Some pre-relationship fluff set in @dredshirtroberts fic Lia & Em’s Adventure in Thedas~ Enjoy! :D
Breathing in the sea air, a soft smile tugged at the corner of Lia's mouth. When Varric and Marian had insisted on this detour she had been surprised, but it wasn't far out of the way and they had the time. Being able to follow a whim - even not one of her own - was pleasant. It was hard to find the time amidst all of the obligations the Inquisition threw their way.
She had gotten wary when the seaside town came into view; it had a relatively busy port and the streets were positively packed. And the others hadn't even told her why they wanted to come here in the first place.
'Hopefully I won't have a panic attack if they want to go into the market.' She had thought idly.
It turned out the market wasn't the destination. They had skirted the busiest parts of the town and arrived at an open air cafe near the water, which was where they were currently seated. It wasn't empty, but it clearly wasn't the busiest time of day.
"Not that this place isn't lovely, but why are we here? I honestly expected you two to drag me through the market back when we were first approaching." Lia arched an eyebrow at them.
"At this time of day? We wouldn't do that to you, Sahrena," Varric looked slightly offended.
"Now, now, Varric. Don't be upset, the poor dear does have to deal with people dragging her all over at any given time of the day. I can empathize." Marian said, briefly resting a hand on Lia's arm.
"Pfft. You dragged us, not the other way around, Hawke." Varric scoffed, but had successfully been distracted by both Marian's comment and the slight blush that rose to Lia's cheeks when Marian's hand had touched her arm.
"To answer your question - it is a surprise. And you wouldn't make me spoil a surprise, would you?" Having said this, Marian pouted a bit and put on her best puppy eyes.
When Lia opened her mouth to reply with some version of dropping the subject, Marian cut her off to continue with, "Besides maybe we wanted to take you on a date. Varric has told me all about how much you enjoy tea and this is one of the best places to get it around here - despite what those in Val Royeaux might have you believe."
"Hawke!" Varric hissed and continued by saying something else, but Lia was too hung up on what Marian had said to process any of it.
She blinked a few times, her cheeks flushed, and thought, ' . . . Date? She can't be serious. Gods, why is everyone in Thedas so flirty? They are trying to kill me, I swear. Wait . . . she only said that after - '
"Hey! You're trying to distract me from asking what the surprise is. I wasn't going to pry - I mean, it's not like I won't find out soon enough. There was no need to tease me like that." Her mouth twisted into the slightest frown before she smoothed it out.
Marian looked at her with disbelief. Varric looked at her with resignation.
"Varric, is she ser-" Marian wasn't able to finish her sentence before someone else cut into the conversation.
"Varric, you didn't tell me your friend was cute! Now what am I going to do?"
The voice had come from somewhere to the left and was swiftly followed by another one in the distance saying, "Cute? No fair, Isabela, I wanna see her!"
"Catch up then, kitten. I must say she is quite a sight," Isabela said over her shoulder before winking at Lia, who was flustered all over again.
Merrill finally crested the hill leading up to the cafe and a sunny smile lit up her face at the sight of the blushing Lia, "You're as pretty as Marian said in her letter!"
Lia's eyes flickered between the three women, ears now matching the pink in her cheeks. She went to say something, but no sound came out.
Varric shot them a look, "You should probably tone it down a little, you three. She looks like she's about to faint."
Lia sunk down in her seat, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her. Anything to distract from this mortification.
"Here are your orders! I have an earl grey for - " The waitress doled out their drinks and pastries with a swift efficiency before asking what she could get for the two newcomers and then disappearing.
'Thank fuck,' Lia thought as she immediately hid behind her cup of tea, eyes locked on it like it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.
After about a minute of this, Varric tried to redirect the conversation, "So, Sta- Sahrena, how does the tea stack up against what we have at Skyhold?"
Lia worried her bottom a lip a bit, but was thankful for the topic change, "I prefer what we serve at Skyhold, but they make it to my taste now. I tend to like mine a little oversteeped and that isn't something they would do without knowing and I forgot to mention it. It's very good though. Goes well with these pastries too."
"Varric knows you like your tea oversteeped! He mentioned it in one of his letters - he writes about you a lot. It is really very sweet." Merrill said, not seeming to notice either of their embarrassment and not acknowledging Varric's stressed interjection of 'Daisy!'.
Then she tilted her head and asked, "Why didn't you use her nickname earlier, Varric? You were going to, but stopped yourself."
"Yeah, Varric, why'd you stop yourself?" Isabela grinned, looking between the two.
This time it was Varric who was left speechless and before he could collect himself, Lia tilted her head in confusion. "What are you guys talking about? Varric doesn't have a nickname for me - I managed to get him to call me Sahrena at least, but I haven't even managed to get a 'Lia' out of him yet, much less a nickname like the ones he gives everyone else."
"Oh, he definitely has one for you. People tend to ask the meanings behind them though, maybe that's why he hasn't used it yet. Got something to hide, Varric?" Isabela was clearly enjoying herself.
"Why would he do that? Is it something dirty?" Merrill eyes lit up.
"Andraste's knickers, Daisy. No, it isn't something dirty." Varric rubbed the bridge of his nose, his hand covering up most of his suspiciously red cheeks.
"So, what I'm hearing is that there is a nickname, then?" Isabela said with a victorious expression.
"Of course there's a nickname. I've heard it." Marian chimed in, her smile even bigger than Isabela's had been.
'Em would have a field day with this.' Lia blinked rapidly at the thought before sternly saying out loud, "Even if Varric has a nickname for me, he doesn't have to use it or even share it unless he wants to. Whatever reasons he has to not do so are good enough for me and should be for you as well."
"I can see why you like this one, Varric. So fierce in defense of a friend. It is a very attractive quality."
"Fucking hell, you're as bad as Zev." Lia paused at the raised eyebrows and then groaned. "Shitfuck I said that out loud, didn't I? Fan-fucking-tastic."
Everyone broke out in varying degrees of amusement and Lia decided that if she couldn’t sink into the ground, then at least she could pillow her head on the table and hide her face. Varric reached out from his spot near her and patted her back consolingly - which got a hushed ‘Awww!’ from Merrill. She groaned again - this was going to be her whole day, wasn’t it?
