TW: Conversation surrounding healing from sexual trauma.

Also I have finally found the energy to bring it up to date on Archive of our Own, if that works better for anyone.

Fenris reached for the paper, but Hawke lifted it up away from him.

"But first… I want to show you something."

She went to the left of the bed and bent over, picking up the scattered rope. Her black boxer shorts failed to cover the last part of her bottom, that heart-shaped wonder ballooning under her thick thighs. He was already behind her, his hands preoccupied with showing beauty the appreciation it deserved.

"Are you an ass man or something?" she said, chuckling as she came up.

"I am an equal opportunity man," he said, his hands digging up her naked back and landing on her breasts. They were nice and firm and cold, in need of warming up. His cock was up and digging between her hind quarters.

He was about to kiss her shoulder, but she put the rope at the back of her neck, and walked away.

He liked that.

"Follow me."

I enjoy following you, the hard-up grinning lunatic said.

She stopped in front of the mirror, the red waterfall on her shoulders hiding her left tit next to the roaring fire. The other was free and inviting, a small dark nipple pulling on his eye. It was proportional to her wide hip, and her waist was a little smaller. Less chiselled, too, for some reason.

His head came in above her right shoulder, and he looked like a hard-up grinning lunatic. He took her breasts, squeezed them together, kissed her neck.

"Now I'm going… to…" she was trying to say. Her eyes were heavy, her mouth slightly open. She was forgetting what she was doing.

A bite for good measure. A little moan escaped her, and her nails sank up his hair. She was enjoying the view. He gathered up her hair and put it on her left shoulder, the rope dangling between her breasts. He hid his face behind her neck, just his right eye setting up watch on her painted shoulder. He sank his teeth into her skin and tightened his hand on her hip. Her whole body became rigid and she was shuddering.

His head came back beside hers. "You were going to…?" he said, grinning.

He felt like a hunter and her pleasure was his prey. Forget the flowery tattoo that charted her travels. Her whole body was a map of the hunt.

In that moment, he had nothing but a love relationship with the mirror. She looked like rapture incarnate, and he looked… right, for lack of a better word.

Like a black sicklebill, his eye but on one female to impress. He was going to perfect the dance for her.

Or a wolf, the gruff one said.

Staying close to her, grooming each other, kissing, playing, sleeping side by side for weeks on end until she may decide he was the one for her.

Well… what irony.

Air escaped her sharp teeth, and the soft claw was in his hair again, pulling him closer so he'd bite her one more time.

His arms encased her over, and he pushed his hard-on into her, biting between her neck and shoulder. He was closing in on her tightly, and she loved it. His arms bent in a criss-cross, freeing her tits, and his hands came up over her shoulders, pulling them closer to him.

The red band was on top of her black makeshift favour, and he felt good. Ramsey was still working on the real one.

What a notion. He was making a prison out of his embrace and she felt liberated. He put his head on her shoulders, gazing into the mirror. Maybe it felt like something other than a prison. Maybe it felt like an, "I've got you." And he had her. The most importing thing.

She could free the world. She could free his mind. Just as long as he knew his adora was safe from harm.

"I was going to teach you…"

His hands went back on her breasts, and the heart between them shone, plum pink and inviting. He wanted to touch it, steal its strength, for a lack of a better word. He wanted it all.

"Ow!" she said, raising her voice and her body flinching.

Foolish… So foolish. "I pushed too hard, didn't I?"

"Yes. Be gentle there. I'm sensitive too," she said, rubbing her heart.

"I will make it up to you," he whispered in her ear. "Soon."

"Good," she said with a smile. She took a step forward, leaving the rope with him and raising her arms. "Keep it in two strings like that and wrap it under my bust."

"Dorian taught you that?" he said, masking a little jealousy as he did it.

"Yes. He was a good teacher," she said, which made him think vengeful thoughts on an innocent person a thousand miles away. "Now put the right rope at the back through the hole the left one makes and bring it over my right shoulder."

"Was he bisexual or just very good at his job?" he said, didn't even think it before the words came out. But bringing the rope up, fastened well and tight, it was so dark and sensual.

Hawke chuckled. "Are you jealous again?"

"Problem?" Fenris said, staring her down in the mirror.

