Dragon Age One Shots

Cullen Fluff

What was he doing there? Some Orlesian Count or the like stood before the darkened room blathering on about the state of his frills, or whatever passed for travesty in Val Royeaux. This was a matter for Josephine and the other diplomats at their employ. Certainly not something worth the attention of the Commander who was forced to sit in an uncomfortable chair in the dark.

Cullen shifted, prepared to stand up and face the wrath of the others left in the dark room, when pressure brushed against his shoulder. Glancing over, he spotted a solemn face nesting in the fur of his coat. It was the Inquisitor, her eyes closed as she leaned far out of her chair and against...him.

He froze. The grumble he'd had in his throat dropped to the bottom of his lungs as he stared at the woman fast asleep in his fur. Her striking eyes were shut tight as she did her best to flee this meeting the only way possible. Cullen couldn't blame her, wishing he could fall asleep so easily and serenely.

Rather than focus on the diplomatic puppet show occurring before him, Cullen watched her slumber against him. That face, always stern and certain, that stood up against a dragon to save them all, softened in her dreams. Were they pleasant ones? He prayed so, she deserved that escape at least.

Sliding his foot out for balance, Cullen locked in his shoulder to cushion the Inquisitor's lolling head. He tried to be careful, but she stirred from the gentle movements, her nose twitching. Fear clouded his mind of her waking, her eyes narrowing as she realized what happened, and the most important woman in thedas whipping away from him in embarrassment...or disgust.

But it was all for naught. She slipped deeper into the lure of the warm fur around his shoulders.

Her lips parted with a breath, a shine of the mage's light striking her bottom one. What would it be like to touch them? To feel her press them to his as they softened from a wide smile to a tender kiss?

"As you can see from..."

The interruption from Josephine whipped Cullen's sight away from the woman sleeping on him. His fingers dug tighter into his knees, the nails scratching against the grain of his trousers as he ignored the cries of his muscles lock in an awkward stance. The heat from her body was a little harder to avoid.

She was often running around in the frozen mountains in little more than her underarmor. A surprise even for the man of Ferelden blood. Not that he didn't appreciate the view of how tight all that leather cut to her. It would be an impossible attempt. She could make a Brother blush.

With her head resting nearly to his collar bone, and her own shoulder nestled against his arm, he could understand why she wore little. The woman was a fire. The heat curled around him, pulling him deeper into his chair, swaddling him in the cozy serenity of her slumbering on his body. Even by the dead of winter, even while curled naked together on a bedspread she had to be like holding the sun itself.

Another shift pushed her even closer to him, the crown of her hair brushing against Cullen's chin. He raised it higher to give her room, putting his line of sight directly into Josephine speaking about trading routes. But from the edge of his eyes he watched the Inquisitor snuggling against him.

Was this how it would be to share a morning with her? To wake and find her head pillowed by his chest, her parted lips warming him with her breath? To watch the sun's early haze highlight her perfect cheeks and kissable forehead? To drape an arm around the small of her back and hold her as safe as he could, to protect her from the harm thedas couldn't cease throwing at her?

He nearly failed her at Haven. He should have... Even knowing that Leliana couldn't predict Corypheus, Cullen felt the Herald's, the Inquisitor's near sacrifice in his soul. If she hadn't returned, if he'd been the one to send her to her death, how could he live with himself?

Ha. As if he was capable of such a feat now.

His head turned to her, the flyaway hairs tickling his cheek. A smile formed in his heart as he watched her deep into sleep. What would it be like to live for someone?

"Inquisitor? Inquisitor!" Josephine stamped a foot, every head in the small room swiveling back to them.

With a start, she yanked her head off of Cullen's shoulder. "Yes?" Her bleary eyes blinked slowly, the woman trying to untack her tongue from the roof of her mouth. In doing so, she glanced over at the man she'd accidentally slept upon. He watched her jaw drop at the realization, but before she could comment, she whipped to Josephine.

"You know best, Josie," was her response to let the diplomat do whatever she wanted. That seemed to be enough as Josie returned to her diagrams. Maker. Where did those come from?

Folding her arms tight into a cross as if to keep her body small, the Inquisitor slunk back into her chair. Cullen tried to follow suit, turning his body away from hers as the demonstration continued until the void consumed them all.

It was another minute before the Inquisitor, her voice low, asked, "Did I, uh, fall asleep on...?"

"It's no worry," Cullen raced to assure her. "I've...I didn't mind."

"Oh," she nodded slowly, her movements methodical. He could feel her eyes scraping along the side of his face, but Cullen's innards churned. He didn't know what he'd done to be embarrassed over, but the feeling wouldn't cease. So he kept his gaze locked forward, pretending he cared what was going on.

She had to be feeling the same. Embarrassment. Awkwardness. Regret? He couldn't find the courage to glance over to check for himself, preferring to sulk in the assurance that no one like her would be interested.

Fingers curled to his knee, shaking Cullen from his forced exile. He stared at her warm hand cupping first to his leg, then up the back of his hand. Turning, he spotted a soft tinge of pink on her cheeks. She twisted a fallen loop of hair with her other hand while watching him.

"When..." her mouth opened, but the sound died as she blushed harder. "When this is over, do you want to get something to eat?"

Food would be good. No doubt the dining hall was—

The Inquisitor scooted closer, her knee brushing his as she whispered, "...in private?"

"That would," Cullen's voice nearly boomed over the demonstration, chairs creaking as people turned to glare at their Commander interrupting. Shrinking into his cowl, as if the fur could save him, he waited until the audience resumed their doldrums before finishing. "I would love to."

She nodded at his acceptance while raising her hands high in a stretch. It was obvious that she was yet exhausted, a familiar pain Cullen knew too well. If he didn't fear screaming in the middle of a nightmare during this, he'd attempt a quick nap as well.

Cullen leaned closer to her, his voice dropping. "If you'd like, Inquisitor," his eyes darted from her eyes down to her lips, "you could rest upon me."

A smile from his dreams caught her lips. "I, I should..." she was clearly looking around the audience to see if anyone was watching. But they were all pretending to care about the presentation. Perhaps most of them were sleeping too.

"I will take you up on that," she breathed, pushing her chair closer. When her head rested upon his shoulder this time, she hooked a hand around his stomach to keep her safe. Cullen watched her settle into the pillow he became. A stray hair slipped across her face, and without a thought he pushed it away.

"You are..." she mumbled, a yawn breaking up her words, "so comfortable, Commander." Eyes closed, her breath deepening, she slipped to sleep upon him.

He would watch her no matter what. Protect her. Help her. Keep this rare light in thedas from going out with his final heart beat.

Josephine finished her question and answer session with a little clap. The servants launched to their feet to yank open the closed shutters. As light off the snowy mountains pierced all their eyes, the audience rose to their feet.

"Mmm," the woman wrapped halfway around Cullen muttered to the ears of everyone in the room, "I should sleep with you more often."