Victoria woke up the next day to find Cullen asleep, his arms still wrapped around her. She could have stayed there all day, just taking him in. Though his hair was more erratic than usual, she found it cute and endearing. Instead of every lock being in its proper place, a few strands twirled outward, revealing that Varric was right-Curly was a smart nickname after all. She would have to ask him about how he knew that one day. Her eyes lowered as she scanned his body. Even through his undershirt she could make out his muscles. They were quite a sight, but not so large as to make him look like a battering ram, no offense to the Iron Bull. His chest and stomach were sculpted, and she noticed the small trail of hair leading down to his-
"Enjoying the show?" she heard him say, causing her to jump. She looked up at his face now, into his piercing eyes. He was gently rubbing her back as he stared at her, a gesture which brought her comfort, and she closed her eyes and rested into him.
"Well, Commander, it's quite the display," she retorted quickly, trying to stifle her embarrassment at being caught gawking like a schoolgirl.
That's when they heard it. "Commander," the familiar voice of the Seeker shouted, taking them out of their perfect fantasy world. It was Cullen's turn to jump now, and he rose as quickly as possible.
"I'll be down in a minute!" He shouted from his quarters, pulling on his boots and overcoat. He was going to rush down the ladder when Victoria pulled him to her, knocking him down onto the mattress. When he got his bearings she sat him up and helped to slick his hair back into its normal position.
"Personally, I like the curly hair. I just know you'd rather be seen more put together."
When Cullen looked up at her, it was a look she hadn't quite seen from him before. It was so tender, but there was a hint of admiration. He clearly appreciated her noticing something so small about his appearance. He pulled her forehead to his and whispered, "Thank you, Victoria," before kissing her on the cheek and sliding down the ladder to greet Cassandra.
Even with a kiss on the cheek he would leave her flustered the whole day. She needed to get him back, and she had the perfect plan. She looked in the mirror and rustled her hair, making it look more messy than before. She grabbed her shoes and slid down the ladder. The look on Cassandra's face was almost enough to get her to burst out laughing-almost. She kept her cool greeting both of them. "Cassandra, Cullen," she nodded curtly. On her way out the door she looked at Cullen, who was suppressing laughter himself.
"Inquisitor," he replied, clearly interested in playing this little game along with her. Cassandra looked back and forth between them, and Victoria was unsure if the look was one of judgement or shock. With that, Victoria bowed her head and walked out of Cullen's office, only putting her shoes on and finally giving into her laughter when she was too far for the Seeker to hear.
Victoria spent the rest of her day going about her business as usual. She made her rounds, discussing plans to finally leave Skyhold and find the Warden that Hawke mentioned in Crestwood. She didn't relish the thought of leaving her own personal castle, but the weight of the world was on her shoulders, so what she wanted hardly mattered. She made her way to the garden, preparing to plant some herbs when she saw Cullen and Dorian under the gazebo. Intrigued at seeing the pair together, she put her planting tools aside and strolled over to them.
"Everyone sees the way you look at her, Cullen," Dorian noted, nodding his head in the direction of the oncoming Victoria. "And the way she looks at you. Why are you two waiting so long to admit it?"
"I hardly think this is any of your business," Cullen explained, hoping to deflect Dorian's line of questioning.
"Oh, on the contrary, my curly-haired friend," he continued, unrelenting. "You see, the Inquisitor and I have grown close in a rather short time. Therefore, her happiness is very important to me. I just want to make sure you're going to take care of her."
"Oh, and my happiness isn't important to you?" Cullen continued, again trying to deflect. "I'm wounded, Dorian."
"Fine, fine," Dorian conceded. "Deflect all you like, but I must tell you: if you hurt my friend, we will no longer be friends. So just kiss her, already!"
When Dorian said that, he looked over to where Victoria was previously standing, only to see her walking towards them. She was so beautiful. She wore cerulean pants and a loose cream colored top with matching adornments. She looked like a Rivaini princess, no doubt Josephine's doing. He nodded in her direction, causing Dorian to finally give up on his interrogation.
"Gloat all you like," the Commander jeered. "I have this one."
"Are you sassing me, Commander? I didn't know you had it in you."
