Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Astarion sighed loudly, sitting on the log beside the campfire, glaring pointedly at Gale. “Unbelievable!” Astarion whined. “I could be having the time of my life, bathed in viscera. But of course, I’m here with you. ” 

For whatever reason, Tav had left the two men out of their party this time, which is, in all honesty, out of character. However, Astarion was almost certain that this was a punishment after a recent remark of which Gale was the victim. 

“Do you honestly truly think this is pleasant for me either?” inquired Gale half earnestly. “Anyway, I haven’t even said a word. Is it a crime to enjoy my literature in peace?” He thumbed through his book in hopes of finding something that catches his eye.

“There is no peace with you here.” Astarion scoffed. “I find your very presence is irksome and it taints the very air I breathe.” 

“That is incredible. I didn’t realize I took up that much of your mental space, Astarion.” Gale put his book to the side, careful to take note of the page he was on. 

“Now hold on, someone sure thinks highly of himself.” Astarion responded, reaching for the wine bottle resting against his leg. He poured the wine into his glass, before looking at it as the liquid swirled. “I never said you took up any mental space. In fact, dear wizard, I’d hardly say I think of you at all.” 

“If that is the case, perhaps you simply don’t use your head for anything useful. I wonder if you just need to get to know me.” Gale puffed arrogantly. 

“Get to know you? Why in the world would I want to waste my time with such a useless venture?” Astarion said, the sass seeping into every word. Still though, he swirled the wine in his glass, unable to see his reflection, he can see Gale’s quite clearly. The glass made the silly wizard look all squat and squishy. A devilish little plan started to form in his mind. 

“Fine then, your loss. No point in arguing.” Gale resigns, picking up his book again, leafing through to find his place. 

There was a beat of silence, and Astarion drummed his fingers against his knee. He was unbelievably, unequivocally, bored out of his mind. So bored in fact, he could feel the little parasite wiggling around in his skull. 

Astarion, as much as he wished to prove the wizard wrong, couldn’t handle the silence any longer. Any sane person would find the crackle of the fire, the sound of the pages turning from Gale’s book, and the taste of wine on their lips, comforting. Some might say even idyllic. But Astarion was hardly considered truly sane.

“Wizard,” he started, his voice a little teasing, sultry. “I have a proposition for you..”

“I'm sure you do.” Gale mumbled, idly flipping to the next page.

“Not like that.” Astarion sneered. “Gods, I wasn’t aware you had such a dirty mind. I figured you for a prude.” 

“Oh, good then!” Gale said brightly. He looked up at Astarion expectantly. “I’m sure this will not disappoint.”

“Oh please darling, a night with me never disappoints, but that’s beside the point.” Astarion waved a dismissive hand. “I propose.. A drinking game. ”

“What, you want to drink the blood from my neck? No can do.”

“We both know you taste like bile. No, an alcoholic drinking game, wizard. Since you’re so desperate for me to get to know you.” Astarion swirled the wine in his glass for emphasis.

“Fine then. What are the rules?” He put his book down again for the second time on the log, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

“I say something about your life, if it’s true, you drink. If it’s not, I drink. Then you go.” 

“Sounds simple enough. Will you pour me a glass, then?”

Astarion smirked, reaching for another glass and pouring the blood red wine, before passing it to Gale. “I’ll go first, just so you get a feel for the game, because I’m considerate.” 

Astarion thought for a moment, looking Gale over. He would consider himself very good at reading people. It, after all, was part of his job when he was fetching flesh for Cazador. As much as he hated to admit it, the wizard had a sort of geeky charm to him. “You were raised by a single mother.” 

“Erm, not quite. My father certainly was… there. He was all too interested in his own studies than anything else. Now that I’m older I can understand. But let’s see here…” Gale pondered for a moment. “Your favorite food is veal.” He suggested with a grin. 

