Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was nervous, it was obvious with the way he smoothed down his clothes and checked his appearance in the mirror for the hundredth time. He didn't regret saying yes, not in the slightest. They had been flirting back and forth for weeks and he was thrilled when Anduin had asked him on a date. He heard the doorbell ring, he grabbed his phone and shoved it in the pocket that didn't have his keys and wallet already inside and went to answer it.

Anduin fidgeted nervously on the doorstep, waiting for Khadgar to come to the door. He couldn't help the wide smile as the door opened and he appeared, returning the beaming grin.

“You look great, ready to go?” he asked as Khadgar locked the door, and offered his arm to walk him to the car. He couldn't help but admire the way Khadgar looked, though he was used to the dress clothes he wore when he was working at the university library, what he was wearing was different. Wearing dark jeans and a dark casual dress shirt, he looked amazing and Anduin allowed himself to look the other man over while they walked to the car. 

Khadgar took the offered arm and was surprised even further by Anduin's opening the door for him. It sent a warm feeling through him. It was so traditional, and he realized he loved it. He couldn’t wait to see where the night would take them.

“This doesn’t look good.” Anduin said under his breath to Khadgar as they approached the restaurant they had decided to go to for dinner. Out front there was a firetruck, several police cars and an ambulance. Anduin recognized the fire chief as one of his friends, Llane, and approached him.

“Anduin!” Llane said as he and Khadgar approached, smiling at them both.

“Llane, what the devil happened?” Anduin asked, then remembered himself for a moment, “Also, this is Khadgar, Khadgar this is one of my oldest friends, Llane.”

“Nice to meet you.” Khadgar said with polite nod, Llane returning the sentiment.

“To answer your question, someone got careless in the kitchen and started a fire. Luckily they got everyone out quickly but the damage to the kitchen is pretty extensive. They are going through it now to make sure it’s fully out.”

Anduin’s face fell, he turned to Khadgar, “I’m sorry, this wasn’t a good start to our date was it?”

Llane was called away at that moment and with a brief parting wave, he jogged over to see what they needed.

Khadgar squeezed Anduin’s hand, then looked over to the arcade across the street and smiled, “Anduin! I know this sounds crazy, but what if we just eat junk food and play arcade games instead?”

Anduin followed Khadgar’s gaze and smiled back, “That sounds great, let’s go.”

“No fair! You’re somehow cheating, I know it.” Khadgar exclaimed with a laugh, playfully smacking Anduin on his arm as they walked away from the Skee-ball games, shaking his head at the handful of tickets Anduin held in front of his face.

“Nah, I’m just better at it, it’s okay for you to admit it.” Anduin said with a grin, eyeing the small handful of tickets Khadgar held as they walked towards the silly claw games that they knew were a waste of time, but they were bored of the other games.

“I’ll give you all my tickets if you can get something out of here, bookworm.” Anduin said, leaning against a machine filled with plush animals. Khadgar grinned at him, looking down at the two tokens he had left. “You’re on.”

Anduin laughed openly at him as he missed, just barely, with his first token tries. Khadgar put his last token in and tried again, cheering as the claw closed around a plush lion and dropped it down the chute. Anduin stared open mouthed as Khadgar pulled it out from the prize door, then looked down at the tickets in his hand.

Khadgar grinned, sliding close to Anduin and bopping him on the nose with the stuffed lion, “Looks like I won, Anduin.” He gently pried the tickets from Anduin’s hand and replaced them with the lion instead, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Anduin broke from his shock then, smiling down at Khadgar. “Looks like you did.” As they headed to the ticket counter together, and choosing silly prizes, it was obvious from the chemistry between them they were both winners that night.

Chapter Text

Khadgar wasn’t sure at first what to make of the strange things that seemed to keep happening to him and his room. At first he played it off as forgetfulness, being too busy with everything and just not paying attention. His books kept getting hidden in random places in his quarters, his parchments would go missing, but randomly appear again when he expressed concern to Anduin. It wasn’t until the random frogs and lizards starting appearing in his wardrobe and dressers that he started to wonder, so he called Anduin into his room to show him.

Anduin laughed hysterically when he saw the frog hop out of the wardrobe and Khadgar handed him the overly friendly lizard that was making a nice nest out of his socks. Khadgar teleported the other small animals back outside, shaking his head at Anduin playing with the lizard. “He needs to go home now, Anduin, say goodbye.” Anduin frowned at him, but handed over the lizard and Khadgar sent it with the rest of its friends.

