The glass hit the wood with a thump, and Blackwall made a noise of derision. Dorian glanced at him, nursing his own drink with an eyebrow raised. "You didn't have to step in," Blackwall said in a low gruff voice.
"You're kidding, I hope. You did heavily imply that Loghain was better suited for her than Cullen."
"I fucking did," he replied, pressing his head to the wood of the bar. "What was I thinking? I… I have no chance now."
"Did you have one before?" Dorian wondered, pressing the subject a little. Beside him, the bearded man let out an enormous sigh.
"I met her up in her room after we visited that old ruin."
"I remember that one. I've never seen a more awkward conversation in my life."
Another heavy sigh. "I kissed her. Told her I only wanted to be with her but… but I'm a Warden. She would have no life with me. So I left the decision to her."
"… and she ended it?" Dorian wondered, watching as the barkeep poured another round into the dejected man's glass.
"Yeah," he said, raising up his head just enough to drain his new drink. Beside him, Dorian drank a little of his own; he, however, had no desire to be drunk, surprisingly enough. He actually wanted to remember tonight.
"But you must have had other women through your travels. You did travel alone for over ten years, yes? What happened to them?"
"I also never used to stay in one place for long," Blackwall replied after a long minute, sitting back up again and looking mournfully into his empty glass. "If I found a woman, it would be a few days and then I would leave again. Never got attached. Couldn't. Wouldn't let myself. When I joined the Inquisition… this is the longest I've been in the same place, around the same people in over a decade."
"Its good to have friends, Blackwall, right? Someone to watch your back and all that?"
"Yeah, yeah," Blackwall said, finally looking at Dorian. "Shit. I didn't mean to keep you from Solas. Or your research. Or… whatever it is you do."
"Actually I think this is the first time you haven't been lobbing insults at me," Dorian said with a slight smirk, and Blackwall barked a laugh.
"Its not that I don't like you, Dorian. I do. You're alright. For a privledged arse."
"Ah, there it is! I wondered when it would come!" Dorian exclaimed happily, downing the rest of his drink in a single gulp and slapping the man on the back. "Get something in your stomach, stubborn ass, or you'll be feeling it in the morning."
"Oh, is that personal experience there talking?"
"You know it is," Dorian replied, standing from his place at the bar. He gave a salute over to Bull, who was talking with his crew, and to his surprise, Bull called him over. He raised his eyebrows but strode over. Dalish and Sera were sitting and playing cards on a barrel, Grim was tearing up something with a knife, and Bull himself was holding the biggest tankard Dorian had ever seen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Krem trying to serenade the bard. "What's up big man?"
"I heard that Solas left your chambers early this morning, and so I told Bull," Sera said, not looking up from her game of cards.
"And I think still that your man heard it wrong," Bull said, looking around at Sera, who shrugged.
"Whatever right? But just look at the Vint's face. You know its true! It has to be!"
Everyone paused what they were doing to look at Dorian, who somehow managed a smirk. "Is it that unbelievable?" He wondered, fingers to his moustache, and Grim took in a deep, harsh breath, staring up at him. "Is it really now? Why? Do you think I can do better?"
"Actually, I just didn't think that the elf went that way. Not that I care. I just usually can read people a little better."
"He means, 'oh shite look at that I didn't know some creepy things about people before they knew it themselves,'" Sera mocked, turning back to her game. "Surprised the shite out of me too, to be honest."
"What, that Solas loves a hot Tevinter mage or that I didn't know something about someone?"
"Both," Sera said without hesitation, setting down a card.
Bull sighed, looking up at Dorian. "I didn't want to assume because I heard a rumour." He paused, leaning forward a little. "When I heard you two flirting, I assumed it wasn't anything. You making fun of the elf with a stick up his ass," Bull said in a low tone, smirking at his own joke. "Just be careful, alright? Elf gives me a weird vibe at times. Can't place it."
