For DADW, "We can never be together kiss"
I have been sitting on this prompt unsure what to do with it for a very long time. I found something! More Dorian x Lavellan pining. What else? Added to the canon prompts collection!
@dadrunkwriting
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Taren Lavellan was having a rare good day.
Most days were productive. Busy. And that helped. He had made certain friends, or at least there were people around to support him, to ask for assistance, to count on to have his back in the field, and that helped too. Cassandra was good with a shield, and never shied away from giving advice. The Iron Bull was good with a greataxe, and never shied away from a drink. Sera was growing on him, or he was growing on Sera. She was never shy, at least, and never let him feel like more than he was.
Then, there was Dorian.
Dorian made him feel like… like the most important person in the world, when he was warm. And like an idiot when he wasn’t.
Today, he had him hooked with the former.
A rare good day. Not just productive, not just busy, but good, after that. They’d made inroads and progress in the Hinterlands and then made it back to Skyhold in one piece. There had been celebrations. Warm food, fresh ale, music. Taren sat at a table in the Herald’s Rest, and almost forgot that he was the Herald in need of it. Sera let him teach her a few Dalish dance steps. The Iron Bull poured him too many pints. Dorian stayed by his side, laughing and talking with the crowd of them, smiling warmly, leaning close.
He left with him, too, when Taren stumbled out of the place with claims that it was time for him to actually rest.
He seemed to have gotten Taren’s various clumsily dropped hints.
They walked through the courtyard, a place where they often stopped to talk in passing. Dorian would find him there and share tidbits of gossip and exaggerated frustrations. Taren would find himself looking for him there, looking for him to lighten the load of the very real frustrations and unhappy whispers which often followed him around.
The courtyard in the daylight was something of a mixed blessing; there was the sunlight, the scents of familiar herbs growing surprisingly well in their orderly little planters, the birdsong and the mountain view, but also it was a popular spot. Josephine’s tours of interested nobles chattered through with indiscreet judgement, Chantry sisters stopped him to appraise his supposed divinity and desperately attempt to remedy his incorrect faith, Templars eyed him warily. When he found Dorian there, his swagger could sometimes outshine all that. He knew how to navigate nobles and castles, judgmental glances and too-invasive questioning. Taren did not.
But now, in the cloudy twilight, the place was empty. Quiet. Peaceful. And, technically, his.
Taren stepped lightly across the cobblestone to the old gazebo, tipping his head back to inhale the cool air and admire the hazy sky as he did. The early night stars were mostly obscured by low-hanging mists and the grey day’s still lingering clouds, but they twinkled delicately through the night. A thin sliver of moon cast a little light over the shadowy courtyard, and inside the shelter it was nearly fully dark. Taren took a seat on the bench inside, and pulled out his pipe.
Dorian leaned on the stone pillar of the structure and watched him. Taren lit the pipe, inhaled, released a long stream of earthy smoke, and held it out in offer. Dorian stepped closer, blinking in the dark. Remembering, Taren cast up a small orb of magical light.
Wordlessly, they smoked together. Dorian took a seat beside him, and took his turns with slow, contemplative draws. Taren leaned into his shoulder, and the mage did not move. It was warm, comfortable, if a little stiff.
“Dorian,” he murmured finally, his arm reaching into a hold around Dorian’s back.
“Mm?”
“Come up with me,” Taren proposed, words drunkenly drawled, but clear, “to my quarters.”
“Inquisitor…”
Dorian only ever called him Inquisitor when he meant to say no.
“If you want to.”
“Wanting is not the —” Dorian pushed himself from the bench, leaving a cold spot upon Taren’s shoulder in his wake, and stood. “We can’t,” he said, facing him, handing back his pipe. “You know that we can’t.”
“Why not?” Taren looked at him plainly. Dorian’s eyes flicked quickly away. He sighed, frustrated. Taren knew why they couldn’t. They had had this conversation already — Taren had confirmed this decision already.
“You don’t really want that.”
“I do. As do you.”
“You’re drunk.”
“As are you.”
Taren stood too, leaving his pipe on the bench to smoulder. He took a step closer, Dorian did not move. He extinguished the light.
He kissed him.
Dorian’s face was cold, his skin chilled by the high mountain air. His lips responded warm. His hand found Taren’s waist. He tasted of the tavern’s terrible wine and elfroot. Taren must have too.
“You’re drunk.” Dorian said again, letting go, stepping back. Cold air rushed in between them. “We can’t.”
And then he left.
Taren sat back on the stone bench in the dark. He did not need the light to see Dorian pace away, without backward glance, to disappear through a door in the stone of the castle walls.
He finished his pipe alone.
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EDIT: CHECK MY LATEST ADDITION BEFORE YOU START SHIT IN THE NOTES, THANKS.
warning for discord users
If you're on the app, immediately go to your dms and then "add friends". After the latest update they allow your contacts to find you and have that option turned on by default, so make sure it's unchecked!
This is very obviously not great for a multitude of reasons, but especially for people in vulnerable positions who do not want people in their contacts to see who they are on discord and/or know they have discord in the first place. I've also tried finding out if this is a thing on desktop but haven't been able to find any mention of it, so either it's not a "feature" (yet) or they've hidden it. Either way, stay safe, and turn off finding friends via contacts!
[ID: three screenshots from the discord app with circles around the buttons to press to get to this "feature". 1: the messages/DM button, 2: the "add friends button", 3: in the add friends page, the "allow contacts to add me" checkbox. /END ID]
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