exploded into a new universe. Stars formed, planets joined, asteroids knocked off planets into satellites, and a New Moon willed its waters on New Thedas to form living beings. A protozoa became a fish, a fish swam to the shore and became a lizard, a lizard fell off a rock and learned to fly as a dragon, a dragon clashed into a mountain and became a bird, mammals took over the earth and gave birth to walking, sapient beings, and eventually, Hawke respawned on the streets of Val Chevin, looking less and less sapient by the minute.

"That last part was a joke," Fenris clarified, his eyes becoming worried.

"Ma-hah…" Hawke drawled. Her brain took a second to turn the lights back on in the speaking chambers.

"Are you okay?" he said, laughing.

She inhaled, tried to gather herself, and subsequently failed. "You want kids? You want more kids?"

"Well, blood doesn't matter to me in a strictly epistemological sense, but…" Fenris said, his voice becoming softer, "… it would be nice to see myself in someone, someday."

"You realise if we had a child, someday, they would look human," Hawke said, still trying to steady herself.

"Even so…" Fenris said, eyes on the stars, smiling to himself.

It wasn't about nature. It was about nurture. His nurture, from early on. He doubted himself—he always doubted himself—but he never doubted that he had it in him, beyond all the anger, sadness and hate. In his irreducible, individual soul, he thought what happened to Devon was a travesty. He felt a dark, foreboding ball of pain in his heart when he watched Hawke's memories, of how Andrei left, left everything on her, and couldn't bother to love or damn his children. It's why she never followed him to Ravensburg in the end. He'd only taken Devon away as revenge. He saw it in his hateful, vengeful eyes. He thought he could never do that to his child, no matter how they'd turn out. They could turn out a mage, and he wouldn't love them any less. And that was the truth.

"I lost… so much time," Fenris said softly, bitterly. He looked at her, and it killed her. "I do not wish to miss out on anything anymore. I do not wish to miss a thing."

"Wow… uh… yeah, I could—I would… in—" she said, but words were too hard. She wasn't even sure if her feet were on the ground. Brevity was her friend now. "Yes," she said firmly.

"Then, same answer," Fenris said, smiling.

Hawke exhaled loudly and heavily.

"Did I scare you?" he said.

"No, you… discombobulated me!" Hawke said, laughing. The more she knew him, the more sides, strange and wonderful sides of him she discovered. "I mean, I never thought you'd… think about these things. I mean, I knew finding a home meant the world to you, but…"

Fenris stopped them in place and took her by the waist. He merely watched her for a moment, searching for something. "I found a home, silly. It's in your eyes."

That killed her once more. She travelled through yet another universe and came back.

"I don't think I can adore you even more at this point," Hawke said, chuckling and taking him by the shoulders. And that was, technically, the truth. The river of adoration was becoming so full it was leaking through and nearly collapsing the dam into the best and worst place in the world. The painful, beautiful, and once again painful Lake of Love. Capital L, capital L. There was no returning from that. She knew it would happen. It was happening already.

"Adore. I love that word," Fenris said, his eyebrows lifting, as if he'd realised something.

"You look like you've just figured out how to turn lead into gold," Hawke said, worried. "If you have, don't keep it to yourself!" she said, tapping his shoulder over and over.

He looked down and laughed. "It's just… I've had this long… journey in the dark—on which I am still—however… I've found yet another light."

"What's this light, then?" she said, intrigued.

"You're Adora," he said, grinning, swaying them around.

"I'm… pretty sure I'm Hawke," she said, squinting and smiling. Unless her triple death just moments ago pushed her into a different dimension. She wasn't mad about it, of course. It was a great dimension.

"No, silly Hawke," Fenris said, dancing her through the lampposts. "You're my adora! The one I adore."

"You're killing me, Bird Boy!" Hawke cried.

Fenris laughed beamingly. "Welcome to Discombobulation City!" he said confidently, and spun her around. Lamppost over lamppost flew around in her vision, until she was down somewhere staring up the tallest one in the world. His white hair blotted the light as he kissed her. He brought her back up and she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

But he wasn't done. He spun them gently to the right, and pressed her into the tall fence.

