Down Together

Herren sighed, pulled off his eyeglasses, and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. The headache he was currently nursing had many possible causes: the heaviness of the lenses, the act of reading small numbers by dim lamplight, or the fact that the numbers themselves were not exactly adding up the way he’d hoped.

Then, of course, there was Wade. His partner was even now at his forge, working zealously on yet another piece of free armor. Where the Warden’s group had found an honest-to-goodness dragon scale the Maker only knew, but any more acts of charity were liable to drive them out of business. It may be true that the Warden was the only thing standing between Denerim and a horde of Darkspawn, but what good would it be surviving the Blight if they just starved to death immediately after?

Herren pushed the ledger carefully to the corner of the desk, set his glasses down on top of it, and let his forehead rest against the cool wood. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately and now found himself drifting into a doze. He had no idea how much time had passed when he heard, distantly, the sound of footsteps on the stairs. A moment later a pair of hands settled onto his shoulders, massaging the tense muscles. Herren gave a little sigh of pleasure. Wade might be an idiot, but he was damn good with his hands.

“You stink,” he murmured without opening his eyes.

“I was working. Of course I’m sweaty.” Wade followed up that excuse with a kiss to the back of Herren’s neck, which made him squirm. He happened to be very sensitive there, and Wade’s mustache tickled. “Anyway, you don’t really mind, do you?”

Actually, the faint sweaty smell was… not unattractive. But he didn’t see any reason to tell Wade that. Instead he sat upright and leaned back into the massage.
“I finished it, you know,” Wade said into his ear.

“What! Already?” Herren tilted his head back, looking at Wade upside-down.

“It’s rather good, too, if I do say so myself. Working with such amazing materials, it’s… invigorating.”

“Is it now?” Herren’s heart rate sped up a bit. Wade was hopelessly lethargic when he grew bored, which seemed to be happening often lately, and unfortunately that lethargy spilled over into every aspect of his life. It was, to put it mildly, frustrating. Herren slid out of the chair, turned, and pulled Wade in for a kiss. Better take advantage while he could.

Wade backed him up against the edge of the desk, one of his broad, calloused hands sliding up under Herren’s shirt while the other tugged at the laces of his trousers. “W-Wade,” Herren managed to gasp. “Don’t—ah, Maker!” Wade had bitten down, gently but firmly, on the junction between neck and shoulder. Damn the man, he knew all of Herren’s greatest weaknesses. “Not here, you idiot! You’ll mess up my papers!”

Wade got Herren’s trousers undone, and eagerly reached in to wrap his fingers around the other man’s rapidly hardening cock, stroking him through his underwear. “Really, Herren, just once I’d like to bend you over that desk and—“

“You will do no such thing,” Herren growled, even as he pushed his hips forward into Wade’s hand.

“All right, then, you can bend me over the desk, and—“

“I said no, Wade, and I meant it! Now get me into the bedroom before I deck you.”

Wade hoisted him. One arm under the knees, the other around his shoulders, and Herren found himself with his arms around Wade’s neck, being carried down the short hall to the bedroom. “Wade, you’ll throw out your back,” he grumbled, while privately delighting in the little show of strength.

“I will not. Have a little faith,” Wade sniffed.

Herren hid his smile against Wade’s neck.

Wade set him down on the bed more gently than he’d expected, then stepped back and began undressing. Herren found himself wishing they’d brought the lamp with them; the only light came from one square window, and that bit of moonlight didn’t do much to illuminate Wade’s impressive upper body – the broad shoulders, the corded muscles of his arms, the sprinkle of dark hair on his chest. Maybe his belly was starting to get a little soft around the middle, but that was a minor flaw.

Herren wanted to tell Wade to hurry it up, but managed to bite back the words. The other man was rarely this aggressive, and it was a nice change. Besides, he wasted no time. Before long he’d stripped them both down and Herren found himself face down, groaning the Maker’s name into the blankets while Wade worked two slick fingers into him. When the fingers were replaced with the blunt head of Wade’s cock, Herren put the edge of the blanket in his mouth and bit down. And when Wade pushed in all the way and leaned down over Herren’s back to bite his neck again, he gave up all pretense of self-control, groaning out loud.

Neither of them lasted long, not with the fast pace Wade had set. Once Wade’s fingers wrapped around Herren’s cock it was all over; he gasped and shouted and came so hard his vision went white for a moment. After they’d cleaned up a bit he lay next to Wade in the darkness, listening to the other man’s snoring, which was so loud Herren fancied they could hear it in Highever. He threw an arm across Wade’s chest, enjoying the shared body heat.

His headache was gone, for the moment. Tomorrow was a new day, bringing with it new threats of Darkspawn, bankruptcy, and demanding Grey Wardens. But for now, well, things didn’t seem all that bad. If the worst came to pass, at least they’d go down together.

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A/N: I took some liberties with this story, like assuming Wade and Herren have some kind of living area above their shop (the building looks two-story from the outside) and that Wade does not actually always just happen to finish the armor the instant before your main character walks in. Also, don't read too much into the title. I literally just went on my Zune and hit "random" to steal a song title because I couldn't figure out what to name it XD

Reviews and constructive criticism greatly appreciated.