Archive of Our Own

Halsin knew something was wrong when Wyll was the one cooking that night.

Though never explicitly said, their group had fallen into a rhythm over the past couple of weeks. Setting up camp, winding down for the evening and clearing everything up for a new day had become a well-practiced routine; everyone knew what tasks they all had, and everyone knew which role they played.

And Gale was their resident chef. That was simply how things had grown.

Tonight, however, Halsin hadn’t seen the wizard since nightfall. Thinking about it, their whole trek in the direction of Moonrise Towers he had been uncharacteristically quiet. Withdrawn, even. As soon as their camp had been rebuilt, the wizard had excused himself; since everyone could guess why, no one had stopped him.

Still, the knowledge that Gale was alone with his many thoughts at a time like this weighed heavily on Halsin’s stomach. He could only guess what sort of spiral the man could talk himself into, especially when alone.

Luckily, he was quite easy to find if you knew what to look for.

Admittedly, though Halsin knew it must be an illusion, the starry sky Gale was looking up to was impressive. He made sure to step on a twig as he approached, making sure he wouldn’t startle him - but Gale didn’t look around at the sound.

“I love this time of night,” he simply said, as Halsin sat down next to him. “There’s an almost reverent silence that accompanies the peak of darkness, when you’d almost believe the dawn will never break. The cradle of eternity.”

His voice was steady, almost wistful. Had Halsin been a younger man, he might have even thought him at peace - but then Gale looked up at him, and the turmoil in his eyes was clear as day. The peaceful illusion surrounding them was just that. An illusion.

It was many lifetimes of regretfully holding back when he shouldn’t have, that made Halsin reach out to him. Nothing extreme, merely a strong, stabilizing hand lightly pressing between his shoulder blades. A grounding touch more than anything, but the effect was immediate; some of the hidden tension drained from Gale’s shoulders, and he let out a long, shuddering breath.

“You druids use your magic in such strange ways,” he joked. His voice sounded less dreamy - some of the weariness he must be feeling was seeping through. Halsin merely raised an eyebrow.

“I promise you, this is only the magic of plain touch.”

Gale avoided his gaze and swallowed. Still, he lightly leaned into Halsin’s hand. “A discipline I’ve become a stranger to in the last year, I’ll admit.”

Something hot and tight formed in Halsin’s chest. It was just too easy to picture; Gale in his tower, with only his tressym for company, starved for human contact in the aftermath of an intense relationship - with a deity, even. How alienating it must have been. How lonely. There was not much he could do to reverse it now, but Halsin’s hands itched to at least soothe the effects of it.

“Can I hold you?”

There was a beat of silence as he clearly went through some sort of train of thought, before Gale huffed out a little laugh. “I suppose so, yes.”

Something about the wording made Halsin’s eyes narrow. Carefully, allowing enough time for Gale to pull back should he want to, he placed his other hand under his chin and guided him to look at him.

The reaction was immediate; whatever had made Gale’s face look so strained before melted away in surprise as he allowed himself to be guided. His expression was open, questioning.

“Do you want me to hold you, Gale?”

Like this, with the honest intimacy of their eye contact, Gale’s response was immediate. “Yes,” he whispered, not even daring to blink. “Please.”

A warm smile spread on Halsin’s face, as his thumb briefly brushed over the surprisingly soft hairs of Gale’s beard. “Good. Come with me.”

There was a brief flicker of confusion on Gale’s expression, but he didn’t ask. Instead, he opted to trust the druid, allowed himself to be lead away from their current spot to somewhere a little down the hill.

Halsin sat down next to a large boulder, tilted just so that he could lean back on it. He spread his legs enough for Gale to sit down between them; when he did, he loosely wrapped an arm around the other’s waist and pulled him closer, back to chest. With his other hand, he gently brushed Gale’s hair off to one side.

The effect was astonishing. While hesitant at first to lean his weight back, Halsin could slowly feel the added pressure of Gale melting back into his embrace. It was clear he didn’t know what to do with his own hands in this situation, but as minutes passed, Halsin could almost hear the whirring of his ever-racing mind slow down a little. One hand was placed on his forearm, pinky absentmindedly playing with the hairs there; the other laid close enough to Halsin’s own hand that he could feel its warmth, but didn’t quite dare to touch him yet.

All in due time.

“This is not how I thought this night might go,” Gale finally said. His voice was quiet in their little bubble of night, a fragile thing.

A protective sort of warmth flared up in Halsin. Gale’s vulnerability was something he had rarely seen whenever the others were around - at least, not like this. But here, with just the two of them, he gave it to Halsin so easily. He ran his hand through the wizard’s long hair, gently scratching dull fingernails over his scalp. Gale’s responding shudder felt like a gift.