"It's cute," she said, sticking her tongue out through her teeth and cupping his chin briefly. She turned around. "Now bring it behind the underbust rope and pull it up over my left shoulder, like in a V."

He rather enjoyed it. Not just the fantastic image of the black rope making a V between her tits. There was intimacy in these moments; there was time to flirt and build it up.

"Dorian is bi, but we never slept together."

"Didn't you want to?"

If only he had the strength to fill this moment with something more interesting and seductive than jealousy.

"Well… he was hot."

When she turned her back to him, Fenris tied the rope much too tightly in the parent hole. Hawke's eye doubled in the mirror and she laughed. "Despite how this looks like, I do enjoy breathing, Fen Fen."

"I apologise, ma adorae," he said, loosening it up. He was just jealous and he couldn't help it. She wasn't helping either. "How's this?"

"If there is room for a finger under the rope, you did it correctly."

"So I did."

She told him to bring the rope around again, over the top of her breasts, beneath the V already formed. It looked so very nice, her tits encased like that, bursting out, perky and total. He brought it back into the central ring at the back.

"Anyway, that wasn't enough," Hawke said with a little smirk in the mirror. She turned around and asked him to make a diagonal line from her right armpit over on her left shoulder, then bring it around at the back of her neck. She put her hands at the back of his. "Now this… This is what I wanted."

But she's not demisexual! She said when she met you it took all her strength not to bite into your arse like a rabid dog—which, by the way, killer compliment, the hard-up grinning lunatic said.

"Your own personal bondage man?" Fenris said, bringing the rope around the back of her neck and pulling her close to his eyes.

"My own partner in crime," Hawke said. Her lips were hot and irresistible, and he savoured every moment. "And occasional bondage," she said with a heart-stopping wink and a smile, her arms still around him. He felt the pain in his shoulders, and he didn't care for a little while.

See? It took 'all her strength' not to, the boring voice of willpower said. She just wanted someone she really trusted. A conscious decision against her natural instincts.

She told him to bring the rope over her right shoulder in another diagonal line beneath the V and under her left arm pit. It made a beautiful black pentagram and he was hard as bricks. He turned her around, and made a knot in the central ring, nice and tight.

He looked in the mirror, touching her shoulders down her arms and smelling her hair. He brought her wrists in a criss-cross to her tits and made her cup them.

"You like?" she said, smiling with her teeth.

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

"Awesome," she whispered in his ear. "Time for a little literature."

He sat down in his armchair. He was very, very curious. He barely got a read of the first two sentences and she was standing over him with those cheetah eyes and freckles, the captivating bow-shaped lips, the mass of red hair as inviting as it was intimidating, the pentagram around her tits driving him mad. Her tattooed arm and shoulder made shadows in the firelight as her hand reached into his black boxers, the other gently going up his thigh.

Immediately he felt tense. "Wait," he said, breathing in. He came up from the armchair and donned his black leggings, then came back. He spread his legs, his hands hovering above them. "I feel like there is going to be a lot of touching in this area."

"The tightness of the leggings helps with the pain, doesn't it?" Hawke said, touching his thighs. It was better now…

"Indeed," Fenris said with a little smile. But he looked at the fireplace, some inexplicable emotion bothering him. And suddenly he was aware she was watching him, knowing something was wrong, but she was silent, perhaps giving him the comfort of time. Even so, he let the words out before he could think about them. Silly him. "I hope… that this isn't a problem for you."

"No. You look good in them," Hawke said, winking. He chuckled to himself, all flattered, but she was just warming him up. "You do whatever it is you need to do to feel comfortable with this," she said with a beautiful smile, her hair falling down from her face above him. "And…" she said, raising an eyebrow, "…I am always happy to help with that."

And there it was, that overwhelming feeling of love for her, building up through his body, taking over his chest and everything above it. For a moment it was hard to breathe.

Don't you fucking dare cry! the gruff one growled.

"Let's do this," he said with a smile. He started reading, while all her fingers traced down his femurs, "Hawke left the table of the Void and went into Varric's empty flat—"

I fucking called it! Didn't I call it? the hard-up grinning lunatic said proudly, but he was not so hard-up anymore. Wait… what just happened?

He stopped, because something else was building up inside him and he just couldn't quiet it down. Flashes of being touched in the distant past came to his mind—nothing overwhelming, merely bitter.

"What's wrong? Is it my handwriting?" she said.

