Hœnir stood dumbfounded, staring — left speechless at what it had been he had heard. Only a moment later he noticed how the sheer weight of those words had made his jaw drop. The taller Watcher just stood ther with his mouth open, with an expression plastered all over his face which even he would not recognize. He could not tell what it was that he felt. A bit of shock. A bit of surprise. Frustration, maybe, given he had tried to explain and tried to prevent exactly this. Because it was not right, it was not fair.
It was not fair. It was not right. He did not love him. He would hurt him. He would make him unhappy. Why marry? Why bond when he could not keep the promises expected of him. Why make himself knowingly suffer speaking words he knew he would regret.
A second; A silent exhale. The next moment the taller man ceased in height as he dropped onto a single knee. He could not believe it himself, felt more as though in some ridiculous dream. Asleep. His mind would not work no matter how hard he tried. The movement instincively, following the order directed at him like he always had done and always would do. It was in his blood. At this point it really did not matter no more if he wanted this or not. It was an order. He’d obey. Felt like his entire body temperature was fleeting. For the first time he was hesitating and it made him sick; nausea-stricken.
If he ever was to defy his Lord this would be it. The one and only moment. Not for his own sake but for his. You cannot marry him you can’t, he thought. This is going too far.
Don’t let him slip into his own ruin.
—but he is not saying a word, is not making a sound. Is not even looking at him, kneeling there with a stare blank and absent, as if looking right through the man right before him. There was worry now adorning his features, joined by abhorrence. He disgusts himself.
The own gauntlet allowed the smaller to rest in its palm. He is not even visibly trembling. Hœnir swore that he did. Would he expect him to be the wife? Or would they be equal as husband and husband. He thinks about a way to seal the bond with no ring on him that he could offer. Instead he tightens the grip on the gauntlet of the other, before placing its back against his lips — placing on it a tender kiss.