#tbh my writer's block tends to be of the “everything i write sucks” variety

[ell-vellan]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @anneapocalypse (thank you!!!) and even though it's Thursday i really want to share a bit more of this upcoming chapter of Aneth Ara that's taking me ages to finish. 😅

@beastofmoss and @thegoblinwitchqueen and anyone who wants to share, please do! and ignore the fact that it's not currently Wednesday

“You never did answer me before.”

“About what?"

“What Dalish word you'd use for me. What's the equivalent of kadan for you? Do you have one?”

"Of course." She huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. But when her gaze returned to his, the pretense fell away into solemnity, and the shy uncertainty crept back in. Her lips parted like she was going to elaborate, then didn't.

"You gonna tell me, or you gonna make me work for it?"

"I should. It would only be fair." El cracked a smile, and Bull's smirk widened. Finally, on quiet exhale, she murmured, “Vhenan.”

El was watching him close and cautious now. Wary, maybe even nervous. Like there was weight to this word. Like maybe this was the first time she'd ever used it this way, with someone.

Or, okay, maybe he was projecting. But he tended to read people pretty well, and El better than most.

Bull slid his fingers through her hair, pushed it back from her face. “Not bad. What’s it mean?”

El gave him an enigmatic, mischievous smirk. "Maybe I won't tell you. Maybe I should make you figure it out on your own, embarrass yourself asking Solas. Good luck finding anything Dalish recorded accurately in a book, by the way."

Bull matched her cocky smirk with his own, still stroking her cheek fondly. "I don't get embarrassed."

"I know. It's infuriating."

Bull laughed. "Tell me. I'll make it up to you."

“One guess.”

He raised an eyebrow, questioning.

Her hand traveled across the expanse of his chest, palm flat against his ribcage, until the heavy thud of his heart met the resistance of her touch.

He grinned. "Say it again."

"Ma vhenan," she whispered, a smile blooming on her face.

An odd sensation swept down his body, like cold but not in a bad way. Something in his throat, choking off any further conversation. Bull tugged her fully back against him, suddenly needing the length of her pressed tight against his skin. Solid, alive, real.

They just lay there quiet awhile, Bull staring up at the ceiling, trying to wrap his head around the possibility of permanence in something he chose, for once.

"Are we sure this is real?" El's voice whispered into the stillness. "You’re not going to disappear?"

Fuck. Different as their backgrounds were, they still had a lot of the same shit in their heads.

He swallowed down an unexpected surge of emotion and managed to affect an easy, confident tone. “Nope. I'm here."

And he wasn't planning on going anywhere. Yeah, he'd probably still roam around with the Chargers after all this, assuming they got an 'after' that allowed it. But now he had a fixed point he could return to. Orbit his life around. A home, and someone waiting for him there.

It was a nice thought, actually.