Some Lovers
A 100 prompts challenge on Fenris/LadyHawke by Marianne Bennet
004: Erratic
"You don't have to live there anymore."
Hawke knew the moment she said those words that it had been a mistake. Fenris sat up in bed –her bed, which she suspected was part of the issue –and scowled. "And where do you propose I live instead?"
With me? She knew that would make things worse. Hawke bit her lip and leaned her bare back against the headboard, clutching the sheet up to her chest. "It's only that Aveline told me… Alright, Aveline didn't tell me anything. That place is falling apart. And… I'm worried about you."
"You're worried about me?" he repeated, scoffing at the thought and getting to his feet.
She let loose a loud, exasperated sigh. "This is stupid. We just… you know and now you're angry with me. I thought we were past this."
"We are past this," he growled. "Just don't tell me where to live."
"I wasn't 'telling' you anything. I was making a statement, an observation, a friendly suggestion that you don't seem to appreciate much. I didn't mean to offend you."
He picked up on the edge in her voice. "Well, you did. And I suspect that may have been your intention."
"Sweet Maker, Fenris," she pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and said, "How many lemons did you eat today?"
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm being bitter?"
"Yes."
"That was a stupid line to use."
"Excuse me?"
"Isabela could have come up with much better."
Hawke bit down hard on the corner of her mouth, incensed. "Well, maybe she'd appreciate it more."
"Well, maybe you should ask her to live with you. Just a suggestion."
Her mouth fell slightly open. "I did not ask you to move in with me!"
"You implied it."
"I'm just worried about you being alone in that big empty house–"
"Sweet of you."
"–When Meredith is looking for any reason since I called her out in front of the damned palace to drag me and all of my friends into the Gallows at the next possible opportunity–"
"Then why don't you ask everyone to come live here?"
"I will then!" she snapped, swinging her legs out of bed and getting to her feet, still clutching the sheet. "But I won't ask you. Not when you suddenly start yelling at me like this. Now get out of my house!"
"One step ahead of you," Fenris replied heatedly, snatching his pants from the chair in front of the fireplace.
She watched him struggle into them, refusing to budge from where she stood, watching in furious silence as he started from the room with only half of the buckles fastened and his chest plate in hand. Running out onto the balcony, she added, "And your pants are too tight."
Halfway down the stairs, he replied, "You would know. You tried to put them on last night and you couldn't."
"I was drunk!" she shouted after him.
"And I'll be drunk tonight!" he shouted back from the estate's entryway. "But I'll still be able to put them on."
The moment she heard the door slam shut behind him, Hawke sank to the floor and wondered if she had ruined everything. Leaning her head against the balcony's railing, she told herself, I can be alone again. I can sleep alone. I can watch sunsets on my own. It'll only be another three years or so until he comes around again. That's all.
She made herself get up off of the floor, walk over to her room, and close the door behind her. Did I mess everything up? Should I go after him? Should I let him stew in his mansion for a couple of hours, days, weeks? How long will it really take? He said he couldn't live without me.
She tipped her head back against the closed door and closed her eyes. He'll come back.
It was not until she had gotten dressed and was beginning to answer her mail that she heard the knock on her bedroom door. She considered not answering, just to see what he would do, but figured that he would probably kick the door down and then she would have to pay for it to get fixed. Fenris sometimes forgot that he wasn't in a mansion where everything was already broken. So she put her pen down, got up from the table, and opened the door.
"I…" (She loved it when he was at a loss for words but she wouldn't admit it to him ever.) "I walked to the Chantry and back. Twice."
She scratched her ear, apparently unconcerned. "Did you?"
"Yes," he drew the word out, his eyes darting to stare at the fireplace as he spoke. "As I've said before, you're not responsible for my deficiencies. I appreciate what you were trying to do –to say, earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. Can you forgive me?"
She tried (unsuccessfully) to keep the grin from spreading across her face. "Oh, I don't know," she said in response with a nonchalant shrug. "This could be fun to hold over you for a while? A good long while."
The corners of his mouth quirked upward in a smile. "Is that so?"
"Yeah," she answered and then wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers between strands of his hair. "Yeah," she said again as he kissed her softly, sweetly. Hawke pulled him closer and then broke the kiss off. She sighed. "Now we have to get the pants off again."
…
A/N: If you look at my other writing for Halo and Mass Effect, you'll see that I don't get to write very sweet things very often. So when NoMadKa asked for arguing and then making up post Act 3 reconciliation, I was very pleased to see that the next word on my prompts list was "erratic". I hope I did the request justice.