Random Chance

 

Anders awoke lying on the floor, his head cradled in Random's naked lap. "What happened?" he asked looking up.

"You fainted," Random replied. Anders could see a chuckle caught in his chest awaiting release.

"No, I didn't. I couldn't. I never faint, not even at the sight of blood!" The chuckle was released into full laughter.

"And thank the gods for that," Random laughed. "A battle mage who faints at the sight of blood would be of little use to me… at least in battle."

Anders looked up at him, "Could we say I swooned, or passed out, yes, passed out is better, fainted sounds so girlish. Oh, and I'm sorry…"

Random cocked his head in puzzlement. "Sorry? What in the world for?"

Twisting his head to loosen his neck, which seemed to have somehow gotten wrenched, Anders confessed, "Well, for ruining your plans. For, for losing control, for faint… for passing out."

Random lifted Anders by the shoulders to a sitting position so he could look him in the eye. It really was startling how strong the elf was.

Nose to nose, breathing each other's breath, Random slowly said, "That… was… my… plan."

"What!" Anders responded. "Your plan all along was to have me helpless on the floor. Wouldn't there have been easier ways?"

"Well, the helpless on the floor part was a bonus. No. I suppose I can reveal the whole—'nefarious' was it?—plan to you now. I wanted to give you something that you had never experienced before. I wanted to slowly, carefully, bring you to the point of no return, exactly to the edge, then reel you back. I thought that your mage training would set you in good stead for that part, and I seem to have been right. To bring you to the point that, had you been the one in charge, you would have finished, but then to deny that, until I was ready for you. Then I wanted you to quickly, violently lose all control, releasing all that I had built up in you. To lose control, possibly lose your mind for a short time, losing consciousness was just a plus."

Anders wanted to laugh. Equally he wanted to cry. To tear something, to kill something, and to hold something very dear very gently. Opting for the latter, he reached out and drew Random to him, cradling him against his chest. He had joked earlier, so much earlier, that the worst he would get out of the night was a broken heart. Well, it seemed that he was fated to get that if Random were true to his word, if he went back to his Denerim lover, and, sadly, Anders believed he would.

Ah well he thought, maybe he would get lucky and get killed by the darkspawn before then.

He gently turned Random's head and kissed him softly. With a smile Random moved back a bit so they could look at each other.

Confession time, Anders thought. He really couldn't leave without saying how he felt, little good that it may do him. "When we were talking in the bar."

"Yes, when we were not playing chess," Random quiped.

"When we were not playing chess and you proposed… well, I had no idea what you were proposing, not really, but anyway, when you suggested that we go upstairs and I said, I don't know, something like 'well, I'll have a new adventure and the worst I'll get out of it is a broken heart,' I was joking, you know. I didn't expect… well, tonight was… amazing. I feel like some naive girl who thinks because you bed her you are hers forever. I'm doing this very badly, but, well, I just wanted you to know that I care."

Random solemnly tipped his head.

Anders continued, "And I will follow you, to the depths of the deep roads and back. From you I will never run. From you I have no escape. I am yours for as long as you may want me, my liege." At this, with great drama Anders brought his right fist to his chest and bowed his head, only to hear Random explode in laughter. Outraged he looked up. Random was now, literally, rolling on the floor laughing.

Yelling, Anders complained, "Do my feelings mean so little to you! I have just given myself to you, body and soul and you… you laugh! I can't believe this. I'll be getting my robe and going. Perhaps there's a darkspawn out prowling and I can convince it to swallow me up."

Still laughing, Random held out a restraining hand. Gasping for breath, he choked out, "No, please no, don't go. I am very… touched. I do realize what you said and what it means to you. You more than anyone else who has sworn an oath of fealty to me. You who would not be contained." He was still laughing, but the giggles had started to settle down. "Come here let me hold you, let me show you that I do care. Let me tell you that I should be horse whipped for laughing just then, but, but…"

Anders, still furious, could feel the laughter bubbling back up in Random's chest as he was tightly held. He tried to pull away, but, to his surprise, couldn't, so he gritted his teeth and snarled instead.

Holding Anders out by the shoulders, so roughly that he knew he would have bruises the next day, Random took a giant breath and said. "I am so, so sorry. Really. All that I just said it true. I value you, I value your words and your oath beyond measure. It's just that… that… I've never had a naked man salute me before!"

With that they both collapsed in laugher, holding each other as the tears dripped on the floor.