Chapter Text
Another peaceful day in the Gaulish village had emerged, everything was following it's set path dictated by the villager’s routines.
Fish was being sold, metal being welded, boars being hunted, what a sight it was to see and how good it felt to have a routine. At least that's what Asterix thought as he was coming back from the woods with some boars along with Obelix who even carried a stack of Roman helmets from the few scouts they managed to find hiding from up in a tree.
“Always nice to find a few Romans this time of the month!” Obelix bellowed while swaying the stack of metal in his hand.
“They keep getting trickier to find but that makes finding them all the better!” He chuckled out.
“I can't wait to find out where they're hiding on the next boar hunt and next time no clues Dogmatix, I want to find them on my own.” He said while wagging a finger at the small pup.
Bark Bark
Having barked in agreement their pet continued to trail behind Obelix like the loyal dog he was while being proud in having helped out capture the boars as usual, which would earn him a bone later at dinner.
This felt nice, this felt great or amazing even.
The village was Asterix's family and it felt good to be surrounded by familiar faces who you also got along with. But it was having these hunts with Obelix and Dogmatix that made him feel even better, as they were the two who managed to brighten his day no matter where they went.
Sometimes he wondered if this is what it was like to have your own family. Not that he never had any but it just felt different to form a family then be born into one. But really, they live together, share dog custody and spend most of their day together. What else could they be if not familial?
Possibly the one other option but as soon as it pops up in his head that thought goes straight down into Asterix's "Don't think about it" memory vault.
Thankfully forgetting about his intrusive thoughts was easier to do when something else was going on in town that caught his attention and it looks like today that was specifically the crowd of people from afar surrounding the Chiefs door trying to take a look at what's going inside.
“I think something is happening with the chief Obelix, let's go have a look!”
“Alright but I better not miss dinner time! The boars will get stiff.”
Once they were close enough to the pack of gauls murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd.
“She does resemble the chief a bit.”
“How old is she again?”
“Can't believe she's even related.”
“Why here specifically?”
“Alright what's going on here?” He asked out to the crowd.
“Hope it's some tasty onion soup.” Obelix chimed while licking his lips.
The crowd didn't respond to him and had kept gawking through the windows with even Geriatrix holding a glass cup to the door to get a clearer hearing.
“Shut it you lot! Can barely hear anything through this door with all your yapping other than something about a trip.” The senior retorted.
Thankfully for the two gauls Unhygienix who was near the back of the pack was kind enough to turn his head around and give a quick explanation about why the crowd had formed outside.
“A young woman who's apparently related to the chief came into the village today and is having a chat with him right now and from what we've heard through the door, she's staying for quite a while!”
Before Asterix could ask anymore questions the front door burst open and out came Chief Vitalstatistix being carried on his shield by his two trusted shield bearers with his head held up high and holding both hands up to address the whole crowd.
“EVERYONE. I HEAR YOUR QUESTIONS AND I AM QUITE TIRED OF HAVING TO DO SO WHILE I'M HAVING A CONVERSATION IN MY OWN HOME.”
“So let me formally present to you all my niece who has just arrived today, our dear Florapeta!” He shouted while motioning his hands towards the entrance of his home.
Out of it came Getafix, then Impedimenta and finally the newly arrived Florapeta who was stunning to say the least. She was red haired just like her uncle with flowers decorating the top of her head and a dress that somehow seemed fit for both common housework and heavy field work at the same time, not to mention her pretty brown eyes and the fact she looked old enough to start having bachelors begin to form a line to ask for her hand in marriage.
“Hello everyone, great to meet you!” She said while waving eagerly to the crowd.
Everyone cheered and clapped for her arrival and the stunning beauty that she so easily presented, regardless of if it was out of courtesy or not.
Even though Asterix had no intentions of being one of those aforementioned bachelors he had to acknowledge her conventional beauty was quite impressive to say the least. However, his thoughts on the matter would be confirmed as the chief tried to continue his speech while also trying to shush the flurry of questions coming from all over the crowd.
“She has traveled from very far off in the mountains all the way here on behalf on her father’s humble request to have her experience some of our authentic Gaulish culture in her life before she is to be married upon her return! So don't try anything you guys, I remind she's already betrothed.” He said while glaring at the crowd.
The audience rose in volume with noises of surprise as conversations started happening all over the place with no stop in sight.
“She's already taken!? Just my luck.”
“What man wouldn't want her?”
“She quite pretty for her age.”
“She needs a better dress!”
“This moment of arrival deserves and ode to new greetings.” Cacofonix said in a dramatic tone before preparing his throat with a cough and taking out his lyre.
“Oh My DeAr SpRiNgTiMe LaDy!!!~ HoW yOu-
But before he could continue singing at all Fulliautomatix had bashed him over the head with his welding hammer, shutting his mouth shut which then sent him sinking in the ground where he stayed halfway buried while dizzy and almost fainting.
