superniceone | tfln overflow / open post

A date in the woods was hardly a declaration of feelings or intent, especially with someone as chronically evasive as a Dessendre. "I know you're messing with me," Gustave groans, and he gently shakes Verso's hand off. That's why he was embarrassed, actually!! "But thank you."

He's still slightly overwhelmed with the concept of what Lumière, what life in Lumière is going to look like if they're able to return. It's not like Verso had ever been a part of his pre-Expedition life in the first place; maybe it's unfair to expect to use him as an anchor when they return.

"Okay. That's settled. They always say a little post-dinner humiliation is good for the complexion." Hope you never expected him to be a normal, non-embarrassing man, Verso.

"Humiliation is a bit dramatic," he points out. Don't be like this, chouchou! Shaking off his hand and everything.

Gustave had seemed nervous, and he'd only meant to take the edge off, but it seems more like he put the edge on. He hates the idea of someone being displeased with him, so— "Hey. Ask me again."

It doesn't matter if Gustave actually complies, because the moment he opens his mouth to respond, Verso says (with dramatic flair), "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes."

It's still teasing, but he hopes the crooked grin on his face communicates that it's playful, affectionate teasing, not mean-spirited. "Enthusiastic enough?"

Gustave— well, he's not any less embarrassed, that's for sure, but the melodramatic way he's groaning does hopefully convey that he's not exactly stressed about it.

"You're... how old, again? You've had a hundred years to stop being such a brat, and this is really where you landed?" His grousing is clearly just as affectionate, and he reaches out to briefly grab and squeeze Verso's knee.

Brat!! Not necessarily untrue, but he still shouldn't say it, especially considering that Verso was just trying to make him laugh. He lets the comment roll off his shoulders, though, giving Gustave a good-natured nudge with his knee. "I've spent the past century perfecting how to be a brat, actually."

"I can tell. You're the only person I've ever met who makes it appealing instead of annoying." Is Verso his boyfriend? Does he have a boyfriend? That feels like an insane word to use given the circumstances (literally unprecedented circumstances, with not a goddamn normal moment between them), and even without them— too juvenile for a man of thirty-two to use.

So he won't use the word, but he is going to wonder.

"How's Lune doing, by the way? She seems... caught up in thought. I haven't wanted to interrupt."

He has a Problem, which is kind of like having a boyfriend.

It feels strange to have Gustave ask him how Lune is doing, considering that Gustave has known Lune her whole life. There's a shared camaraderie, though, between people with insane parents, so he does feel he understands what Lune is experiencing better than most.

"I'm sure she'd appreciate your company." She's brooding, yes—he knows what that looks like—but comfort from a friend can rarely go wrong. "Parents are... complicated." Hers more than most. They loved her, he's sure, but they also loved what she could do for them, what she represented. Maybe they loved that more than who she really was. It's a familiar feeling. "Lots of impossible expectations."

It would be- well, a severe overstatement to say that Gustave and Lune have been fighting, or even that there's any real tension between them at all. She has implied frustration or disappointment a few times, subtle and incisive and in a way that makes him wish she'd just employ her usual matter-of-fact bluntness. He knows ultimately she's worried he's letting himself get distracted from the mission, wishes he'd save this weird sort-of-sneaking-around until business was all settled, but their clashing approaches to the Expedition had been a throughline for them since she'd found him after the beach. Why change it now, he thinks wryly.

Still. He'd approach when she seemed a little more receptive to it. He recognises her current look, focused on unpeeling some idea layer by layer; Gustave is sure he'd be waved off if he tried to initiate anything now.

"Mm." He's pausing, weighing his own words. "I can't relate, actually. My parents were great. Not to rub it in." He still missed them fiercely.

"Brag, why don't you?"

Must be nice to have a family that isn't completely unhinged. He's not offended, though; it's a nice change in conversation. Something pleasant. Their loss probably feels like a crater in Gustave's heart, if it's anything like Verso's experience losing family, but at least these ones have the potential to come back.

Weird. They'd be like Maelle's grandparents. Again, that's a strange family dynamic he's not sure how to navigate.

"I'm sure they'll be impressed with everything you've accomplished."

Gustave casts a sidelong glance at Verso, hesitating before he shakes his head no. "I think the city of Lumière will fare a lot better if we focus on the future instead of the past."

