#gortash fluff

[aladaylessecondblog]

a flame in your heart (gortash x tav pt. 17)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author's Note: More Gortash POV. Struggled a bit with this one but didn't want to delay it any longer. Tooth-rotting fluff.

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I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had in my life. Like someone stuck a sword through my eye, out the back of my skull, and was jiggling it around just to torment me. Too much whiskey, of course, but I wasn't about to swear off drinking when I knew damn well I was probably going to just do it again. Not when the burn of that Rotgut Red is so strong it can keep me awake when I need it to.

On my side, pillows behind me, and a potion on the bedtable for the hangover. I sat up, guzzled it, and looked around for Tav once the throbbing in my skull finally stopped.

She wasn't there.

(Normally, I'm the one to wake first, or at least to get up first. When she sleeps in my bed she thinks I don't notice her pretending to still be asleep. Lazy little thing.)

I didn't remember coming to bed. There was a vague recollection of the cool night again against my skin...an owlbear, for some reason, and one of the Flaming Fists. Then a whore from Sharess's Caress. What in the hells happened?

"Ah, good morning, m'lord." One of the chamber servants entered as I continued to puzzle. "The bath is a bit cool but we can redraw it if need be."

"No. No, that won't be necessary."

I'd bathe, then I would figure out what had happened the night before...and why exactly that whore keeps showing up in Wyrm's Rock. Tav has been known to be open to sharing before, but that was before she was a married woman. Perhaps that woman was here for her, but...no, she has never looked away from me as a source of...excitement.

She enjoys my firm hand too much, and I'm certain no one else could scratch the itch she has to be controlled the way I can.

As for me...

What if she got the idea I was looking outside of the marriage for excitement, without saying anything to her first...the Black Hand is one thing, what happens with him is akin to a mass, a communion. Not the sort of thing that can be easily refused. Whores are another thing entirely.

I can do what I want, when I want. If I wanted to visit Sharess's Caress daily, I would do so. The other ladies of Baldur's Gate would likely tell Tav she should be glad of the relief.

Still...

I shall endeavor to be only what the role requires, Lord Gortash

The idea that Tav could speak those words again, turn that same look in my direction was...unsettling, and I hate the fact. As if a wall had come up between us--resignation, sadness--I still remembered that look, and I didn't want to see it again.

It is obvious now more than ever why Bane discourages love. The feeling makes me weak. Yet at the same time -

Only one of us is wearing a crown right now, my love.

Maybe it had been a slip of the tongue, but when I heard those words, there was a bloom in my chest I'd never felt before. A bloom that's still there when Tav directs her smiles at me.

Gods, I really can't get her off my mind. I don't want to tell her about that whore being in my quarters but she's going to find out anyway. Best to get the disappointment over with.

I let the valet do his job for once while I thought over the situation. Then when he was done helping me dress I asked, "Where is my wife?"

"She is currently...feeding the little Lord Cald, Archduke. From what I can gather she means to take the morning off, Berlina says she didn't sleep well."

Well, it wasn't a mystery as to why she would be worrying about that, I supposed.

Tav smiled at me as I walked in, and the bloom hit me again. Gods, what did I do to get this? Neither of us cared for one another when this started. It was a means to an end, all of it. Cozying up to her, whispering what I thought she wanted to hear, and slowly extending my power over her. Finding she wanted it...enjoyed it. Certainty in an unsteady world.

Focus

"Is he well?"

"Well enough," Tav said quietly, "Cald has another tooth coming in, and he's been quite fussy."

"Baba!" Cald spotted me, and from his spot in Tav's lap raised his arms. "Baba!"

"He wants you...you aren't still drunk, are you?"

"Of course not, I slept that off...though...speaking of which..." I took Cald from her when she offered, and looked down at--my son's dark eyes. My eyes.

And he was smiling. My son was smiling at me.

"You look upset, is he...filling his diaper already?"

Tav's words were a little unsteady, but the smile still hadn't left her face.

"No, it's nothing to do with him," I replied, waving my free hand absently. "It's...about last night."

"Ah...the trip back. I apologize." She shook her head. "You refused to come back on your own, so...I was asked to assist."

"I won't be hearing about it, will I?"

"Possibly...I asked the Flaming Fist who was with us to try and keep anything from getting out, but...I'm not sure how much he can do. You were...you were, ah...naked."

"Naked."

By the black hand, not THIS again.

"You told me you were too hot and...I suppose instead of calling for ice, or getting something cool to eat or drink your addled mind decided stripping was the best idea. I did the best I could, but...well, I imagine you were seen. I though if I carried you back as an owlbear it'd both making carrying you easier and ensure that they'd pay more attention to that than to you...but it remains to be seen whether I'm right. I haven't exactly been able to check."

