a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Tav glances over his shoulder to ensure no one is watching, and touches his neck. “This has to stop.”
It’s subtle, the way Astarion’s careless facade morphs into rapt attention: a refocused tilt of his shoulders, a new glint to his eyes. Tav holds his breath. Now neither of them are breathing, he’s sure.
Astarion speaks, softly: “What has to stop?”
“You know what.”
Tav’s having second thoughts about letting Astarion feed on him at night, but quitting is easier said than done. Early/mid Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 1 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Astarion sees him as a tool, a warm body to shield him, a pliant protector. Tav knows that. Knows the odds are a hundred to one that a vampire spawn could be capable of anything more. And even if Astarion is capable—that doesn’t mean he’s inclined.
Tav wants him. Gods, he wants him in every fucked-up way possible. Neck-deep in blood and filth, honeyed lies on his tongue, fingers around Tav’s throat. It’s frankly insane, this desperate lust he feels that only grows stronger by the day, every hour he spends in Astarion’s presence.
And the worst part is that it isn’t just lust.
It’s Tav who goes crawling back to Astarion, begging him to feed. Early/mid Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 2 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Astarion pauses in the opening, evidently taken aback. “Oh. You’re awake.”
Moonlight falls over him, rendering him impossibly, achingly beautiful. Or maybe that’s Tav’s impossibly hard cock talking. If Astarion so much as brushes his shoulder, or calls him darling, Tav is going to come. Right now.
Fuck, couldn’t Astarion have waited five minutes?
Tav’s protective side kicks in, and after three days without blood, Astarion’s composure slips and Tav almost gets his wish. Mid Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 3 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“I want to know who taught you how to make all those delicious sounds you made when the priest was kissing you with his steel. And then perhaps I want another demonstration.”
Tav feels his body responding to the smoky curl in Astarion’s voice. His trousers are growing uncomfortably tight. Fuck, he knew exactly what was going to happen; he should have kicked Astarion out of his tent when he had the chance. But he’s never had any godsdamned self-discipline, has he?
“I’ve had dealings with his kind before,” Tav says. “Loviatar worshippers.”
“You’re such a tease. Tell me more.”
After watching Tav receive Loviatar’s Love, Astarion has a few questions. Pressing ones. Mid/late Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 4 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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It’s a little miraculous, Tav thinks, that those wrinkles could survive undeath and two centuries without much occasion for genuine laughter. But Astarion is nothing so much as he is a collection of small miracles.
The wine makes it harder to deny and, mercifully, easier to face: Tav’s in love. Giddy, stupid love. The kind Astarion could crush in one fist without batting an eyelash.
Which is exactly what he’ll do if he ever finds out.
Tav’s never been good at keeping promises, but for Astarion, he wants to be a better man. One of them should try, at least. Late Act 1, set before, during, and just after the battle for the Emerald Grove. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 5 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“Why should I?” Astarion taps the side of his head, smiling dangerously. “I don’t need an invitation anymore. A gift, from one benevolent parasite to another.”
He isn’t looking at Tav with benevolence. No. The mask—or at least, one of the thousands Astarion wears at any given moment—is shed at last.
He looks famished.
For the first time in their entire acquaintance, Tav’s a little worried Astarion actually means to kill him.
Astarion is the favorite, the one with hooks deeper in Tav than all the rest, and he won’t stop until everyone knows it. For Tav, head over heels in unrequited love, this amounts to nothing less than the purest torture.
Late Act 1, set after the battle for the Emerald Grove. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 6 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Tav can’t break free. He’s not strong enough. His mind is dulled, dim and insubstantial as shadow from all this time spent choking on the blood he’s spilled. Nere knew that somehow. He knew Tav was weaker than anyone else on the battlefield.
But Astarion can equal him. Astarion can save him.
Astarion can end him.
Tav gets dominated, and not in the way he likes. Late Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 7 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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like a heartbeat, like a battle cry by eyes_of_the_lamb
Fandoms: Baldur's Gate (Video Games)
09 Oct 2023
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“Oh, don’t keep us in suspense.”
Astarion stops on the other side of the plinth and stares at Tav—or maybe at the mace, Tav can’t tell. But he sees familiar hunger in those red eyes: the same hunger he saw when Astarion asked him for that necromantic grimoire.
“Take it and see what happens. I’m dying to find out.”
That’s more than good enough for Tav.
A careless mistake in the githyanki creche has Tav staring certain death in the face. It comes as somewhat of a relief. Late Act 1. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 8 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“Sleep.”
But Tav’s not falling asleep. He’s thinking now. Thinking about the way Astarion appeared in his dream—those lantern eyes, the sharp angles of him. It can’t be how Astarion would choose to appear.
Tav’s throat clenches. No, Astarion didn’t choose anything. He appeared in Tav’s dream exactly as he is, beneath the porcelain skin and the perfect hair and the tempting smirk. Exactly the way he must feel. Constantly.
Tav’s brush with death left him marked, in more ways than one. Astarion tries to work out what’s different about him. Act 1 transitioning into Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 9 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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That’s how a predator works—by singling out the weakest member of the herd. The one who’ll hardly put up a fight. And Astarion is a predator, if for no other reason than that he never had another choice. Tav’s drawn out this hunt longer than any other, perhaps, and now the strain is showing. Neither of them can run forever.
It settles on Tav then: a cold certainty.
