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“Does it still hurt?” Admittedly, there was a good chance this was a dumb question, but Dorian could not help it. He looked at the stump of the arm that was left over now. It looked wrong in some way, albeit this might just be a side-effect of him being not used to it.
“It does not hurt, no,” André said. “Not anymore.” His voice was hollow, though.
It had been a month now, since the man had last confronted Solas.
Dorian would certainly love to say he had seen through the elf since the beginning. But he had not. For certain, the man had been a strange one. But so many things outside of Tevinter were strange to him, so Solas had not stuck out especially.
He dared to touch the stump. A clear cut right above the elbow. Magic had healed the actual wound, but it could not restore the lost flesh.
He shivered, when he touched the scarred tissue.
André tried to smile. “It is better than being dead, love.”
“I will most certainly agree with that, Amato. I could not bear to imagine you being dead.” This was not even a lie. “I would not want to either.”
André did not answer instantly. Normally he was one to have funny replies. Stupid ones at times, but funny. He was a flirt. Especially for a pious man like that. But right now…
“You still look exhausted, Amato,” Dorian said. He raised his hand, running it over André’s cheek. “Are you sleeping enough?”
“Admittedly, I do not. I have nightmares. I am dreaming of the Fade, recently.” He evaded Dorian’s gaze. They both knew that he had never been supposed to see the Fade, given that he was no mage.
Ah, yes. This was one of those things, wasn’t it? Dorian was not a man who ever had been good with the more delicate feelings. He could blame his father for it, and maybe that was right, but it did not change the fact he was not good with it. As such he hesitated, but finally decided to wrap his arms around the other man.
“Come here, Amato. I will tell you what we will do now. We will make sure you get a good meal, a warm bath, and then I will give you a massage to the best of my abilities. Mind you, those might indeed not be the best. But I will try, Melculus.”
Much to his surprise his dear Inquisitor seemed to just melt into his arms. Oh dear, Dorian really would need to take care of him now, wouldn’t he?
At least for once they were at his home. His own home, though after living in Skyhold for more than a year it did not quite feel like that. Still, there were servants here – paid, free servants now – that he commanded. And who would be able to whip up a proper supper for the two of them. And maybe some tea.
Of course, this being Tevinter, or at least the outskirts of the empire, it would technically be able to acquire a proper sleeping potion. But a gut feeling told him, that this dear man was not quite as open to that idea.
These days Dorian was able to see all those dark and ugly things about his home, about Tevinter. And yet, he was quite adamant that at least Tevintan bathing culture was something the other realms could learn from. Of course he was also aware that he was living in relative luxury, having his own little bath house at the corner of his family mansion. Under normal circumstances, he might have been adamant that his dear inquisitor did the whole tradition switching between tepidarium, caldarium, and frigidarium to properly get his circulatory system working again, he assumed for the day it was fine for the man to just soak in the warm water. André would be staying here for five days, there was enough to take care of those other things in the future.
Right now the man was sitting there, uncomfortably scratching the stump of his arm. “I will admit, the warm water feels good.”
“Of course it does, Amato,” Dorian said. “It helps relax. Especially after a long ride on horseback, right?” He smiled.
“Yes,” André replied.
“We will let you soak for a while, then give you a good wash and rinse, and then we take care of everything else.” Dorian shot the man a smile. “You are aware I am worried about you, no?”
André closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before opening his eyes again and looking at Dorian. “I am aware of that.” Another deep breath. “And I am honored.” He turned awkwardly, given that he was sitting to Dorian’s right in the water, meaning the stump was now at Dorian’s side of him. Still, he turned to take Dorian’s hand with his own right one.
By Andraste, Dorian right now had no idea how to deal with this man. Normally André was confident and showed his weakness only in the sweetest form. This was not the man he had gotten to know in Haven and later Skyhold.
Of course it did not change his feelings. But Dorian quite literally did not know how to be the doting one in this relationship.
“There is lots of things I want to show you,” he said. “Tomorrow. Once you are properly rested. For now, how about we get you properly washed?”
“Am I not already clean enough?” André clearly tried to joke, though his voice did not carry it fully.
“Not until you tried the bath oils.” Dorian got out, climbing out of the caldarium pool.
Of course the bathhouse was not quite as big as a common thermae in the city, but it was his own and they were alone.
He got some of the soaps and bath oils from the wooden shelf, before gesturing for André to sit on one of the stools.
