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[shok_ebasit_hissra]

It was late when he texted Dorian, just to warn the mage that he was on his way home. He'd promised he would; some nights it wasn't an issue, but Bull just had a feeling when he left the Bramford earlier. He hadn't been wrong, apparently. He took the elevator, even if he didn't trust it, because he'd taken a bad blow to his left leg and the idea of walking up all the stairs proved more daunting.

He leaned on the wall as he went down the hall and let himself into his apartment. He liked that Dorian spent the night; he liked that Dorian spent the night even when Bull had to work. It would be just as easy for Dorian to get an undisturbed night of sleep in his own apartment, but he was always there. Bull liked seeing him, asleep and relaxed and somehow taking up three quarters of the massive bed.

Bull landed on the bed more heavily than he meant to and he hissed, teeth grit against the pain. He breathed through it; it wasn't the worst pain he'd ever had. He was annoyed that it had slowed him up at all. Bull leaned down to work the brace loose, to take it off so he could remove his boots, at last. He might not bother changing for bed.

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[propertool]

The trouble with being a mage, living in an apartment building, in a city, was that the Fade even in Darrow reflected the material world that it shared space with. The heat rolling in unexpectedly had left the building with cranky, exhausted people, and their emotions resonated through the Fade.

Dorian's dreams had been odd and unsettling. He'd not fallen into a deep sleep yet, not as he normally did.

Bull's landing on the bed bounced him gently awake, and he sat up, groggy and a little matted, to squint across at Bull.

"Bull?" he asked. Even before he had all of the sleep scrubbed out of his eyes, he could tell by the set of Bull's shoulders that something was amiss.

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"I'm here," he answered, voice quiet and a bit worn. He slid his hand so he could touch Dorian, to reassure him if he needed it. Before long, though, he withdrew his touch so he could get his shirt off, hunching forward as he slid it off over his horns. Then he sighed and sank back, just laying there for a moment.

"Were you asleep?" he only asked because Dorian sounded unexpectedly coherent, if not alert.

[propertool]

"Barely," Dorian said. He was reluctant to get into the details, for Bull wasn't always comfortable knowing them. Bull hadn't a lifetime of dealing with the Fade to numb him to the horror of it all quite yet.

He rested a hand on Bull's chest.

"I was a little bit there, and mostly here. Don't worry on my account."

Dorian gave Bull the warmest smile in his repertoire. It was still a little slack from the late hour.

"Your leg is bothering you?"

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"I always worry about you, kadan, even if I'm not doing it loudly." His hand covered Dorian's, squeezing gently. The other lifted to pull off his eye patch.

"Had a chair broken against it." Bull bounced at a few different places, and most of the time, his size was enough to make anyone think twice when he came to escort them out. But some people were too drunk or too bolstered by attention to know when to quit. "Didn't go down, but it made the walk home rough."

[propertool]

"I know you do. And I appreciate it, even though it seems like I don't." Dorian could defend himself -- probably. But the thought that someone was worried about him was still comforting.

Dorian moved to lean over Bull, smoothing his hands over his shoulders, and across his chest, just below. Soft, sweeping touches.

"I could do something for it. Or, get you some aspirin from the cupboard. What happened? Disagreement about what constitutes as 'enough' to drink?"

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"Something like that," he confirmed. "Most people aren't out of their minds enough to try something. Some are." And this was the first time since coming to Darrow that his blind spot had been well and truly exploited. "I was grabbing one man to help him out and his friend slammed a chair into my leg."

Bull considered Dorian's offer, and after a moment, he nodded. "You can do something," he said quietly. "Let me get further on the bed first."

He pushed himself up slowly to avoid knocking into Dorian. His eye patch went on the nightstand. He maneuvered himself until he was fully, properly on the bed, legs stretched out.

[propertool]

Dorian went to work on Bull's leg with the familiar dull green glow of magic. His fingers slowly worked the muscle there, trying to get the effect as deep as possible. He regretted, sometimes, not looking into the skill more. But it hadn't been the work of a magister's son.

