Chapter Text
Hightown Apartments were the height of luxury, fit for the lavish lifestyles of the Kirkwall elite. The complex was located in the center of downtown where the best spots for dining, shopping or otherwise schmoozing were all just a short walk away if you didn't want to pull out your high-end sports car and drive there.
Fenris hated it.
But he had the key to his very own suite that was paid for under someone else's name—something he was certain wasn't all that uncommon around here—and it beat the hell out of spending what little money he could scrape together on the rare treat of a motel room in crappy neighborhoods every few weeks before returning to sleeping in his barely functioning car. It wasn't ever going to be home, but it was a bed to sleep in and a roof over his head.
The doorman let him in, bowing deep as he walked past and making Fenris deeply uncomfortable for it. He headed straight for the elevators, hoping since he was arriving in the dead of night that he wouldn't run in to anyone else. His apartment was on the ninth of fifteen floors, and he sneered a little bit at the thought of its owner as the elevator arrived and he stepped inside. Danarius had always bragged about his many penthouses, but Fenris had known he didn't actually own any. They were borrowed from acquaintances, rented to him so he could show off in exchange for political favors, or outright stolen, signed to his name but never paid for from his own bank account.
This one Fenris knew belonged to a businessman from Qarinus in Tevinter who had fallen out of Danarius' favor, losing his business and any real estate he had his name to. Stepping off the elevator, he saw many doors with different suite numbers and realized this was not a penthouse, which was more of a relief than anything. Approaching the door, Fenris fished out the key from his pocket and unlocked it so he could step inside. It was dark, though the large windows across from the door let in the lights of the city, still bustling despite the hour, and his own eyesight was strong enough to find the switch for the lights with ease. They came on quickly, letting him know the bills were still being paid, though by whom he didn't know.
One glance around the large space let him know this was a loft, and a long unused one by the state of the sparse furniture, covered in protective sheets which were themselves coated in thick dust. Exhausted and uninterested in investigating every corner of the loft right then, Fenris flicked the lights back off and walked straight for where he spotted the longest couch, carelessly ripping off the cover and lifting dust in a spray that left him coughing and then grumbling. He tossed the sheet onto the floor away from him, placed his bag on the still-covered coffee table and collapsed on the soft couch, feeling ready to sleep for days.
But as was Fenris' usual lot in life, he was not allowed what he wanted.
Barely an hour after he had sprawled himself out to rest, a loud alarm sounded, jolting him awake and straight into a panic. Grabbing his bag, he ran for the door, terrified that he was already going to be caught for squatting here. He slammed his way out into the hallway and dashed for the stairs, only to nearly run over someone once he entered the stairwell. A very disgruntled dwarf glared up at him, looking groggy and now a bit more disheveled for having an elf narrowly avoid sending them both tumbling down a flight of stairs.
"Watch yourself, asshole, it's probably just a drill anyhow."
The insult barely registered. Fenris watched as the dwarf continued on their way downwards, following a few others as even more came down from the floor above, his mind still in panicked flight mode trying to make sense of what was happening.
A drill? They didn't have those for break ins, and he hadn't technically broken in anyway—he had a key and the doorman had let him in, after all. The alarm... had to be a fire drill, he realized, the fear gripping him slowly starting to ease. Fenris' chest was still heaving from his shock and everyone passing by him was staring so he stepped back out into the hallway to catch his breath.
"Kaffas," he hissed to himself, running a hand down his face as more residents from that floor began wandering out of their apartments and towards the stairs in various kinds of pajamas. Maybe this was a terrible idea... but maybe he wasn't in trouble just yet. If everyone was evacuating the building, they'd be hard pressed to notice one unfamiliar face standing amongst them. One thing Fenris knew was that the well-off liked to stay quite unaware of their surroundings, including their neighbors.
Giving himself another few moments to calm his breathing, he straightened and followed the others hobbling sleepily for the exit, letting himself be led by the flow of the crowd until he was standing outside on the sidewalk with the other tenants, his stance inconspicuous but easy for breaking out into a run if need be.
The mass of people surrounding him were all either complaining to someone about the hassle of being up at three in the morning or yawning and almost nodding back to sleep, a few giving him glances at his state of being fully dressed making him stand out a bit, but most of them fine ignoring him. He took the time to take note of who was around him—mostly humans being the Hightown area, but enough dwarves and elves in the crowd as well for him to feel like he wasn't an unusual sight. Aside from the tattoos of course, but he could play it off as being an artist or something to that effect, he was sure.
The longer the crowd remained on the street, the more Fenris' earlier panic began to fade. No one cared that he was there, no one had the energy to start piecing together that he didn't belong, they just wanted to get back to bed. Once the alarm ceased and the doors reopened for everyone to get back inside, Fenris' was confident he would have no problems. At least not in the short term, and that was all that mattered. He lingered behind the line of people filing inside, wanting to be one of the last to return to his floor just to be careful.
The street emptied until almost no one was left, and that was when Fenris noticed him.