Astarion rolled his eyes at the long-winded answer. This was supposed to be a yes-or-no game, but of course, with Gale, nothing could ever be so deliciously short. He took a drink as he was apparently wrong. 

“Very clever. Veal is certainly up there, but no. Drink.” 

Gale was glad to take a swig of his wine. 

“You were… a rather lonely child I imagine.” Astarion suggested as his next guess. 

“As much as I dislike admitting it, you would not be wrong in saying that.” Gale drank his wine a little less excitedly this time. “You haven’t read a book in the past decade.”

“I will have you know that I have read a lot since I’ve been freed. Are they academic? Absolutely not, but you did not clarify on the type. Drink.” He chuckled. Astarion found his eyes drifting down to the man’s lips. His eyes flicked up to Gale’s before the other man could notice. 

Astarion looked over Gale’s appearance again. “You haven’t seen a woman in a decade.” 

Gale drank. “Was that an excuse to take a drink? I look at Tav every day.” 

“Wow, you are dull. ” Astarion sighed a little exasperated. “I mean seen, as in been with.” 

“Oh, then drink. Ever heard of Mystra? We had the loveliest of times.” He gushed.

Astarion hardly stopped himself from rolling his eyes yet again. He drank. “Of course, I forgot about your beloved goddess. You haven’t mentioned her in the last five minutes so she slipped my mind.”

Gale huffed quietly, waving his hand as if to forget about Astarion’s newest remark. “You haven’t skipped a day of grooming your hair in the past century. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.” 

“Absolutely not! And look like a mess? I won’t have it!” Astarion drank. He was picking hard-hitting questions, because that’s how he liked to go about things, but Gale seemed to be picking easier ones. Perhaps he should try something silly. 

“You like tea over coffee.” 

Gale lifted his pointer finger. “Ah! You would think that to be the case wouldn’t you? Unfortunately for you, I am a coffee man.” He seemed overly proud of this opinion and had a smile on his face. “I would bet you had a cat as a child.” 

Astarion paused, hesitating to admit something from his childhood. He wasn’t too keen on going down memory lane. He drank. “I did. A tuxedo. Little Lord I called him.” He looked down at his glass, watching the wine ripple. “I admit, I.. adored him.” 

“Anyway,” Astarion sighed after a moment. “You didn’t have many toys as a child, did you?”

Gale had never seen Astarion express something so genuinely. He felt as though he could relate to his love of Little Lord. Gale decided not to press further so he answered the question. “Correct,” Gale drank. “I had two. One toy train and one stuffed bear. The bear, in my vast amounts of childish imagination, I had named ‘Bear.’ A joyful fellow. I wish I knew where he was.” He said wistfully. 

“You prefer to bed men to women.” Gale accused. Apparently the alcohol had finally gotten to him.

Astarion’s eyes widened ever so slightly at the question for a moment. One moment, they were talking about toys and childhood pets the next, this. Then again, it wasn’t much different from his earlier question of whether or not Gale had seen a woman in the last ten years.

“ Prefer is a strong word. I certainly have no qualms about bedding either. But I like them for different reasons.” He looked over at Gale and hummed, a teasing smirk on his lips. “A man, for example, can reach certain places that a woman cannot. Drink.” 

Gale drank sheepishly and averted his gaze, perhaps getting more than he bargained for from that question. 

“Oh my darling wizard, the sheepish look on you is quite adorable.” Astarion hummed before thinking of another statement. “You have thought about bedding a man before.” 

“That is private and I will not answer that.” Gale crossed his arms defensively. 

“And your question wasn’t? Oh, you don’t play fair.” Astarion pouted. 

“You had the choice to not answer yet you did. Don’t blame me.”

“This isn’t how the game works, wizard. You drink if it’s the truth or you don’t if it’s not. Look at me, ” he said. “I know you have. Drink.” 

Gale drank quickly and coughed. “I think we should stop playing now.”

