[ if there's an answer ready — and there isn't, to be fair, because it's a question so big he doesn't entirely know how to quantify it — then it'd be lost to the world anyway, as a finger presses into him and nick's breath catches in his throat. sex always means something for him, is the thing, even the most frivolous and casual of encounters are significant to him, but there's no point in pretending like this is anything close. this is something different, they are different.

nick's eyes flutter closed and open again just as quickly, because he's not willing to break that gaze even as something big and intense swells in his chest. what would he do for august, exactly? the answer would probably scare both of them. ]

Anything.

[ it's maybe something of a cop out but it's also only the start, there's clearly more brewing. nick deliberately tries to still himself a little more, to stop himself from chasing sensation and moaning his way out of a real answer. he wants august to know, after all. he wouldn't have said it if he didn't. ]

Tell me to stay in this bed forever, I'll never leave. You need magic? You have mine. [ promises, whispered, making them closer to oaths, and he doesn't break the gaze. it's too much, probably, nick knows he can be sometimes. he's--intense, sometimes, but then so is august. maybe it isn't offputting. maybe more words spill out of his mouth anyway, even if they're terrifying, because the ball is already rolling now and some oaths simply demand to be pledged out loud. ] I'd cut out my heart if you needed it.