Down at the Hanged Man everybody settled at their usual spot at the table and as promised, Aveline paid the first round of drink for everybody. They all held their drinks high and saluted to the commander of the guard, before downing a few gulps.

"No need to salute me", Aveline chuckled before taking a few sips of her watery beer," I swear to the maker, this swill tastes less every time we come here though."

"And it smells worse every time as well", Fenris commented and wrinkled his nose.

"Actually, that was me", Varric snorted and Bethany and Anders lent away from the dwarf immediately.

"Oh Varric, you know how to make a woman rub her thighs together", Isabella purred and winked whilst the rest of the group looked at her with a mixture of disgust and shock on their faces.

"Keep that for later, Revaini. It's just not appropriate in front of the children", Varric gestured to the rest of the group.

"Anyway", Hawke interrupted before Isabela could make the conversation any worse," A human a, an elf and a dwarf walk into a bar."
"We know that one already, brother", Bethany sighed and bopped her brother on the back of the head," I know a much better one anyway!"

And for the most of the evening they spent throwing horrid jokes back and forth, Varric of course taking the cake. The jokes were so bad at some point, Anders thought he was going to wet himself if he didn't go to the bathroom any time soon. He excused himself and dashed to the bathroom down the hall chuckling as he went. Even whilst relieving himself he was in giggle fits.

"I haven't laughed this hard in a long time", he said to himself as he stood in front of the mirror and fiddled with the hairs that had escaped his ponytail.

"Tell me about it."

Anders looked to his right to see Hawke entering the stalls as well, wiping away some tears as he did so.

"My stomach hurts so much from laughing I think I tore a muscle!"
"Want me to heal it?", Anders chuckled as he leaned against the wall waiting for the other man.

"Later when all the laughing is over", Hawke snorted as he walked over to wash his hands," Or you'll be doing it again later."

The Fereldan dried his hands on his own robes after giving the cloth supplied by the pub a critical look.

"On a serious note though", Hawke prodded Anders in the chest with a mischievous smirk on his lips," you seem an awful lot more calm and happy lately. Want to tell me about someone?"
Anders tried to keep a straight face as he crossed his arms before his chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't", Hawke taunted, "Come on my friend! I've known you long enough to know-"

He was interrupted as Fenris walked between them, bluntly ignoring them and closing the stall behind him rather loudly. Hawke looked after him for a second or two before turning his head back to Anders, a sly smirk on his face this time.

"Oh, come on! You don't even believe that yourself!", Anders bluffed and left the bathroom so the elf couldn't hear their conversation.

"Mhmmm", Hakwe taunted again and stemmed his hands into his hips as girly as he could," Oh Anders, you know you can't hide anything from little old me!"

Anders raised an eyebrow at the other man, who then started laughing.

When they returned to the others Anders saw that another round of drinks had been delivered in the mean time and sat down again to take another swig of his. He listened to Bethany tell some childhood story of her time back in Lothering, when his eyes drifted to the elf returning as well, walking down the stairs to their table. When Fenris noticed the mages gaze he returned it with a swift charming smile before returning to his usual earnest one. Anders could see the victorious grin that earned him from Hawke but didn't care at that timem he was too busy watching the elf move as he came to sit opposite him. Even though the man was a warrior he moved elegantly like all elves did. Even when he snatched the mug in front of him with a swift movement, it looked elegant and controlled and Anders thought he saw a wink his way over the top of the mug as the elf downed some of his drink.

The drinks flowed even more than usual that evening and the last thing Anders remembered of it, was dancing with Isabela in a clumsy way whilst being applauded by the others.

He awoke what he figured to be the next morning with his face covered by duvets. Sighing and wincing as he reached up to pull the sheets down, he noticed that there was someone lying behind him with their arm around his waist and that his torso was bare. His chest tightened as he took a deep breath and looked back down at his waste under the sheets, to see a tanned woman's arm. His groan of disagreement made yet another person shuffle somewhere in the room, making Anders' chest clench tighter again.

"As if having a drunken adventure with Isabela isn't already bad enough", he thought to himself gently trying to get her arm off of himself. When he wiggled himself free of the pirates grasp he reached up again to pull the covers off his head. Yes, it was definitely Isabela, her hair a mess all over the cushion. As he turned back to his original position he saw another figure covered by the sheets, he couldn't make out who it was, but by the slender looking figure he was guessing another woman.

He reached out and gently pinched the edge of the covers between his index finger and thumb to slowly uncover the third person in the bed. When white hair began to appear, Anders didn't know if he should feel happy or scared. He kept on pulling the covers down, just to make sure, revealing the most peaceful looking Fenris he had ever seen. The elf was fast to sleep, his lips slightly apart as he breathed steadily and deeply and his lyrium scarred hand rested just below his chin.

Anders looked at him for a while just enjoying the peace in that short moment and smiled to himself.