“What did you wish for tonight, dear Gale?”

He heard a thick swallow. It took him a few moments to find the words; Halsin brushed his nose against the back of his neck encouragingly. It earned him an almost imperceptible gasp.

“I- I hoped someone would come find me, eventually.”

Halsin ached to kiss him, but decided against it. Not until that had been put out in the open as an option. Instead, he used the hand in Gale’s hair to rub his thumb behind his ear, on the spot he wanted his lips to be. “Very good. What else?”

The hand on his arm became firmer, pressed down a bit. Halsin took it as a cue to hold him tighter. The moment he did, he felt the tension in Gale’s back bleed out again.

“I hoped it would be you,” he admitted, a whispered confession to the self-made sky. “I thought I… whatever may come tomorrow, I figured if there’s a last act of kindness I could do in this world, it would be to give you a glimpse of the land you knew, without the Shadow Curse.”

Oh.

A faint hint of a rumbling growl accompanied Halsin’s breathing as he tried to steady himself. The horrible notion of this possibly being Gale’s last night, the news that he was apparently still seriously considering Mystra’s request, pushed the sense of protectiveness into overdrive. The hand in Gale’s hair came down to wrap around his ribs, as if holding him tighter could physically stopping from setting off the orb.

It took a minute for Halsin to get back to his previous train of thought. There was time to talk about the orb later; right now was about Gale’s wishes, Gale’s needs.

“What did you hope would happen after?” he asked him, surprising himself with the roughness his voice had gained.

Almost immediately, he felt the skin of Gale’s neck heat up considerably. Even if he hadn’t felt the sudden uptake of his heartbeat, Halsin would have been able to tell he was embarrassed.

“I…” he started, before clearing his throat. He squirmed in Halsin’s hold; not trying to escape, but to somehow hide from the nakedness of whatever truth would follow. “I- ah.”

Halsin pressed his cheek against his neck, encouragingly. “No desire is too strange for me, my heart. Find your words.”

The reaction to the endearment was immediate. Gale let out a breath as if it had been punched out of him, and he clung to Halsin’s arms as if they could retreat any moment.

When he spoke, he sounded like he could choke on the words at any moment. “I hoped you’d want me. That you’d let me be yours for the night.”

Desire flared up in Halsin so powerfully that he almost couldn’t think. “Can I kiss your neck, my wonder?”

Gale’s ‘yes’ was almost a sob.

Halsin’s heart sang. Every inch of skin he could reach, he peppered in kisses - trailed the marked path where the orb reached out to his eye. Where the first hairs grew in the nape of his neck, the beast briefly took over enough to tease the skin with his teeth, which earned him a sound somewhere between a gasp and a whimper.

“What would you want with me?” His own eagerness was bleeding through his voice now, too.

Gale’s breathing came irregularly now. Short fingernails dug into the skin of Halsin’s forearms. “I- I can’t.”

Halsin’s fingers pressed a little harder into Gale’s stomach before he could control himself. “You can. Use your words, so that I might give it to you.”

He could feel Gale squirm under the pressure of his request. His skin was hot with what Halsin assumed was shame, or pleasure - probably a mix of both. “Well, I- it’s obscene.”

As verbose as the wizard usually was, it was clear that he was having trouble with the words right now. Halsin could imagine that verbalizing your wants and needs were not the first priority when sleeping with a goddess, perhaps it made sense - but Halsin was no god. He’d need to coax it out of him somehow, in his own time.

“One step at a time, then. I make some suggestions, and you tell me if it’s a yes, a no, or a maybe.”

Halsin’s heard Gale’s hard swallow. “Yeah. Yes, please.”

“Very good.”

He could feel gooseflesh raise on Gale’s arm; Oak Father preserve him, the man was so easy to please, it made Halsin want to push every single one of his buttons until his brilliant mind could think of nothing but his own bliss.

Halsin had to take a second to shake himself out of that image. Communication first. “Would you like to be kissed on the lips?”

Gale’s answer was immediate, steady. “Yes.”

“Thank you.” That earned him a kiss - in the neck, for now. “Would you like to be naked?”

There was a beat of silence as Gale thought it over.

“Remember your maybes,” Halsin gently guided him.

That seemed to help. “Maybe,” Gale admitted. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s touched me, let alone seen me naked.”

The next kiss behind his ear morphed into a light bite without meaning to - Halsin made sure to soothe it with tongue before he gently rubbed the spot with his thumb. A full-body shiver went through Gale’s body at the ministrations. “Very good. Thank you for trusting me with your boundaries.”

