Work Text:
Having been a loner during most of his childhood—in great part thanks to the curse running through his veins—Astarion never thought he would, one day, feel so close to others.
The six of them first met in high school. They were all completely different, and yet, they quickly grew close, as if their personalities just clicked. Their group had been inseparable ever since then.
Even now, with all of them busy with work and college, they still found time to go out together at every opportunity. Of course, he had to see Gale’s stupid face every single day since Astarion moved into his apartment, but it was still good to have the entire circus gathered in the same place.
Oh, who was he even kidding… He loved those clowns more than his own life—not that he would ever say it out loud.
They went to a café that afternoon, sitting together at a large table, close to the window so Karlach could take some pictures of the birds on a nearby tree. Wyll had given Karlach that instant camera as a birthday gift, and since then she had been taking pictures of every single thing in her way—mostly of dogs, but sometimes of cats and birds as well. Her interests were quite obvious.
So, Astarion didn’t give it much thought, at least until the moment she pulled him closer by the neck, raising her camera in front of them.
“Group picture! Smile!”
Astarion groaned. “Really?”
“What’s the matter?” asked Wyll. “It’s just a photo to register the moment.”
Before Astarion could speak, everyone had already gathered into a messy pile of smiling faces; then the flash temporarily blinded him, and he couldn’t hold back a disgraceful grunt.
“Done?” asked Shadowheart.
“Yeah!” Karlach grinned, taking the printed square paper between her fingers. “Let’s see how it looks!”
Astarion simply waited until they looked at the picture, saving the explanation for when their smiles slowly gave place to surprise. Only then did he bother to speak again.
“This is what I meant,” he said. “In case you have forgotten, vampires don’t appear in pictures. And I happen to be a vampire.”
And that was one more way in which his curse made his life just a little harder than it should be. There were countless ways to make walking under the sun a possibility for his kind, but reflections and pictures were still a problem. Not impossible, but the special kinds of mirrors and camera films that could capture his image were far more expensive than anything a college student could afford.
Silence enveloped the group as everyone looked at him, trapped between guilt and embarrassment.
“Oh, of course… I don’t know how I…” Gale stopped, shaking his head with sad puppy eyes. “No, there is no excuse for this. I’m sorry.”
Lae’zel averted her eyes. “I admit that it escaped my memory too.”
The group’s cheerfulness had withered, but the one who looked the most heartbroken was, by far, Karlach herself.
“Aw, sorry mate…” she said. “Does that mean we’ll never have a picture of our entire group together?”
“Well…” Astarion pointed at the picture. “You will know when you look at this picture that the awkward empty space between Gale and yourself is me.”
“That’s… a little sad,” said Shadowheart.
“Yes,” Wyll agreed. “I’m sorry, Astarion.”
It wasn’t supposed to be sad… They were supposed to laugh at it, like everyone did. Astarion clicked his tongue and dismissed the comments with a wave of his hand.
“Oh, stop it. I have bigger problems in my life than this.”
And he hated when they treated him that carefully. It made him feel… weird. He’d much rather everyone forgot about it and returned to their usual silliness.
“Wait!” Karlach’s eyes lightened up. “Wait, wait, wait… I have an idea. Anyone got a pen?”
Gale reached inside his pocket, taking the pen from his personal journal and handing it to a suddenly excited Karlach. Astarion watched her with narrowed eyes, especially when she started to scribble something on that picture. A few seconds later, she raised it with a pleased smile.
“There we go! Little Astarion joins the gang.”
Astarion looked at the picture, and as he feared, filling the empty space where he was supposed to be was a crude drawing version of him, with a wide, fanged smile. He sighed.
“Oh, Karlach…”
“Come on…” Karlach pouted, turning the picture to look at it. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
Astarion pursed his lips. Going against Karlach on anything was impossible. He reached for that picture, placing it on the table before him.
“No, it is… nice,” he said in a stiff voice. “A nice depiction of my person, which I hope, in all honesty, isn’t very accurate.”
“It actually is,” said Gale.
Lae’zel nodded. “Impressively so.”
Astarion creased his brow. “Oh, come on. I must look better than this.”
Wyll could barely hold back a laugh as he spoke. “Actually, I think the drawing looks a little more friendly.”
Shadowheart snorted, making Astarion glare at her before turning his gaze back to Wyll, arching his eyebrow.
“Really?”
“Indeed,” Gale agreed. “I’m not seeing little Astarion glaring at the others, are you?”
“It’s so…” Shadowheart took a deep breath to stop laughing. “It’s really cute.”
Astarion offered her his most offended expression. “You will not call me cute to my face.”
She shook her head, indicating the photo. “Not you, him.”
“Now you’re just being mean on purpose.” He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, whatever… I don’t know why I even care.”
“He does care,” said Lae’zel.
“No one asked you.”
“Stop being so difficult,” said Gale.
“As if I’m the one who started it.”
With a barely contained grin, Gale placed an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer. Despite his grumpy act, Astarion didn’t resist, leaning against Gale with a pout and crossed arms.
Thankfully, soon the group had enough of teasing him, moving on to different subjects. It was a nice afternoon, all things considered… And when the day came to its end, Astarion caught himself wishing they had a little more time together.
As the others started to leave the café, however, Astarion purposefully stayed behind, approaching Karlach, who offered to pay the bill that time—they took turns doing so.
“Karlach…”
She looked at him. “Yeah?”
He hesitated, then pointed at the scribbled picture she had placed inside her wallet. “May I keep this?”
Karlach’s eyes brightened up, just like her smile. “Sure thing, buddy!”
She gave him the picture, and Astarion couldn’t help but return that smile as he looked once again at his drawing self. It was so ugly… And still, the warmth behind the gesture made him feel cared for—enough for that silly thing to feel special to him.
He placed it in his pocket before anyone could see it; then, he turned around to leave, only to see Gale’s infuriating grin not even a step away.
“You hated it, didn’t you?” he asked.
Astarion rolled his eyes, lightly pushing Gale’s chest. “Oh, shut up, love.”
Gale didn’t even try to hold back a laugh as he placed an arm around Astarion’s waist. In a second, Karlach joined in by hugging their shoulders with way too much strength—as she always did.
Not that any of that was a problem. If anything, it was a nice reminder that Astarion had found a home among those clowns—and that he wasn’t about to leave their circus anytime soon.