"No," he said, letting the paper down. He looked at the fireplace, sighing a deep sigh, and he closed his eyes. He remembered how she touched him all over the other day, getting him over that fear, respectful and alert to his reaction.

What a wealth of difference to what he'd been used to.

"We can stop," she said softly.

"No, it's not that…" he said, trying so very hard to find reason or coherence to his words. There was a wave of unstructured feeling trying to push through, and he was at its mercy now.

When he looked back at her, she was already in the neighbouring armchair, her legs curled up, and she was gazing at him patiently.

Fenris rubbed his forehead, and, as he let his arm down, he said, "I just… needed to say that…" He breathed in deeply, and looked at her. "I'm very grateful… Hawke."

"It's all good," she said candidly, as if his gratitude was disproportionally more than the situation deserved.

"I mean it," he said, scratching his hair and looking at the fireplace. A bit of blaze for courage. He looked back at her. "It's just…" He sighed. "This is all very challenging for me."

"I know," she said, her face calm and soft. "It's a journey."

With a few bumps along the road, like any other, the boring band-aid bath guy said.

"I've never…" he said softly, avoiding her gaze, "…known this in a context of safety or respect." He shook his head slowly. "I never thought I would."

That simple gesture just now, of acceptance for his limitations, that respect for him, was equal parts strange and touching. And the proof was right there, in how he didn't just fly into a horrible flashback, in how the pain of touch was strangely bearable sometimes. He was largely anchored in the present, the very new and powerful present, and he didn't know what to do with it.

She came forward a little, one of her legs going down. "A stranger in a strange land," she said perceptively. "I understand."

Of course, she did. Why would he expect her not to, at this point? Paranoia, thy name is Fenris.

"So if I'm slow to catch up…"

Don't apologise, the gruff one protested.

"I—"

Do something! the gruff one shouted to his willpower.

I… can't, the boring band-aid bath guy said.

"—apologise."

Hawke scoffed. "Too slow? Fen Fen, were you not there this evening?" she said, pointing to the bed.

"That's different," Fenris said, waving it off. "That's… a whole other can of worms."

"Oh, boy," she said empathetically, crossing her arms. "I see."

"What?"

"If you struggled to accept you have a violent, controlling side…" she said, breathing in. "… it must be a million times harder to accept you have a soft, passive side, too."

Give this chaos gender beauty a medal for wisdom. She made more sense than he did in his head.

"Receiving is hard. There's so much trust needed," she went on, pondering to herself. "But it's also the best feeling in the world, if it's done right."

What the fuck is she trying to say right now? That you're a sub?! the gruff one shouted.

"I'm not submissive," Fenris said sharply.

"I didn't say you were," Hawke said, shrugging. She stretched her hands out professorially. "In this, there's almost always a doer and a receiver. An active and a passive. Doesn't matter what dynamic you have, who tops or bottoms, none of it. You can switch all the live long day, but there's always that opposition." She was nodding to herself, thinking. "Unless you just both lose it and go to town, of course," she said with a wink.

Oh, I loved THAT, the hard-up grinning lunatic said eagerly. Fuck Donnic.

He much liked doing things. He started out by doing her, and it was amazing. She was like an interactive book, and he needed to keep reading. Play out all the possible scenarios to their combustive end. This 'domming' thing was much the same. Were he not struggling with what that all meant to him, he may have worn it on his sleeve. He could get to a happy place without worrying, because he was in control. But when she was all free to do what she wanted, the stress built up. Too many unknown variables. It could be so good, but then again, it could be so, so bad.

"Doers can have a ball, but I'm not so sure it can compare to the pleasure experienced by the receiver," she maintained, cheek in hand as she leaned back in her armchair. "When you get hit in all the right places, it's a whole-body experience, an explosion like any other, an utter mind-fuck."

"Yes," he said grinning. "I miss seeing your face like that."

Like pure happiness, followed by—

Glorious. Fucking. Peace, the hard-up grinning lunatic said.

He felt like a king giving her that feeling. Falling into his arms, joyful and incoherent.

"Oh, it's coming back soon," she said, winking. "Don't you worry."

Oh, it's coming, the hard-up grinning lunatic said. All over my mouth.

Stick to your territory, prig, the gruff one said.