The sound Gale made was somewhere between a laugh and a whimper. “There’s really no need to treat me like porcelain.”

The rumble that came from Halsin’s throat came from deep within his chest. “You are far more precious than that.” It was only a moment later that Halsin had the freedom of mind to read further into Gale’s comment. “Unless that is your wish? For me to be rough, to push the limit of what your body can take?”

It was quiet for a moment too long, before something curious happened; Halsin finally felt the fingers of Gale’s other hand interlace with his own on his stomach. Such a simple gesture; such an intimate one, too. “No,” he decided, quietly. Then his voice became a whisper, like he wasn’t sure how to confess this otherwise. “Not tonight. I’ll admit I’m not used to being treated this delicately, but… it’s nice.”

Halsin had been around the group for long enough to know it was most likely true in group settings. Gale’s self-confidence when talking about his magical prowess hadn’t gone unnoticed by their company, and he’d heard Astarion quietly threatening to slit his throat if he wouldn’t ‘cut it with the ceaseless bragging’ more than once - but that was around other people. In a group, Gale wasn’t delicate. Right here, right now, in his arms? Halsin would gladly give him his whole heart just to make him feel safe in the knowledge that he was wanted, seen, taken care of.

He hadn’t realized he’d let a silence fall until he could feel the tension creep back into Gale’s body. “Was that something you’d hoped for?”

Halsin immediately realized his mistake. “No, my heart. Quite the opposite.” He’d had lovers before, several of them, who delighted in pain and yearned for him to inflict it, and he’d happily indulged them back then - but the past century had given a bitter aftertaste to pain and cruelty. Halsin had seen too much of it to enjoy it anymore. No, all he hungered for was Gale’s true, unadultered pleasure, and he would find out how to give that to him. “Would you like me to be naked?”

Gale’s hands suddenly clung tightly to his arm, pressing him close enough that Halsin could feel the cut-off moan in Gale’s chest. “Yes. Please. Now? Can we do that now?”

A sense of triumph grew in Halsin’s heart at the eagerness in his voice. They’d found at least one of his desires. “Of course.”

Gently, he guided the both of them to sit back up again. It took a moment before Gale seemed ready to let go, but when Halsin took to nosing at his neck over a particularly ticklish spot, the surprised laugh he got out of him was enough to break the haze their touch had induced in him. Reluctantly, he made enough space for Halsin to make quick work of his sandals, his leathers, his trousers - all garments tossed aside without a care. It would take a man with far more self-control to fold their clothes when Gale was right there, having the most openly hungry look on his face that Halsin had ever seen.

Gale’s jaw had gone slack, a flush had risen high on his cheeks. Dark eyes were half lidded, blinking against the haze that licked at the edges of his mind. Silvanus above, he was beautiful. The way his throat worked when Halsin rubbed over his own chest would be burned into his memory for centuries to come.

“Come here.” He spread his legs again, just enough to invite Gale back into his space - where he belonged, where he was oh so wanted, but as innocent as it had been before, the gesture felt far more lewd now. Not that Gale cared; he crawled over like a man possessed, settling between Halsin’s legs while facing him this time. His hands were almost reverent as they mapped out Halsin’s shoulders, the broadness of his chest, the soft fat of his belly.

Halsin felt like his heart might burst out of his chest if he kept that up. His own hands found Gale’s face on their own accord, thumbs sweeping right above the line where his beard started, his jaw cradled in two big palms. “Can I kiss you?”

Gale didn’t speak, couldn’t speak, but wordlessly met his lips regardless. Halsin felt him go through several stages in their kiss: first tentativeness, getting used to kissing physical, mortal lips again - then regaining his senses enough to put technique into it. A practiced variety between a gentle glide of skin against skin, the swipe of a tongue, a hint of teeth - the bear inside Halsin rumbled, but there was something else there. Something Halsin only realized when Gale’s perfect routine faltered, and he ended up suckling on Halsin’s bottom lip instead; one mindless moment of instinct, but one that immediately triggered a full-body shiver.

Gale pulled back, wide-eyed. Suddenly, he looked a lot younger than the grey streaks in his hair hinted at; like a youth being caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

Halsin’s heart threatened to burst out of his chest. He wasn’t sure who had instilled that reaction of fear in him, but oh, how he yearned to correct it. Now that he had a clue of what Gale wanted, it was oh so easy to reach out to his jaw again, and brush his thumb against his lips. “Go on, my heart,” he gently encouraged him, when he saw Gale’s hesitance. “Unless you’d rather have my mouth?”

