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Fenris sighed heavily, dropping onto the lounge and staring at the parchment in his hand like it had insulted everything he stood for. Hawke had decided that his Santinalia gift would be to make him a noble of Kirkwall and put the house in his name, handing Fenris the deed to the house with a grin that showed how pleased with himself he was over the gift choice and a 'now you don't have to keep the corpses anymore!'
"Pah. I like the corpses, they keep people away," He grumbled, dropping the parchment unceremoniously onto the small table and grabbing his book.
At least he could get some reading done while Hawke is busy-
A procession of knocks interrupted his thoughts, dark eyebrows lowering over his eyes as he lifted his eyes to glare through the doorway towards the front door. Silence fell, his eyes not leaving the doorway until it appeared whoever was there had left. Another sigh and he settled back onto the lounge, quickly finding the page he had left off on when more knocks sounded.
"Fasta vaas!" He threw himself from the seat, scowl deepening when the knocking continued as he decended the stairs.
He was going to eviscerate whoever was behind the door.
Fenris growled, ripping the door open and nearly getting hit in the face when Anders tried to knock. His eyes narrowed further even as Anders beamed, shuffling the bag in his arms.
"Took you long enough, love. I figured since you actually own the house now I should knock instead of just walking in like Hawke suggested." His narrowed eyes shifted to the bag for a moment before meeting Anders' again.
"You have never knocked before. What is in the bag?"
"It's polite to knock when the house actually belongs to somebody. I wanted to decorate your mansion to be a bit more festive.” Fenris blinked once, expression shifting from skeptical to mild disgust.
“I do not wish to decorate for the holiday.”
"Please? Hawke hasn't been bringing us on quests together and this is a wonderful excuse to spend time together. I also brought wine." Fenris eyed the bottle, huffing slightly.
He liked that particular wine.
"... Fine. But no decorating my room," He rumbled, snatching the wine and heading towards the dining room.
"If you insist, Mister Grumpypants."
"I do. I also insist you never say that name again."
"Of course, Serah Pricklybottom." Fenris glared over his shoulder, Anders missing the look as he placed a small wreath on the door handle, pausing a moment before tilting it a hair to the side.
He would take the decorations down as soon as Anders left.
He sat at the table, a sigh nearly passing his lips as he worked the bottle open. He should have grabbed one of his gauntlets before coming downstairs. His eyes slipped shut as he lifted the bottle to his lips, but before he could register more than the taste of merely the glass the bottle was pulled from his hand.
His eyes snapped open to stare incredulously at Anders, who had the audacity to set the bottle on the table. His disbelief turned into annoyance when the man pulled a garland from around his neck- Had he been wearing that outside?- and proceeded to wrap it around Fenris'. Fenris couldn't have stopped the sigh, overflowing with annoyance, if he had wanted to. A quiet snicker was his only warning before a small headband with miniature Halla horns was placed on his head. A glance from the corner of his eye revealed Anders barely holding in laughter before he turned and left the room, clearing his throat before humming. Fenris sighed again, the sound closer to a groan, and then grabbed the bottle, taking several pulls from it before standing and moving back upstairs.
He dropped onto the lounge again, face screwing up in irritation as he pulled at the garland until it hung loosely around his neck. He set the bottle on the table, relaxing as he grabbed his book and leaned back.
He had barely started reading when Anders was suddenly perched on the arm of the lounge, watching innocently for all of three seconds before he reached over and carefully shut the book, Fenris' shocked exasperation letting Anders also take the book and set it on the table again.
"Come on, come decorate with me! Get into the spirit of things," He smiled, humming again as he made his way to the hallway.
"I believe you're the one the spirit has gotten into, mage." Anders stopped in the doorway, turning to stare at him.
"You've been spending too much time with Hawke." Was his decided reply as he marched back over to Fenris, who had pointedly not moved from his seat, and grabbed the garland to drag him to his feet.
"Mage!"
"We're decorating, damn it." Fenris grunted as Anders started leading him to the door, thankfully managing to snag the bottle of wine as they went. Anders let go of the garland once he was through the door, switching to set his hands on Fenris' shoulders and guide him down the stairs and into a room the elf didn't use.
"Anders-"
"But look at it!" He let go of Fenris and moved to gesture proudly at the small ensemble of wrapped gifts around the tiniest evergreen Fenris had ever seen.
"... What is this?"
