romdeau | a fishing date;

"I can't cook anything you'd want to eat unless it's around a campfire. I'm not bad with fish. It's hard to mess up something you can toss into a hot coal bed and allow to sear."

He gave her his profile, chin slightly lifted. "Decoration? Like this?" Glancing at her from the sides of his eyes, he quirked a half smile.

All of the teasing words died away in the kiss. He had believed all of the desire wrung from him for a time. She was quickly proving him wrong. Part of what made it so nice, so easy to fall back into, was their isolation. There were no other lights in the waterway, no fires in the distance. Just the gently rocking boat and the rising moon kept them company.

He fumbled for the apple core to toss it over the side. He wanted her to have both of her hands free just as he did. He gathered her against him as the kiss continued, sensation he could all but drown in if he allowed himself. "Remind me why we never did this sooner," he murmured, never breaking full contact and then kissing her too hard to allow her to answer right away. With the way another smile fought to curve, it was almost a certainty it was deliberate on his part.

"That's all I can do... That, and stew of a sort." Throwing meat, stock, and vegetables in a pot was close enough to stew, right? "And seafood. Some seafood." She left the cooking to her mother, then Bodhan, and now Orana. She wasn't home enough to do much of her own cooking.

She laughed, admiring him openly. "Absolutely. All noble houses have suits of armor in them with the family's crest, don't they? I'll just have an attractive man in it."

There were worse things than being almost forcibly silenced by a pair of lips and, frankly, she didn't want to protest. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned against his broader, stronger body. The hand that had not been occupied by the apple moments before threaded into his hair as she savored his kiss far more than she had the fruit

A muted hum buzzed against his moath in response to his question, pleased. She laughed breathlessly as they parted only long enough to breathe, her lips still brushing his. "I'm blaming the Qunari for keeping me distracted," she murmured, even if it was only a half-truth.

"Yet another dastardly thing to lay at their feet," he said, offering a few smaller kisses interspersed with the words. "On my part I'll blame...Templar propriety." It had a lot more to do with the fact that he had good reason to believe she didn't want much to do with him, not to mention that these days he was too busy to come up with the idea of pursuing someone on his own.

The fact that she was busier than he most days made him feel better about it overall. There would never be the perception that he wasn't prioritizing. They both had larger concerns, like it or not. He kissed the corners of her mouth, her chin, and a soft spot of skin just beneath her jaw, rocking upward slightly beneath her.

"It's cruel, I know," she joked quietly, kissing him again a little harder at his own admission. "You're doing your job," was all she said to that, a hand coming to his jaw. There was little they could ever do about their professions, self-imposed or not, and it at least made things simpler between them for now. They wouldn't need to worry about what was more important when they both had the city's best interest in mind first and foremost.

She smiled and leaned into him, tilting her head back just enough so he could have better access to her. With a sigh, she turned her head to nip beneath his ear. "Next time we do this, we need more room. Or a slightly bigger boat." To have the ability to see more, do more to him, would need to wait.

"Always," he said, paused, and amended it as he caressed a hand down her back. "Well, almost always. You're a very good excuse to spend a little time away." He hadn't once given thought to what might be happening back at the Gallows. That was saying a lot for her distraction techniques.

He lipped a little lower down her throat when she gave him the room for it, made a soft sound when she nipped him, slightly rueful. He rested his head against her, stubble brushing her neck. "I know. I honestly didn't expect we'd need the space. Next date will end somewhere with a decent sized bed. I promise."

As far as compliments went, that was one she shouldn't be looking quite so smug over but there was a smile anyway and a lean into his hand to punctuate it. "I could say the same about you," she admitted. It was better to be out here tonight than to be downing whatever Corff was serving at the Hanged Man.

That stubble of his had her making a quiet sound in her throat, unbidden. She kneaded at his shoulders in response, practically smirking. "I wasn't expecting it, either." Not that she was complaining at the direction the evening had been taking. "I'm going to hold you to that, Cullen," she said, and her voice was low in a mimicked threat. She might just see how many shades of red she could get his face to go through without even saying a word to him while he was out in the Gallows.

"Oh, I very much hope you do," he said. "If you have to remind me, you have my permission in advance to chastise me roundly." He drew back just enough to be able to see her eyes as they spoke. "I want the chance to discover what you like. I could ask, but...that's so much more awkward than just finding out."

He toyed with a small lock of her hair behind her ear. Having limited space just meant he had to pick and choose where to touch more carefully. "Besides, there's something to be said about finding freedom in constraint." That was something with which he was very familiar, although not usually on a physical level.

"I might just take the initiative myself," she said with a glowing smile. He was fluctuating between sweet and arousing, his words honest even if he goaded her with teases and light innuendos. She wasn't certain which she preferred and found herself decidedly pleased with both sides of him, the genuine man and the passionate one. She could very easily get used to him, to what they were doing.

