GARRETT HAWKE + WILL ZIMMERMAN
MISTLETOE HIJINKS WITH BONUS DRAGON!WILL
G | COMPLETE
Most of the things that had been going on in Atlantis as of late completely baffled Hawke. Not that he was complaining. He loved a good weird surprise. As long as he didn’t end up in his dog’s body again, anyway. He was ecstatic to meet his future daughter, grown up and lovely. And he did love the atmosphere of this "Christmas" so far too. The lights and people decorating trees and whatnot. Of course, that didn’t mean he had any idea what some of it meant, especially on such a distracting day.
Which was his excuse on how he had no rational reason for caring about the weird little bundle of leaves over Will’s head. He was just wandering out of Blue City Threads and there was Will coming inside. He stopped to grin and tease, as he always did when he ran into Will. Now his feet felt glued to the floor.
“What in the bloody…” Hawke glared down at his feet and tried again to move. “Oh come on, what is it now, Atlantis?”
Christmas, gifts, stuff. Will wasn’t always the best with holidays but he did like Christmas and he wanted to get things for his housemates so he thought he’d look at Blue City. He’d been trying really hard not to turn into his blue dragon form. He still couldn’t really talk when he was a dragon, but at least it was more smoke now and less fire.
“Hey-” he was about to say to Hawke as he stepped forward and nearly fell forward as he got stuck. “Shit,” he groaned as he looked above them to the mistletoe.
“Mistletoe,” he answered pointing up trying to stay calm, turning into a dragon when stuck didn’t sound safe.
“You say that word like it should mean something,” Hawke grumbled. He didn’t love being trapped, even when the trap wasn’t all that bad. Looked foolish for a rogue who’s job often revolved around spotting traps, after all. But since they weren’t in any obvious danger, he just peered up at the plant with a squint. “Should I be worried?”
Will couldn’t decide if he should laugh or groan, turned out he went with a mix of both. “Don’t know what a mistletoe is?” He asked already knowing the answer so he just kept talking, luckily he was managing not to shift, yet. “It’s a Christmas thing, actually it’s more than just a Christmas thing, it can be known to help with protection from witches and demons, in the middle ages it was tied to fertility and vitality, but when it comes to Christmas it’s all about kissing, one variation had people eating the berries, but people died, so not a good plan, don’t eat the berries.
“Point is, this is Atlantis and my bet would be it wants those stuck to kiss before they’re set free.”
Hawke laughed, because how could he not. “It’s a handful of leaves and three berries,” he said incredulously. He glared up at the mistletoe with his hands on his hips. “How is it so demanding?” Thedas had its fair share of ridiculous traditions, so he shouldn’t have judged, even rhetorically. But logic had hardly ever stopped him before. Sighing dramatically, he looked back to Will.
“Well, this is your call. I kiss a man on a regular basis, but I got the impression that’s not really your thing.” Hawke cocked one eyebrow. “Do you want to try and wait it out?”
Will shrugged, he didn’t really understand why they were so demanding or why they had to be so damn rude. Trapping people in relationships wasn’t exactly cool. Damn Mistletoe. He thought.
“You can’t just wait it out, you could, but you might die first,” He grumbled. There wasn’t really an option and will wasn’t into dudes personally and the strange feeling he got when he was about to turn into a dragon was starting to come too.
“Riiight,” Hawke groaned. “Dying is a little extreme. What about…” He reached out and grabbed Will by the hand, not really giving him a chance to balk before he kissed the top of it like a proper bloody gentleman – which he absolutely was not. Of course, taking an experimental step basically ended with him nearly toppling over and breaking something because his feet stay lodged in place. He glared up at the mistletoe as he straightened back up. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Can evil plants feel shame? They should.”
Will couldn’t decide if he should laugh or be offended he kissed his hand without warning. His attempt not to laugh ended up with a snort of smoke. “Didn’t work.” He stated the obvious. He took a deep breath in and nodded. “Well, only one thing we can do.” Will knitted his eyebrows together as he looked at Hawke. He wasn’t sure if he’d turn into a dragon or not in that moment and he was trying not to, as he thought about it more his blue spikey tail decided to make an appearance. “Fuck.”
