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At first, they speak different languages.
Agron says 'I love you' in the puff of his chest. He says it in lingering gazes and fond insults. Most often, he says it in the way he wraps his arm around Nasir's shoulder. Even when it looks like the most relaxed gesture, there is always a gentle pressure, pulling Nasir in closer. Sometimes he says it with the flick of an eyebrow, or a hand against Nasir's stomach to push him back - away from any perceived danger even if he himself had just come at the man with a sword moments before. It is in the way he keeps him close and never lets him out of his sight. He says 'I adore you' in the way he slides his fingers under Nasir's chin and lifts his gaze to meet his own.
But when he is really and truly overwhelmed with his love for this other man, he says nothing at all. His sharp tongue is entirely stilled in his head and the boisterous German is content to sit quietly and say nothing and do nothing. He lets his thigh press against Nasir's and stays close, but he finds himself robbed of words and expressions. And it is in this ability to just be with Nasir that Agron screams his love from the roof-tops, even if his voice is stilled within his chest.
When Nasir says 'I love you,' it comes out in words. It comes out in him challenging Agron's decision to remain quiet about Naevia, and the way he practically bursts with a need to hear that Agron bears no wound. He says it when he makes a joke, but he says it most when he questions. Nasir doesn't know how to question. He doesn't know how to stand up for what's on his mind or express himself, but he does with Agron, and it's only because he loves him.
Nasir says 'I love you' by saying it, because he's tired of covert looks and sly touches, and he's never felt this way before and he's never been free before, and somehow he just can't stop himself from letting it spill from his mouth. He tells Agron that he is his heart, and he makes an effort to learn German for the man.
In time, they begin to understand each other.
Agron begins to say 'I love you' in soft words and genuine moments, which are so foreign to his own people, and Nasir begins to say 'I love you' by remaining by Agron's side in battle.
Agron learns to speak genuinely and from the heart even if the moments are far between, because while he's always been a big muscle of raw feeling he's never known how to properly express it. Agron used to laugh when he was scared or angry. He used to kiss when he felt scared and tease when he felt fondness. But he learns to tell Nasir what he's thinking. He learns to stop and actually think about his own feelings, as opposed to just acting.
Nasir learns to be quiet. And it's not that Nasir didn't know how to be quiet, but until now, quiet has always been because it was demanded. But now he learns that a broad smile can say more than any words that spill from his lips. He learns that giving Agron a look or a laugh is worth as much. He learns to find him whenever they're in a crowd, because that's when Agron understands best how he feels.
In time, their languages begin to blend, until they have created a language all their own.
When they lay in bed at night, spent and worn from exhaustion with the sweat of the day still clinging to them, they speak to each other in their own languages. It has nothing to do with Syrian or German, and everything to do with the way Nasir whispers soft words of adoration with his lips pressed against Agron's skin and the way Agron does not voice a thing but instead tells Nasir how much he loves him in the patterns his fingers trace along his back and the way his sword-rough fingertips trace the outline of every newly-formed muscle.
It's spoken in a million different ways and at a million different times, but the message is always the same:
"I love you."