Chapter Text

“You ought to loosen up, you know.”

The voice comes from behind, spoken alarmingly close to his left ear. So close, in fact, that he jumps about a foot in the air and instinctively grips the hilt of his blade, thus proving the speaker quite correct.

Amusement dances in Scarlet Trevelyan’s eyes as Cullen turns to face her fully, and he doesn’t like the little smirk that’s pulling at her mouth. It usually means she’s about to tease him, mercilessly.

“I don’t see how being “loose” is a particularly good idea when one is in the midst of training, Lady Trevelyan.”

Her eyes flicker down to his securely sheathed sword, to the shield resting very much on his back and not in his hand. “Mmm. Training. Yes, I can see you’re working very hard.”

Not even a minute of speaking to her and his ears are already growing red at the tips. “The recruits. I was training the recruits.” He gestures weakly to the group of soldiers several paces away, where he’s already delegated a captain to oversee them.

She laughs, and he finds that he can’t mind her teasing too much if it produces such a sound. “Relax, Commander. I’m not doubting your work ethic. Quite the opposite, actually; hence my opening statement.”

“And I stand by my response that there’s no use in such a notion when there is work to be done.” He crosses his arms firmly over his chest and lifts his chin up just slightly, trying to hold onto his dignity.

“Tell me, how does being tense help you fight more effectively? If you ask me, it only increases your chance of pulling a muscle, or crippling yourself with debilitating migraines.” She mimics his stance, crossing her own arms and raising an eyebrow challengingly.

Cullen opens his mouth to reply, but closes it again when he realizes he’s got nothing to counter that with. It’s a fair point, unfortunately.

“…Well then, what exactly would you suggest?”

A triumphant smile spreads across her face, and he worries he may rather regret asking. “Come to the tavern tonight. Take a load off. Indulge in a pint. Make some friends, Commander.”

Predictably, he holds both hands up and shakes his head. “I hardly think that’s a good idea for anybody involved. Nobody wants their commander hanging over their shoulder on their down time.”

“Nonsense. It’ll be good for your men to see that their commander is a real human being who knows how to take off his armor and relax from time to time."

Before he can reply, a finger held to his lips startles him into silence. “And it’ll do you some good, too, so that’s that.”

Another smile, then, one which makes his stomach do a funny sort of flip. And then she’s off, turning and walking away, calling back a “See you later!” and leaving him stunned in her wake.

---------

The Singing Maiden was never a very sedate establishment, but somehow it seems especially rowdy tonight as Cullen reluctantly steps inside. There doesn’t seem to be an open chair in the entire building, except for—

Except for right next to Scarlet, naturally.

Not that her table isn’t crowded. It appears to be overstuffed, actually, additional chairs dragged up and squished in, which makes the empty chair seem that much more curious.

For a moment, no one takes notice of him as he wipes his boots on the mat at the door. Everyone’s leaned in, watching Blackwall eagerly.

“—an’ when he turned ‘round, I swear, the entire seat of his pants were bitten clean off!”

The table erupts in raucous laughter, complete with fists banging on the wooden surface and the sloshing of ale from over-full tankards, and Cullen is feeling more and more out of place by the second. He considers turning tail and ducking out again before anyone notices, but of course, that’s the very moment Scarlet happens to look up.

“Commander! You came!” She’d just been laughing, quite joyfully, which explains the way her entire face is alight, her eyes sparkling, her smile a mile wide. It isn’t because he’s here. But for a moment, he’d like to pretend it is.

She’s absolutely beautiful, and it hits him hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. Her hair is down, spilling over her shoulders and down her back in thick waves, and in the light of the roaring fire it almost seems to glow; a deep ruby red, as though it held its own burning embers.

Every head at the table turns to him at her greeting, and a cheer of similar welcomes fills the room, but he’s having trouble looking away from her.

“Come, I saved you a seat!” And suddenly the empty chair makes sense, though he never would’ve guessed it. She pats the seat invitingly, still smiling brightly, and he doesn’t need to be asked twice.

Not two seconds after he’s seated, someone slams a pint down on the table before him. He’d underestimated just how closely the chairs were shoved together to accommodate everyone, and even without his bulky armor on, his right arm is pressed right up against Scarlet’s, shoulder to elbow, and their legs a mere hairsbreadth apart. She doesn’t seem to mind at all, and he can see now from the warm flush of her cheeks that she must’ve had a drink or two already.

“Red told us you were coming, but we figured she was just talking out her arse,” Sera announces, leaning forward across the table. “Should’a figured even a serious bloke like you couldn’t resist her wily womanly charms, mage or not.” She waggles her eyebrows obnoxiously, and if that wasn’t enough to heat up his cheeks, the accompanying laughter from the others clinches it.

“Lady Trevelyan made a convincing argument,” he says in his defense, picking up the tankard in front of him with the arm that isn’t trapped against Scarlet’s.

“Oh, I’m quite sure she did,” Sera grins, and the laughter resumes twofold. Cullen buries his face in his pint and thoroughly regrets coming.

“Now, now, leave him alone. I invited him here to have a good time, not to be teased,” Scarlet says, but there’s no real scolding in her tone, her red painted lips still curled upwards. “Besides, that’s my job.”