André was a bit clumsy, as he climbed out of the pool. It was clear he was still struggling with his balance, which Dorian guessed was connected to losing the arm, too. But the man managed, coming over to sit down on the chair.
“Really, Melculus, you should feel honored by this,” Dorian said, trying to keep his voice light. “After all, I am a Magister soon, and still here I am, taking care of you.”
“Then I am feeling honored,” André said.
He allowed Dorian to clean his hair with one of the oils, before soaping up the body.
At least one thing he could say now. André was quite tense. His back felt as if it was made of rock or metal. Dorian could only imagine it to be painful.
There he was going. Being worried about this man.
He took a bucket with water, rising the soap off, before succumbing to quite the tender feeling, wrapping his arms around the man. He kissed the nape of André’s neck. “Be careful. I might not let you go.”
“I think on the long term, you might need to take that up with the Chantry.”
“Ah, I see an international incident coming up,” Dorian joked. “But that was always just a matter of time, wasn’t it?”
He could feel the other man breath, but then it seemed at least André was smiling. “You inciting an international incident? Oh, yes. That was always a question of when, not if.”
“Yeah, that was what they all said, when I was but a boy.” Dorian let go of the man, twirling the side of his own beard.
At least there was bit of light back in the man’s eyes now, which was good. A start at least. “Now, I did promise you a massage, didn’t I?”
André sighed. “Will you manage without breaking my back?”
“Ah, Amatus, I will give no guarantees.”
When they finally were in Dorian’s bed chamber, it had grown dark already. It was the thing about Tevinter. Winter or summer, the days and nights were close in how long they lasted. While back in Skyhold it had been quite a difference, here it was not, maybe night fall a lot earlier.
“Lie down, Amatus,” Dorian said, while leaving the room again. They had oils for massages here. He knew that, he only had to find them.
And while it did take him several minutes, he eventually did.
When he came back to André – closing the door behind himself – he found the man with his one arm underneath a pillow, looking over to him. He had undressed once more, while the twilight of the room somehow made the scars on his body more visible.
“You really look as if you could use a good night’s sleep.” Dorian went over to him.
“I might,” André replied. He looked at the flask in Dorian’s hand. “What do you have there?”
“Something that might prevent me from breaking your back. Probably.” Dorian smiled, before straddling the man’s legs.
He had received enough massages himself, he reasoned, to understand how it worked in theory. It could not be that hard. He had rubbed his own neck, when it had gone stiff, too. Even though this was something he technically had never really tried.
The oil was mixed with herbs, that were supposed to warm the muscles just a bit. He hoped it would work.
When he let some of it drip onto the man’s back, he could smell them. It was a somewhat spicy smell. Like a well spiced supper.
He eyeballed how much he would need, before starting to massage the other man’s back.
One thing was for certain: his dear Inquisitor really seemed to be made up of just one giant muscle tension right now. As such even just the mildest bit of rubbing of those stiffened muscles got the man to groan with pain.
Dorian felt almost bad about it, albeit knowing that it would hopefully lessen the pain after a bit. He continued doing what he was doing, until him pressing down on the muscles in the lower back got an especially pained groan from the man.
“Are you alright, Amatus?” he asked.
André grunted. “Well, you promised to break my back,” he tried to joke.
“Indeed I did,” Dorian replied. “Though it feels you might have already broken your back on the horse. And there I thought you were a good rider.”
“I was a good rider,” André replied. “It just turns out everything is different, when… Well…” He moved the stump of his arm.
“I assume that makes sense, yes.” Dorian sighed. “I am almost glad you were no archer.”
“Sera once told me she knew someone who could do archery with their feet,” André mused, before giving a pained howl as Dorian continued.
Dorian still smiled just a bit, as he felt a bit of liveliness return into the man. “That does sound like a person Sera would know, yes.”
He continued for a while, until he started to sense the muscles become a bit smoother. The grunts given by André turned lighter, too, less painful. In fact, they were more reminiscent of something else by now.
And some part of Dorian could just not help himself. He leaned down, kissing the other man’s neck once more. “You know what you start to sound like, no?”
André turned his head to the side, looking at Dorian from the corner of his eyes. “I have a somewhat accurate idea, I think.” He tried to turn around onto his back, though he needed two trials before succeeding.
He laid beneath Dorian now, looking at him. With his right hand – the one that was still good – he took Dorian’s own, holding it tenderly. He smiled at him, though there was still so much hurt shimmering inside his eyes.
With a tuck on Dorian’s hand, he made clear what he wanted. Dorian understood it quite well. He leaned down, kissing the man’s lips. A soft and gentle kiss.
