((Author notes: Firstly, I own nothing of Dragon Age or the characters, with the exception of Cassian here and his personality. Secondly, this was written as a response to a request for a slightly more sexy sequel to Archery Tips. Hope you enjoy.))

Since returning to Denerim, things had not been pleasant for Cassian and the rest of his companions.

The first thing he'd tried to do was return to the Alienage, only to find out that the new arl had locked it down and ordered a purge to sweep through the area. There was no word, in or out, and no one seemed to know or care what had happened after Duncan had taken him away.

Realizing that nothing he could say or do would allow him entry, he turned his attention to one of the other matters at hand: finding Alistair's sister.

They had basic information and a few inquiries here and there in the market soon had them standing outside of her door. Thinking back on their meeting, he found it amusing how he had talked his fellow warden into going in with words of encouragement only to have the two of them met by a shrill-tongued harpy. Living as he had, he could understand the woman's resentment at her lot in life, but what he couldn't abide was her anger toward Alistair.

He'd wanted to meet her. He'd wanted to warn her. He wanted a connection with his family.

All she wanted was his coin and for him to get out of her house.

Add that to the fact that he and Alistair were still considered wanted criminals within the city, by order of the regent, there was only so much that the two of them could do without risking bringing the wrath of the guard down around their heads. And so, information gathering, procuring supplies, and any general duties were relegated to their companions, who seemed to have mercifully been omitted when it came to little things like regicide and war crimes.

Maker, he was tired. He was just so tired.

He hadn't expected the Landsmeet to be a simple thing, but with everything grinding down on him, it seemed a monumental task and one he wasn't sure he was ready for. Werewolves, abominations, and darkspawn he could handle. Human politics were another matter all together.

Retiring to his room, he divested himself of his weapon belt and began stripping out of his armor. He'd just finished draping it on the rack provided when he realized he wasn't alone in the room.

"You can stop hiding now, Zev."

The Antivan tch'ed. "My dear Cassian, you're growing too soft if you just now noticed me. Why, your weapons and armor are...ah." Zevran held his hands up, staring down at the point of the dagger that Cassian held in front of the assassin's face.

"Not in the mood, Zevran." Sliding the blade into the sheath at his back, he removed that as well, setting it on the stand beside the bed. "What did you want?"

"Oh, I'm quite aware of your mood, my dear Warden. I simply came by to see if I could do anything about it."

Cassian walked over to the window and pushed the curtain there aside, letting his gaze drift out over the rest of the city. He didn't want to have this conversation. Not now. Not again.

After their negotiations with the Dalish in the Brecilian Forest, Zevran had approached him a couple evenings after in camp on their journey here. At first, the conversations had been light enough and he thought the other elf was trying to take his mind off of what had happened. It worked, for a time, until Zevran turned the conversation ever so slightly.

He'd made Cassian an offer. A straight-forward offer...of himself. And Cassian had turned him down.

He still wasn't sure how he felt about Zevran and about being with Zevran. The time that they spent together wasn't...unpleasant. Heat started to creep back over his skin as he remembered the time the Antivan had tried to teach him how to shoot. And times after that, when Zev would do...little things that made his skin tingle, or flush, or shiver. They weren't bad feelings, they just weren't anything he was used to.

Being back in Denerim wasn't helping, either. He imagined that if he were to stand on his tip-toes, he could somehow see over the rooftops and peer down into the Alienage. Would he be able to see Soris? Or Shianni? His father? His...wife?

"We could always find a way to sneak in," purred a quiet voice from over his shoulder.

The words were close enough that they seemed to slide over his skin, causing his breath to stagger for a heartbeat. He hadn't expected Zevran to be so close. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"You wish to return to your home, no?" He felt a finger trailing up the length of his arm, the one he had braced against the frame of the window. "We are both very resourceful, my dear. What's to stop us from slipping in somehow?"