“You know who it is, don’t you?” Anduin said, going to sit over on Khadgar’s bed, raising an eyebrow at the mage. Khadgar sighed and sat next to him, “Yeah, I sort of figured it out after the ‘I don’t like you, you should leave.’ letter signed with your name in absolutely not your handwriting. There are only two children in the keep and I highly doubt it was Adariall.”

Anduin snickered, “Did you keep that, by the way? We should show it to him when he’s older.” he sobered up a little then, grabbing Khadgar’s hand and squeezing it. “He’s a young boy, Khadgar, he’s gone through a lot and he’s probably afraid you’re going to take me away.”

Khadgar offered him a smile, “I know. I just wish there was a way to tell him I’m not. At least that I’m willing to share you with him.”

Anduin thought for a moment, absentmindedly running his thumb along Khadgar’s knuckles, “What do you think about going hunting with me and Varian tomorrow?”

Khadgar looked at him like he had grown a second head, “Don’t you think my joining you guys on your time tomorrow would make the problem worse instead of better?” Anduin gave him a grin, “You let me worry about that, you just be ready at dawn.”

Khadgar was ready and waiting, nervously, by the stables for Anduin and Varian. He looked up when he heard laughter, and saw them coming towards him. Anduin gave him a smile and Varian smiled at him as well, which made Khadgar feel hopeful.

“Ready to go hunting, spell-chucker?” Anduin asked, helping Varian onto his horse and mounting his own. Khadgar shot him a look and climbed on his own, “Absolutely.”

By the end of their trip, Varian had managed two kills, Anduin three and Khadgar none, though Varian was okay with being better than Khadgar. The mage showed him quite a few magical tricks and Varian was content seeing the love and care between his uncle and the mage.

He supposed he was okay with Khadgar, especially since he seemed to really love his uncle Anduin.

Chapter Text

Anduin spotted Khadgar sneaking off from the kitchen for the third time in a week and he just knew that squirrely mage was up to something. He briskly walked after him, keeping just enough distance that Khadgar couldn’t see him following. He saw Khadgar go into his quarters, which he didn’t sleep in anymore since he had moved into Anduin’s room, but used it as a study. He narrowed his eyes, what was he up to?

He waited until Khadgar went into the room and slowly made his way to the door, listening to see if he could hear what was going on.

“I know I know, I’m late, I’m sorry. But I brought extra, I promise!” he heard Khadgar say before hearing a very distinct meowing. A kitten? Khadgar was sneaking around for a kitten?

He grinned, flinging open the door, “Khadgar! What in the name of the Light is going on in here?!?”

Khadgar shot upright, instinctively calling magic to his fingers and yelling before glaring at Anduin and dropping his hand. A small white streak had darted under the bed, “Great! Now you scared her.” Khadgar snapped at him, dropping down on his hands and knees and calling to the tiny kitten.

Anduin felt a little bad, he was mostly trying to startle Khadgar, not the kitten. He knelt down as well, calling to the tiny white puff he could see hiding in the far corner under the bed. After a moment it settled down enough to crawl out towards Khadgar, climbing into his arms and purring.

“You didn’t have to hide her, you know.” Anduin said, reaching out to scratch the small, pure white kitten on the head. She pushed into the touch, clearly demanding more like the man who held her usually did to him. He chuckled, looking up and meeting Khadgar’s eyes, who smiled back at him.

“I wasn’t sure how any of you would feel if I just… brought a kitten into the keep. It’s not my…”

“Home? It very much is. You live here Khadgar, you are part of this family, now. We should make her a nice bed in our room. What’s her name?”

Khadgar smiled, “Wyr.”

Anduin smiled, “Dwarven, I should have known. I’ll grab her dinner, take her to our room.”

Chapter Text

Khadgar wasn’t sure why Taria asked him to do this, Anduin tolerated him at best most days, despite all that they had been through together. Anduin had just returned with some of his soldiers, he definitely looked under the weather but insisted he was fine, despite his sister giving him a look. “I don’t get sick.” he had said.

