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The evening had begun as any other would, with Gale whipping up a succulent meal for the rest of their companions with what little scraps they had found while adventuring, as Astarion sipped on a goblet of wine nearby. The wizard had felt the weight of Astarion’s gaze throughout his culinary venture, but had patiently waited to see if the other would approach him first. He knew that the day had been a long one; having finally reached Moonrise Towers and, after a memorable encounter with Ketheric Thorm and some goblins, they had split up into pairs to explore the crumbling fortress.
As usual, the vampire and the wizard had found themselves coupled together, and they chatted amicably while they explored. Their wanderings were mostly uneventful, with the exception of a dreadful meeting between a drow woman - whose name escaped him - and Astarion, that ended with Gale leading him away with an arm wrapped around his shoulders, after asserting the vampire’s right to autonomy. Gale could feel Astarion bristle under his hands as they walked, but he guided the conversation elsewhere in order to lighten the elf’s spirits.
Gale had put the encounter completely out of his mind when Astarion approached him that evening. It was some time after he had cleaned up from dinner and was getting ready to turn in for the night. The wizard smiled warmly at the other man, thinking that perhaps they could spend the evening together before they both retreated to bed, maybe communing over a good book and a glass of wine as they lounged in each other’s arms. Astarion, it seemed, had a different plan up his sleeve.
“Let’s go find somewhere private,” he all but purred in Gale’s ear, while taking ahold of Gale’s hand and guiding him out into the twilight. The wizard was confused for a moment, as he didn’t know what the elf intended to do that couldn’t be done at their campground with their companions nearby, but he followed him without hesitation anyway, fully trusting Astarion with whatever scheme he had concocted.
The night was quiet as the pair made their way through the woods, the only sound being that of their soft footsteps as they wove a careful path between the trees. Astarion held Gale’s hand to guide him, as the human had a harder time seeing where they were going thanks to his poor eyesight, and with only the moon and stars peeping through the canopy above to provide any illumination.
Gale tried to take peeks over Astarion’s shoulder to try and ascertain his goals, all to no avail, but it seemed as if the elf was not going to reveal his intentions any time soon, as his gaze was directed resolutely in front of him. An eternity seemed to pass as the two walked, but in reality it had been a mere few minutes.
Astarion finally came to a halt, releasing Gale’s hand but making no move to turn towards the wizard. The vampire said nothing and Gale glanced around in a feeble attempt to try and make out anything significant in the darkness that would indicate the purpose of their stroll. He could barely make out anything around him, but other than a few mangled trees, he could find nothing out of the ordinary. The night was uncannily silent, not a sound being made by any living creature other than the human.
Eventually, Gale surrendered and turned his attention to Astarion, squinting in a fruitless endeavor to try and see the other’s face in the shadows of the night. From what glimpses he managed to make out in the moonlight, Astarion seemed to be lost in thought, but otherwise his expression revealed nothing.
Gale shuffled his feet awkwardly, and, after a few beats of silence, placed a gentle hand on the elf’s shoulder. He delicately turned him around to face him, and opened his mouth to speak, not one to keep silent for very long when something puzzled him.
“Not that I don’t enjoy a nice moonlit stroll through the woods, but did you perhaps have some other reason for this venture into the ni—”
His words were smothered as Astarion pulled Gale by the shoulders towards him, the vampire’s mouth meeting Gale’s in a heated kiss. He hesitated for all but a moment, surprised by this turn of events, but brought his hands up to wrap around the elf’s back and pull him closer as his eyes fell closed, pleased with Astarion’s actions. This was a familiar interaction between the two at this point, as they had become close sometime during their trek through the Rosymorn Monastery. Their dalliances had never progressed further than heavy makeout sessions in their tents, but for Gale that was more than enough. He knew of Astarion’s history and would not push the elf further than he was comfortable.
This time, however, Astarion appeared to have something else in mind. As they kissed, he put some weight on the wizard’s shoulders, pressing softly in an attempt to push him to the ground. Gale acquiesced, albeit less gracefully than the elf, if the sound of his knees crackling were any indication, and he soon found himself lying in the dirt with Astarion situated between his legs. During this movement, their lips never parted other than to allow Gale a few meager gasps of air before Astarion dove back in.