"Well, most everyone gives gifts on Santinalia. It's tradition." Fenris stayed silent, eyes flicking from the presents to Anders. "... What?"
Fenris slapped one of the presents to the floor and tugged the garland from his neck before turning and leaving the room.
Anders blinked, his hands falling to his hips as he watched Fenris leave, gaze dropping to the present on the floor and lifting back to where Fenris was heading to the kitchen. He grabbed a few presents, tucking them under his arm and nearly knocking over the little tree. A glance back to make sure it didn't fall over had him grabbing another present before moving to find the bag he had brought.
If Fenris wanted to be a grump, then he'd just have to up the decorations.
Fenris glanced at the bottle as he stopped at the counter. It was a good wine, and Anders most likely expected them to share it...
Which meant he would have to see if there were any intact glasses.
He sighed quietly before turning to check the various cabinets, beginning to grumble quietly to himself when he failed to find the glasses in the third cabinet he checked. Anders grinned, settling himself in a crouch around the corner of the counter before reaching to settle a little snowman decoration next to the wine, only hesitating for a second before grabbing the bottle.
Fenris smirked triumphantly, turning to set a wine glass next to the wine only to freeze, a small frown slowly creasing his brow and his head tipping slightly to the side as he stared at the snowman. That hadn't been there before and now his wine was missing.
Anders waited until Fenris turned to find another glass to set the small Halla carving next to the snowman, biting his cheek to keep from potentially laughing when Fenris turned around again. A death stare was aimed temporarily at the decorations before he turned to stare around the room, fingers drumming once in a tell of irritation.
Fenris let out a small sigh, almost a groan, and turned to rifle through another cabinet. Anders quickly set another Halla on the other side of the snowman, turning the snowman to face Fenris before ducking behind the counter again. Fenris whipped around, eyes narrowed as he glanced around the room.
In for a bit, in for a sovereign.
Just as Fenris started to relax a bit Anders tossed a small wreath towards him, watching it spin as Fenris jerked away from it. The second one he tossed was slapped from the air to land near the Halla and snowman, Fenris glaring as he reached over to pull Anders to his feet.
"Mage-"
"I got you a wreath," Anders grinned, near laughter as he held up the wreath.
"I do not want it."
"But it's a wreath. Makes everything smell like a tree." Fenris sighed, staring at him. When Anders didn't lower the wreath and instead grinned even wider and wiggled it Fenris smacked it from his hand.
Anders huffed quietly without losing his smile, sparing the fallen wreath a glance before reaching to grab the one on the counter even as Fenris reached towards the snowman. Anders noticed just as he picked up the wreath, pausing to watch Fenris nudge the poor decoration closer to the edge. His head snapped to watch Fenris' face quickly, the warrior's lips finally twitching into a tiny smirk as he nudged it again.
"Fenris-" Another nudge and the small twitch of his lips turned purely evil as Anders held up a warning finger. "Stop it-" Even closer. "Fenris, I swear, if one more decoration hits the floor-" Fenris slapped it off the counter, leaning against it as he smiled, expression playing at innocence while at the same time happily declaring that he knew exactly what he did.
Anders pursed his lips slightly, eyes narrowing for a moment before he used the wreath to smack Fenris across the face, a small chuckle escaping him at how Fenris' face screwed up before he turned and left the kitchen, missing the rude gesture Fenris flung his way. Fenris moved to the doorway after a few moments, watching Anders dig through his bag.
"I'd like the wine back, Anders."
"Check next to the counter, I set it next to me," Anders paused, eyes narrowing in thought before he straightened and turned to Fenris. "Have you eaten?"
"... No."
"You should do that. I know you have enough food."
"And why do you know that?" Anders rolled his eyes.
"Because as your caring lover I checked your larder. Go eat something." Fenris watched him a few moments more, eyes narrowed in suspicion until Anders arched an eyebrow. A huff from the healer had him finally pushing off the doorframe to head to his larder, grabbing the bottle of wine as he went.
Fenris stepped into the larder, setting the bottle down with a quiet sigh. He should get Anders something to eat as well while he was here. Opening the drawer where he kept the bread revealed a small tray with three more wreaths. He pulled the tray out, lip curling slightly as he dropped it on the small counter next to the wine. Another drawer held a wrapped present from Merrill, which was also dropped on the counter. His eyes were narrowed warily when he stepped to the cabinet, opening it quickly and nearly growling at the garland he had discarded earlier residing at eye level. His quick, jerky pulls at the garland finally ended with it wadded in his hands before he threw it to the floor.
