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Anders knelt next to the chest in William Hawke’s room. He was looking through the rogue’s collection of daggers, hoping for a suitable one to cut his hair. He always tended to forget about it until it was long enough to get in the way, but this time he’d let it go too long – the ends were smeared with ink where they’d brushed the parchment as he scribbled his manifesto.
He was muttering in annoyance at himself – and a little at William – as he set aside dagger after dagger. He really thought the man would’ve taken better care of his weapons. If he only knew how to sharpen a blade properly, he could’ve just used the knife he used around the clinic, but he’d scalp himself if he tried to cut his hair with that these days.
“There,” he said in relief, finally coming across a dagger that was quite sharp. He swiftly pulled his hair up into a ponytail, then grabbed the dagger, preparing to hack off the end.
A startled cry almost made him drop the knife. “Anders!” William sounded alarmed, and Anders turned to look at him, his pulse racing.
“What?” he asked, getting to his feet, hair already forgotten as the dagger fell to the floor. “Are you all right? What’s happened?”
“What…what are you doing?” William asked uncertainly, stepping closer to Anders.
“I was about to cut my hair,” Anders frowned. “What’s the matter? Is everyone all right?”
“Cut your…hair?” William asked skeptically, looking from the dagger to Anders.
“Yes,” Anders said impatiently. “Will you just tell me – “
“No, everyone’s fine,” William said quickly. “I – sorry. Just…you were holding that dagger like you were about to…stab yourself.”
Anders looked at him in confusion for a moment before it registered. Then he began to laugh. “Oh, William,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to cut my hair. This is how I normally do it, but I thought you’d have a sharper knife than I do. It’s gotten unmanageable. Look,” he added, pulling a few strands around. “Ink. In my hair.”
William gave him a cautious smile. “Just…cutting your hair?” he confirmed.
“Yes, love,” Anders smiled back. “I’m sorry I scared you. I’ve no intention of offing myself, I promise you. Even if I did, Justice wouldn’t allow it, so you needn’t worry.” William let out a shaky laugh at that, and Anders softened slightly, wrapping his arms around the rogue. “Oh, William, you don’t need to worry so much about me,” he said, enjoying the embrace he received in return.
“I can’t help it,” William murmured, kissing Anders’ ear. “I love you.”
“And I love you as well,” Anders replied, pulling back far enough to kiss William briefly on the lips. “So relax.”
“Ink, huh?” William asked, smirking now as he looked at the ends of Anders’ hair. “Perhaps you’re just spending too much time writing.”
“Perhaps,” Anders said with a half-smile. He knew William didn’t really understand how important it all was. No one did. “Anyway, I’ll just get back to it,” he added. “And you might want to look at sharpening your daggers. Took me forever to find one sharp enough.”
“I keep the ones I carry sharp,” William said, shaking his head. “I don’t bother with the ones in the trunk. I never thought anyone would be going through them.”
“I usually use my knife at the clinic,” Anders admitted. “But it’s getting pretty dull.”
“And you can’t just sharpen it?” William asked, raising an eyebrow. Anders’ cheeks turned faintly pink.
“Well…I don’t really know how,” he said. “Isabela tried to teach me once, but…well, it’s Isabela. You can imagine how well that went.” William laughed.
“I can, indeed. Well, I can show you,” William shrugged. “It’s not too hard.”
“Now don’t you start with the innuendos, too,” Anders teased, and William grinned at him.
“Well, I can’t promise anything,” he joked. “But I’ll try to keep it to business. Anyway, why don’t you let me cut it?” He stroked the strands of the mage’s hair. “I rather like your hair. It deserves better than being hurriedly lopped off with a knife.” Anders smiled, a little embarrassed as he always was at this sort of attention.
“You don’t need to do that,” he said. “It’s not a big deal; it’s nothing important.”
“Anders,” William sighed with an affectionate grin, tugging on the ends of his hair. “Will you just let me do things for you once in a while? I don’t do them because I ‘need’ to. I do them because I kind of like you, for some odd reason.” Anders chuckled at that.
“Well, all right,” he relented. “If it’s that important to you.”
“I used to do Carver’s,” William said reminiscently. “He never complained about it. Bethany wouldn’t let anyone but Mother near her hair, though,” he added with a sad but fond laugh.
“Well, if you were that bad at it, I’m not sure I want you cutting my hair,” Anders teased. William laughed at that.