“I had my eye on you and good thing I did. Prevented a disaster.” He said while smirking.
Despite seeing stars the bard was still hanging onto consciousness.
“Barbarians...” Was the last thing Cacofonix muttered before fainting in his dirt hole. And so, attention was put back to the chief’s speech.
All of this commotion could only make Asterix chuckle from seeing how his neighbors were so eager to hear any gossip about someone new every time a visitor passed through the village, but its become something to expect by now.
“This is all quite amusing, right Obelix?” He laughed as he looked upwards towards his companion to gauge his reaction.
However there was none, instead it was just a neutral stare the bigger man had that was laser focused on the woman in front of him.
“Yeah, no, I heard. She's on the road.” He muttered.
“The road? No Obelix they said she was betro-
And then it clicked.
Not again...
Just like a rooster who instinctively never missed a morning call for he is far too used to it happening, he too felt an all too familiar feeling which led to a very thorough symptom check on the spot.
His eyes locked onto the larger man and glanced at every detail he could find, sweaty palms, red face hue, quiet voice and the ceasing of all other body functions to instead focus on one specific thing or in this case, person. Yes, he had seen it before and everything checked out as to what usually happens whenever Obelix found a girl pretty enough that he developed a first glance crush and would turn into this blinded smitten giant in front of him with an attraction like no other.
It wasn't anything new, this had happened a couple times before and the same process would happen over and over: Obelix falls in love, he´s smitten for a small period of time until the girl for one reason or another is unavailable and then he mopes for a bit and goes back to hanging as usual with Asterix.
At first he found it funny and it was enough that he poked a bit of fun at him for such an easy infatuation to consume him so much that it made him look like a dope but with every occasion it happened he grew to loathe it because it meant less time with Obelix and it also made him feel a bit sidelined while waiting for the girl to leave the village.
In truth every time he found out about them leaving through Obelix´s sobbing and moping he felt a bit of a selfish joy inside for them to be gone because Obelix would be with him again. Though admittedly most of that joy was rooted from his fear, fear that one day one of those girls would tempt Obelix enough to make a life with her and leave the village behind, then there would be no one left in his home but himself.
All alone.
By Belenoss did it scare him to imagine a life without Obelix.
“Now I must ask you all a favor!” The chief said.
“I'd like to show Florapeta around the village during her stay but I will unfortunately be off for the first week on travel with my wife.”
“I will not miss another one of your promised trips and certainly not while your organs are all currently functional.” Impedimenta remarked with her arms crossed.
”I promise you dear we will leave this time as long as the sky doesn´t fall on our heads but in the meanwhile, I need one of you to be her guide while she stays here. Does anyone want to volunteer before it becomes obligatory?” He asked the villagers.
Once again the crowd reformed with various opinions of people thinking about accepting the guide position or just denying the chieftains request through silence amongst plenty of faces but before the first few hands could even begin to raise halfway to offer up their time a bigger and longer hand shot right out of the crowd at a fast speed. That hand stood tall and firm from the frozen and nervous man it came from along with the boar he just dropped and a scattering of helmets on the floor.
“YES!” Obelix practically shouted.
Asterix was surprised at this, Obelix had never been this forward before with any of the other girls.
At most it was obvious he was very interested in his crushes but he never made any moves that would progress a potential relationship, though he supposed that all those nerves and this still very strong attraction probably would make anyone do unusual things.
The crowd had looked back at the towering giant bewildered by his strange behavior and confused as to why Obelix of all people was offering himself up for the task when there was no food promised as a reward for a job well done, even Dogmatix had turned his head with a curious look at his owner.
“You Obelix?” The chieftain questioned curiously.
The gaul could only nod repeatedly in agreement while still in the same pose.
“He´s lived here his whole life he can do it!” His wife exclaimed.
After a very brief chin rub the chief came to a conclusion.
“Hmmm... I suppose there nothing wrong with it and you have enough strength incase anything were to happen. Very well it is settled then, Obelix you will officially be Florapeta´s guide and protector during her stay here! I entrust her to you and make sure you take care of her well until we get back.”
And with that decree the crowd began to disperse in every direction back to their own routines with even Fulliautomatix dragging Cacofinix´s body back to his tree on the way back. Only a few sentences could be heard as the people left.
“Guess he´s going to show her around then.”
“Very strange for him to volunteer.”
“Hope she loves the place!”
“What should we make for dinner dear?”
“Now then we should start to make preparations for our travel tomorrow, I can´t wait to see what we´ll bring back with us!” Impedimenta chimed in with as she trotted back into her house.
“Very well dear but do remember the wagon needs space for my very important shields!” He yelled back into the house from outside.
But before he went back in, he quickly stopped next to Asterix to lower his head and gave him a task as well.
“Since Obelix is in charge of Florapeta I want you to be in charge of Obelix got it?” He whispered.