And the mage claimed to have been checking to see if he had food.
A moment's pause and he grabbed the garland again, wadding it into one hand as he grabbed the tray of wreaths before marching back to the stairs.
"Mage!" Anders turned from where he was wrapping a garland along the handrail, blinking and smiling innocently when Fenris threw the garland to the stairs at Anders' feet with a glare before holding up the tray, watching Anders arch an eyebrow before tipping the tray and dumping its contents to the floor. He watched the wreaths fall, looking back to Fenris' face, still smiling as he held up a finger and reached into the bag.
"I didn't see food on that tray, love. But here, have Varric's gift." He held out the gift, Fenris' brow furrowing in confusion even as he took the gift, sitting on the stairs to stare at it curiously as Anders sat behind him. "He said it was an 'hourly advent calendar', which I find ridiculous since he should have given it to you ahead of time if that was the case," Anders explained, watching Fenris pull open all of the tabs and taking the opportunity to drape the garland across Fenris' shoulders again.
Once the tabs were opened Fenris scoffed, turning the gift this way and that before turning to Anders, holding it up in confusion. Anders simply smiled, earning yet another exasperated sigh from Fenris.
Anders stood and stepped around Fenris as the elf pulled the garland from his shoulders with a huff, Anders taking the opportunity to grab Fenris' wrists and tug him to his feet and back to the room with the rest of the gifts.
"Anders-"
"Here, this one's from Bela," Anders pushed the box into his hands, turning to rifle around the tree as Fenris sat the box on the ground.
"Shouldn't you be at your clinic? I'm sure Hawke is waiting to give you your gift."
"Actually, he already gave it to me, who do you think I got these decorations from? But I'll leave, after this one thing."
"What thing?" Fenris sighed, arms crossing and an eyebrow arching as Anders turned around, a small sprig with green leaves and white berries held above their heads.
"Merrill said it's a Dalish tradition to kiss under Mistletoe," Another smile spreads on Anders face despite Fenris' look as he leaned over a bit, turning his head and tapping his cheek.
He tapped his cheek again, eyes widening in surprise when Fenris reached to turn his head, holding him still as their lips met. Anders relaxed into the kiss, his smile widening when he felt Fenris' lips curl in a small smile before the elf pulled away to rest their foreheads together.
"Was that my goodbye kiss?"
"Go home and enjoy your gifts, mage. I will find you one of my own soon," Fenris replied, turning Anders and pushing him gently towards the door.
"Yes, yes, I'll be a good little illegal apostate and go home," Anders laughed, stopping in the doorway to lean against the door and offer Fenris a gentle smile. "You don't seem too keen to open your gifts, but do me a favor and at least open mine, please," Honey brown eyes darted away for a moment before meeting Fenris' confused ones again.
"... As you wish, Anders. Good night."
"Sleep well, love."
The door thumped quietly shut behind Anders, Fenris staring at it in thought before moving to look for Anders' gift. He looked over the small box twice before spotting it at the base of the tree. It was the smallest box out of them all, easily fitting in Fenris' palm, and light. It almost felt empty.
He turned it in his hands as he ascended the stairs, examining it. It wasn't wrapped like the others, with the expensive paper sold in the Hightown market that Hawke most likely bought an abundance of, but with a simple ribbon. The color almost matched Anders' smaller coat, the thought making a small smile tug at Fenris' lips as he sat on his bed.
A gentle tug undid the bow and he stared at the ribbon for a moment before wrapping it around his right wrist, opening the box once it was secure. He blinked, slowly reaching to pull out the folded piece of parchment and setting it aside. Folded satin covered the bottom of the box, pulled up and tucked to keep the simple band from slipping about the inside. He hesitated a moment before reaching to lift the ring out of the box, turning it in his hand.
The ring was truly simple, with no stones to specifically draw the eye. The only thing on it was the words "Für immer deins", the meaning of which escaped Fenris. He held the ring tightly, carefully, as he picked up the parchment, a small smile quirking the corners of his lips up and a quiet laugh escaping him as he read the note.
This isn't considered ideal
But then, neither are we
But I would be the happiest man
If you would marry me.
Fenris sighed quietly after his laughter, smiling at the paper.
"Poetry is not your strong suit, Amatus," He murmured to no one, and slid the ring onto his finger.