She is not already asleep. She is listening at the door, and has been the entire in case it happens again while he's in the tub and she has to save him from drowning.
This is a very chill and normal thing to do.
When he emerges, she points wordlessly to his bedroom. He can go to sleep willingly, or learn a very hard lesson.
He was planning to go to bed --was being the operative word. Now, he puts his hands on his hips and furrows his brows in a way that makes him look like a stern professor. "Why aren't you already asleep?"
He softens immediately at that. Even if she is sort of yelling at him, she still cares. Yesterday, he thought she was gone forever, but against all odds, here she is.
"Apologies," he says, looking sheepish. For trying to tell her what to do? For not following her orders? She almost dying? It's not clear.
"I'm sorry I worried you." He puts his hands on her shoulders. "I'm much better now, thanks to you."
"Put... me down?" He's not sure which is worse, the amusement or the challenge in his voice. Does she intend to carry him? Knock him out? Both are frankly ridiculous options. "Don't be ridiculous."
She gets a hold on one of his arms, bends to tuck her shoulders against his gut, wraps an arm around the backs of his knees, and hyup. Get fireman carried, idiot.
She hauls him into his bedroom, drops him on the mattress, and pins him with her hands around his arms and a knee to the chest.
He means to protest, but it happens very quickly, and all he's able to really do is let out an undignified yelp before he's in his bed.
"Alright!" he concedes, but he's laughing, and once he's started, he can't stop for a few minutes, like all his worries have bubbled over into irrational giggles. "I yield. Though I would still like to lodge a complaint about being spoken to like a pet." It's only okay when Tara does it.
Harley drops her head to his shoulder and laughs with him until she's out of breath, and out of energy. She's half on top of him, but not inclined to move another step tonight.
Her yawn is muffled against his sleep clothes. "Complaint noted," she mumbles, and cuddles into his side. His chest is her pillow so she can keep track of his heartbeat.
Once they've both laughed themselves out, Gale waves his hand, extinguishing the only candle in the room and leaving them in darkness. The heavy drapes over the window keep even the moonlight out. His heart beats a steady rhythm, and for a while, their breathing is the only other sound in the room.
It's so peaceful that he hates to shatter the quiet, but he can never stay silent for long.
"I'm very glad that you came back." She is warm and always so much sturdier than he expects. "I thought you were gone for good." She is tucked against his side, and he wraps his arm around her back. "Tara never doubted you'd return, for the record, so she'll be pleased to tell me 'I told you so' once she returns."
She had worried that she would feel trapped in a room after so long underground, and had planned to drag a mattress to the balcony to sleep in open air, but Gale is a familiar comfort. Rest is easy to find with his heartbeat under her ear and she burrows closer as his arm curls against her back.
"Didn't mean to stay gone so long," she whispers in the dark, the words stretching around another yawn. "Where is Tara?"
"She left to find more magical items, a little farther afield than we typically search, but with the hope that she might be able to bring back more than one," he says to the darkness overhead. "It's... going to keep being like this. What happened today will likely happen again. So I would not fault you if you did think it best to stay away."
"Ow." If doesn't really hurt, but when her chin lands on his chest, he has to complain on principle.
Her declaration makes him laugh softly, because he doesn't yet realize she's serious. "Because... There is so much unknown about my condition, and it's all the more dangerous for it. Dealing with it will likely only become more difficult and complex. Why would you want to put yourself through that?" Another soft puff of laughter, then, "I know, I know, for Tara. A worthy cause, indeed. But you would be able to keep Tara's acquaintances without..."
Without bothering with me. But he doesn't say that thought aloud.
"Without troubling yourself with all of this," he finishes with a gesture that she can't see, but can feel instead.
Her body goes tense against his side and she untangles their limbs to sit up.
"Gale." She says his name like a warning, but as her eyes adjust to the dark and she can pick out the shape of him next to her... This isn't about her, she realizes, and goes all soft inside.
She hasn't seen signs of any other guests. No other names mentioned. He doesn't even see his own mother, who allegedly exists and likes him.
Harley's fingers trace his face in the dark and she bends down to kiss his forehead, temple, the bridge of his nose.
