Who: Anders & Tink What: Anders dreams about being taken by the Templars from his family, and is visited by the Dream Fairy. Tink comforts him. When: Monday morning Where: Tink’s house Rating: Mediumish. FTB. Status: Complete upon posting!
Maker,</i> it still smelled like her.
Tink was out cold. Completely cold. She'd never slept so soundly as she'd done all weekend--when they weren't tiring each other out, of course. Or unpacking. They actually managed to do some unpacking between the video games, pizza and sex. It was like, the best weekend ever. And the fact that they'd only been able to speak honestly actually made it all the more touching. There was a lot of laughter when the sarcasm fell flat, a lot of truthful confessions leading to a deeper understanding of one another.
So Tink thought, anyway. And she'd told him as much. Between sex and sleep about seven hours ago. She turned onto her side in her sleep, one arm reaching out to wrap around Anders' waist. There was light coming into the room through the window, and Tink was slowly becoming conscious.
And there was Tink, right when he needed her. How had he managed to get so lucky? He forced a smile on his face - it really wasn't that hard with Tink by his side, and reached down to grab her hand. "Good morning, sweetheart," he said. Shit, he had not expected his voice to sound so strained.
"Mmmmorning." Tink mumbled sleepily. But even half-asleep she could hear the strain in his voice. She felt how tense he was. Forcing herself to wake a bit more, she lifted her head and opened her eyes a little, squinting in the sunshine. "...what's wrong?" she added, shifting in the bed.
Anders meant to say "Nothing, I just had a dream," but the 'nothing,' somehow didn't find its way out loud. Well, he supposed that lying was still out of the question.
"And I got this awesome pillow." He held it up to show her. On it was embroidered an orange cat in front of a farm house.
Tink lifted her head and rested it against her fist, elbow on the pillow. She blinked her eyes a few times, forcing herself to brighten, forcing herself awake. “You… pillow?” She asked, then released his hand to raise hers and run a fingertip over the cat on the pillow. “What kind of a dream?” She asked, unnecessarily. It was obviously something that rattled him emotionally. Well, he supposed he had to talk a little about his dream world. He had talked a bit about it on the Network, but he wasn't sure what all she has read. "Well, in my dream world, Mages - like me - are taken away from their families at a young age and taken to these places called Circles, which are more or less glorified prisons." He wasn't entirely able to keep the anger from his voice about that. In his dream, he hated being in the Circle, but he didn't seem to think more about the injustice further than how it affected him. Anders didn't understand how someone so similar to him was, at the same time, so different. He rubbed the bridge of his nose to calm himself.
"I just dreamed about my family and getting taken away from them," he said after the moment it took him to calm down.
Tink lowered her hand from the pillow to rest it against his chest, giving him space but support at the same time. She frowned a bit, listening. Then let out a deep gush of air. It hurt inside her chest to know how much pain the Dreams must have given him. “Oh, Anders,” she said, softly. “I’m sorry.”
"You don't need to be sorry," Anders said. He rolled over with a groan - his arms were so sore, he was glad he already had no plans to go into work - and went to give her a kiss. "Now I'm awake and here with you. It just kind of feels," he trailed off. "I don't know. Like someone took a piece of my heart away. Is that weird? Did you have any dreams that made you feel that way?"
She returned his kiss, lifting her hand to cup his cheek. "I'm here," Tink responded quietly. She remembered what it was like waking up next to someone who'd had a horrible Dream. A really horrible Dream. One that bled through. It wasn't pleasant. All of her Dreams had been vanilla in comparison. She shook her head. "No. I don't... no. I have a mostly whole heart still."
"Good," he said, smiling a little. "I love your heart."
He turned his head to look at the pillow, and smiled a little bit. "You know, that was the only thing they let me keep in the Circle? My Mother," the words felt a little funny, "made it for me in secret after we discovered my magic, while we were waiting for the Templars. It's been in my dreams before, but it didn't really make sense why it was so important to me until now."
Tink smiled softly. A small, gentle smile. Her fingertips trailed down his neck, then her hand came to rest on his chest again. Over his heart.
"She made it in secret," Tink said, eyes turning to the pillow once more. It was obvious it was important to him, and she understood the gravity of the situation. Still she wanted more info. If he wanted to talk about it. And it sounded like he had things to... get off his chest, maybe? "But they let you keep it?" She asked.
Anders never really got anything off his chest, but with the whole being completely honest thing this weekend, he found that he kind if wanted to. He nodded. "When you get to the Circle, they lock you up in the dungeons to make sure you haven't already been corrupted by demons, and they take and burn all your stuff. But when they let me out of the cell, Knight-Captain," later to become Knight-Commander, "Greagoir gave it back to me. Said it was important to keep something from the family."
Looking back, he wondered if keeping a piece from the family helped keep young Mages grounded so they didn't run off making deals with demons.
