The next day Anders awoke with a horrific headache. The little sun that shined into his clinic was enough to make him groan in protest and pull the sheets over his throbbing head.
As the pain started to fade a little in the dark, Anders started remembering the events of the previous night and groaned again. What on earth had he been thinking? ... well, okey he hadn't thought at all, but still! They all had to meet at the viscount's keep this day and had to face them all again.
After quite a while of convincing himself he uncovered himself to be exposed to the sun once more. Wincing in pain he went to his shelf with all the potions he owned and looked for the one he needed.
"Nope,... nope,... maybe this-... nope not that one either... ah there we have it", he picked up a tiny bottle with a oily blue liquid and downed the entire content in one go. It tasted bitter and in general disgusting but within a few minutes Anders felt like a new man.
"Now... where did I put my staff?"
He looked around himself like the day before to find the staff lodged into one of the wooden walls of his clinic. Odd, he didn't remember getting angry at anything the night before and Justice seemed distant at the time. He yanked his weapon out of the wall and made himself on the long climb to the viscount's keep in Hightown.
Finally in the grand entry hall of the keep he saw a bunch of his friends already waiting at the stairs, from afar they seemed fine and in good mood, but as Anders got closer he could see how hungover his friends really were. All were red eyed and looked like they hadn't slept the entire night but still tried to seem cheerful as Anders approached.
"Maker's breath, Anders. How do you always manage to look so fresh after a drinking night?", Bethany groaned as she shook his hand in greeting.
"My little secret", he replied and winked, "I'm taking it a few of us won't show up this morning, or at least not on time, looking at the state you guys are in."
"We're still missing Isabela, Varric and Fenris at the moment", Hawke grunted and rubbed his sore head," but if they don't show up in the next half an hour we're going to have to leave without them."
"No need to wait they aren't showing up!", an all too familiar voice sounded from behind Anders that made him twitch and slowly look over his shoulder.
Fenris had made it after all and was jogging up the hall, looking more dead than alive. As he approached he only swiftly looked at Anders before awkwardly avoiding the other's eyes. The awkward gut feeling that arose in Anders didn't go unnoticed either to top it all off.
"Something happen last night when you two went home?", Merrill asked worried and tilted her head slightly to the side to meet Anders' gaze.
"We had a bit of an argument", Anders replied, trying not to give anything away and look as earnest as he could.
"Nothing unusual then", snorted Hawke and then looked at Aveline," well if the other two ain't showing up we might as well get going."
Down at the Wounded Coast the group marched along the sea line all following Aveline.
"So why do you exactly need us for this patrol again?", Bethany asked, combing some hair out of her face.
"We've heard rumours that there's a Tal-Vashoth camp around here somewhere that sacks traders and I want to get rid of them. And you guys know way better how to deal with Qunari than my men back at the barracks", Aveline replied just before they got to a fork in the road," I suggest we split up here. Bethany comes with me, Hawke goes with Merrill up the hill and Anders and Fenris go down the hill."
"What?", Fenris and Anders exclaimed in canon.
"That way we have a mage in every group just in case a Saarebas shows up. But do you think putting those two in a group a wise decision?", Hawke asked and indicated towards Fenris and Anders," They might end up killing each other."
"They're full grown men, I'm sure a stroll on their own will give them time to discuss their differences", Aveline waved the matter off and marched off with Bethany.
"And we of course have no say in this what so ever", sighed Fenris as Hawke and Merrill left.
"Come on then", Anders announced and started down their path," the sooner we start the sooner it's over with..."
Fenris sighed again and followed the mage along the path making sure never to make eye contact and look the other way as much as possible. The silence and ignoring held for half the stretch of the way, until Anders got fed up.
"This is ridiculous!", he exclaimed and started massaging his temples as he walked," Aveline's right. We're full grown men, we should be able to talk about this."
"It's not like she meant THAT. Plus I've always gotten by just fine by forgetting certain things ever happened", Fenris snarled still averting his gaze.
"Yeeees and that's worked just fine for you over the years hasn't it, Slave", Ander's mocked and got the desired effect. Fenris' head snapped around instantly "YOU were the one to move on me, Mage! And never call me that again!"
"Now at least you look at me whilst I talk to you! Look I'm sorry what happened last night! I don't know what got over me!"
Fenris slowly looked away again. "We were both drunk..."
Anders expected a more feisty answer and quietly watched the elf clenching his jaw and swallowing dryly. Talking about issues was obviously not one of his strengths. As things stayed quiet Anders decided to pick up the conversation again, he wanted to have this theme discussed and finished before it turned into a greater issue.
"I'm also sorry that Magic has done so much harm to you in your life but don't you think it's time to let go and judge us mages individually? Would make cooperation in the group a lot easier too."