You fucking hypocrite, the hard-up grinning lunatic said.

"So… what?" he said. "You want to give me that experience?"

"As much as possible," Hawke said, smiling. She gave him a wink. "It's not just your glower I adore."

Fenris smiled, couldn't help it.

"Like that," she said, biting her lip.

I love her! the hard-up grinning lunatic shouted.

You fucking dumbass. Don't you see what she's doing? She's trying to talk you into getting dicked! the gruff one said angrily. Where in the Void is bath guy?!

Gone, the hard-up grinning lunatic said.

I'm here, the boring band-aid bath guy said. I… think.

"I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that," he said, scratching his shoulder. That was definitely going to send him into a flashback. It had shame written all over it.

"I thought you liked it the other day," she said, raising an eyebrow.

They weren't talking about the same thing.

Paranoid, I say, the boring band-aid bath guy said.

"I thought you meant… the…" he said, scratching his ear as he looked away. He cleared his throat.

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to do," she said, chuckling and brushing it off. "All I want is for you to feel good."

"I already do," he said, smiling, looking down.

He didn't know. Why was he even thinking about this? Something to revisit later, maybe. Much, much later.

Try never, the gruff one said.

I don't know. It has health benefits. Why else would the Qunari invent tools like that? They never squander resources for luxury, the boring band-aid bath guy said.

I'm not going to dignify that with a response, the gruff one said.

FEELING GOOD WAS WRONG. IF IT HAPPENED, IT WAS BY ACCIDENT. HE DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FEELINGS! YOU WERE JUST A PUPPET! IT WAS A DISGRACE! SHAME ON YOU! the half-blind man shouted.

Fenris inhaled deeply. His throat was on fire and he made a fist.

You see now? Why I kept telling you to drop it? the gruff one said.

Calm down… the boring band-aid bath guy said. It's all in the past. You're safe here.

"You okay?" she said softly.

He felt it in his heart, the black hole of everpain… little lights shining through the cracks. Fear was long gone and shame was insufficient. He looked up at her. He was real now. He just wanted to be happy.

He nodded. "Yes," he said, suddenly feeling like chuckling. "I just… gave myself some unnecessary thoughts for no reason."

"Well, I can think of a great distraction," she said, standing up, her pretty smile like some strange magic, her gorgeous long hair streaming down her pentagram breasts, her hips curving formidably like a virtuoso's fiddle on a violin. She looked at the paper in his lap. "If you're still in the mood, that is."

Are you? the boring band-aid bath guy said.

Look at her, the hard-up grinning lunatic said. You bet I am.

Like the glorious sun, the poet in him said.

Oh, Maker, not this guy… the gruff one said.

Prose is words playing with mortals' emotions. Poetry is mortals' emotions playing with words, the poet said.

I have one… the gruff one said.

Go on, the poet said.

The gruff one went:

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Poets are weak.

…

Fuck you.

Good job, the poet said. Didn't know you had it in you.

The gruff one silently grumbled.

Voice man? the boring band-aid bath guy said. You in?

Go on. I need to feel like a man again, the gruff one said.

That's the… spirit? the band-aid bath guy said.

That's the spirit! the hard-up grinning lunatic cheered.

"Hawke left the table of the Void and went into Varric's empty flat," Fenris read, as the one in the flesh circled around his armchair, looking extremely ravishable. "With all the tension in the Wings of Chaos, Varric was diffusing situations left, right and centre. The ball of twine he made for Merrill gave him the enterprising idea of procuring himself a ball of stress relief, and she needed it bad," he read, enunciating and smirking.

She smirked back. She had something in her hand. A colourful candle. She was stroking it with a demonic smile. He liked that.

"But there was no ball of stress relief," Fenris read on. "There was only a ball of stress, lurking behind her. The handsome pain of Thedas." He raised a naughty eyebrow. "He wanted his own little chat."

She kept walking in front of him, taunting hands brushing down the tall candle.

"She leaned against the table, crossing her arms and legs." Fenris made his voice high-pitched and sassy and raised an eyebrow. "Can I… help you?"

She was huffing in amusement.

He read his line in the low timbre. "I am tired of these games. Let us settle this honourably."

"Honourably? (she laughed and circled around him, inspecting his arse)."

"What are you doing?" Fenris read his line with annoyance.