But he knew he had to get up and leave before the woman in the bed awoke to make the entire situation escalade. He ever so cautiously got out from under the sheets and slowly crawled along the length of the bed making sure not to touch any of the two. Just before reaching the edge, Isabela decided to turn around and groan, making Anders' heart freeze. When the woman stilled again he looked back over his shoulder to make sure she was still asleep. She was, thank the maker!
He was just about to move his hand again to crawl when a duvet covered foot hooked itself around his wrist. Anders' heart sank as he looked back again to meet the emerald green eyes staring up at him.

Fenris nodded towards the door at the opposite end of the room and Anders nodded in agreement.

Anders gently slid off the bed and started collecting his scattered clothing. When he had found the last piece of his garments, he looked back to see Fenris stretching his arms over his head. The mage ogled a little at the other man's muscles tensioning and loosening as he moved. Fenris looked back at Isabela before covering his face and sighing, no doubt feeling equally as stupid as Anders at that moment.

The elf was also still wearing his trousers meaning his armour had to be somewhere in the room. Anders helped him collect his things and they both snuck out of the room as quietly as they could.

Quickly they dashed to the men's stalls and began putting their clothes back on.

"Do you remember anything?", Fenris mumbled as he tightened his tunic.
"Nothing after dancing with Isabela", Anders replied. His backside didn't feel sore nor did his mouth taste the way it normally did after a passionate night.
"Do you feel... "Odd"?", he asked the elf as he put on his shoulder pads.

Fenris raised an eyebrow before moving slightly back and forth and licking his lips.
"Nope, plus we were both still wearing our pants when we awoke."

"True that...", Anders paused, thinking for a bit," Well no doubt we'll hear what happened soon from the others, or at least from Isabela herself."

Fenris nodded after adjusting his gauntlets and was set to go.

"By the way", he began just as Anders was about to turn and leave," I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to rush things. I just..."

He looked away biting his lower lip.
"You thought all mages just want sex?", Anders got straight to the point and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I've heard of your quick tumbles in the circle, mage. Plus from my experience back in Tevinter...", he silenced again.

"It's okay, Fenris you don't have to talk about it here in the men's stalls", Anders smiled at the elf when he looked back up at him with a worried expression," And I'll forgive you this one time. Just take it all at your own pace, I'd rather you were willing than forcing yourself. Gives the wrong impression and all, you know?"
Fenris chuckled.

"I see. Thank you!"
"Not a problem. But right now we should see where the others are. I'm sure we weren't the only ones that didn't make it home last night."

They soon found Varric in his usual suit at the pub and learnt that the only two that actually managed to get back home were Aveline and Merrill. The rest were distributed across multiple rooms in the Hanged Man.

"I'm glad to see you two survived the night without killing each other", Varrich jested patting Anders' lower back," Isabela was dead set on having you two wrestle for the last bottle of mead."

So that was why they had both been topless in Isabela's room.

"Who won?", Fenris asked scratching his foot on the back of his thigh.

"How the hell should I know?", Varric burst out laughing," you two were still wrestling for it when Isabela dragged you to her room by your hair!"

"As if my headaches from the booze weren't bad enough", Anders grumbled and massaged his temples.
"Oh darlings! You are no gentlemen to leave me aaaall aloooone in bed!"
All three men turned to see Isabela enter the room adjusting her massive gold jewellery.

"What they didn't even make you breakfast, Revaini?", Varric dramatised.

"Not even a slice of toast!"

"You two should be ashamed!", Varric wiggled his index finger at the other two men.

Anders and Fenris both glared back at the dwarf who just smirked return.

"Oh but you should have seen them wrestle in only their pants, Varric! The sight was marvellous!", Isabela elegantly flopped onto one of the large chairs at the grand table," All that man power!"
"No, no Revaini! Tell me the details later or these two will spoil it for me with their glares!"

"Okay, darling but only for you!", Isabela winked.

Before they had to put up with any more of Isabela's taunting Anders decided to leave the Hanged Man. His head still throbbing he leaned against the outside wall to catch some, well not exactly fresh air considering it was dark town, but still fresher than in the pub.

His stomach felt like it was going to lurch and his head was spinning so he reached out to his healing powers to at least heal the headache for now and put his blue glowing fingertips to his forhead.

Instantly a warm soothing feeling spread through his head and the mage sighed with relief.

"Would you mind doing me the favour too?"

Anders opened his eyes to see Fenris standing before him. Out in the daylight he could see that the elf wasn't looking to well himself. He had big dark bags under his eyes and looked rather pale in comparison to his usual tan.

Anders smiled down at the shorter man before gently placing his fingertips on his forehead.

Fenris closed his eyes facing up towards the hands as they glowed making his white hair reflect the blue light.

When Anders stopped the magic and removed his hand, Fenris stayed in his stance for a little while, looking relaxed. He then smiled a little before opening his eyes again and lowering his head towards Anders in a thankful gesture.