Chapter Text
The mental high Astarion would have from hashing things out with Gale would end up lasting for the rest of the week, only interrupted by Cazadors occasional need to please him. That part seemed to get harder each time. And he wondered if Cazador could see the slight pull away. He hadn’t laughed at any of the guy's jokes, he really just only did the things he was asked, and then took a book to his room. Other than that though, he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary or suspicious, so Cazador had nothing to be really angry at.
By Friday, Cazador had grown tired of Astarion’s presence, or lack thereof, and he hadn’t heard any more stirrings of the ‘gardener’, so he decided to take his trip as originally planned.
A month this time. The thought nearly sent Astarion into shock. The things he could do in a month. It felt like he would have a good chance to chase the dream of freedom he’d been having more and more often lately. The freedom had made him feel so good that he decided to go to Lae’zel’s birthday party that very Saturday, and it certainly was unexpected, seeing as the group seemed more surprised to see him there, even though Lae was supposed to be surprised.
“What, I can’t go out and enjoy myself once in awhile?” He asked bemusedly, noticing the absence of a certain brunette he’d specifically come here hoping to see as he stood in Lae’s living room.
Among a few mumbled replies of ‘oh of course, not’ or ‘we thought you died’, Jenn spoke, standing up with a slight stumble. “Of course you can! Sorry- it’s just-“ The younger girl went to hug Astarion, already half drunk, but trying to stay sober enough for when Lae’zel got there. If there was anything to know about Jenn, it was that she became the most sentimental person upon drinking a few shots. “It’s sooooo good to see you, friend. Gale’s making drinks in the kitchen.”
Astarion half jokingly shrugged out of the hug as he did most every time he was on the receiving end (other than by a certain someone in the library the other day), laughing. “I absolutely didn’t ask, but now that I know there’s drinks in there being served by a non-trained professional, I must investigate.” He replied, ruffling Jenn’s hair before walking through the threshold of Lae’zel’s kitchen. Like an angel among man, there Gale was, looking absolutely dashing as he popped open a bottle of liquor, his tongue caught between his teeth in pure focus. Some of his hair was pulled back into a small bun on the back of his head, the rest of his hair that he kept down looking healthy and full, like he’d maybe taken some hints after using Astarion’s hair care set. A few grey hairs flashed silver under the overhead lighting.
“You knooow…” Astarion began, as way of greeting as he approached the counter, avoiding the thought of how much his pulse kicked up upon walking into the kitchen. “Do any of us actually know how Jenn managed to get Lae’zel’s spare house key without her noticing?” He asked, completely transfixed by the hair could see on the man’s chest peeking out from the few undone top buttons of his Violet shirt. Purple looked really good on him. Astarion couldn’t help but wonder if Gale’s recent adventure into the rainbow club had warranted a change in appearance. Maybe it was simply a bit of confidence from being noticed, from being listened to. Something neither of them had come to experience in a long time. If ever. Astarion wanted to keep giving him that attention, if he could. “I’m not fully convinced that the woman isn’t going to kill us all.” He grinned, eyes finally leaving the hair on Gales chest so they could dart up and meet his.
Gale had been totally focused at the task at hand, not replying at first as he glanced up to see the object of all of his thoughts recently. Well, about Astarion and his book. His literature, actually. The night that Gale had received the book was the same night that he would finish it in its entirety. He had come home that night and fed the cat, only to take the book to the couch with him so that he could rip off the bandaid. And rip it off he did.
Gale Dekarios, for the first time after reading hundreds and hundreds of titles in his many years, quite literally read it and wept. It took him twelve hours, and by the morning he felt as if he had swallowed his own heart and digested it. There was never a part of him that felt like he didn't understand Astarion, but now Gale felt like he had been inside of his brain and walked around. It was beautiful and horrifying, and by the morning Gale felt raw and numb, yet awakened, but most of all he felt like he had just read something that had the propensity to change people's lives. Cazador had beaten Astarion down to the point where he couldn't even recognize his own creative genius. Gale wanted to ask him everything, now more than ever.
Instead of that, he thought of it all week, finding it hard not to relate the themes to things that were happening in his own life. Mostly it just made him think of Astarion.
For the hundredth time that week, Gale was pondering the literary significance of one of the characters removing their own helmet within the vast reaches of outer space just as a way to die, and making sidecars in Lae'zel's kitchen when suddenly he felt a presence before he heard him or saw him.
Gale's shoulders relaxed. A smirk pressed into his face that he couldn't swallow, and he looked up from where he was working. He seemed eager and relieved to see him as he usually was when things were at their best.
“How are you, dear?” Astarion asked by way of flirtation, also to try and get Gale’s attention, as he hadn’t responded to his first question. Astarion rested his chin on a hand as he made a gesture with his hand for tonight’s bartender to pour him some. “I’ll be honest, I heard you were pouring the drinks and got concerned.”
"Ah, that means I’ve neglected to tell you about the week I worked at a pub when I was in uni.” Gale replied, face immediately brightening as he took in the man holding out a well-moisturized and awaiting hand. He was sure Astarion needed the drink, after the last few weeks. “And to answer your first question, Jenn made a copy of her key while they were at the hardware store and Lae wasn’t looking.”
It had been easy because Lae'zel was in the bathroom for fifteen minutes from food poisoning, and Jenn had her keys. It was her fault though, since she wouldn't stop eating at the same food truck every afternoon.
Gale poured Astarion his drink and garnished it with the most perfectly cut orange peel that he had before he slid it over. His eyes drifted downwards, admiring the sight of Astarion’s tongue flitting along the sugared rim suggestively. Gale’s breath hitched, and he remembered he’d been asked another question, masking his obvious horniness with a cough.
"I'm well- very well." Gale beamed. "Very glad to see you here."
“Very glad, huh?” Astarion’s brows raised just slightly, immediately clocking Gale’s obvious hungry stare. It was almost amusing how he hadn’t noticed this before that first night they’d made their attraction known to each other.
The little things Gale did would never cease to surprise Astarion, like smile when he entered a room, chose the perfect garnish for his drink, hang onto his every word…
“Well, I am glad to be here. I spent all morning and afternoon working on next year's lesson plan, and it’s so repetitive yet tedious that it makes me want to pull my hair out.” Astarion shook his head. “Though I can hardly even joke about that, my hair is too precious to see it come out in mats.”
He was just rambling, to avoid talking about the new elephant in the room. Maybe soon he would drop the whole ‘hey, Cazador’s gone for a month’ news, but not quite so early in the night did he want to bring up that man driving a wedge between them. He also spoke to avoid hearing what Gale thought of the book. The week had passed, and the fact that he’d gotten no updates from Gale the whole time meant he either loved or hated it. He almost hoped he just forgot about it and left it on his shelf.
“I have to agree. Far too precious.” Gale replied, uncaring about how forward he may have been coming off. “It looks rather nice this evening, by the way. You look rather nice, I mean.”
Upon seeing that familiar expression, hearing that rare gruffness in his voice, Astarion remembered a night of wine, and the best f*ck he’d ever had, the warmth the alcohol brought to his stomach mimicking that feeling he had going over the edge with Gale.
“I don’t think I could appropriately say how I feel about your appearance tonight.” Astarion retorted, matching Gale’s intensity with ease tonight. “Though I think less clothing would make you look better.”
Gale opened his mouth to speak, though the kitchen door opened before he could even think about what he was going to say to that. In a perfect world, Gale might have kissed him right then and there. Though it seemed like it when he was around Astarion, the world was far from perfect. Sex was something else wild and fantastic, sure, but the few times they had kissed were branded sweetly and painfully into Gale's brain.
