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Dorian did not much enjoy traipsing through forests and deserts, and mountains, and the countryside. It was too hot or too cold, or it was too dry or too wet. But he kept his complaining to a minimum because then Salvi would leave him at Skyhold, and that was worse. Sitting in the library, fretting about his safety, oh no, he'd much rather be by his side, even if it meant not being in the nicest places.
There was one upside to travelling like this: there was a really nice view. Not of the landscape or anything like that. No, travelling like this meant he got to watch Salvi all day long. There was an especially great view at the moment, as Salvi scaled a cliff-face.
“We can just go around, Inquisitor.” Cassandra politely suggested.
“That will take longer, and we'll be able to conceal our approach this way,” Salvi explained.
Dorian wasn't really listening, watching carefully each and every movement. Fully covered by his armour, Dorian couldn't see his body beneath it, but he knew what it looked like, and he could imagine how those muscles pulled taut as he climbed.
“Alright,” Cassandra sighed, resigned to having to climb another cliff. “Dorian, you follow next, then Sera, I'll take up the rear.”
“Rear.” Sera snickered and was met with a piercing glare from Cassandra.
“Do grow up any day now, Sera.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Fun is for people who don’t have to save all of Thedas.”
“This is why I’m his best friend, you’re just work all the time.”
“I will not squabble like children over who is whose best friend,” Cassandra said.
Dorian noticed however a twitch in her jaw. Her feelings on this matter were stronger than she was letting on.
“But if we were, it would be me.”
“Please,” Sera scoffed. “You said yourself he’s like a little brother, meaning I’m his best friend.”
Dorian shook his head at their back and forth, grinning, he added, “I think you’ll find I have you both beat.”
“Stay out of this, Dorian.”
“Yeah, just cause you two are all lovey-dovey now doesn’t mean he likes you better.” Sera placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, I think it does. What? You think he likes you better?”
“I know he does.”
“I can hear you all,” Salvi announced from where he’d stopped in his climb.
“Apologies, Inquisitor.”
“None are needed, just stop debating which of you is my best friend and start climbing.”
“It’s me, though, isn’t it?” Dorian and Sera asked at the same time, then they glared at each other. Sera, his best friend, how ridiculous.
“Enough,” Cassandra cut in. “Dorian, start climbing.”
Dorian took up position on the cliff, doing his best to follow the same path as Salvi. His view from where he was positioned under Salvi was much more enjoyable. It mostly went very smoothly until Dorian may have gotten a little distracted as he watched Salvi crest the peak of the cliff and missed a foothold, almost slipping, though he caught himself quickly.
“Watch it!” Sera shouted.
“Dorian, pay attention to where you're putting your foot. I'd prefer not to have you and Sera crush me.” Cassandra admonished, the sound of a rock clinking off her armour.
“Yes, sorry, full attention.” As he reached the top, Salvi clasped his arm to help him up.
“A little distracted?” He whispered in Dorian's ear.
“You know what you’re doing with those trousers,” he replied.
Salvi chuckled, releasing his arm to help Sera and Cassandra up as well. Then they kept moving. Salvi had been correct; they were able to conceal their approach, surprising the group of Venatori and much more quickly getting the upper hand on them.
“I’m guessing there’s something valuable in those caves,” Cassandra said as she and Salvi surveyed the bodies.
“We should probably find out what it is.”
“My bet is on red lyrium,” Dorian suggested.
“Hm, mine’s on weird magic stuff,” Sera countered. “Anytime we come across something people want, it’s either red lyrium or weird magic stuff.”
“Ten silvers.”
“Cheap, I thought you were rich.”
“I don’t have access to my family fortune. But I was suggesting that because I didn’t think you’d have more.”
“I knew you were nothing but a snotty noble.”
“Hey, he’s also one of those nobles you always complain about.” He inclined his head towards Salvi. “And he’s not been cut off from his family’s money. He’s filthy rich,” he said with the gravitas that someone would reveal a long-buried dark secret.
“Yeah, but he’s not snotty like you. Or a brat.”
“Oh, that he is, you just haven’t seen it, and that’s why you’re not his best friend.”
Scowling, she crossed her arms. “So, fifty then?”
“Deal.” He agreed, and they shook on it.
“How about another twenty if we can get him to admit who his best friend is?”
“What, so I get twenty if he says it’s me?”
“Or I get twenty if he says it’s me.”
“Unlikely, but you have yourself another deal.”
“Come on, you two!” Salvi called from where he and Cassandra had moved to the entrance to the cave.