Anduin was laying on the cool stone floor of his office in the barracks, trying to will his nausea away and the throbbing headache that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this ill, if he ever had. “I don’t get sick.” he grumbled at no one in particular. It wasn’t until he heard the knock at the door he thought to try to get up, but couldn’t without another wave of dizziness. “Come in.” he said, rather pathetically.

Khadgar opened the door and saw no one at the desk, so he stepped further in, “Anduin?” He finally stepped around the desk and saw Anduin sprawled on the floor, pale and sweaty and attempting to glare at him.

“Need something spell-chucker?”

“Why are you on the floor?”

Anduin huffed in frustration, “I’m not feeling well, there I said it.”

Khadgar tried to suppress a grin, stepping over to Anduin and kneeling down, “You would be better served resting in your own bed in the Keep rather than the stone floor of the barracks.”

Anduin rolled his eyes but knew Khadgar was right, “Fine.”

Khadgar helped him to his feet and walked with him once the dizzy spell passed, offering support if he happened to need it. Once in his room, Anduin stripped down not caring that Khadgar was in the room, though he did grin at the blush that crept along the younger man’s face. He climbed into the bed, grumbling about being too hot.

Khadgar came to sit on the bed next to Anduin, “Here… let me try something.” He laid his hand gently on Anduin’s forehead, his eyes lighting up just faintly as well as his hand and Anduin felt a little cooler instantly.

“I… what… Thank you, Khadgar.” he said, feeling a little relieved.

Khadgar smiled, “You’re welcome, Anduin. Is there anything else you need?”

Anduin looked around the room for a moment, unsure of himself for a moment, “Stay and keep me company? You can read if you want.”

So, Khadgar did. He quickly hid from Taria’s knowing look when he himself started coughing in the middle of a court meeting a few days later.

Chapter Text

“See you tomorrow night!” Anduin called to Llane as he headed to the locker room to grab his stuff and head home. It had been a long shift, several car accidents and two house fires. Thankfully they had not lost any lives, which was always a triumph. He turned the corner and ran smack into Khadgar, the new, young fireman that had just joined their station a couple of months prior.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” the younger man said in a rush, blushing and moving out of Anduin’s way.

He smiled at him, “It’s fine, no harm done. See you tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, see you then.” Khadgar grinned, before leaving rather quickly.

Anduin shook his head in a laugh, going to his locker and opening it up and finding yet another candy bar sitting on the shelf. “How do these keep showing up here?” he mumbled outloud.

It had been happening for several weeks, at the end of every shift a random candy bar or snack cake would show up in his locker. They were always his favorites, he was convinced at first it was Llane but his best friend had told him no, he would eat them before he would put them in his locker. Anduin shrugged and opened it up, taking a bite as he grabbed the rest of his stuff before closing his locker door and heading out to his truck.

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“Ow! Shit!” he heard Khadgar yell and ran over to him, bending down and seeing that Khadgar definitely had broken something when he fell. He picked him up and carried him out, the rest of them had the fire under control now.

“That was stupid, I should have known better.” Khadgar was chastising himself as Anduin laid him down and the EMTs came over to check him. He helped him take the heavier gear off so they could work on him better.

“Don’t beat yourself up, I’ve done something similar. You just happened to land wrong.” Anduin told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

“It does look broken, let’s get you checked out.” the EMT told Khadgar, who frowned.

“Hey, it’s better you have a broken ankle than if we had gotten trapped in there.” Anduin said, giving him a reassuring smile. Khadgar smiled back and waved as they got him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.

At the end of the shift, after getting from Llane that Khadgar was fine and just had a broken ankle, he went to his locker and opened it. He was disappointed when he found that there wasn’t the usual candy bar or snack cake sitting in there waiting for him. He smiled then, grabbing his stuff and heading out, but not before stopping at the store and grabbing two of his favorite candy bars.

Khadgar was shocked when Anduin came into his hospital room, smiling and happy to have him come to visit. He blushed though, when Anduin handed him one of the two candy bars he held up, the other man giving him a knowing smirk.

“Sorry it wasn’t waiting for you at the end of the shift.” Khadgar said with a chuckle.

“It’s okay, I rather like this instead.”

Chapter Text

Lothar was heading down the hallway towards his room, he should have gone to bed hours before but he wanted to get a few things done before sleeping as much as he could the following day. As he passed Khadgar’s room on the way to his own he heard a whimper and crash, causing him to throw open Khadgar’s door and rush in.

