Chapter Text
Raven gives in. No one actively tells them to free Blackwall, maybe because they don’t believe Raven would ever do it and if that's the case, they have given everyone the right impression. Or at least they thought so.
They start to miss him. Certainly not for his positive attitudes, but simply for his ability to entertain and create drama. So they free him. They also exile him, but only after their mission is done.
“You’re a criminal, same as me,” he says during the judgement and Raven is immediately reminded why they hate him and brought him back. Only he would have the audacity to say that.
“I will let the Grey Wardens decide your fate. But only when Corypheus is dead. For now, Thom Rainier, the Inquisition apparently needs you.” they say after some consideration and he looks too happy that they almost regret their decision.
Josephine opens his handcuffs, and he leaves the hall, giving Raven a nod.
They get up from the uncomfortable throne, once again cursing their lack of ass, and exchange a look with Josephine over the room.
Raven catches some fresh air before continuing the day. The air is chill, but there is tension in the air. They are nearing the next confrontation with Corypheus and everyone was feeling it. Cassandra walks around faster, Scout Harding, usually relaxed and smiling -excluding the time in the hissing wastes-, is looking around nervously from time to time.
⛧
“Oh good, you haven’t killed yourself,” Raven says when they enter Solas’ rotunda.
He looks up from his book, and stares at them blankly, silent for a second. “What makes you think that?”
Raven stares back blankly. “Well, last time we talked you ended the conversation with a tone that worried me.”
He closes his book and puts it next to him on the couch. “I was behaving like my normal self as far as I can remember.”
“Yeah, I know,” Raven says drily and gestures towards his body. “That's the problem.”
“Apologies?” Solas responds and Raven rolls their eyes.
“You're not the person who should be saying that,” they mumble to themselves, just when Sera storms into the room.
“Hi Raven!” she loudly says, grabs Raven’s arm harder than she probably planned to and looks around to see Solas. “Hi Mr. Elf, I guess.”
Solas nods at her.
Raven raises an eyebrow. “Wow, you're willingly entering his room. Something must be important.”
“I just wanted to thank you for getting Blackwall back,” she says in an uncharacteristically genuine tone.
“Eh,” they wave it off, “we do apparently need him, so I couldn’t leave him there much longer. And to be honest, I occasionally missed him being stupid.”
Sera laughs and plants herself on the floor of Solas’ room, shortly before Blackwall enters.
“You aren’t talking about me, are you?” he jokes and Raven avoids his eyes and lets Sera handle the talking to him.
“I don’t have to tell you that you’re stupid, you already know that,” she simply says and he laughs.
Raven shares a look with Solas, who is glaring at Sera and Blackwall, but when Raven catches his eye, he gives them a forced smile. Raven walks to the couch and he pulls back his blanket to free up some space for them to sit down, and Raven gladly sits down, getting away from Sera and Blackwall.
Blackwall clears his throat and takes Sera’s hand. Raven tenses up and they feel Solas next to them shift, when Blackwall speaks up.
“Are you the head of the Chantry? Because you're so divine.”
Raven can not hold back rolling their eyes, but Sera breaks out into laughter, and can’t stop for at least one minute. Solas eases up a bit, and let’s out a quiet chuckle when he looks over to Raven, their head buried in their arms in shame.
“That was horrible,” Sera says, still laughing, patting his arm and he is gleaming and mildly blushing.
They leave the room, Sera telling him about all of the nobles she’s hurt in various ways since he left.
Solas and Raven sit in stunned silence with the unsaid question of ‘What did we just witness?’ between them.
Raven slaps their legs and stands up. “Well, that was enough of that. I would ask you to not kill yourself until we talk next time but I can’t guarantee that either.”
⛧
In the evening, Raven looks for Sera in her room, where they are immediately dragged away by their friend to the roof.
Raven hums and the tiles under their ass creaks. “I forgot how much I love the constant feeling of the roof breaking any second.”
Sera chuckles and pulls out a box of her cookies and Raven holds out their hand. “Don’t use them all to throw at people, I want some.” Sera hands them one, while she herself chucks on a soldier walking into Herald’s rest, while muttering “that’s what raisins deserve” and only misses by an arm length.
“Oof,” Raven comments. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
Sera tries again and hits only the ground again, while Raven considers their next words.
“You weren’t bothered by Blackwall coming onto you earlier, right?”
Sera snorts and laughs. “No. That was funny.”
“Good,” Raven laughs softly. “Do you think he realises that you won’t fuck him?”
She thinks about it for a second and scrunches up her face. “He must, right? I mean. I’m not exactly subtle about it. Yeah, it’s just friendly flirting because he’s heartbroken his hot girlfriend left him. He needs to get it out of his system with someone.”
Raven isn’t as sure as she is, but they keep silent. Until proven otherwise, she might be right, even if they really really doubt it.
“Do you remember the last time when-” Sera doesn’t need to finish the sentence for Raven to break out in laughter and fall on their back, loud enough for Scout Harding to look up towards them.