Dorian finally got away a few minutes later, and he made his way back up to the keep, more than a little bit exhausted by the day, but determined not to show it. He passed through Solas's study on his way up to his room, and was not disappointed as the elf followed him.
Solas kept an eye up at the man's ass as they walked up the steps, which, once Dorian noticed, began to sway without shame. He chuckled, and Dorian smirked, opening the door up to his room. Solas promptly closed it behind them, and then found himself pressed to the door, a moustache tickling his neck. He didn't giggle, or chuckle, because he always insisted he wasn't ticklish, but instead just set a hand into Dorian's hair.
"Did you miss me?" He wondered, and the man made a noise in response.
"Actually I was dogged the entire time at the tavern about us," Dorian said in a low voice before he bit Solas's neck. "Quite the scandal, apparently." Solas's hands came to his shoulders, pushing him away just a little, just enough to look him in the eyes, frowning slightly.
"What happened? What did they say?" Dorian looked back at him, a look of exposed emotion showing for a moment before it was replaced by an easy smile.
"Oh you know the usual," he said, turning to start taking off his armour. "'I didn't know Solas was into that' and 'is it really true' and all sorts of rot," he continued with a snort, glancing at Solas. He was frowning, eyes quickly calculating. "Nothing we can't handle, Solas," he said, trying to be reassuring.
"Rumors do spread quite quickly here," Solas said quietly, taking off his bag and setting it down beside the worktable before beginning to remove his boots. "I honestly didn't think anyone had seen me."
"Lavellan saw you, and apparently a servant, because Sera knew all about you leaving this morning."
"Sera," he hissed with much venom, eyes narrowing down at his boots.
Dorian laughed lightly, rolling his shoulders as they were free of leather. "Solas… its alright. Isn't it?"
Solas had to take a moment to gather his emotions and keep them in check. He used that time to remove his boots carefully and set them neatly next to the worktable. "Yes, of course. Apologies, ma vhenan." He stood back up, and Dorian was behind him, arms around his waist, and Solas clutched to him quietly.
"You are alright?" The man wondered after a moment, feet shifting him closer. "You don't…" He trailed off, and Solas leaned his head back, eyes closed as his head rested against his shoulder.
"It's wonderful," he murmured, smile dancing across his lips. "As are you."
"Ooh," Dorian rumbled softly, head tilting down to kiss at his neck again. "Tell me more about me."
Solas chuckled, and was quiet for a moment as he enjoyed the sensation and thought of how to phrase his adoration. "When you state your love for me in unconventional ways, it catches me off guard. You fix your hair after I run my fingers through it." He paused, a hand traveling up to run through his hair, and Dorian grinned against his skin. "You study in history, search for the truth as you know I do. Your tan skin, love of the hot, and humid, yet continuing to live here—your love for your homeland—" Dorian quieted him with a deep kiss, fingers on his chin to achieve it. Solas took in a deep breath, turning a little more to meet it.
"I couldn't leave now," Dorian murmured a few seconds later, eyes down as he worked to take off Solas's belt. It was off in a matter of seconds. "Not with the world to save."
"Is that the only reason," Solas wondered, shrugging off his vest without a second's thought, and he took in a deep breath as Dorian's hands slipped up his shirt, running along his sides.
"One of many," he replied quietly, taking a small step towards the bed, which Solas matched, fingers dancing across his shoulders. "But not, I admit, the one at the forefront of my mine as of late."
"And which reason is that, then?" Solas wondered, taking another step towards Dorian's bed.
"Is that rhetorical?" Dorian wondered, laughing softly, pushing him towards the bed and down onto it. He disappeared from the elf's lips, lifting up his shirt to kiss at his stomach warmly. Solas took in a deep breath, hand in Dorian's hair pausing, and then tugged very softly. Dorian's eyes flashed up to his, a look of half amusement and half caution there. "Its all you, my dear rabbit," he rumbled happily, fingers trailing down to untie his breeches, carefully. His eyes glanced down, but then returned to the elf's. "Tell me if you want to stop," he whispered, and waited until Solas nodded before he actually began tugging down his breeches. "These things need to go, in any case."
