Jazz Age: Chapter Fifty-Seven
Title Jazz Age
Rating M
Warnings Violence.
Spoilers For pretty much everything, eventually.
Pairings Hawke/Jethann, Hawke/Isabela, Hawke/Fenris
Summary Hawke and his family fled the war in Ferelden on a liner, dogged by Darkspawn U-Boats. Two years later the war is over and Hawke is a private detective in Kirkwall, a city awash with jazz, bootleg liquor and a lot of trouble.
Master List Here.
I rubbed my thumb along one of the lyrium lines on the back of his hand, but still felt no reaction.
“Huh. That’s really something.”
Fenris shook his head, “It’s not really that important.”
I pulled gently on his hand and the rest of him followed as he leaned forward out of the chair and for the second time in his life, Fenris kissed me. He was cautious about it for a couple of heartbeats and then he wound his fingers through my hair and I felt his teeth behind his lips and he stole my breath.
“Are you all right?” he asked when we broke apart. He had one knee on the bed.
“Of course I am,” I said with a grin. “I had a nice long sleep and I’m right as rain.” My smile dropped, “There’s no rush, Fenris.”
He drew back slightly and frowned, “You could be hit by a tram tomorrow.”
I wasn’t gonna argue with that.
There was still a lamp on in the corner and Fenris didn’t turn it off as he straightened up and started taking off his suit. His movements weren’t hurried, he didn’t fumble any buttons, but they were fast and economical. He hung his coat up in the closet, and he put his shoes under the bed. I realised absently that most of my clothes were folded neatly on the table, but I was really paying more attention to other things.
Like the lines that ran down his sides, the suggestion of ribs that showed through his skin when he turned to throw his shirt over a chair, the scar on his stomach that looked like a bullet wound, and, Maker can you blame me for not tearing my eyes away, only his head was silver.
He stood there for a few moments, letting me stare at him. Then he smiled, stepped forward and pulled the blankets off me.
“Hey,” I laughed at the sudden chill as I lifted my hips and stripped off the pants I was still wearing. Fenris frowned as I tossed them over the edge of the bed.
“You always make such a mess,” he said.
“Always? We’ve only done this once before,” I pointed out. I opened my arms and he crawled into them, and we shuffled around and made room for knees and elbows and pressed grinned kisses onto each other’s shoulders and neck and I palmed his hipbone and he scraped his teeth against my stubble.
“You’re not going to leave again are you?” I asked, unable to help sounding plaintive.
“Why would I leave?” Fenris asked with a gentle smile. “This is my house, as you’ve pointed out before. If I get sick of you I’ll just kick you out instead.”
“Ha!” I rolled us both over until I was on top of him. “You can try.”
“Maybe later,” he said.
He looked tired, but he refused to countenance going to sleep; he was looking at me as much as I was looking at him, touching childhood scars, rubbing the hair on my chest, squeezing my shoulders as if he couldn’t believe how broad they were. We introduced ourselves, freckle by freckle - well I did, Fenris didn’t have any; I know because I checked pretty closely.
And I held my breath and stuck my tongue out and he laughed at the face I pulled and I just told myself not to think about it and just did it and his head lolled back and he grabbed my ears and I put my hands on his hips and he made this noise. Can’t really describe it. And then his breath hitched and he made it again, and I managed a sort of grin and spit ran down to my jaw so I stopped.
Grinning that is. Everything else I refused to stop as his hands butterflied above my head, and his toes wrinkled the sheet. He shouted something unintelligible and I gagged and rolled off him, coughing and spluttering and wiping my mouth.
“Was it really that bad?” he asked, still breathless, looking at me with big, worried eyes.
I had to laugh.
“It was worth it, I assure you.” I crawled up until we were nose to nose again. “I might even give it another go sometime,” I breathed into his ear and he shivered.
“If you, uh, really don’t mind.”
“Give it a go yourself if you’re so worried,” I invited.
He regarded me dubiously. “Where did you learn that anyway?” he asked. “No, on second thoughts, I’m sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be,” I told him, “Don’t be sorry about anything.”
