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The cool morning air brushed against the exposed skin of my back, and I felt the soft rise and fall of Cullen’s chest under my arm. It was strange, the feeling that came over me when I stirred that morning. It was a feeling of peace, and the knowledge that, now Corypheus was dead, I was able to breath easy for the first time in a long time. I breathed in Cullen’s musk, the smell of ash and ale still soaked into his skin. I suppose I had the same smell as he did, though with slightly more ash and slightly less ale. Being able to drink properly for once, Cullen might have gone slightly overboard. But with Varric and Dorian encouraging the behaviour, both hopeful for a repeat of Cullen’s after poker streaking, he didn't stand much of a chance. I moved my hand up to his shoulder, fingers rippling over the scars that adorned his body. More things we had in common. He coughed and readjusted.“Good morning, my love” He said, eyes still shut. “Good morning”His hand came up to my back, one resting on the lower part of my back, the other toying with the ends of my loose scarlet hair. A feeling of warmth and comfort spread through me like wildfire. I always felt so safe when I was wrapped up in them. “ Ar lath ma, vhenan” I whispered, from my heart to his. “I love you too, my darling” He held me even tighter, opening his eyes to look into mine. Smiling, I push up to lay a kiss on his lips. And we simply lay there, allowing the serenity to swallow us whole. That was, until, the door to my chambers burst open. We looked up to see Dorian, a devilish smile across his face, holding a tray of food in his arms. “Good morning” He looked and saw Cullen and I, naked but for the bed covers we had pulled up to our chins, and guffawed. “Perfect timing as ever” “Dorian” Cullen started, aiming to ask him to leave, but Dorian interrupted, already halfway across the room. “I thought to myself this morning, what would be an excellent gift to give my darling best friend and her… special guest? And then it hit me, when technically the cooks rolling pin hit me as I stole the tray from the kitchen, but what else but breakfast in bed! So here I am!” In a slight panic, I smacked Cullen’s arm and gestured to him to pass me his shirt, which lay in a heap next to his side of the bed. Mine was on the floor by the door, to far away. By the time I had it in my hands, Dorian was sitting on the end of the bed, nestling the tray between us all. “Dorian, do you mind? “ I said, holding my shirt up. “Not at all darling” He picked a grape from the bundle and popped it into his mouth. Realizing it was a point on which I need not worry about too much, I dropped my hold on the sheet and slipped into the shirt. Dorian too, was unfazed. Cullen, however, was sitting, mouth agape, at this apparently completely normal situation. He still held the sheet close to his chin. “You can relax Cullen, nothing I haven’t seen before” Dorian said nonchalantly, another grape held between his fingers. Cullen did not relax. If anything, he seemed even more aghast that before. I picked a few grapes for myself and started to eat, patting Cullen on the leg consolingly. “And you know me, not really my sort of thing” Dorian smirked, as did I. Cullen relaxed slightly, but I believe his modest sensibilities would take some time to recover. He dropped his hold on the sheet, revealing his bare chest. “That” Cullen said, giving the commander a definite side eye, “Is my sort of thing”.At this, Cullen pulled back up the sheet, and Dorian and I exploded in laughter. “What’s all this then?” A voice came from the hall. “Who’s havin a laff this early in the bloody morning? Dontcha heads feel as garbage as mine?” Sera appeared in the doorway, pale and unsteady on her feet, holding her clearly pounding head in her hands. “Ah good morning Sera” Dorian said, patting the bed end with his hand. “Do join us for a spot of breakfast.”“Dorian there’s not room for both of you down there” Cullen said, forgetting the sheet for a moment as he sat up against the headboard. “Commander, I do believe you are right” Dorian said, and by the sly look in his eye, I should’ve guessed the plan he had in mind. Swiftly as you please, he lifted the tray, spun himself around ,and nestled down between Cullen and I. The Commander was quite obviously not pleased by this. He huffed a little and shuffled to the far reaches of the mattress. It was still a tight fit. “Don’t pout Commander” Dorian said, flopping his head onto Cullen’s shoulder. “Its unbecoming” Sera scampered across the room, plonked herself cross legged at the the end of the bed, and just started eating the toast. Do you mind?” Cullen spluttered, watching as Sera consumed her second piece of toast. “Not at all, I’ve got a splitting head hey. Though I reckon Varric is worse. Still passed out under a table in the hall” She snorted, just managing to get her words out through a mouth full of bread. Dorian flopping his head over to my shoulder and tutted.“Simply no sense of humour in the morning” He said, pointing a finger at Cullen. “Not so much” I chuckled. “But I don’t mind. I have you for that” “I can be humorous when I want to be” Cullen said, pouting again.“Yeah, I think you got time between being grumpy and being overly serious” Sera said, taking a swig of whatever liquid was in the mug. “Whose being overly serious?” A deep voice came from the hall.“Oh no” Cullen sighed, as he watched The Iron Bull and Blackwall walk into the room. “Looks like there’s a party and no one invited us” Blackwall said, chuckling at the sight of four people on the bed. “Come sit down” Dorian said, patting Cullen’s leg teasingly. “Now, there, you’re invited”. Bull moved and lay straight down across the end of the bed, moving so fast as to barely give Sera the time to hop up onto the bed end. “Oi watch it” More toast in her mouth came spraying out. “I love grapes in the morning” Bull said, grabbing the stem of the bundle and lowering the entire thing into his mouth. “Now there’s a trick” Dorian winked at Bull, who roared with grape sprayed laughter. Blackwall, more sensibly, pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, though chose to put his dirty booted feet up into Cullen’s lap. Cullen made a noise and tried to wipe what loose dirt he could away. It didn’t work.Blackwall snagged a bread roll and ripped at it with his teeth. Though hectic, it was a nice feeling. The warmth of being surrounded by friends, family even. People I love and care about. People who have fought by my side, who I would die for and who would die for me. And as I watched them all, Dorian making inappropriate comments to Cullen, Blackwall and Bull sharing stories from last night’s drunken shenanigans, and Sera laughing at it all. It was real nice. Then Cassandra, Leliana and Josephine walked in through the door. And the look of confusion, befuddlement and outright surprise smeared across their face caused the entire party, Cullen included, to burst into laughter. The walls shook with the noise that erupted, and from that, even the three at the door started to laugh, a confused laugh, but a joyful laugh nonetheless. “Joy. Happiness. Relief” Cole's voice came from behind Dorian. I spun around to see him perched like an owl on the headboard, smiling from under his oversized hat. ‘Friends. Family. Home”. “I need a holiday” Cullen said, giving up on his quest to be annoyed. He smiled to me, past Dorian’s head, and I grinned back. “Sounds great”Dorian turned and looked at me, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Can I come too?”