Astarion giggled, the sound his signature little laugh. “Oh this is just precious. Why stop now, we’re just getting to all the good parts of this game. Besides, I’m getting to know you, like you wanted, hm?” 

“Yes, but now that I've gotten to know you, my interest in continuing that endeavor has wavered significantly." He waved his hand dismissively, as if to shoo a fly.

“Oh, rude,” Astarion said in mock offense. “And you’re just as boring as I thought you were. I thought for maybe a moment, you’d be entertaining.” 

"Well dear friend, I apologize entirely for not living up to your standards. Now, will you be offended if I take my leave?” 

“Terribly so, actually.” Astarion took a drink. “You’re rather stuck with me, I think. We have nothing to do, wizard. Tav isn’t here for you to pine over and do your silly little magic tricks for.” 

Gale sighed, feeling pressured into staying. What for? He wasn't enjoying this anyway. "Silly? My magic is not silly I'll have you know. It takes years of dedication and ambition to-” 

Astarion made a ‘blah blah blah’ motion with his fingers and rolled his eyes. “Yes, ambition and dedication, as if I haven’t heard this lecture ten times over. Gods, can’t you be the least bit interesting?”  

"Can't you be a little less irritating?” Gale retorted.

“No darling, that’s part of my charm.” 

“According to whom, if I may ask?" 

“Many men and women over the years.” 

Gale pinched the bridge of his nose. How can someone be this arrogant? "Gods…” he mumbled. 

“Come on, you have to admit I’ve gotten under your skin, perhaps grown on you a little?” He teased. 

"Yes…” Gale nodded. “In the way a tick would I suppose.” he said, feigning thoughtfulness.

Astarion scowled, appalled by such a comparison. “That’s rude, even for you. I wouldn’t even dream of stooping so low. Here I am, trying to have a decent time with you, and you compare me to a bug!” 

"Is that really what did it in for you? Your large ego seems to have the same fragility as that of a child. Nothing to be done about that I’d wager.” Gale takes a deep drink from his glass in hopes of it making the conversation slightly more bearable.

Astarion’s jaw clenched. He didn’t know what had gotten in the wizard’s bonnet today, but his attitude was becoming more irksome by the minute. He sighed through his nose to collect himself. 

“You want to talk about large egos?” He bit out. “At least I don’t have a literal bomb in my chest because I wanted to appease a goddess who manipulated me from childhood.” 

Gale was quite taken aback. He stared, dumbfounded for a moment. “I think it would be best if I step away for the night.” The tension in his shoulders showed a quiet anger. He gathered his items, as he prepared to retreat to his tent. 

Astarion, to his surprise, felt immediate regret. “Wait, Gale. I’m sorry. That was… harsh of me.” He murmured. 

“Yes, well, I'll see you in the morning Astarion." Gale replied curtly, as he walked stiffly back to his tent.

Astarion looked down at his glass, his shoulders slumped. He… really messed up then. And, despite himself, he was actually having a fun time bantering with the wizard. It was refreshing to have a friendly battle of wits. And then it was gone. He sighed, finishing off his glass.

“Shit.” He muttered. 

Chapter Text

As Gale awoke from his sleep, he shivered. It seemed much chillier than what he was used to. He grumbled as he shifted in his bedroll, not wanting to escape the warmth. He brought himself to peek out of his tent. He was greeted by a white landscape- snow falling softly, the footprints of the party already half covered. It seemed the only other person here was Astarion, who was sitting idly beside the campfire.

Astarion had just gotten back from hunting, having found a rabbit as his prey. He now sat shivering by the fire, the blood from the animal earlier and the warmth of the fire doing little to stop the chill from seeping into his bones. It was better than just staying in his tent, anyway. Astarion cursed his inability to produce his own body heat.

“Keeping warm?” Gale asked, as he made his way towards the fire.

“Does it look like I am?” Astarion muttered as his body trembled slightly from another wave of shivers.

