superniceone | tfln overflow / open post

It says something, probably, that Gustave doesn't look surprised or even particularly disappointed. Verso frowns, although it's more petulant than scornful; he can't rightly be upset that Gustave has unilaterally decided that we are going to tell Maelle the truth when he's just glad that there's a we to tell something at all.

Regardless, he very much doesn't look forward to the truth-telling. Why would he, when deceit always smooths things over so much more nicely? "Very stern of you," he notes.

It's not a conscious acknowledgement of Verso's nature, at least; mostly Gustave has just been able to read the discomfort in Verso, both with the city and with his sister. And truth be told, he'd thought about doing the same during the Expedition, though that dream had more to do with parking Maelle somewhere safe whilst he rode out to his inevitable doom.

He presses his thumb gently at Verso's forehead, as if he might smooth the frown away. "Guess so. Where does that land on the nerdy to sexy scale?"

When it comes to Gustave, 'nerdy' and 'sexy' are on the same side of the scale. That is to say, Gustave is at his sexiest when he's at his nerdiest. There is something very charming about a complete and utter dork.

Verso takes the hand smoothing down his frown line by the wrist, pressing a kiss against the palm. Smiling despite himself: "Très sexy."

"Good. Exactly what I was aiming for, obviously." Gustave allows himself to tip back onto his side, considering for a moment, and the shift in conversation that follows is as much because he's hoping to keep hold of the warmth of the morning as long as he can before reality chases it away.

"Would you like things to be ungentle?" There's an unflinching, almost scientific curiosity behind it.

The corner of Verso's mouth twitches, and he suppresses the urge to laugh, just in case Gustave would find it offensive or hurtful. It's just a very silly question, made even sillier by the way Gustave sounds as if he might as well be taking notes.

"You sound as if you're developing a hypothesis," Verso accuses, although there's no heat behind it. "I would like anything that pleased you." Gustave is the first person to even touch him in a very long time; he's hardly unappreciative. In fact, he's just glad to be included.

The way Gustave has to briefly fight a grin of his own suggests that it's entirely possible that at the very least some of the silliness is intentional. He schools his expression quickly, however, shrugging casually under the accusation.

"You're allowed to have preferences of your own, you know," he says, like he's exasperated. "Though I suppose we could always just exhaust our options and see what sticks."

"Maybe you're my preference," Verso shoots back, and it's sort of true. Hard to be picky when you've got a grade A hottie like Gustave around. "But I'm certainly not opposed to... rigorous experimentation." Hypotheses, data, trials, all that sexy stuff.

"'Maybe you're my preference,'" Gustave mimics at that total cop-out and he's definitely just being a shit now, laughing as he flops onto his back. "Well. Suppose it'll make an interesting bag to pack for my stay in the Ancient Forest."

It feels a little strange to realize that there will be time to try things at all. Good-strange. Every relationship he's ever had with another human has had an expiration date; this one won't last forever—Gustave will grow tired of his complications eventually, and besides, he'll want to return to his real life in Lumière at some point—but its end isn't looming ominously in the near distance, either. It's nice.

"Hey," Verso complains as he shifts onto his side. "I was being romantic." Don't make fun of him!!

Gustave lifts his own arm, folding his forearm across his eyes as he chuckles again. It's a strange feeling, acknowledging how much this reminds him of lazy mornings with Sophie. She and Verso have very little in common, save for perhaps what feels like razor sharp wit from Gustave's perspective; despite that, the feeling is so similar that it almost aches.

"Yes, and I was being filthy. What's your point?" He wouldn't dismiss Verso's complaint fully out of hand like that if he thought he were being serious.

Trying to destroy the entire universe would be sooo back on if he knew Gustave were thinking about his ex right now, but luckily he doesn't, so he just laughs. Probably not the reaction Gustave was hoping for, but it's hard not to. It's very cute when Gustave pretends to be filthy.

"Yeah, you're a real deviant." It's fine. He loves that Gustave is the sort of impossibly sweet that makes Verso a little worried that he's going to scare him off by coming off as some sort of perverted sex freak. "I would be privileged to be ungentle with you, mon amour."