The next best thing he could do was talk to him, which he enjoyed almost equally as much.
"I wanted to ask you about something-" And it may or may not have pertained to the reading homework that he had long finished. There was a light in Gale' eyes that implied he was excited by his curiosity, but it was started out of him when suddenly they were three.
“I know, I know, I’ll be right back! I’m getting you a drink!” Wyll Ravengard said over his shoulder, the door closing behind him as he spotted his friends at the breakfast bar. He was however, completely unaware of the sexual tension thickening the air in the room, as he waltzed over to grab a couple glasses for him and Karlach.
“Just the two I wanted to see!” Wyll said as he approached, hanging a casual arm over Astarion’s shoulder. The white haired man shrugged him off with a playful roll of his eyes. Astarion figured Ravengard was either none the wiser to what was going on, or he just didn’t care, though he assumed he was just clueless. “Listen men,” He started, like he was about to bring something up that neither of them felt like discussing. Turned out, he was. “I know I sound like a broken record, but… the summer research trip. Come on. You have to tell me you both haven’t at least thought about it.” It was the same research trip that would make that stop in Greece. The one he’d been wanting Gale to agree to chaperone.
When Astarion realized Wyll was talking about both of them, he whirled to look at the man. “And why am I being asked to go?”
“Because our French professor found out her daughter’s getting married, and you’re the only other professor who happens to be fluent in French.” Wyll explained, missing the shock on Gale's face at the knowledge that Astarion had another language under his belt. “Actually, there’s more, but you’re the only one who hasn't said no.”
At first, Gale was just listening and blinking confusedly at the prospect of this trip, since he still wasn't sure if he wanted to get up and go run around the continent and leave his elderly cat behind for the summer. Then the two of them started talking about the French language. Wyll implied that Astarion was fluent.
“Well, I’d hardly call it fluent anymore, I haven’t spoken it in over a year.” Astarion lied, knowing full well he still remembered the language. He felt Gale’s stare like two hot laser beams burning a hole in his head.
Gale looked at him quizzically and found it hard to believe that this soft and rich voice that had spoken into his ear had not spoken French into it.
"You speak French?" Gale said, voice sounding far off, mind obviously wandering with that information.
“How did you even know that?” Astarion asked Wyll, unsure how he even came to possess such information. His cheeks flushed, the man seeming less calm and confident than he normally did. “I sound like a silly tourist when I speak it, it’s hardly worth mentioning.”
Wyll laughed at his modesty, helping himself to a beer from Lae’zel’s fridge. Astarion knew she was going to get him for that later. “You may not know this, but a lot of our information is in the employee directory.”
“And you may not know this, but that is the creepiest way you could have found out.” Astarion replied before noticing Gale still looking at him, awaiting an answer. “Yes, I do know French. I learned it for a… personal project I was working on.”
Maybe someday he would tell Gale about his experimental French poetry collection he’d written during college. But not in front of Wyll. “Here, I’ll give you a little something…” Astarion cleared his throat, taking a moment to remember before he said with confidence, ‘Wyll est un connard envahissant’.
“Hey, I heard my name in there! Now you have to tell me what you said.” Wyll said, absolutely not letting himself be left hanging without an answer.
“Of course, it means you have nice eyes.” Astarion said, lips curled into a smirk that meant that that totally was not what he said. “Go try it on Karlach, she’ll eat it up.”
When Wyll nodded eagerly and left the kitchen, Astarion looked over again at Gale. “I actually called him an invasive asshole, but I would just love to know what happens when they find out what that means.” He took a drink from his glass, feeling like he could relax his shoulders for once, now that he was out of the school, out of his stuffy house. Out of Cazador’s grasp for a while.
There had been no doubt in Gale's mind that whatever phrase Astarion had just given to Wyll was not what he said it was. Gale knew the mischievous look on Astarion's face. He liked it. A lot.
"If he'd not dropped French so quickly in freshman year, he might have understood that." Gale snorted. "The man chose German instead, which I’ve found doesn’t sound quite as… titillating off the tongue. Maybe I’m generalizing though, and you just make French sound much better…”
Gale put the garnishes on the rest of the drinks and started organizing them on a tray, not intending on bringing them out yet. Lae'zel would be arriving soon, and until then Gale had no qualms with spending a little bit of extra time in the kitchen, chatting with a friend...
"Never told me you spoke another language." He observed. The chills were still lingering on the back of his neck from when Astarion had insulted Wyll with a perfect french tongue, and the hairs on his arms stood up...
"What else do you know how to say?" He ventured, starting to sip his own glass, though he knew he wouldn’t finish it, seeing as he suddenly wanted to get out of here more than anything.
Astarion blinked at the loaded question. He could practically see the gears turning in Gale’s head as he asked. “Well wouldn’t you like to know.” Astarion replied cheekily, grabbing for some cheese on the charcuterie board Jenn had carefully put together earlier that day.
Jenn put a lot of care into Lae, about as much as Gale seemed to put into Astarion. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more going on there too.
“As he said, I’m fluent.” Astarion answered. “I could give you some more examples, but I don’t think they’d be very appropriate for Lae’zel’s kitchen.”
“I can’t help but wonder where you got the idea that I needed you to speak appropriately.” Gale said, not missing that this was the second time Astarion was holding back on him. He wanted to know every thought that went through that pretty head of his.
Astarion nodded, knowing he would feel wrong not indulging Gale at least a little bit, so he got up from the barstool he sat in so he could walk around the counter, taking one of the orange slices Gale had taken the peel from, like that was what he came over for. “I’ll give you one. Just because you make an amazing co*cktail.”
He leaned in, tempted to lick the skin behind his ear, but he managed to hold himself back somehow.
“Je veux que ton cœur me chante comme tes lèvres l'ont fait l'autre soir, gémissant de plaisir.” He let the words roll off his tongue naturally, hand just barely grazing Gale’s lower back. “Maybe tonight, if you’re up for it.” He asked, like Gale had even understood what he’d first said.
Gale didn't understand Astarion's words to him, but he felt them all the way down. The man gave him chills without even trying, or maybe he was trying, but to Gale it just seemed effortless. Recently he had been finding it hard to define himself because he wasn't really just generally attracted to men, he was attracted to Astarion.
Then again, he hadn't been looking at any women either. He'd been practically ignoring everybody in the world but one person. The hand on his back was almost making him sing right now.
"Absolutely." He responded eagerly, though he had no idea what he was agreeing to. Didn't really matter because he was going to do it, whatever it was.
It was a late night for Lae'zel, on account of the fact that she had agreed for some reason to drive halfway across town so that she could pick some f*cking pie-plate up for Jenn from a random internet woman off Craigslist. It was around seven when she had finally made it home, begrudgingly carrying all of her bags from the day in one hand, the precious pie-plate in the other. Upon unlocking the door she found that it was already unlocked and started cursing at herself for forgetting to lock it that morning, vowing to murder anyone who had snuck inside.
The group jumped out as soon as she opened the door, and for a second, Astarion wondered if he and Gale would even make it tonight, with that angry look on Lae’s face.
The anger quickly melted into confusion as she looked around, not expecting the ‘SURPRISE!’ that the group said at the same time. She scrambled to make sure she didn’t drop Jenn’s pie plate, the dark haired girl coming to greet her and take her things.
