It's late when you arrive back at the Last Light Inn on the boat with the tieflings and Iron Hand gnomes you rescued from Moon Rise Towers, and you're still a bit shaken. Seeing what's awaiting you - all those cultists led by the immortal Ketheric Thorme - it doesn't look great for you. But at least you have some leads on where Ketheric's immortality comes from now. And you freed the prisoners. These are good things, you remind yourself.
As the people held prisoner at Moonrise are being tested for whether they were infected with a tadpole, Astarion pulls you aside. "Hey, can we talk?" There's something in the way he looks at you that you can't quite place.
"Of course. Do you want to go to our room?"
He smiles. "Yes, that would be nice."
When you get to your room, the two of you sit down on the bed. Astarion thanks you for standing up for him with Araj Oblodra, and tells you that he's not used to his feelings mattering. That he had to ignore them for so long when luring in victims for Cazador.
You get really sad, listening to him. He's told you some about his life for the past 200 years, how horrible it was to be Cazador's puppet. But you hadn't really realized how much bodily autonomy had been taken away from with regards to sex, too.
He continues, "You could have done the same - asked me to throw myself at her, what I wanted be damned. But you didn't. And I'm grateful."
"I don't ever want you to do anything you don't want to do."
"It's just... it would have been so easy to bite her. To just go along with what I was being told to do. A moment of disgust to force myself through. And then I could have carried on, just like before."
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, Astarion," you say quietly.
He looks down at his hands, quiet.
You hate the thought that he might have viewed you that way - that he might still, even if everything you know and feel about the two of you tells you he doesn't - but you have to ask. "Can I ask - is that how you saw me in the beginning? Someone to charm, or lure in?" Gods, you hope it was just in the beginning.
"Of course," he says and your heart sinks. "I needed protection. People don't trust vampires - perhaps understandably so - so I needed to get someone on my side. And seducing you was easy, frankly. So imagine how stupid I felt when I started to genuinely feel something for you."
Your heart skips a beat when he says that last sentence and then feels so much less heavy.
"Trust me, I was not happy about it," he goes on, "You were a complication I didn't see coming. And yet..."
"Astarion, I care about you. So much."
"Really?" It breaks your heart that he feels like he has to ask that.
You pull him into a hug. It takes a moment for him to let that happen. When he does, he leans into the hug, placing his head on your shoulder. You gently stroke through his curls with one hand, the other on his back. "I'm here for you, for whatever you need, in whatever role you need."
He stays in your arms a while, quiet, perhaps letting that sink in.
"I... I don't know where to go from here. What happens next," he says after a bit.
"What do you want to happen next?"
"I... don't know. It's been so long since I've had to decide what I wanted. But I think I'd like to figure it out, with you."
"Whatever you need. I mean it."
You spend a while just lying in each other's arms, lying down on the bed after a bit. You've cuddled like this after sex, but never without it. It feels nice, but you're also still so sad hearing about what he went through. What Cazador did to him. If you ever get your hands on that bastard, you'll kill him, you swear to yourself.
After a while, Astarion looks up at you from where he's nuzzled against your neck. "That first night we were together... I was using you, for protection, as I said. But I think something changed after that. All those times I had sex luring people in for Cazador, I never felt anything. Not even a nice bit of relief while it happened. But watching you submit your body to Abdirak's 'teachings' and enjoying it... I was turned on. And I hadn't been turned on in a very long time."
You listen to him closely, stroking his hair as he talks.
"And when you let me do those things to you - when you trusted me to do them... I think it gave me back a bit of control. I haven't really deserved to be trusted for a long time, before I met you. So when you trusted me enough to not only let me bite you, but also with your body like that, I... I suppose it gave me a chance to earn that trust. And it gave me back more control as you continued to trust me."
"I'm really glad that that helped you." You place a kiss on his head. "But I also need you to know that I'm happy to be your friend. Just your friend, if that's what you need right now."
He smiles. "It'd be nice to have a friend. I've had a lot of lovers over the past 200 years. But not a single friend I can think of." He pulls himself up so his face is on a level with you and he can look you in the eyes. "But I think I'd also like to keep exploring what we have, as more than friends."
He pulls you into a kiss, but slowly. His lips hover a mere centimeter or two away from yours and he looks back and forth between your eyes and your lips. His hand cups your face, gently stroking your cheek. It feels a lot like a first kiss. Except that your first kiss was a lot less slow and romantic and a lot more rushed and passionate. When he does finally kiss you, you feel it with your whole body. You feel so safe with him and you want him to be able to feel that way with you too.
His kiss grows more passionate and his hand wanders to your upper thigh, just below your ass, squeezing it. "Astarion," you say, breaking the kiss, "are you sure you want to do this right now?"
"Yes, I am, darling. It's one of few things I'm sure about."
You let him draw you into another kiss, and you lean fully into it this time. He pulls you into his body, his legs entangling with yours. He grabs your ass and grinds your hips against his leg. There's still way too many layers of clothes between your clit and his skin, but the friction already feels so good.. You're moaning against his lips.
He's pulling your shirt and bra off and you pull his shirt off in return. He pulls you back into a kiss while letting his hands wander all over your body. He starts at the small of your back, moves up your back, to your shoulders, your neck. All the while, you continue grinding on his leg and run your own hands over his body.
