When Nero woke up the next night he decided he wasn't tired anymore. He felt tremendously better, his side didn't ache at all anymore, and he had a bone to pick with a certain elf. He was still just wearing his undershirt and pants but he couldn't be bothered to put on the rest of his clothing. Determined, he threw open the door to his room and locked it behind himself.

"Nero, you're up. I was just coming to check on you." Anders said, surprised.

Nero turned to the mage and took in his sad appearance. The mage had told him that morning when he had been awake long enough to eat that they had traveled non-stop on foot from Kirkwall to reach Ostwick. During the travel his coat appeared to have taken a beating, the feathers were almost all gone, and the fabric seemed to have thinned in well-worn spots. He noticed, once again, how ragged the man looked and realized that everything about him was worn thin, from his personality to his clothes, but he kept everything together by sheer force of will.

Reminding himself of his destination he asked where Fenris' room was, Anders frowned.

"You shouldn't push yourself too much, for a week or so the ribs I healed will be easy to break."

Nero chuckled, "well I don't plan on taking him after Denarius or for a frolic through the woods. I think I'll be fine."

Anders sighed, "his room number is eight. Just...be careful."

Nero raised an eyebrow, "are you worried about Fenris? I didn't think you cared."

Anders snorted, "no, I don't want to see you hurt in such a way that I can't heal it."

Nero patted the other man's scruffy cheek, "oh, Anders." was all he said before he turned and headed down the hall. It didn't take him very long to find the room, and when he did he knocked as he opened the door and snuck in, shutting the door behind him.

Fenris was getting up from where he had been sitting on the mattress, surprise evident on his face, and he began to speak but didn't have time before Nero's fist connected with his chin. Nero hissed and shook his hand, trying to rid it of the pain as Fenris fell back on the mattress, hand touching his chin. He was too surprised to even hit back.

Finally Fenris recovered from his shock, "what was that for?" he demanded angrily in Tevinter, standing again.

Nero scowled and replied in the same tongue, "for making me chase you to Ostwick to save you from the stupidest decision you've ever made. It doesn't matter what he offered you, or what ultimatum he gave you, how could you be so fucking stupid?" he nearly yelled, trying to keep his own anger in check.

"You weren't supposed to come after me!" Fenris hissed.

"What did you think I would do? If you had demanded to stay when we were on the ship I would have let you go, demanded to know why, and, if there was a good enough reason, I would have let you stay. But you didn't, you were chained to the floor, you didn't want to be there."

"Don't pretend to know what I wanted." Fenris snapped.

"I'm not pretending. I've lived with you for three years, I can tell when you are happy or enjoying yourself; you weren't doing either. What would you have done if I hadn't caught up in time, and you were on your way back to Tevinter before I reached Ostwick?"

"Nothing, that's what I was planning on doing. What were you going to do? Chase me to the Imperium?" Fenris asked, exasperated.

"I would of if I had to. You are not a slave, no matter what that bastard tells you." Nero said.

"I am a slave, as long as he breathes I will be no more than a slave that escaped the Imperium, I still have my chains made of anger, don't I? Even now?"

"Are you really bringing that up, I said that years ago!" He was referring to a time in the deep roads, a few days after they had ended it with each other, and they had gotten into an argument as Fenris tried again to convince him to live in the estate that Nero had bought, Nero had refused.

"It's true isn't it?

"Is it?"

Fenris scowled but did not reply, giving Nero time to gather his scattered thoughts, he didn't speak again till he had them organized. "surely you realized that after nine years things would be different, they would be worse. You didn't enjoy being a slave before, what makes you think you would enjoy it a second time around? I cannot fathom what was going through your head, to make you-"

"You!" Fenris yelled angrily , grabbing Nero by the shoulders.

Nero furrowed his brow, confused, "what?" he demanded.

"You were going through my head. I went so he wouldn't take you!"

Nero frowned, his anger dieing quickly, as he thought about what that meant. After several minutes of contemplative silence, during which time Fenris' grip relaxed on his shoulders, but did not move and Nero was thankful that Fenris wasn't wearing his armor at that moment, his gauntlets would have hurt.

He thought back to when they had first ended whatever they had. For the first couple of years he was afraid of another relationship, be it with Fenris or anybody else. The potential for betrayal was too high, and the idea of putting his trust and feelings in someone else's hands was suddenly terrifying. Then one day he realized that they may not really be together but Fenris still had a hold on him, even if neither of them had realized it. After that it was a fear that the elf would reject him that stopped him from saying anything. But if what Fenris was saying meant what he thought it meant...