"The people who love you will stay if you let them."
He regrets saying anything as soon as she sits up and a chill settles into the spot she had occupied. He tenses, expecting a lecture, or maybe for her to just pick him up and toss him out of the bed.
Instead, her fingers brush his cheek, and he sucks in a surprised breath. Harley kisses his face, and it's the kindest anyone's been to him in some time, certainly kinder than he ever is to himself. It makes his sinuses sting with unshed tears again, but at least he doesn't have to try to hide it in the dark. In a rare turn of events, he doesn't quite know what to say. Part of him believes her, but worries that anyone near him is just as doomed as he is, and another part has known enough loss to doubt it at all.
"You're very difficult to argue with, you know?" He wraps his arms around her and pulls her down in some kind of clumsy approximation of a hug. "And that's coming from someone who debates like it's breathing."
She lets him pull her back down and wraps her arms around him too. Her head tucks under his chin and her breath tickles against his neck.
"Think of this," she sighs and rubs a soothing hand over his side. "If your friend told you that they were sick, that they didn't know how to fix it and that sometimes they'll have bad days. Would you walk out on your friend?"
"Just to clarify, this friend's condition is possibly dangerous to others and the only palliative treatment is very expensive?" He heaves a heavy sigh, which lifts her along with it. "No, I don't suppose I would." But it's different when it's me, goes unsaid. "I did try to convince Tara to leave, too, for the record. As you see, it did not work."
"I suspected," he answers. Surely, not all of what Tara has acquired was legally purchased either. His intentional ignorance doesn't absolve him, though. "Still, that just means it's dangerous instead of expensive. There is still a cost."
"So I get to start lecturing you about being healthier, then?" he counters. He blows a puff of air to get her hair out of his face. His arms are still around her middle, and he leaves them right where they are.
But she's right. At the end of the day, you can care people, you can point out potential consequences of their actions, you can ask them to make certain choices, but you can't choose for them. Not if you truly care about them. "Alright," he says softly. "I won't ask you to go again."
"Now the lectures, that might actually chase me away. If I listened to any, which I will not."
She settles back down on top of his chest and tries to let sleep come, but they've chatted enough for her to get a second wind. Plus she has a lot more pieces of the puzzle to turn over in her mind.
Her head pops back up.
"Is it sexually transmitted? Is that why you sidestepped a rebound?"
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"Noted," he replies, grinning to himself. No lectures, then, but he will sneak her more vegetables.
"What? Gods, no!" he sputters. "I'm not sure it's even removable at all, though I'm working on theories, and none of them involve that. You've seen the marking, it's lodged in my chest, not elsewhere." He flicks her arm. "I just have no interest in anything so casual. Not that I never tried... romantic companionship of a briefer nature, before Mystra, when I was a younger man. It never brought me much enjoyment though, the way it did others. You may think it ridiculous, but I'm afraid I'm just uninterested unless my heart is in it."
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This is a very chill and normal thing to do.
When he emerges, she points wordlessly to his bedroom. He can go to sleep willingly, or learn a very hard lesson.
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He stands like a professor and she squares up for a brawl.
"Because I came home and found you dying on the floor!"
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"Apologies," he says, looking sheepish. For trying to tell her what to do? For not following her orders? She almost dying? It's not clear.
"I'm sorry I worried you." He puts his hands on her shoulders. "I'm much better now, thanks to you."
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She points toward his bedroom again with a scowl, although there isn't much edge to it.
"Now go to bed, or I will put you down."
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He gonna learn today.
She gets a hold on one of his arms, bends to tuck her shoulders against his gut, wraps an arm around the backs of his knees, and hyup. Get fireman carried, idiot.
She hauls him into his bedroom, drops him on the mattress, and pins him with her hands around his arms and a knee to the chest.
"Stay, boy."
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"Alright!" he concedes, but he's laughing, and once he's started, he can't stop for a few minutes, like all his worries have bubbled over into irrational giggles. "I yield. Though I would still like to lodge a complaint about being spoken to like a pet." It's only okay when Tara does it.
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Her yawn is muffled against his sleep clothes. "Complaint noted," she mumbles, and cuddles into his side. His chest is her pillow so she can keep track of his heartbeat.
