Room 322, Tuesday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

Anders had hoped for a clear day so he and Nathan could have one last picnic before the end of the year, but it was too cold and wet to be outside. (For him, anyhow. Probably not for Nathan.) He tried to make up for it by opening the windows as far as he could without letting rain in and unplugging everything electric on his side of the room.

The nice thing was the blasted carols had stopped, so his room was quiet.

He laid out an array of Mexican food -- probably more than they could eat, but he'd gotten overwhelmed by the menu and decided one of everything was the wisest course. And then he waited and tried to keep Lachlan out of the guacamole.

[OOC: For the boy, please.]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"It's the other way round, isn't it?" Anders asked rhetorically. "I wouldn't be biased toward you if I hadn't liked spending time with you to start with. It's not just about how pretty you are."

He also liked trying to make Nathan blush sometimes.

"And thank you. I've ...actually never thought about my voice,but you have a good one too."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Pretty?" It both made him blush and made him sound surprised. "Me?"

[not_every_mage]

That surprise broke Anders' heart a tiny bit. "Gorgeous. Handsome. I wouldn't say pretty if I wasn't trying to be cute." He peered at Nathan. "Why, what do you see in the mirror?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"...you're going to frown when I tell you." He had some self esteem issues, if you hadn't noticed. So, he took a few bites of the food instead of actually telling Anders what he saw.

[not_every_mage]

"Probably," Anders acknowledged, and took another taco himself rather than decide if he wanted to press the issue.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan let the silence hang for a few moments before he said something. "Thank you, though. For saying that you think I'm all those. I like knowing that you see me that way."

[not_every_mage]

Anders smiled into his plate, oddly content at the gratitude. "I do. Truly. And I'm going to try to show it enough to get you to believe it," he promised. "But for now I'll settle for you liking to hear it."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Nathan said again, rubbing at the warmth on his cheeks. "You're really -- you're really good to me."

[not_every_mage]

"You make it easy," Anders countered, grinning and starting to go a bit pink himself. "I feel -- special when I'm around you."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Really?" More surprise but pleasant this time. Not shocked. "I make you feel like that?"

[not_every_mage]

"Maker, yes," Anders swore. "Like -- you think I'm better than I am and I want to live up to it. Does that make any sense?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan nodded.

"You are better," he reiterated firmly. "And everyone should be able to see that. To know that."

[not_every_mage]

Anders smiled even more bashfully. "We're getting sentimental," he said. "But thank you."

He twisted to sit next to Nathan,maneuvering around the food just to be closer.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Do you want to go back to talking about cheese?" Nathan joked, leaning his shoulders against Anders.

[not_every_mage]

"We could go back a little further and talk about your neck," Anders teased, walking his fingers up Nathan's nearer arm. "Or cheese. I like cheese."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"My neck?" It took Nathan a moment to realize what Anders was talking about and the warmth in his cheeks returned. "We...we can talk about that."

[not_every_mage]

Anders' grin got wider. Really, there was probably some sin in how much he enjoyed getting Nathan to blush. He'd have to ask the next chantry sister he saw about that. (Or not.)

"Is this good or bad?" he asked, walking the fingers up higher,over Nathan's shoulder and toward the nape of his neck. "Purely for science, of course."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"No, it's good," Nathan said hurriedly, nodding. "It's good. We should talk about my neck and -- and what your hands might feel like when they touch it."

[not_every_mage]

"What do they feel like?" Anders prompted, running them lightly over the shorter hairs on the back of Nathan's neck. "From this end they feel exactly like fingers. Your skin feels good, though."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Soft," he said, shivering a bit since that was a sensitive area. "A little ticklish."

[not_every_mage]

"I'll try not to make you laugh," Anders said, voice going lower and slower. "They say mage electricity can be the right kind of ticklish, too. Never tried it on anybody else."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Mage electricity?" Nathan asked, tilting his head forward and sighing.

[not_every_mage]

"Mmm, like --" He sent the faintest shock to his fingertips,energy pulsing through to Nathan's skin. "That. Did it hurt?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan jumped a little, feeling some goosebumps break out over his arms.

"No, it didn't hurt," he said quickly. "That felt...it made me want to shiver."

[not_every_mage]

"I always think it tickles a little," Anders said, through a little giggle of relief. "Shivering's close, yes."

He kept stroking at Nathan's neck, fingertips venturing north to the tips of his ears and south toward his shoulder blades. Every so often he sent along another little frisson of sparks.