The last time they had hung out here Sera had chucked a cookie at Blackwall, he wasn’t even bothered by it, just picked it up from the dirty ground and ate it and sent both Raven and Sera into hysterical laughter rarely a day goes by when Raven doesn’t think about it.
“Obviously I remember,” they respond between giggles when they can breathe again.
“See, he’s good for something,” Sera says with a soft smile and Raven can’t help but find it cute how she cares about him, even when -understandably- no one else does.
⛧
They get to stay in Skyhold for a few days, which usually would be good news. Raven uses their freedom to sneak in Cullen’s room late in the evening, and as they expected he’s still working, his eyes trailing off every few seconds, clearly unable to concentrate longer.
“Did you eat?”
His initial silence is answer enough for them, and when he says “I forgot”, they are already out of the door again, getting some leftover food from dinner from the kitchen, which they place onto his desk upon return.
“Thanks,” he just responds and Raven pulls up another chair to his desk, and sit by his side while he eats some. He doesn’t get down a lot of it, but he leans back and sighs contently, smiling at Raven as he tries to suppress a yawn.
He makes it up the ladder, with -a slightly worried about being crushed by him if he falls down- Raven climbing up behind him. They don’t speak much, but when they’re lying in bed. Raven is probably the only person besides Cullen that would be willing to sleep there due to the hole in the roof they still haven’t fixed, and chill air is blowing into the room constantly. Cullen is apparently “used to the cold because of his Ferelden blood” as he says and Raven was willing to compromise after they brought over several blankets to bury themselves under to sleep.
“We gotta fix the hole soon,” Raven says and Cullen laughs softly. They’ve said it often enough to turn it into a joke, but when they fall asleep while Cullen’s breathing steadies they have to admit the quiet voices from the courtyard just reaching them and the view at the night sky is almost worth freezing to death.
Memories of the dalish camp they were sent to as a child come back to their mind, lying under the stars after a day of learning how to craft a longbow and walking around naming birds. Once a night turned too cold they squeezed closer to Fen, their best friend and after that it was second nature to them to wake up closer together than anyone else.
The night doesn’t pass without troubles. Cullen starts squirming next to them and they wake him up, but Raven still counts an almost full night’s sleep as a win for him.
When they wake up again, Cullen is still asleep and his arms are gripping them much tighter than he probably intended. It’s not uncomfortable, in a different situation even very enjoyable, but too tight to squirm out without waking him.
They clear their dry throat. “My guy,” they say in a raspy morning voice, and his eyes flutter open. “I need to breathe.”
Raven can see him wake up and his wheels turn and after a few seconds he quickly lets go of them like a hot plate with a speed that makes Raven laugh.
“You can keep touching me, I just need to breathe,” they snort and give him -what they intend to be- a short kiss, but Cullen doesn’t pull back and they sigh into the kiss.
⛧
Their happiness about the break from travelling through Ferelden and Orlais survives less than two days, until they are forced to interact with Blackwall and Sera, Blackwall being the problem in question, not Sera. Well, Sera too but only combined with Blackwall. Raven stops on the spot on the stairs walking down from Cullen’s office and waits expectantly for them to say anything, but the two of them just grin and stare at Raven.
“Are you good?”
“So you’ve been sneaking off to see the Commander and enjoying his company I see,” Sera says and wiggles her eyebrows.
Raven is even more confused after hearing the reason they’re being weird, considering they’re not keeping their relationship a secret at all. “I wouldn’t really call it sneaking off considering we’re…open about it?”
Blackwall takes a deep breath. “We just wanted to tell you that since Cullen isn’t up for much-,” Sera giggles at his wording, “you could always join us in the future if you’re in need.”
Sera’s giggles come to a sudden halt and her gaze turns towards his dick. “Ew. What? Us?”
“There are so many things wrong with what you just said, I’m almost impressed,” Raven mumbles in shock, loud enough for him to hear, throwing Sera a horrified look. Their gaze returns to him and they speak up. “First point: I would never fuck you. I would rather return to that abandoned mission in the deep roads. Second point: Cullen can probably get it up better than you can, and even if he didn’t I still wouldn’t stoop to his level and do anything with you and third point: Did you think Sera was into you?”
Blackwall doesn’t look fazed by this, not surprising, considering how many of his failed seduction attempts they’ve seen, and his eyes meet Raven’s, challenging them. “How do you know Sera’s not into me?”
Raven is gesturing wildly between them and can’t bring themselves to say anything other than vague confused noises and give up by giving Sera a pleading look. “I’m too…no, not happy, Raven to deal with this.” They continue down the stairs, bumping into Blackwall squeezing past them hurry away.
⛧
What Raven craves after that is silence, and few places in Skyhold are as silent as Solas’ rotunda, background noises from the library or hall excluded. Just as they hoped, he’s painting again.
They flop onto the couch and Solas looks up from his brush and gives them a smile. “I suspect you had to talk to our Warden friend.”
Raven just nods. “He actually thought Sera was into him.”
Solas stops his movements, staggering. “Isn’t she…-” he uses a word in elven that Raven doesn’t know or understand and when Raven sits in confused silence, he clarifies: “very vocal about her disinterest in men?”