"I was just trying to see if you needed help removing your thumb from your arse."

He stopped to laugh, looking away.

"Problem?" Hawke said, sitting on him, her thighs spreading brilliantly over his dick.

"No. Very life-like," Fenris said, brushing his right hand on her thigh.

The red hair and the pentagram was so close he just wanted to lick and bite her nipples and fuck her like no tomorrow.

"Fenris?"

He put the paper under his neck and ran his hands from her shoulders down to her thighs, his nails gradually sinking in.

"Now I'm good."

Hawke's Story, The Hanged Man

"You will arm wrestle me for it," Fenris said in his signature executioner armour. He undid the straps above his gauntlets, and threw them on the table. "If you win, I will be nice to the mages. If you lose…" he said, putting a foot forward and staring her down. "You will shut up about it. Forever."

Hawke's sharp eyebrow went down. "Fine." She took a seat in Varric's chair and threw her own gauntlets on the table. She rolled up the sleeves of her turquoise and purple striped sweater, and banged her elbow in the corner of the table. "For equality."

Fenris sat down, taking her hand roughly. "For peace and quiet."

The battle begun. Their arms became rigid and trembled the sweet dance of equal strength. They stared each other down, eyes becoming more hostile by the second. She felt her teeth grinding, holding back her aggression, and she bit her lip. His eyebrows twitched, and the pendulum swung in her favour. He was going down.

He had a curt look on his face and his fangs came out to play. A readied force in his neck and shoulder brought their hands back where they started and he was grunting.

"So hot," Hawke said, grinning.

Fenris saw it coming, but he still inhaled and his throat rattled. The pendulum went in his favour.

"I hope that's how you sound when I Fuck. You. Up," she said with her violent teeth, forcing their hands back on her side.

Night time, Fenris's Mansion

"Oh, yeah, say that again," Hawke said in his lap, her hair falling on the sides of his face as she rubbed his cock.

Fenris's head fell back and a corner of his mouth showed a canine. He took air in, as if he was going to start, and his face came nearer. "Fuck—"

Her hand went in the back of his hair.

"You—"

She rubbed him harder, and he couldn't continue. He closed his eyes and moaned.

Hawke's Story, The Hanged Man

"Prepare to cry," Fenris said, his bicep bursting. He was in the lead again.

Every fibre in her arm was moaning in agony. She was watching it, getting vanquished by the second. He looked ready to rip her apart.

So, she kissed him.

Quick blaze, she took him completely by surprise and she was standing, hands in his hair. Immediately, his hands sank into her arse and he melted into her. He stood up, made her sit on the table, his hands banged on either side of her and his tongue invaded her mouth.

She tossed all manner of gauntlets behind her and kissed him furiously.

Something big and hard was knocking on her pussy doors, and one by one, metal started smashing on the floor. She took off his own spiky shoulder pads, and unbuttoned his vest. Boots came off, then he pulled on her trousers and threw them away like they were nothing.

Varric's voice came through the door. "You okay, Pantaloons?"

"Son of a bitch," Hawke whispered. But Fenris didn't care. He ripped her panties apart and she was shuddering. She only had her long navy boot socks now and the striped jumper. "I'm not decent! Uh…" she shouted, as Fenris dug into the back of her knees and brought her calves over her thighs.

He planted his lips on her clitoris.

"I'm just going to take a…" She whispered 'Fuck.'. "…a nap!"

The danger and excitement were exquisite. She was ready to faint.

"Alright, Chuckles. I'll wake you in half an hour," Varric's voice came through the door.

She blinked rapidly, her eyes going the back of her head as he played with her pussy. "Thanks…"

She pulled on his hair and moaned quietly as he wrapped his hands around her thighs. He kissed and bit on them, then went back to her clit and she sat up gasping. He was rubbing his lips rapidly on it and put a finger inside her. His sharp eyes were on her, his tongue scouting her labia. It went back on her clit and she pulled his hair again, her head falling back.

"Hey, uh… where's Happy Fists?" Varric's voice came back through the door.

"The fuck should I know?" Hawke said, holding back a moan as he went to town. "Maybe he's in the loo rubbing one off to Meredith."

His big cock slammed on her pussy suddenly, and he looked unhappy.

She chuckled and licked her lower lip. He rubbed his shaft up and down her pussy and he came near, holding her by the back of the neck. "Jealous?" he said.