“Thank you so much for grabbing this. It was the perfect excuse to get you away for a bit, but now I can make that strawberry pie you keep talking about.” Jenn said, grin on her face as she gave Gale a snap of her fingers, as if to say ‘bring the drinks’.“Happy birthday,” Jenn said as everyone gave the birthday girl a moment to get her bearings together. “Before you get mad, I’ve been planning this for like- two months.” She gave Lae pleading eyes as Gale brought out drinks as directed. “Do you like it?”
The group waited with bated breath to hear if they’d successfully made Lae happy, or if they would need to clear out before she blew up.
It was 7:08. At eight, her favorite reality show was on. This meant that usually, within half an hour from now, she would be showered, in pajamas, and sitting in front of the TV with a beer in hand. Usually. But now there were a bunch of idiots and Jenn standing in her living room, some of them wearing party hats.
"I..." Lae'zel stared at each of them separately in numb shock, like she was seeing five really dumb, very kind ghosts. She could smell orange peel, and when she glanced up, she saw that there were sidecars, her favorite co*cktail. There was a charcuterie board on the table, and beer, above all the promise of a strawberry pie.
Lae was gawking at Jenn like she was a mind reader. She didn't remember the instance a few months ago wherein they'd gotten drunk and Lae'zel had ordered an entire strawberry pie to her apartment to consume by herself.
'It was the first thing my mum learned to bake when we moved here growing up' Lae had said with a mouthful, Jenn smiling at her as she nodded along, storing the information for later. It wasn't as easy to get mad as she had thought it might have been. They were just some loveable goons trying to make her feel better during a rough time, and on her birthday, no less.
"I'm er...really touched." And despite forcing herself to say so at first, Lae'zel felt her heart grow three sizes that day.
Everyone seemed to exhale when she took a drink and could be seen trying to force away a slight smile.
"You did this, Jenny?" She scoffed. "Clever girl. Strawberry pie....Tch. Am I really that gullible?"
“Not gullible!” Jenn quickly countered. “I just try really hard to remember everything. You deserve it.” She replied, having heard Lae say once before that she loathed the fact that her ex-husband was never the type to remember the little things about her. She didn’t know how long it had been since Lae had been taken care of for once.
Astarion took his party hat off, putting it on Gale’s head instead. He never liked wearing hats. “She’s right, Lae’zel. The girl spent an hour trying to find the perfect recipe, when she forgets that Karlach and I make that exact drink ten times a night.”
“Heyyy…” Jenn glared over at Astarion, flushing pink as she was found out. “It wasn’t an hour, it was just… I wanted you to have a great birthday!” She turned back to Lae. “Come on, help me make the pie, bring your drink with you.”
As the two of them slipped into the kitchen alone, the others did not follow, instead chatted and drank, and just overall had a great time.
“It’s odd…” Astarion began, two hours later, seated on one of Lae’s couches with his second and final drink of the night sitting in his hand, one leg crossed over the other, watching as the others continued to get drunker and drunker through the night.“You’re normally one to revel in the festivities, yet you’ve barely touched your drink.” Astarion said, having obviously been observing Gale all night. For once, he wasn’t the one steering all the conversations. Instead, he hung on the sidelines with Astarion, the both of them basically waiting for the other one to invite them back to their place. “What is that, drink number one still?” He asked curiously, the corners of his lips curling up. “If you’re not careful, I may just skip my Uber and make you drive me home. Orrrr you can take me back to your place and I can just amble on back home from there.”
The look he gave told him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere if Gale got him back to his place.
"I was waiting to drink it until I knew we weren't getting kicked out." Gale picked up his neatly made drink and sniffed at it before taking a second or third sip. "I don't particularly like whiskey and orange together, I think it tastes like cheap floor cleaner. I prefer the expensive kind of floor cleaner."
Drinking had been more of an interest to him tonight before Astarion had showed up and started giving him attention. He was more interested in getting home appropriately tonight. "I'll be your designated driver." Gale offered. "I'll even designate a playlist for the way home, it's the same CD that's been stuck in the car since I bought it."
When he heard loud laughter behind him, Gale turned around to see what it was about and noticed that in the kitchen, all of the girls were laughing at Wyll. Probably at his expense.
"Just like in college." Gale observed, shaking his head. He was glad they could be in their own little world for a moment. He crossed his leg over Astarion's bravely, resting his chin in his hand as he stared at him unabashedly. "You haven't been inside my house yet, have you?"
“Not once, and you know I’ve been severely impatient to see what it looks like.” Astarion replied, knowing they would need to rejoin the others soon to ease suspicion. Did they even care? Sometimes it seemed like they knew more than Astarion or Gale even did. “If you cook me breakfast like you did at my place, I’m sure I’ll have no problems with it at all. Just don’t expect me to mow your lawn in the morning.” Astarion joked, though if Gale asked him, he’d do it, albeit he would probably ruin Gale's yard if he attempted that.
At the mention of Gale’s college years, he couldn’t help but be curious about what he was like back then, and then he remembered that he could ask Gale whatever he wanted, and the guy would answer him. “You were in a fraternity, weren’t you? I think you or Wyll mentioned that once before.” He asked. “I’d love to see a picture sometime. I can’t help but be curious if you’ve always grown out your hair like that.”
He ran a hand through it exploratively, relishing in the soft relaxed noise Gale made, quickly followed by a slight grunt as Astarion yanked on it a little bit playfully.
“I’m not saying to change it, please keep it like this, but a guy can’t help but wonder.”
"Oof-" Gale let him do as he pleased. "I'd hate to hear what else Wyll mentioned.."
Admittedly, he kind of liked it when Astarion pulled on his hair like that. He didn't really mind being manhandled by him at all. He craved the touch, any kind really as long as it was from Astarion. Mistra had gotten bored of him so long ago, even before they'd stopped having sex, so he'd forgotten what it felt like to be doted on and fussed over.
"My hair was short once in third year when I had to shave it for a brain scan.." Gale let it ride for like a second. "Just kidding, Wyll went camping and brought back lice."
It wasn't exactly bedroom talk, but that was something he felt they excelled at together- Astarion wasn't just great in bed, he was a great listener and a complex soul and in Gale's heart, a prestigious author.
"Hey." Something was awakened in Gale, and he sat up quickly as if he had remembered something important.
"Are you up for a little book talk later?"
“Ooooo, absolutely not.” Astarion replied, laughing harder than he’d intended to, mostly out of sheer nervousness. “I’ve been dreading hearing your thoughts, to be honest.” He realized that may have come out wrong, so he backtracked quickly. “It’s… admittedly kind of embarrassing talking about my own work, I hope you understand. Very embarrassing, actually. However, I’ll… make an exception for you.”
He tended to make a lot of exceptions for Gale, actually.
Their legs were still touching, and he really needed to get this man’s clothes off soon. After a moment of silence where he knew they were both thinking the same thing, looking at each other with hungry eyes, Astarion cleared his throat.
“I've got an idea.” He said in that mischievous tone of his. “I’m going to finish this drink, and do my best impression of myself on the night of my 21st birthday so you have a reason to get me out of here early.”
"And I'll gladly carry you out over my shoulder." Gale teased him, though he wasn't opposed to it for any reason other than the fact that they'd be found out right then and there. "I have some things I'd like to touch you about." He felt warm and sedated and ultimately ready to move along. Gale felt no need to have gotten drunk tonight, with every intention of getting drunk off of somebody else later tonight.
Gale brought their glasses into the kitchen and cleaned them, watching as Astarion set the stage and started complaining about how terribly drunk he was.