Hawke's smile twitched, edging on a faint laugh as he toyed with her hair. Close to her ear, it tickled and distracted her. "That's... Yes, I could see why you'd say that." Finding freedom in constraint. That sounded very like him. She took his face in her hands and leaned down to press another kiss to his lips, one that was nearly tender if not for the brief scrape of teeth at the end. "I'll admit, I like the idea of getting to find out more about you." About what he liked and disliked, what he favored in a lover and what he sought in a partner.

"I like initiative. I like that very much," he admitted. He had a difficult time dealing with passivity in others. He had never spent much time in the company of people who wouldn't or couldn't do for themselves. The interest in his gaze was clear. If she did make the arrangements, he wondered where she would take them.

It wasn't the first time that night she had been surprisingly tender. He gave a half smile for the little bite at the end, almost a warning not to get complacent. He liked that, too, more heat flaring in his look. "I don't think you'll have a hard time getting that out of me." For all of his reticence in public and his professional facade, in private he had always been more open with those he believed he could trust.

She hoped she lived up to it. She still hadn't the faintest idea where she'd arrange anything yet. Somewhere by the docks, maybe, or in some corner of Lowtown far enough from Gamlen's eyes that she wouldn't be concerned about her uncle spotting them in a rare moment. Between the two of them, she would be the more recognizable, especially when he wasn't in his armor. She'd need to find somewhere discreet.

Her gaze flickered back to his eyes, to that look he gave her. The one side of her smile ticked upwards. "I don't think I will." He was honest enough in conversation that she could hope he'd be honest in other ways. Everything she had garnered earlier from him - from those heated looks to the way he twisted when she touched him - would be kept close. They were each a piece of what he wanted and liked. "Just don't pretend you like something when you don't."

"You don't have to worry about that. That wouldn't do either of us any good," he said, shaking his head. "Don't be afraid to push me, though. Sometimes you don't know what you like until you try it. Just because I get flustered doesn't mean I don't like something." He couldn't control his blushing, but he'd hate for her to take it as a sign that she had to handle him with kid gloves.

He leaned in again, lipping softly at her earlobe. She had seemed to enjoy it earlier. He gave a gentle flick of tongue and sucked very lightly before tracing up the edge of the outer shell with both his lips and tongue. He held her sideways across his lap so that she could lean into the embrace of his arm and chest and sprawl a little if she felt like it.

"I'm more afraid that if I push you, we're going to capsize our little boat," she said with an emboldened look in her eye. Their small foray had their vessel rocking previously and she didn't want to chance making it worse, as appealing as that might have been. "But I won't hold back if you won't. That's a promise."

She pressed close, more than content to keep in the circle of his arm with chest against her, even as he teased at her ear. It had her shivering once, lightly, and she closed her eyes. "There's one thing," she murmured appreciatively, her hand running down his front.

"You might want to save the real pushing until we have the room for it," he agreed, chuckling. "Not to say I'm not having a good time right now."

He caressed a hand down her side when she shivered. It was the small reactions he enjoyed the most, the little things beyond control. He kissed back down to her earlobe. "At least we don't have to rock the boat for this," he murmured.

"That's probably wisest," she said with a lopsided smile.

For a man who claimed he didn't have the time to go out much or to be with others, he certainly knew how to surprise her with little intimacies she wasn't expecting. "We don't, thankfully." It was almost whispered, warm. She turned her head to press her nose briefly beneath his chin. The stubble tickled her, naturally, but she didn't laugh this time.

He nuzzled her as well, eyes half closed and cheek rubbing her hair. Eventually he made his way back to kissing her, in less of a hurry than they had been before. The ebb and flow between playful and heated seemed somehow suited to the limitations of their position. Every caress of lips and movement of jaw had him sinking back into desire.

"If I wasn't afraid we'd ground the boat, I'd be tempted to head inland for a while," he said. "I don't know the tides well enough, or the coastline. Already you have me contemplating dangerous things."

She'd be lying if she said she didn't like the dichotomy of their touches, ones that could be quick and impassioned, others more languid and whimsical. Her hand rested against the side of his cheek as they returned to kissing and she was content with the slower pace. It allowed her to give attention to his bottom and top lip in turn with lazy swipes with the tip of her tongue or small brushes of her teeth.

A hum passed from her lips to his just before they parted and she glanced up, thoughtful. "We'd be leaving ourselves open in the dark to a possible attack, anyhow." She wished she could throw caution to the wind; he'd sparked her curiosity with talk of dangerous things.

"That's true," he said. "If not bandits, then wildlife." The thought of being set upon by wolves or spiders was enough to quash the idea of throwing caution to the wind. "There's always something, isn't there?" He had to laugh. He had never thought logistics would come into play for intimacy.