"Why?" He asked quietly, anger forgotten.

Fenris tilted his head a bit, having not heard "what?"

"Why would you do that?" Nero asked, louder.

Fenris' hands dropped from Nero's shoulders and he instinctively took a step backwards. Why? Why wouldn't I? He was confused by the question. Didn't Nero realize that his freedom was more important to him than his own? They both had had nightmares from their times as slaves, but Fenris barely had them anymore, maybe once every few weeks. He still heard Nero wake up screaming, at least once a week. And he knew those were only the bad ones. He had never told the other man, but when they were together all those years ago he would wake up in the middle of the night, almost every night, to find Nero sweating with a pained expression on his face.

The point was that yes, he had been beaten and abused by Denarius, but whatever Nero went through, it must have been worse, a lot worse. And he could not let Nero experience that again, not before he'd truly been free. Nero was good at hiding it, but he was still very tortured by his past, and his freedom hadn't had a whole lot of good points.

"He said if I refused to go that he would take you instead. That's not going to happen, I wont let it."

Nero snorted, "and how were you going to protect my freedom by leaving me alone in Kirkwall while you were in Tevinter?"

"Surely Aveline, or Hawke..."

Nero sighed sadly, "why didn't you fight him?"

Fenris laughed darkly, "If I thought I could face him on my own, I wouldn't have fallen prey to a demon all those years ago, would I?"

"You could have run till you got help."

"Which would have put you and anybody I got to help me at risk. Apparently you, Anders, and Varric weren't even in town."

Nero pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fenris..."

"It was the most obvious option, I would not let you get taken back to Tevinter in chains because I was too afraid to fight Denarius or because I was too afraid to be a slave again."

"You must have forgotten that you actually have a chance of being free. If you kill Denarius then your slave contract is void, and you are considered a free man. I do not have that option, saving me was only prolonging the time it takes for me to be captured and taken back to the Imperium. The Archon, and whoever succeeds him, will not forget about me. I am a mark of their incompetence, a blemish that they would see removed."

"You will not be taken prisoner to the Imperium, so long as I draw breath." Fenris said sternly.

Nero smiled sadly, he had accepted the inevitable years ago but it was touching that Fenris refused to believe it. Nero gently placed a hand on Fenris' cheek, making sure his palm did not touch the spot where he had punched him. A bruise was already forming around the line of lyrium. His fingers rested around the elf's ear and he smiled a little less sadly at how soft the elf's hair still was. It had only been a couple of months since he had last touched it, but it had felt like years.

"You have already fought so hard for your freedom, you do not need to fight for mine." Nero said quietly.

Without realizing it Fenris leaned into the hand, recognizing the callouses and being comforted by it. There was once a time he would fly into a rage if someone touched him, but that was years ago, Nero had changed him, and that was why...

"I do," He said, then furrowed his brow, "I..."

Nero waited, but when Fenris clamped his mouth shut he sighed, and began to lower his hand. Fenris, sensing that he was losing the moment, and trying desperately to ignore the fear and the fist of nerves that seemed to have plummeted from his chest to the bottom of his stomach, grabbed Nero's wrist before he could lower it completely and held it between them.

Fenris looked up to see a look of shock on Nero's face, and he furrowed his brow again fighting himself to say it, just fucking say it.

"I...I...merda, I need you." close enough.

Nero stared at the elf's face, watching the blush as it creeped up his ears, stunned. Fenris never admitted to needing anything, he made out like he functioned as a single unit. He was resourceful and introverted and self-reliant. He knew that Fenris liked him more than other people but, even though he wished, he never quite believed he meant anything to the elf.

He had been fighting the urge for several minutes, and, now that he was speechless, the only thing Nero wanted to was to kiss him. When he made a move towards Fenris to do so the elf let go of his wrist and took another step backwards, right into the frame of the bed.

Fenris shook his head, "no, not if you plan on leaving afterwords."

"I don't"

Nero reached a hand out and placed it at the back of Fenris' neck, pulling the elf towards him. He kissed him slowly but passionately. Fenris hesitated, unsure if he should believe that Nero was going to stay or not, but he gave in anyway; he would have his answer when they were done. So he wrapped his arms around Nero and, careful of his ribs, pulled him down onto the bed, not breaking the kiss for a moment.

