"Anders," he breathes his love's name, a bit choked on his own emotion, then swallows to be able to speak properly. "I've been yours since first stepping into your clinic. Three years of aching for each other, even more until now..."

He brings his hand up to the side of Anders' face and only when he gently cups his cheek does he notice the minute trembling in his fingers. "I was happy to wait. I would be happy to wait still, happy to exist as we always were, as we are. In love, desperately and unashamed. But this..."

Hawke's eyes dart to the ring in his other hand, the weight impossibly heavy against how light he feels in his heart. "I never expected..."

Silence reigns, a pause that Hawke, for once, does not immediately fill because he's not certain how. After all this time he never expected for this to happen, never expected for Anders to say yes, much less produce a ring. What he said was true, he would have been happy to simply continue in love, but there's meaning in this gesture, even after all this time. Especially after all this time. And it leaves the usually so very loquacious Hawke completely speechless.