Gustave's feelings— okay, they're not actually hurt at all by Verso's laughter, because it's probably justified. Hooking up with Verso in the first place had been hands down the most scandalous thing he'd ever done with another person, and that was mostly only even because they were relatively near the camp.

Still, he can pretend. "Why do I feel like I'm being made fun of?" He's so full of mock exasperation!! "It's important to discuss these things."

Well, that would be because he's being made fun of. Affectionately!!! It's all very affectionate.

"Oh, definitely," Verso says sagely, even though he's never extolled the virtues of communication before in his very long life. "Good that we're having this conversation now, before I decided to throw you down and have my way with you in the hut." The sexy, sexy hut. Once Verso puts a door on it, it'll be the biggest turn-on, just you wait and see.

"Not entirely certain where we landed on it, though." This is true! How dare Gustave make fun of him for copping out on preferences when he didn't express any of his own, either. "I can always prepare candles and roses instead, if you prefer."

There is a nonzero chance he'll burn down that whole hut, though.

Gustave isn't going to risk splinters in his ass a second time; it's gonna take way more than a door before he's willing to bone in there again. Briefly he wonders if he's going to have to worry about sharing the space with Monoco, too, and then decides that's worth worrying about later.

"Candles are nice," he muses, mostly because it wouldn't be the world's biggest tragedy if he was forced to renovate a little?? Maybe even out the floor a bit??? The other remark gives him pause, though, and he rewinds. "And I thought I'd been— adequately clear. Are you really going to make me say 'I got really into the biting thing'?" This is why he's covering his eyes! It sounds barbaric out loud.

They are not the same: Gustave is embarrassed about being barbaric, and Verso is thinking that he didn't really consider the biting to be rough. Pretty run-of-the-mill, in his opinion. It's charming that Gustave is bashful about it, though, and he reaches over to try to wrestle his arm away from his eyes.

"Hey, it's important to have these discussions," he says like the little shit he is. But he doesn't really want Gustave to feel embarrassed, even if it's very endearing, so he adds, "I like that, too."

Again, he would not consider it particularly kinky, but it's a good way to let out all the cute aggression Gustave makes him feel.

Baby steps are important, though Gustave is still firmly in the camp of believing anything that leaves a bruise on your skin is at least kind of rough. He gently swats Verso's hand away, but he will drop his arm back to the mattress down by his side.

"Don't use my own words against me," he sighs, and wonders vaguely if it's a problem that most of their conversations are actually kind of stupid. He ruminates for a moment, like he's not sure how to put what he's thinking into words. "I just meant that I'd be— open. To further explore that avenue."

"Okay." Although he really does want to be respectful here, there's still an undercurrent of amused affection in his voice. It's cute!!! It's not his fault that it's cute. "I would love to explore with you."

He feels uncommonly happy in this moment, less dread than he normally feels. It's certainly due to the promise that this isn't going to be completely over in two weeks, and maybe also due to the very slight, very tentative hope that Maelle won't waste away in here, and perhaps even because he got to spend the whole night cuddling Gustave like real people in a real relationship. This probably isn't the most romantic time to say it back, but Verso presses the back of his hand to Gustave's arm and says, "Je t'aime." A pause, then he adds, dryly, "Mon ami." Gustave is a dick.

There's a quiet, anxious part of Gustave that worries the hope that he's giving Verso is a massive lie. He's seen those glimpses of bone-deep despair, heard the weariness in his voice, and as desperate as he is to fix it — what if he can't? And does it make him cruel, to offer him a lifeline out of the sinkhole if he's not sure it's going to hold long enough for him to escape?

The fear is ever-present but quiet, lives tucked away in his head alongside the concern for Maelle's life, for the future of everyone living now in the canvas. It doesn't make him resistant to Verso's confession; it just makes him feel a little greedy, a little selfish.

Gustave brushes that off after a moment, up quick and shifting to pin Verso's shoulder back to the bed in a show of boyish roughhousing. It's all so he can lean over him when he says, scolding: "No, say it correctly."