"All that for money." Dorian sighed. They would need more of it soon, and he bloody well knew it. "It's such a pity. And it still hurts my pride a little, not to be able to throw daddy's money around. Maker, that makes me sound awful."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull chuckled. "I've been banged up worse during missions with the Chargers," he pointed out. "Only difference is I had to hold back." He couldn't kill anyone, and it would be frowned upon if he hospitalized anyone. Even in self defense.

He gently combed his fingers through Dorian's hair while he worked. "It doesn't make you sound awful. It was a resource, and then it wasn't. I'm sure it was a good one, when you had access. Never mind being somewhere that your title meant something."

[propertool]

Bull's fingers in his hair, as always, were a delight. They had more roughness than his own, but they were just as gentle when they touched, if not moreso. Dorian had never had to learn to be gentle in his touch.

"Thank you, amatus. For your understanding. It's been a long time since I could flash a seal and get what I needed. Even longer since anyone would ever consider calling me Lord Dorian of House Pavus. I wish I was as blase as Cassandra about it all."

He worked his hands down to Bull's knee, and cupped it.

"At any rate, even if I had all of the money in the world, you would go out looking for a fight. Nincompoop."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull inhaled sharply when Dorian reached his knee. But he remained still; as terrible as he was for Stitches and any other healer he'd ever run into, Bull did know how to behave.

"No one here whispers Ben-Hassrath or Hissrad with terror, so I know the feeling." He gave Dorian's hair a light tug. "And I would. I miss it - I'm good at it - and I like it. If I weren't so willing to bend rules, I would have been happy in the Beresaad.

[propertool]

"I could, if you want. Provided you're into that kind of roleplay. Certain comments I recall suggest you might be."

Dorian gave Bull a lopsided smile. When he felt certain whatever damage was knitting itself together, Dorian changed to a dull, wet heat, reflected by the way the energy gloved over his hands glimmered to red.

"For what it's worth, Bull. I'm glad you made it out of the Beresaad. We might've been on very different sides of things if time had unfurled differently. And I ... I don't think I can take that thought."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull chuckled and shook his head. "Mmm, the whole holding you down and conquering part? I think I can mange that without role playing," he teased, his eye warm as he looked at Dorian.

He sighed when the energy Dorian was using changed and he sank back, laying flat while the mage worked. He would never let anyone heal the leg fully; he'd been told by a few that it had been too long anyway, that the damage was done. That was fine.

But having someone to soothe it was a relief.

"Mm, I was never properly in the Beresaad - those guys ether can't stand the Ben-Hassrath or are scared shitless at the mention of them. We worked next to each other, sometimes, but not usually together." He reached up, letting his hand brush over Dorian's cheek. "We could have. But here we are."

[propertool]

Dorian tipped his cheek into Bull's hand and gave a sigh.

"I still honestly don't know entirely how we got here. But every moment I can have with you is precious. Even being here, it feels like cheating."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"I don't know if it's cheating if neither of us planned it," he pointed out, smiling at Dorian. "Now come down here, I'm not sitting up again."

His leg was good enough; if it was still stiff tomorrow, his heat pad would suffice.

[propertool]

Dorian gave a soft and indulgent laugh, before pulling himself against Bull's side and throwing the blankets up over both of them.

"Are you going to sleep in your work pants? They smell like booze and fryer grease. Need some help with them?"

Dorian tugged at the hem with a single teasing finger. It was far too late to get up to anything vigorous, but they could lay next to each other.

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"Well when you put it like that," he sighed. But he smiled again and lightly nudged Dorian. "Go on, I'll help as much as I can," he promised. He'd shift his weight however Dorian needed as he worked everything off.

[propertool]

Dorian moved enough to hook his other hand on the other side of Bull's trousers. He shimmied them down, one hand and then the other, as Bull lifted himself just enough for Dorian to work pants and underwear own his legs, and then off.

He kissed Bull on the injured knee while he was down there, and followed it with more gentle, warm kisses, up his belly, and finally to his mouth.

