#radflannel

"You should never have let her introduce the sisters in the Chantry to this syrupy nonsense they call romance," was Dorian's stated opinion. "Though I must confess, it is rather delightful to know that the holiest of holies down here in the south is all but addicted to a serial bodice ripper written by a dwarf she cannot stand."

"I'll have you know Cassandra and I have settled our differences for the most part," Varric retorted, his low voice gruff with amusement. "She doesn't order any Exalted Marches on Kirkwall, and I don't write anything subversive about the Chantry. It works for both of us."

"And yet you persist in trying to capture my glorious personage on parchment as a means to tell the world that your contraption lost out to a terrifying magister." Dorian's chuckle was warm with pleasure. "If I didn't know better, I'd imagine you were even proud of taming a Tevinter trickster."

"Sparkler, you and I both know there's nothing tricksy about you," the dwarf countered, rising from his desk to make his way back to the bed. "You're all front."

"I would venture to suggest you rather like my front," Dorian said, lowering his book with a grin as Varric climbed onto the bed with him. "You certainly have a way with it."

"I don't really have a choice these days, do I?" Varric chuckled, stretching out on the rumpled bedclothes with a comfortable groan. "Not since you showed me what my chain was really for."

Dorian laughed, laying the book aside to roll over and drape an affectionate arm about his diminutive lover's waist. The only thing that could possibly make this time even more wonderful would be the presence of the third member of their loving trio. Sadly, Odinel's mission to seek out Solas had not allowed him to take even a day to join his lovers on this rare reunion.

"I refuse to believe that you did not know that," he said cheerfully. "Honestly, amatus, wearing it so openly and still refusing to acknowledge what it said so succinctly about you? I was shocked."

"I doubt that," Varric countered, propping his head on his hand as his thick fingers stroked up and down Dorian's arm. He liked these quiet moments, though they were too few and too far between these days. "How long before you go back this time?"

Dorian sighed, his smile fading as he contemplated the many burdens waiting for him back in Minrathous. The Lucerni were slowly becoming a coherent political faction, with Maevaris' help, but with that coherence came a greater danger of assassination. The more others listened, the more the corrupt would seek to silence them. The Magisterium was not a place for the faint of heart, nor for the slow of mind. Indeed, he likely would not be able to leave again for quite some time.

"A few more days," he said finally. "Maevaris can hold down the fort a little longer without me, especially since Cullen's volunteer templars took up their positions in the various households we are holding together."

"You know the Merchants' Guild have been pushing for a representative in Tevinter for a while now," Varric began, but Dorian shook his head swiftly.

"It is too dangerous," he said bluntly. "Between the inevitable scandal of our association and the stranglehold Kal-Sharok insists on maintaining for our supply of lyrium, you would be utterly surrounded by enemies on all sides. I will not have it."

"You think I like knowing you're in that same position, miles away from me and Bianca?" Varric asked rather pointedly.

"The difference, my dearest dwarf, is that I am a mage, and a person of influence within the Magisterium," Dorian reminded him. "In Minrathous, you would be seen as a means to weaken me, at best. I have no great desire to place you in such a position. At least here you have your guards and the love of your people to protect you."

"I don't like it," Varric muttered, unhappy to be shut down so sufficiently and with such clarity of mind.

A warm hand curled to his cheek, drawing him into a tender kiss.

"Stay here, amatus," Dorian whispered to him. "Stay safe. I can face anything knowing that you are here, waiting for me to brighten your days with my sunny personality."

Varric snorted with laughter, letting himself be kissed once again.

"You know, Sparkler ... you have a real way with words," he mused. "Care to wager on whose personality is sunniest?"