Khadgar sat up, rubbing his head, “Ow…” he grumbled, before jerking his head up and staring wide eyed at Lothar.

“Are you okay?” Lothar said, holding out a hand to help him to his feet, he looked him over and didn’t see anything other than a very exhausted looking mage.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry if I disturbed you, Lothar.” he said, sitting on his bed. He wished for what seemed like the hundredth time that he could do something about the nightmares, but he never could. He glanced over to the books on his desk, he supposed he could do some research instead of trying to sleep.

Lothar followed his gaze, frowning when he realized Khadgar was going to give up on sleep, “You need your sleep, Khadgar.”

The use of his name snapped Khadgar from his thoughts, “I… I know.” he admitted quietly. “I just, I can’t seem to control these nightmares and they plague me, robbing me from the little bit of sleep I do try to get.” If he was too honest, well, it was too late for that now.

Lothar sat on the bed next to Khadgar, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I’m no stranger to the nightmares, I understand. They haunt me a lot as of late, as well. What happened in the pass with…” he broke off, Khadgar would understand what he meant, “Karazhan, what we did with Medivh.” He thought it would feel strange being so honest and open with Khadgar, but he found it was sort of freeing, being able to unburden himself. “If it would help to talk about it, I’m willing to listen.” he added.

Khadgar stared wide-eyed at Lothar for how open and honest he was being, but quickly took him up on the offer, his nightmares unnerved him.

“I dream, a lot actually, about Karazhan, about what happened there. Except… in my nightmares I always end up being taken by the fel and…” he swallowed, did he want to confess that he had nightmares about killing the only person he could truly call a friend?

“Killing me?”

“Yeah.”

Lothar nodded in understanding, “Yours aren’t too different from mine, except I end up freeing you from the corruption with my sword.” he said quietly, their eyes meeting in understanding.

It was just them, now. Before, it was Lothar, Llane, Medivh, Khadgar and even Garona. Medivh betrayed them, Garona murdered Llane and it was just the two of them left. Lothar realized that Khadgar had come to mean something, be something, that he had never expected before.

“Hey, so, sometimes it helps to not sleep alone. I have a larger bed, we wouldn’t have to touch or anything? It just might make it easier to get through the night knowing someone is nearby. If you wanted.”

Khadgar blushed a little, but squashed it, “Yeah, we can try it, it’s better than neither of us getting much sleep, right?”

Lothar laughed, “Right. Come on, spell-chucker.”

Just as they both hoped, they fell asleep and actually rested without having any nightmares.

No one else needed to know about them waking up in each other’s arms, both of them content for the first time in a long time.

Chapter Text

“Come on, Khadgar! You’ll have fun, I promise!” Taria begged her co-worker, who rolled his eyes at her and laughed.

“If I say yes, and I hate it, will you never ask me to go out to a karaoke bar again?” he asked, logging out of his computer and grabbing his stuff, giving her a grin and a raised eyebrow waiting for the answer to his question.

She rolled her eyes as she stood in front of his desk, “Yes, Khadgar. Just come with us. It’ll be fun. Llane, Anduin, Medivh, Garona and Callan will all be there.” she smirked when she saw Khadgar flinch at the mention of her brother’s name. She was no dummy, she saw the way he looked at Anduin, and she also knew her brother and the way he looked at Khadgar.

“Okay, okay! I’ll meet you guys there at 7.”

“Great! See you then.”

Anduin, Llane and Taria were already there when Khadgar showed up, and Callan and Garona joined them a few minutes later. They were all on their second round drinks by the time Medivh showed up, fashionably late as always. Khadgar found he was enjoying himself, laughing as Llane and Medivh went to do a duet they really had no business doing, though he did like their version of “Don’t go breaking my heart” if he were being honest.

Taria and Garona did a few together, mostly silly songs that they giggled through most of more than sang.

“Come on, Khadgar! Go up there and sing with us!” Taria begged him, but he just blushed instead.

“I don’t do well being up in front of people! You know this, Taria.” he said, with a giggle at her attempt to pout.

“Fine, Anduin, you go up there and sing something.” she said, pushing at her brother.

“Yeah, Anduin, go sing something.” Medivh said, giving him a grin.

Anduin looked around their table, but his gaze lingered on Khadgar for a moment before he grinned. “Okay.”

