"You can be my spell," he murmurs sleepily as he shrugs out of the dirty robes and for once doesn't care about leaving everything in a messy heap on the floor. "I'm the spell to get you out of your clothes, after all."
Anders bends a little to help Nate get the tunic on him and then smiles and leans forward so he can slip his arms around Nate and stand there for a few seconds. This is warm and comfortable. It's a shame he can't just sleep like this, really. "You are my favorite person and I've been daydreaming about cuddling with you the whole walk back. Let's, please." He shuffles his feet forward a little as if he's going to knock Nate into bed and fall in too.
Nathaniel clings and carries him down to the bed with him, wrapping around him like he has missed doing the last two nights. Or the last one night, if you still count this moment as night. Frantically he tries to remember, before falling back into sleep, that he is going to wake Anders with breakfast in bed. He can't have eaten sufficiently all this time.
Soft, warm, hazy, the heartbeat he loves against him, Nathaniel makes sure he keeps awake long enough for Anders to settle against him and fall asleep before he drifts off himself.
When he wakes, Anders is dead asleep. Nathaniel has to very delicately extract himself to avoid waking him. He tiptoes out to the cookfire, spoons groats into a bowl, takes a few thick slices of ham, fries a few eggs, makes toast, and snitches a pot of jam. There is hot coffee as well, and he pours a share of it for them both before sneaking back and setting the tray by the bed, leaning down to kiss Anders awake. He can go back to sleep after eating something, of course, but at the moment, the food is hot.
He hasn't slept this soundly in a long time - it's a combination of being exhausted and feeling completely safe and with someone he loves. He sleeps so deeply that he's not even sure where he is for a couple of moments other than 'with Nate being kissed.' Then the smell starts sinking in and he blinks his eyes open. There's food. Hot food, no less, a whole tray of it.
"Oh, Maker." Anders scoots up and kisses Nate back. "How are you this amazing? Climb in, eat with me? How was your, were your days?" It hasn't really been that long, but it *feels* long. Especially now that he can cozy up with his husband and eat breakfast.
Nathaniel climbs into bed, his spirits high at last, after so long without his Anders. "I got a lot done. Nothing very interesting. Mainly I pined, constantly, for someone delivering a baby I will probably never meet. It isn't the longest we've been apart, but the longer we're together, the longer it feels."
He picks up a knife and starts spreading jam over toast. He hasn't bothered with a hot breakfast the last couple of days either, but he has eaten proper meals. He doesn't supposed Anders has done so.
"What about you? I want every detail." He misses when he can't share details with Anders in person.
"I missed you terribly when I'd time to think." Which had been a lot in the beginning, and not that much after.
The ham is what he starts in first, grabbing it with his fingers and skipping the fork entirely. Food is amazing.
"It was one of the longer deliveries I've done. Not the longest, but up there." He's talking with food in his mouth and he's not actually embarrassed about it. Dinner might have been forgotten last night when he stumbled back, and lunch might have been skipped, and... he can't actually remember when he ate last.
"Baby girl, healthy, looks about like every newborn - squished face and wrinkles everywhere. She'll look like her own person in a few weeks, and don't breathe a word to any new mother that babies all look alike... but they do." He gives Nate a quick grin before spreading jam over his own piece of toast. "They're adorable, don't get me wrong. They're just all smushed when they come out."
And with that profound bit of information, Anders proceeds to devour his toast.
"The last baby I really got a look at was my nephew." Nathaniel nuzzles Anders' hair briefly before crunching into his toast. "I thought he was beautiful," he says with his mouth full, "but he was ours, so I can't say I was unbiased. He did look like a lump of red dough, in retrospect, but he was ours."
Now a poke at one of the eggs, causing the yolk to run everywhere so he can dip his toast-with-jam in it. It's delicious. He grabs a bit of ham and inhales it.
"Things are nearly in order for Ansburg. Not a long journey, but there will be a lot to do. A lot to consider. But frankly I've spent two days with my head in that and I'd like to think about anything else."