The resistance on Gale’s expression melted as he shook his head, subtly enough to keep Halsin’s thumb where it was. Then, opening up like a rare blossom, he parted his lips and pressed his tongue against the pad of his thumb, relishing in that for a moment, before moving in closer to suck it into his mouth.

It wasn’t the first time Halsin had his fingers sucked, but it was the first time he could remember that a partner would react this intensely to it. Gale’s eyes fluttered shut, the bright red flush of embarrassment on his face easing down to a pleasurable pink, and Halsin could almost hear that overeager mind slow down. A deep groan sounded through the quiet of the night, and it took a moment for him to realize that it had come from him, not Gale.

When Gale looked up again, the question was clear on his face, even if his eyes were a little unfocused. Halsin responded by kissing his forehead - and then the bridge of his nose, his left cheek, his jaw, and then the corner of his mouth, right next to his own thumb. “Your stars are incredible, my heart, but they pale in comparison to how you look right now.”

The wizard swallowed hard around his thumb, and a bolt of heat shot through Halsin’s entire body. Deeply erotic images flitted through his mind, even when his eyes never left Gale’s face; he was so transfixed by him, so utterly zoned in, that he didn’t notice the way his own magic started to flow out of him with every bated breath. Despite a century of shadows and death, moss started to grow underneath them, cushioning their little spot of wilderness to a degree Halsin’s subconscious agreed that Gale deserved. He wanted him to be comfortable, if they were going to -

Carefully, slow enough that Gale’s quieted mind could catch up, Halsin pulled his thumb back out again. His care was not enough, though - the sudden look of distress and shame from the other man was enough to break Halsin’s heart, but he needed that clever mouth free for the moment.

Still, he took his time to kiss it first.

“Sorry, I didn’t think I’d… it’s been a long time, I -” Gale whispered, as soon as they broke apart again. The urge to hide from his own desires was apparently strong, and Halsin could feel the beast ready to tear that urge apart at the root. This was not the time, though.

“What was it I said?”

He swallowed, hard. His voice wavered over the words. “That I looked incredible.”

“That you did. And still do.” Halsin kissed him again, just for good measure, just because he could. Oh, how grateful he was that Gale had set this up. Had hoped for him to follow him out into the wilderness. “But I want to give you more. What did you dream of, when you conjured the heavens? What does your body ache for?”

He could literally see the last bit if resistance draining from Gale’s body at the question. All the poise of the Archmage Gale of Waterdeep was peeled away for the moment; right now, there was only the human Gale Dekarios, a mortal man with mortal desires. “Your cock,” he replied, his tone more certain than Halsin had expected. Gone was the shame. “I want… I’d love to suck your cock. Preferably until it’s all I can think about.”

The growl that came from Halsin was a bit too beastlike to claim that he was still in full control. He had to actually shut his eyes and remind himself to take deep breaths, actively focusing on keeping his own shape and distracting himself from the intoxicating feeling of his cock filling out at Gale’s words. Though Gale himself was still fully dressed, he saw the other man rub the heel of his hand against his own groin too.

“Good boy.” Apparently, the filter in Halsin’s brain was fully gone for him to phrase it like that. He was about to correct himself and check in, when Gale choked on his own moan in response - so he simply filed it away for later. He ran his fingertips down his face, his neck, the hem of his shirt, careful not to go prodding at where the imprint of the orb peeked out from under the fabric of his clothes. “Thank you for telling me, my heart.”

As his clothes were touched, some clarity seemed to come back to him. “I can take it off, if you’d prefer me naked. However you want me.”

Two centuries ago, the phrasing might have gone over Halsin’s head in the heat of the moment. But he was older now, and understood how complicated soft limits could feel. “I want you in any way you feel most comfortable,” he answered kindly, but firmly. “If you’d like, you can take a moment, close your eyes, and feel what sort of adjustments you need to feel best - clothes or otherwise.”

Gale did what he was told, so eagerly and so willingly, that Halsin felt like he was about to burst out of his skin. Through the moss wildflowers started to grow, budding and small, but eager to bloom after a lifeless century. The soil was not yet ready to let them root, but for now, Halsin’s energy was enough.

“The robes stay on, I think, but the trousers come off,” Gale finally concluded. He stood up, hesitated for a moment, and then turned around for a semblance of privacy as he unlaced his trousers, toed off his shoes, and finally shimmied out of everything below the waist as he went.