Incredibly tall, very muscular, brown skin only just lighter than Fenris' own and covered in dark hair. Everywhere. Which was only visible because he was almost nude, save for very tight underwear leaving little to the imagination. Fenris had only meant to glance, part of his ingrained habit of keeping track of the faces around him and gauging how he would have to interact with them if the need came, but now he was frozen in place and staring. The man was asleep on his feet, bearded chin dropped to his hairy chest as he snoozed quietly. It was a battle to keep his eyes above the waist, and Fenris felt himself turning red just from the effort.
"You can come back inside now," a voice said and Fenris jolted, head swinging around to see the doorman waving at him, the two of them the only ones left still outside. Fenris didn't look back at the nearly naked man and walked forward as fast as he could without running, bustling past the doorman who looked alarmed that he would have to go out and wake the guy Fenris had left behind. Fenris didn't care. He went for the elevator as he saw the light above the door signaling it would arrive any second and didn't want to deal with any people still left in the stairwell. He bounced on his feet as he waited for the door to open, which took maybe a few seconds but felt like forever, and once he was inside he started hammering the button for the ninth floor. The door began to close, and he let out a sigh, exhausted all over again.
Of course, before he could get away, a hand stopped the door and it reopened, revealing the nearly nude man who was blinking blearily, looking not at all certain of where he was. After a moment his head tipped down and his eyes landed on Fenris, whose heart nearly stopped before it began pounding at triple the speed it had been.
Fenris could see in the bright elevator light that his eyes were a warm brown, almost gold. He couldn't look away, both out of stubbornness brought on from years of being told to look down when he felt he shouldn't have to, and out of alarm freezing him in place. The man looked barely awake, but he was still staring. He would recognize Fenris in a crowd now. This was the last thing he wanted.
The elevator door attempted to close once more, finally startling them both into breaking eye contact, and Fenris shifted to allow him room as the man stepped inside. It wasn't a tiny elevator, but Fenris still felt a bit crowded by his size, nearly doubling him in width and standing quite a bit taller. He reached for the floor buttons and Fenris hoped he would press a different number, but his hand paused when he realized the ninth floor was already lit, then dropped back to his side.
Fenris closed his eyes for a moment and swore inwardly, but stood as if nothing was out of the ordinary. They both had their gazes locked forward now and stayed silent as the elevator traveled up towards their floor. Fenris tried to tell himself he was overreacting. The man was close to falling asleep on his feet again, and if he did, Fenris would just leave him to his nap and get back to his suite, this awkward elevator ride a hazy dream to be forgotten for the both of them in the morning. And despite his appearance looking very mature, Fenris didn't think he could be out of his twenties, so he was probably some rich brat attending Kirkwall University, living in an apartment paid for by his lawyer or doctor parents or something. He would be too busy with his fraternity or whatever people did at college to take any notice of someone like Fenris.
It's fine. Everything's fine, he told himself. Aside from the piles of stress he was acquiring after two hours of attempting to shack up in one of Danarius' forgotten properties. Maybe this really wasn't worth it...
A chime sounded and the door folded open and Fenris moved forward quickly, wanting to get back to the apartment so he could be alone to regroup and get some fucking sleep. He didn't look back at the nearly naked man this time either, though he did feel like he was being stared after. Fumbling for his key, he reached the door to the suite he had commandeered and pushed it open as fast as he could, though he made sure to close it with as little noise as possible before sliding down against it until he was sitting on the floor, rubbing his hands over his face in tired frustration.
Why was everything so fucking difficult? Why couldn't he just be without the world doing everything in its power to knock him off his feet and back onto his belly, groveling at the feet of those the world favored?
He shook his head, not wanting to get trapped into thinking like that. "I haven't been kicked out. No one noticed. Nobody cares about who I am here. The apartment is being paid for by somebody, so no one's going to bother investigating. I'm in the clear," he mumbled into the dark.
He felt so drained from his confused panic and the stress on the way back up, not sure if he could even stand up again yet, but he knew sleep was a far way off. He'd have to calm down if he was going to get any rest.
Closing his eyes and dropping his hands into his lap, Fenris took slow, deep breaths. He did his best to empty his thoughts, concentrating only on the sound of his breathing and soothing darkness, until a soft knock at the door made his eyes shoot open and his heart start hammering again. He was going to go into cardiac arrest any moment now at the rate this night was going.
Fenris scrambled onto his feet and peered out the hole on the door, seeing the nearly naked man from the elevator, his arms now crossed over his chest in what looked like an attempt at modesty.
Dropping his forehead against the door, he wondered what his best course of action was here. Pretend he was asleep and avoid dealing with this? But how long would the man stay and keep knocking? Or would he be quicker to report to someone if he didn't answer? It was safer to see what he wanted, and so Fenris steeled himself before turning the handle, slowly opening the door.
"Can I.. help you?"
"Sorry, need a phone," the man mumbled, his voice making Fenris' ears flutter with how deep and rough it was from sleep, though he seemed more or less awake now. Fenris said nothing, not sure why he was being tasked with solving this problem, and the man realized he needed to clarify. "I don't have a key for my room."
