#lothgar

“Cold, I take it?” Lothar remarked with a teasing sneer, amused when Khadgar immediately bit back.

The mage angrily turned over in the mass of blankets and his own cloak he’d managed to make, his hair in disarray and glaring at Lothar across the almost nonexistent space between them. “Of c-course I am c-cold, aren’t you?!”

Lothar rolled his eyes, “Yes, I am. It’s why I suggested everyone share tents but I didn’t realise you wouldn’t want to.”

“I am sharing a t-tent with you!” Khadgar snapped, truly out of patience.

“But not body heat, so really there’s not much point in this.”

That drew Khadgar up short. “Body h-heat?”

“Don’t be so coy, this is about survival and keeping warm,” Lothar could see Khadgar’s cheeks turning pink at the suggestion, “Have I offended your sensibilities, Khadgar?” He could not resist teasing. 

“N-no!” Khadgar curled into the blankets tighter before determinedly wriggling closer. 

Lothar watched him wriggle like an oversized caterpillar before reaching to tug at the blankets. “You’re going to have to let me in,” Lothar pointed out. 

Khadgar’s face flushed even hotter at that and Lothar couldn’t help how much it pleased him to see the poor mage so flustered. It had become his game of late, seeing all the ways he could tease the mage and make him blush and stammer himself silent. His apparent infatuation was endearing but Lothar would not be the one to call him out. Khadgar would need to figure it out on his own, but there were more than a few ways Lothar could make his invitation apparent in the meantime. 

Their blankets were rearranged to cover them both. It resulted in a tighter fit with Khadgar pressed flush against Lothar’s chest. Lothar’s bare chest that the mage seemed unsure how to process if the way his eyes kept staring and his hands kept hovering uncertainly.

“You can touch me, Khadgar, this is rather the point,” Lothar pointed out mildly as he himself wrapped an arm around Khadgar’s waist. The mage didn’t make a sound but he stiffened at first and Lothar could hear him swallow hard enough to hurt. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“N-no, it’s not... I-I...” Lothar was fairly sure Khadgar wasn’t stammering because of the cold any more.

Timidly, Khadgar’s hand laid flat on his chest and Lothar shivered from the cold skin leeching the warmth from his body. “You’re frozen,” Lothar frowned, pulling Khadgar in closer.

“I did tell you,” Khadgar pointed out. His shirt looked to be hanging off of him with room enough for Lothar to slip a hand under the back of it and press one broad, warm palm to the mage’s back. “Oh...” Khadgar breathed in surprise.

“Better?”

“Y-yes...”

Khadgar’s breath came in shallow huffs against Lothar’s collarbone and the obvious way he kept his hips angled away from touching Lothar told Lothar all he needed to know about how much ‘better’ the mage’s state was. He smiled to himself as he tucked Khadgar’s head under his chin and settled down to sleep.

“Goodnight, Khadgar,” Lothar murmured more cheery than their situation called for.