"I suppose that must have been when I..."

"When you what?" she asked.

Again that look. She really must have known, I'm not the sort of man to stay quiet when I'm...enjoying myself.

"When I ordered that whore into my room."

I waited. I waited for a look of pain, or an expression of anger. But neither ever came, and Tav did something entirely unexpected.

She laughed.

The woman laughed.

Cald, in my arms, followed with a little giggle of his own. Mother happy, son happy. It was almost soothing to watch.

"I fail to see what's so funny about it, I've...we never settled if it was--if you were amenable to--"

Gods, why does speaking to this woman make my tongue malfunction?

"First of all, you could do as you please and dare me to say something about it, but I am...glad, very glad, that you think of discussing these things with me first. I'm not opposed to sharing you, so long as they don't think to take my place and we talk about it first. Our communions with the Black Hand prove that well enough...he doesn't desire to take my place, it's more that he...owns...both of us."

"But not with a--"

"Enver, let me just stop you before you tie yourself up in any more knots. There was no whore in your room last night."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I was," Tav huffed like she was holding back a laugh. "Twice now you've gotten drunk with me around. And twice now you've mistaken me for that woman from Sharess's Caress."

"I--what?"

The thought had never occurred to me.

"You get drunk and think I'm her, but that's not even the best part." Tav's soft smile deepened. "The best part is that you see me, and tell who you think is her to bugger off because you're a married man. Both times you did that."

I--

"And do you know what else you did last night?" She went on as she stood and moved in my direction, "My dear, faithful husband?"

I had no words. There were no words in my vocabulary to convey the thing I was feeling in that moment. 'Short-circuit' would be the most apt term to describe what happened, I think.

A peck on the cheek.

"You said you loved me."

Heart pounded in chest. Throat. Ears, even. How Cald didn't notice, I don't, but he seemed to quickly be settling in, utterly comfortable where he was.

"Now, I'm fairly certain you didn't mean it, but those three words...ah, they made the entire trip worth it." Tav rested her head against my shoulder then, and reached up to ruffle Cald's hair. "My poor drunk husband, insistent he can't bed me because he's married...and when I asked why that should matter, he says 'because I love her.' Now...if you don't mind, I'm going to call the wet nurse. I have a full afternoon so I need to eat quickly and have that nap."

As she was heading for the door I finally found my words again.

"I did mean it."

Tav stopped in the doorway, just after calling for the wet nurse. "What?"

"I DID mean it," I swallowed. "That I loved you."

Every muscle tensed, pulled taut. I waited with more anxiety than I felt each passing second when Durge and I stole the Crown of Karsus. I could've died back then. But this felt--something more than the fear of death.

Tav seemed to tremble, and didn't say more until the wet nurse came in to take Cald from me.

Then we were alone again. She walked back into my room with me.

"You love me?" she finally asked.

Another pause, a lean against me, a deep breath.

"I never thought to hear those words from you. Or that I would love you in return."

I took in a sharp breath.

"But I do."

[baldursgrave69]

You're No Fun

Summary: Agnes (the Dark Urge) never gives herself a break, Enver Gortash tries to convince her to take a rest.

Pairing: Gortash x fem!durge (named)

Word count: 716

Tags: fluff, fluff without plot

While writing this I was listening to: Gooey by Glass Animals

Agnes had her head lying on the desk in Enver Gortash’s room, her hair had fallen in a curtain around her face. Her hand was wrapped around a mug of ice cold coffee as she waned between asleep and awake, her eyes fluttering open every few minutes.

“Agnes, have you seen my-” Enver entered the room, his eyes trailing over to Agnes slumped over on the desk. He smiled to himself as he made his way over to her, walking to the front of the desk. He held the back of his hand up to the coffee mug, trying to determine how long it had been sitting there. Enver knelt down in front of Agnes, gently pushing the hair from her face. Her eyes fluttered open, a smile crossing her face as she looked at him.

“Mm, hi,” she mumbled, picking her head up sleepily.

“Hi. What are you doing?” he asked, resting a hand on her cheek.

“I was, uh,” she started, her eyes drooping again. Enver looked at her with a concerned expression as she tried staying coherent.

“When was the last time you slept?” he asked, standing.

“Well I was sleeping until you woke me up,” she sighed, leaning back in the chair and crossing her arms.

“I mean properly slept. In a bed,” he said, his tone pointed.

