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“You must act soon if you want to be the victor.”
Gale raised his brows at the githyanki standing by his tent. Her yellow eyes stared at him with their usual intensity. Like she was seeking his very soul. He usually enjoyed her alertness; it made him feel like she was truly listening as opposed to just allowing his conversing to wash over her.
On this occasion he was too baffled by her word to be able to appreciate it.
“I’m not sure I quite understand what you’re talking about.”
“Your position of power. I have observed your interactions with your intended. Unfortunately I do not believe you have the upper hand in this scenario.”
Gale felt heat spike his face. “Wait - my intended?”
“Yes,” she said, as if it made perfect sense and they were on the same page. “Now, it is clear that Astarion is not above underhanded tactics to get his way,”—
The heat on his face erupted in a fully fledged panic that reached even his fingertips. He felt like it might choke him. Had she overheard him speaking to Wyll? Surely not, he distinctly remembered her expression that their game before she put as much distance between them as possible.
—“I suggest you employ the same methods to ensure you come out victorious. In hand to hand combat I believe him to have more experience. It would be better to catch him unawares and hope he does not recover quickly.”
“Slow down,” Gale requested as he held up a hand and straightened his back. “Are you suggesting I’ll be physically fighting Astarion?”
“If you plan on achieving dominance, yes. I am unsure your… exact rules and etiquette around what is accepted, but I do not believe I have suggested anything in poor taste. Especially not when it comes to him. He does not seem to hold common courtesy high in his priorities.”
“I’m not-?!” Gale took a breath. Willed himself to calm down. This could not be good for his orb. “I have no immediate plans to fight Astarion. I think you may be misunderstanding the nature of our relationship.”
Lae’zel’s eyes narrowed. “I see. You do not intend to fight him?”
“No, I do not.”
“Ah.” Understanding flashed across her face and she nodded sagely. “It is a matter of willing submission.”
Any security he had started to feel of her being on the same page as him left. His imagination oh so helpfully supplied images of what kind of submission she was suggesting he would be giving to Astarion. Red eyes and a thirsting smirk that would hover above him. Hands that would-?
“Very well. I am sure Astarion will be pleased. Yet, do make him work for it. You deserve nothing less.”
She didn’t give him a chance to formulate a response. She turned and headed back for her own tent. He was left staring at her back feeling a little hopeless and a lot embarrassed.
Did she think they were to fight each other for who was dominant in bed? Did she think he and Astarion were intending to…
His eyes wandered without him really thinking about it. They sought out the vampire in question, who was sat with Karlach and Shadowheart, seeming to listen to the two women talk by his side as he sharpened the blades of his daggers with practiced ease. A lazy, intimate manner.
He couldn’t imagine fighting Astarion. The elf was wicked, and more than happy to use all the tools at his disposal to come out on top. Gale couldn’t imagine him playing fair - especially not in matters of the heart or the body. Astarion struck him as the type who enjoyed making games of intimacies. If Gale were to pursue their fair elf, he would want to bring his A-game and prepare for a chase.
He wondered if Astarion had a preference. To be either dominant or submissive. With how easily he slipped from helpless damsel to bloodthirsty predator Gale could see him fitting either role. But which would he choose, if given the option. To lie across a bedroll sprawled and doted on, or to push Gale to the floor and fill his vision until he could see nothing but red and silver.
The red eyes met his. Flicking towards him with raised brows. A vague whispering of interest on his face. Question of what Gale was after poised on the sharp edge of his dagger.
Gale snapped his eyes back to the long abandoned book in his lap. He ran one hand against his beard and over his cheeks as an attempt to obscure his face. He felt like he was on fire.
When he looked back, Astarion’s attention had moved elsewhere.
First Wyll, and now Lae’zel? Evidently in moments where he wasn’t watching his companions interact, they were watching him. He supposed he should have expected them to pick up on certain interests he might hold.
He wondered if Lae’zel was going to give Astarion advice. Heavens, he dreaded to think what the mischievous rogue would do with those kind of ideas put in his head.
——
Shadowheart finally managed to convince Astarion to actually take part in camp chores. After breakfast that morning when Wyll turned to the camp to identify who would be going out for the day, Gale volunteered to stay behind at camp. He had been keeping hold of a selection of scrolls he wished to study and he finally felt like he’d reached a certain level of skill that he had lost that would let him do so.
She turned to Astarion with the force of a dark, looming storm. Her eyes were narrowed into slits as she jabbed a finger into his chest.
“If Gale is busy studying, that will give you the perfect opportunity to clear up the mess currently around the fire.”
Astarion’s face scrunched up in distaste. “I’m sorry, are you talking about your mess? The mess which you all made while eating food? Food which, may I remind you, I am completely unable to partake in? Are you mad?”
“No, Astarion. I am not mad. I’m serious.”