Cullen is certain he’s going to need more than one drink.

“Anyway,” Blackwall says, loud and booming as he claps the commander on the back, “I never even got to the good part. You see, we thought the bear was gone, but it turns out…”

He sags in relief and watches the Warden gratefully, deciding in that moment that Blackwall’s next drink is going to be his treat.

---------

“Okay, okay, lemme think. I never……………kissed a bogfisher.”

Varric snorts. “None of us have ever kissed a bogfisher, Buttercup. You do know the point of the game is to get everyone else to drink, right?”

“Well, I don’t bloody know! I done a lotta things, haven’t I?” Sera protests, waving her hands about and splattering a bit of ale on Adan in the process.

“I never been to the Deep Roads,” Threnn says, and all eyes turn to Varric.

The dwarf wrinkles his nose in disgust as he lifts his tankard off the table. “Count yourselves lucky.” Blackwall chuckles in agreement and clanks his mug against Varric’s, a simple cheers before they both drink.

The quartermaster’s friend speaks up next, her name entirely escaping Cullen at the moment. To be fair, he’s a little distracted: it isn’t clear whether she shifted a little closer, or whether he grew a little bolder with the several drinks (is this his fourth or fifth?), but it isn’t just his arm pressed up against Scarlet, now. They’re joined from hip to knee, her body heat radiating into him, building up under the collar he continually tugs away from his neck. She’s swept all her hair over one shoulder, the one closest to him, and he can faintly smell something warm and sweet like strawberries and sugar over the general tavern stench.

He misses the woman’s “I never,” but whatever it was, Scarlet is drinking to it, as well as several of the others. Perhaps he should pay closer attention.

“I never kissed a girl,” Lysette says next.

Sera surprises no one with her helpful response: “I can fix that!” No one except the poor templar recruit, whose cheeks grow quite red. Cullen almost feels bad for Lysette, but mostly feels relieved that he isn’t the only one to endure such teasing.

He also feels relieved that there’s finally one he can drink to—but he nearly chokes mid-sip when he sees Scarlet take a drink next to him.

“What?” she asks innocently a moment later in response to all the incredulous eyes on her. “There isn’t a whole lot to do in the Circle, you know.”

Sera throws her head back and laughs so loudly and heartily that she falls backwards off her chair, which only prompts further guffawing from the entire table. Cullen surprises even himself by joining in.

When everyone’s settled down enough and Sera’s clambered back off the ground, Varric leans back and smirks. “I’ve never laughed so hard that I’ve fallen out of my seat,” he says, to which Sera responds by extending her leg under the table and tipping his chair with her foot.

His arms windmill comically, and for a moment it looks like he might catch himself, but Sera’s foot ultimately wins out and he goes clattering to the ground, chair and all, much to the delight of everyone in the room. The laughter that ensues is more contagious than blight sickness, and equally as difficult to cure. Scarlet presses her face against Cullen’s shoulder in an effort to curb her giggles, and he’s never heard a sweeter sound.

---------

Snow is falling when they finally exit the tavern, gently dusting the village of Haven with an additional layer of white fluff. Scarlet immediately shivers and slips her arm through Cullen’s, huddling against his side.

“Escort me back to my cabin, good sir?”

“But of course, my lady.”

She is unsteady on her feet, a fact she manages to find endlessly amusing, and the slick ground certainly isn’t helping matters. He maintains a careful hold on her arm, especially while navigating the few steps down.

“Soooooo, do you regret joining us this evening?” Scarlet asks, playful as ever.

At the beginning of the night, he would have answered in the affirmative, but things took a rather different turn than he’d expected.

“Loathe as I am to admit it…I do not,” he says truthfully. “In fact, I can’t quite recall the last time I laughed that hard.”

Scarlet comes to a stop in front of a cabin he presumes is hers, and when she detaches their arms to face him properly, she’s got one of those smiles on her face again. “Do I get to say ‘I told you so’ now?”

Cullen pretends to be exasperated, but he’s smiling, too. “Go on, then.”

She takes a step forward and pokes a finger lightly against his chest. “I told you so.”

The pair falls quiet, then, as he realizes exactly how close she’s standing. Little white snowflakes have settled atop her head, standing out starkly against the red of her hair, and his fingers itch to brush them away. Without meaning to, his eyes travel down to her lips, which are parted just slightly, and the whole world stops turning.

Her eyes have grown large as she blinks up at him, no longer teasing as she shifts just a bit closer. His heart is hammering in his chest, and he doesn’t know how this happened, but he’s leaning in, too, and his hand is reaching up to her cheek, and he swears he can hear her heart beating, as well—

And a loud wolf-whistle cuts through the air, absolutely shattering the moment and sending them both reeling backwards.

“All riiiiiiight! Get it, Scarly!” Sera calls through cupped hands, before raising two thumbs up and turning to wobble in the opposite direction.

Cullen’s cheeks are burning, and he can’t quite meet Scarlet’s gaze, noting instead that her hand is already resting on the door. “Erm, well, yes. Thank, ah, thank you, for um, inviting me. Sleep well, Lady Trevelyan.”

He heads off quickly after that, rubbing the back of his neck and cursing the ridiculous effects of alcohol. Scarlet remains at her door, watching him curiously as he goes.