I wasn’t sorry. I wasn’t sorry when he rolled on top of me and played - curiously at first, and then with delight and a wicked smile that showed his teeth. And time passed and we fell asleep tangled up in the blankets and I woke up tangled in the blankets.
And Fenris was still there, sleeping like a baby. I could feel the lyrium buzzing against my right side; our reserves were recharging. I edged the blanket out sort of flat, covering him, and I draped an arm over his shoulder and dozed again. He woke up next because a sound jolted me from a light sleep and I caught him watching me.
I grinned at him. He smiled.
We were getting tangled up again when I heard footsteps coming down the hall and Varric threw the door open.
“Dammit, Elf! If he’s not awake by now we need to-”
Fenris made a sort of choked noise.
“Varric! Get out!” I hollered at him.
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Varric said as he stepped back into the hall and smartly shut the door.
I raised my voice, “If I read about this in one of your Falcon stories-”
“Relax, Hero. I don’t think the world is quite yet ready.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, as Fenris started struggling with me and the blankets.
“We can’t stay here!” he hissed. “He’s going to tell everyone.”
“So?”
He stopped. “Well, isn’t that a bit personal?”
“We’re not a secret, Fenris.”
He frowned and looked uncertain, “Be that as it may. We have to get up.”
I sighed, “I suppose we do. I presume Anders is in the Gallows by now?” I’d been avoiding thinking about that.
“No,” Fenris shook his head. “Aveline got to him first and arrested him, which is more than he deserved. I dragged you out and hid us here; too many people were asking questions about what we did in City Hall.” Fenris rubbed the back of his neck, “They’re going to figure it out, Trip. That was one too many miracles. And Meredith is going to love making an example of you.”
“She can try,” I said, throwing off the blankets. Fenris was right; we had more important things to do right now. His dire warnings weren’t really having their designed effect, however; I still felt about a hundred feet tall, and capable of fighting a whole army of Templars.
We took turns showering and Varric had kindly brought over a few of my clothes and a razor and Horse, who had apparently missed me terribly. Fenris kept watching me as I shaved out of the corner of his eye. When we got downstairs we were greeted with the smell of hot coffee and fresh bread. While Varric had made his bakery run, Aveline had arrived and she sagged with relief to see I was up and about again.
“You never know when to quit, do you?” she asked.
“Well, neither do you,” I grinned, helping myself to some coffee as Fenris retrieved butter and marmalade for the bread rolls. I was starving. “So what’s this about Anders in jail anyway?”
“It was the only thing I could think of to keep the Templars off him,” Aveline said. “They’ll get him eventually of course; our questioning won’t go on forever, and there’s enough circumstantial evidence for the Templars to take him in now.”
“How much time do we have?” I asked.
Aveline looked at her watch. “The office opens at nine. I’ve told the men on the desk to stall, but they won’t hold Meredith off for long. Maybe an hour.”
“Hero,” Varric said. “Maybe it’s for the best. He did try to blow up City Hall.”
“And he failed,” I said. “All he actually did was shouting in the town square. Look, for all we know the yellowcake got to him too somehow. We all know he’s not going to get a fair hearing one way or the other.” Fenris handed me a bread roll and I took it. “Look, I just want to talk to him.”
We looked at Aveline. She sighed.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “No promises. Meet me at the vehicle entrance to the station in about half an hour.”
As soon as she was gone I turned to Varric, “We need Isabela.”
~~~
Anders looked awful. Aveline had managed to keep the Templars at bay so far, but the cops hadn’t been too kind to the man who may or may not have tried to explode the civic centre of our city. Anders was curled up on a cot in a cell, still in the same clothes he’d been wearing yesterday.
“Anders,” I said gently. “Anders, wake up.”
He did so, and shot a horrified glance over his shoulder. He moaned. He had a black eye and there was dried blood on his collar. There was no sign of his glasses.