He reaches over and grabs another piece of toast to dip it in Nate's egg. Nate gets a grin and a kiss on the cheek before Anders eats his 'stolen' bite.
"Family makes all the difference. I've no doubt the baby is the most beautiful one Pel's ever seen, and Cyril and Merrick too. And let's not talk Ansburg if you'd like a break. We can talk about how I can't remember the last time I slept as well as I did last night. Or how I've not had breakfast brought to me ever before that I can remember. Basically, we can talk about how wonderful you are and you are everything I could have wanted to come home to last night. Especially after the end there; Pel hemorrhaged. She's fine now, there's nothing to worry about. But that was exhausting on top of everything else."
She'd been one of the first to be kind to him after his identity had come out. Pel means more to him than he thinks she knows.
A muffled chuckle at the peck on the cheek. Nathaniel stirs the porridge and tastes it.
"There's butter in the porridge," he announces with satisfaction. "The fat will do you good." He listens to the story quietly, stacking his ham and the remainder of his egg on a piece of toast and crunching into it. At the end, he gives a kiss to the top of Anders' head.
"I am so proud of you," he says sincerely, with food tucked in his cheek. "It felt endless enough for me. It must have been harrowing for you and her. But you saved her. You're a wonderful healer, Anders."
If he wasn't so tired, he might have tried to kiss Nate and taste the porridge that way. If he wasn't so tired and hungry he'd have pulled Nate on top of him, really. Anders wants to celebrate bringing new life into the world with what makes him feel the most alive and connected, but his body simply doesn't have the strength so instead he sticks a spoon in the porridge and starts eating it with a hum of approval for how it tastes.
He stops eating at Nate's gentle approval, pausing so he can take a few moments and simply lean against his husband. Knowing he's a phenomenal healer is one thing. Getting approval is entirely another. Praise is such a rare thing in his life and Nate means it which means all the more.
"Thank you." The rarity makes it all the harder for him to know what to say to it, though. "I... I appreciate hearing that, love. I know it. But I don't hear it often at all."
"People often take their healers for granted. Like a server at a tavern, maybe, they don't want to praise anyone for doing their job. But you don't just patch wounds. You think on your feet, you act accordingly and stay calm. There's so much skill in what you do. My chest was crushed and you still saved my life. That took unimaginable skill."
Anders reaches up to rest a hand on Nate's chest. With Mercy's help, the act no longer causes a wave of overwhelming guilt. He still feels a little responsible, though.
"It's how I survived. If I'd not had that much skill with healing, I wouldn't have gotten seven escapes." His skill had saved his life as much as it had saved Nate's. "And I couldn't have forgiven myself if I'd lost you."
He would have gone on. He would have made sure Nate's sacrifice wasn't in vain. But every day would have been a painful struggle, instead of the delight of waking up to Nate beside him nearly every morning.
Anders snuggles close, resting his head on Nate's shoulder and resuming his meal.
"I wish every mage could heal. I think sometimes that's the only way Circles would never come back."
"I promise you it won't be the only way." A kiss against golden hair. "Your school will be part of how it sticks. Wait and see, my love. History doesn't go backward. "
The Dalish had lost everything, between the Imperium and the Chantry. They're a reminder of how quickly everything can be stripped away, no matter how firm the promises had been made, or how strong the magic was. But even so, Anders has to try.
"I'll do all that I can to make sure it doesn't," he says before taking one more bite and starting to relax. He's stuffed. That doesn't happen often. He's also taking the day off, he's decided, which is happening more often than it should. This will make two days this month. At least he doesn't have to deal with the outrage from Justice for this. "But that can wait until tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow, and so on."
One more kiss against his hair, and Nathaniel settles back with Anders. He can work a little from home, since it's been two days he's spent without Anders.
"Go to sleep. Rest, and," his voice goes low, "I'll wake you up the way you like to be awoken."
