killedwithlove | for insurgoaltus

"I often wonder if that's why spirits and demons want to cross into our world ... after all we went ahead and let ourselves into theirs without asking." Dorian hummed softly under his throat, as fingers traced down his back. "If I lived near the Black City, I would want to get out too."

"No. It's the emotions. Compassion spirits are brought across a lot, but they just flicker here and go back. The want of the healer to help compels them close.

"Desire likes you because you enjoy the sensuous. You like being tempted, because to be tempted, it means someone wants to tempt you." He followed his spine back up, weaving across his vertebra.

"I don't remember the Black City not being there. It didn't bother me. It just... was."

Dorian made a soft noise of pleasure, before he sighed. "Yes, I suppose that's true. How very vulnerable of me ... and stupid, I suppose. I shall have to guard myself more closely now, in the Fade."

Because he had something he desired now - and how easy would it be to twist that in the Fade? He would have to remember that.

"...So the Black City has been there for, what, ages?"

"No. Now they will find it more difficult. Because now there is something you want, here." They would offer a templar the family he could never have, a teenager the beautiful partner, ready to fulfill every whim, a wealth of knowledge maybe to a knowledge hungry scholar.

"You know it is the Fade. That is why you are in less danger than ever. Because you can come back here." And Cole would be there, waiting, adoring him.

"For as long as I know. But I don't know how long that is." Time, the Fade, mutuable things. He could've been a spirit for a hundred years. He could have been merely weeks old when he forced his way through.

Though the latter was far more likely.

"Really ... well that is comforting. As are you." Yet when he smiled, it was a quieter version of his brilliant flash of teeth, and much more tender. He also followed it up with a very soft kiss.

"Probably hundreds of years, knowing you." He reached up one hand to stroke back the fine golden hair, his gaze quiet and thoughtful.

"And if I go there, I'll not let them hurt you." It was a soft, easy statement. Compassion spirits were considered weak but Cole was far from just that.

He accepted the kiss with a soft smile of his own. "I like that smile. You don't show it as much, but you really mean it."

"Well ... let me say the same. I won't let them hurt your either."

Or rather, he wouldn't let them get five feet near Cole. He made a quiet 'hm' noise, pensive, before he kissed Cole again. "Because it is a smile for when I am feeling ... happy, and I have been rarely just happy in quite some time."

Cole shifted onto his side, pressing chest to chest with Dorian and sucking gently on his lower lip, lingering on it while his fingers played over Dorian's spine still.

He did draw back after a long moment. "I don't need to eat, but you do."

The warmth of Cole's bare skin, that lingering touch of Cole's lip, made him curl into that inviting body, parting his mouth slightly for a sigh.

Then another one, as Cole drew back. "Yes, I suppose so ... and I can arrange for more water to be brought up." He nuzzled in another kiss to Cole's jaw. "Besides, I cannot hide here forever."

"No. You need food. And you'd get bored staying in here for the rest of your life." Because Dorian was brilliant and needed mental stimulation. Social interactions. All those human things.

He still kissed Dorian again.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to entertain me?" He teased, even as parted his lips around Cole's. He sighed, as he leaned up on one elbow, so he could at least try to get out of bed. "Or how shall I leave you to be entertained, while I am seeing to things?"

Cole didn't reply at first, because kissing was nicer and he didn't have much to say anyway.

"I don't need to be entertained. I can listen from here."

"Hmmm. Do you promise not to get up to help anyone?" Dorian said, gently rubbing one of Cole's too pale cheeks with one finger. "You have to rest, or that won't heal all the way through."

"I promise not to get up to help anyone." He tipped his face into the finger rubbing his skin. "I'll stay and rest until you come back."

"All right ..." Dorian nodded, and sneaked in one last kiss - just one! - before he pushed himself up out of bed again and dressed himself once more. He grabbed a small basket filled with his own cleaning supplies - it would take awhile to arrange everything and he would need a quick dip in the springs.

He turned back towards Cole, eying him for a moment, before pointing a finger at him. "You are not allowed to move, or I shall be unbelievably cross with you." He paused, then sighed, "Unless Venatori assassins sneak into my bedchamber. Then please feel free to avoid getting stabbed."

Cole leaned up into the last kiss and dropped back into the bed, pulling the blankets around him again, snuggling down into the warmth.

He watched closely as Dorian moved about, getting things done. "I wouldn't let them see me. I can still do that. And then I'd kill them and ask someone to help get rid of the bodies.

"But there aren't any Venatori spies in Skyhold. I'd know." He blinked out from just above the bedclothes.

Dorian smirked faintly, before he shook his head, "You would feel their pain at failing to kill the Inquisitor, hm? Well, at least they're obvious about it."

He blew a kiss, before closing the door behind him. It took him a bit longer than expected - water was a hot commodity in the morning, but that Dorian didn't care to have it heated would save some time. Food was a little easier - Cole was a surprising favorite down here. Quick dip in the spring, rinse off, and then grooming, and he was heading back upstairs within the hour.

And in all that time ... he hadn't seen anyone else. Hm.

Cole didn't reply and instead snuggled into the bed again, vanishing into the bed clothes.

He did get restless during the hour or so that Dorian was gone, but he listened to people, hesitating outside the door and leaving, and out in the courtyard, living their lives.

But he kept his word and didn't get out of bed.

Dorian returned with a tray filled with food and wine, along with a few books to entertain them both. He slipped inside, quietly, just to make sure that he didn't wake Cole if he was sleeping again.

Cole was sitting up a bit more, propped into the pillows and a cushion under his leg to keep it relaxed and bent and the stress off of it.

He was already watching the door when Dorian came in. "No one came by. They were worried to have it confirmed that we had sex."

Dorian smiled to see Cole sitting up, but that smile faded a little around the edges at Cole's comment. "Ah. I had wondered ... well."

He closed the door firmly behind him, glowering at it for a moment. "If it offends them, then I suppose there is nothing for it. So much for false friends." He sniffed, as he carried the tray to the table near the bed, before he leaned over to make sure that Cole's pillows weren't smashed up and he was comfortable.

Cole sat up a bit more, canting his head. "Not our friends. Varric isn't up. Sera thinks we're both gross."

Servants, visitors, people who had passed by up here. "No, not offended. Uncertain. Confused. Protective, of both of us. Is the demon trying to get to him? Can it consent to that?" He reached out to Dorian. "Our friends just want us happy and healing."

"Ah." But there was a world of relief in that simple phrase, as Dorian pulled his small table up to the bed, and put his chair next to Cole. He wrapped his fingers around Cole's, sighing softly.

"Well, that will be an interesting conversation to have, once someone is willing to have it with us."

"You don't need to look for attacks from everywhere. I'd know if attacks were coming. I promise." He tugged Dorian close enough to kiss him softly.

"They want to let me heal. They saw me being carried."

Dorian shifted the table again, because Cole was going to fall out of bed if he kept reaching out to hug and kiss Dorian in his chair, and gently nudged the young man over so he could sit on the edge of the bed with him.

"Well, then they are smarter than I gave them credit for, and I ... will stop looking for attacks that haven't come yet. Especially since I have such an adorable warning system." He nuzzled a kiss against Cole's cheek, before he made himself a plate. "Now, would you like anything? Your bathwater should be up here soon."

for insurgoaltus

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