She raised a naughty eyebrow, looking at that majestic dick sliding between her pussy lips. "Not anymore."

She pulled him by the vest in a kiss. It was like the spirit was flying out of them, and she took his cock and placed it on top of her vagina. He was breathing very hard now, all his torso muscles contracting. He rubbed her clit fast and started entering her, his hair a complete mess. Every inch of him was hard, and the head pulled her walls apart like a flower blooming. Her eyes were going back in her head. And there it was, all in, filling her up and nearly tearing her apart.

He pushed her back down on the table and started grinding inside her slowly, holding the back of her knees up. Her head fell back again, revealing a fragile neck and heaving clavicles. She rubbed her clit and he bit on the middle of his index finger.

He came down on her, pulled her sweater up, squeezed her tits and sucked on her left one as he built up momentum. They were entering wonderful madness.

Hawke came up, wrapped her legs around him and kissed him as he pounded inside her. She bit his lip, breathed out roughly and pushed him away.

Her naked legs came down from the table, closing in and blotting out the pink and reddened pussy. She walked over to him, got up in his face, took his cock and walked him back into the sofa. He crashed down, staring hungrily at her, and she sat on his dick. She slammed her hands on the back of the sofa, clamped her hot lips on him and fucked him like a winner.

Night time, Fenris's Mansion

"Oh, fuck yes," Fenris said, looking down at her. He was already biting down on the finger.

"You'd like me to ride you?" Hawke said, releasing his cock from her mouth as she knelt.

"Like to fuck the shit out of you," he said, looking up at her. She was sitting back down on him.

"Here's your sneak little peak," she whispered in his ear.

Hawke's Story, The Hanged Man

Hawke's hips did the talking now, and Fenris was getting devastated. He was fighting a losing battle between wanting to bring her down on his cock and biting on the middle of his index finger. He shook his head expressively, staring into her eyes, and gave in to his sexy tic. She was slamming down on him and a big breath escaped him abruptly. He formed a fist and brought it to his mouth, biting on the knuckle of his index finger. She slowed down so he wouldn't cum, and her lips went close to his ear. "We should have done this sooner."

"Agreed," Fenris said, breathing out. He couldn't stop pushing into her, however slowly. He grabbed her hips and rocked her on his cock, breathing heavily and shaking his head.

"Oh, ffffuck yeah," she said, closing her eyes.

She put her hand to her clit, his cock ardently pressing into a sweet, sweet spot. She could barely see it coming, that mad tornado of pink, saccharine pleasure in her loins. Her abdomen and legs trembled uncontrollably, her pussy muscles contracting like crazy. His hands dug into her hips hard and she stopped, a sensual moan escaping her. He stopped too, his head falling back with a growl. She breathed out, letting the quake run its course.

But he wasn't done. He just stopped for her sake, and good that he did, because it was all too much. He liked the view.

Finally, he picked her up, walked back to the table and put her down, turning her around suddenly. He put his cock under her pussy and his weight came down on her. "I'll give you another one if you ask nicely," he said in a deep voice, his fingers coming down her clit.

"Ask nicely?" she said, scoffing. She put her elbows together, resting on them, and looked back at him. "What am I? A beggar?"

The brilliant bar slid under her mercilessly and she could scarce take it now.

Fenris petted her hair. "I thought we were supposed to be nice to each other," he said in her ear.

"Well…" Hawke said, extremely conflicted.

"Be nice, Hawke," Fenris said, torturing her with slow, slow circles on her clit. His voice deepened. "Or I will make you beg."

His cock went in her vagina, just a little. He teased her again and again, and her nerve endings were on fire.

She bit her lip hard, and her hands formed fists on the table. "Please, make me cum."

"What's that?" he said softly in her ear, taking his cock out entirely. "Who are you even asking?"

Hawke grunted. "Please, Fenris, make me cum," she said a little curtly.

"I don't like your tone, but…" he said, coming up and filling her in earnest. She looked back at him and he gazed down at her with confident, half-lidded eyes, and his torso came forward with a nice hit as he pushed her down on the table."I'll make you work on that."

"Oh, Maker…" she said, closing her eyes.

"Yes," he said confidently. He spanked her in a glorious pounding. "I'll make you cum so hard you'll start believing."