"Lightweight!" Lae'zel accused him, more than willing to bully her friends into staying and drinking later into the night now that she was drunk herself. "Take another shot!"
"How about we all do a shot of water?" Gale suggested. Everyone looked at him like he had farted or kicked a dog.
“Woooo! Shots!” Astarion nearly tripped over on Karlach, the woman holding him up.
“Nooo way, no more for you, buddy. You wanna lay down for a minute?” She asked, fully believing his act as she felt the silver-haired man put most of his weight on her.
He absolutely wanted to lay down, but not here. He much rather wanted to lay in Gale’s bed, or on his couch, or on his table. Definitely on his table.
“If I-” he hiccuped rather believably, slipping into speaking slurred French for a moment before returning to even more slurred English. “I’ll never get back up. Then Lae’s gonna have to clean up my vomit when I get sick, I can’t let her see me like thaaat!” He smirked and leaned in a little bit, whispering in a way that wasn’t secret at all. “I’ve got a bit of a crush on her, don’t tell-”
“Yeah yeah yeah.” Lae waved him off, easily able to tell when he was just teasing, drunk as she was. “You couldn’t handle me anyways. Anyone sober enough to take Casanova home?”
Astarion had begun to dance with Shadowheart, twirling her around as he waited for Gale to volunteer himself.
“I can drive you,” Wyll said politely, giving Astarion a grin. “I only had a beer like two hours ago, I’m sure I’m good to go.”
Astarion almost broke character for a moment, not expecting someone else to actually offer. He hadn’t taken Wyll’s unwavering annoying kindness into account. “Uh… wellllllll…” he trailed off, hoping Gale could swoop in and sort this out without drawing too much attention to what was really happening.
He seemed to have them all fooled. Astarion's proficiency in charisma had them all thinking that he was two sheets to the wind, even though nobody had seen him drink more than a couple of drinks. Gale had to do little more than stand back and watch the show with his arms crossed, a smirk settled into his face. Until Wyll offered. Gale cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"Er, Wyll, you're leaving so soon? Didn't you tell Karlach you were going to show her pictures of that dog you were planning on adopting?" Wyll looked at him confusedly, but when Karlach rose her eyebrows interestedly and shoved her shoulder into his, he looked less distraught about it. "Yeah, you just told me so a minute ago." He said. "Astarion, you live in the general direction of my home, I think." He didn't really and it really didn't matter.
"I wouldn't mind giving you a ride."
“Is that my only option?” Astarion asked, acting annoyed at the prospect with a roll of his eyes.
“It’s that or pay sixty dollars for an Uber right now.” Jenn chimed in, slightly stumbling as she saw double from being twirled around by the man.
Astarion sighed. “Alright. You don’t have to beg me. Let’s go, while I’m still upright.” He patted around his pockets, ensuring he had his things. “Oh- before I forget,” he slipped a card out of the inside of his jacket, handing it over to Lae’zel. It was a card containing as many free drink coupons as he could safely snag from the bar without the owner, Halsin, firing him. “Just don’t forget to tip your bartender. Happy birthday, darling!”
In about five minutes, Astarion and Gale were in the car, side by side, the former having completely snapped out of the act. “Well, I’ll be opening the floor to compliments on my performance.” Astarion said, worlds lighter as he sat in the passenger side of Gales car.
"You can read my formal review in tomorrow's editorial like everybody else." Gale said. "I'm sorry that I forgot the roses to throw at your feet." Figuratively speaking he still had a few roses to throw tonight, and the night was young for two men who often stayed up well into the morning. Gale liked getting to be the one to drive Astarion around this time. It felt nice to finally have something to offer him beyond sex and food and words and...everything good there was in the world, but there came something special from these intimate times together.
For one, Gale thought that Astarion looked so astonishingly beautiful in the moonlight that it could have caused a crash from all of the staring that Gale was doing. The glances he did take were rewarding. The scant white light made him look godlike, and worth worshiping. "But listen to you..is that my only option?!" Gale made fun of him using another silly voice from his repertoire, and clicked his tongue. "Naughty boy. I'll have your tongue for that."
“Oh please do. It’s all yours if you only ask.” Astarion replied, resting his head back against the seat, feeling just loose enough from the two drinks he’d had. “In all seriousness, have you been working on your impression of me? It was impressive, I won’t lie.”
"I'd been working on my impression of you before I was interested in what you had going on inside your head and your pants." Gale was really only half joking about that. "But your efforts were special indeed. I suppose you deserve some kind of reward, I'll figure something out eventually."
Something involving tongues, that was to be sure. Gale certainly liked to use his and he knew that Astarion did too.
Astarion chuckled at his own performance earlier before continuing. “I had to act like I wasn’t plotting having you take me home. Can’t make it obvious, can we? I quite like sneaking around with you, anyways.” Though he would have preferred being publicly claimed by the man, he knew it wasn’t smart yet, things were so fresh with Mystra, and Cazador was… well…
“Oh- I… forgot to mention. I’ll have the house to myself this month. I’ll be more careful, should you ever feel like coming over again. That, or I’ll make a habit out of visiting you. It does tend to get lonely, now that I have someone like you around.” Astarion said, a gentle hand resting on Gale’s leg.
At this point Gale was chomping at the bit not to pull over and risk the public indecency charge. Especially now that they were talking a whole month. That was so much damned freedom for him to live his life. Yet not enough, by a landslide.
"You're welcome around my home anytime, you know." Gale offered, knowing that the risk was always there for an incident like last time, if they ended up at Astarion's, despite the fact that he did like being there. "Seriously, you could help me redecorate before I sell the place, to make it look nice for the realtors. Mystra left behind a whole lot of gaudy furniture that I'd rather not have for another ten years."
It was a steep offer, but not too steep for someone who already had their hand on his leg. Gale enclosed his own hand around it.
“I won’t say no, you’re talking to someone who takes home decor very seriously. I should make you aware though, hell hath no fury like a gay man in a Pottery Barn.” Astarion replied, looking forward to this new relationship- or whatever it was that they had.
The car ride home almost made him tired, except for that deep fire inside him that wouldn’t be put out until Gale gave him the other ride he’d promised. Something felt more special about these moments though. Where Gale expected nothing but sweet conversation, soft touches, it almost felt foreign to Astarion. Who was he to deserve such unfaltering adoration from Gale Dekarios? How had Mystra turned a blind eye to what had been right in front of her?
As the car heater blasted warm air on them, Astarion stared at him, from his hair, to his beautifully carved face, one that told him that Gale definitely had some Greek in him. God, now Astarion wanted some Greek in him.
“So the book,” he said to distract his lustrous thoughts, watching as Gale's eyes shifted to his momentarily while they sat at a red light after just exiting off the highway near their part of town. “You finished it, I presume? You can be honest, pretend we’re talking about Arthur’s work, not mine.” He said of the pseudonym he’d chosen to publish under, Arthur Gauthier. “I’ve heard he’s an arsehole anyways.” He added lightheartedly.
"Well, I happen to know the guy personally, and I do rather like him too." Gale said, glancing at Astarion with a warning look. "So be wary of what you say, I may tell him."
At that, he was near giddy to have the opportunity to discuss the book that he'd skipped dinner and an entire night's sleep to finish. Not because he felt as if he needed to get it over with, but because he hadn't been able to put it down.
"Astarion, I don't even know where to begin." Gale marveled, seeming definitely amazed rather than critical. "I finished it the night you gave it to me. I've read it again since then." The second time, he'd taken his time with it, read it between lunch breaks and before bed to give it the proper love it deserved. Gale wanted to see if he'd missed anything out of being too excited to read it, but he had not. It just gave him further chills and different ideas and theories and it had destroyed him all over again.