“You’re alive. When I saw Fenris carrying you out I thought-” he got to his feet and took a couple of faltering steps towards the barred iron door before shrinking away again. “No, you shouldn’t be here. Meredith will be after you. Please just leave me. I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“Well, that remains to be seen. But regardless of that, I’m not letting Meredith take you. Isabela, get him out of there.” I stepped aside and let Isabela get to work.
Aveline didn’t.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, grabbing Isabela’s arm.
“A jailbreak of course,” I said with a grin. “Come on, Aveline, you wouldn’t have gone to all this effort to rescue him already if you didn’t want us to do something. Should we hit you to make it more realistic?”
Aveline’s jaw dropped for a moment and then she shut it with a snap. “No, I’ll just tell them you pulled guns. But I will raise the alarm as soon as you’re out the door.” She glanced at Anders, who was just looking utterly bemused by the whole thing, “Keep an eye on him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s still under arrest, you got me?”
I nodded.
Isabela got the door open without any trouble, but that was the easy bit. I made Anders take off his distinctive white coat and put mine on instead. He complied without speaking, and let himself be led around as we liked. Aveline watched us go, and when we were out of line of sight, I heard her start to run. Someday, I vowed, I’d try and tell her how much her faith in me meant.
“Should we steal a car?” Isabela asked, as we surprised a couple of mechanics working on one of the cars in the area out the back.
I shook my head. “Too obvious.”
Fenris waved his gun at the men and they raised their hands. Isabela danced in and tied them, smiling wickedly the entire time.
“We’re not going far,” I added as we slowed to a walk and tried to look casual as we exited onto the street. Anders pulled his hat down as we all saw the Templar cars out the front.
“Aveline is going to get shouted at,” Fenris observed quietly.
“I think we should run,” Isabela said. And so we did.
~~~
We installed Anders in Fenris’s basement. As much as I didn’t enjoy it, Aveline was right; he needed to be watched, at least for now, and the door had a lock. It wouldn’t stop him if he decided to use Justice on us, but he just looked burnt out. I doubted he felt capable of lighting a candle. Varric had been joined by Merrill and had filled her in on the details while he kept watch on Fenris’s house. No one expressed any desire to be anywhere else.
We showed Anders to the basement and then Varric made him some coffee and Anders stared at it like he’d never seen a cup before.
I glanced at the others, “I’ve got this. Leave us for a while.”
They filed out and shut the door behind them. I suspected Fenris at least wouldn’t go far, but I wanted to talk to Anders mage to mage.
Anders had the only chair in the room, and I sat on a rather singed footstool that Fenris had probably removed from the living room.
“Why are you doing all of this?” Anders asked.
I shook my head, “Oh no, you’re answering the questions first.”
“I didn’t mean for you to get hurt! You weren’t even supposed to be there.”
“What about all those other people, Anders? They weren’t Templars, they were just people. Just file clerks and city auditors and janitors and police. And you were going to kill them!”
“It was the only way. Justice-”
“Yeah, about Justice.” I spread my hands, “Where is he? I’ve got a bone to pick with that son of a bitch and you’ve still got one good eye.”
“He’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone? In the sense that he was never there at all perhaps?”
“Justice was not me! That was the whole point. I put up with so much. I just wanted to be happy, to help people. But the Circle made me so angry, I just packed it away to protect myself. If you got angry they punished you, or worse, made you tranquil. But if you misbehaved and were funny, they just laughed. Ha ha. It’s just Anders, clowning around. How many escape attempts this year, Anders? We’ll just give you a beating and let you get back to it. Poor harmless Anders.” He clenched his fists, “But sometimes it was too much. If I hadn’t made Justice Justice, he would have been Rage instead. I told myself I wasn’t angry, just righteous. And I stayed sane. Well, I thought I had.”
He gave me a sickly grin.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he continued. “I’m glad you managed to stop the explosion. But I’ve failed. Orsino tried to use the law to get Meredith and he failed. I just felt I had to do something - anything - to wake people up!”
“Well, they might be awake now.”
“What are you going to do with me?” Anders asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I think I need to talk to Orsino.”