Khadgar was actually curious to see what Anduin would sing, or how he sounded. The man wasn’t much for words, conversations with him were always short and to the point. He didn’t expect that when Anduin got up on stage he would be singing “Careless Whisper”, that’s for sure.

“Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it’s better this way
We’d hurt each other with the things we’d want to say
We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But no one’s gonna dance with me
Please stay”

Khadgar found himself entranced, listening to Anduin sing, his voice was beautiful, and he found himself wondering if Anduin was staring at him while he sang or if he was just imagining it. He snapped out of it when the song ended, “You have an amazing voice, Anduin, I would have never guessed.” he said when Anduin joined them back at the table.

“Hey, Llane, Anduin, come on.” Medivh suddenly said, pulling his two friends up on the stage with him. Taria and Garona groaned and Callan laughed when the familiar notes of “Never Gonna Give You Up” started playing. By the end though, all of them were laughing at the three friends being clumsy and silly, but managing to make it through the song decently.

Khadgar thought it was sweet when Garona and Callan sang a duet he wasn’t familiar with together, wistful at his own lack of love in his life. He excused himself to go grab another drink at the bar when the opening of one of his favorite songs started up and he turned around just as Anduin started singing, locking eyes with Khadgar.

“Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on
A-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me
Fill my heart with song and let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you
Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words
In other words
I love you”

Khadgar had not moved from where he stood next to the bar, completely focused on Anduin and never breaking eye contact. Not even as the man walked over to him, casually leaning against the bar and smiling. He swallowed hard, “Anduin, that was amazing.”

“I’m not good with words, mostly, but I’m good with songs.” Anduin said, blushing slightly. Khadgar grinned, and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m good with that.”

Chapter Text

Khadgar always sat quietly next to Anduin during court, only providing input as it pertained to magic or the war. He was chilled sitting in the open room, he longed to be back in their room with the fire and blankets. He snapped to attention though when he heard “ball” and “festivities” and dread filled his stomach. Balls usually meant dancing, something he was absolutely terrible at and refused to ever attempt again after his first painful Winter Veil ball in Dalaran when he was younger. He heard them call an end to the session and he quickly left the room, heading towards the library to focus on research instead of the ball.

Anduin frowned at Khadgar’s retreating back, that was unlike him to leave so quickly, he shared a look with Taria who shrugged and turned back to her conversation. Anduin shook his head and headed off behind the mage, assuming he had headed towards the library. He found Khadgar hunched over a book already, pulling his cloak over him and trying to stay warm in the chill of the room. He came to stand behind Khadgar, bending down and hugging him, placing his cheek up against Khadgar’s cold one. “It’s awful chilly in here, wouldn’t you be better off reading this dusty old tome in our room, with a warm fire and some blankets? Possibly some cuddling?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice.

Khadgar smiled and snuggled into Anduin’s hold, enjoying the warmth the warrior always seemed to put off. “I guess I could do that.” he said, staring down at the book in front of him. Anduin frowned a bit, pressing his nose into Khadgar’s cheek, “What’s wrong, bookworm? You left court awful quickly today, did someone say something?” Khadgar sighed, “No, no. I’m fine. Let’s go back to our room.” He reluctantly stood out of Anduin’s hold and they walked back to their room.

“Okay, tell me the truth. Is it the ball?” Anduin said, crossing his arms and leveling a look at Khadgar once inside their room. Khadgar sighed again, “It is. Dancing isn’t a requirement, is it?”

“It’s not a requirement, no, but as the Regent the people would expect to see me participating in the festivities, yes. That would, preferably, include my partner, which is you. Why?”

“I can’t dance.”

Anduin gave Khadgar a look, that he didn’t expect at all, he assumed that Khadgar would have learned while in Dalaran, he knew they had festivals there. He stepped over and took Khadgar’s hand in his, “I’ll teach you, then. We have plenty of time.” He pulled Khadgar closer, placing the mage’s hands where they would go, “I’ll lead, you just follow. Take your time and don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it right the first time.”

Anduin led them slowly, through a simple waltz, smiling as he watched Khadgar look down, brows furrowed in concentration. He started humming softly, Khadgar grinning at him, and they spun around the room. Khadgar’s confidence grew as they went, and Anduin pulled him closer, kissing his cheek as he did so. “See, spell-chucker, nothing to it.”