What a curious man, Halsin mused, constantly switching between chasteness and depravity, shame and unbridled want. Especially for someone who spoke unabashedly about bedding a goddess - but perhaps that was where the answer laid? Halsin had slept with many creatures, not all of them humanoid, but they were always creatures of nature. To be intimate with someone incorporeal must be different. He could imagine it being something entirely of the mind, completely forgoing the primal physicality of the material plane.

But he wanted it, regardless. He was reclaiming it right now, step by step, and Halsin felt more than honoured to guide him in the process.

When Gale turned back around, the robes did very little to hide the obvious tent he was pitching - and Silvanus spare him, to have him in such a state after barely touching him made Halsin’s blood burn - but he didn’t seem to mind his body giving his arousal away. Halsin suspected that keeping his robes on was more about covering up the orb than anything, anyhow. Still, it was a magnificent sight; he looked so unraveled, already so far from the put-together figure he usually cast. That did not mean he looked fragile or breakable; no, in fact, he looked magnificent.

He got back up to his feet to face Gale, embrace him, kiss him once again. When he pulled him close, he could feel the brush of his erection against his naked thigh; he scraped his teeth over Gale’s bottom lip and groaned. Fingertips pressed into the sides of his hips.

“Can I touch you there?”

Seemingly stunned to silence again, Gale just nodded, leaning his forehead on Halsin’s clavicle. When Halsin carefully pushed Gale’s robes aside far enough to wrap a large hand around his cock, his mouth latched right above his pec, and he let Halsin’s flesh muffle his moan.

Halsin’s corresponding hum was let out plainly, openly. He reveled in the heat of him as he stroked him, cherished the brush of hair every time he pulled back enough to touch his lower belly, felt pleasure pool in his own abdomen when he thumbed at the slit and it already came back wet. He leaned in to worry his teeth over the rounded edge of his ear, down to the lobe, before experimentally running the tip of his tongue over the shell.

Gale made a sound somewhere between a gasp, a whine and a giggle - clearly not sure how to feel about that. Still, Halsin felt his cock twitch in his grasp.

“Good?” he checked in, halting his movements for a moment.

“Strange,” Gale admitted, clearly going through the same struggle between shame and want he’d been fighting this entire evening. Finally, Halsin saw the want win this battle. “But good.”

Halsin grinned against his cheek, nipped right at his jaw before moving back up to his ear again. At the same time, he stepped in just a little closer, so he could press his own erection against Gale’s - who let out a very breathy “oh” at the contact. Where Gale alone was easy to fit in one hand, getting them together was more than Halsin’s fingers could span. Neither man seemed to mind. It wasn’t so much about the best grip or getting a good rhythm going - it was an acknowledgement or how much this was doing for the both of them.

“Do you feel this?” A rhetorical question, but worth it to feel Gale’s nod against his neck where he’d hidden his face away. His arms had come around to grab Halsin’s back, clinging to him like he might otherwise disappear. “This is what it does to me when you tell me what you want. Between the two of us, be unashamed about your desires, no matter what they are - because you are stunning beyond belief when you find the pleasure you crave.”

Gale was shaking against him. He felt the pressure of teeth, the lap of a tongue, then a rhythmic suction against the crook of his neck; not quite strong enough to make an obvious mark, but enough to make his own breathing falter a little. Despite not being able to get a solid grip, he started to stroke the both of them together, just to get some relief to the ache that was building up.

“Please,” Gale finally whispered. “May I?”

Halsin kissed him on the cheek before releasing their cocks again. “Anything you want, my heart.”

Now that it was clear to him how earnest those words were, the wizard showed none of the previous shame as he moved. With his hands leaned against Halsin’s torso to keep his balance, he slowly dropped to one knee, then two - slow enough for Halsin to have time to worry about his knees, only to then notice the plush covering of moss that had grown through his own lust. Even nature itself would give Gale whatever he needed to be comfortable, to feel safe.

The wildflowers that grew between them rattled and bloomed the moment Gale looked up from his knees - because Halsin had rarely seen the kind of naked devotion mixed with unbridled want in anyone’s eyes that he could see right now. His gaze kept flickering from Halsin’s cock up to his face, and Halsin could see the hint of pink where he kept wetting his lips, probably subconsciously.

Halsin cradled his face in his hands, thumbs smoothing down his beard. “I trust you can feel the limits of your own body, my heart, but in case you can’t voice them at the time, what signal will you give me to stop?”

It took a few moments for the words to hit; Gale’s eyes had slipped shut in silent bliss the moment his face was touched. His pleasure was so easy to give, yet so irrevocably stunning to see. “I’ll tap you on the wrist,” he finally replied, without opening his eyes.

