I sink to let you breathe

If you're standing in the cold out of fear your flaws will show

“Ah, my mistake.” Comes the brief tease before the mood definitely grows more serious, as he figures out just how to make it seem less like he’s upset at having to hold back his haunt. He doesn’t mind it, really, because his main concern is simply trying to ensure it doesn’t slip out when he doesn’t mean for it to. Ensuring that each and every shadow is secure under his skin, the butcher’s focus is back as their foreheads press together and he lets his soft new nickname leave his lips.

The crooked smile he spots as he opens his eyes a fraction to see his lover, taking note of it as a welcome nickname precisely when something screeches in the distance. He exhales softly, a soft laugh leaving him as he nods. “That would be lovely.” He hums, leaning in for a last second to press another kiss to the blood sap sticky cheekbone before he withdraws.

“Now, let us not get stuck in the mud once more, mm?” He pulls away and looks back at the mud in question as if daring it to get his lover’s boot stuck in it again. “Or, you can fly out and I shall take the satchel for you?” A suggestion of letting Danta take the easier way out of the swamp.

After all, the butcher doesn’t have any flighted shifts, so he’s stuck in the mud either way.

Astaroth

We can live out where the warmth is 'til our names are etched in stone

I used to hold your haunted neck; I know I'll miss you if I close my eyes

"Mm, I thought so too. You can clean off at the shoreline before changing back into your clothes, and we can flip a coin to decide whether we go to King's End or back to Torchline for a skyship." With that decision apparently made, Danta turns his head at the last second to sneak a kiss to Asta's lips instead of letting it land at its intended destination.

Drawing back enough to survey the path back through the muck, he wrinkles his nose. "I would never abandon you to this," he tells him dramatically. "Especially when you'd be the one carrying what we worked so hard to get. I've got a better idea - probably one we should've thought of to begin with."

The ripple of heat through the air is the only warning before Danta's scorch magic hisses across the wet mud, setting it putrid and steaming. But despite all that, it does leave them a firmer path to walk on as the muck begins to firm up beneath their feet.

"And fuck you too," Danta quips to the holes where their boots had gotten stuck earlier, strolling past with a lick of flame at his heels for good measure.

~FIN

Dantalion