Askan couldn't help but laugh, wholeheartedly until his whole frame shook.His eyes stared to water a little and his lungs started to hurt a bit, but that didn't stop it. It was damn funny. He was funny, with his stupid squint and sour expression. Askan couldn't help himself. It was too much, too funny for him not to have a laugh. And the fact Reyes called him a meathead just made it all the funnier. How serious he was trying to be, when in reality there was nothing to frown at. Not when Kana was so happy, for once.
"Gaaaaabe." He drawled, just barely able to contain his terrible case of the giggles.
When Gabriel continued, Askan simmered down as the conversation turned sombre. Never did he once think that Reyes would make him choose between his home or him just to prove his affection. But...It was good to hear it, to know that never would it ever come to that. Not that he'd worried, but certainty was assuring in a world as turbulent as this.
It was truly good to hear that he was doing better and that he actually thought that Drestig was okay. The Old Man was more than okay, leagues more than that but the weight of the word wasn't lost on Askan. He knew what Reyes was like as he was pretty damn similar when it came to these sorts of things.
Maybe if he hadn't been so content he would have said something meaningful in return. I feel the same, home is wherever you are, Gabriel. But come on, how mushy was that? It wasn't as though he disliked the attention, far from it. But Askan was flattered and smitten as heck, and his knee jerk reaction was to just...You know, try and not flail like a fish out of water.
"Ah jeeze, you are smooth as fuck." Were his cheeks red? Yep. Was he gonna admit that? Nope.
Bumping into his side, with a little more force than he meant, Askan nibbled at the end of his ear and gave it a little tug. What? He was feeling touchy feely, sue him.
"Not telling you to stop though, so by all means continue."