"So, you weren't corrupted by a demon, I take it?" Tink said, trying to make a joke. It was ridiculously lame and insensitive, and she realized part-way through the sentence that it was. The only trouble was she couldn't derail that train. By the end of the sentence, she was frowning. She cleared her throat, apologetically. "I'm glad you have it now. And here. Something to remind you of your Dream Family. It’s really beautiful."
Anders laughed at her joke nevertheless. He was good at joking about Templars and demons, it was one of the ways he had learned to cope. “No, not corrupted by a demon. You have to make a deal with them, but they’re all so ugly. If they looked like you though, I’d probably still be able to resist” He gave her a wink, and then leaned in for another kiss before he realized that his compliment hadn’t quite come out the way he had intended. Well, it was good to know that even if demons were as beautiful as Tink, he believed he’d still be able to resist them.
“I don’t have a family here,” he said, and immediately after hoped that that wouldn’t make her feel even more sorry for him. “So it’s nice to have something from family that loved me somewhere.”
Tink was a little confused at the compliment that wasn’t, exactly. But she kissed him nonetheless. And for a brief moment she was terrified that she had horrible, morning breath. But hey, if she did, then he did, too. At least they were on even horrible, morning breath footing.
The frown came back to Tink’s features. “You don’t have a family here?” What? How? What?
“Well, I have Sir Pounce,” he said. “But I grew up in an orphanage. So I had nuns raising me. I mean, it wasn’t as bad as the movies. We ate well and they had a great home school set up for us older kids who didn’t get adopted.” He paused. “Very Catholic based, of course. Prayers every morning and night, creationism, though they taught real science alongside it, but it got me into med school.”
Oh wow. That made Tink feel... incredibly guilty. Of course, it wasn't what he intended, but she couldn't help it. She'd had every advantage in the book, and he'd scraped by. No family. He'd had it rough, and she'd had everything easy. Not only that, but her parents had brought in foster children, and they had it easy, too. Her brothers. If Anders had grown up in Orange County... they could have been foster siblings.
Thank God they weren't. Tink really, really liked Anders. And she really, really liked sex with Anders. Not the kind of thing one could do with a foster sibling.
"You've got me now, too." She added softly. "Is that why you're... against religion?"
"I've got you now, too," he confirmed. He kissed her again. He really liked kissing her. Especially right now. Somehow she felt more real to him than anything else going on right now. "How did I get so lucky?
"That's part of it. Being surrounded by all that vitriol growing up made me think, especially once I realized I was attracted to men too. And then, once I got out into the world, I looked at what religion was doing to it and realized it was doing more harm than good. I believe in God, but I can't believe He would condone the hatred that religion puts forth in the world.
"In my dream world too... There was a woman, named Andraste. A slave herself, she wed the Maker and freed herself and her fellow slaves. And the Chantry claims to follow her word, and yet they use it to imprison slaves and and keep elves in the gutters. There is nothing good, and nothing just, that comes from re-" He stopped himself. He was going on another tangent.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sure being raved at about religion was not how you had planned to wake up this morning."
Kissing was good. The kissing was really good. Tink liked it a lot, both then and now. She grinned softly, nuzzling her nose against his, and then shrugged one shoulder. "You and I both got lucky." In more ways than one.
And she listened. Tink listened to everything that he had to say with great interest. “No. It’s okay. I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She cuddled in a little closer, lowering her head to rest her chin on his chest. “...I just wanted to wake up with you this morning.”
"Me too," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Just so long as you're not upset with waking up with a naked raving man. It looks as though we have yet another day where we can't go into work. Whatever will we do?"
“Definitely not upset. At least, definitely not upset about the naked part,” Tink said, teasing. It was true, though, so she realized he was right. “...hmm. We’ll have to find some way to fill our day. What day is it, even?” She rolled onto her back and reached around behind her to grope for her phone on the nightstand. When she retrieved it, the battery was dead.
“Does it matter what day it is?” Anders asked teasingly, and then, because he had actually been paying attention so he knew when he was supposed to have his shifts at the hospital, he added “Though I think it’s Monday.
Hopefully whatever we do doesn’t involve my arms though. I feel as though I was wearing manacles for the last month.”
“I was just curious,” Tink admitted. Again, the truth. She would have made some sort of a snappy joke, but it was early and her tongue was tied. Tied to the truth. “Aw, I’m sorry.” She really was, too. “Do you want me to… I don’t know. Massage them?” She asked, and brought both hands over to gently knead his bicep.
“I thought maybe,” she said, fingers still against his skin, “we could go out today. No heavy lifting required, I promise. But… we could go for a walk on the beach or to the boardwalk or something. Like a date.” Her last sentence was said with a hopeful tone. They worked in the house, and especially in the bedroom. Did they work in public, too? Tink was a little worried he might change his mind in the light of day.
Anders gave a small, happy moan when she began to work on his arms. That was nice.