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It's so peaceful that he hates to shatter the quiet, but he can never stay silent for long.
"I'm very glad that you came back." She is warm and always so much sturdier than he expects. "I thought you were gone for good." She is tucked against his side, and he wraps his arm around her back. "Tara never doubted you'd return, for the record, so she'll be pleased to tell me 'I told you so' once she returns."
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"Didn't mean to stay gone so long," she whispers in the dark, the words stretching around another yawn. "Where is Tara?"
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"Why would I want to do that?"
She doesn't call him an idiot out loud this time, but it is absolutely implied in her tone of voice.
"If anything, I'm moving in."
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Her declaration makes him laugh softly, because he doesn't yet realize she's serious. "Because... There is so much unknown about my condition, and it's all the more dangerous for it. Dealing with it will likely only become more difficult and complex. Why would you want to put yourself through that?" Another soft puff of laughter, then, "I know, I know, for Tara. A worthy cause, indeed. But you would be able to keep Tara's acquaintances without..."
Without bothering with me. But he doesn't say that thought aloud.
"Without troubling yourself with all of this," he finishes with a gesture that she can't see, but can feel instead.
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"Gale." She says his name like a warning, but as her eyes adjust to the dark and she can pick out the shape of him next to her... This isn't about her, she realizes, and goes all soft inside.
She hasn't seen signs of any other guests. No other names mentioned. He doesn't even see his own mother, who allegedly exists and likes him.
Harley's fingers trace his face in the dark and she bends down to kiss his forehead, temple, the bridge of his nose.
"The people who love you will stay if you let them."
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Instead, her fingers brush his cheek, and he sucks in a surprised breath. Harley kisses his face, and it's the kindest anyone's been to him in some time, certainly kinder than he ever is to himself. It makes his sinuses sting with unshed tears again, but at least he doesn't have to try to hide it in the dark. In a rare turn of events, he doesn't quite know what to say. Part of him believes her, but worries that anyone near him is just as doomed as he is, and another part has known enough loss to doubt it at all.
"You're very difficult to argue with, you know?" He wraps his arms around her and pulls her down in some kind of clumsy approximation of a hug. "And that's coming from someone who debates like it's breathing."
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She lets him pull her back down and wraps her arms around him too. Her head tucks under his chin and her breath tickles against his neck.
"Think of this," she sighs and rubs a soothing hand over his side. "If your friend told you that they were sick, that they didn't know how to fix it and that sometimes they'll have bad days. Would you walk out on your friend?"
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She sighs and kisses the underside of his chin.
"Dummy. So dumb."
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"Gale, everyone I know and everything I do is dangerous." She pauses, considering. "And also everyone I do."
There's a sweep of her hair across his face as she shakes her head. Focus up, Harley.
"Anyway, it's my own choice."
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But she's right. At the end of the day, you can care people, you can point out potential consequences of their actions, you can ask them to make certain choices, but you can't choose for them. Not if you truly care about them. "Alright," he says softly. "I won't ask you to go again."
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She settles back down on top of his chest and tries to let sleep come, but they've chatted enough for her to get a second wind. Plus she has a lot more pieces of the puzzle to turn over in her mind.
Her head pops back up.
"Is it sexually transmitted? Is that why you sidestepped a rebound?"
I don't have a flabbergasted enough icon for their interactions
"What? Gods, no!" he sputters. "I'm not sure it's even removable at all, though I'm working on theories, and none of them involve that. You've seen the marking, it's lodged in my chest, not elsewhere." He flicks her arm. "I just have no interest in anything so casual. Not that I never tried... romantic companionship of a briefer nature, before Mystra, when I was a younger man. It never brought me much enjoyment though, the way it did others. You may think it ridiculous, but I'm afraid I'm just uninterested unless my heart is in it."
she flabber on my gast til i con 💦
"Well I don't know! You've been very cagey about the whole thing! There could be other marks!"
She tries to boop his nose, misses and pokes the apple of the cheek on the first try, and then finally gets it.
"It's not ridiculous. If that's not your thing then it's not your thing and I won't bring it up again."
LOL
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