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sappy prompt for you - "a bowl of soup" and "heart eyes" for anders/fenris?

Auggghh...they are just the most sappiest, aren't they?! Thanks for this! I really enjoy any excuse to get these two arguing about food...because yes, that's what this is really about. Just the soup. That's all... ;)

(Oh, and FYI, this is set in my retro-modern-futurish y2k post-apocalyptic zombie Dark Sprawl AU, but all anyone really needs to know is that Link=Mage, Facility=Circle, and uhh, Justice is benevolent malware...yeah, that should clear everything up!)

"Awwww…” Anders fawns over the steaming bowl of soup Fenris has just placed in front of him on the island where he’s currently perched, looking absolutely ragged after another double shift at the clinic. “You cooked…for me?"

"It's soup. I just opened a can and put it in a bowl and microwaved it."

"That's three whole steps more than you're usually willing to take in order to feed yourself!" Anders exclaims. “I’m quite flattered.”

“Don’t be. You look like shit. It literally is the least I could do…”

Anders seems unfazed by this as he takes a big slurping spoonful of the soup. "Ow!” He spits it back into the bowl. “Fuck…too hot still…"

Fenris doesn’t even bother trying to stifle his chuckle. "Try blowing on it next time, maybe?"

"Thanks for the tip.” Anders smirks. “Not sure I fully trust it coming from someone who only eats seeds and berries and other random things gathered from the forest for every meal, though."

"I'll have you know that I can cook."

"Oh?"

"Yes…” Fenris eyes him suspiciously for a moment, then his face softens a little as he explains, “It used to be a hobby of mine. Back when I had half-way decent ingredients available to work with…"

"Back in Tevinter, you mean?"

Fenris nods. But doesn't say any more than that. Which Anders has learned through trial and much error to take as a sign that he's getting dangerously close to poking at something painful. He's trying to be better about not prying too much, though it's hard for him, and for Justice, not to demand to know more about what, or who, made him want to leave such a marvelous-sounding place where Links aren’t all just rounded up and institutionalized and there are apparently enough fresh ingredients available to inspire even Fenris to take up cooking. For fun!

"Well, you've just got to be a little more creative here in perpetually post-apocalyptic Kirkwall," he says, trying to veer around it without completely changing the subject of Fenris’ cooking skills.

"Creative?” Fenris snorts. “You mean like Merrill? Bio-engineering chickens and hacking fruit trees to grow and thrive where they've no business doing so?"

Anders grimaces. "I try not to think about all of that when she gifts me a basket of fresh produce or delicious jumbo eggs. But if you're so dead set against using her stuff, I'm sure there's plenty of ingredients to be scavenged from the pantries of these abandoned estates."

"Years past their expiration dates, I'm sure," Fenris scoffs.

"Oh, c’mon! Most of those dates were just made up to get people to keep buying more!”

"I don't know if that's entirely true…"

"Fine. Continue eating your boring birdseed, then, while I enjoy these supposedly 'expired' canned goods." Anders takes another, more cautious slurp of his soup and finds it to be less scalding, at least.

Fenris watches him swallow it down with a forced smile. "You're not exactly selling it."

"It's not…the worst soup I've ever tasted. The stuff at the Facility was always watered down and flavorless, like they thought we might somehow be able to channel our connectivity through salt or seasoning and escape via our taste buds. This at least tastes like…something…"

Fenris grabs a spoon from the silverware drawer and pulls the bowl of soup across the island to himself with a frustrated huff. He dips into the bowl and tastes it, frowning.

"Needs more acid…" he mutters as he turns and heads back into the pantry.

He returns with a bottle of some dark liquid with a fancy-looking label in Tevene and drizzles it over the top in an effortless spiral, then passes the bowl back to Anders.

"Try it now." He steps back, bracing himself against the sink, and Anders can't help but appreciate the expectant look in his eyes. He seems to have stumbled upon something here. A hidden passion maybe, and the fact that Fenris is willing to share it with him…well, best not get ahead of himself. It's just a bowl of soup, right?

"What is it?" Anders asks, trying to temper the unexpected flood of fondness he’s feeling with a bit of feigned skepticism and his usual sarcasm. “Arsenic? Cyanide? Deadly nightshade?”

"Balsamic vinegar…very well aged," Fenris snorts, exuding so much smugness at his own terrible culinary joke that Anders now fears he may have unwittingly unleashed a monster.

He mixes it into the soup and tries another spoonful.

"Better?" Fenris asks, looking downright impatient now for his opinion.

"It's good," Anders drawls. But he can’t seem to resist the opportunity to needle him a little. "I think you could balance it out with something creamy…got any powdered milk?"

Fenris makes a disgusted face. "Powdered milk?!" He throws his hands up in dismay. "Are you deranged?"

"Creative…not deranged." Anders laughs. Maybe he is deranged. Or perhaps it’s the exhaustion hitting him now, or the relief he feels here, in Fenris’ ridiculous mansion, of all the places he could’ve ended up tonight…but seeing Fenris, who is normally so measured and stoic about everything, react so dramatically to a bad recipe idea makes him finally just lose it.

“What is so funny, Link?” He hears Fenris catch himself saying it, and he hears the hesitation in the softness of it. He hears him try to sharpen it awkwardly just at the end, too, but it's too late. Anders already knows it’s become a sort of pet name to him.

"It’s just…” He won’t mention the slip up. Not yet. It’s a bit too new and precious to him still. But Fenris is watching him with such heavy expectation again, so surely the situation calls for some kind of teasing? “Fenris…” he breathes, trying to draw it out a little bit longer.

“What is it?”

“I guess...I just didn't realize..." Fenris leans a bit closer, his eyes growing even wider with anticipation. "I had no idea you were such a foodie!”

Anders grins cheekily. And he’s pretty sure Fenris knows exactly what he's doing judging by the annoyed face he makes. But spite is a heck of a motivator…

“If Merrill has any interest in raising goats and making cheese from their milk, I may be persuaded to change my stance on her methods,” he tells him.

Anders can't help looking at him now with all the affection he's been trying to keep in check. “I’ll…be sure to let her know."

😍<- Anders (ok, me), at the thought of having Fenris and Merrill collaborate on a rotating dinner party schedule...

#birthentine's prompts #dragon age #anders #fenris #fenders #dark sprawl #soup #heart eyes #my writing

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