Thirty
- Tales of Destiny, Karyl/Stahn
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"Uh?" Stahn looked up from where he was sprawled on the grass.

Karyl opened his eyes and glanced down at Stahn. "I said, you never let me thank you properly for helping me," he repeated, patiently, his eyes sparkling. It was one of the reasons Stahn liked him. Karyl had never once treated Stahn like he was stupid, and these days, with this crowd, that was pretty rare. Hell, even his sword thought he was stupid. This wasn't a problem Stahn had ever anticipated having.

Stahn considered this, then sat up. "Oh. Uh. Okay. How do you thank people? I mean, properly? You said thank you already and we were going to help you anyway."

Karyl didn't answer for a moment, his fingers sliding over the strings of his mandolin and playing a few soft chords. Leaving his left hand on the throat to hold the last chord, he extended his right hand and curled his fingers languidly at Stahn. "Come closer."

Stahn blinked and crabwalked a little closer, dropping onto his butt again almost at Karyl's feet. "Okay..."

And Karyl leaned over his mandolin, brushing Stahn's bangs aside, and pressed his lips to Stahn's forehead, letting them linger there. Stahn blinked. "Thank you," Karyl breathed as he lifted his lips away, then pushed Stahn's chin up and kissed him twice more, a quick kiss on each cheek. "Thank you," he said after he kissed Stahn's left cheek, and "thank you," he said again after he kissed Stahn's right cheek, and then he straightened up and smiled a bit and turned his attention back to his mandolin, as if nothing of any import had happened.

Stahn sat very still, just where he was, and tried to figure out what had just happened to him. Okay, so most people didn't kiss his cheek to say thank you, but Karyl was a bard and a foreigner and so maybe that's just what he did. Besides, Karyl didn't seem to think it was any sort of huge deal, so... Stahn was sick and tired of getting treated like an idiot and he was just going to play along and pretend he did this sort of stuff all the time.

"You know, I never said a proper thank you to you for coming along to help us," he said, aiming for 'nonchalant' and managing to hit 'carefully casual'.

Karyl glanced at him out of the corner of one eye and played a soft arpeggio, and gave Stahn a little half a smile. He didn't say anything, though, and Stahn scowled a bit before shoving himself up on his knees. When he leaned across the mandolin the strings jangled against the wooden body, and he could feel Karyl's hand flatten out and press against his stomach, but Stahn ignored it and dropped three quick and offhanded kisses on Karyl's face, forehead and cheeks, saying a quick "thank you" in between each one. There, he thought, pulling back, I didn't act like a country bumpkin for once in my life!

Karyl smiled a faint and private smile as Stahn pulled back from the last kiss, and then leaned in and kissed Stahn on the mouth, another lingering kiss like the one that still tingling on Stahn's forehead. "You're welcome," Karyl breathed as the kiss broke with a wet little sound, and Stahn's thoughts fell apart in a jangle of wondering if that was just how you answered or if Karyl had actually kissed him kissed him or what.