Gilmore smiled as he listened. He was used to flattery well enough, but he also knew that this wasn't that. It wasn't empty flattery, at the very least. He had asked questions, and J'mon was answering them, and though Gilmore's eyes wandered as they spoke, he saw the absolute honesty in their face. It flustered him, but he had a lot to focus his attention on. It was all in his future, he'd get to meet J'mon for the first time again-
"It is an immense thing to hear. That you would feel that-" though the evidence was right in front of him, beneath him, toying with his hair and petting him. "I am yours. You know that. As one of your people and as yours. Just- yours." Gilmore's lips brushed over their cheek as he tried to imagine the palace again, the way he had as a child. He smiled as he pressed light kisses to their skin, letting out a breath as he was, for once in his life, completely speechless.
It was one thing to know he was as skilled as he was, he had proof of that, he had worked hard for that. But to have J'mon put him on such a pedestal, to hear that in all of their years and through all of the people they had met and loved, been infatuated with, they prized him above all others? It was a lot to take in. It was enough for even his charmingly inflated ego to absorb.
"It must be nice to know I am consistent," he chuckled as J'mon spoke of his devotion. He was there now. Barely over an hour into their meeting and he was offering his whole life to them, before they'd even spent a whole night together. "Heartache is a passage we all must go through. Misplaced desires and daydreams. The only way to know when it's real when it happens."
Arching into the touch to his back, Gilmore pressed his lips to J'mon's throat, still listening, utterly focused on everything he was being given. It satisfied him deep down to know that this was the future. That the both of them would get something wonderful out of this. Something to satisfy their needs. "Perhaps-" he repeated, the word almost light and teasing, as though there were any timeline where he wouldn't fall in love with J'mon. As though they might be able to go through life together with such devotion and not find love there. Gilmore was a romantic, he knew it would happen, and he got to live through it. Twice.
He lifted his head to look down at them again, his expression serious, thoughtful. "I cannot imagine any better motivation than to be able to stand at your side and have you show me off." The corner of his lips curled again. He didn't believe himself so great yet, but with time, and with the knowledge that he could help J'mon, help their people, Gilmore needed nothing more.
"Perhaps not knowing who you were I chose you for myself, too," he whispered, kissing J'mon's lips softly. It seemed inevitable. A path he was meant to take. To be J'mon's companion and lover for as long as his life allowed. It still seemed unbelievable to him, though he hoped it never lost its wonder. He couldn't see how that was possible as he ran his lips over their cheek and ran his fingers lightly up and down their ribs, just to touch, as though it wasn't enough already.