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Fenris had never seen Anders dressed up before.
In fact, he didn't even know that the man owned anything other than work polos and some old hoodies and sweatshirts. But no, there he was, wearing a nice suit and had he actually fucking shaved? He had, hadn't he?
"I didn't know you owned a razor or a suit," Fenris commented from the couch.
"I keep them hidden in a box under my bed," Anders snarked. He paused in front of the couch. "Do I look okay?"
He looked positively snappy, but Fenris wasn't going to tell him that. Instead he evaded the question by asking one of his own. "Do you have a date?"
"Yes." Anders was plucking orange cat hair off his sleeve.
"With which one?
"Huh?"
"Garrett or Marian?"
Anders looked up briefly before he turned and walked into the kitchen. "Uhh. Neither of them."
Fenris quirked an eyebrow. "Who, then? Someone else at work?"
"No. You don't know them." Anders poured himself a glass of water.
"Did you meet them on Tinder?"
Anders almost choked on his drink. "What? No."
"So that's a yes, then."
"We've chatted a few times. They're very nice." He put his glass in the sink. "And I'm going to be late if I stay much longer. Try not to miss me too much."
"I shall fret every second you're gone," Fenris replied.
And then Anders left and Fenris went back to reading and that would have been that, except that about forty-five minutes later he got a text. From Anders. "They're not here," said the text.
Fenris squinted at the phone for a moment before replying. "When were they supposed to get there?"
"A half hour ago," came the reply.
Ouch.
"Did they mention anything to you?" Fenris typed back.
"No. This is ducking embarrassing. ***Fucking. Stupid autocorrect."
"Where are you?" Fenris typed next.
"That cafe down the street."
So he had been waiting pretty much that entire time. Fenris felt secondhand embarrassment just thinking about it. Poor guy. No one deserved that. Not even obnoxious roommates.
And that's when he had an idea.
It was a bit unconventional. He stood up before he could talk himself out of it. "Well, make it the full hour at least and give them 15 more minutes" Fenris typed back as he made his way to his room.
His phone buzzed again a few moments later. "You are far more optimistic than I thought."
Fenris was half dressed when he typed his response. "I just think you should never rule out surprises."
"Fine, 15 more minutes" came the reply soon after.
Fenris was out the door.
~
Anders was on what must have been his fourth glass of Diet Coke when suddenly someone slid into the seat across from him. He looked up, surprised-- and saw Fenris. Fenris, wearing a suit. "Hope I'm not too late," said Fenris with a wry smile. He opened the menu and began studying it as though nothing strange was going on whatsoever.
"What the...? Fenris?" Anders leaned over. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving you from any further embarrassment," said Fenris. A server approached and he ordered two glasses of wine, and then after the server left he turned back to Anders and added "You owe me."
Anders was speechless. He had no idea what to say or even how he was supposed to react. It didn't help that Fenris looked distractingly sharp. "Well," Anders said finally, "I guess the good thing about being on a date with my roommate is I don't have to ask you if you'll be coming home with me tonight."
"So long as you're paying for dinner," said Fenris. The wine arrived and Fenris held up his glass to Anders briefly before taking a drink.
Anders gladly took a sip of his own wine before sheepishly looking away. "Alright," he said, "I'll say it. Thank you. For showing up. And before you say anything, yes, I'm an idiot. Or gullible, or... I don't know, whatever you want to call me."
Fenris shrugged. "It's not your fault," he said. "Although if you'll indulge me, I can't help but wonder why you're not here with Marian or Garrett. Seeing as you've been crushing on them for months now."
"I... don't want to drag either one of them into my problems," said Anders. "They deserve better than that."
"You're always so melodramatic when it comes to these so-called problems of yours," said Fenris. "Everyone has problems. I have problems. I'm sure the Hawkes have got their own as well."
"I just don't want to weigh anyone down with my nonsense," Anders insisted. He was playing with the watch he was wearing; rolling it around on his wrist. It looked nice on him even though Fenris recognized it as being from a Walmart bargain bin.
"I see. But you're a hopeless romantic, so you want to find someone who will put up with you anyway," said Fenris. "Even if you don't think you deserve it."
"Well, I don't."
"Oh, stop," said Fenris. "Drink more wine," he added.
Anders was happy to oblige there and took another drink. "I just thought maybe something casual... I dunno." Anders shrugged as he put down his glass.
Fenris looked at him. Really looked at him. Everything about him in the cafe's warm light was golden. Golden hair, golden eyes. Soulful eyes. He almost thought he understood him there, for a moment, but no, he was too closed off. He was hiding too much behind those jokes. It was fair, though. Fenris certainly had baggage he didn't want to bring up anytime soon. It had taken him a while to learn to let himself be happy again, and even then it was something he still struggled with on occasion. He supposed it would probably take a while for Anders, too.
They ordered some food and topped off their glasses. As the evening went on, Anders began to open up. "You know, you sat there and made fun of me for having a suit but look at you here dressed all fancy."
"You like it, do you?" Fenris had another drink. He couldn't help but feel good about Anders' comment.
Anders squinted at him. "Your hair looks really good, too."
"I didn't do anything different to my hair," said Fenris.
"Really? Well, I mean. You look, ah... you look good. You should go out more often."
"With whom?"
"Oh come on," Anders nearly sputtered. "Like you couldn't get whoever you wanted. I mean. There's the Hawkes. There's Merrill. There's Isabela. Sebastian maybe? No... probably not... definitely not."
...and there's also you, Fenris thought to himself as Anders continued to ramble on about potential matches for him. He wanted to say it. Oh, he was almost drunk enough to say it. Should he say it? Maybe he should say it. Maybe he should just...
Anders looked at him suddenly. He smiled. Genuinely. Golden. "I uh. I appreciate it a lot. You showing up, I mean. That means a lot to me."
Fenris finished his glass. "Don't forget that you owe me."
~
They were back at the apartment. Anders had passed out on the couch almost as soon as he'd walked in the door; he was still in his suit. Fenris was sitting on the floor next to him in the dark. Drinking more. He probably shouldn't have been, but he couldn't stop thinking about how far gone he was. You've really done it now, he thought to himself. Moved in with the guy you could hardly stand because you needed to save money and it turns out you see yourself in him and now look.
And if all of that wasn't bad enough, he couldn't even bring himself to tell the guy how he felt about him.
Well.
Shit.
Fenris harrumphed to no one in particular. Obviously none of this was okay.
Anders made some sort of snorting noise in his sleep behind him.
...and Fenris smiled at that. Okay. It was okay.