And he doesn't know what Maelle's limitations will be, knows that the city is going to need to be able to stand on its own without her. Simply bringing back a century of dead would crush the city beneath the weight of its own people.

Have a sidelong glance back!! He quirks one eyebrow, questioning. "Are you going to tell her that before or after she brings back everyone you knew?"

He's not judging, really. It's just curiosity. Someone has to decide which people deserve to live and which fade into oblivion.

Gustave hesitates, glancing at him again. His voice drops, cautious. "Are you sure that's going to be something she can even do? The chroma — how long will it hold onto memories? I worry we're putting the cart before the horse."

"I, uh, don't know." He's not exactly an expert on repainting things that have been erased for decades, especially not people. No one's ever bothered to do that before. "They might... be different." But, clearly, 'different' hasn't been a historical deterrent for bringing back the dead.

Gustave cringes at that, considering his own hands for a moment. "Yeah. Might be better to just keep the let the— past lie."

"Well, you turned out all right." Lightening the mood, as best he can. "I'm sure Maelle will... use her judgment."

"Is it weird that I worry that I didn't?" He glances at him again. "I feel like I didn't used to worry this much."

Gustave has always worried like an old mémère, but that doesn't seem helpful to share right now. Verso is still smarting from being overly glib with Gustave before, so he veers on the side of caution instead.

"It's challenging to find out the world is..." How to put this in a way that won't send Gustave into an existential spiral? "Different than you thought." At least Gustave had sweet Maelle to explain it to him. Verso had to hear it from Clea. "You're still adjusting."

And he will adjust. Probably. Verso's not a good role model for that, though. "Does it bother you?"

"Yes." Gustave doesn't need to think about it; he's spent a lot of time thinking about it already. They're disposable, their fates fully reliant upon the whimsy of gods who are either unhealthily invested or actively attempting their destruction. The world around them is a lie, yawning and blank.

But Verso knows all this, and complaining about it to him seems melodramatic at best and cruel at worst. At least he was just an accidental creation, incidental.

He takes an uncertain breath and realizes he's been quiet for too long.

"But I'll get over it."

Well, he had a nice run of feeling good about himself for a few days, but he feels guilty all over again hearing Gustave express unhappiness with the way of things. Why wouldn't he be unhappy? He and everyone else in Lumiére were created to be background characters so that Aline's life with Verso felt more realistic.

"It helps," he says a little uselessly, grasping at straws to try to make Gustave feel better, "to throw yourself into something."

Like he'd done with expelling Aline from the Canvas. It had given him some sense of purpose, a feeling that the misery would come to an end at some point.

He nudges Gustave with a knee. "...Or to write anguished poetry."

Gustave nudges his knee back, shaking his head apologetically. "I'll be fine. Really. It's hard to feel too artificial after waking up stiff after another night on the ground."

He smiles wryly at him. "I've really killed the mood, huh. I'm sorry, minou." The pet names are only ever in private and completely nonserious.

Oh, my god!!! Verso rubs his face. "I was going to say that I'm into tortured guys, but clearly, you need to be knocked down a peg."

"What, is minou no good? I've got others. I've been sitting on mon soleil chéri for a while now." Gustave laughs a little helplessly. "Or maybe I shouldn't torture you minutes after you agreed to be exclusive."

"To which you only said okay, that's settled." And then immediately called him a brat. Very unromantic!!

—okay, so maybe Verso has a point. A tiny, minor one. But Gustave is making active efforts to be less cheesy!!

He clears his throat. "I'm ready for you to sleep in touching distance. Even readier to wake up next to you after a long night. It's my favorite daydream right now."

For a fleeting moment, he wonders if Gustave is right, and that he did come back changed, and that somehow Maelle accidentally made him like Verso more. He'll never know. Tough pill to swallow.

"...Careful. I get handsy in my sleep. Just ask Monoco."

Verso seemed extremely underwhelmed by his practical and utilitarian answer of okay, that's good, so Gustave is laying the blame for his awkward oversharing fully on Verso's shoulders.

His face scrunches in amusement. "You've got plenty of time to think up a better excuse if you're trying to deter me," he says, gentle and lighthearted.

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