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Astarion couldn’t quite seem to get into a trance tonight. Not that he needed to; his energy was higher than ever, now that he was able to feed freely on animals and enemies alike. He would have been perfectly fine, lying here all night.
Moonlight filtered in through a crack in Gale’s tent, a single stripe running diagonally across their intertwined legs. Gale had gone silent not long ago, but Astarion knew the man tended to take a while to actually sleep in; besides, he could feel Gale’s thumb absentmindedly caressing his hand where it was draped across the wizard’s waist. Crickets sounded far off, but other than that and the crackling of the nearby campfire, it was perfectly quiet. Astarion should have been relaxed; would have been relaxed.
If it weren’t for the uncomfortable hard-on he had resting against Gale’s ass.
“Darling?” Astarion whispered, knowing the others’ tents to be just far away enough that he wouldn’t disturb them.
“Hm?” Gale hummed in response. His voice was soft, content as he instinctively curled up further, pressing back against where Astarion was slotted around him. The elf inhaled sharply at the movement, which caused Gale to still, concern newly lacing his tone as he asked “what’s wrong?”
Astarion hesitated. It had been weeks since he’d explained his decision to Gale; no sex for a while, the act was far too tainted for the vampire to set apart from his past. Gale had been nothing but understanding, and had carefully re-established Astarion’s comfort when it came to other forms of intimacy. The vampire had grown fond of these other expressions of Gale’s affection, stark opposites to the way he’d originally seduced the wizard; their hands slipping together as they sat at the fire, a quick kiss on the cheek after a succesful battle, and the way they were laid now, holding each other close. He’d had no idea that this kind of gentle, non-sexual affection would have such an incredible effect on his trust in Gale; they were closer than he could have ever imagined.
Still, Astarion had realized, there was a significant difference between his relationship with sex and his libido, which had not disappeared. As a matter of fact, as he’d internalized that sex was now a choice rather than a strategy or an obligation, it seemed like his body had decided that thinking about sex was great, actually; his new closeness with Gale certainly hadn’t helped, thoughts of the man’s gentle touch elsewhere distracting him to the point where Shadowheart had called him out on it a couple days ago.
Thankfully, he already left the camp regularly to hunt at night; it was all too easy to simply shove his hand into his pants and think about the ways Gale could touch him, all of them so vastly different to what he’d experienced before, so much kinder, so much more meaningful, so much more real that it usually took him less than two minutes to finish.
He hadn’t talked to Gale about it; frankly, he had no idea what this meant for his readiness to actually have sex again. Astarion had decided that it was unfair to get his lover’s hopes up.
But now… The way Gale had fought today, casting with a particular confidence to his voice and even getting a few impressive hits in with his quarterstaff, had already had Astarion running hot; perhaps it was the fierceness with which Gale had defended him, specifically, stepping in to—foolishly—distract a ghoul Astarion couldn’t take down in time.
“I’ll be damned if I let anyone hurt you,” the mage had said after they’d won, his voice low and breathy with exertion. The vampire had been fighting the rest of the day to keep that tone out of his mind, only to find it joined by the image of Gale leaning over him, a hand on his cheek, naked, flushed red as he thrust-
“My love,” Gale whispered, pulling Astarion from his thoughts, “is everything alright?”
Astarion swallowed, unable to find the words; instead, he just rolled his hips ever so slightly, drawing Gale’s attention to the problem at hand. He felt the man tense up against him, and start to move away.
“Ah. My apologies, love, I can-” Gale was cut off by Astarion’s arm tightening around his waist, pulling him back in.
“Can I keep going?” Astarion whispered, fighting the instinct to wince at the desperation in his own voice.
“I-” Gale turned around, and Astarion let him, meeting his lover’s eyes in the barely-there moonlight. “Are you sure?”
Astarion nodded, then swallowed when he realized something.
“I… I want this, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to… return the favour, so to speak.” He glanced away, waiting for Gale’s inevitable disappointment. Instead, a hand came to rest on his cheek, thumb gently stroking his cold skin.
“Of course, Astarion. That’s perfectly fine.”
Astarion met the wizard’s eyes again, hiding his surprise. Before he could continue worrying, he felt Gale’s thigh hesitantly move up between his legs.
“Does this work?” Gale whispered, ever gentle, his fingers still on Astarion’s cheek. Astarion only failed to supress a whimper as the man’s thigh came to press against his cock, and he tightened a fist into the back of Gale’s tunic as he began to grind.
Astarion’s eyes fell closed, and he shuddered at the sensation. His own hand had sufficed, sure, but it was cold, rushed, nothing compared to Gale’s warmth. Gale let out a quiet, amused huff, and tucked a stray curl behind Astarion’s ear as he moved a hand to the nape of the vampire’s neck, scratching the hair there as he knew his lover liked.
“There you go,” he whispered, and the words rushed down Astarion’s spine like lightning, drawing another small whine out of him. Gale hummed in consideration.
“You like it when I talk to you?” He asked, because of course he would always ask, and Astarion bit down on his lower lip, nodding frantically as he sped up his movements.
“Good,” Gale whispered, still playing with Astarion’s hair as the elf rutted up against him, “you’re doing so good, telling me what you like.”
Astarion pushed his face into the nape of Gale’s neck just in time to muffle his own groan of want, and Gale just twisted to kiss his hair, letting his hand travel along Astarion’s side, expertly avoiding the bumpy surface of his back just like he’d learnt to do when they were cuddling.
“You’re safe with me,” he whispered—Astarion moaned softly into his shoulder— “and you’re doing so well. Such a good boy for me.”
The vampire spawn let out a high-pitched whine as his hips stuttered against Gale’s thigh, before going still. Gale sighed in satisfaction, and Astarion felt his lips pull into a smile against his hair.
“Thank you,” Astarion whispered. “That was… that was good.”
Gale gently nudged Astarion’s head up to meet his gaze, examining his lover closely for any discomfort. Astarion just looked back at him with half-lidded eyes and a drowsy smile, and Gale seemed to deem it proof enough. He waved his hand, and Astarion felt the quickly cooling wetness between his legs vanish. He chuckled.
“Did you…” Astarion blinked slowly, eyes shifting away in uncharacteristic nervousness. “Did you enjoy yourself?” Gale sighed happily and brought a hand back up to play with the elf’s hair.
“Very much, my love. I’m glad I seemed to have… Correctly estimated what you wanted to hear.”
“Yeah,” Astarion replied, eyes suddenly sharper and inquisitive, “how did you know that? I didn’t even know that.”
“I figured reassurance was a good place to start, since I know this must be… Scary, in a way.” Astarion smiled despite himself, and Gale allowed himself a small smirk. “Then, it was a small step to an… appreciation for praise.”
Astarion scoffed, but he knew the wizard could see right through his paper-thin aloofness. Gale knew how to read him, and he found himself growing warm and relaxed at that realization, one which would have sent him running a few months ago.
“That’s great for you,” a voice sounded from outside, and both of them jolted, eyes wide. “But I’d prefer to sleep now, if it’s all the same to you.” Shadowheart sounded snappy, but Astarion’s shock was quickly replaced by a mischievous smirk.
“Apologies, darling,” he replied just loud enough for her to hear. “I do hope you at least enjoyed the show.”
“Oh, screw you, ‘Star.”