"Maker, I am so bored."
Finn looked up irritably from his book and eyed Anders with mingled affection and annoyance. "Will you go somewhere else and whine? I'm busy."
Anders flicked at his book with a finger. "You're always busy."
"Funnily enough, you are too usually. Why are you bored now?"
"Harriet dumped me."
"You don't seem too upset about it."
Anders shrugged. "She was getting boring. I need a new challenge."
Finn sighed. "What you need is to pursue someone you'll never get for a change. That should keep you occupied and out of my hair for a little while."
Anders smirked at him. "Someone I could never get, eh?" he said. "Not possible."
Finn closed his book and eyed his friend. Since that incident during exercises Finn had been the only mage truly willing to be friendly with him (Finn didn't count the man's women - and he suspected Anders didn't either) but he could be desperately annoying at times, especially when he had research to do. Which was always.
"I'm sure there's someone in this tower who doesn't find you irresistible."
The healer leaned his chair back on two legs and put his foot on the table to balance, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing Finn with evident delight. "Name one," he said.
Finn rolled his eyes, then happened to get a glimpse of the Templar on duty. An idea sprang into his head that was so outrageous it might just work. "Cullen," he said. "I bet you could never seduce Cullen."
Anders' mouth dropped open and the chair fell back to the ground with a thud. "You devious little bastard," he said. "That is a challenge worthy of a bard."
"You're not actually going to try are you? Everyone knows the man is pining after that Amell girl..."
Anders was looking into the distance, chewing on a fingernail in thought. "Solona? Huh. Well I can work that... "
Finn smiled to himself and turned his attention back to his book. The other mage was completely absorbed. Score one to Finn.
It was past midnight and Cullen was finally off door duty. Of all the duties, it was the most boring. At least in the library or the halls people walked past. No one went in and out of the main doors. No one interesting any way.
He hesitated at the library. Sometimes she would be there at this time - studying. She stayed up late most nights. He could go in and..
..no. He really shouldn't. But his feet automatically took him towards her usual corner and he was suddenly aware of noises - the sort of noises he had become used to associating with another mage of the circle.
His heart clenched in fear and anger and he quickened his pace. As he turned the corner his worst fears were confirmed. Against a bookshelf his Solona was pressed against the blond mage Anders - they were kissing and... other things that did pleasant... unpleasant things to his lower regions.
"Enough!" he roared, pulling Anders back from her with one gauntleted fist. The mage, infuriatingly, was grinning at him. Solona, her robes disheveled, her red hair mussed and her beautiful, full lips red and swollen gave him a lazy smile that shot straight to his groin. "Library privileges are revoked - for both of you.." she pouted - oh sweet Andraste, why did she always pout... "until I've spoken to Greagior. Now get back to your quarters. Right now!" They scuttled away and he leaned his forehead against the shelves, trying to regain his composure.
That night he was wracked with dreams. Dreams of her panting, wrapped around the smarmy mage, naked and glorious.
The next day his torment began. He was in the library on duty. Solona was sitting not far from him. Every now and then she'd look up and give him a smile that set his heart to racing... but that wasn't the problem.
The problem was Anders. He had picked a spot even closer to the Templar - within whispering distance. And he was whispering to him.
"Do you know what her skin feels like, Cullen? Can you imagine it? Let me tell you about the sounds she makes when I..."
"Don't you have classes to go to, mage?" Cullen asked through gritted teeth.
Anders grinned at him. "Harrowed," he said, waving his fingers.
"Don't you have classes to teach then?"
Anders let out a soft laugh. "Why on Thedas would they let me teach?"
He was going to have to talk to Irving about this.
"Don't you think you're being a bit..."
Anders was cleaning his fingernails. Maker knew why, the man was always cleaner than everyone else put together. "A bit what?"
"Well... mean."
"To Solona? She loves this idea. Cullen's been annoying her for years..."