"I will make it up to you when I can." He shivered lightly at one of the nips to his lower lip, tipping his head back and to the side to offer his throat. "Hopefully, it won't be a long wait." His hand against her side wasn't idle, rubbing a slow caress from her hip up to her shoulder. One of the things that he already knew he wanted was to be able to see her while touching her, to learn her by sight and feel both.

Oh, she hadn't thought of spiders. That was a mental image she could have done without. She sighed, though her smile stayed. "Always. I'm sorry, that's my luck rubbing off on you," she joked.

She dipped her head down to press her lips to his throat with slow, sensual kisses, lacking the urgency of before. "If we start counting who's owing whom," she started, lifting her eyes to look at him, "then we're going to have too long of a running tally to work with." Her mouth found a spot beneath his jaw to press another kiss to, careful not to linger too long on any patch of skin that would be visible in armor. "It'll be easier next time." And next time, she wouldn't have to ask him to stop in the middle of their coupling.

"Ha! What happened to me when we met? That's a taste of my luck for you. Between the two of us we're in for a time. We should probably check the hull for leaks right now," he teased.

His breath came in swifter, less even measures, and he found himself having to fight to focus on the conversation. "Maybe hard to keep track but fun...ahh...trying." His sentence trailed off in an audible gasp. "That feels..." He hissed another soft inhale and nodded his agreement. It would be easier. Maker, she was destroying his concentration.

"That was hardly your fault. If you hadn't gone after him, then I would have been hauled back as the murderer of your recruit. Or someone else would have gotten caught in the crossfire." She smiled and gave him a wink. "Besides, if we haven't capsized the boat yet, I think we're doing all right so far."

Her smirk was probably obvious against his skin as she heard him lose his focus. "You could keep trying," she said lowly. "I owe you for earlier." That was punctuated by an open-mouthed kiss over his pulse point. Her fingers dragged down his chest, one hand coming to rest on his side for leverage.

"My fault, no, but definitely my...my luck." It was embarrassing how easily she had him sidetracked. Her mouth felt entirely too good on his throat. One hand tightened in a grip of her shirt, the other occupied supporting beneath her thigh to keep her in place.

"You owe..." he started to question, eyes widening when he realized what she meant. "Oh, sweet Andraste." It was an odd sensation to feel flustered and aroused at the same time. He honestly couldn't tell which had more heat coming to his cheeks and upper chest. He turned his face, lips brushing the side of her head.

"Ah," she reverberated, knowing full well what a brief expel of breath over his throat would do to him. She fell silent so she could focus on drawing more sounds out of him, her movements slow and almost lazy. She was in no hurry. They had plenty of time to themselves.

She made her way down his throat to his collar, pressing faint kisses at the hollow of his throat. She couldn't help chuckling when he swore, fingers tapping against his side. It would normally mark itself as a nervous habit, her need to always be moving and doing things coming through. But here it was teasing, the pads of her fingers dancing over his ribs.

"I think we're going to have an appetite for breakfast at this rate," he said, his voice a little breathless. She was good at teasing. She had his anticipation ratcheting up again, his body responding to the soft kisses and light touches with renewing arousal.

It was hard to remember why he had been nervous in the Gallows, except perhaps the unexpectedness of it all and the bold proposition. He found it amusing now and was glad it hadn't been some elaborate prank. Even after the first dinner, that had been a small fear at the back of his mind. He couldn't imagine anyone taking a prank this far. Well, perhaps Isabela, but had she made such a proposition he wouldn't have agreed in the first place.

"You know, it...it has been a really long time since..." He cut off, shrugged, and smiled slightly. "A long time."

She left off her attentions to laugh. "Well, with any luck, there'll be plenty of food. Not really the sort I'd picture for breakfast but..." Provided the bait worked as well as was promised.

So long as he was enjoying himself, she had no concerns. She slowed as his breath caught in his throat, smiling deviously. Her eyes wandered, looking for a suitable place to perhaps leave a reminder for him, one that wouldn't be evident in his armor. Oh, the options she had... Hawke's gaze slid upwards, from his throat and to his chin before she straightened herself to look at him fully.

"By choice? Or... Well, I suppose a Templar's schedule hardly leaves room for a love life."

"I'm sure crabs are traditional for breakfast somewhere. Where that is I don't know," he said, flashing a grin. "I'm being optimistic that we aren't going to be pulling up a mass of seaweed and nothing more."

Something about the way she eyed him sent a pleasant shiver through him. He refrained from asking what she was thinking just then, preferring to be surprised. One corner of his mouth twitched up in a wry expression for her question. "I don't know that I set out not to get involved, but I wasn't looking and had no intention of doing so. You fall into a routine in this job. It makes sense, and you start thinking you don't have much to offer someone. There aren't many people willing to come second to duty, even if they believe in what you're doing. So I just...don't usually give it much thought, which means something like this is few and far between."

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