Rating M
Warnings Violence.
Spoilers For pretty much everything, eventually.
Pairings Hawke/Jethann, Hawke/Isabela, Hawke/Fenris
Summary Hawke and his family fled the war in Ferelden on a liner, dogged by Darkspawn U-Boats. Two years later the war is over and Hawke is a private detective in Kirkwall, a city awash with jazz, bootleg liquor and a lot of trouble.
Master List Here.
I rubbed my thumb along one of the lyrium lines on the back of his hand, but still felt no reaction.
“Huh. That’s really something.”
Fenris shook his head, “It’s not really that important.”
I pulled gently on his hand and the rest of him followed as he leaned forward out of the chair and for the second time in his life, Fenris kissed me. He was cautious about it for a couple of heartbeats and then he wound his fingers through my hair and I felt his teeth behind his lips and he stole my breath.
“Are you all right?” he asked when we broke apart. He had one knee on the bed.
“Of course I am,” I said with a grin. “I had a nice long sleep and I’m right as rain.” My smile dropped, “There’s no rush, Fenris.”
He drew back slightly and frowned, “You could be hit by a tram tomorrow.”
I wasn’t gonna argue with that.
There was still a lamp on in the corner and Fenris didn’t turn it off as he straightened up and started taking off his suit. His movements weren’t hurried, he didn’t fumble any buttons, but they were fast and economical. He hung his coat up in the closet, and he put his shoes under the bed. I realised absently that most of my clothes were folded neatly on the table, but I was really paying more attention to other things.
Like the lines that ran down his sides, the suggestion of ribs that showed through his skin when he turned to throw his shirt over a chair, the scar on his stomach that looked like a bullet wound, and, Maker can you blame me for not tearing my eyes away, only his head was silver.
He stood there for a few moments, letting me stare at him. Then he smiled, stepped forward and pulled the blankets off me.
“Hey,” I laughed at the sudden chill as I lifted my hips and stripped off the pants I was still wearing. Fenris frowned as I tossed them over the edge of the bed.
“You always make such a mess,” he said.
“Always? We’ve only done this once before,” I pointed out. I opened my arms and he crawled into them, and we shuffled around and made room for knees and elbows and pressed grinned kisses onto each other’s shoulders and neck and I palmed his hipbone and he scraped his teeth against my stubble.
“You’re not going to leave again are you?” I asked, unable to help sounding plaintive.
“Why would I leave?” Fenris asked with a gentle smile. “This is my house, as you’ve pointed out before. If I get sick of you I’ll just kick you out instead.”
“Ha!” I rolled us both over until I was on top of him. “You can try.”
“Maybe later,” he said.
He looked tired, but he refused to countenance going to sleep; he was looking at me as much as I was looking at him, touching childhood scars, rubbing the hair on my chest, squeezing my shoulders as if he couldn’t believe how broad they were. We introduced ourselves, freckle by freckle - well I did, Fenris didn’t have any; I know because I checked pretty closely.
And I held my breath and stuck my tongue out and he laughed at the face I pulled and I just told myself not to think about it and just did it and his head lolled back and he grabbed my ears and I put my hands on his hips and he made this noise. Can’t really describe it. And then his breath hitched and he made it again, and I managed a sort of grin and spit ran down to my jaw so I stopped.
Grinning that is. Everything else I refused to stop as his hands butterflied above my head, and his toes wrinkled the sheet. He shouted something unintelligible and I gagged and rolled off him, coughing and spluttering and wiping my mouth.
“Was it really that bad?” he asked, still breathless, looking at me with big, worried eyes.
I had to laugh.
“It was worth it, I assure you.” I crawled up until we were nose to nose again. “I might even give it another go sometime,” I breathed into his ear and he shivered.
“If you, uh, really don’t mind.”
“Give it a go yourself if you’re so worried,” I invited.
He regarded me dubiously. “Where did you learn that anyway?” he asked. “No, on second thoughts, I’m sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be,” I told him, “Don’t be sorry about anything.”
