#i wasn't too fond of how Halsin's “poly” option worked

[mirabai0821]

Confession? Go see a priest.

Pairings: Tav x Halsin x Astarion Rating: Gen Summary: One does not fault a rose for needing both earth and sun. Or Tav passess out after confessing her love to both elves.

“Well, that was dramatic.” Astarion tried to sound light but all the biting sarcasm he meant to deploy had been hollowed out of his words. She scraped all the artifice from him, leaving him without the shield of his dry humor. Now whatever was said had to sink into him, finally forcing him to deal with whatever emotions got stuck.

“Now Astarion,” strangely, though, the levity Astarion could not find had made its way to Halsin. Once again Tav had humbled him. Three hundred and fifty years of wisdom and experience but this fragile, short-lived little thing managed to teach him something wholly new. He felt so absurd it turned a corner into amusing. The smile Astarion could not muster would not leave Halsin’s face. “Surely you, of all people would think declarations of love should be dramatic?” 

“Fair point, I do love the theatricality of it all, right down to the timely faint.”

As Tav, slept, the elves sat in silence.

“Well?” Halsin asked.

“Well what?”

Halsin glared. 

Astarion rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, you meant to ask, ‘Is there a way?’”

Halsin kept glaring. 

“Well, do you think there is? Why am I the one forced to come up with an answer? This better not be your way of designating me 'the one with all the answers' in this little triad of ours.”

Halsin chuffed, amused. "A simple 'yes' would've done."

"Oh darling, you're gonna learn quickly I am nothing simple."

"All the better then. I like a challenge."

Astarion waved an accusatory finger in Halsin's face.

“Don’t you get any ideas, you oaf. I can barely sort out my feelings for this one,” he thrust that finger back at Tav. “Much less my feelings for you.”

Halsin's added his eyebrows to his hairline. “And are there feelings?”

“Of course there are.” He began to list them off his fingers like a mother’s shopping list. “Jealousy, envy, spite, a not inconsiderable amount of lust, more jealousy and…”

Halsin winced, dreading the rest. 

“Appreciation. Friendship. Maybe even affection if you squint.”

Halsin blushed. “Astarion.”

“No, I mean it. You were there for her when I couldn’t be." The dry humor bled away again, honesty taking up its place. "I’m not…strong. Not like you or the others. I wanted her to protect me, but when she needed protection it was you that stepped in. I'll never forget that.”

“You are stronger than you look, little star. But should ever that strength fail you, look to me.”

It was Astarion’s turn to blush. “You’re not gonna confess now too are you? I can only handle one confessional per day. You’ll have to wait, or see a priest.”

“Like you, I’ll only confess to lust and affection…for now at least.” Halsin hummed thoughtfully, fixing a serious stare on the paler elf. “She loves you, Astarion. That alone would have been enough for me but it’s more than that. I don't care for you for love of her. I care for you for well... you.”

“You are confessing!” Astarion feigned a scandalized gasp.

“Maybe I am,” he relented. “But I think not yet. My heart hopes though, that we can figure that out together.”

At long last, after this whole whirlwind of a day, a grin as wide and deep as the Chionthar broke across the vampire’s face. It stretched so far it hurt. But it was the good pain though, the kind that’s good for the body. “Oh, how blessed am I to receive two lovers in a day where most only get one,” he preened, his words wholly and earnestly absent of even a hint of sarcasm. He meant what he said to Tav that day. She made him want everything. And now that included the elf on the other side of her. Starved for love, desperate for it, and now, in the span of minutes he had a surfeit of it. But with him, and his thirst, he could drink it all. And with them, he knew he'd never be thirsty again.