"You certainly know how to make promises." Nate gets a blindingly warm smile before Anders is curling up close and getting comfortable and warm. Despite where they are, getting warm is easier now that they're out of the mountains. And due to who he's with, sleeping is easier too.
He gives Nate's shoulder a kiss before he's drifting off, secure in the knowledge of safety here.
Nathaniel gives Anders a good long time to sleep. Anders has spent an impossibly long time bringing a new life into the world. He needs sleep.
A few hours later, Anders's breathing indicates he is on the gradual climb up from a deep sleep. Nathaniel's fingers swirl in a tin of salve before two of them slip between Anders' cheeks and circle his entrance. It never takes long to prepare him anymore, of course, and Nathaniel would like to wake him with intensity. And seeing those gold lashes against lightly freckled cheeks, feeling the clasping tightness and heat around his fingers, the preparation is more for his own sake than for Anders'. A self-tease, while Anders is still asleep.
With gentle manipulation, he moves Anders to his back and spreads his legs. Then he is pushing inside him and wrapping a hand around his cock, treating Anders as if he is conscious, so that he will wake to the maximum pleasure he can muster for him.
His dreams are happy and light, even if he can't say exactly what they were about as he stirs. It's lost in the warm haze seeping in to his sleep, heating his blood and making his heart pound.
For a brief second he's disoriented as he wakes, and then he knows exactly whose cock is buried deep inside him and whose hand caresses him so intensely. Anders gasps as his hips move involuntarily, hands clenching in the bedsheets as pleasure sweeps him into an awakened state.
There are no words he can manage just yet, grogginess and sudden arousal stilling his tongue. But he can moan and so he does, a pleading noise for more as he shivers around his husband's cock.
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Anders bends a little to help Nate get the tunic on him and then smiles and leans forward so he can slip his arms around Nate and stand there for a few seconds. This is warm and comfortable. It's a shame he can't just sleep like this, really. "You are my favorite person and I've been daydreaming about cuddling with you the whole walk back. Let's, please." He shuffles his feet forward a little as if he's going to knock Nate into bed and fall in too.
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Soft, warm, hazy, the heartbeat he loves against him, Nathaniel makes sure he keeps awake long enough for Anders to settle against him and fall asleep before he drifts off himself.
When he wakes, Anders is dead asleep. Nathaniel has to very delicately extract himself to avoid waking him. He tiptoes out to the cookfire, spoons groats into a bowl, takes a few thick slices of ham, fries a few eggs, makes toast, and snitches a pot of jam. There is hot coffee as well, and he pours a share of it for them both before sneaking back and setting the tray by the bed, leaning down to kiss Anders awake. He can go back to sleep after eating something, of course, but at the moment, the food is hot.
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"Oh, Maker." Anders scoots up and kisses Nate back. "How are you this amazing? Climb in, eat with me? How was your, were your days?" It hasn't really been that long, but it *feels* long. Especially now that he can cozy up with his husband and eat breakfast.
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He picks up a knife and starts spreading jam over toast. He hasn't bothered with a hot breakfast the last couple of days either, but he has eaten proper meals. He doesn't supposed Anders has done so.
"What about you? I want every detail." He misses when he can't share details with Anders in person.
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The ham is what he starts in first, grabbing it with his fingers and skipping the fork entirely. Food is amazing.
"It was one of the longer deliveries I've done. Not the longest, but up there." He's talking with food in his mouth and he's not actually embarrassed about it. Dinner might have been forgotten last night when he stumbled back, and lunch might have been skipped, and... he can't actually remember when he ate last.
"Baby girl, healthy, looks about like every newborn - squished face and wrinkles everywhere. She'll look like her own person in a few weeks, and don't breathe a word to any new mother that babies all look alike... but they do." He gives Nate a quick grin before spreading jam over his own piece of toast. "They're adorable, don't get me wrong. They're just all smushed when they come out."
And with that profound bit of information, Anders proceeds to devour his toast.