"Hello," she said, her eyebrows rising and meeting.

"Hi," he said in a deep honey tone.

"You have no mercy for my poor heart," she said. At this point her whole face hurt. It was too much smiling, too much! It was like she had a hanger in her teeth.

"You have no confidence in your resilient heart," he said, pulling her to him by her trouser straps.

"Easy for you to say, demi man!" she said, tortured by his manner of being. "At least you have some control over your urges. At this point, I might as well have a PhD in Sexual Tension!"

Fenris groaned a deep laugh. "You know it's years I've felt for you. Do you think it wasn't hard for me, too?"

"So, what, we're just both idiots?" Hawke said in amusement. That was a lie. She knew it was a lie. Fenris's problem wasn't a problem. His slowness was her solution. It gave her time to find herself again, after those painful years in Lothering.

"No, no, we're not idiots…" Fenris said softly, letting go of one of her straps. "We're just savouring the moment." He brought her hand to his lips, watching her. "I am, anyway."

"Oh, boy, I am," she said absent-mindedly.

"Good," he said, grinning a wolfish grin. He pulled her again by both straps to his lips.

She couldn't help herself any longer, and she groped him from behind.

"We're in public, naughty girl," he said, stopping the kiss.

"Your coat's covering my hands, it's fine," she said, kissing him. But then she stopped. "You can pull that off."

"Pull what off?" he said.

She felt like she was having the biggest deja-vu.

"Naughty girl," she said, chuckling. "You're finally using it correctly!"

"You know what else I've been using incorrectly?" he said, pressing her back in the fence.

"What?" she said nervously.

"My power over you," he said. His smirk was all kinds of naughty. "I hadn't realised how much of it I have."

"Uh-huh," she said, biting her lip in fear. He had finally, finally realised it. "You're one fool."

He shook his head slowly. "Big, big fool," he said, pushing into her. He was correct. Then, as if it were nothing, he let her go. He walked off nonchalantly into the street, straightening his cuffs and his coat.

Hawke was incensed as she followed him. She tried to contain it in a pursed grin. He was just smirking left, right and centre. She pushed him hard, but playfully, smiling and being frustrated all the same.

"What?" he said inoffensively.

"Nothing, nothing," she said, shaking her head.

"Did I discombobulate you again?" he said, taking her by the waist as they walked.

"A little!" she whined, but grinned all the same.

He kissed her forehead.

In the creeping light of dawn, they passed an odd shop. It said Le Lapin Érotique.

"Holy shit, it's a sex shop," Hawke said, almost kissing the window as she looked inside.

"In the high end of town?" Fenris said, confused.

"There's a bordello… right behind my house… and this you find odd?" Hawke said.

A human face came out in the window from the darkness and spooked her. "Nous ne sommes pas ouverts, mais vous pouvez entrer!"

"What did she say?" Fenris asked.

Hawke made a big toothy smile.

It was not at all a dark vampiric dungeon. It was a fragrant, pastel interior with countless lingerie mannequins and, further down, all the colourful accessories in the world. One woman was arranging and moving things, while another smoked and drank her coffee.

At this point Hawke was sure Fenris would run out of the shop, but he didn't. So, she thought she'd fuck with him a little. She went to a basket of oils, picked one up and said, "Hey, you could use this with your boyfriend!" She made a sliding motion. "You know, ease your way in."

Fenris came over and took the bottle and walked away, reading it. "Excellent," he said.

Hawke blinked at him. She looked over at a wall of ropes and thought that joke was played out so much it was meaningless, so she walked on. Then her eyes doubled as she saw a rack of all manner of fake penises, some more anatomical than others. "Holy fuck, where have these been all my life?"

"A new line, courtesy of our Qunari friends!" the smoking woman said.

Fenris heard and came to her. He looked over them surprisingly calmly.

"So, which one are you?" Hawke said, smirking.

He frowned, thinking. "That one?" he pointed at a purple one. "Wait, no," he said, pointing at a pink one. "That one."