The last was deep and lingering.

Then, Dorian threw himself back into his spot, and pressed himself against Bull's side, nude. The skin against skin was comforting. Bull was there. Dorian threw an arm over him.

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull held Dorian's face as they kissed, his touch tender. He loved this mage. He never thought he'd get close to one like this, never mind fall in love.

He chuckled when Dorian flopped back into his spot. Bull turned carefully and held Dorian against him. "Are you working tomorrow?"

[propertool]

"Mmm." Dorian wormed his cold toes beneath Bull's calves. "I am, in the morning. How about yourself?"

He shuffled a little, getting himself comfortably nested against Bull, wrapped beneath the blankets. Dorian liked to be warm. Especially if he'd purposely left the window open to make the room itself cooler.

"Might I suggest that you take the night off tomorrow, even if you do have a shift? Too much activity too soon won't be good for that knee."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

"Dorian, you should be sleeping," he murmured, sounding just a bit guilty as he held Dorian against him, intent on keeping him warm. He kissed Dorian's hair.

"I have a shift, but I'll call out. I'm no use to anyone if this leg stays stiff."

He was quiet for a moment, then said, "You said you weren't really sleeping. What was keeping you up?"

[propertool]

"Shush," he said. "That's why coffee was invented."

He was quiet as well, after Bull asked. Dorian wanted to give himself a chance to come up with a response that wouldn't possibly cause a late night argument. One that wouldn't make Bull worry too much. For he did. He worried about so much. He worried about demons. And perhaps now most of all, he worried about Dorian.

"Summer is demon season. Must be all that fetid swelter. The weather gets too warm, people get cranky. The Veil is ... very thin here. I'm sure it doesn't surprise you, considering all the rumors about this building. Another reason I'm eager to move."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

There wasn't much Dorian could have said that would make Bull more eager to move than that. He'd had his own rough experiences in the Bramford not long after he arrived, but that had been a different kind of spirit. Bull had finally met Noah face to face in October, but by then Dorian had put wards - or whatever - all over his apartment.

"Mmm, good reason," he rumbled, cranky about that idea. But there wasn't anything he could do about it; he wouldn't be upset to move out, that was for sure. "Just be careful," he said quietly. "I know you are, I know. But I'm saying it anyway."

[propertool]

"I know the dangers better than anyone," Dorian said, not as a rebuff, but an assurance. He kissed Bull in the center of the chest, and rested his head there. He had to admit, much as they all teased Bull, his bare chest was very comfortable to rest on.

"It's just a little tense in the Fade, tonight. Feels like there's a nightmare lingering out there somewhere. I was trying to avoid it; literally and figuratively. So I was just skirting the edge of sleep. If it keeps up, we can always just demand a sleepover at Cremisius' place in High Gate. I'm sure that 'my mage is worried he might poke a hole in the Veil' is an excuse he would pay attention to."

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull brushed his fingers through Dorian's hair, over the back of his neck and then up again, cradling his head gently. "Stay with me," he murmured. Maybe it was a strange thing to say, but he'd seen nightmares now, and he didn't want Dorian running into one. He couldn't stand the thought of him being attacked in the Fade, where Bull couldn't protect him.

He huffed a quiet laugh. "Krem would get a kick out of that. Both of us sleeping at his place to avoid demons... and yes, I think he'd begrudgingly accept that excuse."

[propertool]

"I'm not afraid. Just ... utilizing an abundance of caution. If Solas were still here, things would be a bit different. He knew a spell that could strengthen the Veil, at least temporarily. I never could get the hang of it, when he showed me. Pity ... you know, his style was very similar to my family's. Apparently, my ancestors stole most of their techniques from the Elves at some point."

Dorian realized what he was doing, and who he was doing it to, and laughed a little guiltily before grabbing Bull by the hand and threading their fingers together.

His expression turned plotting.

"I'll stay with you. Maybe I'll even see if I can't pay you a visit. Ensure we both have very good dreams."