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[superniceone]

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[superniceone]

Gustave stares off into the middle distance at that, distracted by his own imagination. "He'd be like a massive hot water bottle when we're riding him on the sea," he says after a moment.

[recreatable]

Charming, Verso thinks, not for the first time, and shakes his head.

"And he'd be a great cuddler, too," as if Esquie isn't already. "But there's always Monoco."

[superniceone]

His eyes come back into focus, expression pursed in quiet amusement as he sweeps them back over to Verso. "Didn't take you for much of a cuddler." Is this based entirely on how Verso had gently redirected his exploratory drunken overtures in the woods? Well, maybe, but not consciously.

[recreatable]

Gustave would be forgiven, actually, for thinking that Verso isn't touchy-feely in the slightest. He'd been almost perfunctory in the woods, but that had been out of a desire not to overstep, to displease, not out of any real distaste for affection. He's a musician, after all; that's as touchy-feely as it gets.

"It gets cold up in those mountains." Gustave wouldn't be used to huddling for warmth in the snow, although Verso's fairly sure he saw him putting an arm around Maelle to keep her warm when they'd navigated the mountains last. "And Gestrals are furry."

[superniceone]

"Both very good points," he concedes. The snow had been gorgeous, novel, and absolutely miserable to navigate. Gustave hesitates visibly, then offers, a little more quietly: "Well, if Monoco is ever indisposed-"

And then he makes a horrified face at himself, shaking his head no. "No, I'm sorry, I'm cringing at myself. Wow."

[recreatable]

"Wow," Verso can't help but blurt out, shaking his head and laughing. "I think that's a record for the fastest anyone has ever backpedaled out of flirting with me."

A century, and Gustave takes the cake. He couldn't even finish the sentence. Verso doesn't know whether to be flattered or offended. A pause, and then he cants his head toward Gustave's face. Particularly, his eyebrows. "You are furry."

[superniceone]

"That's not why I was backpedaling!" Gustave protests. That's why he shouldn't open his mouth, he thinks; that had somehow sounded much smoother in his head.

He knits those lush Robert Pattinson brows, stunned silent for a moment. Finally, floundering, he asks, "Is comparing me to Monoco meant to make me feel... attractive?"

[recreatable]

It was meant to make Gustave laugh, but clearly, he's too aggressively awkward for that. "Everyone's a critic," he says, crossing his arms. Even when said critics are so bad at flirting that they really shouldn't get a say. "Should I have told you how pretty and funny you are instead?"

[superniceone]

"I think we should establish hand signals," Gustave argues, and then says what may be one of the most revealing things about his mindset yet: "One when you're flirting, one when you're messing with me. It'll take a lot of the confusion out of it for me." Because somehow he believes they're mutually exclusive.

[recreatable]

Oh. Suddenly, everything about that 'charming obliviousness' makes sense. How did Gustave ever end up in a relationship? Surely this love of his life couldn't resist the siren call to bully him.

"—I know it's been a while since I interacted with someone who wasn't a Gestral, but I didn't think my skills were that bad." It's a little sheepish, a little embarrassed. "The 'messing with you' is the flirting." A beat. "Well, it's supposed to be."

But it's not suave at all if he has to explain it!!

[superniceone]

Gustave stares at him, feeling his own ears go warm. He's recontextualizing a lot of things very quickly in his mind, before he clears his throat and glances back at the fire.

"Are you four years old?" he mutters, but he's grinning slightly, embarrassed himself. "That's- missing that isn't on me."

[recreatable]

Verso places his hands on his hips, arms akimbo, as he stares at the fire alongside Gustave. Putain de merde, this is embarrassing.

"Well, I wasted a lot of time trying to be irresistibly roguish."

[superniceone]

He's silent for a long moment before the laughter starts. It begins as a quiet bubbling sound in his throat, erupting into sound loud enough that Maelle is giving them both curious looks.

"Want to go for a walk?" Gustave says after a moment, his shoulders still trembling.

[recreatable]

He'd thought it couldn't get any more embarrassing, but it has. As Gustave laughs, he rubs his face, groaning. "You thought—" What, that Verso was just mean? For the fun of it? He'd thought he was being appealingly playful this whole time.

"I don't know." In response to the walk, although there's no real gravity to it. "If you're going to laugh at me again, I should probably just throw myself into the fire." It would be less painful.

[superniceone]

"I assumed you were teasing me the way you tease Monoco," Gustave says, but there's genuine mirth on his face. "Come on, I'm not laughing at you. Just - how bad I am at human interaction sometimes."

He shoots him a sidelong smile. "Please? Don't make me go alone. My reputation will take a hit."

[recreatable]

He's pretty sure Gustave was laughing at him at least a little bit, but it does feel nice to hear laughter again after the despair of yesterday. Even Verso feels lighter, which is saying something considering he so often feels as if he's lugging five tons of emotional baggage around.

"I guess one of us still has a salvageable reputation." The implication being that his reputation very much isn't, after this humiliation. Flirting!! This is flirting. Is it not obvious? "All right."

[superniceone]

That's an insane way to flirt, Verso!! If normal people worked like you did, that means people would have been flirting with Gustave his entire life! Absolutely ridiculous.

"Sorry. I mean it," he says, when there's just a little more space between them and the rest of the group. "I'm not always the most perceptive man. Surprise."

[recreatable]

Verso is smiling, yes, but he pinches the bridge of his nose and squeezes his eyes shut as if this is a physically painful conversation to have. "It would be great if we could stop talking about it. I might be able to hold onto a little bit of dignity that way." He removes his hand from his nose to hold his thumb and forefinger out, nearly touching, just a sliver of space between them. A liiittle bit of dignity.

[superniceone]

"We both flew past the point of no return dignity-wise when we got drunk and stumbled off into the woods together like horny teenagers," Gustave says bluntly, a little beleaguered, "but if the illusion is that important to you, I'll let you keep it."

[recreatable]

The illusion is important to him, thanks. He's got to keep up appearances. But— "I had good reasons to do that." Very good reasons! It's not as if Gustave had been good at flirting, but he'd made a drunken pass, at least. "You did that when you thought I was teasing you like a Gestral."

[superniceone]

"I think we can both safely agree my dignity went flying out the window the moment I got drunk on wine and tried to hold your hand." His own wrist-petting will haunt him for the rest of his very short life.

[recreatable]

"—I thought you were just feeling my wrist up."

Just when he thought the night couldn't get any more embarrassing. It isn't as if Gustave actually held anything. He'd taken it as... endearingly weird. An extremely clumsy come-on.

"Well, great. Not an ounce of dignity between us."

[superniceone]

"It was fifty-fifty," Gustave says with a little wobble of his hand. "But I should really stop talking if I don't want to ruin my chances for this evening, huh."

[recreatable]

Verso's expression faintly brightens. Perhaps it's ridiculous, but he hadn't known if Gustave would still be interested. He'd said he was only when he had his own death looming large over him, and he surely hadn't expected to actually survive to the victory party. He could have promised anything; the chances of it actually materializing were tiny.

"Yeah," he snarks, "you're on thin ice." Then, to cover his bases, he says, "That was flirting."

[superniceone]

"Thanks for clarifying," Gustave says, and it's only mostly a joke. "If only my parents could see me now. En route to the Paintress, on a team with some of the most impressive people I've ever known," he starts, then adds: "Making plans to have sex in the woods with an actual member of Expedition Zero. They'd be so proud."

Now he's the one trying to make Verso laugh, and he bumps Verso's arm with his own.