"Oo," Hawke said, taking it out. "Veiny," she said, flashing her eyebrows.

"Entirely accurate, but the colour will disappoint in comparison," Fenris said.

She couldn't understand how he was being so casual about it. He was probably still drunk. Maybe still high? Either way, the smoking woman was lingering. She pointed the penis at her. "Hey, hey, his eyes are up here!" she said, pointing it at his head.

Fenris leaned his head back and took it out of her hands. He squeezed it and frowned. "Bendy," he said.

"So, Qunari are kinky," Hawke said to the smoking woman. Did she even work here?

"Very," she said. She went behind the counter and threw a harness at her. "Put zem togezer, and you have a saartoh nehrappan."

"Oooh," Fenris said, his shoulders sinking. "From the way I heard Qunari speak about it, I thought it was some kind of… medical instrument."

"Well, it treats something," Hawke said, putting a leg in the harness one at a time.

"I'm… sorry. Are you coming out too?" Fenris said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I just want…" she said, putting the rod into place, "better traction." She stabbed the air shamelessly. "Nice."

Fenris scratched his head way too hard. "I said in the concert room that this night couldn't get any crazier. And yet I kissed a man and now you have a penis."

"Hey, don't look at it that way. It could be our penis."

Fenris frowned hard, unable to process that notion.

"If you're sharing, you need to clean it every time!" the smoking woman said.

"Don't listen to her. You need to clean it every time, regardless! And don't share! Buy one, get one half off!" the working woman shouted from the back.

Fenris looked very dizzy, which Hawke was enjoying. "Don't listen to them. You can get a penis in your own time."

"I have one, thank you very much," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I heard ya, Veins," she said sarcastically.

She went to a mirror and stabbed the air some more, then kept turning to check herself out. Fenris came behind her. "I know what you're thinking," he said.

"Oo, what am I thinking?"

"You're thinking, 'Woe is me… Are we ever going to do it Qunari-style?'"

"Close. I'm thinking 'Does he even know he has more than one sink button?'"

Fenris chuckled and cleared his throat. "He does."

"Well, that's as far as I know. My knowledge is purely theoretical."

"And this thing gives you power?"

"It gives me control. Practical control. The metaphor ends there."

Fenris took her by the waist from behind and whispered deeply in her ear, "But you like being controlled."

"I refer you to the running theme of today," Hawke said, and started singing and moving her hips in the mirror. The fake penis flopped ridiculously. "I like both! Switch pride, stand up!"

"Bi pride," Fenris corrected, laughing at the image.

"I adapted it," Hawke said, awkwardly trying to make the thing stop flopping.

"What's that, then?"

"A top gives. A bottom takes. A switch switches."

"Of course. You're just between two worlds in everything you do."

"Yeah, it's great. More people should be like me. They'd be happier."

Fenris laughed with a sadistic gaze, and, in the most brazen display of power, took away her penis. "You'll just have to take for now, woman of pride," he said, tossing it nonchalantly in the air.

"I'll take that!" Hawke said, chuckling. She looked at the smoker. "We'll take that."

Not far from Château du Paon was a park. The paved entrance was full of paintings for sale, with a few painters working their easels.

Fenris sprung up like a fire when he saw them and dragged her along.

"Are you going to sit for a portrait in the wee hours of the morning?" Hawke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Fenris looked at a woman painting. "We are."

"Oh," Hawke said. "I like how you think."

In the most awkward exchange of explanations, Fenris demanded a painting small enough to go on his nightstand. The woman got out the smallest canvas she had and directed them to the best light.

Fenris took her hand in his and extended their arms towards the painter, as if they were starting a dance.

Hawke laughed. "So, we're just going to stand like this?"

"I know it sounds like the most catastrophic task for you."

She scoffed. "I'm good for it."

A few minutes passed. She wasn't good for it. When the painter wasn't looking, she started flinging her tongue in the air near his head. Then as soon as the painter gazed again, she pretended to be normal again.

More time passed.

She whispered seductively in his ear, "Big… sweaty… bronto balls."

Fenris broke and let his head down, huffing and trembling.