Fenris stared at him.
"Well I don't have a key for your room, either."
The man squinted down at him in confusion, then started to laugh, low and quiet, before it turned into a yawn. One of his hands began to scratch at his chest and Fenris' eyes dipped down to watch before he very pointedly brought them back up before they had a chance to go lower. "No, I would remember giving a handsome elf a key to my place, I think. But you have a phone don't you?" he asked, smiling a bit.
He was being hit on. Was the guy lying to try and make a move on him? That was preferable to being suspicious and trying to get him kicked out. And he was only in his underwear, and he couldn't hide keys and a phone in there, could he? Of course, that thought made his gaze drop immediately to stare at the man's crotch before he could catch himself. Fenris' eyes widened in what must have appeared to be horror as he snapped them back up to the man's face because he quickly took a step backwards, though he hadn't been standing very close to begin with, and dropped the smile, his hands falling to his sides.
"Sorry, I was hoping you could call down to the front. Since I don't have a cell on me, either." He was backing off, any flirtatiousness dropped. It was startling to Fenris, enough to make him lower his guard.
"I don't know the front's number," Fenris said, which he felt was a mistake as soon as he said it. He was rarely this bad at keeping himself from seeming out of place when his instincts for survival depended on it, but he was already incredibly drained from all the surprises he'd suffered tonight and the man in front of him was making it difficult to string any words together at all.
"Uh... then can I use your phone? I remember it."
"Right. Sure. Hold on." He closed the door to give himself a moment's reprieve as he fumbled for where he'd dropped his bag and pulled out his cell. He was relieved he'd convinced himself it was important enough to get a newer phone a few months ago once he could afford it, because handing over an outdated piece of shit like his old one would've been a red flag for someone living in a place like Hightown. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts and try and focus, he pulled the door open again and held out his phone. The man was careful to take it without touching his fingers before giving him a quiet, "thank you," and dialing the front desk.
Fenris stared at his feet in an effort to keep himself from staring at the man's crotch as he listened. "Hey, this is Hawke from 931. I'm locked out. The fire drill, yeah. Thanks, man. Sure. Sorry about the hassle." So his name was Hawke. Fenris had no reason to care or remember that, but despite himself he felt somewhat relieved to know his name. It was better than "nearly naked man from the elevator," at least.
"Here's your phone," Hawke said, holding it out and Fenris took it, quick to bring his eyes straight up to his face. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Hawke hesitated, reaching a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck before running it through his thick, dark hair, his eyes looking somewhere off towards the elevators. Fenris found himself hesitating to close the door, though he knew he should hurry and stop talking with this guy. "I'm sorry, again, I really am," Hawke said after a few moments, "for bothering you in the middle of the night, and for creeping you out."
Fenris blinked. "You didn't."
Hawke glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't?"
"No, I was.. caught off guard, that's all."
He looked down at himself, as if only now realizing he was just shy of being completely naked, and coughed, looking away again and at last bringing his hands forward to cover his crotch. Fenris could see he was starting to blush. "I don't normally go around dressed like this, I swear."
Fenris nodded. "Of course. Business casual for you is a tie and boxers instead, I suppose?"
"No I—" Hawke cut himself off, slowly bringing his eyes back to look at Fenris. His expression was uncertain, still not sure where he stood after he thought he had overstepped, but he began to smile at the joke and Fenris couldn't stop himself from smiling back. The chime of the elevator's arrival sounded and they both turned to see the stout dwarf who stepped out, a ring of keys in his hands as he walked towards them. Hawke turned back to him, saying quickly, "I'm Hawke, by the way. Um, mind if I ask your name?"
"... Fenris."
Hawke's tentative smile widened and his eyes softened, crinkling at the edges as his grin lit up his whole face. "Fenris," he repeated, tasting the name like it was a delicious treat. The dwarf stepped between them then, giving Hawke a once over before grumbling in disapproval, which was a surprise for Fenris not having it directed at him like he was used to. Hawke gave him a shrug and a wave goodbye, following after the dwarf who would hopefully get him back into his apartment. Fenris shut the door, turned the lock and walked into the loft, collapsing on the sofa he'd uncovered earlier.
Staring up at the ceiling, he knew he'd just made a very big mistake. Now he had to keep track of his new neighbor's schedule to make sure they never crossed paths long enough for them to get chummy and require him to explain about himself, but also not make himself so scarce as to raise suspicions. Before they'd spoken, there had been a chance that Hawke would continue on blissfully ignorant to Fenris' existence and leave him be, but now Hawke had an obvious interest in him, if the flirting was any indication, which meant he'd be paying attention.
But Fenris could handle this. Some attractive stranger giving him looks hadn't gotten in his way before. Though usually the people hitting on him couldn't manage to appreciate his humor or respect his space the way this stranger had in only a few minutes, and none of them had been quite so... quick to make an impression. A big impression. A very visible, easy to imagine impression.
"Double kaffas," Fenris grumbled before squeezing his eyes shut, trying desperately not to think about his nearly naked neighbor and get some sleep at last.