“I think it was more that I threatened her with shaving it all off when she annoyed me,” William acknowledged.
“Then I hope you’re not annoyed with me,” Anders grinned.
“Come on, funny mage,” William chuckled, leaning down to pick up the dagger and tossing it back in the trunk. “Let me wash your hair. It’s easier to cut when it’s clean and wet.”
“You’re just looking for an excuse to get me naked,” Anders accused with a wry grin.
“Do I need an excuse?” William winked. “All I’d have to do is ask, anyway.”
“Fair enough,” Anders chuckled. He stripped down as William filled the tub, feeling oddly self-conscious. He’d been naked plenty of times in front of William before – they’d even bathed together before – but this was different. This was someone caring for him, and it just felt strange. He was the one who cared for people. William seemed determined to prove that Anders deserved caring for just as much, though – he was always doing things like this, even though Anders still didn’t know how to simply accept it.
He tried to relax as William washed his hair; the gentle fingers were a soothing presence on his head. William started to hum, and Anders allowed himself a contented smile as he closed his eyes. Sometimes he wondered if he could let himself get used to this…
“Mind if I wash the rest of you, too?” William asked softly, keeping his voice low to not startle the relaxed man.
“Mm. Sure,” Anders said. “I won’t say no to having your hands on me,” he added teasingly. He wondered at his ability to relax so well, to fall into the teasing and joking with William. There was something about that man.
The rogue chuckled and gently washed the mage head to toe, taking his time and being as thorough as possible. He knew it was strange for Anders to accept this sort of thing, but he also knew his mage deserved it.
He continued pampering Anders, drying him off as he got out of the bath, handing over his own clean trousers to wear, and in general doing everything he could to make the mage blush.
“William, you really don’t have to do all this – “
“Will you shut up?” William laughed. “I’m not exactly bending over backwards, here. I’m taking care of you because I love you, not because it’s some great sacrifice.” Anders couldn’t work out what to say to that, so William just settled him in the desk chair before going to fetch the scissors.
“Thank you,” Anders said softly when William returned. The rogue smiled at him.
“What for, love?”
“Caring for me,” Anders said, seeming a little shy. “I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, you know.”
“Oh, Anders, I know,” William laughed softly, squeezing the man’s shoulders. “But I’m going to keep doing things for you until you understand that you deserve it, and then keep going after that. Might as well get used to it.”
“You’re far too kind to me,” Anders murmured.
“Never,” William smiled. “Now. How much shorter do you want it?”
“Er…I don’t know, really,” Anders shrugged. “I usually just leave it long enough to tie it back and not much past that. I don’t really think about it.”
“All right,” William nodded thoughtfully.
He retrieved his comb, coming back to run it through Anders’ hair. He was gentle on the knots, taking his time to do it right. He was sure Anders hadn’t been subjected to much tenderness in his life, and that needed to change, in whatever small ways William could manage.
Finally, William set to work. He pulled the mage’s hair back, carefully ensuring he had the right length. He knew it made more sense to have it long enough to pull into a ponytail, to keep it out of his way – and frankly, William simply loved running his fingers through the long strands.
It was oddly soothing, Anders thought – the repetitive motion of William running his fingers through a section of hair, pausing to cut it, then moving on to do the same again. If he didn’t know better, he might think William knew magic of his own; how else could he be so calming, make Anders feel so settled?
William took his time; he could have finished the job more quickly, but he liked caring for the mage and wanted to prolong the moments before he’d get caught up in his cause again. Not that he didn’t support the rights of mages, of course; but he didn’t support Anders working himself nearly to death over it. Between the mage plight and the healing clinic, Anders hardly had a moment to breathe for himself, let alone relax. The rogue was happy to give him an excuse once in a while.
“There you go,” William said finally, having finished cutting and evening out the mage’s hair. He handed Anders the small hand mirror he kept in his room. “What do you think?”
“It looks better than when I do it,” Anders admitted with a chuckle. “Like someone actually paid attention for a change.”
“And no more ink,” William teased, setting the scissors aside.
“Yet,” Anders agreed, grinning. He set the mirror down and turned to look up at William. “Thank you, love. This was all very kind of you.”
“You only ever need ask, Anders,” William said sincerely, pulling the mage to his feet and into a hug. “I’ll give you the world, if you only ask for it.” He knew Anders would never fully believe it, but he meant every word.