"Why do I even-Inquisitor."
With that, Cullen rose to greet her, but was stopped short by Dorian inquiring, "Leaving, are you? Does this mean I win?"
Dorian knew that Cullen wasn't going to succumb to this, so the Commander slowly sat back down in his chair. "Are you two playing nice?" Victoria asked, a hint of motherly affection in her voice.
"I'm always nice," Dorian continued, looking to Cullen and winking. "You need to come to terms with my inevitable victory. You'll feel much better."
As he said this, Cullen noticed that Dorian entirely ignored the move he could make to win the game, leaving it open for Cullen to take the win himself. This was Dorian's strange idea of matchmaking, no doubt; making Cullen look like a winner, even in chess, was apparently enough for him to win over the Inquisitor.
Regardless of the obvious setup, Cullen made his move, taking Dorian's queen. "Really? Because I just won. And I feel fine."
"Don't get smug," Dorian said as he rose from his chair. "There will be no living with you."
Dorian departed, leaving the Inquisitor and Cullen alone-or as alone as they could be in the bustling garden. He looked to Victoria then, saying, "I should return to my duties as well...unless you would care for a game?"
Victoria returned his gaze with a smirk only she could master. "Prepare the board, Commander."
"As a child, I played this with my sister," he elaborated. "She would get this stuck-up grin whenever she won-which was all the time. My brother and I practiced together for weeks. The look on her face the day I finally won...Between serving the templars and the Inquisition, I haven't seen them in years. I wonder if she still plays."
Victoria was looking at him with a much more tender and affectionate smile now. She must have enjoyed him talking about his family because she inquired, "You have siblings?"
"Two sisters and a brother," Cullen continued, basking in Victoria's interest in his personal life.
"Where are they now?" she asked, moving one of her pieces.
"They moved to South Reach after the Blight. I do not write them as often as they should. Ah. It's my turn."
"All right," she said, placing her fingers together and strategizing. "Let's see what you've got."
The game went on much longer than he expected. Either she was a better strategizer than he thought, or his game was lacking from him watching her the whole time. She made her moves gracefully and with certainty, her sly roguish hands moving across the board, her brow furrowing every time her turn came along. Still, with all her concentration, she found time to ask him questions. She inquired more about his family, his time as a templar, and anything else she could think of, and he did the same. They spoke of her siblings, and the requirement of their presence at various dances, his for the Circle and hers to appease her noble parents. Before he had realized it, they had spent hours playing one game. He wasn't sure if it was a competitive nature that kept the game going so long, or a want to learn more about one another.
"This may be the longest we've gone without discussing the Inquisition-or related matters," Cullen thought aloud. "To be honest, I appreciate the distraction."
The sly smirk returned to her face as she recognized his flirtation. "We should spend more time together," she said, eyes not breaking contact with his the entire time.
This did not break his resolve as he replied, "I would like that."
"Me, too."
The look on both of their faces changed then, realizing that for once, he had flustered her. A blush rose to her face when he acknowledged, "You said that." In a clear effort to keep herself in their romantic game, she never broke eye contact with him, causing him to quickly become as flustered as her. "We should...finish our game. Right. My turn?" and with that, she nodded, signifying both his turn and her unrelenting nature.
After this, Victoria picked up her game. Within only a few turns she had beaten him. "I believe this one is yours," he conceded. "Well played. We shall have to try again sometime."
He must not have noticed her moving closer to him as he spoke, because by the time he realized this, their faces were mere inches apart. He began to move his lips closer to hers. Just as he felt them connect for a brief moment, the same scout that interrupted them previously came up to the gazebo, looking down at a report and shouting, "Commander!" before he could realize what was happening. This was probably for the best, as it gave them time to separate and create less of a scene than they probably already had.
"Another time, Commander," he heard Victoria say as she walked off. The scout was lucky they needed all the help they could get. If they didn't, Cullen could have strangled the young man.
It was weeks before Victoria could see Cullen again. After their chess game, all she wanted was to see him again. They had been interrupted too many times, and Victoria was intent on finishing what she started. The travelling through Crestwood only made her more cantankerous, and the group she was travelling with noticed.