“I slept for a few hours yesterday. Or was it the day before?” Agnes couldn’t remember the last time she took a break to sleep. Or eat. She sighed, rubbing her temples. Her head ached. Her whole body ached.

“Agnes, you can’t keep doing this. You’re going to kill yourself!” Enver scolded, picking up an ashtray that sat on the desk. “And this? You can’t live on tobacco and coffee,” he said with a huff, slamming the ashtray down.

“Fuck off, Enver,” Agnes growled, standing up from the desk. She stood entirely too quickly, her head spinning causing her to stumble forward. Enver caught her, helping her steady herself. “Ugh, I hate you,” she groaned, leaning her forehead on his shoulder. Enver wrapped his arms around Agnes, leaning his chin on the top of her head.

“Oh hush. Let’s get you to bed,” he said, pulling back from her and scooping her up in his arms. Agnes wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder as he carried her over to his bed.

Enver set her down, kissing her forehead. He tried pulling away from her, but with a swift yank she pulled him on top of her.

“Don’t go,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his neck. Enver chuckled, propping himself up on his elbows and hovering his face over hers.

“You need to sleep, pet,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

“I’m not tired,” Agnes pouted, wrapping her legs around the tyrant's waist and pulling him closer to her.

“Agnes, I found you asleep on the desk. You really should-,”. Enver felt her lick a stripe up his neck, her lips trailing up to his ear. “You’re such a brat,” he said, pressing his lips to hers. Enver pushed his tongue past her lips, devouring her. Agnes smiled against his lips, clawing at his shirt, trying to pull it up. He pulled away, narrowing his gaze at her.

“You need to sleep,” he repeated, pulling away from her.

“You’re no fun,” she pouted, laying her head back on the pillow.

“Is that so?” He said with a smirk, bringing her arms up over her head and holding her wrists in his hand. Agnes bit her lip, smirking up at Enver. He rolled his eyes, dipping his head down to her neck and lavishing her neck with kisses. Agnes hummed, closing her eyes as he laid kisses to her neck and jaw. Enver could feel her relax beneath him, a sigh escaping her nose. Enver pulled back to look at her, noticing that she had fallen asleep under him. He chuckled to himself, releasing her wrists and pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

“Sleep well, pet,” he whispered, trying to gently get himself off of the bed. Agnes mumbled something, turning away from him and curling up on her side. Enver pulled the covers up over her, leaving her to get some much needed rest

[aladaylessecondblog]

arms of the father (good tav/gortash pt. 10)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Author's Note:

Google "uncombable hair syndrome" for an idea of what Cald's hair looks like/will look like ----------------------

Cald's face was largely his father's, and, Tav joked, his hair was too. Except his hair wasn't simply growing wild, it was as frizzed as could be.

"A side effect of the sparks, I imagine," Gortash said. He was holding the boy with his right arm, determined to avoid another shock. "Look at him, he looks as though he's about to be struck by a bolt."

"It only just started doing that..." she said, leaning in close. "Gale says he'll be by within the week, by the way."

"I still don't see why it's necessary," he replied, "I can pay someone more qualified..."

"The man was putting his cock in the goddess of magic while learning from her, I hardly think there's anyone more qualified to look at this sort of thing... Sure, we could hire some studious old wizards, but as far as theory you could actually understand that they wouldn't then go blabbing all over town..."

"Fine," Gortash replied. He had a strange look in his eye, Tav saw, when Cald sat up with a bit of effort. "A strong lad."

"Following in his father's footsteps already." Perhaps she didn't entirely want that, but at this point, she was just enjoying her son. That struck her with another thought. "Talk to him. The wet nurse says he is beginning to respond to his name."

"I don't know how to--"

"He'll listen to anything at this age...and given he favors me so much already I think it would be good to give him a reason to like you too."

"I don't have breasts if you hadn't noticed. At this age I'm not sure he cares for anything else."

"Nonsense, he cares for plenty of things," she said, "Tell him about your Steel Watchers, even. Get him used to hearing your voice and he'll want to hear more of it."

So he did. As she sat watching, Gortash spoke to Cald about the Steel Watchers. The way they worked, where they were built, how they recognized faces. The boy watched his father's face with rapt attention, and babbled here and there as if in reply.

(Tav's heart swelled watching it, and she could no longer feel any anger for such things directed at Gortash. Evil or not, tyrant or not, he was a good father. He was both at once, she thought, and to remove the latter from consideration would be to ignore the spectrum of gray and the whole she had come to--)

"See, he likes listening to you." She smiled, and tickled at Cald's little cheek. "Don't you, sweetheart?"

"Ababa..."