"I would love to go on a date with you, Sweetheart," he said, watching her. "Go to the beach, get some ice cream..." Getting out of the house would probably be a good distraction from the dreams as well. "Maybe pack a picnic for lunch?"
Tink broke into a relieved, happy smile. She nodded, hands gently massaging his arm. A walk along the beach and a picnic lunch was just what the doctor ordered. (See what she did there?) “Sounds romantic.” Ugh, this truth thing. How embarrassing. It made her go slightly pink, but she was still wearing that happy smile. “I hope you’re a better cook than I am. I can make… toast.”
That’s when Tink lifted her head to look around. “Where’s Sir Pounce?”
Well, that would probably explain all the take-out they had ordered that weekend. "Uh... Maybe we should pick something up in that case. In college, I once set my microwave on fire making a TV dinner," he admitted sheepishly. Learning how to cook wasn't something he hadn't done once he moved to Germany. The last girlfriend he had (and who he lived with) was a great cook. It was probably not going to be very good if neither him nor Tink could cook and had to live off microwavable dinners and take-out for the rest of their relationship. "Maybe we should take a cooking lesson sometime."
Anders looked around the bed. Usually Sir Pounce-a-lot slept at his feet, or on his chest, or on his face if he was feeling extra catty, but occasionally he got up early and wandered around or slept on a perch somewhere. That's what Anders assumed now. "Oh, he's probably out and about," he said. "Off doing cat things. Hopefully not figuring out how to open your fridge."
"A cooking lesson sounds like a great idea," Tink said, smiling. She could stand learn a thing or two in the kitchen. "I can make us some cold sandwiches for today? Deli meat and cheese? Uh, if we have any the fridge." She'd never needed to learn to cook before. She was always so busy working or inventing that she didn't have time to cook. And her mother often sent home leftovers with her after family dinners. Those lasted a few days.
"I hope he's not jealous I've got your attention," she added. "I imagine he normally sleeps with you?" She gave up massaging his arm and cuddled her body close against his, resting her cheek against his chest.
“Sandwiches I can make,” Anders said. “I’m sure Sir Pounce-A-Lot will forgive you for taking my attention if he is jealous. I imagine it must be hard to stay angry at someone so cute. You can feed him a couple of treats at the beach.” He thought about that for a minute. “Wait, it’s not weird if I bring my cat on our date, is it?” Sir Pounce-A-Lot mostly liked the beach, so long as he could stay away from the water. There was always a lot of tiny critters for him to chase around. “I guess we could leave him behind if you’d rather…”
Tink turned a little so she could look up into his face. “Why would it be weird to bring your cat to the beach with us?” She asked. Didn’t people do that sort of thing all the time? Take dogs for a walk, or something… wasn’t that normal? As if Tink knew from normal. What a laugh.
“We should get up and get the day started if we’re ever going to. If you don’t pull me out of this bed soon I’m not going to want to leave it all day.” She smirked softly, trailing her hand along his side. He was warm. Firm. Just the way he was supposed to be.
Anders shrugged, ignoring the stiffness in his shoulders. “I don’t know. Some people think it’s weird to take cats for walk. Which is silly, because they’re so much cuter than dogs.”
He let out a good natured groan when she mentioned getting out of bed. “Getting out of bed is so hard when you’re here next to me,” he said, and then, because he could, he moved to pounce on her to give her a nice, deep kiss.
“Thank you,” he murmured. “For being here this morning.”
Getting out of bed was almost always hard for Tink. But when she had a warm, cozy, naked Anders next to her? That made it nearly impossible. She gave a playful yelp when he pounced on her, and lifted her arms to wrap around him as she returned his kiss. That took out the nearly. Now it was impossible.
“You don’t have to thank me,” she whispered, bringing her lips to brush against his jaw, then his neck. “I’ll be here as long as you want me to.”
“Good,” he said, wrapping his hands in her hair. “We should really get up now though. “Any minute now.” He wasn’t about to risk saying that he was getting up now, because there was about an eighty-twenty chance that that was a lie.
“Make some sandwiches, go to the beach, actually get some sun.” Then he added “Put on some clothes” as though it was the last thing he wanted to do.
"That all sounds--" good "--terrible. I want to stay in bed another hour and have more sex with you." Ah the truth serum stuff. Unavoidable at best. She couldn't make the joke she wanted to. But two forces were at play here. The truth stuff, and Anders hands in her hair. Tink leaned in for another kiss, not really caring if it made her seem like she was addicted. Maybe she was. Maybe Anders was her addiction.
“I’m so glad you said that,” Anders said, meeting her kiss. “I mean, I’m really starting to get sore,” Oh god whyyyy did he have to say that. He really was getting used to this whole truth thing, but it still occasionally took him completely by surprise. “But I think I’ll get by.”
“But after. After we will,” definitely “maybe venture out into the real world.”