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“What do you want for Christmas?”
Fenris put down his mug of hot chocolate and looked over at Anders. They were both sitting on the couch; Fenris was on his phone and Anders was on his laptop. Anders was in a big sweater and the sleeves were too long. “What?” Fenris asked.
“Well... this may come as a shock to you, but gift giving is generally seen as a Christmas tradition,” Anders said, looking over at him. “What do you want for it?”
Fenris couldn’t quite wrap his head around the idea that Anders wanted to get him a Christmas present. He shrugged. “A gift card?”
“That’s no fun!” Anders exclaimed.
“Alright. How about you paying the rent next month,” said Fenris.
“You’re so bad at this.” Anders went back to his laptop. Fenris went back to his phone.
ONE YEAR EARLIER
Fenris had never paid much attention to Anders. They’d both been working at Target for a little while now but their paths mostly didn’t cross. Fenris liked being in the backroom. He’d pop in some earbuds and go to town, putting all of the store’s overstock into little cubicles and scanning it in. One by one. It wasn’t very mentally exciting work, but it paid the bills and he could go home and do whatever he wanted.
Anders liked to be out on the sales floor, because he liked to talk. Andraste’s ass, did the man like to talk. Just inane prattle, as far as Fenris was concerned. He didn’t pay attention to it much. He was just another coworker.
The first time they really talked was early one cold morning before the doors were open and they were waiting outside the store for the manager to come open it. Fenris was wearing a dark hoodie. And he was cold, even though he wasn’t going to admit it. He was leaning against the door, enjoying being alone, when Anders approached.
Anders was tall and had his strawberry blonde hair pulled back (like always) and he looked far too cheerful for 3:52am. He was wearing a long tan and green coat. It came with a fur-trimmed hood which he currently wasn’t using, and the downy fur was wispy against his shoulders and upper back. He stood with his hands in his coat pockets and looked at Fenris.
Don’t start talking, Fenris thought. The morning is nice and quiet. Don’t ruin it.
“Kind of cold out, isn’t it?”
Damnit.
Fenris didn’t say anything. His breath made frosty puffs in the air.
His silence didn’t stop Anders from nattering on. “You’re new to this area, aren’t you? I mean, I don’t think I saw you last winter. It gets pretty cold here. The mornings, especially. You might want to get a coat or something. I mean, you don’t have to. Just a suggestion.”
He was far, far too talkative for this early in the morning. “I’m fine,” Fenris said, hoping it would shut the other man up.
Anders shrugged. He looked like he was about to say something further, but then the manager arrived and opened the doors and saved Fenris from any further conversation.
They talked again the next day.
It happened in the breakroom.
As usual, Merrill was spending her lunch period studying. She had books, binders, and several different colored highlighters laid out all over one of the tables and she was completely oblivious to the many other people in the breakroom. Isabela was at the table with her; she had her (rather stylish) boots up on a red plastic chair and was chugging down a Red Bull. Even though she'd spent most of the previous night partying she still somehow managed to look better than anyone else at at the store. She set down her drink and looked over at Merrill. "Are you going to highlight everything?"
"No, just the important parts," said Merrill.
Isabela pointed. "It looks like you've highlighted everything."
"Well, it's all important."
Isabela chuckled. "If you need help with studying, I'm always available, you know. Text me if you ever want to meet up on campus or something."
Anders, meanwhile, was standing in front of the vending machine, dealing it a death glare.
Fenris wasn’t paying much attention to him, at first. He was sitting at a nearby desk reading an e-book on his phone. He did notice, however, when he heard Anders start banging on the machine’s clear front. “Piece of… fucking…”
“You sound upset,” said Isabela playfully.
“My chips got stuck,” Anders said. “Look.” He pointed at the bag of chips wedged right between the glass and the other bags.
“Oh dear,” said Merrill, looking up at him now. “That happens to me a lot. Every time, in fact. I always thought I was just unlucky. Like the machine didn’t like me. Maybe it doesn’t like you either?”
Anders grumbled and went back to pounding on the vending machine and attempting (rather unsuccessfully) to shake it. Fenris ignored it as best as he could until all the racket got to him and he got out of his chair, walked over, and banged on the side of the machine. Once. And the chips successfully dislodged themselves and tumbled down to the bottom of the machine.