Finn waved his hand. If Anders had a female equivalent, it was Solona Amell. The two of them had been on again off again since she reached sixteen. Neither of them had it in them to be faithful and Finn was dead certain Solona was taking as much delight in tormenting the Templar as Anders was. "Not Solona. Cullen. The poor man can barely stand straight these days. What are you whispering to him all the time?"
Anders' grin turned sly. "You don't want to know, Finn. You really don't."
"I just can't help but feel sorry for the guy."
"Hello! Templar."
"I don't mind Templars..."
Anders' mouth twisted into a bitter line. "You've never been captured by them," he said. "And anyway, Cullen's kind of cute. I'm starting to think I'm really going to enjoy this..."
Finn fixed his friend with a critical eye and Anders' softened. "Oh, come on, Finn. I'm not going to force him into anything. I'm not that kind of person. And it's not as though Templars take a vow of chastity or anything."
"They're definitely not supposed to... do things.. with mages though," Finn pointed out.
"Doesn't stop some."
"Ser Tyrol was expelled from the order," Finn said.
"Yes, but he was indiscreet."
"Indiscreet?"
"If you're going to ... do things - as you put it -with a mage it's a good idea not to do it in the main hall at midday..."
Finn couldn't help but smile at that. "So you're planning on being discreet with Cullen then? Are you capable of that?"
"Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you, Finn."
"Not half as often as I do."
The two bodies were naked, entwined, grunting and moaning and sweating. Cullen knew he shouldn't be watching, but that was his duty, wasn't it? To watch them? It didn't explain why his feet were stuck to the floor, why his own clothes were inexplicably missing...
Why suddenly there weren't two bodies there any more, why the blond man was instead directly in front of him, those mobile, sensuous lips smiling before dipping towards him and claiming his own in a kiss that left him gasping...
Cullen woke up screaming. Or at least, trying to scream. That had certainly never happened before in his dream. Anders had always been present, always been involved, but he'd never... Cullen had never... A certain dampness made itself known to him and he glanced down and nearly cried. What was happening to him?
He really, really had to talk to Irving about this.
Getting his armour on, cleaning up the mess in his bunk, trying to avoid the looks from his fellow Templars - these things made him calm the panic in his chest that was threatening to break free. It all fell to cinders on his way up to Irving's office, however.
He was there. Leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest, foot tapping. He couldn't look at the man's face without thinking about what his lips and tongue had been doing in his dream. Cullen bowed his head and tried to get past him without catching the man's eye, but Anders reached out an arm and stopped him.
"Cullen, Cullen, Cullen..." he said. "Why are you so frightened of me?"
"I... I'm not...fr..."
Anders backed him against the wall, eyes imploring, mouth downcast. Holy Maker hear my plea, Cullen thought, squeezing his eyes shut and wishing he could be swallowed up in a hole.
Anders tweaked Cullen's nose. The indignity of it made his eyes fly open. "Maker damn you!" he squeaked. "Leave me alone!"
The hurt look on Anders' face was almost comical. "But.."
"Why are you plaguing me? All day, every day! You and... and..."
An eyebrow quirked, and Anders stepped back again. "It's always her isn't it, Cullen?" he said softly.
"Wha...?"
"She's the one you think about, all the time, isn't she?"
"I... you...Solona..."
"Even the way you say her name... Maker's breath Cullen, I didn't realise you actually..." The man's mouth worked as though he was upset by something and his eyes dropped to the ground. He took a few deep breaths, then sighed. "I should have realised sooner," he said. "I'm sorry Cullen... I..."
Cullen was too confused to think. "Anders?"
"I'll leave you alone now," the blond mage smiled sadly at him and started off down the corridor, shoulders slumped. Cullen simply watched him, mouth agape, mind blank.
"Admit it, you blew it," Finn was saying. Despite himself, he was actually interested in how Anders was getting on now.
Anders was smug faced, eating his dinner fastidiously, small bites, savouring the flavours. "You know, one thing I'll say for the Tower, they feed us well."
Finn nudged him. "You're avoiding the question. You blew it."
Anders examined a piece of fish with a critical eye before fixing Finn with his gaze. "You think so?" he said.