I wasn’t sorry. I wasn’t sorry when he rolled on top of me and played - curiously at first, and then with delight and a wicked smile that showed his teeth. And time passed and we fell asleep tangled up in the blankets and I woke up tangled in the blankets.
And Fenris was still there, sleeping like a baby. I could feel the lyrium buzzing against my right side; our reserves were recharging. I edged the blanket out sort of flat, covering him, and I draped an arm over his shoulder and dozed again. He woke up next because a sound jolted me from a light sleep and I caught him watching me.
I grinned at him. He smiled.
We were getting tangled up again when I heard footsteps coming down the hall and Varric threw the door open.
“Dammit, Elf! If he’s not awake by now we need to-”
Fenris made a sort of choked noise.
“Varric! Get out!” I hollered at him.
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Varric said as he stepped back into the hall and smartly shut the door.
I raised my voice, “If I read about this in one of your Falcon stories-”
“Relax, Hero. I don’t think the world is quite yet ready.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, as Fenris started struggling with me and the blankets.
“We can’t stay here!” he hissed. “He’s going to tell everyone.”
“So?”
He stopped. “Well, isn’t that a bit personal?”
“We’re not a secret, Fenris.”
He frowned and looked uncertain, “Be that as it may. We have to get up.”
I sighed, “I suppose we do. I presume Anders is in the Gallows by now?” I’d been avoiding thinking about that.
“No,” Fenris shook his head. “Aveline got to him first and arrested him, which is more than he deserved. I dragged you out and hid us here; too many people were asking questions about what we did in City Hall.” Fenris rubbed the back of his neck, “They’re going to figure it out, Trip. That was one too many miracles. And Meredith is going to love making an example of you.”
“She can try,” I said, throwing off the blankets. Fenris was right; we had more important things to do right now. His dire warnings weren’t really having their designed effect, however; I still felt about a hundred feet tall, and capable of fighting a whole army of Templars.
We took turns showering and Varric had kindly brought over a few of my clothes and a razor and Horse, who had apparently missed me terribly. Fenris kept watching me as I shaved out of the corner of his eye. When we got downstairs we were greeted with the smell of hot coffee and fresh bread. While Varric had made his bakery run, Aveline had arrived and she sagged with relief to see I was up and about again.
“You never know when to quit, do you?” she asked.
“Well, neither do you,” I grinned, helping myself to some coffee as Fenris retrieved butter and marmalade for the bread rolls. I was starving. “So what’s this about Anders in jail anyway?”
“It was the only thing I could think of to keep the Templars off him,” Aveline said. “They’ll get him eventually of course; our questioning won’t go on forever, and there’s enough circumstantial evidence for the Templars to take him in now.”
“How much time do we have?” I asked.
Aveline looked at her watch. “The office opens at nine. I’ve told the men on the desk to stall, but they won’t hold Meredith off for long. Maybe an hour.”
“Hero,” Varric said. “Maybe it’s for the best. He did try to blow up City Hall.”
“And he failed,” I said. “All he actually did was shouting in the town square. Look, for all we know the yellowcake got to him too somehow. We all know he’s not going to get a fair hearing one way or the other.” Fenris handed me a bread roll and I took it. “Look, I just want to talk to him.”
We looked at Aveline. She sighed.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “No promises. Meet me at the vehicle entrance to the station in about half an hour.”
As soon as she was gone I turned to Varric, “We need Isabela.”
~~~
Anders looked awful. Aveline had managed to keep the Templars at bay so far, but the cops hadn’t been too kind to the man who may or may not have tried to explode the civic centre of our city. Anders was curled up on a cot in a cell, still in the same clothes he’d been wearing yesterday.
“Anders,” I said gently. “Anders, wake up.”
He did so, and shot a horrified glance over his shoulder. He moaned. He had a black eye and there was dried blood on his collar. There was no sign of his glasses.