It was true, though. He would rather lose the man’s arm, than the entire man. Because for once, he was actually in love with someone, and felt confident about this. For once it was feelings and not just a convenient distraction from everything else going on in the world forsaken by the Maker – or whatever the Chantry was saying about it.
“I do want to say that you need sleep more than this,” Dorian whispered against the other man’s lips. “But I might be too egoistic of a man for that.” With one hand he found André’s cock, that was not quite hard, but no longer limp either. And given that the oil that was still on Dorian’s fingers was said to increase circulation, it was maybe not surprising, that him just softly rubbing it, made the cock turn hard rather quickly.
A soft whimper came over André’s lips. Albeit the man’s skin being almost as dark as Dorian’s own, the blush on his cheeks was somewhat visible.
Dorian kissed the man once more. “I am rather good at this, am I not?” he whispered. “The entire concept of seduction.”
“You are,” André said. His breath was shallow now.
“It does help with the sleep, doesn’t it?” Dorian looked at the man questioningly, waiting for a proper answer.
“So I have heard.”
Dorian could not help a little smirk. He considered how to go about it for a moment, and maybe his mind was in too much of an experimental mood, as he took some more of the oil, spreading it over André’s cock, before shifting his own position.
He did give a somewhat surprised yelp himself, as the cock pushed into him. The oil made the sensation certainly strange. It was a light burning. Not quite painful. He was not sure if he was to call it pleasurable or not.
He looked at André, who stared right back. Once more he took Dorian’s hand and pulled him into a kiss.
“We are feeling experimental today, don’t we?” he asked gently.
“Well, apparently we are,” Dorian whispered.
He did not start to move. Not yet. Maybe because he tried to get used to the sensation. Or maybe because he wanted to soak in the closeness it offered right now.
He breathed slowly, as he considered their situation.
André had sworn what remained of the Inquisition to dear Cassandra, or Victoria. Some part of Dorian wished they had just abolished the entire institution. It was egoistical, maybe. But in that case there was chance for André to stay with him. Now, these meetings would be few and far between.
André’s hand was gliding along Dorian’s thigh. There was something else in the man’s eyes right now. Something sad, but something other than that, too. Dorian did not quite have the right word for it.
But he knew what the man wanted. Another kiss. This one long and breathless. A kiss between lovers. The first one of this kind today. The actual kiss one would suspect between two lovers who had not seen each other for weeks.
He waited a while, until he started to move.
Dorian was still not sure if he liked the sensation from the oil. It was interesting, that much was certain.
He sighed, doing his best to hold his balance. Normally they would be wilder – but that had been when his dear Inquisitor had all his limbs fully attached. Now, well… It seemed it would take some time to adjust to this all.
But he was alive. André was alive. They both were, in fact. All things considered, the likelihood of this scenario was rather small, no?
Now they were here. They were together. At least for a couple of days. They were moaning softly, their bodies moving in unison.
There were sighs, and whispered nothingness. A slow and steady rhythm for now. It was not quite like the last time – but things had changed since then, and for now… For now slow and sweet might be the thing they both were in desperate need of.
They were continuing like this. Slowly. Steadily. With one hand Dorian was stroking his own cock, intensifying the sensation even more. There was no need to hurry though. And for once it did in fact take a whole while.
He could sense when André was coming closer to the climax. The man was moving a bit more hastily, his voice deeper as he groaned. For a moment his face tensed in what was close to a grimace, before he relaxed a bit more.
There was just a short moment. Another short moment before Dorian allowed himself to finish. Only then did he climb off the other man, looking around his room for a rag or something to clean them both off with.
He found the towel André had been carrying from the bath.
And not soon after, he was lying next to the man.
Admittedly, Dorian liked to be the one to cuddle up to his partner. But for today he reconsidered this. He paused, before extending his arm. “Come here, Amatus,” he said softly.
André understood. He came closer, pressing himself against Dorian.
“At least I will have you for a few days,” Dorian mused. “And I am going to make sure you will get a bit better.”
“I never have taken you for the caring type,” André muttered. Based on the smile on his face it was half of a joke.
“Oh, I dare you to tell anyone about it,” Dorian replied.
André closed his eyes, putting the stump of his arm onto Dorian’s chest. “I will try to hold back,” he whispered. His breath was going slower now.
The poor man was exhausted indeed.
Dorian sighed, before carefully caressing the arm. “Sleep for now. Amatus. Sleep. We will see about everything else tomorrow.”