"You have to stay still, Fenris," Hawke said.

Another few minutes passed. "Long… girthy… gurgut spit," Fenris whispered sultrily.

Hawke poker-faced slowly into his coat and let out a laugh.

"If you're good… you might get something nice."

"Oo, I'll be good, then."

An eternity passed.

"Round… soapy… darkspawn boobies," Hawke whispered.

"Bad girl," Fenris said. He didn't have to work on his dominant voice at all.

The end of the world slowly approached.

"Cullen in a pink tutu," Fenris whispered.

"Stop!" Hawke said, laughing.

Before the apocalypse swallowed the world, the painter was finished. It wasn't an entirely accurate painting. For one, there was a multicoloured palette knife style sky behind them. For two, the lampposts at the entrance were lit. But they both looked weirdly happy and playful and confident. She managed to catch Hawke's signature beamy clown smile, while Fenris looked like he wanted to strip someone naked and torture them into a confession. It was perfect.

"Alright, I need one too," Hawke said. "Can you make a copy and send it to the Kirkwall Guard?" she said, giving her more money.

As they left, Fenris chuckled. "If that arrives before we do, Aveline will have a heart attack."

"I'm counting on it!" Hawke said.

Morning, Château du Paon

The world pendulum trembled heavily towards the end of all things. She swallowed and tried to calm her heart as they got back to the room. Wasn't he tired?

No, no he wasn't. When the door shut, Fenris gave her a cold look and said, "Get on the bed."

"Well, I was planning on sleeping," Hawke said.

"You'll sleep very well, I'm sure," Fenris said, approaching her. "Now don't make me repeat myself."

If this was the side he was trying to dip his leg in, she had no problem with it. In all honesty, she felt like an idiot that she hadn't though to encourage it sooner. That's what he needed all along, didn't he? Control over the situation.

"Yes, sir," Hawke said excitedly. She removed her boots and jumped on the bed. In fact, she kept jumping.

Fenris crossed his arms. "What are you doing…?"

"Hey, you didn't specify what I should do on the bed," Hawke said, shrugging theatrically.

Fenris grinned to himself shortly and tripped her. She fell on the bed and, he was on top of her, holding her face as he came near. "You're kind of a brat, aren't you?"

"Kind of?" Hawke said, scoffing. "It's like you just met me!"

"You know what happens to brats?" Fenris said, forehead in hers.

"What?" she said, looking into his eyes.

"They get…" he said, grabbing her straps, "… their trousers off!" He came up and pulled them harshly away, throwing them as if they were nothing.

"Oh, my word!" she said, sitting up. "I'm half-naked!"

Fenris turned away, removing his coat and throwing it on the sofa. She stared at his backside. "Would you like to be more naked?" he said, closing off the curtains. A nice dimness filled the room.

"Hah! Not until I see some real veins," Hawke said. But he didn't have to be naked. She could touch herself just fine without.

He came back, standing tall at the foot of the bed, and rolled up his sleeves. "So impatient," he said, shaking his head. He unbuttoned his shirt just a little. Perhaps as a courtesy.

She closed her knees and hugged them. "You try sitting still while watching you."

"There will be no sitting still," Fenris said.

He grabbed her legs and dragged her to the foot of the bed. He held her thighs and loomed over, frowning.

"So, this is Ferelden," he said, looking at her tattoo.

She'd got it after her journey looking for Carver. A faded pink flower vine that accounted for her journey in life. There was a knot at the wrist that said Val Foret, then the faded green leaves went up her arm with Val Firmin and Val Royeaux, and Cumberland on her shoulder. The flower vine continued down her chest, but he'd never seen where it went. She told him long ago she might take him to Ferelden one day. And now he was looking at it. There was a knot on her womb that said Lothering, following down to a faded pink and green flower crown that hid her scar.

"And that's the Wilds," Hawke said, smirking flirtatiously. Although she thanked herself she'd deforested before she left the house.

"Very nice," Fenris said, playing with her. He kept looming over her, watching her. "What do you think I'm trying to say this time?"