"I was astonished, it was fantastic and it upset me and comforted me at the same time, I've not...been affected like this over a novel for some time. I can't say that it's just because I know the author, either."
They were nearing his home now, and though Gale would be glad to be there, he did want to continue discussing this. "I lost more sleep over the ending." He looked over suspiciously, as if he were going to ask for something. “I’ve read many endings that were up to the interpretation of the reader, but I've never been able to ask for the truth, so you've got to humor me, please?" Gale made eyes at him.
"Did Neil survive the crash in the end?" He asked desperately, though in the book it had been left to the interpretation of the reader as he had said.
Astarion chuckled at that. Gale had actually enjoyed the book. How had he thought the man wouldn’t eat up a science fiction novel?
“It’s a complicated answer, to be honest. I went back and forth with myself so many times that I ended up getting so frustrated with the ending, I left it as it was. I… wish I had a better reason to do it, but I have a habit of not finishing things I start, so ending it like that was the only way I’d be able to put it out in the world.”
He sank back in the seat a little, both wondering if he should reveal another secret, but also he wondered what Gale looked like, curled up in his bed, on his couch, reading and worrying over a book Astarion had written.
“There is… well… I actually have a draft of a sequel somewhere. It never felt right, trying to continue a story when I’m so different from who I was then.” He sighed at the memory, looking off out the window. “My life changed very shortly before I started writing the book. I feel as if a lot of the things I wrote were just too… raw. I haven’t been able to experience the same anguish as I did then, having grown numb to… everything. I feel that it hurt my craft.”
It was a more serious answer than he’d planned to give, but he knew Gale needed to know all the same. “So… live, die, I have no clue. Maybe someday I’ll unearth that draft for my one singular fan.”
"I'm not your only fan." Gale told him, knowing this to be true in many ways. "Just your biggest." They pulled into Gale's driveway not long after that. The last time he'd been there with Astarion, the lawn had been littered with his own personal artifacts as Mystra had strewn them out the window one by one. Now it was neatly trimmed, and the English daisies were in bloom. "I know it's different from having hundreds of adoring fans, which you would have if you'd ever decided to put your work out again- but that being said, make no mistake. There are already lots of people who love you, if not already hundreds."
That was something that Gale had always envied about the professors, particularly ones as highly regarded as Astarion. A lot of students looked up to him, if not mainly the girls and the students who enjoyed writing. "I enjoy hearing word of you around the school. You’re more highly regarded than you think."
“I appreciate that.” Astarion replied, not making a self-deprecating comment about how they didn’t know the ‘real him’, because he wanted to keep the night on a positive note if he could.
He didn’t make a sudden move to get out of the car, happy with the quiet of Gale's car. The safety, being in here.
The safety being with him, more like it.
“You didn’t before last month though.” Astarion teased. “If I recall, I remember you looking at me like you wanted to wring my neck that first time at the bar. It was kind of sexy though, I can’t complain.” He remembered going home that night, trying not to think about Gale as he rubbed one out. Now they were here. What a month could do to a couple of stubborn queer men.
"Perhaps." Gale turned the car off but didn't hurry out just yet. "Or contrary to that, maybe I had heard of you often, only good things really, save for the occasional student who was terrified of you.. Seen you around, and interacted with you briefly enough to get the sense that I was... a little bit scared of you." Gale chuckled warmly, knowing Astarion well enough now to know that there was mostly nothing to be scared of (save for how much Gale liked him). He knew the look on his face, the slight offense he had taken. "I'm only really ever scared of people I like." He snorted. "I thought you were far too intelligent and high class to ever want to deal with the likes of me. Guess I was wrong."
On that note, before Astarion could threaten him Gale pinched his side and snickered at his response. "I'm just joking, but I do still love getting under your skin."
Astarion tried to repress the laugh that escaped him upon Gale getting him in the side. “I’ll kill you if you ever try to tickle me like that again!” He said, catching his breath as he pressed himself against the passenger side door. “Now come on, show me your place. I intend on trying to get into your pants before the sun comes up, if that’s alright with you.”
It was early in the night still, which was amazing, because Astarion wasn’t done talking to him. Not even close.
“Gale,” Astarion called as he stepped out of the car, looking at him across the roof. “Were you serious earlier? About being able to… carry me over your shoulder?” He asked, tapping his fingers on the car. “I find it quite hard to think about anything else right at this moment.”
Gale looked at Astarion like he'd asked him whether he was capable of reciting the English alphabet.
"Were you wanting to find out?"
Because he certainly felt like testing it. Gale didn't really even give him much time to answer before shutting the door and coming around the side of the car to claim what was his, at least for the month.
Astarion was somehow lighter than he looked, despite already being a healthily thin guy, but Gale was strong for a guy who hadn't worked out in a while, and as he pulled Astarion over his back and settled him onto his shoulder, he found that it was no problem for him.
"Up you go, lover." He chuckled. "You know something? I love the way my name sounds in your mouth. I always hated it as a boy."
Not when Astarion said it.
Astarion had opened his mouth to say something, but was abruptly shut up when Gale threw him over his shoulder like a sack of flour, hand tightly wrapped around his waist. Astarion was so distracted by the action that he didn’t have time to ask why Gale said the word ‘Love’ so much, and why it never seemed to lose its meaning.
“I’ll say it more often then. Maybe start trying out some annoying accents to see if it’ll get a rise out of you.” He cleared his throat and did the best yet worst country accent he could muster. “Gale Dekarios, wizard librarian of Waterdeep.” He nearly cringed at how his own voice sounded with the heinous accent. “Eugh, I think that bothered me more than it did you.” He recoiled, now back to his normal accent.
Once he finally was put down, though he would have rather stayed up there, he was standing in Gale’s entryway, left to look around while the man in front of him greeted his cat. "Oooh no, I rather liked that, actually." Gale purred. He'd always had a penchant for most things American, not excluding the cowboy culture. "We'll have to get you into a pair of boots and chaps by the end of the summer." Preferably the kind with holes in the arse, but Gale would take either.
He'd left the light on for himself, unknowing that there would be two coming home that night. Tara's automatic feeder had taken care of her already, so she wasn't scratching at anybody's ankles. She was excited to see Astarion though, and rubbed up against his leg as he removed his shoes.
"I suspect she's been wondering where you are."
“Hm… yes, hello cat.” Astarion said, a bit uncomfortably. It was probably the nicest reaction he’d ever had to a cat. “Long time no see, Tara.” Surprisingly, he bent down to pet her, mainly because he knew it would please Gale, and if he had to like cats in order to be with this man, then he considered them his favorite animal going forward.
He removed his coat, hanging it up on a wall hook Gale had near the front door, eyeing the knick knacks sitting on the shelf just on top of the hook.
“You keep a nice place. Nicer than I expected for a man who’s called himself straight for the last two decades. I’ll be honest, I was slightly worried about what I’d be walking into.” He slipped his shoes off next, and then started to unbutton his shirt before hopping over the couch to lay down. He was shocked to find that there were pillows and blankets, like he’d been sleeping out here still?
“Is this where I’ll be staying? I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect you’d choose your cat in bed over me, but this couch is comfortable enough, I guess I can manage.” He sprawled out and closed his eyes like he was actually considering sleeping there. Astarion peeked an eye open to look at Gale, who was still standing. “Why don’t you sleep in your bed anymore?“ he asked curiously, knowing that the bedding had been for Gale.
