Chapter Text
You convinced Astarion to stop the ritual so the vicious cycle of heedless and cruel power might be broken. You believe you two can figure out whatever life may throw at the two of you, you’ve already have come so far, haven’t you? So you settled with taking everything you could gather from Cazadon’s estate and liquidate it to kickstart a new life together in Baldur’s Gate. You bought a small but quite luxurious town house in the better part of town which you probably criminally under it’s market price, but the two of you can be quite the convincing duo.
You’ve spent the weeks after your long and exhausting adventures with the mundane aspects of life. Since Astarion has yet again become a creature of the night you decided to adapt to his daily cycle. After all you also once were very keen to keep to the darker times of day when survival for you meant a quick sleight of hand and even quicker feet even you didn’t mean to get caught.
You decorated your new home with an assortment of different things: thick brocade curtains for every one of the tall windows to keep Astarion safe and dark, a bed of course – the largest one you could find - , books, trinkets, more furniture. For the time being the two of you were perfectly fine with being settled down and just enjoying slow and relaxing days, making love every night. As long as the gold from your adventures lasted you were more than happy to just focus on the two of you.
You also made a habit out of it to show each other your favourite places around town, since you had such different experiences – even though both pretty dark and traumatizing – living in different areas of the city. It could have been two different cities altogether. So this night you decided to show Astarion your favourite tavern in the city.
You were walking down the cobblestone roads of the upper city. It was a pleasant night in late spring. Summer hadn’t really grasped the city yet, but it was already delightfully warm but the nights still long: in other words, perfect for a night out for you and Astarion.
You had your arm hooked into his and your head leaned on Astarion’s shoulder.
“So, tell me again please, darling, where exactly are you taking me?”, Astarion said while softly patting your hand you had nestled in the crook of his arm.
“Maeve’s”, you answer, lifting your head up and smiling brightly at him. You knew exactly you were at this terrible lovebirds stage of your relationship where everything in the world is pleasantly pink and warm – except everything in the world was possibly very grossed out because of your lovey-dovey demeanor. Neither of you could have cared less, this was the first shot both of you ever got at just being happy in life.
“Oh, please spare me with all the details, my love”, Astarion replied, sarcastically raising his voice and leaning his head to one side. Humour glinted in his ruby eyes.
“It’s a tavern”, you replied dryly and shrugged your shoulders. You untangled yourself from him and walked backwards while facing him. Then you tugged at the sleeve of his dark shirt he picked out this evening and dragged him along to move quicker. “Come on, we’ll be late.”
“Late for what, darling?”, he asked mockingly getting more desperate as you pulled on his arm. You just grinned at him more broadly and shrugged your shoulders again.
Astarion sighed, lifting his gaze to the clear night sky. The moonlight reflected in his light hair. Sometimes you still felt overwhelmed when you looked at him – like getting to be with him in this way was still a dream you could only wish would become true.
You stopped walking and just looked at him. So did he, his sharp rogue senses not wasting a split second to react. You put a hand on his chest, lowered your head to one side and said: “It’s ‘Maeve’s most exquisite drops and pops’. Me and the crew hung out there a lot when we had the coin for it and got shit-faced.” Astarion lifted his eyebrows and smiled appreciatively at you, having finally bribed you to answer his questions.
“Ah, so I am to learn something of your past tonight, hm? Delightful”, he replied and smirked at you in his signature way. You stole a quick peck on his lips before you turned and entangled your arm once more with his and started walking again. “Pops?”, he simply asked then, raising a single eyebrow.
“Yes, pops – you know, as in popular songs?”, you answered. Astarion just looked confused. “Ugh, I forgot I am basically with an ancient relic. Get with the times, Astarion”, you joked and then laughed as he frowned and mumbled something about the youth and their useless need to shorten perfectly good words.
“Are the many words meant to make it seem more… exquisite? Because I don’t feel like it is working”, Astarion chuckled. “It might just be. I can assure you it is not though. The beer is cheap, and the wine is even cheaper. And keep away from anything edible there unless you wanna be sick for three days straight. And that” – you point a finger at him – “includes necks, my dear. But that’s how you know it’s a great place”, you kept on explaining.
The vampire raised a pale eyebrow at you: “Help me see the reasoning here, my love.” A shit-eating grin split your face once more: “Because no one’s going there for the drinks or the food but the entertainment makes more than up for it.”
Astarion looked at you as if you might have gone slightly insane but simply let you talk and lead him on in the darker, meaner, and much poorer parts of the city.
“It’s quite a famous place where travelling bands and bards come to play for a night or two. And not the talentless yappers, like Volo and the such, but the ones that really know how get a room full of grumpy and mean Baldurians going: singing, dancing, getting their blood pump. If there hasn’t been at least three fights at closing time it was a dull night”, you kept on as your eyes glossed over for a moment as you remembered days long gone by. Not exactly happy days but happy little memories, nonetheless. A slight smile danced on your lips while you remembered.
The vampire looked at you warmly and put his hand over yours on his arm once more. His heart filled with warmth at the sight of your easy smile and honest joy. His thumb slowly brushed the back of your hand: “That indeed sounds like a lot of fun, my love, maybe I’ve been to quick with my judgment. Let’s see what the night may offer to us tonight. As long as it ends with you naked in my bed, I shan’t complain.”
“Our bed”, you corrected him and teasingly poked him with your other hand.
“Of course, our bed, beautiful”, he repeated correctly. His smile grew and you led him further down the streets of Baldur’s Gate.