"Ooh," is Verso's immediate response, "so stern."

Très sexy, as he'd said!! He's visibly delighted by the horseplay, grinning widely. It's fun being manhandled by a scrawny little beanpole with dainty wrists.

He has half a mind to be difficult about this, since Gustave was such an asshole for friendzoning him at the party like that, but he's never been very good at saying 'no'. Besides, he does want to say it, even though it doesn't quite feel like he deserves to. There's a split-second of hesitation wherein he wishes he weren't in his pajamas right now and that he didn't have bedhead before he says, "I love you."

Verso's grin alone is enough to make Gustave decide to continue just enjoying this moment for what it is. There's always time for second-guessing later. Besides, it's hard to doubt Verso's sincerity specifically because of the rumpled hair and bunched up sleep clothes. It's an awful lot of vulnerability on all fronts.

"Je t'aime," he says, his voice and expression soft. He dips down enough to press a fond kiss against the bridge of his nose, before releasing him and rolling back to his side. "I could make some eggs, if you really did want breakfast in bed." Gustave's mood had been good when they'd awoken; it's almost buoyant now.

"I'm not inclined to let you leave," Verso admits, still smiling. He could keep Gustave here for at least 24 more hours. Maybe more. Maybe forever. If Gustave needs something to do, Verso can just set him up with a notebook and watch him doodle blueprints in bed all day.

"—But I could make an exception for eggs." Eggs sound good, actually. For once, he has an appetite.

Gustave is tempted for a split second to double back, to confirm. You're saying this because you mean it, right? Not because you think it'll make me happy before you up and disappear without a trace? Except that insecurity is uncharitable enough to be outright hurtful, and besides: he's not sure he's seen Verso smiling this way before.

"I'll be quick," he promises, "unless Monoco buries me for usurping his place, and then I might need a little time to dig myself out." He leans in to kiss him again, quick, and wonders in amusement if Verso's hair is going to be combed when he returns.

"Just shout. I'll come dig you out."

Monoco doesn't bury him, but he does give Gustave shit when he emerges (and the entire time he's cooking the eggs), primarily complaints about how he spent all this time getting the indent in the mattress just right and now it's going to be a Gustave-shaped indentation instead. It's good-natured for the most part, though; Gustave's presence has kept Verso from lying around pathetically all day, which has been very annoying for Monoco to deal with in the past. Giving up his cozy sleeping spot is a small price to pay for not having to physically drag Verso out of bed anymore.

Verso, of course, does brush his hair while Gustave is away. If pressed, he'd deny it to the end of his days, but his collar is rumpled more artfully, too, going for sexy-tousled instead of the actually-tousled he was before. When he hears Gustave's footsteps nearing the room, he scrambles back under the covers, reclining casually.

"Oh, you're back already," he says nonchalantly.

As much as Gustave enjoys bitching about gestrals in general, he's quite fond of Monoco. He'd never go as far to say that they're particularly close in any capacity, but Monoco is likeable. And—even he hadn't been—fighting shoulder to shoulder against genuinely deadly Nevrons would have been more than enough for Gustave to foster an earnest respect there.

All of that to say: he's relieved when he doesn't sense any genuine malice there. (Monoco, too, is relieved in his own much more subtle way, that Gustave seems to be in such a good mood, if only because that means Verso probably won't return to being a sadsack on this specific day.)

Gustave clocks the change in hair and grins to himself, failing to notice pretty much any other difference as he returns with two plates. "Am I interrupting something?" he asks, sitting lightly on the edge of the bed and passing one over. "I could head back out if you need."

This is how you get ants, but considering how Verso lives on the Continent, that's not even a thought in his mind—there's always a nonzero chance of finding an insect in his bedroll, given that there's not really a proper floor. He absolutely is going to have to get into carpentry or Gustave will dump him instantly.

"Nah," Verso lies, like he wasn't just staring at himself in the mirror. "Just... lounging." Handsomely!! He takes a bite of the eggs, convinced that he can taste the love they're made with, although that might just be butter. Pointing with his fork: "You're going to be in charge of food on the Continent."

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