Watching Astarion wander his home and discover it for itself was only half unnerving because he knew that most of the things that had been relevant to his married life were sold, donated, burned, or otherwise just plain gotten rid of, but it was all still fresh enough that it was kind of empty. All or most of the furniture and decor that remained had all originally belonged to Gale. So it all had a very definite...Gale feeling to it. "I'm glad to hear you say that." He said, feeling somewhat relieved to hear that he did not live in a style. "It looks very different from how it did before. It's taken some getting used to on my part." Gale chuckled at Astarion's fooling around, and appreciated the lightheartedness. Especially going into the subject of the bed, which he felt silly to even be so forlorn about.
Nonetheless, he sat next to Astarion's feet on the couch and rubbed at his bare ankles. Gale was going to tell him the truth. "It wasn't just my bed. Towards the end, it was barely my bed at all." Gale sighed. "I can still feel her energy in this house. A long, long time ago that would have been a good time, but now it makes me feel nauseated. I've bought new bedding and all but I think I just need to throw the whole thing out and start over."
That being said, he wasn't planning on making Astarion sleep on the couch tonight. Gale knew he could get over it for a night, possibly even christen the room with somebody else. Still, in the long run...
"I need to get out of this house." He said. "I'd take anywhere else, I just need to sell."
He’d been so focused on getting to sleep in Gale's bed that he hadn’t even thought about who had been there first. The woman who made Gale feel so small without even being here.
Astarion couldn’t help but wonder who wouldn’t want this man. Gale was sitting there, looking at him like he was the most important thing in the world, rubbing at a part of him he’d never thought would feel so intimate.
“It’ll sell, I’m sure of it.” Astarion replied, sitting up a bit to look at him. “Aaand… if it didn’t, then I’m happy to lend you my decoration expertise. We can get you a new bed, new wallpaper, make it look like she never even graced the entrance of your abode.”
He removed his ankles from Gale's massage regretfully, but it was worth it when he scooted forward, and up until he was straddled in his lap, like he’d been that one night at his dinner table. That night he hadn’t stopped thinking about even once since it’d happened. He’d regretted not staying in Gale’s arms that night, and he wanted to make it up to him. “I hate how we left things…” Astarion said, as if Gale had been listening to his inner monologue the whole time. “That last time we were together like this.”
He kissed his neck, running his hands down his chest in an attempt to make him forget about damned Mystra. “Me pardonneras-tu avec tes douces lèvres?” He asked quietly, feeling drunk off their contact immediately as he gave Gale a preview of some of the phrases he’d been asking for earlier. “I’m looking forward to staying with you tonight. Or as long as you’ll have me.”
Astarion's name had been the only one on his mind recently. Possibly to a fault. Even at work, Gale could think of nothing else but the man who had made a man of him once more.
"You don't have to worry about that." He shook his head, pushing Astarion's hair around with his hand. It was soft, and the smell of his shampoo was familiar and sweet. "You never really left me last time."
Astarion felt so light in his lap. Gale was reminded of just how little it had felt like he had weighed when he'd lifted him earlier. Gale wanted to be gentle with him because he deserved it and because he didn't want to cross into anything that triggered him at all, but damn, if it wouldn't have been easy to just turn him over right then and there.
The French was what did it for him. Every time. When Astarion spoke into his ear, Gale forgot that he'd ever even been married. It was like having a first love.
Love. That word felt more prevalent lately than it had deserved to be in a long time.
Gale breathed. "I can take your pants off now, yes?"
“I’d be angry if you didn’t.” Astarion replied, his right hand tightening its grip in Gale’s hair, treasuring every silver strand he found among the waves of brunette. “However, I do enjoy sitting and talking with you. It isn’t an activity I normally find favorable with others.”
The sweetness of the moment, of Gale talking about the couch and his feelings, it made Astarion almost want to just lay there in his arms all night. Yet, there was a throbbing presence beneath him that either belonged to himself, to Gale, or to both of them.
“You know, you never did play that cd on the way back here. Now might be a nice time to hear what you like to listen to. While you’re reading, while you’re cooking,” he loosened the top three buttons of Gales shirt and kissed him from the exposed area all the way up his neck, jaw, and behind the ear, speaking the whole way. “While you’re bathing, maybe even while you’re pleasuring yourself…”
He lifted off him slightly, so he could glance around, spotting a vintage looking entertainment center near Tara’s extensive cat tree, and a disc organizer full of CD’s next to that. “Is that the jackpot?”
Though he didn’t want to, he got up and went to shuffle through the CD cases. “Which ones you’re favorite?”
'You're the jackpot.' Gale thought hungrily, feeling that trail of kisses burnt into his neck even as Astarion got up.
Gale sat up and watched him with bated breath, considering getting his belt off while he could, but figuring he would leave that for Astarion when he returned. Gale was in no rush. At least he was trying to remind himself of that, but then again he was only a man. "Oh yeah, that's right." He said, blinking stupidly and pretending to remember it like he wasn't trying to hold off an erection. "Er, there's one towards the back inside of a Hanson CD case, but it's not really a Hanson CD, it's just what I had to put it in."
Thank god, too. The CD was blank otherwise, save for the sharpie scrawl in his own handwriting that read 'Gale's mix'
“Aha!” Astarion reached into the organizer and grabbed the infamous Hanson CD case, popping open the cover to grab the blank disc and put it in the player.
He’d started to get back up when an acoustic guitar started playing from the speakers, and it sounded distinctly like…
“You listen to country music?” Astarion turned to look at Gale. “Just when I start to think we’re similar in a lot of ways…” he said, mostly joking. It was actually kind of endearing that Gale listened to the music Astarion didn’t usually care for.
Knowing Gale, he’d probably get Astarion to like it by the end of the week. End of the night if he wasn’t careful. “Who’s the artist?” He asked, not moving back towards the couch for a moment so he could start to remove his own clothes. First he unbuttoned the shirt, tossed it onto the recliner, then he started unbuttoning his pants.
In the pale scant light that made from Gale's tiny lamp mixed with the moonlight streaming through the window, Astarion looked like some kind of god. He was one to Gale. More than that.
"Glen Campbell." He answered, anxiously awaiting his lover's return, but still not in a hurry to rush him over. Gale had no problems watching him undress from afar, knowing all that it did was rev him up further, if not tempt him terribly. "I don't tend to waste my time with things like burning CD's anymore, but I suppose keeping them around makes me sentimental."
When Astarion was nearly undressed, and his shirt tossed carelessly aside for the morning, Gale leaned forward, his eyes beckoning him forth. "You know, I'll not force you to make love to me on an awful pullout sofa." Gale said. "I'm..more than willing to take this upstairs, if it would be more comfortable."
He’d been tempted to stay there, but he had to admit it would be easier with a little more room.
Luckily though, when Gale led him upstairs to his bedroom at the end of the hall, Astarion could still hear the soft strumming playing from downstairs. He hardly needed the music though, Gale alone brought life into any room.
As much as Astarion wanted to stop and look at the different things around the room, at the shelves filled with books all around, the stack of books by his bed, there were more important matters to attend to. He finished taking his pants off and set them aside before laying down on the plush comforter beneath him. Before he could lay down fully, he felt something under his back, reaching behind to grab the source, being the book Astarion had given him.
The fact that Gale still had it in his bed meant he’d been reading it again. Gale had spent the time reading his book not once, but twice, and it turned Astarion on more than anything else.
