Heard this gem of a banter and this is where the feels led me; it's not much but I hope you like it anyway!
'I'm starting to think I'm asking for the impossible', Audrey Trevelyan sighed inwardly. She'd taken Cole and Sera with her to Val Royeaux on her errand for Josephine, hoping that perhaps spending more time around Cole would ease Sera's distrust of the well-meaning spirit.
Unfortunately, the last three days had only seemed to have the opposite effect on Sera. Audrey tried to remind herself to be patient, that a lifetime of fearing magic and just about anything related to the Fade could not be so easily changed, but in the back of her mind, she wondered if she had made a mistake. Should she have just let it be, and let Sera get used to him on her own? That might have been better, but Sera was stubborn to a fault and would never have anything to do with him were it up to her. If she knew Cole's choice haunt was one floor directly above her in the tavern, she'd find a new place to lay her head, even though she loved her nook to bits.
It really shouldn't matter to her so much that they get along, but...sometimes she caught little flashes of sadness on Cole's face when Sera dismissed him and she wasn't so sure that it was always simply due to some hurt he sensed within her. He wasn't the boy that he appeared to be, she knew that, but the knowledge did little to stem the growing maternal feelings he was evoking in her. He was so earnest in his attempts to help others, in his own way, and he asked for nothing in return. Spirit, demon, whatever he was, it didn't matter to her.
"You like to dance, but can't," Cole said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence; she turned to see if he was talking to her, but his eyes were on Sera.
"You hate to sing, but can," he continued, seemingly oblivious to the glares Sera was shooting at him. "You should not paint. It would be very bad if you did."
Audrey let out a surprised chuckle at the unexpectedly funny comment and Sera's glare shifted to her.
"Could someone please shut him up?!" Sera demanded, her eyes meaningfully still locked on Audrey's own. "Or I'm going to shaft him in his creepy little eyes!"
Audrey opened her mouth to tell her to calm down, but Cole spoke first, staring at Sera in wonder.
"You...you called me 'him'!" He laughed, happily thanking her, even as she groaned.
"How do you get so close to being human, and then just...not?!" Sera complained, but Audrey scarcely heard, her eyes riveted on the biggest smile she'd ever seen on Cole's face. His eyes met hers, and she found herself smiling too.
"She called me 'him'," he repeated joyfully, his bright smile blinding in its radiance.
"Yes, she did." Maybe her goal wasn't so impossible, after all.
"It don't mean nothin', you hear me? Bunch of nutters, you lot."