Anders glanced over at him, a little surprised. “Uh, thanks,” he said.
Fenris shrugged and went back to sitting down at his table. As far as he was concerned, that should have been that, except that after Anders collected his chips he went and sat down next to Fenris. Fenris blatantly ignored him and continued to stare at his phone. He figured that maybe, if he was lucky, Anders wouldn’t talk.
He wasn’t lucky.
“So. That was a nice trick.” Anders opened his bag of chips and began crunching on them.
Fenris didn’t say anything.
“Had troubles with that machine before?”
Fenris grunted.
“You don’t talk much, do you?”
“No.” The truth was that Fenris was perfectly happy to talk to people he liked. Anders was not one of those people.
Anders hadn’t gotten the hint. “I feel like I never really see you much. Are you always in the backroom?” He continued talking without waiting for an answer. “I don’t know how you can stand it back there. It’s so… claustrophobic. You know?”
“No.”
It was at this point in the rather one-sided conversation that Garrett Hawke showed up and sat at a nearby table and this was when Anders suddenly became very interested in talking to him instead, so he turned and took his discussion elsewhere. Fenris made a mental note to thank Garrett later.
Garrett, as it turned out, had something else in mind.
“You and Anders could get a place together.”
“Anders?” It was a couple of weeks later and Fenris and Garrett had been chatting rather amiably in the backroom as they did their jobs. Fenris had offhandedly mentioned that his last roommate had recently moved out and although he could still make ends meet alone, it was tighter than he would have liked. (He also may or may not have mentioned the squeaky shower head and the fact that the dishwasher kept breaking.)
“Yeah,” said Garrett. “He’s been looking for a new roommate. He hasn’t shut up about it, in fact.” He went back to punching numbers into his scanner.
Fenris wasn’t especially fond of this idea. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful, though. “I suppose that’s an option,” he said.
“I know you haven’t talked much but I feel like you’ll get along,” Garrett continued.
Fenris wondered where he’d managed to pull that ridiculous idea from, but didn’t say so. “Maybe.”
“He kind of reminds me of you, a little bit,” Garrett added.
“Ouch,” said Fenris.
Garrett grinned at him. “No, really. You’re both nice people but you’ve also both got a little bite. Just try not to bite into each other too much. I mean, unless you’re into that kind of thing. Which, you know. Is fair.”
Fenris glared at him.
“Alright, alright,” said Garrett. “Really though. He’d give you the coat off his back. Just something to think about.”
“No promises,” said Fenris.
It was late that night and Fenris was looking at his bank account balance online. He had enough for bills and food but there was precious little left over. He was also not happy with the idea of not having an emergency fund. He thought about roommates, again. He could put an ad on Craigslist and see what came up. Maybe he’d get lucky.
Maybe he wouldn’t.
Maybe having an obnoxiously talkative roommate would be preferable to a host of other possibilities.
He’d think about it, he decided.
Three days of being horrified by Craiglist ads later, he'd decided.
The actual process of finding a place took longer than Fenris would have liked. It wasn’t that Anders was picky, it was that he had a cat. And it was of utmost importance to him that they find a place that allowed cats. Anders had made it exceptionally clear early on that getting rid of the cat was not an option (Fenris had at one point suggested that the cat be left with a friend, and he ended up getting a five minute long lecture from Anders which he didn’t want to experience again).
So there they were, about a week later, scoping out the precious few apartments in town that were both reasonably affordable and cat friendly. Most of them were duds, and Fenris was getting tired of slogging through the snow and cold with a man he could still barely tolerate. As long as the apartment has two bedrooms and I can shut myself in one, he thought to himself. That and a working shower head and a working dishwasher were his major criteria.
Finally they found a place that looked like it would work. It checked all the boxes: working shower head. Working dishwasher. Two bedrooms. And pets were allowed. “Well,” Anders said after the landlord gave them the tour. “Shall we?”
“If it means we can get out of this snow, then yes,” said Fenris.
They signed the paperwork and split the deposit.