“Not in the slightest.” Gale chuckled to himself. He filled the kettle that was hanging above the campfire with water from a nearby jug. “Care for some tea?”

“I suppose. It doesn’t have much flavor, but I’ll stomach it.”

Gale was bent slightly over the kettle, his back to Astarion. The elf sat there for a moment, as a wicked idea started to form in the back of his mind and his lips pulled into a mischievous smirk. Astarion reached down to the snow by his feet, and grabbed a handful.

Before Gale could turn around as the kettle whistled, Astarion stood and hooked his finger inside Gale’s shirt collar and dumped the handful of snow down the wizard’s shirt. Astarion quickly sat back down.

“Ack!” A surprised noise escaped the wizard. “What in the world was that for?!”

After he had spent a moment pulling at his shirt to get rid of the snow, he turned and gave Astarion a wicked glare. “Here I am graciously making you some tea to warm up and you practically assault me! I’m warning you now, don’t pick fights you can’t win Astarion.” He pointed scoldingly.

“Assaulted you?” Astarion scoffed, crossing his arms. “Please. I was merely having a little fun.”

The elf rolled his eyes. “As if you could do anything to me.”

Gale huffed and pulled up his sleeves. He bent over, cupped some snow into his hands, and made a pitiful snowball. He wound his arm back, and threw the snowball with all his might. It broke apart in the air disappointingly. “Really…?” Gale muttered under his breath.

“Oh darling wizard, that is just sad.” Astarion teased.

Astarion reached down by his feet again and made a perfectly good snowball. He threw it, and it hit Gale square in the face, splattering snow all across his nose.

“That,” Astarion said, making a motion as if he were dusting off his hands, “is how you throw a snowball.”

Gale wasn’t going to stand for this. He stared Astarion down for a moment and casted Gust of Wind. As Astarion lost his balance, toppling over, the wizard took the opportunity to pack a snowball quickly and pelt him with a snowball cleanly on his torso. “How’s that for sad?” He gloated proudly.

“Shit!” Astarion yelped as he fell.

His face was one of annoyance as Gale pelted him with a snowball. “Yes, alright wizard, very funny. Enough.” He grumbled and stood, dusting the snow off of him.

The vampire was really shivering now, the snow made his clothes damp, which only served to make the already cold man now freezing to the touch.

Gale seemed to be satisfied with this, as he had shifted his attention back to the boiling water. He began to prepare two hot cups of tea. “Come here and drink up. I’d wager you really need it now.”

Astarion grumbled, but sat back down on the log and took the cup of tea when it was offered. He took a sip and stomached its bitter taste. But the warmth that followed as it settled was appreciated.

“Yes, well… thank you.” Astarion said begrudgingly. “Any longer out here and I might’ve had to crawl into Karlach’s tent for warmth.”

Gale sipped from his cup, delightfully enjoying the tea's warm contrast to the frigid air. It suddenly occurred to him that he wasn’t sure if vampires could taste. “How is the tea?” He asked curiously.

“Bitter. Everything either tastes like vinegar or nothing at all.” Astarion said simply as he took another drink, hiding his disgust.

“Hm.” Gale seemed to think to himself. “That must be very disappointing.”
“It is something I have gotten used to.” The elf sighed. “But, thank you for making the tea anyway.”

A slight tremor went through him as another wave of cold hit him, and he took another drink. The glass warmed up his fingers and palms.

Gale took notice, and wordlessly went back to his tent. When he emerged, he was holding a big blanket. He brought it to the elf.

“I apologize for blasting you into the snow.” He said unconfidently.

Astarion’s eyes widened slightly in shock before he schooled his expression. He took the blanket from the man, and wrapped it around himself. The blanket was warm, and Astarion had to hold back a sigh of relief. “Thanks.” He murmured.

“It’s fine,” he added quietly. “I started it.”

They shared a comfortable silence, sipping on hot tea, watching snow fall.