“You really liked it, didn’t you?” He asked, chuckling to himself as he set it aside. “I mean, I believed you when you told me, it’s just… still kind of hard to believe you can find good in something I’ve consistently hated since I published it.”
He knew Gale was getting impatient, could sense it in the furrow of his brow, or the urgency of his touching and his kisses, but Astarion just couldn’t help it. “Tell me what you like about it…”
It felt cold upstairs, if only because Gale hadn't spent much time in there as of late. He wasn't so much worried about how they were going to warm up. As Gale was flickering on the lamp, and starting to get rid of his own pants, he hadn't realized that he'd left the book in bed, which he was rereading.
"Oh, sorry." Gale took the book from him and tucked it lovingly into his bedside table for later, returning to his side to lay right next to him. Knowing that he was being teased, Gale also knew that he was more than capable of taking charge himself. Or at least he was learning so. "I like being inside your brain." Gale was lying there behind him, unable to help himself to what was before him. He started at the back of his neck and kissed him down to his shoulder, wrapping arms around him from either side to enclose him in Gale's own warmth. He took a deep breath, relishing the familiar scent of a soap he couldn't pronounce. "I like that I can see bits of you in it, but also that I had to look for them because you're good at hiding yourself." Gale kissed behind his ear.
"I'd have liked it even if I didn't like you." Gale added. "I've got quite a bit more than just a liking for you, Astarion."
“It’s easier to hide.” He replied honestly. “But it’s been nice lately, to come out into the light a little bit.”
He did enjoy Gale laying behind him like that, but more than that, he wanted to properly kiss him again. They’d really only done it that one night. Not even the morning after, since they never ended up tangled in bed together in the morning.
Things would be different this month.
“I like you too.” He told him, turning back around to face him. Gale was already staring at him with those deep pleading eyes, practically begging Astarion to put him out of his misery and let him f*ck him into oblivion. Or maybe the other way around?
He touched Gale’s chin, urging it closer so he could catch his awaiting lips with his own. After being caught up in a searing kiss, he pulled away only so he could watch and savor his expression before going back into another.
“How do you want me tonight, darling?” Astarion whispered, though it was only them in the house. There was no need to be quiet, but it felt more intimate to do so.
"God, how wouldn't I want you?" After being kissed once, Gale couldn't soon forget the feeling and was urged to do it again, slowly at first. As slow as he could handle under the circ*mstances. He was more than aware of his own growing impatience, but while they kissed, he thought. And though he was tempted to have Astarion in a way that really would have been new to him, to lend himself completely to him in that way, it wasn't without the same concern that any man would have.
"As I'm sure you're aware, I've never been, in that sense..." Gale pulled away briefly to be honest with him about his apprehensions, despite the fact he was curious. He didn't feel like he wouldn't like it; he just...hadn't ever thought about it before in juxtaposition to himself. "I suppose I could lend myself to the idea of it."
“There’s a difference between just agreeing, and actually wanting it.” Astarion said, getting an excited glint in his eye at the idea that Gale was putting down. “I’ve… usually never been allowed to do it that way, it’s quite a delicate thing, handing that kind of control over to another.” It went without saying that Astarion hadn’t experienced control in pretty much every aspect. Cazador kept a tight leash. “Would you really trust me with this?” He asked, shifting positions so he could sit on top of him, look him directly in the eyes to make sure he was giving an honest answer, and not just trying to please him. “Would you like me to f*ck you this time, Gale?”
Gale gave a soft chuckle, adjusting himself easily in order for Astarion to climb on top of him. He was beautiful from down here. From anywhere, really.
"I'd trust you with more than this." He told him, knowing it to be true.
Nobody had ever done so much for him or proved their affection in such a short time. Hell, he'd never really taken sex as much more than a chore to get through. Being with Astarion made him crave things he'd never even considered.
"You take good care of the ones you love, Astarion." Gale stole his hand and kissed his knuckles. "It's one of the many things that I find compelling about your nature." Though words were not always of value in places like here, Gale knew and had at least been taught that sometimes they were needed. So he nodded once.
"Yes I'd like for you to please f*ck me if you could spare the time to do so."
“There’s that word again, you use it so often.” Astarion said. “love.”
He didn’t know if he loved Gale. Not only had it just been over a month since everything began, but he barely even knew what love felt like at this point.
Maybe it felt like stolen glances across the hall, or an exceeding amount of trips to the library during a specific man’s working hours, or the way he liked to pet Gale’s hair when he seemed lost in thought or on edge.
“I think I could learn to feel that in time.” He said honestly, taking Gales boxers off as graciously as he could do he could briefly suck him off before getting to the really good part. His fingers began to slip underneath Gale at the same time to begin preparing him, until he remembered they were missing an important piece of the puzzle.
“You do have lubricant, correct?”
He wasn't embarrassed, but Gale was grateful for Astarion's patience regarding his big mouthed tendencies that insisted upon coming out during intimate moments. He was lucky to have not yet drunkenly professed his love on account of a good f*ck. Gale didn't know if he understood love anymore, but he did know that he deserved to feel it in whatever sense. That Astarion did too. Even if it was just behind these walls.
What did embarrass him is that he had, in fact, made a stop to the local drugstore not long after their first encounter for some ibuprofen and coffee beans and lo and behold, KY jelly.
"Err correct." He sighed softly, already practically rolling over from the initial contact. Though he could have done with just sitting there getting blown forever, Gale couldn't help but want to lend the rest of himself to Astarion in the way that he truly deserved.
He hesitated to remove himself, still so heavily transfixed on Astarion's dark eyes and his pretty mouth. So much so that he was able to retrieve the small unopened tube from the bedside table without so much as looking away.
"Wasn't sure what to get.”
“That’s alright.” Astarion assured him, getting closer so he could take the tube from him. “Though I am surprised you didn’t do extensive research beforehand. I’m glad you didn’t, you can just let me lead the way.”
He spread the jelly onto his fingers before looking up at him in question, “Just lay back and relax. I’ll do the work.”
Gale nodded wordlessly, muttering a small curse under his breath as one of Astarion’s fingers entered him. The distinct sting was quickly followed by a few sweet kisses down his torso. Astarion didn’t add another finger until Gale gave him a gentle squeeze on the arm when he started to enjoy the feeling. When he started to crave more.
Astarion proceeded to do as promised, pleasuring Gale with a mixture of his fingers and his mouth, before eventually slicking his own painfully hard length up and adjusting so he could look at Gale while he ruined him.
“May I-” Astarion started to ask, lining his tip up to Gale’s slicked entrance, wanting to take what was there so badly, but knowing he needed to give the respect he knew he himself deserved.
“Please, just do it-” Gale panted, practically grinding right onto him. Astarion didn’t make him wait much longer, holding Gale’s hips as he pushed inside of him slowly. Very slowly. When he eventually did enter Gale, it felt like he’d been missing this all along. Having the man groaning in the palm of his hand, tightening around him with every moment, it was enough to lose control right there.
“God, you’re amazing.” Astarion breathed, eyes narrowed in focus as he slowly attempted a more languid and practiced movement. “Is this okay?” He asked, barely able to get words out of Gale, he was simply just babbling noises.
“Parle-moi, mon amour…” he whispered, trying not to let the strain in his voice show as he held back from thrusting deep into him. “Speak, darling.” he asked, voice near a growl as he spoke in Gale’s ear.
Any apprehensions Gale had come into this with had long melted away at Astarion's warm touch. Lord, his tongue was capable of so much more than just talk. Being sucked off was one thing. Mystra would have died or killed before attempting anything of the sort.
