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"All right."

He circles his free arm around Cullen's waist, smiling faintly.

He kisses the top of Alistair's head.

"The fish could hurry," he mumbles. "So we can do more of this."

"Agreed," murmurs Alistair. "Very rude of them, being so late to lunch. I might doze off and miss them entirely."

"I should point out that we've got some time before the fire burns down enough," Cullen says.

Innocently.

"We did have quite an early start. If we rested a while, that would be fair."

Alistair lifts his head.

Looks at Cullen.

As solemn as he can, "You make a compelling point, Commander."

"I think I might deserve a nap. Just a small one."

"Without a doubt." One corner of Alistair's mouth twitches. "You've worked very hard for a very long time. Why don't we set up a bedroll for you."

Edited 2017-01-31 14:02 (UTC)

"Or we could set up both," Cullen suggests, "and engage in cooperative sloth."

"Mm. Even better."

Alistair runs his fingers along Cullen's hairline, tucking a stray, misbehaving curl behind his ear.

"Sloth's not nearly as pleasant alone."

Cullen wrinkles his nose. For show.

(As evinced by the way he pinks, just a touch.)

"We've a plan, then?" Beat. "Let's put a rock on that bait sack, lest your hard labor escape."

"An equally good plan." He smiles. "Don't want them crawling off the dock and giving our fish a free meal."

Alistair sneaks a quick kiss, then heaves himself up to go fetch the necessary rock.

(He is not sticking his hand in the water to try and dig one out of the lake bed.)

Reasonable -- yet Cullen sincerely hopes Alistair will wash his hands post-worm procurement.

He pulls the hook out of the water, and notes with extremely mild irritation that the bait's gone. All the more reason to get back to it after a little rest, he thinks.

Bedrolls, then. Cullen's got every intention of napping in the sun like one of Skyhold's barn cats.

Removing mud takes less time in the frigid water than digging up a rock. Once the bait's secured, Alistair dunks his hands just long enough to scrub them clean.

(Water this cold is just begging to be flung down the back of some unsuspecting person's neck. Not Cullen's, though. Alistair isn't that much of an ass.)

As he returns, drying his hands on the hem of his shirt, his eyebrows rise at the sight of Cullen setting up their bedrolls. "Oh." With some surprise. "Outside, then?"

Rather than backpedal immediately, Cullen gives Alistair a grin that could vaguely be described as impish.

"When's the last time you got to be lazy in the sun?"

"...Probably twenty-odd years ago."

He starts to smile: tentative, but pleased.

"Then it's past time to do it again, don't you think?"

"I suppose it might be."

He settles next to Cullen.

"Very well. I accept your generous and very lazy offer."

"Excellent," he proclaims, and promptly flops on his back, stretching. "No telling when we'll get another chance."

Alistair chuckles. "I'd suggest kidnapping you for a day," he says, and works an arm around Cullen's shoulders. "Take you away to a distant spot in the valley. But I've a feeling that'd only incite panic, no matter how kind a note I left."

Cullen slides over -- just enough to use Alistair's shoulder for a pillow.

"Consternation, perhaps." Thoughtful. "We could enlist a few helpers to keep that to a minimum. Though that might defeat the point of the kidnapping."

"How so?"

He draws his thumb back and forth along the knob of Cullen's shoulder.

"If we enlist the right helpers, I'm sure it could go quite smoothly." Beat. "Though I think helpers of that caliber end up being called accomplices eventually."

"They might prefer that, honestly." Dry. "If one or two were aware of your plan and could vouch for your intentions, that might forestall some of the consternation."

"I'll recruit Lel and Bull, then." He considers his options. "Maybe Cassandra as well."

Cullen groans. "No. Please. She'll chastise me for not working."

And then, horrified: "Or she'll think it's Swords and Shields."

Alistair snorts, not unkindly. "What makes you think she isn't secretly thinking that already?"