Tonight is the night he stops running.
Once they’ve reached the tenuous safety of Last Light Inn, it’s time for Tav and Astarion to lay a few cards on the table. Or maybe just one. Early Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 10 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Astarion's lips part. Tav feels the press of his teeth—but no sting. Astarion groans, turning his face away. Tav’s heart twists.
"Come on," Tav urges him. His other hand closes around the handle of a knife. If Astarion won't bite him, Tav can open a vein himself.
"No."
"Godsdammit, Astarion, I have enough. You won't kill me."
All he has to do is spill his blood over Astarion's tongue, and instinct will do the rest. Tav sets the knife to his wrist.
In the wake of his worst mistake yet, Tav seeks to make amends. But the cult of the Absolute (and Astarion) have other plans. Early Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 11 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“Answer me honestly, love: how did you ever manage to survive before we met?”
“Obviously my luck was better back then.”
“Undoubtedly,” Astarion says. "Meeting a vampire spawn does tend to mark a downturn in one's fortunes."
Tav twists his head to look at him. “Gods, that’s not what I—“
The words die on his tongue. Astarion’s naked, because of course he is.
In the beginning, Astarion only wanted Tav’s protection. Now Tav’s only desire is to keep him safe, to Astarion’s growing frustration. Early/mid Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 12 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“Look now,” Astarion whispers. “Just a glance. Don’t be obvious.”
Tav cracks his eyes open. The scrying eye hovers just a few paces past Astarion’s shoulder. Black fog writhes in its depths.
Gods, there really is a person behind that eye—sitting leagues away perhaps, watching Astarion reduce Tav to a mewling, panting mess against this damp stone wall.
Tav and Astarion have a series of disagreements over the best way to infiltrate Moonrise Towers. Mid Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 13 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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He always knew he was going to die one day. Almost certainly before Astarion. Probably soon.
That’s why he knew it was safe—to love Astarion wretchedly, desperately, the way he could only love something that he’d soon lose. As long as he could see exactly how it would end, he could shape himself around that pain and contain it. He’s had practice.
This is how it ends. Tav was supposed to be ready.
So why doesn’t he feel ready?
Tav makes a judgment call in Moonrise Towers and it backfires horribly. Mid Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 14 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“Astarion,” Tav whispers. He hates to do it. Part of him could watch Astarion like this forever. But the rest of him is afraid.
Astarion’s eyes flutter open at once, almost colorless in the moonlight—but clear. Relief washes over Tav. He’s here. He never left.
“You called?” Astarion asks, in a voice so soft that Tav’s heart stops.
“Sorry. I just…”
Tav said the words. Astarion knows Tav loves him, and he’s still here.
They’re both still here.
When the true cost of Tav’s ordeal in Moonrise Towers come due, his friends are all determined to help him recover. Road to the hells, meet good intentions. Mid Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 15 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“You only bleed for me. No one else.”
“Yes,” Tav whispers, his mouth dry.
He doesn’t understand the anger seething in Astarion’s voice. Like Tav’s lying to him and he knows it. Like Tav’s already betrayed him.
“Swear it.”
“I swear. Only you.”
Something’s been off about his friends since Moonrise, but Tav can’t put his finger on it. In the meantime, he has promises to keep. Mid/late Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 16 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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Summary
Never, not once in their whole arrangement, has Tav ever been the one to start this. It’s always Astarion coming to his tent. Astarion pushing him down. Astarion dragging his nails over Tav’s skin, driving him out of his mind with desire. Astarion touching Tav however and wherever the mood strikes him.
But Astarion’s been different since Moonrise. When he touches Tav, it’s different. Lighter. Softer.
Like he used to be hungry for Tav, starving for him, and now he isn’t.
One by one, Tav’s running out of ways to keep Astarion’s attention. But there’s still one place left to turn. Mid/late Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 17 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“What about me, darling? If you’re looking for another simpering speech about what a hero you are and how slavishly devoted I am to you and your questionable decisions, you’re out of luck. I’m here because you’re rather pretty and you amuse me. No other reason, I’m afraid.”
If Tav feels any softer toward Astarion than he does right now, in this moment, he’s going to melt into a puddle at Astarion’s feet.
And then the Blood really will light him on fire.
Tav makes an attempt to define his relationship with Astarion. Mid/late Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 18 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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How many times? How many times has Astarion vanished under Tav’s hands, withdrawing into himself to escape Tav’s touch? This time Tav noticed, but he knows Astarion’s a consummate liar. A performer.
Tav’s trying to replay it all in his head, every time they’ve been together, but it’s like looking at a painting under warped glass. He can’t see the details. Can’t remember if he’s ever had proof that Astarion was there.
Not lost in Tav’s blood or gripped by fear or fury, but there. With Tav.
Tav seeks the key to breaking Ketheric Thorm’s immortality, but still more fragile things are at risk. Late Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 19 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)
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“I’ve even reconsidered that side deal I was so tempted to offer you last time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That night you can’t remember,” Raphael says. “It’s been on your mind. How could it not? Your friends are hardly practiced liars, with the exception of one. You must feel the difference. Something out of place, something wrong. Wouldn’t you like to know what you missed?”
Raphael makes Tav a proposition, Tav swears an oath (again), and he and Astarion discuss the consequences. Late Act 2. Astarion x m!Tav.
Series
- Part 20 of a crooked touch (Astarion x m!Tav)