I kept squinting at the prompts for the September 2025 Bloodweave Week with the thought I might try and find snippets from an existing fic to see how well (or poorly) I could match the prompts for this event with material that already exists in my Bloodweave+ longfic (The Blood of Lathander). This is me giving it a whirl:
At least Gale is amused by whatever Astarion’s face is doing; he smiles a little, looks down again, clears his throat, and with his eyes still on their hands where they’re loosely connected, he asks: “why did you kiss me?”
What a silly question; because he wanted to, obviously. Why else? Though—as Astarion looks at Gale’s downturned expression, who keeps his eyes on their hands as if afraid to look back up into Astarion’s face, he realizes it might not be so obvious. Astarion has a history of trading his body for help, and the wizard knows this.
Fine, it’s a fair question.
This time it wasn’t a trade, it was desire—a hunger, if he’s honest. Astarion decides to make this unbearable for them both, as revenge for all this overwhelming feeling Gale continues to insist on inspiring.
“Because you’re the closest thing I have to a sunrise.”
Gale lets out a long breath and grumbles, “you’re fighting with poetry now, I see. That’s a wicked maneuver.”
Astarion grins and bears his teeth when he does. “And I mean it, which makes it so much worse.”