The actual moving in process began a couple of days later, and it was far from Fenris’ favorite day in recent memory. Trying to coordinate with Anders to simply lift a couch up the stairs was far more difficult than it should have been, and after that Anders spent most of his time setting up cat furniture while Fenris moved boxes in. Finally they were done, though, and they collapsed on the couch. “So,” said Anders. “Pizza?”
“Do you like pineapple on yours?” Fenris asked.
“Ugh. No.” Anders leaned over to pet his cat. “Do you?”
Well, Fenris thought. We’re off to a great start.
After a brief but heated pizza argument they decided to walk to the local McDonalds instead. Anders was in that long, tan and green coat that looked oddly good on him. Fenris was still in his hoodie. He was cold and trying not to show it as they crunched through the snow, his hands in his pockets. Anders could tell, though. “Do you want to wear my coat?” he offered.
“What?” It seemed like such an odd request and Fenris hadn’t seen it coming.
“I’m used to this weather,” said Anders. “You’re not. I’ve got a sweater on under this, I’ll be fine.”
Fenris was still trying to grapple with the fact that a man he hardly knew and who he hadn’t been getting along with so far was offering to lend him his coat. Before he could respond, Anders had already shed his coat and was handing it over to Fenris. “I don’t—” Fenris began.
“Oh come on, just take it,” said Anders.
And Fenris had already had a long day and he didn’t want to start an argument and he was cold so he took the coat and put it on as they walked. If it was long on Anders, it was even longer on him, but it was warm and it smelled surprisingly nice. He couldn’t quite pinpoint the scent. It was earthy, though. Herbs, maybe?
He continued to wear it when they were at McDonalds, and he wore it on the walk back home, too. In fact, he’d forgotten that he was wearing it until they actually arrived back at the apartment and he took it off and was looking around for a place to put it, since they didn’t have a coat hook yet. Anders held out a hand, and Fenris handed the coat over to him rather awkwardly. “Thank you,” he said.
“Don’t be too eager to hand it over. It looked nice on you,” said Anders.
Fenris wasn’t sure what that comment meant or how to react to it, but it was okay because Anders was no longer paying attention to him and was instead talking to his cat, who had jumped up on the counter to greet them.
Fenris ended up not buying a coat that winter. Oh, that certainly hadn’t been the plan. He kept intending to buy one. But then he kept forgetting or not getting around to it. So he continued to borrow Anders’ coat. Just a few times. …okay, maybe more than a few times. Anders didn’t seem to mind. Eventually, though, winter melted into spring and the coat went into the closet. Fenris didn’t realize how much he actually missed it until a few weeks later when Anders was passing him in the hall and he caught a whiff of that herbal smell on him and that brought back those familiar sensations of comfort and warmth and Fenris was actually confused for a moment before something else caught his attention and it was gone.
He almost forgot about it all completely, then.
Almost.
PRESENT DAY
It was a few moments after their brief but ultimately unfruitful discussion about Christmas presents and Anders had gotten up and walked to his room. When he came out, he was wearing his coat. Fenris looked up at him. “Just getting the mail,” Anders said. “I ordered some cat toys for Pounce the other day.”
“That,” said Fenris, as he nodded at Anders, “Is what I want for Christmas.”
Anders was thoroughly puzzled. “Cat toys?”
“Your coat,” said Fenris.
“Ah. That does make more sense.” Anders thought for a moment. “I don’t know if they make them anymore. I guess we can check Amazon.”
“I don’t want a new one. I want that one.”
“This one?” Anders pointed at his coat.
Fenris nodded.
“Well.” Anders was nonplussed, but pulled off his coat and tossed it to Fenris. “Merry Christmas,” he said.
Fenris grabbed it and tugged it on and then, content, went back to his phone.
Anders headed to the door, but then paused with his hand on the doorknob and turned to look at Fenris. “You know. When Garrett first suggested we get a place together, he said you’re the type of guy who’d give someone the coat off his back.”
“Did he?”
“Guess it ended up being the other way around.”
“I suppose so.”
Anders left, and Fenris snuggled into the coat and sipped his hot chocolate. This was going to be a good winter.