There was half a second for Hawke to preen a little that he’d made Will laugh, even in this ridiculous situation, but the nose smoke and then the tail moved to the front of the stage. “Andraste’s knickers, are you--Am I going to be kissing a dragon to escape this?” That might have sounded horrified from any sensible person but Hawke just sounded a little thrilled at the prospect. Thankfully, he had some sense and laughed, grabbing Will by the face.
“Alright, alright, don’t eat me. I’ll make it quick,” Hawke smirked before diving in for a quick peck.
The, well, the excitement on Hawke’s face was enough to confuse Will for a moment, did he actually want to kiss a dragon? Will didn’t have time to think about it because the next thing he knew there were lips on his, but his lips were shifting and the teeth were growing. Will tried to back away quickly but the magic waited a half second longer sending him rolling backwards and into Blue City Threads, luckily his tail missed the window but he was stuck on his back.
No one had ever leapt away from Hawke after a kiss before. It might’ve stung if Will weren’t turning into a dragon at the time. Hawke’s eyes lit up and then sobered with worry. As much as he loved dragons, he didn’t want Will getting hurt or hurting someone else with flailing. He held out his hands defensively.
“Easy, Will. Easy. Don’t start flopping, alright? I can help you out of this mess.” Now that he could move, Hawke inched around Will to push aside some clothing racks. Luckily they moved easy enough and he was able to clear out some space. Whether it was enough space was anybody’s guess.
Will would have liked to say I’m not going o hurt you but that would have led to fire probably so Will just rolled his big eyes. He watched as some racks started to move. He really wished he had better control of the shifting. Rolling on his back a little he managed to get enough momentum to get standing, the downside being his left wing that he didn’t bring in before it crashed into something.
Pulling wings tight he stood there for a second willing himself to change back.
Hawke was quick on his feet, no one could argue otherwise. He danced around Will’s wings adjusting and caught the shelf unit his left wing had bumped before it tumbled folded sweaters everywhere. Setting it back into place, he squinted one-eyed and flashed a sympathetic grin.
“Now see, that wasn’t so bad.” He patted Will’s dragon neck as he moved around him. “But there isn’t a chance in the Fade we’re getting you out of here like this sooo. Think happy thoughts? Would food help? I could go find…a sheep or something?” He was teasing, mostly, but the number of times he’d had to fetch an animal for someone was high.
Will wanted to groan but hearing the word sheep and something about eating it sounded really bad to his human brain, not so bad to the dragon stomach. His mind was winning out though as he thought about how gross that would be and how a normal burger or a grilled cheese, or a beer. Beer. His mind was focused on beer as his body slowly started to change back.
“Do I have to be fucking naked every single time I change back?” He let out in frustration as he grabbed a shirt type thing and a pair of pants that looked like they might fit. He awkwardly put the kimono on before slipping into the pants. Will hadn’t noticed how uh... strange the combination was.
Despite being a general pain in the ass, Hawke was actually fairly considerate. Which meant he was quick to give Will some privacy to get dressed. With his back turned, he created a bit of a wall between Will and any other shoppers who tried to look their way. It also meant, he had the joy of seeing the finished “outfit” in all its glory once Will was dressed.
“This is…the best day,” Hawke grinned. “I mean, I’m terribly sorry for the whole mess, but also…” He held his arms out, giving Will’s look a delighted once over. “Just. Sublime.” Getting his giddiness under control, he covered his heart with one hand and looked apologetic. “Are you alright then?”
Will looked down and let his head fall back as he groaned. He wasn’t pleased with the outfit he’d grabbed but at least it wasn’t naked.
“You’re buying me a beer,” Will said as he looked back over at Hawke and pointed at him. “If you get to kiss me while I’m a dragon, you’re buying the beer.”
Hawke laughed. This whole affair had been ridiculous, but memorable, and Will seemed no worse for wear. Hawke hooked an arm around Will’s shoulders and made sure his tone was that of a soldier swearing fealty to a liege lord.
“My friend, I will go as far as buying you two beers.”