Late in the evening, when everyone else was asleep, Astarion called you over to his tent. A lot happened between you, from intimate evenings to almost knocking on Death's door, but you were always by his side.

You never judged him, you never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do and for the first time in his cruel life, he felt seen

The moment you were close enough, you were able to see his expression, it wasn't teasing or mocking like usually. "We need to talk.. I want to be honest with you". After a short pause, he told you about his grand plan

"Look, I had a plan. A nice, simple plan- seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you'd never turn on me. It was easy- instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. All you had to do was fall for it.... and all I had to do was not fall for you..." He hesitated a little before continuing "which is where my nice, simple plan fell apart. You... you're incredible. You deserve something real, I want us to be something real." It's first time you heard his voice in such a vunerable tone, he dropped his facade and opened up to you.

After a short pause he continues "After faking affections for 200 years, i don't know what ‘real’ looks like anymore... Intimacy was something I performed to lure people in for Cazador, and while being with you feels different, it can still bring up the feelings of ‘disgust’ and ‘loathing’.." In this moment he is so vulnerable, but he trusts you and opens his undead heart, hoping you'll continue to understand him