"Fanta…" Hawke mumbled incoherently, her eyes rolling up. "Fantastic pussy."

"Wrong," Fenris said, but he smirked a little. "But you're not wrong."

She transcended into a rosy dimension of chameleonic pleasure. His dangling hair, his intense eyes, perfect. If she wanted him talking, she'd have to keep talking. But it was hard.

"I…" Hawke tried, breathing. "I have you now, clown brat?"

"Wrong," Fenris said. He looked down, grinned and with his other hand, twisted and slid his fingers inside her.

"So, if I guess correctly, what… you stop?" Hawke said, amused.

"Also wrong," Fenris said. The motions were fresh in his mind, and she rolled her eyes back again. "If you guess, I will switch my method."

Hawke's eyes doubled, then closed. Think, woman, think… through… the sweet… torture.

"A hint?" she said softly.

Fenris came near her face. "I said this about an odd body part of yours in the Fade, but devoid of profanity."

Her eyebrows. He'd looked so out of it at the time. "You're fucking beautiful!" Hawke said.

"Good," Fenris said, and kissed her. "Good girl."

Then he disappeared. She came up a little in confusion and her eyes widened. "Oh. That's your new method?"

"Surely the skills are transferable," Fenris said, scanning over the Wilds with great interest.

"Yes, in fact, and let's not forget… the tongue is the strongest muscle," Hawke said, grinning.

"Ah," Fenris said, smirking arrogantly. "So that's why you can't shut up."

"Be better than me, then," she offered.

"Anytime," he said, winking. He pulled her legs over his shoulders and…

Silence… was a good price. But it didn't take long for her to fill it. He knew her sweet spot now, and then there was the tongue. He twisted, she moaned, he sank nails in her thigh, she sank hers in the bed.

She stepped into another dimension. One of sheer, implacable need. She came up on her elbows and petted his hair and his head tilted to the side and he looked at her with his tongue out, giving her the most flippant slut eye. Just… brilliant. She pulled on his hair and her head fell back and she could scarcely breathe and her legs quivered and quaked.

She decided. It was decided. She was going to put her clit in his mouth all day.

But no. Fenris had other plans. He stood up, blotted his lips fastidiously, and his eyes looked sadistic. Hawke dragged herself up the bed away from him. He went to the sofa and got the pink "replica" out of his coat.

He smiled as he saw her at the headboard. "For once, she's shy."

"I'm not shy," Hawke said.

"Bracing, then?" Fenris said arrogantly, climbing on the bed.

Hawke nodded happily.

On his knees, Fenris pulled her by the shirt to him and said, "Forget about that. Show me what I'm missing." He kissed her, then dropped her, and held out the pink rod like an invitation.

"Alright, not my weirdest request," Hawke said. She pulled her hips up and let him invade her. But he wasn't pushing or twisting or anything.

"Show me," Fenris repeated.

So, Hawke steadied herself on her elbow and showed him. She rocked her hips on it and touched herself. She watched his face, which was taking in perhaps too much. If he had green in his eyes, it was lost. If he had a lower lip, doubly lost. If he was trying not to push the rod at all, he was failing. He bit on his index finger.

"How much are you enjoying yourself right now?" Hawke said, amused.

Fenris looked up at her, straight-faced, pulled it out of her, and brought her hips to his. He rubbed her along him in two fucking filthy motions. "Is that clear enough for you?"

"Fuuuck!" Hawke shouted in surprise. "… me!"

All those years, all that time in guarded, painful innocence, and it went straight out of the window. He was all kinds of teeth and grins and arrogance and just a dirty, filthy, Void-kissed demon.

The demon obliged, keeping her legs on his sides, and wrote pure filth in her clitoris and invaded her with the Qunari toy.

Enter the third dimension. That where pleasure and pain were indistinguishable expressions. She mouthed all sorts of vulgarities and subdued her consciousness to one thing and one thing only—to keep fucking her. Her whole body shook and jolted and she screamed one last, long profanity.

"Wonderful," he said.

She felt the rod leave her body, but she couldn't open her eyes.