"Fuck, yes!" she said, and immediately his hand came to her mouth. The other went on her clit and his cock beat the living hell out of her insides. She scratched the table, banged her fist on it, and with every slam his torso made on her arse, her legs began spasming out of control. He slowed down. Her knees buckled and came together, her pussy closing in on his cock, and she bit on the inside of his hand.

His throat rattled lowly, but violently, and he locked her wrists on her back. He went to town, spanked her hard again, and before she knew it, his hot cum shot inside her.

Night time, Fenris's Mansion

Fenris did not have time to finish voicing the story. By the time he was 'making her start believing' Hawke had a spontaneous orgasm with her mouth on his cock, and he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled on the top of her hair and told her to suck him harder. He came ablazing and the rest was history.

Later they cuddled in bed and sleep wasn't quite coming. He read the ending out of sheer morbid curiosity, and scoffed. "Well… this was a very nice work of fiction."

"Thanks," she said, chuckling. "I just took the truth and twisted it a little."

"No, I got that. It was… fairly in line with the avenues of possibility," he said, raising an eyebrow. "But the ending will never be a reality. I think it might actually make your father rise from his grave to kill me."

Hawke looked completely confused. "What?"

"Because… I have only 'one job'?" Fenris said awkwardly.

"Oh," she said, narrowing her eyes and smirking. "That was really weird for a second. I thought 'Why in the Void is he bringing up my dad right now?'"

Because Malcolm Hawke took a lease inside his brain. For reasons unclear, but he could guess. He was pretty sure he was going to take that to the grave.

"It just… you know…" he said, resorting to a half-truth. "It stayed with me."

"Well, it can leave," she said confidently. "You know what Solitivus is commissioned to work on these days?"

"What?"

"Mage birth control."

"Right…"

"To control the Circle population. I want to convince them to roll it out to the public."

"Birth control? That's… not going to happen."

"It's not very Andrastian, but… if they created it, they have to own up to it."

"So, you're taking some experimental substance?"

"I'm not patient zero. The recipe is fairly iron-clad now."

"Hm," he said, smiling a little. "Good news for both us."

"Plus," Hawke said, coming out of his embrace so she was laying on her side. He mirrored her. "It was just a fantasy. I would not have wanted that start for us."

Fenris scoffed. "In another universe where we weren't both too chickenshit to do anything about it, it'd have been an excellent start."

"Would not!" she said, ruffling his hair.

He grunted lowly, rearranging his hair.

"It'd have been a terrible start. I didn't trust you enough back then to talk about my past. I would have just been super conflicted and we would've been, I don't know, fuck buddies. Just hate-fucking."

Fenris thought about it. "What if I hate-fucked you so hard you fell in love with me?"

Hawke watched him crack a little shit-eating smirk, though he didn't want to, and she slapped him gently away. "Piss off! What are you like!"

"Incredible. Obviously."

"Maker, Anders was right. Your smugness went from ninety to a thousand."

"Problem?"

"It's annoying."

"Ah, but not as annoying as if I were your 'fuck buddy'," he said, smirking a little as he lay down on his back. "Then I'd just be insufferable."

"Bitch, you can't compete with me," she said with unimpressed eyebrows.

"True," he said, taking the notebook from his nightstand and shuffling the pages. "You are a natural."

"Yeah," she said proudly. "Besides," she said, becoming more pensive. "It'd have been way too familiar."

"What do you mean?"

"Like what I had with Andrei. Rivals in the world, friends with benefits behind closed doors. Never more than that, then boom. Pregnant." She went on her back and rolled her eyes. "History will not repeat itself in House Hawke."

Pftuh, Fenris thought. Andrei could go suck a dick. He would not enjoy having a conversation with the heart-ripper of Minrathous.

He made her come back into his arms and he sank into his thoughts. She was right, now that he really thought about it. It would have been terrible. Very sub-par compared to reality. He rubbed his head on hers. Where would all these nice moments have gone?

And Malcolm Hawke would have definitely come back to life to beat your arse to the ground, the gruff one said.

"Hm," he said with a little smile. "I prefer this myself. Romance, mature conversations, taking it slow, taking measures… It feels… right, for lack of a better word."

"Right?" she said, chuckling.

Be cool, the gruff one insisted.

"For lack of a better word," he said flatly.