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Tav had long sunken against Astarion, snoring peacefully. He was clearly exhausted after the long stakeout, even though he would never openly admit it. His body knew though, taking the sleep it so desperately needed either way.
Astarion sighed, putting a blanket over the man, and allowing Tav’s head to rest on his lap. His fingers glid through the red hair, that right now could probably use a good wash soon. At times Astarion wasn’t certain what to do with this man, who so regularly worked until he fainted. By now Astarion understood the reason, but that didn’t make it any better.
He closed his own eyes, leaning back against the wall. He was hungry, but it was not as if he could drink from his dear bard. Of course, if Tav was awake, he would most certainly insist that there was no problem with it. But it was just the same thing all over again. Would Astarion leave it up to Tav, all he would ever drink was that man’s blood. Because in Tav’s mind he would rather run around with the constant side effects of losing that blood, than having anyone else deal with it.
“Did the idiot exhaust himself again?” someone asked, and Astarion looked up he found that Kantei was back from her short trip to get them fresh water.
While they had gotten the people responsible, the three of them were still in their hideout. Mostly because the sun was up again and Astarion would be unable to make his way home until sunset.
He didn’t ask Kantei, but he knew that she would most certainly stay because of Tav. She was almost too protective of him – yet Astarion could not help but feel thankful about it. That idiot man just needed more people looking out for him.
She crawled past Astarion to lean against the wall next to him. Just as he had done it before, she caressed Tav’s head. The look in her eyes said everything. Just like Astarion she was chiding the man for being so reckless.
At times Astarion did wonder, whether one of the gods was watching the man. There was little else to explain how the man managed to still be alive otherwise. It was feeling almost as if Tav was unkillable.
Finally, Kantei leaned back as well, filling a mug of hers with water from the bucket. “I would kill for a cold ale,” she muttered.
Astarion shot her a side glance. “Well, at least you are not dependent on that ale.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she muttered. “Try thinking clear without it.”
Astarion ran his fingers over Tav’s shoulder. “I think he would have something to say about that.”
“Well, here we are. We both tend to tell each other about those things we should stop doing, don’t we?”
“And yet you never do…”
“Never,” she said. “Just look at him. Collapsing from exhaustion once more. Gods, I could slap that idiot, you know?”
“We should form a line,” Astarion muttered. He closed his eyes and sighed.
The vampiric hunger was a horrible thing. It was not as if he needed to consume that much blood. He had survived that one year in the tomb without any blood. And from what he had gathered those unlucky spawn down in the dungeon had survived even longer without much. Yet, as soon as he went a few days without consuming blood, the hunger started to get at him. Like a ferocious animal it was scratching on the back of his mind, wanting to be noticed. After a tenday or so, it became hard to think of anything else.
Maybe there was something showing on his face, as he was sitting there, as Kantei asked: “And what is bothering you?”
“Just the usual.”
“The usual?”
He couldn’t help but sigh. “The hunger. It… just is always there.”
“Don’t even think about biting him now,” she quickly said, making Astarion chuckle involuntarily.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He tried to summon some actual humor as he once more watched the man sleep. “While he is the most delicious snack I had, I do care about him, you know? I do not want him to actually be harmed.”
Kantei was silent at this. Once more she extended a hand to touch Tav, her touch so very tender, that Astarion once more could not help but wonder, what it was she was feeling for the man these days.
“No,” Astarion said. “I will wait until nightfall and then… Find someone out there to nibble on.”
“Nibble? That’s how you call it?”
“He kind of came up with it.”
Now it was Kantei’s turn to chuckle. “Of course it was. That dumb idiot…” She took another sip of her water. Ironically she never argued about leaving them alone here. Then she looked at Astarion. “You know, if it is too bad, you can this one time drink from me. As long as it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t, does it?”
“On the contrary,” he replied. “It… I have been told it is quite pleasant.” Then he turned his head. “Why?”
She grunted. “Because for better or worse… you take actually good care of this dear idiot of mine. And… I know that it isn’t easy with him.”
“At times I really do wanna slap him,” Astarion said.
She chuckled. “He is very slapable, isn’t he?”
“A bit.” Astarion sighed, before leaning over to her. It was just a bit… strange. Because other than Tav he had not ever had a single voluntary donor.
“Just get this over with, alright?” she muttered.
He hesitated for just one more moment, but then he did. Biting her, tasting her blood just a moment later. Strange. It was… tangy. A bit like Tav’s blood, though a lot less sweet. Yet, it was able to soothe the hunger for now. After three sips, he broke away from her neck.
She rubbed the wound, frowning just a bit.
He sighed. “Thank you.”