The thought was tempting. There were plenty of alleys and walls and side-ways that they could probably use. Walls and locks weren't much of a problem for either of them and they could both remain as quiet as ghosts if the shadows favored them. It would be a simple matter to sneak in and see-

Cassian shook his head. "No." The thought suddenly came to him that if anything had happened to his family, Maker curse him, he didn't want to know. Let them think he was dead at Ostagar and he could continue to believe that they were still living there, poor but happy, as his father would say.

"Then if you are not plotting your route inside those walls, I suggest you stop torturing yourself and put your attention on something other than your past, hmm?" The warmth of Zevran's body was pressed flush to his back. "Like your future, perhaps?"

He swallowed. "I don't want to think about that either."

Zevran grinned. He could hear it in his voice, even if he couldn't see it. "Now you are starting to think like an assassin, mi amor. To live solely for the present."

If he hadn't been braced against the window, Cassian would have staggered, feeling the trail of Zevran's tongue along the shell of his ear, full on from lobe to tip. As it was, he gasped out a surprised groan and tried to turn around.

Zevran's hands came up, seizing hold of his wrists and pinning him between the cool of the glass and the heat of the body behind him. "There's no harm in letting yourself go, Cassian," he purred, letting his lips brush against his ear again. "In enjoying the pleasure of something simply because you need it."

Maker, even Zevran's breath seemed to make him twitch. "Zev, the window, we-"

"We're high enough that no one will notice. And if they do, I doubt they'd be able to tell what we were doing. Especially since all we're really doing is talking, no?" He flicked the end of Cassian's earlobe, again trailing his tongue along the curve and catching the tip lightly in his teeth, a little pinch and then he was back to wriggling his tongue in other places.

"Zev, please!" Cassian leaned closer to the glass, not trusting his legs to keep him up.

"Mmm, how I love that voice of yours, my Warden. Please, what, though?" A chuckle, breath prickling over moist skin. "You wish more of this, hmm?"

The hum sounded right against his ear and was followed immediately by the slide of his tongue along the shell. It was all he could do to remember how to breathe, a choked moan pulling from the back of his throat. Whimpers followed as the attention continued, Zevran taking care to trace along each line and curve of his ear. It was even worse when Zevran groaned, that rumbling against him each time his hips wriggled and it brushed him back against the firmness that he was becoming very aware of behind him.

One of his hands freed, he groped for Zevran's own, only to have his fingers brushed away as the assassin slid his hand over the curve of Cassian's hip, setting boldly between his legs. Him cupping the firmness encased in his breeches had the younger elf bucking slightly, especially as he felt the squeeze and rub of Zev's fingers there.

"Zev, please. I...can't..." His head felt light, as though he'd been awake for far too long but still couldn't go to sleep. It didn't help that his whole body was so warm that even the glass did nothing to cool his skin.

Releasing him just enough to turn him around, Zevran pinned Cassian to the window again with the weight of his body. This time, though, he felt the demanding crush of a kiss breaking up his attempts to catch his breath. His arms wrapped around the other's back and fisted hold of his shirt with one hand, his hair with the other, finding himself dueling with a tongue that darted quick past his lips, stealing gasps as much as coaxing them.

He could feel their lower bodies grinding together, that causing the groans that broke up their kisses. Pulling Zevran closer did little good and Cassian found himself moving instinctively, hooking a leg around the darker elf's waist and tugging him closer that way.

Zevran pulled back from his lips with a breathy laugh, eyelids fluttering as he felt Cassian's insistent rocking of his hips against him. "So eager, my dear Warden?" He leaned close again but instead of kissing, nibbled his way along Cassian's jaw and angled up, catching his earlobe in his teeth again. "But are you ready? Truly? Hmm?"

"You're going to ki-aaah. Mmm." Cassian's words were lost to his whimpers. Zevran's tongue sliding the length of his ear was bad enough. Feeling the press of his hips into his own was enough to nearly drive him over.