"You haven't been anywhere near the man for two days."
"Is he here now?"
Finn did a quick scan of the Templars in the dining hall, spying Cullen's curly hair. He nodded. "He's here."
"Solona too?" Finn nodded again. "So.. who is he looking at?" Anders' smirk was so self-confident Finn was tempted to zap him with lightning. Solona was sitting a few tables across from them and there was no doubt about it, Cullen's gaze wasn't plastered all over the young woman like it usually was.
It was fixed on Anders.
"Tell me again that I blew it," Anders said, popping the morsel of fish into his mouth and chewing slowly.
Cullen was going mad. He was certain of it. When Anders left him in the corridor near Irving's office he hadn't gone in to see the first enchanter. He'd been too confused. Instead he'd gone back to his duties.
He didn't see Anders all that day. Solona was about, certainly. She even spoke to him a few times, but he was too distracted to really pay attention to what she said. That night his dreams were so intense he was worried he'd woken his bunkmate with the force of his climax.
Solona didn't appear in that dream at all.
Two days later he came off door duty feeling filthy. His mind wouldn't let go of the images from his dreams. He needed to bathe, he decided - not a common thing in the Tower in winter, but the bathhouse was usually deserted this late and he was overdue for one in any case.
Stripped down to shirt and breeches with a soft woolen towel over one arm, he made his way down to the bathhouse through the quiet halls of the Tower. Steam was seeping out under the door - that meant someone was already there - he hesitated, but decided he wanted the bath too much to care if he were alone or not.
He regretted it when it became obvious who was taking a bath.
He had his back to the door, but it was the voice that Cullen recognised - singing of all things - a simple hymn to Andraste that the Chantry sisters had them sing every week in service. He was toweling down his hair, obviously just finished in the bath as he was quite significantly naked.
Cullen couldn't stop himself. He let his eyes run down the lines of the man's back over the rounded firmness of his arse. His legs were long and sleekly muscled as well - still wet from the hot water of the tub that had yet to be emptied. Heat rushed straight to Cullen's cock. Maker's breath, but the dreams were nothing to the actuality of the man and when he turned... Sweet Holy Andraste... I am damned.
Anders smiled. He smiled but Cullen barely registered it. The fog of desire clouding his brain was so thick he didn't even know how he managed to be against the wall of the bathhouse, hands hungrily groping while his lips were pressed to the other man's.
Anders was just as enthusiastically kissing him back. Cullen let out a groan of pleasure as he felt fingers reaching under his breeches to encase his rock hard cock and begin stroking. He rested his forehead on the wall while Anders' skillfully worked him, slow at first then faster as Cullen bucked his hips.
"So passionate, my Templar..." Anders whispered in his ear as his hand moved. "I had no idea you'd be so... enthusiastic when the time came."
When the time came... Cullen probably would have paid more attention to the words if he couldn't feel his balls tightening and his abdomen tingling with the first flush of climax. He shouted Anders' name as he came and the mage held his shoulders, supporting him, stopping him from sinking bonelessly to the floor of the bathhouse.
Cullen caught his breath, then looked at the mage who was still smiling. As he watched, Anders lifted a finger and delicately licked some remnants of Cullen's seed from the tips. "Mmmm," he hummed pleasurably. Cullen groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Maker, what have I done..."
Anders gently settled him down on the bench and started to gather his clothes. "What you wanted to do," he said. "Is that so bad a thing?"
Cullen buried his head in his hands. He felt a gentle touch on his knee and looked up to see the man watching him. Cullen had a sudden realisation that sent a wave of crushing despair through him, despite the satisfied languor weighting his limbs.
"I'm on door duty tomorrow night," he said heavily. Anders pursed his lips, then nodded in acknowledgement and understanding.
"Thank you, Cullen."
Let that be an end of it, Cullen thought to himself as he eased himself into the bath. With any luck the water would erase his memories as well.
Anders didn't bother to tell Finn he'd won his bet. Freedom was the only reward he required.
