Y’all I’m So Sorry I’ve Been MIA Lately, I’ve Been Reading A Lot But I Haven’t Been Able To

The Sound of Being Loved

Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader

Possibly OOC. I'm posting this at like 12am and I am so tired sleepy but I needed to finish this Or Else

Warnings: some hurt/comfort, talk about The Scar™️

Word Count: 737

Masterlist

AO3

Astarion let out a stiff breath as your fingers brushed over the scar. The poem. The sigil. Whatever it was Cazador'd carved into his back.

You'd asked him about it before. He'd answer curtly and bitterly - as he’d always done when his master was the subject of conversation. But that was so long ago now. At least, it felt quite long ago. He couldn't really be sure. All he knew was things were finally dying down and becoming normal. As normal as things could be, anyway. And you couldn't stop yourself from asking again.

That's how you ended up straddling his thighs as he laid chest-down on the bed.

"Tell me if you want me to stop," you reminded him softly. You kept repeating the phrase when he tensed beneath your fingers, or got that quiet, distant aura about him.

He hummed, turning his head to peek over his shoulder at you. He offered the most reassuring smile he could muster. "Go on," he encouraged. "He's dead - it doesn't matter anymore."

You tilted your head. Sharp eyes studied him, searching for any hint of a lie. He sighed quietly as your hand massaged the back of his neck. "But it still happened," you said, "you still hate it."

He smirked, but his quiet voice gave away the false confidence. "You know me too well, darling."

"Yes," you leaned down to kiss his cheek, "I do." He turned his head slightly more to catch your lips for a momentary kiss. Your lips hovered over his, eyes boring into his soul, searching. "I can stop."

"No. Please. I... I want you to know every part of me. I trust you."

You kissed him once more, languid and sweet, before sitting back up. He closed his eyes and tried to relax under your fingers. They danced across his back, tracing each line in their circular pattern. One hand slid to his waist to thumb circles into his side. He wondered why for a moment. Surely it would be easier to feel each infernal letter with both hands? Then he realized: it was a distraction. You were giving him something to focus on while you studied his back. His undead heart stuttered in his chest.

“I could translate it,” you whisper. It’s a gentle offer. “If you wanted to know what it says.”

Cazador is dead, he reminds himself. Whatever the bastard carved into his skin, it shouldn’t hold so much power over him anymore. But the thought of knowing exactly what was written there… His lips pursed.

You pressed a kiss to his spine, in between the circles of text. He lets out a breath. “No. Let it die with him.”

You’re quiet as you go back to tracing. He wonders if you’re translating it in your mind. He… doesn’t mind the thought - not as much as he thought he would. He trusts you, enough to know you would take the words to your grave. They would never be used against him, held over him as leverage. They’d just sit in a corner of your mind and collect dust, until their meaning is lost forever. He doesn’t mind that at all.

Once you’ve felt all of the letters, your hand traces the circles themselves. Starting right at the center, you go out ring by ring. Where scarred lines branch off, you ghost your touch up and down the ridges. There are several at the bottom of the scar. It almost looks like dripping wax, sealed into his skin forever. Imagining what it was like hurts too much.

He peeks over his shoulder again as he feels your hands, full, flat-palmed on his skin, sliding over his sides. You lay on top of him, sliding your arms around him, squished between his stomach and the bed. You’re so warm. Your head rests between his shoulder blades, breaths sliding across his back and shoulders like a warm summer breeze. His body fully relaxed into the affection. All tension faded away, and he allowed his eyes to close in the comfort.

“I love you,” you hum near his ear. “My beautiful star.”

Astarion smiles. “I love you, too. My dearest blood donor.” He relishes in the way you laugh against him, full and bright and free. And he hopes, when he’s lived for centuries more, and loses the spark of life in his eye, he remembers exactly how it sounds to be loved.

Masterlist

Started 7/1/22

Total Works 1

✼ - fluff ☾ - angst ♔ - hurt/comfort ★ - smut (closed for the time being)

Rules and guidelines for requesting can be found here

»»—————　♡　—————««

Stranger Things

Eddie Munson

✼ Sleepy Cuddles - When you can’t fall asleep, Eddie helps you out

Baldur's Gate 3

None Yet

Grishaverse

None Yet

My Hero Academia

None Yet

Criminal Minds

None Yet

Game of Thrones

None Yet

The Walking Dead

None Yet

blessed be the mystery of love.

I think we need to talk more about the belief that Gojo has his Infinity up 24/7...or more like the fact that I think we misunderstand what kind if barrier Infinity actually is.

In the manga, from what I remember, when Gojo describes being able to have it 'on' constantly he describes it as analyzing incoming objects and people and stopping anything harmful/lethal. NOT that he has a constant barrier over his skin to prevent contact.

I mean he manually activates Infinity when Utahime throws her tea at him. So that means the tea and cup wouldn't be auto-blocked because it wasn't considered a threat(or maybe to prevent having to constantly work around his CT when drinking/eating) or that he has Utahime and things she touches on a 'safe' list that Infinity doesn't properly register as a threat.

When Yuuji asks Gojo to bring down his Infinity for back slaps, that implies that it's not usually up when Yuuji touches him/he doesnt usually encounter it when touching Gojo(and my boi is physically affectionate with Gojo from what the manga and anime shows).

Yuuta mentions Infinity being ungodly finicky when he's fighting Sukuna and I remember him mentioning having to anaylze/see all of the attacks coming at him. This implies that Infinity is not an actual 'field' but that it 'targets' things that are trying to reach the CT user.

What makes Gojo so 'untouchable' isn't a barrier field, but rather an internal program that is constantly analyzing things in his vicinity and classifying them as 'threat' and 'non-threat'. Which makes sense why he has to have RCT running all the time as I assume this is nearly CONSTANTLY frying his CPU.

But it kinda scuttles the whole 'he doesn't let people touch him' thing, which, very untrue? My man is slinging arms around shoulder, hugging Yuuji and generally poking and pal'ing around with people constantly.

It DOES however lend itself to Gojo being hypervigilant(Oh? PTSD, I know her), and a bit paranoid under his careless exterior.

Idk, sometimes I think about it and I just think my sensei is a touchy kind of guy and that sometimes HC of him can just come up with things that are categorically false? At least from my memory.

The whump is delicious tho.

Fizzarolli my beloved ♥️ Was thinking about this ex-jester turned """business partner""" again 🤭

Non-starry version under the cut!

The Life Cycle of a Blackberry

i promise i haven’t forgotten about the asks in my inbox, i’ve been on vacation and will get to writing them in the next couple days hopefully!

thank you anon for activating my lizard brain and reminding me once again of one of the bEST sequence shots to exist ever 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