They’d been walking for a bit when Dorian sidled up to Salvi. “So, which of us do you like more?”
“I like all of you,” he said, eyeing Dorian with suspicion.
“That much is obvious, but who is your best friend?”
“I can’t have more than one.”
“No, that’s the point of them being your best friend, there is only one.”
Salvi rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to the tunnel, surveying its ceilings. “You don’t think it’ll collapse, do you?” He asked Cassandra.
Cassandra’s gaze followed Salvi’s. “No, it looks sound.”
Dorian fell back in step with Sera. “No luck, on the best friend,” he whispered. “It’s definitely me, though.”
“Well, he’s not going to admit to your face that it isn’t you, is he?”
Dorian scowled; she did have a point. “You try then.”
“I will.”
That was when—as he hadn’t been paying attention and didn’t notice Salvi stop ahead of him—he walked straight into him. Unfortunately, Salvi had stopped because they’d come to the end of the path, Dorian bumping into him had knocked him off balance, and he started tipping forward. He reacted quickly, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him back just as Cassandra threw out her arm in front of Salvi, and Sera grabbed the hood of his coat, also stopping him from toppling over the edge.
“Sorry,” Dorian apologised quickly.
“Just a little scare.” Salvi patted his arm. “But try not to do that again.”
Dorian nodded. Yes, from now on, he would pay full attention to where he was walking.
Salvi turned back around, looking down over the edge. Dorian too looked over.
“Hah, red lyrium, told you. Fifty silvers, pay up.”
“Ugh,” Sera groaned. “Fine, it's yours when we get back to Skyhold.”
“We should destroy it,” Cassandra said, ignoring both of them.
Salvi unclipped a grenade from his belt. “How many of these do you think will do it?” He looked over, squinting as he tried to calculate it.
Cassandra did the same. “I think three, just to be safe. We want it gone in one blast if we can.”
“That would be wise.” Salvi nodded, unclipping two more from their slots on his belt.
Sera’s face lit up with glee. So used to Salvi’s usual approach being stealth that she was delighted he was going more her route this time. “I knew I was a good influence on you.” Then to Dorian, she said, “See, totally his best friend.”
“Alright, well, get ready to run.” He waited only a moment more before throwing them over the edge.
They all took off running, covering good ground in the few seconds before the explosion. Sera laughed maniacally as she turned to watch the cavern light up and then crumble in on itself. “This is the best!”
Her joy was ruined by the sound of a war horn. “I’m guessing there were other Venatori, and they’ve noticed we’ve destroyed their red lyrium,” Dorian sighed.
“We don’t know how many there are,” Cassandra pointed out as they started running again. “We should get out of sight, let them pass us by.”
“Yes, ok,” Salvi agreed.
They kept moving for only a little while before Sera stopped them and pointed out two small spaces opposite each other. “In here,” she said.
“Yes, good spot.” Cassandra ushered in.
Dorian squeezed quickly into the space on the other side. Holding out his arm to help Salvi.
“I can’t,” he said. “I—”
“Come on.” Dorian grabbed his arm and pulled him in.
“No—” but his protest was cut off as he slotted into the space.
Dorian looked over at Cassandra and Sera on the other side of the tunnel; they had smartly squeezed in side by side, rather than pressed chest to chest like Salvi and he were, giving them a little bit more room.
Dorian looked back at Salvi, who had his eyes screwed tightly shut and was taking deep, slow breaths, or trying to as they’d stutter occasionally. He also would not stop shuffling, and while that was not unusual for him, it was a bit more excessive currently.
“Stop wriggling,” Dorian urged, because it was very distracting. “They’ll spot us if we make too much noise.” He could hear the telltale sound of incoming soldiers, though it was hard to tell how far out they were.
“Dorian, I—” he started, his breaths were coming out quite sharp. His eyes had gone wide, too, flitting around in panic. “I can’t— I—” he started and stopped, unable to finish a sentence. His breathing had gotten very fast, bordering on hyperventilating.
Oh shit. What did he do? He looked over at Cassandra and Sera. “Cassandra,” he whisper-shouted.
She looked over, saw the state that Salvi was in and cursed under her breath. “Help him.”
Salvi had actually started hyperventilating now, and he was shaking too, a sheen of sweat settling on his face.
Dorian had no idea what to do in order to help him. Cassandra did seem to know, though, miming a steady breathing motion with her hand. “Amatus,” Dorian said, turning back to Salvi. “I need you to breathe for me, ok.”
