superniceone | tfln overflow / open post

He is! They're fine in moderation, but the village wears him out like little else in the world does. "Is it filled with gestrals? Because if not, you're probably in the clear."

He still can't believe Golgra punked him with that fake password!!!!!

Quite frankly, it's Gustave's fault for being so gullible. #GolgraDidNothingWrong.

"Ooh," Verso says, inhaling sharply through his teeth. "So I should cancel the gestral house party, then."

Gustave gives Verso a skeptical look, playfully pushing at his shoulder. Juvenile, maybe, but he's just matching the vibes!! "Hut party, don't you mean."

Verso shoves him back, an excuse to touch him. He loves a good excuse. "Hey—" is playfully warning. "It's a nice hut."

It's a place to exist, mostly; he'd had to go somewhere when he left the manor, and he hadn't wanted to sleep outside in the dirt where Nevrons might eat him. Always an unpleasant and vaguely gooey experience.

"But if you'd prefer me to rescind the invitation..."

Gustave staggers back in the exaggerated way that he does when he's gently roughhousing with his apprentices, hands up in melodramatic surrender. "I would be honored to tour your hut, monsieur."

With a cant of his head, Verso beckons Gustave to follow him further into nature, taking a brief detour both so that Gustave can enjoy the outdoor scenery and to surreptitiously elongate their time together.

"Well, don't get your expectations too high. It is a hut." After he just complained about Gustave not giving it the proper credit. "None of those locking doors you're so fond of in Lumière. Once I woke up to a gestral standing over me."

"I had that nightmare once," Gustave says with a little grin, because it's practically a bit at this point. The scenery is definitely beautiful, and Gustave will try to halt Verso with a quick touch to the arm.

"Hey," he says, indicating some burgundy blossoms crawling up the trunk of a tree, "would it be safe to pick some of those for the girls on the way back?" He's hyper-vigilant after how obvious it's become that many things here would happily kill them.

On a not-date with Verso, and Gustave's thinking about picking flowers for other people!! Luckily, Verso is pretty fond of the girls, so he doesn't take offense. He can imagine it now: they'd look nice with matching flowers tucked behind their ears.

"Charmer," he accuses. It's no wonder everyone adores Gustave. "If you'll say they're from both of us, sure." A pause. "But if you're going to take all the credit, they're deathly poisonous."

Gustave rolls his eyes at that answer, good-natured, and butts into Verso's personal space just a bit. "I'll tell them it was your idea," he says, and if he's able to close the distance without much fuss, he's going to try to coax him into a quick kiss.

It does feel a little strange to be given casual affection when he's not even sure what the exact nature of their relationship is, but that makes him no less enthusiastic. He kisses back, of course, before crouching down to pick one of the blossoms and stick the stem underneath one of the Kingdom Hearts-esque straps on Gustave's jacket, patting it to keep it in place.

"See? Perfectly safe."

Ready for my Gommage, Gustave thinks wryly and absolutely does not say out loud, because he's already had to eat one foot on his walk, and he is quickly running out of appendages.

"I'm swooning," he says with a chuckle, and then seems to realize: "Oh. This is a date." Gustave seems surprised by his own revelation, then genuinely pleased as he touches the bottom of the flower's stem. "Sorry. Wow. That was probably obvious, huh."

...Verso stares.

"Yes, it was supposed to be." And yes, he'd thought it obvious that this was a hike with romantic connotations. He invited Gustave to his hut!! Verso rubs at his eyes, trying not to feel embarrassed about the fact that this entire time Gustave had thought, what, that this was a friendship walk? "But clearly it leaves something to be desired if you're just now realizing it."

"No, it's not—" Gustave laughs again, caught a little off guard, not certain how to phrase it. "I just thought it would take more— cajoling. To swing an actual date with you." They're both utter shit at romance, he realizes. Gustave kept pushing boundaries in his own scramble for something to hold onto; Verso perpetually felt like he could disappear at any moment.

Verso is a gentleman, so he doesn't ask if putting out multiple times doesn't count as 'cajoling' in Gustave's eyes, even though it probably should. At a certain number of sexual encounters, it's rude not to be willing to spend time alone with their clothes still on.

"It's just a hike," he answers, as if he somehow needs to feel defensive about the fact that he's willingly spending time with Gustave. "But I can play hard-to-get, if you'd like to do some more cajoling."

Gustave holds his hand up like he's preparing to defend himself, before he drops it and laughs again. "No," he says, trying to catch Verso by the hip to reel him over. "No more hard to get. Please? Please."

Verso allows himself to be pulled in with minimal-to-no resistance, curling his fingers in Gustave's stupid grass-stained jacket, although he still puts up a perfunctory defense: "I don't know. You really got my hopes up about all that cajoling."

"We might be in trouble if you're hoping for classic seduction," Gustave says, reaching up to cover one of Verso's hands with his own, holding it there against his chest. "You may have to wait until I can find a book on the subject back in Lumière." He's grinning just slightly, leaning hard into his own dorkiness.

"Ooh. Nothing sexier than thorough research."

Probably true, in Gustave's eyes. It must be killing him not to have access to what must undoubtedly be his vast library of books. He laughs, then pulls away, although not without tugging on Gustave's sleeve.

"Hike's not done yet."

"I mean, I could name a few things," Gustave mumbles in response to that, but he allows Verso to pull away, indicating for him to lead the way. "You picked a good route. I especially like the part where we haven't been hassled by any Sakapatate."

"You and gestrals," he says with a shake of his head. Come on, Gustave, be nice. "I guess you'll be glad to go back to Lumière where they won't be able to bother you."

"Hey, I was complimenting the gestrals. I don't want to run into their weird defensive death machines." He's such an ass.

Such an ass!!! But Verso is here to charm Gustave, not defend the gestrals, so he doesn't argue — even though, in his opinion, Gustave should be impressed by the gestrals' innovation.

Instead, he points to a small structure in the distance. It's a makeshift thing, slapped-together planks of wood forming something that can be called a hut only by technicality. If it rained, whoever slept inside would wake up drenched. "My humble abode," he says, as if this isn't the worst 'abode' in existence. "At the risk of overselling it, you should know I have books."

Gustave is impressed! He can be impressed and annoyed at the same time. It's one of the reasons why his relationship with Verso works so flawlessly.

He does pause to squint at the hut, and doesn't say what he thinks: is Verso certain he'd helped with the shield dome? "Any I'd like to read, do you think?" Gustave is eyeing it like he's wondering if he can fix the roof while Verso is distracted.

"None on seduction, I'm afraid," Verso says as he draws nearer to the hut. "But if you like fiction, I might be able to find something for you."

The selection is quite narrow, admittedly, but a few books are better than no books. He's probably reread the same four a hundred times over just to stave off the boredom of eternal life alone.

He can see Gustave mentally picking out all of the flaws in the hut's architecture, and he leans in, shoulder-to-shoulder, saying, "Impressed by the construction, are you?" He knows Gustave isn't; he only wants to see how quickly he'll admit it.

"Not exactly the word I'd use," Gustave says slowly, doing the absolute bare minimum to pretend he's not shocked that it's still standing. He bumps Verso's shoulder with his own, shooting him a sidelong glance. "I could probably whip up the blueprints for a nice treehouse, you know. Wouldn't be that hard at all."

It's only a real offer if Verso decides this hut is a better place to live his life than the repainted streets of Lumière.

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