It was a happy moment, right up until Cald started grunting.

"That's his diaper noise," Tav said. "Here, let me have him."

She called the nursemaid to bring her a new cloth diaper and some wipes, and waited a moment, until she seemed certain the boy was done.

"Perhaps I should learn this too."

"I don't think you'd much like it." Tav joked, "The scent about to assault your nose is bad enough without having to change it yourself."

"How hard can it possibly be?"

With her spell of create water, she filled a bowl on the bedtable, added a bit of scent, and put the cloth wipes in it to soak as she turned to removed Cald's diaper.

Gortash bolted back, cursing and clamping a hand over his mouth. "That is the FOULEST thing I've ever smelled, and I used to keep company with a Bhaalist!"

"Oh, you get used to it," Tav gave a brief smile, and wrung out one of the wipes as she tossed the used diaper into the waiting bin beside the bed. She cleaned up the mess, and then handed Gortash the clean diaper. "Here, you can do the second bit. Be careful, though, little boys are known to wet themselves when they're being changed."

Thankfully, that didn't happen, and Gortash managed to finish the diapering without further incident.

"I am incredibly glad you have a nursemaid to do this," he replied, "I can't imagine it's a chore you much enjoy."

"It's a natural thing that always happens...and you get used to it. But...I am glad I'm not always the one who has to tend to him." Tav leaned against him and once more smiled down at Cald. "I wish we could do something about that hair, though. He must get that from you."

"My hair was never this bad."

In similar gentle arguments did the rest of the morning pass.

And Tav realized, perhaps more surprising than her own changing view of her husband, that he too was beginning to shift...towards her and the little family they had created, anyway.

------------------------------------

It was rather a lengthy if not mentally straining day for Tav. Less of healing and charity, and more of speaking to other noble mothers, most of whom saw their children much more rarely than she saw her own.

"I don't miss the breastfeeding stage," one said, "Though I know my husband is quite taken with the way I've gone up in size."

"It'll pass soon enough," Tav replied, "But it's very good for bonding."

She smiled, thinking of that first time she'd done it. Cald latching, drinking from her--and how right it had felt to hold her little world and nourish him.

Not for the first time did she realize how out of place she was with such sentiments. One or two of the younger ladies agreed, but the older ones did not, favoring instead attempts to get back to pre-baby weight so that they might return to society in the thinner gowns they had favored before. Some whose mothering days were long since past remarked upon the oddity of taking so close an interest in her child.

"Perhaps I'll start a trend," Tav laughed slightly. "It is much easier to mold a child when he spends a lot of time with you, after all, and the Archduke wishes his son to follow in his footsteps."

That conversation had the pleasant effect of a wonderful bit of gossip: that the Archduke was a wonderful, loving father and family man. The amount of women swooning over him only grew, and the amount of them telling her how lucky she was to have him similarly so.

And well she knew it.

-----------------------

"The Lord wishes to see you in his chapel."

She recognized the man before her as a servant in the fortress, but more than that, he was a worshipper of Bane. The tattoos gave hints to that--outwardly he professed to be reformed, but in secret...

"The Archduke, you mean?"

"The Lord." He said no more than that.

Tav felt slightly chilled at the idea, but thanked the man and headed into the secret passage leading from Gortash's room. The passage had been shown to her months ago, but she had never entered it--until now.

There were sparse candles giving dim light, and when the passage opened into a larger room containing only a few things (that she could see, anyway). An altar of pure blackness, obsidian probably, behind which was cut a seat of the same.

In the seat was her husband...or so she thought at first.

"So," a voice issued forth from Gortash's throat, commanding, echoing in the room, "Here she is...the Ilmatari who has made my Chosen take leave of his senses."

Tav took in a sharp breath and immediately dropped to her knees, then after a second thought prostrated herself on the floor as well.

"I have done no such thing, my lord B--Bane," she said, for clearly that was who the voice was. Her mind worked quickly, as she heard him getting up and walking over. She gulped slightly when she felt a boot on the back of her head. "I have made him stronger. Allow me to--to explain, I beg you."

The boot moved back.

"Now that is a bold claim. Stay on your knees, but sit up so I can hear you."

Tav obeyed, and looked up.

Gortash stood more stiffly than usual. He always moved with authority and power, but this--this posture was so much more so. And his eyes, they weren't the dark of her husband's, but a green that stood out.

"Explain yourself," the voice said, "Explain how acts of compassion and charity strengthen the commitment my Chosen has to his cause."

She took a deep breath as--there being no other way to phrase it--the aura around her husband shifted.

"Bane himself commands you to speak."