mama kat, would it be too greedy to ask for each pairs + "Who says “I love you” first & how?" because ls' dynamics between the men around her are quite different 🙏🥹
We welcome greed in this house (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
Starkspeare: Baelor says it first. Not in bed, or even during some heated argument, but not by accident, either. It's somewhere quiet, after you've been hurt maybe or nearly lost to him in some capacity. There's awful, almost sad sincerity to the words, like he's burdened, almost ashamed by his own want but he speaks them with his entire being.
Winterhall: Maekar says it first, too, but only when he's cornered into it. Angry, pacing, jaw tight, driven by emotion (worry or jealousy, but something strong enough to cut through the iron). It comes out rough and unwilling, practically spat out, something like, “Do you not understand? I love you. That is the whole cursed problem of it.”
Iceflame: Aerion says it first, but he also says it too early, and too intensely. He's spent his entire life saying it, really, and has never shied away from it or what you are to him. He says it like a man confessing a fever or a sin, eyes bright with that terrible devotion of his. For Aerion, I love you sounds dangerously close to I am ruined by you.
Stagstark: Lyonel probably says it first but by complete accident. Smiling, flirting, making light of something, and then suddenly it’s there between them before he can laugh it off. It's too late to walk them back, the confession rolls off the tongue so casually it's easy to miss it or simply assume he's like this with everyone, but your I love you from his mouth is filled with longing no one else hears from him.
Blackice: Daemon says it second, but he feels it first, and carries it longer, so he doesn't spend those words cheaply because he knows how completely this alters both your lives. He waits until he knows you would actually believe him and not just assume it's some ploy. When he finally says it, its devastatingly simple. No ornament. Just quiet, defeated certainty because he doesn't believe it changes anything. It's cruel to finally find a reason to live again and know it cannot stay.
ᓚᘏᗢ send a ship + headcanon.
