[ For once, Astarion, usually so quick with his words, with a quip or cutting remark, says nothing at all. Instead, he holds Gale's gaze, something liquid and melting in his eyes as he reaches out, careful and tentative. His fingertips alight first on Gale's forehead, then tracing down his cheek, his jaw, before his hand smooths out along Gale's neck, curling gently around his nape.
He'd been picked by Gale, as much as the other way around. No one current of affection would have managed all of this on its own. They'd met each other in the middle of the stream, fording through extraordinary circumstance after extraordinary circumstance as the shape of their feelings had become clearer. Maybe it's not perfect. Maybe they're not. But when all it takes is the thought of Gale to warm him entirely, what more can he ask for? A gift, given not by the gods or some other greater cosmic force, but by time and effort. Little things, all added up into something sweet and worth protecting.
It's that thought that lingers when he leans forward, closing the distance that remains between them to kiss Gale's lips, lingering against the heat of his skin and the steam that still rises from the water.
A thank you of his own, as simply as he can give it. ]
🎀
He'd been picked by Gale, as much as the other way around. No one current of affection would have managed all of this on its own. They'd met each other in the middle of the stream, fording through extraordinary circumstance after extraordinary circumstance as the shape of their feelings had become clearer. Maybe it's not perfect. Maybe they're not. But when all it takes is the thought of Gale to warm him entirely, what more can he ask for? A gift, given not by the gods or some other greater cosmic force, but by time and effort. Little things, all added up into something sweet and worth protecting.
It's that thought that lingers when he leans forward, closing the distance that remains between them to kiss Gale's lips, lingering against the heat of his skin and the steam that still rises from the water.
A thank you of his own, as simply as he can give it. ]