Halsin smiled. “Could you do it for me now?”

Gale moved a hand from Halsin’s hip to one of his hands, careful and deliberate in the way he brushed his thumb over the pulse point there, before giving two clear taps with his forefinger and middle finger.

“Very good. Thank you.” He tucked a strand of greying hair behind Gale’s ear. “Go ahead, but take it slow.”

As it turned out, Gale was surprisingly great at following instructions. Despite the hunger in his eyes when he eyed Halsin’s cock, he clearly had every intention to savour this; if the way he held him at the root and the pace of his exploratory licks were anything to go by, Halsin suspected that he was on a mission to map all of him out with just his tongue. Every vein was found and traced, the glide of his foreskin over the head was studied in great detail - even the taste of the precome that had already gathered at the tip was catalogued a few times over, just for good measure.

The sensations were wonderful, but it was the unabashed attention that had Halsin’s breath get a growling quality to it.

Gale’s boldness grew slowly. Every lick at the head became just a little broader, his mouth spreading just a little wider. Halsin was larger than most men, he knew that, but the girth of him was something that made this especially challenging; he never faulted any lover for not wanting to go down on him. Not only because he would never fault anyone for having their own likes and dislikes during sex, but also because Halsin knew his size could be intimidating to most. He had very quickly learned that sex could be anything, and that his cock needn’t be involved should his partner not feel comfortable, but he had to admit it thrilled him to the bone to have Gale suck his head into his mouth and give a full-bodied shiver at the satisfaction of it.

Halsin’s responding moan rumbled through the both of them.

Encouraged, Gale pushed himself further. Instead of being content with what he could already manage, Halsin could pinpoint the exact moment his ambitious brain took the lead over his body’s wants and needs. His tongue (warm, wet, oh so soft) ceased its curious licking, its experimenting, as he forced himself to flatten it as much as he could to take him deeper. Far too quickly, he pressed forward to get another inch in, and Halsin could feel where he touched his soft palate, where his throat constricted, and pulled himself back out right as Gale’s gag reflex kicked in.

He made a choking sound before getting into a coughing fit. Halsin craved to hold him, kiss him, but knew better; he wouldn’t want his worry to taste like humiliation to Gale. Instead, he gently ran his fingers over his scalp, brushing back his hair.

“Easy, my heart. I might be bigger than you pictured. Let your body adjust.”

When Gale got his breath back again, he wiped the spittle off of his chin and frowned to himself. “I’d say my fantasies were delightfully accurate in that area,” he said bashfully. “But it has been a while. I loathe to admit it, but even I get rusty in some areas.”

Halsin considered that for a moment. “Was it your wish for tonight to prove your skill to me, my wonder?” he asked nonjudgementally.

Gale pondered his question. Then, looking down at Halsin’s knees, he shook his head.

“Can you tell me what it is that you want out of this?”

That question was met with a frustrated frown, before he shook his head again.

Halsin decided to take mercy. He squatted down to get to eye level with Gale, and gingerly held his face between his hands as he kissed his forehead. “Can I wager a guess? You can tell me if it’s correct or incorrect.”

Gale didn’t say anything, but did look at him expectantly. For this occasion, Halsin would take it as a yes.

“I think you got so swept up in the desire to prove yourself, you forgot what you truly take pleasure from.” A thumb brushed over his lips in a silent question; Gale opened his mouth intuitively, softly sweeping his tongue over the pad of the finger. “Having something in your mouth soothes you. A most natural thing, one of the first self-soothing behaviours most people develop.” At that, he could see Gale’s face turn flaming red, but Halsin kept talking before he could belittle himself again for his own desires, or the delicate analogy he just gave him. “Beyond that, it’s incredibly intimate. The world knows you as someone who can defy the very laws of nature with just a word, create miracles and destruction alike with just an incantation.” He saw the other man flinch, but then felt a gentle pulling of a suckle against his thumb. He was learning fast. “It’s a very beautiful, vulnerable thing to let someone close enough to stopper your words. Control your breath, even, should you want that.”

At that, Gale’s eyes grew round, and he pulled back from Halsin’s thumb. “Yes,” he whispered. “I want that.”

Halsin kissed him on the cheek. “Good. Thank you for telling me.”

Still, even with that wish spoken aloud, he could sense that he hadn’t quite hit the words Gale needed to hear yet. He was fidgeting with his hands, chewing on the inside of his cheek, looking faintly guilty; like he’d been read, but not in the way he wanted to be.

