Room 322, Tuesday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

If Anders was being honest, he'd have to admit that the tall box from Kathy that Ringo had given him some months before had fallen completely out of his mind.

It had started with good intentions: He'd dragged the parcel back to his room and stuck it in the closet so he could save it for his actual birthday and feel like Kathy was there, just for a moment. And then there had been the madness of trying to summon a demon, and the dull terror of the Circle, and by the time he was home again his birthday was some weeks past and the tall package entirely forgotten in a back corner of his closet. The fact thinking about Kathy hurt and he avoided it when he could had only added to his amnesia.

It might have stayed there forever, if Lachlan hadn't managed to hit one of his toy mice deep into the closet. Anders went digging through a mess of discarded paper to find it, and ended up bumping into the box. The tall, slender package wobbled worryingly for a moment before he was able to catch it.

And then there was nothing to do but open it. Lachlan's mouse was forgotten as he pried the paper off and found --

A damned fine staff. The kind he'd never expect to afford on his own. He could feel its power singing to him as he held it in his lap. Some part of him couldn't wait to get to a space where he could test it safely.

The rest of him mainly wanted to cry.

"Dammit, Kathy," he muttered. "Just ... damn it."

[OOC: Cracked door, open post.]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"Mmmm," Anders said, self-satisfied, and made a show of licking his hand clean. (He could wallow and smirk at the same time. It was a gift.) "Maybe, but I'm still the asshole who just came all over your hip. I win."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante let out a soft snort of amusement and quickly discovered it was hard groping around for a tissue in the nightstand while also watching Anders's tongue move. Near impossible, in fact.

"Yeah, well--"

You know what, Dante had just managed to tear his attention away from Anders, so he was going to finish that sentence after he finally got that tissue. Any second now.

[not_every_mage]

"Yes?"Anders prompted, and propped his chin on his palm. "Go on. And pass me a tissue while you're at it."

It was amazing -- or maybe not -- how much the distraction had helped his mood.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed loudly, passing him a tissue. He wiped himself off with practiced efficiency. "--I don't know," he settled on. "Shut up."

Scintillating argument, to be sure. (He liked Anders being the asshole who just came all over his hip. That was his Achilles heel in this conversation.)

"You're enjoying this," he accused instead.

(He was, too.)

[not_every_mage]

"Of course," Anders agreed, and wiped himself down as well. "I thought that was obvious."

And then, following directions or maybe just convinced he'd made his argument, he gave Dante an affectionate nibble on the earlobe and settled in against him. It wasn't cuddling, exactly; he was just too lazy to get up.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante made a faint noise that sounded like he was trying to keep his totally disgruntled theme going, and failing miserably. He let go of it completely in the end, tilting his head up to kiss Anders lazily.

"Good," he said. "You deserved a break."

[not_every_mage]

Once the kiss had broken, Anders was smiling easily at Dante. "So did you," he said.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Wasn't my turn today," Dante said.

He wasn't great at cuddling. Partly because it was usually physically uncomfortable, partly because he didn't want to give people any weird ideas. The latter didn't feel so important in this context, and the former wasn't so bad yet.

So he didn't move much, besides patting Anders' hip. "Feeling better?"

[not_every_mage]

"Yes," Anders said, sincerely, and went on to prove it by asking, "Wait. If I say no can I get you to blow me later?"

Not that Dante tended to turn Anders down, really. Or vice versa.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed, poking him gently in the chest. "I'll probably still blow you if you stick with yes too," he said. He dragged his finger up to tap Anders on the chin. "You just have to ask nicer."

That last part was a blatant lie.

[not_every_mage]

Anders poked Dante in the chest in return, and then drew circles over dante's chest with his forefinger. "I promise, I'll be nice," he said. "Or maybe the fun kind of not nice. Maybe even both."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fun kind of not nice, huh?" Dante's fingers slid briefly over Anders' cheek, then settled down on his shoulder. "What's the Anders take on that?"

He'd be lying if he said part of him wasn't still worried about Anders, but he wasn't about to ruin the mood by bringing it up.

[not_every_mage]

"The Anders take on not nice," Anders whispered, his hand ghosting through Dante's hair before cupping his cheek. "I'm not sure. Magic would help, I think."

With little effort, he sent the slightest wave of electricity through the fingertips resting on Dante's abdomen.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante leaned into the touch, head tilting up to watch Anders' face-- and so the actual magic caught him by surprise, the muscle under Anders' touch jumping in response. He might have startled more, except he trusted Anders.

He sucked in a breath at the tingle in his skin. "Probably," he agreed, mentally batting away a pun that felt wrong. He slid his hand back up to mess with the hair on the back of Anders' head. "You know what you're doing there."

[not_every_mage]

"I've figured you out by now a little," Anders said casually, though he couldn't keep a proud grin off his face. "So you liked it?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante huffed a quick laugh at the look on his face. "It was definitely tingly," he informed Anders, mouth curving. "Still kind of is, actually."

He could still keenly feel every nerve in that patch of skin.

[not_every_mage]

"That's the point,"Anders nodded. "It's like waking everything up a little more. I could do ice, too, but not everyone likes that one."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Maybe save the ice for the people who aren't paying attention yet," Dante joked - mostly because his mind had done a little hop and a skip back to when Kathy had more or less accused him of being warmer than most people and promptly shoved her ice-cold limbs on him. (Those memories were maybe a little closer to the surface right now than they had been for a while.)

He didn't want to go back to thinking about Kathy when things were nice and comfortable and Anders was being adorable fun.

He reached down to cover Anders' hand with his own, pressing it down on the still-tingly skin. "Definitely paying attention here. Well, as much as I can right now."