"Ki-what?" Mirth deepened the Antivan's accent. "Kiss you? Oh, yes. That and more." Only needing one hand to brace himself, Zevran snaked the other down between their bodies, as much teasing Cassian with his touch as he was undoing the fastens of his breeches. When they were loose enough, he slid his hand inside, causing a hiss and a shudder as his warm palm wrapped around hot, hard, wanting flesh.

Cassian threw his head back, needing the moans that escaped his lips, finding relief from the tension building in his body in their release. Before he thought he'd go blind from the pleasure, Zevran stopped his attentions, making his whimpers turn into a needful, frustrated whine. Hands on his hips kept him from moving and Zev actually used that to push himself back and out of the hook of Cassian's leg, forcing him to both feet once again.

Before he could form the question, he felt fingers curled at his waist, tugging not only his breeches down but his smalls as well. The skim of a hand up the back of his leg drew his gaze downward to a kneeling Zevran. A wicked smile contrasted the look that he saw in those honey eyes, one that assured him his trust was not going to be misplaced.

That didn't stop him from shuddering as he felt the trail of the blonde's tongue along his length. The hands that had returned to his hips kept him from bucking too much, the restraint only adding to the tension in his lower half. The feeling threatened to drive him to his knees and so he braced his hands against the windowsill, forcing himself to keep upright while he gazed down at the top of Zevran's head, watching the movements that came in time with the sensations that were coursing through him.

It wasn't long before the heat of Zevran's mouth had him writhing, the tightness creeping through his muscles causing his breathing to hitch. Even with Zev holding him, he was still shallowly thrusting his hips in time with the other's bobs, letting out whimpers that grew higher each time they seemed to move together. His fingers scraped along the wood as he gripped the sill tighter, back arching away from the window as he threw his head back, a deep moan finally breaking from his throat as his lower half bucked, pleasure coursing through him, causing his whole body to flush and his legs to tremble.

He still felt the twinges of pleasure as Zevran eased back, loosening the tight grip he'd had on his hips.

Cassian sagged to his knees, panting as he leaned into the blonde's embrace, burying his face into the crook of his neck. Zevran's arms slid around him, slim fingers combing through his hair to calm him, coupled with small circles being rubbed up and down his back.

"How sweet mi amor sounds," the Antivan purred. Cassian barely heard him over the thrum of his heartbeat in his ears. As he made to gather the younger elf into his lap, Cassian didn't protest, feeling too exhausted. Still, there was that little part of him in the back of his mind that was trying hard to make sense of what happened and why.

"I...that...you..." Funny how Zevran always robbed him of his ability to speak.

He laughed gently. "I see no harm in helping my dear Warden relax, especially when he's obviously so troubled. Come now, amor, let us get you into bed and perhaps I'll pick up where I left off for you, hmm?"

"Where you...left off?" Cassian let out a noise and wrapped his arms around Zevran's neck as he stood up. He hadn't expected something like this from the other elf. Alistair or Sten, maybe, but not Zev. Perhaps there were advantages to being slight after all.

"Surely you don't think those are the only pleasures I can offer you." Zevran laid a kiss on his ear and he closed his eyes with a huff of a breath. "Though you do make thing so easy on me." A soft laugh.

"Zev, why did you-?"

He deposited Cassian onto the bed, then moved down to finish removing his boots and pants. There was no answer for several heartbeats and then the blonde looked up at him. "To give you a moment's peace, mi amor. All this," he turned and gestured out toward the window, "I can see it weighing on you. I wanted to give you one moment, however brief, that you didn't have to worry about anything. I wanted to let you be selfish without you having to think about it yourself." He moved up and sat beside him on the bed, fingertips brushing through his dark hair.

"It worked." He turned slightly, wrapping his arms around Zevran's waist and pillowing his cheek against his chest. Somehow, being half-naked on the bed didn't seem to bother him as much as it probably should. The other elf was right. He did feel relaxed. And very comfortable like this, enough that he started to drift off, swearing he heard soft laughter as he did so.

Heavy footsteps and then a pounding against his door shattered their respite. "Cass?" It was Alistair's voice. "You need to come to Eamon's study. Quick. You're going to want to hear this..."