Gale sharply exhales. "Ah." He hesitates and then his arms wrap around Mordred.

"I." Hard swallow. "Missed you. Things -- continued to happen, after we talked. And I missed you."

"I missed you too." He does not seem inclined to let go.

That's good because Mordred isn't either.

"Do you want to talk about it, or--?"

"I... should probably tell you about it. Can I keep hugging you while I do that."

"Yeah. This is nice. ...Maybe we should sit down."

"...good idea. You are good at ideas and this is why I should listen to you always." This is mostly a joke but it sort of isn't.

Gale arranges them so that Mordred's head is on his shoulder.

And Mordred tells him about the stakeout gone slightly wrong and the break-in gone very wrong and the plane bomb gone as well as it could realistically have gone given what it was and Agravaine's nightmares, and then hugs him tighter.

"What are you going to do now?"

"The places to go where we think there's something to find are Mexico City, Bangkok, Malta, Ethiopia, and Rome, which is not my favorite thing because half of those have more of the cult in them and the other half are turning quickly into active war zones." This is kind of missing the point. "I don't know. I've been reading the horrifying books and trying to figure out what they have to do with any of it, maybe I'll stumble across some piece of information that'll make it all make sense."

"I always wanted to see Rome." He's joking. "My best friend the world traveler."

"I will tell you all about it and do my very best not to set the Vatican on fire." He's also joking.

"Just remember all the priceless historical artifacts." He's not not touching Mordred's hair.

"I said I'd do my best!!! I really will tell you everything, though."

"So I can pray and worry with more specificity."

"Because you deserve to know, and because I know you and if I don't tell you you'll just be more worried."

"It's true, I would be."

"And because I think some of the others aren't telling their loved ones what's going on and -- I think not being able to talk about it would be bad."

And because if I die you should know the truth of how and why it happened, he doesn't say, because it's even more morbid than he's been so far and because this is very warm and very nice and he doesn't want it to end.

"Can you-- I know it's expensive, but can you call me, so I--"

He doesn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah. I can. And I'll write, you have a stable address even if I don't." He hesitates before saying, "I've been writing. If anything happens there's a bunch of envelopes for you."

Gale's nearly translucent cheeks turn a light pink color. "Thank you."

"Mm," Mordred says, and does his best not to engage with this in any way, and enjoys the warmth while it lasts.

About a week later, Mordred is in his apartment.