When he was laying on the mattress, with one leg dangling over the edge and Nero straddling his waist, he buried his fingers in the other man's black hair and bit his bottom lip. This caused Nero to moan quietly, which in turn made Fenris smile, despite the fist of nerves that seemed to grow bigger in his chest as every second ticked by. A part of him hated the feeling, it was so...strange, but he anticipated it often. It usually only appeared when Nero was around, which he often looked forward to, but sometimes he would feel it when he was only thinking about the other man...which got annoying at times.

Nero was suddenly assaulted by a great need to be with this man, which he found strange due to the fact that they were together. He was already pressing his body against the one under him, but it wasn't enough. He felt like he wanted to merge with Fenris, like he wanted their cells to squish together so forcefully that they ended up becoming one. He wished that he could implant himself in Fenris' head, so that he could know everything about him and understand the reasoning behind his decisions.

Then he felt Fenris's hands snake up his back, under his shirt and he pulled away, only long enough that he could pull it off, before descending upon the elf's neck and ear where he nibbled and sucked and licked. He was painfully aware of every part of his body touching the elf's, he could even feel the lyrium on Fenris' fingers. Fenris groaned and Nero felt it reverberate through his chest, and the fingers resting on his shoulder blades curled and Fenris drug his nails down his back, lifting one or two of them at certain intervals to avoid scratching Nero's scars - which they had learned was quite painful. Nero shivered and bit down on Fenris' shoulder. He was surprised to realize that Fenris was so familiar with his body that he knew just where and how to touch him to get the best reaction.

Suddenly Fenris flipped him over, asserting control over the situation. This only excited Nero more, he would never understand why he enjoyed it so much when Fenris took the lead, but it was an excitement that he had never felt with anybody else. Fenris rose to pull his shirt off and Nero couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and, with one hand at the small of Fenris' back and the other digging into his shoulder blade, he licked a trail up from the other man's bellybutton. Nero forced himself to stay in the position so that he could lick, kiss and bite Fenris' chest, even though it was awkward for him, what with his legs spread and Fenris kneeling between them.

Fenris' skin erupted in goosebumps and his hair stood on end when Nero licked him. It was both a pleasant and irritating experience, which in a sense made it more pleasant. It's like when you pet a cat backwards and their hair stands up, he thought, except that cats tend not to like it. It was difficult to explain, even to himself. He tossed his shirt to the floor and found himself arching his back into Nero's embrace. He enjoyed Nero's mouth on his chest for several minutes before it became too much and he pushed Nero down and attacked his nipples, causing Nero to gasp and arch his own back.

Fenris smirked and trailed his fingers down Nero's sides, causing the other man to get goosebumps this time. When his hands reached the top of Nero's pants he put one hand on the mattress and trailed his tongue along Nero's bottom lip before sucking on it and kissing him. At the same time he untied Nero's pants and pushed them down, exposing Nero's hard length.

Nero gasped into the kiss when Fenris took his thumb and lightly trailed it up the underside of his cock, involuntarily he tried to buck into the touch, to create more pressure. Fenris chuckled, as he usually did when he could tell Nero was unable to control his movements. Nero had amazing control over himself when it came to these things, Fenris always found it satisfying when he caused the other man to lose it.

...

Fenris fell to the bed beside Nero, and tried to catch his breath as he lay on his stomach. He didn't say anything as he waited for Nero to leave, and he thought he felt himself break inside when Nero finally got up off the mattress.

He rolled over, so that he was on his back and watched as Nero grabbed a cup from the single shelf and dunked it in a deep bowl of water that sat on a table by the only mirror. Nero turned around as he drank and noticed Fenris looked at him funny.

"Don't look at me like that, I know its for washing, but its water and I'm thirsty and I'm too lazy to get dressed to get something else." He said as he approached the bed.

When Nero got there he offered Fenris the cup, but he shook his head no. Shrugging he placed the cup on the nightstand and, pulling the covers down, forcing Fenris to awkwardly hold himself up as he did so, he got back in bed. He noticed that Fenris was still looking at him funny.

"What?" he asked.

Fenris finally realized that he was staring and shook his head, trying to think of something to say, which resulted in him blurting out, "you're going to need a new blade."

Nero stared blankly at him for several seconds before narrowing his eyes and saying, "is that a euphemism?"

"What? No!" Fenris laughed and let his head fall back, "I was referring to your blade that got stuck in a door frame."

"Ah yes, I'm thinking of getting a great-sword, like what you use." Nero said with a smirk.

"Your kidding." Fenris said skeptically.

"No, it was pretty handy."

"Good lord."