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The Iron Bull was really in for it.
He strode through the doors to the main hall. He’d have to face the music sometime, and he’d never been one to shirk angry redheads who wanted to kill him. What a way to go.
In all seriousness, Bull felt bad about how it all went down.
He’d been in bed with Max, like any other morning, and he’d looked down at him…and it was stupid, because he was sleeping with his mouth open, his hair was stuck to his forehead, and he was still the cutest fucking thing he'd ever seen. Bull wanted to see him in all states, and positions, even when they weren’t sexual. He wanted to wake up with him every morning; maybe live to see that gorgeous auburn hair streaked with gray. He wanted to take him on jobs with the Chargers...walk the city streets, arm in arm. And the longer he was with him, the less the whole Tal-Vashoth thing stung.
Qunari had sex. They lived, they loved, and they cared about their friends, but life was transient. You didn't have anything you couldn't afford to lose, and he'd learned early on in Seheron that losing was easy.
Then Bull realized he didn’t want to imagine his life without Max anymore, a man who went against everything the Qun stood for. And if someone could be everything, he was pretty damn close.
The Inquisitor. The man all of Thedas wanted a piece of. Bull was almost guaranteed to lose him to something. It freaked him out. So…..he’d split.
Not one of his finer moments.
As if summoned by Bull's thoughts, he met Tobias on the stairs, who gave him an inscrutable look.
Yeeeeeeah, probably not happy with him either, but honestly, that was fair.
“Hey, big guy.” The Iron Bull did not fidget , but it was a near thing. “How’s it goin’?”
“Other than the fact I had to pour our Inquisitor into his bedsheets in the wee hours of the morning, I’m doing swimmingly. Thanks for asking.”
Okay, very not happy with him.
“Bull, I am going to say this once, and only once.” Toby’s gray eyes were sharp. “Love him or leave him, that’s your business. But you’re going to have to pick one. Do not jerk him around. I don’t want to be forced to retaliate, but make no mistake. I absolutely will.”
Bull read people. That was what he did. He knew sincerity when he heard it. And if there was anything he’d never doubted about Tobias Trevelyan, it was that he would set the world on fire to keep Max warm.
He’d cross him, if he had to. But it would suck.
“No worries,” Bull quipped. “Hear you loud and clear."
“Good.” Tobias seemed to loosen up a bit. “Tread lightly. He is massively hung over and not very happy with you.”
Name of the day. Krem gave him a lecture too, before he’d even sat down.
So, Bull faced the music. Max asked him ' why.' Bull told him, in words that were far too few. And at the end of the day, he was in Bull's arms again, and Bull felt like a fool. The happiest fool in all of Thedas.
"What're you thinking about?" Max asked, backing up just a bit to look into Bull's eyes.
"You," Bull answered, truthfully.
"Well, stop it." Max nuzzled into his chest. "I hate to think I provoke such a troubled look."
Bull frowned. "Hey. This is a ‘me’ problem. I told you that, Kadan."
Max retreated a bit – just far enough to look into his eye. He must have liked what he saw well enough, because he let Bull draw him close again – press his cheek into his hair and kiss it tenderly.
"Okay." Max paused. "Bull?"
"Hmm?"
"You know I'm not going anywhere, right?"
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Could he have any secrets around here?
"You sure you're not a mage?" Bull scoffed, half amused and half annoyed.
"Mages aren't psychic, and neither am I. You're just easy to read. For me, anyway."
"Should've told the Ben-Hassrath that, I'd have been out of a job years ago," Bull chuckled. "And sure, I know."
Neither one of them acknowledged that the day might come when Max wouldn't have a choice. This was a safe space.
The future could come.