“You’re alive. When I saw Fenris carrying you out I thought-” he got to his feet and took a couple of faltering steps towards the barred iron door before shrinking away again. “No, you shouldn’t be here. Meredith will be after you. Please just leave me. I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“Well, that remains to be seen. But regardless of that, I’m not letting Meredith take you. Isabela, get him out of there.” I stepped aside and let Isabela get to work.
Aveline didn’t.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, grabbing Isabela’s arm.
“A jailbreak of course,” I said with a grin. “Come on, Aveline, you wouldn’t have gone to all this effort to rescue him already if you didn’t want us to do something. Should we hit you to make it more realistic?”
Aveline’s jaw dropped for a moment and then she shut it with a snap. “No, I’ll just tell them you pulled guns. But I will raise the alarm as soon as you’re out the door.” She glanced at Anders, who was just looking utterly bemused by the whole thing, “Keep an eye on him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s still under arrest, you got me?”
I nodded.
Isabela got the door open without any trouble, but that was the easy bit. I made Anders take off his distinctive white coat and put mine on instead. He complied without speaking, and let himself be led around as we liked. Aveline watched us go, and when we were out of line of sight, I heard her start to run. Someday, I vowed, I’d try and tell her how much her faith in me meant.
“Should we steal a car?” Isabela asked, as we surprised a couple of mechanics working on one of the cars in the area out the back.
I shook my head. “Too obvious.”
Fenris waved his gun at the men and they raised their hands. Isabela danced in and tied them, smiling wickedly the entire time.
“We’re not going far,” I added as we slowed to a walk and tried to look casual as we exited onto the street. Anders pulled his hat down as we all saw the Templar cars out the front.
“Aveline is going to get shouted at,” Fenris observed quietly.
“I think we should run,” Isabela said. And so we did.
~~~
We installed Anders in Fenris’s basement. As much as I didn’t enjoy it, Aveline was right; he needed to be watched, at least for now, and the door had a lock. It wouldn’t stop him if he decided to use Justice on us, but he just looked burnt out. I doubted he felt capable of lighting a candle. Varric had been joined by Merrill and had filled her in on the details while he kept watch on Fenris’s house. No one expressed any desire to be anywhere else.
We showed Anders to the basement and then Varric made him some coffee and Anders stared at it like he’d never seen a cup before.
I glanced at the others, “I’ve got this. Leave us for a while.”
They filed out and shut the door behind them. I suspected Fenris at least wouldn’t go far, but I wanted to talk to Anders mage to mage.
Anders had the only chair in the room, and I sat on a rather singed footstool that Fenris had probably removed from the living room.
“Why are you doing all of this?” Anders asked.
I shook my head, “Oh no, you’re answering the questions first.”
“I didn’t mean for you to get hurt! You weren’t even supposed to be there.”
“What about all those other people, Anders? They weren’t Templars, they were just people. Just file clerks and city auditors and janitors and police. And you were going to kill them!”
“It was the only way. Justice-”
“Yeah, about Justice.” I spread my hands, “Where is he? I’ve got a bone to pick with that son of a bitch and you’ve still got one good eye.”
“He’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone? In the sense that he was never there at all perhaps?”
“Justice was not me! That was the whole point. I put up with so much. I just wanted to be happy, to help people. But the Circle made me so angry, I just packed it away to protect myself. If you got angry they punished you, or worse, made you tranquil. But if you misbehaved and were funny, they just laughed. Ha ha. It’s just Anders, clowning around. How many escape attempts this year, Anders? We’ll just give you a beating and let you get back to it. Poor harmless Anders.” He clenched his fists, “But sometimes it was too much. If I hadn’t made Justice Justice, he would have been Rage instead. I told myself I wasn’t angry, just righteous. And I stayed sane. Well, I thought I had.”
He gave me a sickly grin.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he continued. “I’m glad you managed to stop the explosion. But I’ve failed. Orsino tried to use the law to get Meredith and he failed. I just felt I had to do something - anything - to wake people up!”
“Well, they might be awake now.”
“What are you going to do with me?” Anders asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I think I need to talk to Orsino.”