Title is from "Dreams" by the Cranberries.

(Cross-posted to Ao3 under my pseud taslin_strider)

I'm in the midst of a DA:I playthrough as Adaar. Hope you like tooth-rotting fluff!

"I thought I'd find you here."

At the sound of Cassandra's voice, Meraad glanced up from the large, ancient book he had been poring over in preparation for a slate of meetings the next day. He shifted in his chair and looked over his shoulder, bracing a hand against the desk.

The door was open, so he should have heard her footsteps echoing across the vault before she entered the library. Especially since her purposeful strides were usually loud enough to make Leliana's spies cringe.

Huh. He never used to get lost in his reading like this. Not before it all became so… urgent. Back at the village school in Ansburg – a few decades ago, although it felt as if a lifetime had passed – he'd been more likely to fall into daydreams or doodle in the margins of a valuable book. Somehow he still managed just fine. More than fine. Enough to draw embarrassing concern about his wasted potential.

You could get by if you listened carefully and asked questions. A difficult but valuable lesson for a restless student, or a bewildered young mage, or a Vashoth mercenary just trying to survive.

Sometimes, though, all you wanted was to hole up in a basement library for some peace and quiet or go for a walk to be alone with your thoughts. One day he'd taken a walk down a long, empty corridor in a temple full of mages and templars he'd been hired to guard. Nobody had checked on that part of the building in a while. He told his kith he'd be back in half an hour.

Anyway, enough of that. Here was Cass, and in the dim light of the braziers he could just make out a smile on her face. His heart leapt.

"Am I that predictable?" he asked, a grin tugging at the corners of his wide mouth.

Cassandra climbed the low steps that led to the round chamber where Meraad sat. She leaned against a bookshelf adjacent to him, crossing her arms as she did so. The wine-colored shirt she wore was rolled up at the sleeves, just over the swell of her biceps. Her short black hair was slightly disheveled, the kohl around her eyes slightly smudged. Maker, she was beautiful. Had it really been two months since they started courting? (Not the word he would have picked, but it made Cass happy, so.)

"Every day, you wake at dawn and do fifty push-ups," she said, a teasing glint in those honey-brown eyes under sharp brows. "No matter where we are, you come back from the river or the baths smelling of the same soap you always use. Then you shave, and you hum to yourself."

"Do I, now?"

Cassandra began to reply, made a face, and turned to brush a mat of cobwebs from her shoulder.

"C'mere." Meraad gestured to her with a small toss of his head.

She wiped a hand on her pants and rested an elbow on the back of the chair, leaning over him. "Yes, you do, and I happen to like it."

"But you don't like it when I make you Antivan coffee."

"You drown it in milk and sugar! I cannot drink the stuff without fearing my teeth will fall out."

"Point taken," Meraad replied, planting a kiss on the long red scar that ran down her cheek.

Cassandra sighed. "Thank you, though. It was very–"

"Sweet?"

She made a disgusted noise. Meraad chuckled, very pleased with himself. He scratched absently at the base of his curved horns, making a mental note – horn balm – that promptly sunk under a pile of other, more important ones.

It didn't escape Cassandra's notice. She ran a thumb over the spot that itched, then swept her fingers through his thick, glossy hair, loosening it without undoing the knot he'd neatly re-tied after training drills this afternoon. He wouldn't mind if she untied it now.

"At night, you are either here, or at the tavern playing a round of cards," she continued, her voice now enticingly close to his ear. "And the latter is far less often these days."

Meraad sighed. "Less often than I'd like. But, you know, got a job to do." And a job that needed to be done well, he reminded himself. "Why aren't you there with them?"

"I was, but it's nearly midnight," Cassandra replied.

"What?!" Meraad practically leapt out of his chair. As soon as he stood, he was hit by a wave of exhaustion and wobbled a little.

"You need to sleep, my love," said Cassandra, stabilizing him. She reached up and gently cupped the side of his face. "I need to sleep. Will you join me?"

Meraad cast a regretful glance at the book propped open on the desk. "I suppose the rest of this chapter on Valeska's Watch can wait until tomorrow. My room, then?"

"Unless you have developed a sudden preference for my pallet above the armory."

"Cass, we tried that already. I can't even fit on that thing."

"Then it's settled." She pulled him down for a quick kiss, then took his hand and led him out of the library.

Much later, on the edge of sleep, Meraad rolled over and mumbled something that had been on his mind for the past week.

"You could move your things up here, you know."

Cassandra let out a small "huh?"

"I've got space. I… we…" He trailed off, feeling a nervous twinge in his stomach. "There's space."

"So much space," she murmured, flinging an arm around him.

"More than I've ever had in my life. Could fit my entire kith in this room. Or your library of smutty literature," he added, with a grin.

"Hah. Yes. Next to your gardening books."

He kissed the top of her head. "Will you think it over?"

"Ask me again in the morning," she replied, her breath warm against his skin.

"All right."

"...Meraad?"

"Hm?"

"I do not mind your coffee so much."

"Hm."

"Can you make some tomorrow?"

"Course." He struggled against the tide of sleep, trying to find the right words. "And... I'll make it taste more like coffee."

Cassandra laughed. Within a few minutes, she was breathing slowly, still wrapped around him. Meraad held her and tried to clear his mind of a barrage of anxious, jumbled thoughts about their upcoming trip to the Emprise du Lion.

Meetings tomorrow, then packing.

First, though - the balcony, and a cup of coffee with his favorite person.

Maybe all this shit was weird, as a certain friend of theirs liked to say.

But some of it wasn't so bad.

Thanks for reading! :)