No words were uttered between the two as Gale felt Astarion deepen his kiss, a tongue poking at his mouth in a request for entry. Gale gladly allowed it and their tongues tangled in an intense embrace, both men groaning as they did.
Time flowed around them as their embrace continued - whether by minutes or hours, he couldn’t be sure and honestly couldn’t care - when Gale felt a tugging at the bottom of his velvet shirt. Without parting their lips, Astarion pulled upwards on the clothing, a question not asked but implied by the gesture. Gale could feel his heartbeat racing in his chest as he nodded, and for the first time since they started, the two separated more than a few scant inches as the vampire pulled the shirt over the wizard’s head, blindly tossing it off to one side. A beat later, Astarion’s shirt joined Gale’s where it had landed, half draped over a nearby bush.
As the elf did this, Gale took the opportunity to properly catch his breath. He tried to meet Astarion’s eyes with his own as he did so, but the vampire kept his gaze averted. That made Gale pause, but before he could utter a word Astarion’s lips crashed back against his own.
Gale indulged in the kiss for a few more moments, their mouths moving passionately as they glided against one another, but there was an uncomfortable tingle in the back of his mind that refused to be ignored. While Gale could feel Astarion move above him, slowly grinding their hips together, something felt off. Even through the haze of intensely pleasurable sensations provoked by the elf’s movements, the niggling sense of doubt persisted. He knew his mind wouldn’t be quieted, he had to check to see if the other was enjoying the encounter as much as he was.
Grasping for clarity of mind through the flood of sensation, Gale pulled his mouth away from the elf’s, and looked at Astarion properly for the first time since he had brought him to this clearing. With a sinking feeling Gale noticed that the other had a peculiar look in his eyes. While he was actually looking at Gale this time (and why weren't his eyes shut in order to savor the kiss?), where he hoped to find the flames of lust burning in his eyes, there was only a faraway look, as though he was on another plane of existence altogether.
Astarion leaned in to initiate another kiss, sliding a cold hand down to brush against the waistband of Gale’s trousers. He groaned; in any other situation he wouldn’t hesitate to continue, but the expression on Astarion’s face had thoroughly doused his own passion in a manner akin to having a bucket of ice cold water dumped over his head. Gale pushed against Astarion’s shoulders, gently at first but then with a little more force as the elf made no attempt to move. Finally Astarion permitted it and sat back on his heels allowing Gale the room to push himself up as well. Astarion’s face was still largely blank and expressionless, betraying only a hint of confusion in a faint wrinkle between his eyes and a slight tilt of his head. The night was silent as they stared at one another.
Gale took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths in an effort to quell his racing heart, and attempted to gather his thoughts together into one coherent statement. He knew that the moment was fragile and that any wrong move could break the comfortable relationship that the pair had. He didn’t want to put any emotional distance between himself and Astarion, but he could tell that the other wasn’t in the right headspace to have a logical discussion. He pondered for a moment, making a humming sound, hands on Astarion’s shoulders opening and closing as he did so. An idea finally appeared in his mind. He took a shaky breath to calm his fluttering pulse and flashed a serious look at Astarion.
“So, being that you’re of the vampiric persuasion, do you need permission to come inside or does the tadpole solve that little conundrum as well?”
Gale punctuated his statement by bringing his hand to his chin, stroking his beard like the scholar of great acclaim that he was.
For a moment, Astarion just peered at him with dull eyes from beneath his eyelashes. Neither of them spoke, just watched each other as Gale all but held his breath anticipating Astarion’s response. The lack of sound from their surroundings made it almost seem as if the forest was holding its breath as well.