So Halsin decided to pull out the best he had. He took Gale’s hands in his own, turned them so that he could kiss the inside of both wrists, and then placed both hands over his own unclothed chest, over his heart. “My heart, I think you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, and tonight, you’d like to only focus of the weight of my cock on your tongue. Let me take your worries, your responsibilities, your thoughts - all you need to do is feel grounded, safe and cherished.”

That seemed to do the trick. The light of the illusory stars bounced off of the tears that formed in the corners of his eyes, right before he leaned his forehead against his hands, over Halsin’s heart. Deep, shaky breaths made his frame tremble, but it was almost palpable that it was relief that rocked him, not pain or anxiety. “Yes. Please, yes, I want that. I need that.”

Something deep and old unfurled in Halsin’s soul. A full understanding that whatever happened next, wherever their path would take them, he wanted to help ease the burdens of Gale’s life. Not just for tonight, but however many nights would be allowed for them.

He let the human take as much as he needed to steady himself. After half a minute or so, he looked up again; eyes watery, red-rimmed, but clear and focused. Beautiful. He opened his mouth to say something apologetic, judging from the crease between his brows, but promptly forgot when Halsin reached out to wipe his tears away. Instead, a naked question passed his lips. “May I?”

“Always.” There was nothing Gale could ask of him right now that he would deny him. Not when he asked so sweetly, not after baring himself so honestly. Halsin’s heart was so full he could barely breathe. He slowly stood up again, never breaking contact with Gale’s face, ever giving him his touch to ground him.

Gale’s adoring gaze wasn’t any less breathtaking the second time around. Possibly even more so, given how positively wrecked he looked already. It was short-lived, though, because once Halsin gently rubbed his thumb over his cheekbone to soothe him, Gale let his eyes fall shut and let his instincts guide him.

At first, Halsin thought that Gale’s closed eyes might make it harder for him to find what he wanted, but then Gale reached his hand up and touched his hip, then his leg, then easily found the base of his cock. Instead of guiding it closer to himself, though, he pulled it aside just slightly and - Halsin groaned aloud when he realized Gale was chasing his scent, not his cock. It felt positively primal when Gale pressed his nose firmly where his thigh and crotch met, and felt the beast tremble underneath his skin when a soft tongue lapped lazily at his ballsack.

Gale’s exploration didn’t stop there. Halsin’s erection had waned somewhat during their conversation, focused as he had been on the other instead of his own pleasure, but he rapidly felt himself grow hard again under Gale’s self-indulgent ministrations. Like this, with his eyes closed and so lost in his own world, every kiss and every lick felt like devotion. Worship. The purest connection Gale could give him.

The now somewhat familiar warmth of his mouth felt a little like coming home. Still, it was oh so different than the first time around; instead of his mind pushing him, Halsin could almost feel it slowly shut down as he fit his lips over the crown. He wasn’t moving much, not yet, but Halsin could tell when he’d settled into the rhythmic suckle he needed to coax himself to that safe headspace he had been flirting with all evening.

Halsin, for his part, also felt something shift. A mindset that didn’t have him push back against the beast so much, but felt more like they could work in tandem; primal urges and conscious goals had aligned, and all his energy was now focused on Gale. His mouth, his touch, his pleasure.

After a few minutes, or maybe a lifetime, Halsin could feel his lover grow bolder, greedier, needing him deeper. It was almost like the opposite of how he’d approached it earlier; instead of his mind pushing his body, it was like his body drank Halsin down on its own. This time around, when the head reached the soft palate, he could feel Gale’s moan.

Every breath Halsin took after that came out with a rumbling edge.

He let Gale build a rhythm like that; pulling back with a suck, then letting him glide slightly further than he had before, then pulling back. Every movement was slow, savoured, enjoyed. Every time Halsin got in a little deeper, he could see a corresponding twitch in Gale’s cock where it was still deliciously exposed from his robes. It wasn’t just his mind that took pleasure from this; his whole body responded to him so beautifully, that Halsin actually had to keep his focus to make sure this would last as long as Gale wanted.

It wasn’t long until they reached the furthest point Gale could manage without proper guidance. At least when his mind was in the state it was in. But Halsin hadn’t forgotten his other wish - not even magic could have made him forget about that at this point, so proper guidance he would give him.

“Hold my wrist, my love,” he instructed him. He sounded breathless, but hopefully managed to come off not too eager. They had time, even if the heat of their intimacy was now properly running through Halsin’s blood.

Gale opened his eyes again, but to Halsin’s great relief, didn’t completely blink out of his daze. Instead, his dark eyes were glazed over, a flush of pleasure had crept high up his cheeks, and his lips stretched beautifully around Halsin’s girth. He was perfect. Slowly, he brought a warm hand up to Halsin’s strong wrist. He didn’t grip it, didn’t cling, but seemed to revel in the extra point of contact.