Salvi nodded to indicate he understood, seemingly not able to speak properly at the moment. Then he tried to follow the breathing pattern Dorian had copied from Cassandra, but he couldn’t quite do it, though, and he was very clearly frustrated by that.
“Can I touch you?” Dorian asked, it didn’t seem like a very good idea to just reach out with the state he was in.
Salvi nodded, still trying—and failing—to calm his breathing. His gaze flicked away from Dorian again, flitting around, focusing on the walls. “I—” he started, but never finished screwing his eyes shut again.
“Don’t look at anything else,” he assured, a hand on Salvi’s neck. “Just look at me, alright.”
Salvi’s eyes opened, and his gaze focused intently on Dorian.
“Good.” Dorian took his hand and placed it on his chest. “Now, copy mine. In. Out.” It seemed to work better. “In. Out,” he repeated, his voice barely even a whisper.
Steadily, Salvi managed to calm his breathing until he was in sync with Dorian. Then finally, he let out a sigh of relief as the shaking stopped too. Just in time, too, as the group of soldiers they’d been hiding from ran past. His head fell to Dorian’s shoulder as he kept taking deep breaths.
Dorian didn’t think wrapping him in a tight hug was the best move right now, so instead he started rubbing his back in a soothing motion, being very careful to avoid all the weapons strapped to him. He didn’t stop until Cassandra moved at last after she was sure there weren’t any more.
She squeezed out of the narrow space and, faster than Dorian had ever seen her move before, was over at them and helping Salvi out too. “Sit down,” she urged.
He did as he was told, letting out another sigh of relief as he leaned his head back against the wall. “I’m ok,” he insisted.
“Are you sure?” She asked, kneeling in front of him, laying one hand on his shoulder and the other on his arm.
Salvi nodded, though his breathing was still a little shaky. “Yes, don’t worry.”
“I’m sorry, I had forgotten,” she said, very apologetic. “I won’t again.”
“Not your fault.” He covered her hand with his own. “I caused the explosion. I should have known there’d be more of them.”
Sera looked just as shocked and unsure as Dorian at what had happened when the two of them locked eyes. A silent agreement passed between them to put aside the search for answers about his best friend, for now at least.
Later, when they'd camped for the night, Salvi found him lying in the grass a little way away from the camp, looking up at the stars. Almost silently, he lay down, slotting comfortably against Dorian's side, head on his shoulder.
Dorian's arm fell around him, and he pressed a kiss atop his head. “Are you ok?”
“Yes,” he sighed, his fingers idly fiddling with a buckle on Dorian’s top.
Dorian trailed his fingers in circles on Salvi’s waist, hoping it was a soothing pattern. “I take it that has happened before with the way Cassandra was talking.”
He hummed in agreement. “Way at the start of all this, before we’d even recruited Blackwall, we were in a similar situation, and the same thing happened. She helped me through it.”
“I will try to keep you away from tight spaces.”
“Thank you.” He smiled softly. Then paused, worrying his lip between his teeth for a moment before adding, “Sometimes it happens without the claustrophobia setting it off. I used to have episodes, as my mother put it, when I was younger. They’d stopped for several years, but since the conclave, they started again.”
“I imagine that is due to the stress you’re under.”
“Possibly.”
“Have you been hiding it from me?”
Salvi was silent for a moment before he answered, “I didn’t want you to think I was fragile. I also didn’t want to burden you with something you can’t really do anything about.”
“Nothing about you is fragile or a burden.”
Salvi didn’t say anything, but he smiled gratefully.
“I know that we don’t know everything about each other yet, and I understand that there are some things that are difficult to talk about, but I need you to know that you don’t ever have to hide things from me.”
Salvi smiled softly. “Not all of it is pretty.”
“Is anyone’s life? I assure you, if you ever want to talk about anything, I can occasionally not talk about myself and listen.”
Salvi shook his head, a fond smile on his lips. “I like listening to you talk about yourself.”
“As one should, but I can listen when required.”
They lay there a little while longer before Cassandra and Sera appeared. “Room for two more?” Cassandra asked as she sat down beside Salvi.
“Of course.” Salvi rolled onto his back, though he didn’t move away from Dorian.
“Ah, the open air,” Sera sighed, sitting down beside Dorian. “Don’t you love it?”
Salvi laughed. “Yes.”
Dorian looked at Sera, who laughed too, then over to Cassandra, a small soft smile on her lips. Dorian smiled too and took Salvi’s hand in his.
Maybe he could have more than one best friend after all.