Suddenly, Astarion made a loud snorting sound, something halfway between a laugh and a cough, that bubbled up and out of his throat and nose almost unwillingly. To the vampire, it was a horribly unattractive sound, but to the human it was music to his ears. Astarion’s hand flew up to his mouth as if to smother it, but Gale only responded by widening his grin, a hopelessly fond expression creeping over his face. It was the first time since they had left the comfort of their camp, really since meeting that drow woman, that he had seen the elf show any sort of positive emotion. Astarion stared at him with wide horrified eyes as if waiting for Gale to mock him, but slowly moved his hand away from his mouth once he saw that that couldn’t be further from the truth. His eyes glittered with mischief as a smile began to spread across the vampire’s face.
“Darling, am I to believe that a line like that got you into the bed of a goddess? That was awful.”
Gale waved his hand away as if dismissing that his statement was in any way unflattering and pretended that he didn’t hear what the elf said. “Well, I guess I’ll be obligated to yell ‘enter freely and of your own volition’ once we are properly in the moment. Just to be on the safe side.” Then he glanced in Astarion’s direction and grinned while waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
They looked at each other for another moment, neither of them uttering a word as they both pondered the absurdity of Gale’s statement. Then the floodgates broke. Astarion began to cackle, a high pitched shrieking sort of sound, as he covered his eyes and bowed his head as if to hide his embarrassment on Gale’s behalf. For Gale’s part, he chuckled, quiet giggles building to a thunderous roar, the sound coming from deep within his belly, one hand falling onto it as he tried and failed to catch his breath, while the other slapped against his forehead.
This continued for a while, because every time one of them began to get a grip on their hysterics they would make the mistake of looking up at the other, the pair would lock eyes and the laughter would begin anew. If anyone were passing nearby they might think that a pair of hyenas had made their home in these woods with all the ruckus that they were making.
Eventually they managed to stifle their laughter. Gale took a few much needed breaths of air and Astarion did the same, despite not actually needing to breathe. They studied each other quietly, neither of them willing to be the first to break the now comfortable silence. However, a smile had fallen across Gale’s face, and he found that it was mirrored by the vampire. The mood had changed to warm and inviting, a far cry from the cold fire that was burning before.
Gale cleared his throat, predictably being the first one to finally voice his thoughts. “Now I don’t know about you, but I am not really inclined to continue any libidinous dalliances this evening. Could I perchance pique your interest with the most riveting tome I found earlier today?”
Astarion nodded and, unbeknownst to the wizard, felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders. “That sounds wonderful, actually,” he replied, as he rolled off of Gale’s lap and made himself comfortable against his side, not willing to separate himself fully from the man just yet.
With a wiggle of his fingers and a muttering of words, a ring of dancing lights bounced into the air above them, finally providing the pair the illumination that had been lacking before. One movement of his hands and a spell later, a blanket and a large book appeared from thin air and landed in Gale’s lap. After wrapping the blanket around the two of them, he opened the book to the first page, took a moment to glance at the words on the page with a hum, then threw a brief glance at the vampire beside him and began to read in a most serious manner.
“There was once a cleric of Gond, who was cursed with a very small wand…”
Astarion let out an unamused huff and lightly slapped Gale on the chest, but he couldn’t hide the smile and warmth that spread across his face. Gale chuckled, then began to read the actual words of the book he was holding.
As Gale continued, Astarion leaned his head against his shoulder, not really paying attention to the words that the wizard was saying, rather just feeling the vibration and softness of his voice; after a while, the soothing timbre of Gale’s voice found him closing his eyes as he listened with a satisfied sigh. For the first time since they had met that drow woman, Astarion felt a blanket of comfort enveloping him.
Eventually, Gale’s words began to trail off as exhaustion began to take hold. He tried to fight the tendrils of sleep and the book fell forwards as he did so. The resulting movement shook Astarion out of the almost-trance he had fallen into. He glanced up and saw Gale in the midst of his battle with rest. With an enamoured roll of his eyes and a serene smile, Astarion shuffled slightly away from Gale and laid against the forest floor; he then carefully pulled Gale down next to him, guiding the wizard’s head against his chest as snores began to ring out in the night, signaling that sleep had won the fight. As Astarion glided his hands through Gale’s hair in a soothing motion, he realized that even though the night didn’t progress as he originally planned, he was entirely content.