And for the first time in a sober state Anders thought to shortly see softness instead of hatred in the elf's face before it vanished to bitterness again.
"I want to forget. But it's not as easy as you say it is. You of all people should know that", Fenris murmered," your hatred towards the Templers is comparable to mine towards mages."
Anders thought about that comparison for a moment and Justice decided to knock at the back of his mind to make it all worse. Fenris had a point, Anders had been maltreated comparably by Templers . And for the first time he felt sympathy for the elven man walking beside him, he finally understood his pain and that all this time the other had understood his.
"I suppose we're more alike than I always thought", Anders stated quietly and looked back again. And when Fenris looked back at him and smirked, that odd feeling returned that he had the evening before, but this time he wouldn't give in to it and make the entire situation worse again.
He didn't have the chance anyway, this time Fenris approached him, pulling him down by his collar. Their lips met firmly again and Anders could feel Fenris' clawed hand slide around the back of his head.
Why? Why didn't he oppose of this? He wanted this so bad!
And there was Justice again telling him it was wrong. But he didn't care the fire inside him that had been ignited at that moment was stronger than Justice could ever be and he shrugged the spirit off, placing a hand on the elf's cheek and returning the kiss.
The kiss intensified to the point where Anders felt like pushing Fenris up against the next boulder, until the elf's ears twitched in alertion and he pushed the mage aside. An arrow only just wizzed past them and bounced off a rock beside them. They spun towards their assailant both pulling their weapons of choice to find the group of Tal-Vashoth they were sent to find.
"Well that made finding you easy", Anders chuckled and started summoning an ominous cloud above the opponents nodding to Fenris before making it rain fire from the sky.
Fenris used the confusion to storm in and eliminate one after the other, swinging his great sword around as if it were made of paper, whilst Anders continued to fire whatever spells crossed his mind at the rest of the Qunari. Just as they thought the last one had fallen, Fenris cussed loudly in Tevinter and fell to one knee, an arrow protruding from his thigh.
Anders' quickly spotted the last of the qunari on top of a large boulder and froze him solid. The frozen Qunari fell forwards and shattered into a thousand pieces as it hit the ground.
Anders ran up to his injured brother in arms and checked his leg. The arrow had been shot clean through and had shattered the bone.
"Now that has to hurt", Anders grimaced and helped Fenris to lie down on his side.
"Shut up and get it out of me!", Fenris demanded through gritted teeth.
Anders nodded and grabbed the back end of the arrow firmly between both hands.
"This is going to hurt... a lot."
Fenris grimaced and nodded, clenching his fists to prepare for the even greater pain.
Anders bit his lip, took a deep breath and then snapped the arrow in half.
Fenris shook with pain and moaned throw his nose as Anders chucked the broken end of the arrow over his shoulder to then pull the rest of the arrow out. As he did so he encountered the longest chain of Tevinter cusses he'd ever heard. Fenris still shaking in pain pulled his good leg up against his chest and wheezed, cold sweat dripping down his forehead.
"The pain will be over soon, just hold on a little longer", Anders promised as his hands began to glow.
"Good! Just hurry, will you!", Fenris looked down at his leg as the odd sensation of knitting flesh and bone tingled through his body. When the tingling finally ended and Anders plonked down on his backside, Fenris wiggled his toes to see if everything was truly mended. It still felt odd but he could at least move everything.
"It should be fully fixed", Anders sighed in fatigue, "just don't break your leg again for the next few hours. Mending bones is strenuous!"
"I'll try", Fenris groaned and rolled on his back," Battling Qunari in groups of 4 is much easier..."
The two caught up with the others soon after and explained they had eliminated the qunari camp.
"Looks like you took a blow though", Aveline stated and pointed down at Fenris' torn pants.
"Yes, the tailor's going to be happy", Fenris sighed as he picked at the tears.
Anders took the time to look in calm down at the elf's leg to notice the pants had torn rather far up and from where he was standing he could actually see the other man's underpants.
Then he felt his ears getting warm...
"Maker! I'm blushing!", he realized and before anybody saw what he was truly aroused about decided to look at Bethany's cleavage instead.
"Anders, I like you and all. But please, stop staring at my sister's boobs", Hawke remarked slyly.
Bethany instantly squeaked and covered herself giving Anders an evil glare.
"Sorry I got lost in thought and then notice what I was staring at", Anders answered scratching the back of his head and acting even more ashamed.
"Shall we get back to Kirkwall then?", Merrill asked to break up the tension.
Everybody nodded in agreement and started to stroll off. Anders waited for Fenris to pass him and touched his exposed skin on his leg. Fenris raised an eyebrow before looking down thoroughly and noticing what the mage was trying to hint, turning maroon he tried to cover up what should not be seen with his pouches.