Lending himself to the pleasures that another man could provide had once been a thought far from his mind, but the more that Gale did it, the more he wanted. The more he realized he'd never felt this way around a woman before. Even if there were fears to get over.
Gale was particularly afraid of the fact that Astarion seemed decently endowed, and to someone who had never experienced anything of the sort, it was...intimidating, to say the least, but Astarion knew to start slow, to take the care and time that Gale had missed out on. His hips twitched and locked into place as their bodies joined. The discomfort as Astarion joined him was immediate but so quickly fleeting once he was a little further in that Gale could instantly feel butterflies like he had never experienced.
"Ohf*ck-" He stammered, a sharp exhale filling his lungs with air. He held his breath as Astarion started to establish a pace. Gale steadied himself by placing a hand on either of Astarion's legs, his head dipping backwards and filling with stars.
Gale felt dizzy as Astarion willed him to speak. He wanted more and to get it however he could.
"Yes-" He said. "Yes, that's fantastic-"
Astarion himself was curious if the flames inside him would ever go away. He had naively thought the sparks would die out once he got it out of his system, but the safety, the love he received from Gale, the feeling of equalness, it made him hungry for more and more and more.
His eyes had fluttered closed as his movements became slightly rougher, rolling back with each thrust. It felt as if he knew him more, the deeper he went.
Somehow, doing it this way didn’t trigger any horrible flashbacks. It felt new, like overwriting past memories. He kissed Gale then, unsure if the wetness on his face was sweat, or a tear. He kissed down his neck, only nipping at it as he simultaneously yanked back the man’s hair. He’d remembered him once saying he’d liked both of those things, why not try them in tandem?
“Tu ne te souviendras que de mon nom demain…” he nearly whined, knowing he’d be done with fairly quickly if things kept up like this. He didn’t care if Gale could understand it, the guy was probably only half listening anyways. “Mon amour, mon amour….”
He didn’t know how he could ever share a bed with Cazador after this. How he had for so long.
Gale was enjoying himself a lot for a guy who had claimed himself straight for over twenty-two years. Not to say more than last time, but lending himself to this new perspective was...gratifying, to say the least. In more ways than just one.
For starters, he liked being dominated. Particularly just by Astarion, because he felt no real threat from him whatsoever, and knew that whatever ways he pushed and forced him were going to bring them both rewards. Like being trained almost. Astarion was a great professor but a better teacher..
He yelped upon being bitten, but only arched himself back further to allow more of himself to Astarion. Gale's head moved back as his hair was pulled, and he panted at the soft bites that would gently mark his skin in the morning. Gale chuckled darkly. He understood not a damned bit of Astarion’s honeyed words, but Astarion's they were like velvet in his ears nonetheless. They were as deep inside of him now as Astarion was, and Gale was unafraid now of having every inch of him that he could.
"Christ," he moaned, only that was not his lover's name. Gale struggled not to reach for himself and bit his thumb. "You feel so good, Astarion."
Hearing his name among sweet noises nearly pushed Astarion over the edge.
“You could call me Christ, that’s okay too, I know I can be pretty godlike, Gale….” He pushed himself as deep as he could go upon saying his partner's name.
Catching the urge he could see Gale having, he put his right hand between them, wrapping around Gale tightly as he captured his lower lip between his teeth.
“You can have this whenever you like. You’re all mine this month, darling. Think of all I could do to you in- f*ck…. In a month.” He closed his eyes once more, breath heaving into the crook of Gales neck. “I’m going to.. Gale, would you like me to-” he started to pull out, but not completely in case he truly didn’t mind. After all, he wanted to give Gale the whole experience.
Nearly as soon as Astarion touched him, Gale struggled not to implode right then and there. It was almost over for him from that moment, to be totally doted on in two ways at once. Gale could feel Astarion's reach within every corner of him, and he wanted more in every sense. So he shook his head, barely having the words to tell him just how much he wanted for Astarion to finish him just like he'd started.
Gale put his hand over Astarion's stomach and pleaded him to stay, feeling the sweat stinging his eyes closed as it all at once became too much for him to bare.
"Please, you can..." Gale moved his hand over Astarion's as he lost control of his own will with a final cry of his lover's name. Gale gave into him completely as Astarion did the same, and the sensation all at once shocked and calmed him somewhat. Just to be with him completely as they were, accepting every part of this for what it was.
In the aftermath, Astarion didn’t move right away, other than practically collapsing onto his chest. They would need to clean up, for sure, but he needed this moment. Never had he had the chance to bask in a moment of comfort after such a ravenous act, never had he had the want to be held, never had he wanted to stay connected in that moment.
Gale needed it too, he was sure. Not only because of Mystra, but because he’d been working so hard tonight that he deserved the extra attention.
“You did amazing.” Astarion caught Gale's mouth in a lazy kiss before he could get an answer. “Are you… sure you haven’t done that before?”
In the warm lamplight, Gale's room was awash in a different hue than he was used to seeing. It had been so long since he had laid in this bed, worn out by love and the effort to make it to somebody else. He could barely even capture his breath, but the room seemed lighter than usual. Gale felt anew in here, like whatever ghosts he had been afraid of in this room were long exorcized.
The man responsible for this feeling lay next to him, kissing and praising him and staying here, despite it all. Despite the fact that sometimes Gale was unsure whether he was worth sticking around for. Astarion was still here, catching his breath amid the mess. Gale didn't feel vulnerable, just sedated and sore and still trembling from the org*sm that had just torn through his body like a bullet.
"Just with you." Gale cleared his throat, voice hoarse from the use of his partner's name. "If I was amazing, I've no idea what to call you." Gale reached out to touch his face, newly mesmerized and attached to his hauntingly deep eyes.
"You make me feel..quite dizzy, Astarion."
Astarion heaved a relaxed sigh through his nose, only getting up to grab some small towels from Gale’s connected bathroom to clean the both of them up, before he slipped back under soft covers, not bothering to redress as he curled up into his arms.
He didn’t distance himself, and he didn’t space out, Astarion simply laid his head on Gale’s chest, held one of his hands while one of Gale’s stroked through his white curls. With his head so close to his paramour’s heart, he could hear its incessant beating, so he matched his breathing pattern to it, content to fall asleep like this.
“I don’t think it usually feels like that.” Astarion told him. “That was the kind of sex that people go their whole lives chasing. The kind that makes you…” he felt his heavy eyelids, but wanted to keep talking to him. “That makes you aware you’ve found something real.” He could have had him again, right there, but he didn’t have the same stamina he used to in his earlier years.
Something real sounded so good to Gale. He'd spent twenty-two years enduring something false and not knowing it. He was almost forty, almost half of his life gone, if he was lucky. To know how much of it he had wasted carrying the weight of being somebody he wasn't...
"It's...not just the sex that people are chasing." Gale marveled aloud, staring blankly at the whirring ceiling fan. Gale was content to spend up the rest of his energy combing Astarion's hair with the tips of his fingers. "It's the person."
Gale tucked a piece of hair behind Astarion's perfectly shaped ear and craned forward to kiss the back of his head, inhaling his sweet scent like it were keeping him alive.
"I feel as if I've been blind."
“I do as well…” Astarion replied, relaxing further as he felt deep breaths being exhaled into his hair. “Sleep well, Gale.”
He let his eyes close for the final time, but didn’t fall asleep just yet. For at least a half hour, he simply held onto Gale, rubbed soft circles into his partner's skin as he heard him start to snore softly. Only when Gale was truly at peace asleep did Astarion let his dreams take him away.