From his neck, he moves to your front, down your collarbones, to your breasts. His hands take their time there, massaging your breasts at first, then getting rougher, squeezing them hard, which makes you moan even more. At that point, he stops kissing you and gently pushes your shoulder down so you're lying on your back. This means you can't continue rubbing your clit against his core. You miss the friction, but he makes up for it with his mouth on your breast. He takes your nipple in his mouth and sucks on it until it's hard, at which point he starts adding little bites to his licking and sucking. "Fuck," you moan, as he grazes your nipple with his fangs, not hard enough to draw blood, but sharper than his other bites.
Once he's given the same attention to your other nipple, he traces a line of kisses down your body until he reaches your lower belly. He takes off your pants and underwear, then continues kissing his way down. The heat in your core grows the further down he goes, and when he reaches your vulva, you can already feel the wetness pooling there. Astarion uses his hands to reposition you slightly, pushing your legs toward you to open you up to him. He licks over your labia before pushing his tongue between them. He licks at your entrance, circling it, then pushing his tongue inside. This makes you groan deeply and yearn for more. His tongue then moves slowly up until it reaches your clit.
He takes slow licks, which drive you crazy after a bit, because they're enough to make you want more, but not enough to actually get you closer to an orgasm. You whimper. "Please, Astarion."
He stops and looks up at you and you know what he's about to say before he says it. "Please what, pet?"
"Please, I need more."
He smirks but seems to choose not to press you further on what you want more of. Instead, he adds pressure and gets faster, giving you just what you want. In addition, he slides one hand up your body and plays with your breast and nipple while sucking on your clit. Soon, you're moaning more and more and feel the pressure in your core grow. As you're getting closer to an orgasm, your walls clench around nothing, making you wish for his fingers - or better yet, his cock - inside you.
"Mmh, yes... Please fuck me," you manage to get out between moans. You think you feel him smiling against your clit, but he doesn't stop. Instead, the steady rhythm of his tongue on your clit is getting you ever closer to an orgasm. Your core feels like it's on fire at this point and you're starting to gently shake under his touch.
He pushes a finger inside you, which makes you groan with pleasure. He thrusts it into you a couple of times, before adding a second finger. You're right there at the edge now, moaning and whimpering with every thrust and every lick.
The combination of his tongue and his fingers feel so fucking good, it doesn't take long for you to spill over the edge. Pleasure and heat wash over you as you arch your neck and push your hips against his fingers and mouth. Astarion slows down a little, but keeps going, prolonging your orgasm.
You're still moaning as less intense afterwaves wash over you when Astarion stops and pulls himself up and on top of you. He cups your face and kisses you. You can taste yourself on his tongue, which is such a turn on. "You taste so delectable," Astarion coos, "Are you ready for more, beautiful?"
"Yes, please," you say eagerly, pressing your hips against his.
"My pet, always so eager," he smirks, as he quickly takes off the rest of his clothes. He gets back on top of you and places the tip of his cock at your entrance. You press your hips forward, trying to get him inside of you, but he pulls back just enough you can still only feel his tip, making you wait.
You whimper in frustration. You can feel wetness dripping down your vulva as you wait impatiently, and wonder if he can feel it too. "Please, Astarion, I want to feel you inside of me."
"Being quite the little slut, aren't you? You just came and now you're already begging for more?"
You whimper. "Please, I want you so much."
When he finally thrusts into you, it feels so fucking good you're groaning his name. You're so wet from just coming that he just slides into you, creating the most wonderful friction. His fingers felt good inside you already, but his cock makes you feel full and stimulates your walls so much more. His weight on top of you and his cool skin against your hot skin only add to your enjoyment.
He fucks you with hard, deep thrusts. His hip bones bang against your hips hard enough it adds a little pain to your pleasure. "Fuck, yes," you moan.
He pulls himself up on his arms and angles his body above yours so that his chest is above your shoulders. His pubic bone rubs against your clit in this position, and your core is instantly on fire again. You can't control the moans, whimpers, and incoherent begging spilling out from your lips, "Yes, fuck, more, yes, like that, hnrgh, please, Astarion."
He looks down at you, watching you intently as you're getting closer to another orgasm. He's moaning as well, which turns you on even more.
Your orgasm breaks over you like an avalanche, pressure breaking and relief washing over you. You don't even know what you're saying in between moans anymore. Your whole body reverberates with pleasure.
When you can think properly again, Astarion's head is next to your ear. "Get on your hands and knees."
You do as you're told, although you're still shaking with the last waves of your orgasm. Astarion thrusts back into you and then groans deeply. "Fuck, you're still coming, aren't you?"
You can only whimper, but you do feel your walls clenching around him and you're unable to control it. He makes deep, guttural sounds as he fucks you. "Gods, you'll make me come if you don't stop." He places his hand on your head and pushes it down into the mattress. With every thrust, your head is pushed farther down.
Eventually, you come down from your orgasm, but your core is still burning with heat. He gets even deeper in this position. He uses his free hand to grab your ass, digging fingers into flesh hard enough it hurts.
He's pushing your body ever so slightly forward as he fucks you, until eventually, your head hits the headboard, making a dull knocking sound. Astarion makes no effort to fix that and instead keeps fucking you, your head banging against the headboard every time he bottoms out in you.
Eventually, you can feel his thrusts growing more erratic and his moans becoming louder. He comes inside you with a few last thrusts.
He falls down on the bed next to you and you crawl into his arms. You place your head on his shoulder and he strokes your neck and kisses your forehead.
"Are you alright?" It's you checking in with him this time.
He looks at you and smiles. "More than, my love. Are you?"
You nod and cuddle up even closer to his body.