Happy Friday! Could I suggest “So, do I get a reward for behaving, or…?” for Adrian Hawke?? (Also absolutely stealing those prompts for Cara...)
Maybe this is why I love Cara 🤣
Though... Adrian is more infuriating and shameless with a desperate need for constant attention, but... It would be hilarious to put him in a room with Cara.
Anyway... I think this is my 6th Adrian @dadrunkwriting peice of the night, and the 3rd to involve hats in some way. So... Apparently Adrian officially has a hat obsession now 🤷
“So, do I get a reward for behaving, or…?”
Fenris didn’t bother looking at him from where he stood near the mast, arms folded, “You managed an entire two days on land without starting a bar fight. Truly, a remarkable achievement.”
Adrian placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. “That’s something. You could at least acknowledge the effort.”
From across the deck, Isabela’s laugh rang out, sharp and knowing. “You stole someone’s hat, Hawke.”
Adrian scoffed, turning to face her with a scandalized expression. “Alright, first of all, it was a terrible hat. I was doing them a favor.”
Fenris sighed, shaking his head, already regretting indulging this conversation. “And second?”
Adrian grinned, eyes glinting in the afternoon sun, radiating pure, unrepentant mischief. He reached up, adjusting the very same stolen hat atop his head, tilting it at a rakish angle before flashing Fenris a grin that was far too pleased with itself.
“I look amazing in it.”
Fenris turned away—quickly. But not quickly enough. Adrian caught it—the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth, the barely concealed effort to suppress a laugh. The way his shoulders tensed, the slight shift of his weight, the unnecessary nudge at a coil of rope with his foot as if it had suddenly become fascinating.
Adrian’s grin sharpened.
Victory.
"So," he drawled, eyes bright with amusement, "about that reward…"
Fenris, arms crossed, gave him a slow, measured look.
"You did not behave."
Adrian gasped, pressing a hand to his chest in mock outrage. "I absolutely did. I didn’t start a fight—"
From across the deck, Isabela’s laugh rang out. "Because I dragged you out before it became a fight."
Adrian waved a casual, dismissive hand. "Details."
Fenris sighed, "You are not a child. You should not require a reward for meeting the barest standards of civility."
Adrian gasped again—louder this time— staggering back as if mortally wounded.
"Barest standards? Barest?" He shook his head in mock disappointment. "And here I thought you were proud of me. I was heroic."
Fenris’s ears twitched—drooped, ever so slightly.
He turned to Isabela, beseeching. "Can you not order him to be quiet?"
Isabela grinned, "Oh, no. This is far too entertaining."
Fenris turned back, leveling Adrian with that flat, unimpressed stare that Adrian loved so much.
"Stealing a hat is not heroic."
Adrian grinned. "I disagree."
"You would."
"Exactly."
He could see Fenris’s patience fraying at the edges, could feel the weight of his stare—the slight, telltale twitch of his fingers.
Adrian smirked.
Then, before Fenris could prepare himself, Adrian was suddenly very close.
Not touching, but just past his personal space—a threat more than an action, an invitation more than a challenge.
"You know," Adrian murmured, voice dropping into something much too smooth to be trusted, "if I had started a bar fight, would that have been worse? Or better?"
Fenris’s ear twitched twice.
Adrian grinned.
There it was.
"If me behaving gets me nothing," Adrian continued, entirely too pleased with himself, "then really, what’s the incentive?"
Fenris turned his head, met his gaze with a slow, measured look.
Unreadable—except it wasn’t.
Not really.
Adrian felt it.
The weight of Fenris’s stare, the way his jaw flexed, the way his fingers twitched at his side like he was holding himself back.
Restless. Calculating. Debating.
Adrian’s smirk deepened. "No answer? Interesting."
Fenris shifted forward—just enough that Adrian had to shift slightly to maintain the distance.
Adrian’s pulse jumped—but he held his ground, tilted his chin up in challenge.
"You want an incentive?"
Adrian’s grin widened. "Well, when you say it like that, I really want one."
Fenris moved.
Fast—too fast.
Adrian barely had time to react before his back hit the nearest mast, Fenris’s hand bracing against the wood beside his head.
Adrian swallowed.
Alright.
So that was not the worst outcome.
Fenris leaned in, voice low, steady. "Your reward," he murmured, "is that I do not throw you overboard."
Adrian grinned. "Aw, you’d miss me too much."
Fenris hummed, gaze flicking between Adrian’s eyes and his maddeningly smug mouth. "Would I?"
"Devastatingly."
Fenris’s fingers curled slightly against the mast.
Adrian heard the movement, caught the way his weight shifted forward, the sharp, assessing gleam in his eyes.
Almost.
Just a little further—
Fenris struck.
His hand shot up—quick, smooth, effortless—and before Adrian could process what had happened, the hat was gone.
"HEY!"
Adrian blinked, momentarily thrown.
Fenris tilted his head stepping back, inspecting the hat with faint distaste, turning it over in his hands. "You were correct," he said idly. "It is a terrible hat."
Adrian lunged. "Excuse you, that’s my hat."
Fenris took another step back. "No. It is stolen."
Adrian lunged again, but Fenris twisted out of the way, expression infuriatingly impassive.
"Give it back," Adrian demanded.
"Why?"
"Because it’s mine."
Fenris arched a brow. "You said it was terrible."
"Yes, but it’s my terrible now."
Adrian lunged again, but Fenris sidestepped, still keeping the hat just out of reach.
He stilled.
Fenris watched him.
Adrian smirked.
Plan B.
Deliberately, he tilted his head and let his expression shift into something far too pleased.
Fenris’s eyes narrowed.
"Alright," Adrian drawled, slow and dangerous. "You win."
Fenris’s ear twitched.
Suspicious.
Adrian stepped forward—not lunging, not reaching, just… slowly closing the space.
Deliberate.
Casual.
Fenris didn’t move.
Didn’t back away.
Adrian took another step.
Then another.
Fenris held his ground.
Adrian stopped just close enough to barely brush against him.
Not touching—but almost.
His voice dipped, low and effortlessly smug, as he leaned in—lips grazing the barest whisper against Fenris’s ear.
"You… should probably give that back."
Then, in a move too fast to track, Adrian snatched the hat right out of Fenris’s hand and bolted.
"HA!"
Adrian sprinted across the deck, hat firmly back on his head, laughing like he’d just stolen the crown jewels instead of an objectively terrible hat.