“Very good,” he praised him. Gale moaned unashamedly at the praise, only muffled by the thick cock in his mouth - a droplet of precome hit the back of his tongue as soon as Halsin heard it. “Can you give me the signal for stop?”

That took a moment to be processed, but finally, Halsin felt two taps against his wrist.

“Perfect.” Unshed tears of bliss gathered in Gale’s eyes. His own cock drooled over the moss, untouched. “Let me guide you, my heart. I will take it slow.”

It seemed that what Gale had said earlier, about being rusty, because it was clear he had done this before at some point when Halsin stepped in a little closer to get a better angle. Before he could say anything, a reflex kicked in and he could feel Gale take in a breath, before relaxing his throat, relaxing through the spasms, and carefully moving Halsin’s cock deeper, past his soft palate, where breath was traded for utter fullness.

Gale’s eyes fluttered shut. Halsin had to breathe himself through it to not come on the spot.

When he pulled back, he made sure to give the other ample time to breathe through his nose, soothe the adrenaline that came with being choked, before a soft squeeze on the wrist signaled him to go on. With open affection and lust, Halsin guided himself back in again - a little further this time, watching Gale discipline his own gag reflex with rapt attention. The cycle of struggle, submission, and bliss was intoxicating.

“Perfect,” he mumbled, feeling like he was floating. “You’re perfect.”

They found their own, slow rhythm. With every thrust, Halsin would give Gale time to recover until he felt a squeeze on his wrist, before pushing back in again, each time getting a little further in. Halsin quietly thanked the stars and everything in nature that he was long past the decades of his youth - he didn’t think he would have been able to keep his climax at bay for this long even a century ago. But the picture that Gale painted in front of him was more erotic than any orgasm would ever be; down on his knees, tears rolling down his cheeks at the exertion, lips stretched obscenely around Halsin’s cock, and his own erection twitching eagerly with every thrust. He was the very image of raw, stunning devotion.

Finally, when Halsin firmly felt the tip of his cock press against the back of Gale’s throat, as far as it would go at this angle, he felt how the wizard’s body had been pushed just slightly too far. He looked breathtaking, eyes watering, saliva spilled onto his beard, his cock flushed a hot red - but around Halsin’s cock, the skin of his lip had been stretched beyond what it could take, and a droplet of blood tinged his cock red where the skin had split.

“Oh, my heart,” he whispered, breathless. He carefully brushed his thumb over the wound, wiping away the blood that was still welling up.

When Gale made the effort to look up at him, eyes glazed over and blissed out, the healing magic bubbled up on its own accord from Halsin’s very essence, and intermingled with his words.

“Good boy.”

Both the praise and the magic of the Healing Word washed over Gale with intention, devotion, adoration, and it was all his mind could take. Pleasure rippled through him from the crown of his head down to the tips of his toes, following everywhere the warmth of the healing magic went. His groan of relief was stuck in his throat, stoppered by Halsin's gloriously thick cock. He couldn’t breathe through it, couldn’t think.

It was a few seconds, or maybe an eternity later that Halsin pulled himself all the way out, and Gale was left gasping for breath. The sudden rush of oxygen added a whole new layer to his high, and the sounds he let out were wrecked. Broken, breathy moans came with every pant. He looked fucked out, claimed, and the beast roared triumphantly.

Not even Silvanus himself could have stopped Halsin’s orgasm at the sight.

It ripped through him with a force he hadn’t expected, not even after bringing himself down from the edge as much as he had. His legs shook with the intensity, his vision whitened at the edges, and it was with the last shreds of his clear thinking that he safely dropped down next to Gale before his legs would give out on their own. He pressed his nose into his hair, and bit down on the spot between his neck and shoulder as he rode out the aftershocks.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed after that. Eventually, enough sensibility came back to Halsin to reach out to his wizard, finding him laid down on his back on the moss right next to him. His hair was a mess, his face was tear-stained, there was a streak of ejaculate on his cheek and his robes were ruined, and he had never looked more at peace. When Halsin’s arm reached around his waist, he didn’t even need to open his eyes to find his way into his arms, face tucked away into his neck, as if he was made to be there.

Halsin kissed his beautiful, brilliant head. “Was this what you’d hoped for, my heart?”

The response came slow. “No,” Gale finally said. Judging from his voice, sleep was close. “This was more than I ever dared to dream.”

And as he drifted off to sleep, Halsin vowed to make sure there would be many dreams to come.