➝ @b1uewraith said: " I've said something right, and I can see it on your face. " / karl for anders....
He was quick to look away, ears burning despite his attempt at looking non chalant. Yes, they both knew Karl had found all the right words to catch his attention, that was not the problem per se, it was embarrassing at times to be so easy to read when he had guarded himself so tightly for so long, yet there was also a sense of COMFORT in being seen, truly seen, for once. The problem lay not with his friend ( and he wondered if friend was the right term a this stage — and somewhere deep in hs heart he felt an ache over the fear this question caused him ) but their ever present supervision in the form of the templars who were all too happy to hound them for the smallest deviation from the rules. Close bonds between mages, they both knew, were discouraged harshly. Anything beyond friendship was bound to put a target on your head should your other half misbehave, and Anders knew his misdemeanours alone could fill SEVERAL books. If he dared to take this relationship for what it truly was, he would risk more than himself.
And so he had tried to deny it, to avoid it as much as possible yet there was only so much space one could avoid each other in a locked prison such as this. The confrontation, then, was inevitable. " You know they'll just separate us if they find out. " He could not leave first, could not leave this between them alone if Karl kept tempting him. Poor self control, Greagoir had said once, he had earned himself a week downstairs all by himself for the tiny magical zap he had given the templar for his critique. Maybe the old man had not been entirely wrong about him after all. " You know they already watch over me twice as hard as everyone else ... you really want to ENDURE that? " Please say no — please do my work for me. But he knew Karl would bear it all and more, that was just the kind of man he was. It was perhaps the very reason Anders could not resist him.