Chapter Text
“Darling… Do you remember the first time I told you that I loved you?” Astarion’s lips quirked into a fond smile. They were in possibly the least romantic setting that he could think of, the Underdark, surrounded by thousands of hungry spawn yet he couldn’t help but reminisce a little.
“Mmmhmm. A sweet lie you called it,” his lover murmured in reply. They were already half asleep, with the both of them cuddled up into the - now fully grown - owlbear’s soft, warm belly. It was a good position, Astarion had noted the first night. The bear, newly dubbed Bitey by one of the spawn children, had curled up on its side and patted the ground. Tav, the only other one with a pulse in the group, would be safe there under Bitey’s watchful eye. The Bitey didn’t settle in until Astarion joined had been surprising. He… He was still often surprised when anyone other than Tav, even the animals, wanted his presence.
“Well, it does help set the mood. Those three words everyone wants to hear,” Astarion laughed, rolling on his side to admire how the firelight played on their features. Their face had changed a bit since the day they first met. Scars and a few little worry lines. He smiled. Tav was more enticing every day. “I meant it though… I just… didn’t know what I was feeling, or how to say it.”
“I always knew, silly man.” Tav opened their eyes a little, smiling up at him. Astarion had to shake his head at the surety in their gaze. It honestly wasn’t fair, what made this stupid fool able to see through him from the get-go? They didn’t have to support him, didn’t have to protect him, love him and yet they just… kept going. The damned idiotic was probably still sending letters back and forth to Gale and Jahaira, quietly looking for Wish spells.
They probably didn’t even care that he was a spawn. Tav probably only looked because he cared. It was… incredibly vexsome, to be honest.
“Tav. Have you, for a single moment in your wretched life, considered being selfish? No. Not even selfish. Practical. Looking out for your own interests? At all? Honestly, you spend so much time getting into everyone else’s head, do you even know what you want?” Astarion scolded, deflecting the warmth of assurance that his lover knew him, and always had.
“Well, I was hoping for a bubble bath but they’re pretty hard to come by in the Underdark.” They grinned and Astarion rolled his eyes. Huffing in annoyance while his lover simply snuggled closer to steal what body heat the spawn had. “I’d like to not be cold. Oh, and I’d like for us to get married someday. That seems nice.”
“A wedding? I continue to question your sanity.” He snorted, but gave up, running his fingers over their back. Letting the damned fool put their head on his shoulder. It wasn’t as though they were running from anything but the sun and random monster hunters now. Mother would like a wedding, wouldn’t she? And… and little Astarion would too. The little boy could fling fistfuls of flowers during the whole thing. It would be wretchedly adorable.
“Mmhmm. Maybe in the graveyard… oh no, actually let’s do it on the cliffs by the Druid’s grove. Right where we first met, in the moonlight. It will be so romantic. Shadowheart will love it too, and she’s got to be in the processional of course.”
“Darling… I held a knife to your throat when we first met.” Astarion teased, wrapping an arm around his favorite fool and snuggling them close. “Have you been knocked about too much and entirely lost your senses?”
“But you looked so handsome while doing it.” They laughed in reply, letting their eyes close again while Bitey nudged them both with his strong beak in a clear message: His people were meant to be resting and they needed to get to it!
“Ugh, I surrender, just don’t get bits of your evening meal in my hair. I swear, that’s why the children call you Bitey.” Astarion grumbled in faux annoyance, but he smiled in the darkness.
It was… a bit like having their own family, traveling with the other spawn. Perhaps that was what made him a little sentimental tonight. There were children, not just the Gur children. It had been one of the few blessedly good endings that the Gur tribe collected their little ones and looked to protect them. He’d expected to have to kill either the tribe or the children out of mercy. But he and the others? They’d all been desperate at times. Children hadn’t been ideal prey, morally. But…
But not all of his ‘siblings’ had been moral to start with. Astarion had tossed several into a chasm during the journey. Tav wanted to save these people. He was tolerating the idea, it would be entertaining to see if a ‘vampire city’ could be founded in the Underdark. It was for the sake of the experiment, and for Tav, that he enforced a certain decency on pain of death. Certainly not out of any lingering sense of responsibility or desire to redeem himself.
Still. It was oddly pleasant, sitting around a campfire with little vampiric children and coaching them through the fury and despair. Like having his own, a thought that hadn’t entered his mind in… possibly ever. Astarion had only been setting himself up in life when he ‘died’. He’d been enjoying debauchery, not considering the idea of settling down and having a family of his own. Not that he was considering it at the moment, mind you. Only that it was… nice.
And nice… nice was… It wasn’t the ending Astarion thought he was going to get, if he was honest with himself, or anyone. Oh sure, he’d wax poetic about all the various rewards he ‘deserved’, but he’d expected to die on the docks. Astarion had been certain he’d be in sunlight when the tadpole’s protection withdrew and he expected it to end there. Only it hadn’t. And it hadn’t been just Tav protecting him that day. Karlach still sent letters, Shadowheart too. It wasn’t easy, exchanging word back and forth between the surface and the Underdark, but it was managed. Not just to check on Tav but on him.
Shadowheart had wanted to stake him that first morning. Now she wrote, talking about family recipes she was uncovering with her parents. Asking when he’d come visit, to make sure Tav brought the damn owlbear when they did come.
He really did have a damned family now, didn’t he?