Raven gestures wildly, hoping to get their point across without words. They roll over on the couch and bury their face in a pillow.
They have to get up for a war table meeting, but return after lunch for a scheduled meeting, with their friends this time. Josie and Dorian are finally free to hang out and join Raven in the rotunda and when they join, Solas is still standing on the side, painting an ominous black figure with a sharp weapon in hand.
“Finally, you’re here!” Raven breathes a sigh of relief and hugs them both firmly. Dorian and Josephine sit down on the sofa while Raven sits down on the ground, leaning against the sofa between their friends’ legs.
Dorian pats their shoulder. “Do you want to tell us what exactly happened?”
“Well, I told you about the Blackwall and Sera-”
Just as she is mentioned, Sera struts in the room with a critical look on her face, a bottle of liquor in hand. “Ugh, what did I do to land in here again?”
If he has an internal reaction to that, Solas doesn’t show it, and keeps painting with a steady hand.
“Aww, we’re happy you’re here too, Sera,” Raven responds and nods to the chair next to them.
“Are we still waiting for someone?”
“Cullen,” Raven grins, “It’s a useful way to force him to leave his room and take a break.”
He does arrive, looking not as bad as usual, awkwardly nodding to Sera and giving Dorian and Josie a small smile. They move on the sofa to make space for him and he sits down with an old man sigh.
“Does this meeting have a specific purpose?” he asks and Raven rolls their eyes.
“The purpose is fun. And to make fun of Blackwall.”
Cullen hums, seeming satisfied with that answer.
“I can’t do that without getting drunk, so I vote we play a drinking game,” Sera speaks up. She has turned around her chair, her legs crossed behind the back of it. She picks up the bottle and pour messy shots into the glasses.
Raven shares a look of ‘I guess we’re doing this’ with the rest, but no one protests.
“Mr. Elf, you joining too?” she asks and he looks up in surprise from across the room. He is unsure but when Raven meets his eyes he folds, and he straightens his back slightly.
“Why not?” He walks towards them and stops when the sofa and chair are taken.
Raven points to the floor next to them and smiles. “Looks like you’re going to join me during floor time.”
He returns the smile. “Looks like it.” He sits down, crossing his legs.
“Okay so we’re playing Never Have I Ever, are we all familiar with that? Well, one of us says something and if you’ve done it you drink, that’s really it. Someone start.” Sera explains so fast that if someone didn’t know the game, they wouldn’t get it now either.
“Easy. Never have I ever been hit on by Blackwall,” Josephine starts and takes the first sip. Raven and Sera follow, sharing a fresh look of horror, and then Solas drinks.
“No, you drink if you have done it,” Sera explains again.
“I know.”
“When did Blackwall flirt with you?” Raven asks incredulously.
“When we first recruited him. I was reading and he came up to me from behind and started reciting what was presumably a pick up line” -he says that like it’s his first time saying that- “but when I turned around he immediately stopped.”
“Wait you were the guy he kept mentioning with the robes and feminine waist! Can’t say I disagree I guess,” Sera reveals and Raven nods. It is hard to disagree with the assessment.
Sera tells Raven it’s their turn and in their panic all they can come up with is “Never have I ever seen boobs. Except your mother’s, I guess.” They all drink, so it does the job of the game (getting drunk) done, except-
“Cullen?” Josephine says and when Raven turns around Cullen’s face has turned red
“Well, unless you count Raven’s, no,” he mumbles.
“These?” Raven points at their chest and snorts. “These are not boobs, sorry.”
“Do you want to see boobs?” Sera asks Cullen.
“I guess?” He shrugs and blushes even harder when Sera doesn’t even make an effort to stand up, but unbuckles her belt and lifts her shirt, exposing herself to the entire group. Cullen stares, not moving.
“Long enough?” she says, her voice muffled through the shirt lifted in front of her face.
“Yeah?” He responds, sounding more unsure with everything she says.
“Great,” she lets go of her shirt with a satisfied smile. “Now you have. My turn. Never have I ever been in the fade.” She grins at Solas, who drinks, keeping a deliberately stoic face. “I have enjoyed my fair share of travels, even if it’s been harder to dream since Blackwall joined us in Tarasyl'an Te'las. He might be tainting the Fade.”
Raven snorts loudly, not even sure if he’s joining, but it’s funny either way. They share an accepting look and clink their glasses before drinking and Raven makes sure to drink an extra big sip, thinking of Varric and Cassandra who had the displeasure of joining them on their horror trip to the Fade.
“What is Tarasyl'an Te'las?”
“The elvhen name for Skyhold. Its real name,” he says in a gentle tone, more educating than scolding and yet Raven is reminded he doesn’t see their similarities.
“Never have I ever wanted to fuck the dalish wolf man,” Dorian says, not even looking at Raven who groans in response.
“Never should have trusted you with that,” they mutter quietly and then take a sip. “Alright, so we’re doing personal attacks now. Never have I ever pissed magic.” They glare at Dorian, but snap their head around when Solas drinks and Sera giggles, mumbling “piss boy” to herself.