"You okay, Inquisitor?" Varric asked. "You seem kind of twitchy."
Dorian interjected, "I think she's still sore because she lost her game with Commander Cullen."
Victoria recognized the underlying message and had to suppress her smirk. "In a manner of speaking," she elaborated. "But I will win the next one."
"Of that I have no doubt, Your Worship."
Eventually, the group returned to Skyhold, and it was all she could do not to rush up to Cullen's quarters. However, she had to change out of her armor and attend a War Room meeting before this could be done. She rushed through these mundane tasks as quickly as possible, delegating various tasks with minimal detail to her three advisors. Once she left the War Room, she allowed Cullen a few minutes to walk back to his office before knocking on his door.
"Come in, Victoria," he called, somehow realizing it was her. Their familiarity flustered her for a moment, but she would not back down.
"I thought we could talk," she explained, and when Cullen didn't catch her meaning she said, "Alone?"
His eyes widened but he agreed. "Alone? I mean, of course."
From there they had taken a walk to the quietest part of the battlements, frequented by almost no one. Their walk had been in silence, both of them more nervous than they probably wished to admit. The silence was broken by Cullen, who put his hands through his hair and said, "It's a nice day."
"What?" Victoria asked, perplexed by his stating the obvious.
"It's...there was something you wished to discuss."
"I find myself thinking of you. More than-well, all the time really," Victoria admitted, finally getting it off her chest.
"I can't say I haven't wondered what it would be like," Cullen agreed.
Victoria rested against the battlements and turned Cullen to face her. Holding his hands, she asked, "What's stopping you?"
"You're the Inquisitor. We're at war. You-I didn't think it was possible."
"And yet I'm still here," the Inquisitor joked upon hearing the statement finally come out of his mouth.
Her smirk caused Cullen to relax into her a bit. "So you are," he whispered, the hunger in his voice driving a shiver down her spine. "It seems to much to ask, but I want to-"
Their lips almost met when the same scout from weeks ago interrupted. "Commander. You wanted a copy of Sister Leliana's report."
Cullen backed away from Victoria, though at this point it was almost impossible to save face. She had to resist bursting out laughing when Cullen asked, more anger than she'd ever heard in his voice, "What?"
"Sister Leliana's report?" the scout continued, unaware of what he'd just interrupted. "You wanted it delivered without delay." After this, the scout stopped speaking and Victoria could only imagine the look on Cullen's face. He then made eye contact with the Inquisitor, who tried to break it as quickly as possible and pretend she wasn't in this situation. "Or, to your office. Right," he muttered, backing away.
Of course, she had come up here to get away from it all, and it's the one time people would find them. She wanted everything to go well and was so frustrated she was about to leave. "If you need to-"
She started to dismiss him, but before she could finish his lips were on hers. She had kissed him before but this was entirely different. Instead of their lips just touching in the form of a peck, they explored each other. Victoria took his bottom lip into her mouth, and before long his tongue joined it, exploring her mouth and making her shudder. She took his hands off the battlements and placed them around her waist, wrapping her arms around his neck, never wanting to let him go. After a few minutes, Cullen backed away slightly, looking Victoria in the eyes and touching their foreheads together.
"I'm sorry," Cullen said. "That was, um, nice."
"I believe that was a kiss," Victoria said, her charm flowing back into her voice. "But I can't be sure. It's all a blur."
Cullen laughed, the heartiest laugh she's heard from him so far. "Yes, well."
He leaned in again, enveloping her mouth in his. She loved kissing him. Every once in a while she would pull away to kiss his scar. At first, their kisses were tender and slow, but an undeniable hunger grew inside both of them. His hands, shy at first, eventually began to explore her, moving up her waist and gently caressing her breasts. At this, she tucked her hands under his shirt, feeling his stomach, which she could swear was carved from steel. Eventually they had to stop, as they heard someone entering Cullen's office and didn't want to face another interruption; they would not be able to withdraw so quickly from this position.
Cullen put their foreheads together, kissed her once more and whispered, "I suppose it's for the best. I don't want to rush."
Victoria nodded in agreement, stealing one last kiss from Cullen before he returned to his office.