Crash and Burn

                Douglas paused near the door, debating on turning back around and insisting on walking the blonde mage home.  He thought better of it since it seemed pretty clear the man wasn't interested in him, and he slipped outside into the waiting darkness.  Anders had told him from the beginning he had been with men, so it wasn't that, which meant it had to be something about Douglas.  The rogue recounted the events of the night on his walk home, trying to figure out what he had been doing wrong when it came to Anders, not that this was the first time Douglas' advances had been rejected, but he was usually just flirting.  If he didn't figure it out soon he was going to resort to outright begging the man to be with him, or at least ask Anders to tell him why the mage refused to be.

                The rogues had insisted on mingling in the bar tonight; they all knew full well Douglas wasn't going to be able to sit in a small room with Anders much longer without climbing over the table and kissing the mage.  With Varric's tales of Douglas' heroics in the Deep Roads, there were plenty of distractions.  Varric and Isabela kept him up to date about the running pool on which person was going to land Douglas first, which all the rogues found extremely amusing.  Douglas didn't mind keeping the entertainment going, he was a natural flirt anyway and honestly it was kind of fun to see what people would come up with to try and garner his interest.

                After the first failed attempt by a blonde woman who was telling him all about how limber she was, Anders caught Douglas openly staring at him.  The rogue wasn't shy about letting his attraction be known, so he smiled, but the other man had turned beet red and then scowled at him, making it pretty clear he didn't appreciate being leered at.  Douglas hated the thought of making the other man uncomfortable, especially when all he wanted to do was hold the mage in his arms and kiss what he could still only assume were sweet, soft lips after his own failed attempt to find out.

                Luckily, another woman came to try her hand at seducing Douglas, a brunette this time, and he sincerely tried to pay attention to her description of what she would do with various food items, but Douglas' eyes were drawn back to Anders who was directly behind her in the rogue's line of vision.  Anders seemed nervous about something, and he didn't even notice his glass was empty, but Douglas cheered inwardly, this affording him an opportunity to talk to the mage by buying him a drink.

                After his order was handed to him, he excused himself from the jabbering woman who thought the drink had been ordered for her.  He apologized, explaining it was for his friend who seemed to need it more, promising next time he would make it up to her with a charming smile.  Douglas walked over to Anders; the mage was totally oblivious to his approach, and nearly jumped into the fire when the rogue spoke.  Douglas had a small pang of sadness when Anders only called him by his family name now, remembering the night years ago when the mage had used his given name, how nice it had sounded and intimate it felt.  The mage seemed reluctant to accept the drink Douglas had bought him, looking around the tavern to make sure no one was watching before taking it.  Douglas wasn't sure if Anders was embarrassed of the fact he might not have been able to afford the drink, most of the profits the mage earned going straight to the clinic and the refugees, or if the other man simply didn't want to accept a drink from a man, or just Douglas.

                It was a rogue's job to lie, but not only that, more importantly to know when someone else was, and Anders was lying when he said he was people watching.  Douglas was unsure why the other man felt the need to lie to him, he practically raved about the treatment of mages in the middle of the street but Douglas didn't mind that, he actually agreed.  Douglas studied Anders, trying to figure out why, but he couldn't and decided it was the mage's way of dismissing him.  Douglas extended his offer for company anyway, and after a moment's pause went ahead and flirted with the man again by suggesting he liked to nibble.  The mage laughed out of politeness before he cringed at the thought of Douglas nibbling him.  He could have kicked himself for making the other man uncomfortable again and turned to leave the poor man alone.

                The rogue was of course intercepted by another interested party, another blonde, and he could have sworn he had heard something about dwarves in drag and goats, but he wasn't fully paying attention.  He was more interested in the fact that shortly after he had left Anders' company, the mage had walked over to some redhead in the corner.  This explained the nerves, he was trying to build up his courage to talk to her and Douglas hadn't done the mage any favors by interrupting him and giving false impressions.  He dismissed the blonde woman quickly, making his way back to his friends.  "And that is what a crash and burn looks like."  Douglas gave a slight bow at his performance before he laughed at himself.

                Isabela laughed also.  "I find it odd that with everyone throwing themselves at you, the one person you are actually interested is completely shutting you down, and yet, you keep trying.  Why do you bother?"

                Douglas turned, leaning back and resting his elbows on the bar to look at the mage who was smiling and flirting with the redheaded woman, completely oblivious of the rogue who spent his nights dreaming about the blonde man.  "I don't know.  There's just something about him, like I can see myself happy with him," Douglas said with a shrug, "but I guess that is just a stupid notion since he is obviously not interested."

                His friends didn't say anything, leaving Douglas to ponder what Anders saw in this redhead that he didn't possess.  She seemed sweet.  Douglas could be sweet.  Or at least he thought he could, but more likely he was apt to crack a joke.  She seemed innocent.  Douglas was far from innocent, but he didn't randomly take people back to his bed either; he would rather know there was a shot at a relationship before going to that step.  She was pretty.  The rogue was fairly certain he was good looking; not that he had an ego about it, but when you are told it often enough even you have to believe, it right?  She was a female.  That was one thing Douglas definitely wasn't, maybe Karl was a onetime thing for Anders.  Although the way it sounded when the mage talked about it, it didn't seem like the only time, but maybe Douglas was wrong; the last time he had made an ass out of himself the other party had been a young woman also.  He gave a disheartened sigh before pushing himself away from the bar and walking up to Varric's room.

                The dwarf must have slipped away from the bar when Douglas was trying to figure out what the redhead had he didn't because Varric was there in his room, and Douglas apologized, "Sorry, was just getting my axes."

                "Don't worry about it, Hawke."  Douglas picked up his weapons and turned to leave.  "Oh, and Hawke..."  He stopped and faced the dwarf.  "Don't give up on Blondie just yet.  Remember, Rivaini put herself in the pool."

                Douglas chuckled, "Well there's an interesting thought."  He shook his head and turned back toward the door, waving over his shoulder.  "Goodnight Varric, Bianca."

                Douglas re-entered the main room of the tavern, telling Isabela goodnight, and it seemed Anders was getting ready to leave also.  Maybe if the other man would let Douglas walk him home he could at least apologize for being so forward, possibly find out if he stood a chance at all.  Douglas tried not to look too disappointed when the mage shot him down again, keeping his fake smile intact as best he could.  There was no need to try and make the other man feel worse about all this, and he left.

                Now back in his Hightown estate, he crawled into his cold, lonely bed.  His eyes had closed to dream of his sweet mage, but they popped back open when the whole bed shook violently.  "Maker, Loki!  I was almost asleep," he grumped at the dog, whose only response was to shove his large paws in Douglas' back.  Douglas shook his head with a heavy sigh and moved over as close to the edge of the bed as possible without falling out, and he closed his eyes again.