"They're practical," Solas said defensively.
"Practical does not mean drab, rabbit. Is my armour not practical?" He wondered, hands tugging the elf up to remove the breeches completely (and then dropping them in disgust).
"All of those straps aren't," Solas said with a slight frown, causing the man to come and kiss him warmly, hands tightening on his hips.
"I am quite strapping, afterall," he murmured against his lips with a smirk, "and you know that you love it."
"I do quite enjoy seeing you out of it," Solas conceded, tugging at his hair again, causing Dorian to groan softly.
"That's almost unfair," he murmured after a moment of their kiss deepening, hips pressing together. Solas laughed softly, tugging again, a little firmer this time. "You're a terrible tease."
"I'm the tease?" Solas wondered. "You were the one who was—"
"You're right," Dorian interrupted, and he dropped down again to kiss at his chest, slowly working his way down to his stomach. Solas's muscles tightened at the feeling, and he took in a deep breath, fingers finding Dorian's hair once more, feeling and watching him descend. He was being painfully slow, taking his time, savouring every lick. Solas raised his hips a little, involuntarily, as Dorian's tongue paused just above the base of his shaft, and their eyes found each other.
It was then that Solas realized Dorian was wanting his… permission. He was being careful, knowing it was all new to him, and Solas found another warm feeling spread through him that had nothing at all to do with arousal. "Don't stop, ma vhenan," he murmured, causing Dorian to smile. His tongue drew up slowly, fingers following warmly, until he reached his tip. Here, his eyes dropped closed, and pulled the whole of his shaft inside him, hand holding his hip to keep him from moving too quickly. Solas simply moaned instead, nails now moving through his hair, down the back of his neck, and back up.
Dorian then tugged his hip up in a quick move, drawing him further in, and Solas responded with another deep moan, fingers clutching to him, hips up before helped back down again by Dorian, and falling into a steady rhythm. Solas lost himself to the pleasure, head back as he focused on the sensations, fingers constantly running through Dorian's soft hair to remind himself of who it was there…. And it only made him harder, and harder to keep control of himself.
"Vhenan," he murmured, eyes back on him. His entire body had shifted, and even in the semi-darkness of the dim room he could see Dorian's pleasure plain in the shape of the seat of his breeches… and the discoloration there. His eyes flick open, up on his in a silent question as he pauses in the movements. "I'm almost…"
The smile that was met with was priceless, and Dorian didn't resume his movements and pleasuring just yet. Instead, a hand slipped under Solas, and a finger found his ass quickly. Dorian kept Solas's eyes with his as he slowly pressed a finger into him.
His entire body tightened in response, but it wasn't an entirely unpleasant sensation, and, as Dorian tested his luck by slowly picking up the pace of that finger, he relaxed into the movements. It sent a new wave of pleasure through him as he adjusted, and he groaned in response, head thrown back again, having to work to keep in his pleasure now. He wanted the release—but he didn't want the pleasure to stop.
The first finger was joined by a second, and at this Solas couldn't keep it in anymore; his heat poured into Dorian, whose movements paused as he deftly swallowed, tongue moving to lick him clean, before his lips moved from around his shaft and to his chest. Eyes up on him, his fingers started fucking him again, other hand clenching at his hip.
Solas took a moment to catch his breath, finding it hard, but he did. His eyes were then down on Dorian's, and he smiled at the man's look. "Fucking amazing," he breathed out, and Dorian grinned, pausing for a second as he leaned up to kiss him deeply. Their tongues met, and Solas could taste the saltiness rolling across his own tongue.
"Do you wish me to stop?" Dorian wondered, palm coming up, rubbing against his sack warmly, but fingers not moving inside of him.
"Never," Solas murmured in response, licking at his cheek. "But—"
"Shush, rabbit," he cut off quickly, perhaps knowing what he was thinking. "It's a long night."