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Now a poke at one of the eggs, causing the yolk to run everywhere so he can dip his toast-with-jam in it. It's delicious. He grabs a bit of ham and inhales it.
"Things are nearly in order for Ansburg. Not a long journey, but there will be a lot to do. A lot to consider. But frankly I've spent two days with my head in that and I'd like to think about anything else."
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"Family makes all the difference. I've no doubt the baby is the most beautiful one Pel's ever seen, and Cyril and Merrick too. And let's not talk Ansburg if you'd like a break. We can talk about how I can't remember the last time I slept as well as I did last night. Or how I've not had breakfast brought to me ever before that I can remember. Basically, we can talk about how wonderful you are and you are everything I could have wanted to come home to last night. Especially after the end there; Pel hemorrhaged. She's fine now, there's nothing to worry about. But that was exhausting on top of everything else."
She'd been one of the first to be kind to him after his identity had come out. Pel means more to him than he thinks she knows.
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"There's butter in the porridge," he announces with satisfaction. "The fat will do you good." He listens to the story quietly, stacking his ham and the remainder of his egg on a piece of toast and crunching into it. At the end, he gives a kiss to the top of Anders' head.
"I am so proud of you," he says sincerely, with food tucked in his cheek. "It felt endless enough for me. It must have been harrowing for you and her. But you saved her. You're a wonderful healer, Anders."
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He stops eating at Nate's gentle approval, pausing so he can take a few moments and simply lean against his husband. Knowing he's a phenomenal healer is one thing. Getting approval is entirely another. Praise is such a rare thing in his life and Nate means it which means all the more.
"Thank you." The rarity makes it all the harder for him to know what to say to it, though. "I... I appreciate hearing that, love. I know it. But I don't hear it often at all."
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"It's how I survived. If I'd not had that much skill with healing, I wouldn't have gotten seven escapes." His skill had saved his life as much as it had saved Nate's. "And I couldn't have forgiven myself if I'd lost you."
He would have gone on. He would have made sure Nate's sacrifice wasn't in vain. But every day would have been a painful struggle, instead of the delight of waking up to Nate beside him nearly every morning.
Anders snuggles close, resting his head on Nate's shoulder and resuming his meal.
"I wish every mage could heal. I think sometimes that's the only way Circles would never come back."
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"I'll do all that I can to make sure it doesn't," he says before taking one more bite and starting to relax. He's stuffed. That doesn't happen often. He's also taking the day off, he's decided, which is happening more often than it should. This will make two days this month. At least he doesn't have to deal with the outrage from Justice for this. "But that can wait until tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow, and so on."
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"Go to sleep. Rest, and," his voice goes low, "I'll wake you up the way you like to be awoken."
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He gives Nate's shoulder a kiss before he's drifting off, secure in the knowledge of safety here.
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A few hours later, Anders's breathing indicates he is on the gradual climb up from a deep sleep. Nathaniel's fingers swirl in a tin of salve before two of them slip between Anders' cheeks and circle his entrance. It never takes long to prepare him anymore, of course, and Nathaniel would like to wake him with intensity. And seeing those gold lashes against lightly freckled cheeks, feeling the clasping tightness and heat around his fingers, the preparation is more for his own sake than for Anders'. A self-tease, while Anders is still asleep.
With gentle manipulation, he moves Anders to his back and spreads his legs. Then he is pushing inside him and wrapping a hand around his cock, treating Anders as if he is conscious, so that he will wake to the maximum pleasure he can muster for him.
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For a brief second he's disoriented as he wakes, and then he knows exactly whose cock is buried deep inside him and whose hand caresses him so intensely. Anders gasps as his hips move involuntarily, hands clenching in the bedsheets as pleasure sweeps him into an awakened state.
There are no words he can manage just yet, grogginess and sudden arousal stilling his tongue. But he can moan and so he does, a pleading noise for more as he shivers around his husband's cock.