“Why would I clean up the remnants of your meal that had nothing to do with me? I hardly think it’s fair.”
“I would think it unfair if not for the fact you haven’t done a single other thing to help out around this camp, despite having ample opportunity to do so.”
She was smug as she left with the others at finally winning the battle of getting Astarion to help out. He took it in stride, or seemed to. Gale wasn’t sure if he wasn’t just putting on an air of indifference to try take away some of the satisfaction from her.
It meant for the vast majority of the morning and early afternoon they were in completely different parts of camp. Astarion had taken the pans and bowls to wash up, while Gale had retreated to his tent to pour over the scrolls.
It wasn’t until Gale shifted in his seating position for the first time in a while and he received a spike of aching pain in his leg that he realised he’d spent the better part of the day ignoring his body’s needs. When he stood his bones cracked, knees making unpleasant sounds as he left his tent. The ache there reminded him that it had been a long time since he had to sit on the floor for hours on end studying texts. He had almost forgotten what it was to be a wizard training to be something more.
He went to find Astarion and found Scratch with him. The dog was barking periodically as Astarion made a particularly loud noise while washing up. As Gale approached he could hear Astarion muttering low to himself as he worked.
“…thinks she’s some kind of mothering figure, but she is practically still a child! She’s lucky that she is good company, else I may have suggested we simply pushed her off a cliff when she admitted her dirty Shar worshiping secret. I’m sure Mizora could give me some tips on manipulating our delightful warlock into it.”
Gale rolled his eyes at the line of thought while Scratch barked, simply happy for the conversation that was happening. There was a lopsided smile on his face despite himself at Astarion’s empty threats.
“Enjoying your afternoon, Astarion?”
Astarion jumped. A novelty that Gale had yet to enjoy witnessing. He spun round with wide eyes and raised brows at Gale’s voice. After registering the company his shoulders slumped in relief and he blinked up at the sky before meeting Gale’s gaze.
“Don’t go sneaking up on people, darling. Startling a dashing vampire spawn isn’t the wisest move.”
“It is quite the compliment to know I startled you, coming from our resident stealth expert.”
“Mm, I suppose it is. Yet I have to ask; why are you sneaking up on me?”
“It was not my intention, I assure you,” Gale said as he raised his hands in mock surrender. “I mean no harm. Just a question.”
“Well, isn’t that a pity?”
He stopped. Furrowed his brow. Asked, “a pity?”
“Quite. For a moment I thought you were going to take up Lae’zel’s advice. It is so much more fun when the prey puts up a fight.”
Gale stopped. He let the words settle in. He opened his mouth. He shut it.
Astarion raised a brow.
“You, ah, Lae’zel…?”
That familiar, wicked smirk spread across Astarion’s face. Gale thought his knees went a little weak. “Oh, this is precious. I would never imagine that you of all people could ever be lost for words.”
“I’m not lost for words. I just have many conversations with Lae’zel. I’m merely trying to recollect exactly what advice you may be referring to.”
“Allow me to refresh your memory. It was the one where you told her you were submissive in bed, I believe.”
He felt a surge of embarrassment flow through him. “That is not what I told her.”
“Oh, I think it is. What was it she called you? Willingly submissive?”
“Lae’zel simply misunderstood our situation, and you should perhaps refrain from eavesdropping on other people’s conversations when you’re too far away to hear them properly.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps, as you’ve said so eloquently before, I just like playing with my food.”
“If I am the meal in this scenario, I feel the need to remind you that I will poison you on consumption.”
Astarion’s eyes flickered from Gale’s face down his body. Stopping in his lower regions before snapping back to his face with a twitch of his brow and stretch of his smirk. Gale had never felt more undressed while being fully clothed.
“There’s more ways to enjoy a body by biting it,” Astarion mused.
Gale wondered if he was sleeping. Surely that was it. This was all a strange dream his mind had concocted.
“Now, what was the question you had come here to ask me, if you haven’t come to assert your dominance?”
“I was going to go for a brief walk and wondered if you’d like to join me. Perhaps with Scratch, also. It is good to walk pets frequently.”
Astarion’s smirk only widened. “You’d like to take a turn around the river with me?”
The teasing tone finally cracked his embarrassment to make way for something soft and gooey inside him as a smile spread across his own face and he rolled his eyes. “I would, though I do notice that you haven’t quite finished your work here that Shadowheart tasked you with. Perhaps it would be better I took Scratch as my rambling companion rather than you both. Give you more time to finish up.”
Astarion scrambled to his feet and brushed off the back of his trousers. “Gods, no, these chores aren’t going anywhere. I, however, would very much like to go somewhere.”
It should have come as no surprise that when they finished their walk down the river and returned to Astarion’s washing point, Gale ended up on his knees with his sleeves rolled up as he helped Astarion finish up his chores with the promise he wouldn’t admit to Shadowheart that he’d helped. He had a feeling she’d know.