for insurgoaltus

[killedwithlove]

Cole had said he would go to Val Royeaux when they next went there.

It happened sooner than anticipated. Cadash returned from her expedition in Valammar and, as Cole had predicted, Varric was heart broken, the betrayal a step beyond what he could take, even from his beloved, elusive Bianca.

Cadash promptly announced they were going as a group to Val Royeaux. Not just her and Varric, but anyone and everyone who wanted to come and sort out business. Uniforms needed making for this ridiculous ball, Varric needed a cheer up which meant new bow components, Solas was complaining about a lack of the pigments he wanted, and in the end Cadash had just yelled a lot and bundled up everyone who might want to go or be needed.

They made a long, straggling caravan trail of horses, nugalopes, dracolisks and foot soldiers. Cole, still unable to ride on his own, had hopped up onto Dorian's horse for most of the trip, wandering away and back as he was called to help.

But as they drew closer, he went quiet, cuddling into Dorian's back and watching the great, White Spire with an apprehensive gaze. He wanted to make new, better memories to wipe away the fear of his last trip to this place, but that didn't make facing it now any easier.

Comments

[killedwithlove]

With such a thorough washing, it will undoubtedly have a rare chance to show how pale gold it really is before Cole manages to make a mess again.

He smiles at the kiss, twisting to look at Dorian.

[insurgoaltus]

Which is what he really wanted anyways, to see the pale gold of Cole's skin. He smiles softly in turn, before kissing that smile of his.

[killedwithlove]

Cole leaned in to meet the kiss, eyes half closed and humming softly as their mouths brushed together.

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian pressed his mouth against the other man's, keeping their lips pressed together as they lingered by the bath.

[killedwithlove]

Cole pushed up out of the bath slightly, hands on the sides of the tub to lift himself, get that little bit of leverage.

[insurgoaltus]

As if he needs any more leverage than he has on Dorian. Dorian hummed into the kiss with great pleasure, before he nipped Cole's bottom lip. "No distracting me, now. You need to finish bathing."

[killedwithlove]

Cole protested with a slight grumble, but sank back into the bath and picked up the cloth again to continue scrubbing off the long journey. "Are you going to have a bath?"

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian glanced over his shoulder, grey eyes crinkling at the corner. "Naturally. And then since we have the time - we can have a third bath together if you like. But you do have to make yourself cleaner."

[killedwithlove]

"I am," he protested. He was, scrubbing and leaving pinked and warmed skin behind. "Dorian? I don't like like Bianca much. The other Bianca."

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian started laying out his robes, so they wouldn't wrinkle. At Cole's statement, Dorian snorted softly, "My dear Cole -- at this point I would have to safely say that Bianca is on the bottom of the Inquisitions entire list. Probably somewhere close to Corypheus."

[killedwithlove]

"She has no idea how lucky she is that he still cares or I'd bust open the Veil and drop kick her into the fucking Fade to live with the nightmares of what she did." Cole snapped the words in Cadash's rolling accent, calmly cleaning between his fingers as he did.

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian choked on a laugh, couldn't hold onto it and let out a strangled, ''Hah!' before he cleared his throat. For a few minutes.

"Cole, you know you shouldn't be wandering around in Cadash's head."

[killedwithlove]

"She doesn't mind. Especially when it's about Bianca. So long as Varric isn't here to hear." Cole doesn't actively wish ill on the woman, he just wants her to go away and not come back. The wounds she had torn into Varric screamed at him constantly and he knew he wouldn't help it.

"He hurts so much it feels like he should die, but he doesn't."

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian looked over his shoulder again, and this time his smile was strictly ... scheming.

"Well, let us just say that I plan on encouraging Varric in different directions. So we might put those scars towards healing, and Bianca on the nearest carriage bound far, far away."

[killedwithlove]

Cole looked at Dorian, trying to pluck at the threads of the plan but they weren't the sort of thing he was good at feeling out. "I want to help Varric."

[insurgoaltus]

"Then you will help me in convincing him that there is more than one pretty face go around here." Dorian stated firmly. "I'll even point him towards Cadash, if they give each other the right looks on this trip."

[killedwithlove]

"... Cassandra," Cole added after a moment. "They'd be good together. She wants to be romanced. He wants someone to romance, to have that great flight of passion with.

"Cadash wants to ride him like a mountain pony, but I don't think she's really very romantic."

[insurgoaltus]

"Cassandra? Cassandra? But he hates her. And she hates him." Dorian paused, tilting his head a little, "He even told Bull that it's not sexual tension - it's just ... tension. Is he lying?"

[killedwithlove]

"No. Not lying. Not about the tension. About the hate, yes. They both lie about it, because that's how they are now. They fight and argue but she never worries about someone coming up behind her, because she knows Varric and the nice Bianca have her covered. Varric knows she'd step between him and anything too big for him to take on."

It was complicated. Messy, complicated, full of hurt and smug and fondness and duty.

"There isn't anything between them. But that doesn't mean there can't be. Does that make sense?"

[insurgoaltus]

"I see ... " So they trusted one another to have each other's backs. He rubbed his mustache thoughtfully. "Relationships have been started on less - all right, we'll give it a go. See what we can stir up, eh? Of course we're going to have to work on Cassandra too."

[killedwithlove]

"Maybe Varric would be better with something less emotional first. Like Cadash. Cassandra might scare him." Cassandra was an all or nothing sort of person.

[insurgoaltus]

"Hmmm, that is an excellent point. We don't want to break the poor man his first time out in ... twenty odd years." He clucked his tongue slightly. "Cadash it is."

[killedwithlove]

"Cadash is safe. A friend, no complications, no expectations." He held out his hands. "Clean?"

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian leaned over, then nodded his approval. "Clean. Go ahead and dry off, while I get fresh water to cleanse myself with."

[killedwithlove]

Cole hummed and clambered out of the bath and into a bath sheet, wrapping himself up and starting to dry off.

He sat on the floor, on a plush rug, to dry between his toes. He dried like he washed these days, thinking about everything and doing it by a system.