Autumn and Spring

Set post-trespasser. Dorian and Varlen are together in Tevinter for a time, but sometimes the smallest discoveries can call forth larger, hollow realisations. So, when Dorian finds a single grey hair, Varlen discovers there is more on his lover’s mind than simple appearances. 

(Dorian Pavus x Varlen Lavellan, 2173 words)   AO3 Link: [X]

Varlen sighed softly, arching his back and relishing the pleasant pull of his stomach muscles as he roused himself from a long night’s sleep. The darkness of the room was well-settled around him, the sun’s demanding rays blocked out by thick velvet curtains. If he allowed it, he could almost fool himself into thinking it was still night. That the ever-encroaching day wasn’t quite there yet, and he could spend just a few warm moments longer with…

… glancing across, Varlen noted with a pang of disappointment that Dorian was no longer lying beside him, all tousled hair and parted lips. Perfect in his looseness. Glorious as he crinkled his nose and breathed gently against the sheets.

Of course he would be up already.

He had been rising hours earlier than normal lately, and although Varlen had been aware of it, he had yet to catch him in the act. Either Dorian was extremely sly about it all, or Varlen was a heavier sleeper than he had led himself to believe.

“Dorian?” His voice was an intruder in the capacious room, dispersing in the air like steam off a hot tap. Varlen closed his mouth, suddenly acutely aware of himself, draped in silken sheets. They were deep burgundy, lavish in both shade and expense. Not for the first time, he felt alarmingly out of place. Tevinter was like a spurned lover – a part of it still tried to lure Varlen in with its relentless charm and warm demeanour. But beneath it all was a sharp danger, and the curling finger that beckoned him was born of spite. Waiting for the perfect moment to knock Varlen down from whatever cloud he might find himself on and remind him of everything he was not. He rejected the Imperium as much as it rejected him, but it was a somewhat imbalanced relationship. After all, Tevinter was a powerful nation, and he was just one man.

But so was Dorian, and Dorian still fought.

So would he.