“Don´t worry chief, I'll keep things under control.” He responded confidently with a thumbs up.
“Thanks Asterix, now quickly men! Back inside for there is much to do!”
But as the shield lifters quickly ran back in, Vitalstatistix got slammed in the face with the top of the entrance to his house and fell to the floor.
“How many times do we need to go over this! CROUCH WHEN PASSING THROUGH DOORS! CROUCH!!!” He yelled back at full volume while beet red.
“Sorry chief, just used to walking through them.” One of the lifters said.
“Didn´t grow up crouching.” The other mentioned.
“NEVERMIND! Now go help me pack!”
As the fuming chief went back inside the village druid finally approached Asterix with a joyful smirk on his face and hands behind his back.
“Quite the surprise this turned out to be right friend?” He humbly inquired.
“I'd say, a new visitor and they´re also happen to be a relative of the chief.”
“Yes that girl is very interesting but what really caught my attention was Obelix, never quite seen him act like that before and when volunteers were being asked for, I had already half expected your hand to go up before his.”
“Me too, but from what I can tell he´s very much acting like this due to his newfound love interest.” He said with slight disdain.
“I thought so too, he is not very good at hiding it.” He muttered while stroking his beard.
Suddenly Dogmatix had begun to growl in a low tone while sitting next to them.
“What is it boy- Oh, I see.”
He would usually growl to warn about nearby threats on hunts or during adventures but with time he´s learned to do the same with every crush Obelix developed regardless of how nice they were towards him or his owner.
Not even Obelix knows where he developed this habit and neither did Asterix, even if he had a gut feeling this might be the one and only lesson of his he taught to their dog through imitation of his own character.
Following Dogmatix´s gaze both had turned their heads around towards Obelix and Florapeta who were standing slightly away entertained in their own conversation or rather Florapeta´s intent at one given the other´s sudden nervous silence and lack of incentive to respond in full coherent sentences.
“Thank you so much for volunteering to show me around the village, that was quite nice of you.” She said while grasping her hands together.
“O-Of course! As one of its best protectors it´s m-my duty to show you around!” He blurted out while facing towards the sky.
All of this just caused her to giggle at the antics of the gentle giant and upon staring at him further she pointed at one his iconic features.
“Those are very nice pigtails! I've always wanted to try to make hair like that someday, seems nice.”
“Tha-Thanks Yoouuu...” Was all he could mutter as he went from blushing to being colored like a tomato from the compliment.
The rest of their conversation consisted of an intent at dialogue by Obelix and Florapeta managing to make him blush more and more through constant compliments that just seemed as something natural for the girl.
But back to the other duo there was not much to be said as both just exchanged anecdotes from what had occurred during the day while making light of the funny arrangement the chief had made, however the sun would soon enough start to lower and so conversation was cut short.
“Well it was nice to see you but my cauldron calls to me, take care my fellow Asterix.”
“See you tomorrow Getafix!” He said while watching as the druid began heading back to his hut.
His stomach suddenly growled slightly to remind him it was about time for dinner anyways so he should start to head back home and begin to cook these boars along with-
“Asterix, right?”
Not much got the jump on Asterix since by nature he was almost always on guard but Florapeta placing her soft hand on his shoulder to talk really shook him out his head real hard, given the fact he did not perceive her in the slightest.
“Yes?” He quickly muttered trying to organize himself.
“So nice to meet you, I've heard many great things about you from everyone I've met here but I must get going now, uncle Vitalstatistix mentioned a beach nearby the village and I really would like to go see it before the day ends.”
“Oh no problem, it was nice to meet you too.”
“Hopefully we can chat soon, goodbye!”
And so she started to slowly walk away towards the beach area, which meant it was now just him and his good pal once again.
“Alright Obelix, let´s head back home so we can cook these-
“Actually Asterix, I um, told Florapeta I´d show her the beach you know as her guide and I thought maybe I could even show her some of the menhirs I'm working on. Don´t worry about me I'll be back home later once we finish looking at the beach.”
Love could make you do very strange things but Obelix delaying eating boars for dinner??? It sounded like a myth or a hilarious joke but here it was happening in front of him in a way he couldn´t deny. But all he could do was follow his own routine he set up for when this happens: Be a supportive friend and let him have some alone time with the girl.
“Oh, uh-, alright, no it´s fine I'll just see you later at the house then.”
“Thank you Asterix, make sure to keep the boars warm for me!” He said as he started to jog towards Florapeta with an energetic attitude to catch up.
And so there stood Asterix, watching the two walk away while holding two boars in his arms with no one else around to share them with other than Dogmatix who was pulling the third dropped boar by its tail in an effort to carry it.
All he could think about at this solitary moment was this morning when he woke up and had another lovely day at the village before all of this unfolded.
“What a perfect day it was.” He uttered before slowly walking back home.