"Ditto," she said, flailing her hand aimlessly, and letting it flop down.

She was going to ask in amusement if at this point he was ready to just do it, but she thought better of it. No sense in putting pressure and belittling his efforts. He did more in a day than he'd done in three years. It wasn't something he'd just forget.

He wasn't the only one that had yet to learn when to shut up.

Then she heard a door shut. Okay, not the front door. Just the en suite door.

She changed into something sleep-adjacent and went on the balcony to smoke. What a fucking beautiful day. He'd danced, he'd figured himself out, she'd orgasmed thrice, and there was a cigarette with her name on it. Actually, his name should have been on it. But out of pure, honest, holy sacrifice, she smoked it for him.

The door creaked open and she bobbed her head back. Fenris was in a lavender bath robe, his hair wet, and he looked innocently at her. "Well… these are ruined," he said, throwing the trousers in the trash.

Hawke laughed, flicked her cigarette and jumped back into bed. "Well…" she said, crossing her legs, "… you wanna sleep together?"

"I would love to sleep together," Fenris said, smiling a little. "But let me be the spoon."

She laughed inaudibly. "Which spoon?" she said.

"The… spoon?" he said.

"You mean the big spoon?" she said.

Fenris closed his eyes and smiled. "Yes… that."

"Sure!" she said, getting between the covers. "Spoon me good!"

"But there better be no Fade telepathy crap," he said, getting in too.

"You wound me," she said, turning her back. "Have you no love for our Fade telepathy crap?"

"I'd rather it didn't happen every single time," he said, spooning her. It was good.

"Well, I've got your… spiritual blueprint now, no pun intended. I can eject you anytime."

"Eject me? Don't you mean eject yourself?"

"Not… exactly. See, I've been thinking since the Fade and… I think your markings can rip through reality whether you're awake or not."

"You think?"

"Well, where do you think your hand goes when it phases out? It probably goes through the Veil. Or at least contains itself in the Veil."

"Well now I'm worried I'm going to randomly disembowel you in my sleep."

"I don't think you have to worry about that. I think the markings like me. Maybe a bit too much?"

"That… makes no sense."

"Doesn't it though? You said I live in two worlds. Well, lyrium does too. Lyrium is magic, magic is all feely, feelies come up to the surface when we sleep. You have feelings for me, you trust me, so they feel… safe, for lack of a better word. I think that's why I can heal you and others can't. I mean, there was only that first time we shared a bed in the Sunken Orlesian and nothing happened. Because back then, we were strangers. But now it's safe and because I have vast focus, they're drawn to my head and pierce my own… 'veil'."

"You think they have a mind of their own?"

"No. They're part of you now. They're your body. Your body's inherently tied to your subconscious. It may sound strange, but that's how that goes."

"Well, when you put it like that, I'm sorry for dream-raping you."

Hawke contained her laughter. "Worst. Apology. Ever."

Peaceful silence filled the room.

"So, you're not a Dreamer."

"Like I told you the first nine times."

"So, I'm a Dreamer?"

"Well… like me, your abilities probably just accidentally mimic Dreamer ones. Your markings give you good focus for a non-mage. I mean, I had little struggle in shaping my very encumbered mind through yours. And you lasted a whole night in the Fade. But please don't test out the whole dream assassin theory. I have enough people in my head to rip your soul apart."

"Why would I test that on you? I adore you."

"Aww, good."

"I'll just test it out on Danarius."

"Oh, yeah, go nuts!"

She tried to go to sleep.

"Remind me to tell you about the fog dream in seven days."

Her eyes sprung open. "So that wasn't a memory, what I saw?"

"I don't know. But I think I know where the boy was going."

"Alrighty…"

Once again, she closed her eyes.

"And that gondola dream?" he said.

She opened her eyes. "That… was weird. I think we did that to each other."

"Let's save that for special occasions."

"Agreed."

She closed her eyes again, and a few minutes passed.

"This is nice…" Fenris said softly.

"Yeah…" Hawke said, drifting to sleep.

I don't paint anymore, but I drew a little portrait of how it would look. It's the story picture now!